The present invention relates to artificial antigen presenting cell (aAPC) scaffolds to provide cells with specific functional stimulation to obtain phenotypic and functional properties ideal to mediate tumor regression or viral clearance. In particular, the scaffolds of the present invention comprise antigens, such as peptide-MHC (pMHC) class I molecules, and specific combinations of cytokines and co-stimulatory molecules to allow effective expansion and functional stimulation of specific T cells.

The immunotherapeutic approach adoptive cell transfer (ACT), in which tumor-reactive T cells from peripheral blood (PBMC) or tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) are extracted from a patient, activated and expanded ex vivo, and subsequently given back to the patient, has in malignant melanoma studies showed clinical durable responses in more than 50% of patients. However, the expansion of tumor-reactive T cells from PBMCs or TILs requires extensive ex vivo culturing often at the cost of T cell differentiation and functional capacity. As a result, the transferred T cell product may not contain a sufficient frequency of tumor-reactive CD8 T cells with the appropriate phenotypic and functional characteristics to mediate tumor regression. Furthermore, the majority of such tumor infiltrating T cells may not be tumor specific but rather bystander infiltration of T cells from the periphery, with a T cell receptor (TCR) recognition not matching any tumor antigens. Finally, the fraction of tumor-reactive T cells may have a reduced growth potential due to the suppressive environment present at the tumor site.
Attempts have been made to utilize artificial antigen presenting cells (aAPCs) to overcome the problem of insufficient differentiation and functional capacity of the expanded T cells. The simple concept behind aAPCs is that they mimic the natural interaction between the TCR and the specific peptide antigen presented by the major histocompatibility complex (MHC). This interaction is the core step in generation of immunity through activation, expansion and differentiation of T cells that are capable of eliciting an efficient immune response. The natural generation of a T cell response is further aided by cytokines and co-stimulatory molecules, which serves to induce T cell activation and function. Thus, incorporation of all the necessary molecules into a single aAPC scaffold is a promising tool to overcome some of the challenges of expansion of T cells. The aAPCs form the ideal immunological synapse for T cell activation and differentiation. However, a crucial challenge is the uncovering of combinations of molecules enabling the aAPCs to efficiently expand the extracted TILs while also maintaining a functional phenotype.
In WO2002072631 are disclosed many concepts of utilizing MHC platforms, wherein one of them is a MHC construct comprising a carrier molecule having attached thereto one or more MHC molecules. The construct may also contain biologically active molecules such as co-stimulatory molecules or cell modulating molecules. The MHC construct is envisioned amongst others to be used for expansion of cells recognizing the construct and used to generate a therapeutic composition for use in treatment of disease, such as cancer and others. WO2002072631 discloses many co-stimulatory molecules and cytokines that may be suitable for T cell expansion, but fails to identify any specific combinations particularly suitable and effective for the purpose of expansion of T cells.
US 2011/318380 disclose application of the MHC construct described in WO2002072631 for cancer vaccines and immune monitoring. However, US 2011/318380 do not exemplify any specific combinations of co-stimulatory molecules and cytokines particularly suitable and effective for the purpose of expansion of T cells.
WO2009003492 is mainly focused on detection of antigen specific T cells, but also discloses the expansion of antigen specific T cells. Described therein are MHC multimers with and without complexed peptides, methods for their preparation and methods for their use in analysis and therapy, including isolation of antigen specific T-cells capable of inactivation or elimination of undesirable target T-cells. The MHC multimers according to WO2009003492 may comprise a dextran scaffold and co-stimulatory- and cell modulating molecules. However, the disclosure fails to pinpoint specific combinations of molecules especially effective for the purpose of expansion of T cells.
In WO2009094273 is disclosed an aAPC composition comprising nanoparticles, cytokines, coupling agents, T cell receptor activators and co-stimulatory molecules for use to expand antigen-specific T cells. The T cell receptor activator may be an MHC molecule bound to a peptide antigen. Furthermore, the use of the expanded T cells in adoptive immunotherapy is described. However, only the suitability of a single cytokine on an aAPC, namely IL-2, is explored and only in comparison with the exogenous cytokine.
Thus, common for the previous disclosures of aAPC scaffolds is that they only describe the concept in a largely generic manner. Since the success criteria for T cell expansion, i.e. high ratio of active T cells, high antigen specificity of the T cells and high functionality of the T cells, is only met when specific combinations of stimulatory molecules are combined, a great need for well-defined and effective aAPC scaffolds exists. Only when all of the three success criteria for T cell expansion is fulfilled will the resulting population of T cells be optimally prepared to apply their antitumor or antiviral functions.
Hence, improved aAPC scaffolds would be advantageous. In particular, the provision of more efficient aAPC scaffolds with high ratio of active T cells, high antigen specificity of the T cells and high functionality of the T cells would be in demand.

Antigen presenting scaffolds for immune-cell manipulation


Methods and devices herein relate to a method for estimating bandwidth mismatch in a time-interleaved A/D converter. An example method includes precharging terminals of capacitors to a first state in each channel of a plurality of channels and sampling a reference analog input voltage signal (Vref) applied via a first switchable path whereby the sampled input voltage signal is received at first terminals of the capacitors. The method further includes setting the second terminals of each channel to a second state. The method also includes applying the reference analog input voltage signal to the first terminals via a second switchable path, and thereby creating on the first terminals a non-zero settling error. The method additionally includes quantizing the settling error to obtain an estimate of the non-zero settling error. The method yet further includes comparing the estimates of the non-zero settling errors and deriving an estimation of the bandwidth mismatch.

In software defined radio an Analog-to-Digital converter (ADC) needs a speed of at least 200 MSamples/s and as much resolution as is feasible for a power budget of a few milliWatt, in order to simplify automatic gain control (AGC) and relax filtering requirements. In addition, since this ADC also needs to quantize much lower bandwidth standards, a dynamic solution is desirable.
For such high speed ADCs interleaving is widely used. In high speed interleaved ADCs the effective ADC sampling frequency is increased by operating multiple ADCs alternately. Moreover, fully dynamic interleaved ADCs are of a special interest, as their total power consumption is independent of the number of parallel channels and the speed requirements for each individual channel are relaxed. However, interleaved ADCs suffer in general from mismatches among channels, gain mismatch and bandwidth mismatch. DC offset and gain mismatch are frequency-independent and can thus easily be calibrated in the digital domain. On the other hand, bandwidth mismatch due to capacitance and resistance mismatch in each sampling network of the interleaved ADC is frequency dependent and requires complex algorithms to be calibrated digitally. Consequently, spurious tones caused by bandwidth mismatch limit the high frequency input performance of interleaved ADCs. By applying correction for bandwidth mismatches in the sampling network bandwidths these spurs can be reduced. However, bandwidth errors first need to be estimated to determine how much correction, either in the digital or the analog domain, should be applied.
Conventionally, in order to be able to observe bandwidth errors a high frequency input signal is required for generating errors due to bandwidth mismatch. In a background calibration scheme this high frequency input signal can be the signal to be quantized during normal operation. However, this requires certain assumptions about the nature of this input signal, some of which are not generally met. Additionally, applying a high frequency input requires an external signal generator, at the cost of valuable chip area and design time.
Bandwidth mismatch calibration requires a practical way to detect bandwidth mismatch. While applying a high frequency sine wave to the ADC input and observing an output spectrum obviously allows for identification of bandwidth mismatch, this detection method requires both an external stimulus and quite a lot of computation in the FFT to obtain the ADC output spectrum.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,248,282 describes an analog method for implementing a programmable bandwidth sampling network to calibrate for bandwidth mismatch. No bandwidth estimation method is however proposed.
In the paper "Adaptive Semiblind Calibration of Bandwidth Mismatch for Two-Channel Time-Interleaved ADCs" (P. Satarzadeh et al, IEEE TCAS-I, vol. 56, no. 9, pp. 2075-2088, September 2009) a method is proposed for detecting bandwidth mismatch errors by assuming (1) some signal content is present at the ADC input just below the Nyquist frequency, and (2) no signal content is present in a small area around DC. These conditions are not generally satisfied in communication input signals, in which oversampling typically results in very little signal content in the second half of the Nyquist band. As a result, the method of Satarzadeh is only applicable in a communications context if an explicit test signal is added to the signal to be quantized, at the cost of a power-hungry, linear summator and some ADC dynamic range.
Alternatively, the paper "Adaptive Compensation of Frequency Response Mismatches in High-Resolution Time-Interleaved ADCs using a Low-Resolution ADC and a Time-Varying Filter" (S. Saleem et al., Proc. IEEE Int'l Symposium on Circuits and Systems (ISCAS) 2010, pp. 561-564) describes a background method for measuring channel gain, DC offset and timing mismatch using a low resolution reference ADC. Advantageously, this allows for mismatch calibration without interrupting the ADC operation. However, the need for an additional low resolution ADC increases area, complexity and design time.
The solutions for bandwidth mismatch detection described in both above-mentioned papers however suffer from the drawback that significant additional analog circuits are required (analog signal conditioning and a redundant reference ADC, respectively) and that a significant amount of digital calculation is needed. They are thus not applicable in a low power design.
Hence, there is a need for solutions for bandwidth mismatch in a time-interleaved A/D converter that are computationally simple and do not require additional hardware.

Method and circuit for bandwidth mismatch estimation in an A/D converter


An optical locating device (100) for identifying position includes a light emitter (101), a reflector (20), and a light receiver (30). The light emitter is disposed on a moving member (10) for emitting light. The reflector is configured for reflecting the light. The light receiver has at least one linear image sensor (301) for receiving the light reflected by the reflector and thereby generating an image signal corresponding to the light, and a processor (302) connecting to the image sensor to process the image signal for identifying the position of the moving member.

Locating devices used in precision machines typically have two kinds: static locating devices and dynamic locating devices.
A typical static locating device generally includes a photoelectric switch or a limit switch for locating position of the precision machine. The precision machine has a movable stage. When the movable stage touches the photoelectric switch or the limit switch, the required position of the precision machine is located. However, this kind of static locating device cannot be used for real time controlling, thus it cannot be used for locating a plurality of positions.
The dynamic locating device has an optical linear scale and a servo controller such as a computerized numerical control (CNC) device. When combined with the servo controller, a position sensor can locate the position of the precision machine. The optical linear scale is a linear optical encoders which is made according to the optical diffraction theory. A typical optical linear scale includes a main scale, an index scale, a photoelectric conversion part, and an absolute interpolation means. The main scale is provided with a first cut line showing at least an original position and a second cut line graduated longitudinally at equal intervals. The index scale is provided with a cut line across said first and second cut lines, which is placed so as to be movable relative to said main scale. The photoelectric conversion part is for detecting Moire fringes generated by the cut lines between said two scales and for generating a signal having sinusoidal waveform and an original detecting signal showing a range of the above-mentioned original positions. The signal having sinusoidal waveform changes by one period every relative movement by unit length. The absolute interpolation means is used for outputting an inside value of the above-mentioned unit length by generating a pulse signal according to a prescribed phase deviation of the above-mentioned signal having sinusoidal waveform. An original position signal is generated by a logical product of an interpolated count value showing specific interpolation position information outputted from the above-mentioned absolute interpolation means and the origin detecting signal showing the above-mentioned origin position. When the optical linear scale is used for locating position of a precision machine, it must be disposed on the precision machine, thus, the optical linear scale is prone to be contaminated by a cutting liquid or even be damaged by an mishap in manufacture. Thus, the locating accuracy for the precision machine is decreased.
What is needed, therefore, an optical locating device for use in a precision machine which can be used for real time control, and can achieve high locating accuracy.


According to a method for making disposable diapers/adult incontinence pads, a diaper/incontinence pad is made whose pad is in three layers one on top of another; two outer layers of the pad consist of absorbent material and are positioned on opposite sides of an intermediate layer, which consists of a mixture of the absorbent material forming the two external layers and shredded material obtained by shredding faulty diapers/incontinence pads rejected from the diaper/incontinence pad production line.

The present invention relates to a method for making absorbent items and an absorbent item obtained using this method.
The absorbent items according to the present invention are disposable items such as adult incontinence pads, diapers, ladies' sanitary towels and similar items. However, the following description refers, without limiting the scope of the invention, specifically to children's diapers/adult incontinence pads.
As is known, disposable diapers/incontinence pads comprise an absorbent pad which is normally within a soft retaining cover consisting of an inner permeable sheet of spun-bonded material and an impermeable polyethylene outer sheet, joined together and having shaped edges and elastic seals. The absorbent pad is normally made by feeding absorbent material, basically consisting of cellulose fiber, at the outer edge of a forming drum, whose outer edge has a plurality of suction seats shaped according to the desired anatomical shape for the pads. A forming drum of the above-mentioned type is known, for example, from U.S. Pat. No. 5,064,484.
Due to the complexity of both the diapers/incontinence pads themselves and the processes known for making them, diaper/incontinence pad production has a relatively high level of rejects. This, together with the high cost of the raw materials necessary for making the diapers/incontinence pads, results in significant economic losses.

Method for making absorbent items and an absorbent item obtained using this method


A hybrid method of additive manufacturing is provided. The method includes providing a powder material and fusing, by a first heat source, a portion of the powder material to form a three-dimensional structure. The three-dimensional structure can define a fill region at least partially filled with the powder material. The method further includes fusing, by a second heat source, the powder material in the fill region. Fusing the powder material in the fill region can solidify the powder material in the fill region and fuse the powder material to the three-dimensional structure for forming a solid object.

Additive manufacturing techniques are used to create physical objects based on digital model data, by successively adding layers of material. Such objects may be used for various applications (e.g., engineering, prototyping, and/or the like) in various industries (e.g., automotive, aerospace, tool, robotic, medical, and/or the like).
Powder bed fusion is an additive manufacturing technique, in which a thermal energy source (e.g., a laser, electron beam, and/or the like) is used to create an object by selectively fusing regions of powder in a powder bed. The thermal energy source employed in a powder bed fusion process may have a fine diameter capable of producing complex objects having intricate features. However, the time to manufacture objects by way of existing powder bed fusion techniques can be slow, which can lead to manufacturing inefficiencies and expenses.
One attempt at reducing the time to manufacture an object produced by way of an additive manufacturing technique is disclosed in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2016/0221266, assigned to Braygus Technologies, LLC, (hereinafter, "the '266 publication"). Per the '266 publication, an object having a two-part infill is created. The two-part infill includes a printed infill and a fluid infill that is injected into an object's shell after the shell and printed infill have been printed.
While the method disclosed by the '266 publication addresses one method of reducing the time to manufacture an object by way of combining a printed infill with a fluid infill to create a two-part infill, a need exists for more efficient powder bed fusion processes and/or overcoming other problems in the art.

Hybrid methods of additive manufacturing


A Call Management System provides for management of calls directly by system users at their workstation computers via a digital data network such as a digital networks not controlled via the user's telephone instruments as in prior systems. A call management computer intercepts incoming calls and controls the handling of such calls according to instructions received from the users' workstations, which are accessed via the digital data network. Trunk circuits are monitored and controlled using digital signal processors to proactively identify the called party, the calling party and the call type (voice, Fax, data) and control and to monitor all calls. Each different type of call is managed differently and automatically through direct user workstation controls and/or user-generated rules to provide special treatment for designated callers. Multiple calls to user at the same time may be handled with no busy signals to callers. Only one number is needed for a user to receive voice Fax and data calls. Fax and data transmissions are automatically received.

This invention pertains to telephone switching systems in general.
Business communication has taken two separate paths. One involves telephone conversations and the other involving computer communication.
Until now, business telephone communications have been based upon the approach that each individual controls his own call traffic through multiple buttons on proprietary telephone instruments and/or simple commands entered through "hookflash" or the telephone keypad. Further, the architecture and philosophy applied to business PBXs or other telephone switches is limited to the "switching" of calls, such as incoming calls, to internal stations or internal stations to internal stations. This approach strictly avoids operation based upon "call content" such as the type of call, from whom it originates, etc. The limited capabilities of the multi-button telephone instruments and the lack of awareness of call content severely restrict the capabilities and features available and thus reduce the overall effectiveness of the business telephone systems of the past.
The focus of computer technology has become the desktop workstation computer attached to one or more business enterprise-wide, high-speed digital networks which interconnect the workstation computers of business enterprise's employees with a variety of information servers, communications and computing devices. The business enterprise's digital network may be a combination of Local Area Networks LANs and Wide Area Networks WANs attached together via a variety of transmission media augmented by the Internet. These corporate communications worlds, i.e., business enterprise's digital networks and the public switched telephone network PSTN remain separate and distinct until now.

Call Management system with call control from user workstation computers


Disclosed are methods, circuits, apparatus, systems and associated software modules for dynamically evaluating code behavior in runtime. There is provided a code testing platform and/or framework which may include: (1) a code execution environment instancing module (CEEIM), (2) code execution resources, (3) executed code isolation logic, and (4) code call response logic. The CEEIM may instance, on a computing platform, a code execution environment (CEE) which is at least partially isolated from external resources functionally associated with the computing platform. The CEE may include code execution resources adapted to execute code whose behavior is to be evaluated, wherein a resource call generated from code execution may be analyzed by the code isolation logic and may under certain conditions be routed to the code call response logic.

Throughout the history of computer systems and the programs executed by computer systems, computer programmers have aspired to produce programming code that is both efficient and meticulous. Automation of real world functions and calculations can be performed in breathtaking speed by modern computer systems. In recent history, computer systems have been programmed to defeat chess grandmasters and trivia geniuses. They have been programmed to calculate intricate weather patterns and patterns of internet usage.
Powerful computer systems are ubiquitous; they are being used to control international banking systems, healthcare systems, systems of transport and educational networks. Computers gathered in a server farm can contain all the banking records for an international bank or all the healthcare records of a country. It has become more vital than ever for these computer systems to have accurate and efficient programs running on them.
The first known use of the term "bug" as referring to a computer system or programming error was popularized by a moth being trapped in a Mark II computer system relay in 1947, thereby causing a malfunction. Since that time, computer bugs have been credited with numerous human casualties and monetary loss.
Modern computer systems execute vast amounts of programming code each second, and each line of programming code is susceptible to many types of bugs. Bugs can be arithmetic (e.g. division by zero, careless rounding), logical (e.g. infinite loops), incorrect syntax, resource, interface and performance in nature. Programming bugs are found, validated (e.g. reproducible) and fixed (e.g. patched) through a process called debugging.
Debugging systems, tools and software are not new. Debugging tools can include execution monitors, specified breaking and adjusting memory values. High level programming languages have built in debugging features (e.g. exception handling) allowing for automated error detection. Static code analysis tools may include sets of hundreds of known program code problems and can be designed for a specific programming language or many programming languages. Programming code found on an embedded system can be debugged with an in-circuit emulator.
Computer systems regularly interact with many types of data sources and data sinks, each with unpredictable behavior. When interacting with an external data source, a computer system must be programmed specifically for the device. To interact with an external device, the computer system must have prior knowledge of the expected behavior of such a device and there must also be an ability to test a computer system program code for compatibility with the device. Anomalies and/or discrepancies in a computer system program code must be debugged to ensure device compatibility. This may be accomplished by testing the code within a controlled testing environment with an ability to simulate any internal and external device, system or program.
When a computer system is executing vast amounts of program code, the task of debugging becomes proportionally vast. Therefore, an adequate code testing environment must be based on succinct programming while remaining powerful and robust. The code testing environment must be compatible with many computer systems and programming languages. Ideally, a robust testing environment should be compatible with all objects and function types and should be able to test program code while compiling and during runtime.
There is thus a need in the field of computer program development for improved methods, circuits, apparatus, systems and associated software modules for evaluating code behavior.

Methods, circuits, apparatus, systems and associated software modules for evaluating code behavior


A gas sensor includes a sensor element, a housing, a hollow porcelain insulator, electrical contacts, a holder, and an air cover. The sensor element is retained inside the housing through the porcelain insulator. The electrical contacts are retained firmly within the porcelain insulator in electrical connection with the sensor element. The air cover is joined to the housing to cover the porcelain insulator. The holder is fit on the porcelain insulator and has stopper springs which are in elastic abutment with an inner shoulder surface of the air cover, thereby stopping the porcelain insulator from moving vertically when the contacts are pulled undesirably through lead wires in order to ensure the stability of electrical connection with the sensor element.

1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a gas sensor which is installed, for example, in an exhaust system of automotive internal combustion engines to measure a preselected component of exhaust emissions, and more particularly to an improved structure of such a gas sensor which is designed to ensure the stability of electrical connection between contacts and mating parts in the gas sensor.
2. Background Art
There are known gas sensors installed in an exhaust system of automotive internal combustion engines. Japanese Patent First Publication No. 2004-144732 teaches such a type of a gas sensor 9, as illustrated in FIG. 7, designed to measure the concentration of oxygen or nitrogen oxides (NOx) contained in exhaust emissions from the engine.
The gas sensor 9 includes a plate-shaped sensor element 92 responsive to gas to be measured and a porcelain insulator 93 within which the sensor element 92 is retained. The porcelain insulator 93 is fit in a housing 94. A porcelain insulator 95 is disposed above the porcelain insulator 93 to cover a base end 921 (i.e., an upper end, as viewed in the drawing) of the sensor element 92. An air cover 95 is joined to a base end (i.e., an upper end, as viewed in the drawing) of the housing 94 to cover the porcelain insulator 95.
Within the porcelain insulator 95, contacts 97 are disposed in electrical contact with terminals affixed to the sensor element 92. The contacts 97 are joined to leads 98.
The structure of the gas sensor 9, however, has the following drawback.
When the leads 98 are pulled undesirably from outside the gas sensor 9, it will cause the contacts 97 to be also pulled to the base end of the gas sensor 9. In the worst case, the contacts 97 are dislodged out of the porcelain insulator 95, so that they are electrically disconnected from the sensor element 92. Even if the contacts 97 are held firmly within the porcelain insulator 95, they may slide vertically along with the porcelain insulator 95, which results in electrical disconnection of the contacts 97 from the sensor element 92.

Structure of gas sensor ensuring stability of electrical connection


A storage technology for improving reliability in writing host data to a storage device is provided. A first check code based on write data is stored in cache memory 370, and storage section 50 is instructed to write, in specified predetermined storage area, write data with the first check code appended thereto, after which the storage section 50 is instructed to read data stored in said predetermined storage area; a second check code is generated on the basis of the read data, and in the event that the correspondence relationship between the first and second check codes is correct, it is decided that the write data was written normally to the storage section 50.

The present invention relates to a storage technology for saving host data handled by a host computer, using a storage device able to store data.
One storage technology used in the past when writing host data to a storage device involves appending a check code to the host data being written to the storage device, and when transferring to the host computer host data stored in the storage device, using the check code appended to the host data read from the computer to check the host data for errors. According to this conventional storage technology, even if an error should occur in host data saved in a storage device due to electrical noise, physical damage or the like occurring in the storage device, the host computer will be prevented from handling the host data containing the error. Examples of checking using a check code include such error checking methods as longitudinal redundancy check (hereinafter LRC) and cyclic redundancy check (hereinafter CRC).
For example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Gazette No. 2001-202295 discloses a storage technology in which an error check is carried out using a check code when transferring to a host computer host data stored in a storage device.

Storage system has the function of preventing drive write error


In one embodiment, an ambient light sensor with first and second photo-detectors is disclosed. The first and second photo-detectors may have different depths and respond differently to light having a specific wavelength. The ambient lights sensor may further comprise a circuit configured to detect light of a specific wavelength. In another embodiment, the first and second photo-detectors may be configured such that each of the first and second photo-detectors detects coupling current from each other. In yet another embodiment, in addition to the first and second photo-detectors, a third photo-detector may be formed proximate to at least one of the first and second photo-detectors such that coupling photo-current is detected therein by the at least one of the first and second photo-detectors.

Ambient light sensors may be widely used in many electronic appliances. For example, most LCD TVs ("Liquid Crystal Display televisions") may utilize ambient light sensors to control the LCD ("Liquid Crystal Display") screens according to the ambient environment. In addition, ambient light sensors may be widely used in portable devices. For similar reasons explained above, LCD screens for portables devices such as mobile phones, portable computers and tablets may also rely on ambient light sensors for automatic brightness control targeted to reduce power consumption. Another popular application for ambient light sensors may be cameras. Most cameras perform image processing on the images taken in accordance to ambient light.
One major component of ambient light sensors for detecting light may be photo-detectors. However, photo-detectors can only detect light intensity but cannot detect wavelength. This may be due to the reason that different light sources may produce similar brightness. Interposing various optical filters on ambient light sensors may enable wavelength detection to some extent. For example, by using several photo-detectors each covered by different filters such a red, green blue, cyan, magenta, yellow, and infrared filters, light of having such wavelengths may be detected by the respective photo-detectors.
However, different light sources may produce light having different wavelength components. If a special discrimination technique is available to detect the wavelength components of the ambient light, light sources may be identified more accurately. Therefore, a cost effective wavelength discrimination technique may be desirable for ambient light sensing. However, such technique may not only be used in ambient light sensors, but also other optical sensors such as camera chips, fiber optic sensors or some other applications that may need to identify wavelength of the source.

Optical sensor with special discrimination

Avago Technologies General IP (Singapore) Pte. Ltd.


A method of making a porous, hydrophilic layer with a high surface energy on a substrate for a printing plate, ink jet receiver or the like by the steps of grinding an inorganic gel containing a liquid to provide a fine coatable dispersion of inorganic gel, coating the dispersion of inorganic gel onto the substrate, and heating the dispersion coating to provide the porous hydrophilic layer.

The art of lithographic printing relies on the immiscibility of oil and water, wherein the oily material or ink is preferentially retained by the image area of a lithographic printing plate. When a suitably prepared surface is moistened with water and an ink is then applied, the background or non-image area retains the water and repels the ink while the image area accepts the ink and repels the water. The ink on the image area is then transferred to the surface of a material upon which the image is to be reproduced; such as paper, cloth and the like. Commonly the ink is transferred to an intermediate material called the blanket which in turn transfers the ink to the surface of the material upon which the image is to reproduced.
A commonly used type of lithographic printing plate has a light-sensitive coating applied to an aluminum base support. The coating may respond to light by having the portion which is exposed become soluble so that it is removed in the developing process. Such a plate is referred to as positive-working. Conversely, when that portion of the coating which is exposed becomes hardened, the plate is referred to as negative-working. In both instances the image area remaining is ink-receptive or oleophilic and the non-image area or background is water-receptive or hydrophilic. The differentiation between image and non-image areas is made in the exposure process where a film is applied to the plate with a vacuum to insure good contact. The plate is then exposed to a light source, a portion of which is composed of UV radiation. In the instance where a positive plate is used, the area on the film that corresponds to the image on the plate is opaque so that no light will strike the plate, whereas the area on the film that corresponds to the non-image area is clear and permits the transmission of light to the coating which then comes more soluble and is removed. In the case of a negative plate, the converse is true. The area on the film corresponding to the image area is clear while the non-image area is opaque. The coating under the clear area of film is hardened by the action of light while the area not struck by light is removed. The light-hardened surface of a negative plate is therefore oleophilic and will accept ink while the non-image area which has had the coating removed through the action of a developer is desensitized and is therefore hydrophilic.
One of the more serious problems which can afflict negative-working lithographic printing plates is inability of the developer to remove all residual coating from the non-image areas of the plate. When sufficient residual coating remains, a condition exists for background sensitivity to occur during the printing process. Minimally, the effect would be to increase the amount of water required in the fountain solution. Under more severe conditions, ink may adhere to the background and ultimately to the printed sheet, thereby resulting in a condition known as "tinting" or "toning." Under extremely severe conditions, there is so much ink in the background that it is referred to as "scumming." Thus it is apparent that the lithographic printing process requires a background surface which will accept and hold water well, in order to provide effective rejection of the lithographic printing ink.
While many kinds of water accepting lithographic printing supports have been made, there is a continuing need for economically prepared water accepting supports.

Method of making a durable hydrophilic layer


A semiconductor light emitting device manufacture method is provided which can manufacture a semiconductor light emitting device of high quality. A first substrate of an n-type ZnO substrate is prepared. A lamination structure including an optical emission layer made of ZnO based compound semiconductor is formed on the first substrate. A p-side conductive layer is formed on the lamination structure. A first eutectic material layer made of eutectic material is formed on the p-side conductive layer. A second eutectic material layer made of eutectic material is formed on a second substrate. The first and second eutectic material layers are eutectic-bonded to couple the first and second substrates. After the first substrate is optionally thinned, an n-side electrode is formed on a partial surface of the first substrate.

A) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a ZnO (zinc oxide) based compound semiconductor light emitting device and its manufacture method.
B) Description of the Related Art
A semiconductor light emitting device having an active layer made of ZnO based compound semiconductor is known as disclosed in JP-A-2002-111059 and JP-A-2004-342732. ZnO based compound semiconductor includes not only ZnO but also mixed crystal such as MgZnO (magnesium zinc oxide) and CdZnO (cadmium zinc oxide) having ZnO as host crystal.
FIGS. 5A and 5B are schematic cross sectional views of semiconductor light emitting devices having an active layer made of ZnO based compound semiconductor.
With reference to FIG. 5A, a manufacture method for a semiconductor light emitting device having an active layer made of ZnO based compound semiconductor will be described.
An n-type ZnO buffer layer 52 having a thickness of 10 to 1000 nm is formed on an n-type ZnO substrate 51 at a temperature of 300 to 500° C. Next, an n-type ZnO layer 53 doped with Ga and having a thickness of 1 μm or thicker is formed on the n-type ZnO buffer layer 52. The thickness of 1 μm or thicker mitigates the influence of defects invading from an interface between the n-type ZnO substrate 51 and n-type ZnO buffer layer 52 and sufficiently retains the functions of upper layers over the n-type ZnO layer 53.
An n-type MgZnO layer 54 doped with Ga is formed on the n-type ZnO layer 53. The n-type MgZnO layer 54 has functions of an n-type carrier injection layer and of a carrier confinement layer.
Next, an active layer 55 is formed on the n-type MgZnO layer 54. The active layer 55 has, for example, a double hetero (DH) structure or a quantum well (QW) structure.
In the case of the DH structure, the active layer 55 is made of an undoped ZnO layer, CdZnO layer, ZnOS layer, ZnOSe layer or ZnOTe layer. In the case of the QW structure, the active layer 55 has a lamination structure of, e.g., a thin film MgZnO/ZnO (or CdZnO, or ZnOS, or ZnOSe or ZnOTe)/MgZnO.
A p-type MgZnO layer 56 doped with N is formed on the active layer 55. The p-type MgZnO layer 56 has a function of a p-type carrier injection layer. The p-type MgZnO layer 56 has a low carrier concentration and a low carrier mobility and therefore has a high resistivity. Therefore, in order to form an ohmic electrode, a p-type ZnO layer 57 doped with N is formed on the p-type MgZnO layer 56.
After the p-type ZnO layer 57 is formed, a p-side ohmic electrode 58 is formed. The p-side ohmic electrode 58 is an electrode formed on a partial surface area of the p-type ZnO layer 57, and has a circular form, for example.
An n-side ohmic electrode 50 is formed on the surface of the n-type ZnO substrate 51 opposite to the n-type ZnO buffer layer 52. For example, the n-side ohmic electrode 50 is made of Al having a thickness of 100 nm.
In the semiconductor light emitting device shown in FIG. 5A, light is output from the p-type side having a high resistivity (low carrier mobility). This is why the p-side ohmic electrode 58 is formed on a partial surface area.
Due to a large effective mass of holes, the mobility of holes is, for example, as small as several cm2/Vs. As a result, the p-type ZnO layer 57 exhibits a high resistivity. Each layer of the semiconductor light emitting device shown in FIG. 5A has a very small size in a thickness direction as compared to that in an in-plane direction. Therefore, as current is made to flow in the semiconductor light emitting device having the structure shown in FIG. 5A, current flows mainly in the thickness direction so that the current is likely to be injected only in the region just under the p-side ohmic electrode 58 on the partial surface area, and hardly diffuse in the in-plane direction of each layer. Therefore, emission of the active layer 55 occurs only in the region just under the p-side ohmic electrode 58. Most of radiated light may be shielded by the electrode and will not be output to the exterior in some cases.
FIG. 5B shows a modification of the semiconductor light emitting device shown in FIG. 5A. This device of FIG. 5B differs from the semiconductor light emitting device shown in FIG. 5A in that a transparent electrode 59 having a thickness of 15 nm and made of, e.g., Ni, is formed on a p-type ZnO layer 57, and a p-side bonding electrode 60 having a thickness of 100 nm and made of, e.g., Au, is formed on the transparent electrode 59.
This transparent electrode 59 can solve the problem that most of radiated light may be shielded by the electrode and will not be output to the exterior. However, in the manufacture of a semiconductor light emitting device, an additional process is required for forming the transparent electrode 59. Another problem is that radiated light is absorbed in the transparent electrode and the amount light output is reduced.
It can be considered that a p-type ZnO substrate is prepared and a p-type ZnO layer and other layers are formed from the p-type side to manufacture a semiconductor light emitting device having a light output plane on the n-type ZnO layer side. In this case, it is difficult to form a device having good crystallinity. In forming a p-type ZnO layer, it is necessary to set an impurity doping amount larger than when the n-type ZnO layer is formed, and crystallinity is degraded as the doping amount is increased. This is because a large amount of impurities doped in the p-type ZnO layer adversely affects each layer to be formed thereafter.
It is also difficult to form a p-type ZnO substrate itself. A large amount of impurities is required to form a p-type ZnO substrate. However, the substrate is required to be formed under a nonequilibrium state because the solubility of impurities is small in an equilibrium state. However, a large sized, thick substrate is produced industrially through growth in an equilibrium state.

Semiconductor light emitting device manufacture method


A detection arrangement is for modular use for a combined transmission/emission tomography unit, for measuring transmission x-radiation and emission γ-radiation inside a detector. The detection arrangement includes at least three absorption layers of different thickness, arranged one above another in the radiation direction, for detecting absorption events in which case all of the at least three absorption layers consist of a single material. Each absorption layer is connected to a measuring chip which can transmit the measured values of location x, time t and energy E of detected absorption events to a common evaluation unit. The evaluation unit can undertake the breakdown into CT, SPECT and PET signals from the transmitted measured values of the absorption event, and the absorption layers are subdivided into a multiplicity of detection elements.

A CT method (CT=Computed Tomography) is generally understood to be a transmission tomography unit that uses x-radiation or γ-radiation to transirradiate an examination object from many directions, tomograms of the absorption properties of the examination object being calculated from the measured dose absorption of the radiation. In the case of the PET method (PET=Positron Emission Tomography), a positron-emitting substance is incorporated in the examination object, the positrons forming in conjunction with a shell electron two oppositely directed γ-quanta with 511 keV that can be measured simultaneously.
In the case of the SPECT method (SPECT=Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography), there are incorporated into the examination object single photon emitters whose decay is determined by appropriate detectors. Tomograms of the examination object are calculated in the case of both PET and of SPECT.
A detection arrangement is described in patent specification U.S. Pat. No. 6,448,559 B1. A detection arrangement is shown that is suitable for detecting PET, SPECT and CT signals. The detection arrangement shown there includes a number of absorption layers, the first and thin layer being used to measure low-energy gamma- and x-rays, the second layer being used to measure high-energy gamma radiation, and a third layer being used to measure high-energy 511 keV events. The different absorption layers include various materials, the first layer including a thin CsI(TI) scintillator, and the layers lying therebelow constituting LSO/GSO scintillators. The design of a detection arrangement sketched out there for the combined measurement of CT/PET and SPECT signals is complicated.

Detection arrangement for modular use in a combined transmission/emission tomography unit


A compact high average power mid infrared range laser for ultrasound inspection. The laser comprises one of a Nd:YAG or Yb:YAG laser pumped by a diode at 808 nm to produce a 1 micron output beam. The 1 micron output beam is directed to an optical parametric oscillator where the beam wavelength is converted to 1.94 microns and conveyed to a mid infrared emission head. The emission head comprises one of a Ho:YAG or Ho:YLG laser optically coupled with a second optical parametric oscillator. The second optical parametric oscillator forms a generation output beam for creating ultrasonic displacements on a target. The generation output beam wavelength ranges from about 3 to about 4 microns, and can be 3.2 microns.

1. Field of Invention
The invention relates generally to the field of non-destructive testing. More specifically, the present invention relates to a system to create a mid-range infrared generation laser beam.
2. Description of Prior Art
Recent developments in creating composite materials have expanded the use of composite materials into a wide variety of applications. Because of its high strength and durability combined with its low weight, composites are replacing metals and metal alloys as the base material for certain load bearing components. For example, composites are now commonly used as a material for body parts and structure in vehicles such as automobiles, watercraft, and aircraft. However, to ensure composite mechanical integrity, strict inspections are required. The inspections are typically required upon fabrication of a component made from a composite and periodically during the life of the component.
Laser ultrasound is one example of a method of inspecting objects made from composite materials. The method involves producing ultrasonic vibrations on a composite surface by radiating a portion of the composite with a pulsed generation laser. A detection laser beam is directed at the vibrating surface and scattered, reflected, and phase modulated by the surface vibrations to produce phase modulated light. Collection optics receives the phase modulated laser light and directs it for processing. Processing is typically performed by an interferometer coupled to the collection optics. Information concerning the composite can be ascertained from the phase modulated light processing, the information includes the detection of cracks, delaminations, porosity, foreign materials (inclusions), disbonds, and fiber information.
FIG. 1 provides one prior art example of a laser system 10 for producing a pulsed generation laser beam. The laser system 10 is configured to produce laser light in the mid infrared range and comprises a mid infrared laser head 11 optically coupled to a mid infrared emission head 30. The mid IR laser head 11 includes a thulium yttrium lithium fluoride (Th:YLF) end pumped by a pair of diode pumps (16, 18). The output 19 of diode pump 18 pumps one end of the Th:YLF laser 20, the other end of the laser 20 is pumped by pump diode 16. Pump diode 16 output beam (not shown) passes through the transmissible side of a dichroic mixer 24 and into the lower end of the laser 20. The thulium laser output 20 is directed towards the reflective side of the dichroic mixer 24 and is reflected towards the emission head 30. Optional input and output couplers (21, 25) are provided on the respective input and output of the thulium laser 20. In this prior art embodiment, the pump diodes (16, 18) pump the thulium laser 20 at a wavelength of 794 nanometers. The thulium output beam 22 operates at approximately 1.94 microns.
The emission head 30 has a holmium yttrium aluminum garnet (Ho:YAG) laser 34 operatively coupled with a frequency converter 38. The frequency converter 38 is depicted as an optical parametric oscillator (OPO). The Ho:YAG laser 34 receives the reflected laser output 26 at a wavelength of approximately 1.94 microns and emits its corresponding output beam 36 at a wavelength of about 2.05 microns. The OPO converts the output beam 36 to a signal beam and an input beam, where the signal beam has a wavelength of about 3.2 microns and the idler beam has a wavelength of about 5.7 microns.
The laser system 10 emits from about five to about ten watts of 3 to 4 micron light, but requires about 1 kilowatt in power of pump diodes. Accordingly, the mid IR laser head 11 is equipped with an associated cooling circuit 14 and power supply 12 that requires a substantial capacity to support laser system 10 operation. The increased power in cooling capacity for the system 10 results in a large volume and a large mass laser head. Additionally, the 794 nanometer pump diodes are not common readily available items. Typically the Ho:YAG laser output is at about 2.05 microns where it is converted within the OPO to a mid IR laser output of about 3.2 microns. A Q-switching device (not shown) is typically included within the emission head 30. Q-switching provides pulsing to the output laser beam 40 for creating the thermo-elastic displacements on a target surface that then forms ultrasonic displacements on the target surface. The Ho:YAG laser 34 is shown with an input coupler 32 at its input and an output coupler 33 at its output. The OPO 38 is illustrated having both an input and output coupler (35, 37).

Mid-IR laser for generation of ultrasound


A peripheral component (104) is attached to a portable electronic device (102), and indicates an option class of the peripheral component by use of an option select circuit. The option select circuit causes an interrupt to be generated in the portable electronic device, which then determines the option class by changing the logic levels of various option select lines. If an inversion of the logic state of one of the option select lines is detected, then the portable electronic device knows an option select circuit is present, and determines the option class of the peripheral component accordingly.

Portable electronic devices are in widespread use in everyday life throughout many regions of the world, and particularly in metropolitan regions. Examples of such devices include mobile communication devices, personal digital assistants and other handheld computer devices, cameras, and so on. Many of these devices are designed with an electrical interface that allows them to be used with accessory or peripheral devices such as external audio devices, cameras, wireless communication modules, for example. When a peripheral component is attached to the portable device, it is preferable that the portable device detect the presence of the peripheral component so that the portable device can instantiate appropriate driver software for operating the peripheral component. This presents two problems. First, how the presence of the peripheral component is detected, and second, determining which peripheral component is present so that the right driver software and operating mode may be initiated on the portable device.
Typically portable devices having external interface connectors provide power and a ground reference connection so that power may be provided to the peripheral device. Furthermore one or more option selector lines are provided so that the peripheral component or the class of the peripheral component may be determined. One method of detecting the presence of a peripheral component is for the peripheral component to load an option select line so as to bring it to a logical zero level, which is detected by the portable device, either by a periodic scan or by the logical zero causing an interrupt which, upon servicing, reveals the presence of the peripheral component. However, with this passive method of detecting the presence of the peripheral component, the number of peripheral components or classes of peripheral components is limited by the number of option select lines used. Given the cost sensitive market in which many portable devices are sold, it is preferable to minimize the size of external connectors, and thus minimize the number of option select lines used.
One method of expanding the number of peripheral components beyond what can be achieved using passive detection with option select lines is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,301,360 to Goldberg, which teaches the use of diodes between option select lines. The portable device periodically scans the option select lines to determine if a peripheral component been attached to the portable device by applying different logical levels to the option select lines and observing other option select lines to determine the presence of the diode, its orientation, and whether it is a zener diode or normal diode. A jumper shorting the lines together may also be used. However, this arrangement requires the portable device to actively scan the option select lines since the presence of the diode will not change logic states which can be used to generate an interrupt. It is preferable to avoid the processing resources of periodically performing an active scan of the option select lines. Therefore there is a need for a means by which more peripheral components or peripheral component classes may be defined with a limited number of option select lines, and for such means to be passively detected by allowing an interrupt to be generated when a peripheral component is connected to the portable device.

Interrupt driven expanded option select interface for portable device


An approach to dynamically adding and removing items from a web-application list module is provided. The approach includes configuring a web page without changing to another web page, and operating a configuration program in a web browser. A user may change various user elements in a web page without accessing an edit page or refreshing the web page. The changes are incorporated while the user continues to interact with the web page. The changed information is stored and may be associated to the user's computer or the user using cookies.

Web applications that display personalized data to a user such as news headlines and stock quotes typically employ multiple web pages in order to edit the preferences for each piece of content. For example, a web site that presents the latest stock quotes and weather data will typically require the user to navigate to a separate web page in order to manage the list of stock ticker entries and weather locations. This type of customization tends to be cumbersome, hard to discover, and slow. The user has to go to the web page where the edits are to occur, understand the various options that may appear, implement the changes that are desired, save the changes, and re-acquire the original web page where the changes from the edit page are to appear. Care has to be taken to prevent the user from becoming frustrated with making changes since the edit pages can be ominous with numerous messages. Furthermore, the changes should be easily apparent, within view, and not scrolled off the updated web page.
The reverse situation is just as important. Oftentimes, when the user wants to remove an item from the web page, the user has to access the edit page, make the proper selection for removal, and re-acquire the original web page to view if the item has been removed. The user can also edit without accessing another web page to remove an item. The original web page refreshes when a selection is made to remove the item. The corresponding item no longer appears on the web page.
It is beneficial to the user to have computer software operating in a web browser that allows edits without changing to an edit page or without refreshing the web page. Various steps in the update or removal process should become transparent to the user reducing the amount of time the user has to spend on customization or setting preferences.


A broadband multibit digital radio-frequency (RF) signal is synthesized digitally. to convert the digital signal to a high-power analog signal for RF transmission. Each bit (or cluster of bits) of the digital signal is first separately amplified using a fast switching amplifier with a controlled dc power supply voltage. The DC voltages are weighted to match the significance of the bits, and controlled by a set of calibrated DC reference sources to maintain high precision. The amplified digital signals from the various bits are then combined and passed through an appropriate analog filter to generate the RF signal to be transmitted. Such a signal can exhibit broad bandwidth, high dynamic range, excellent linearity, and low noise. Preferred embodiments of this system can incorporate superconducting electronic elements. For ultimate precision, a set of primary or secondary DC voltage standards can be used to regulate the switching amplifier supply voltages.

This invention relates to radio-frequency (RF) transmission and more particularly to digital RF transmission.
A conventional prior art digital transmitter system, as shown in FIG. 1, includes a digital baseband signal (11), typically a multibit narrowband signal at the Nyquist sampling frequency in the range of 1 MHz. This is then converted to an analog baseband signal 13 using a narrow band digital-to-analog converter (DAC), 12. The baseband analog signal 1.3 is then fed to an analog mixer 14 to which is fed the output 15 of an analog local oscillator (LO) 16. The output of mixer 14 is then fed to an analog bandpass filter 17 which is used to eliminate undesired mixer products. The resulting analog RF signal, 18, is amplified by a conventional linear amplifier 19 and fed to a transmission antenna 110 for broadcasting.
An alternative prior art system shown in FIG. 2 has been gaining attention in recent years. In this system the signal may be maintained in digital form until much closer to the antenna by employing a concept which is termed "Software Radio" or "Software-Defined Radio" (SDR). Here the digital baseband signal (11) is first upsampled using a fast digital interpolation filter 21 to produce an upsampled signals 22. The up-sampled signals 22 are then multiplied by means of a digital multiplier 23 which is supplied with sampling signals 24 generated by a digital Local Oscillator 25 (operating at a frequency of approximately 1 GHz) to generate a multi-bit digital-RF signal 26. Thus, a digital local oscillator and a digital up converter are used to generate a multibit digital RF signal, 26. This Nyquist-rate multi-bit signal 26 may be converted to an even faster oversampled single-bit digital signal with the same in-band dynamic range, using an "Oversampling Code Converter" (OCC), 27. The OCC 27 may be comprised of a digital delta-sigma modulator, or alternatively a "staggered thermometer code" circuit as described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,781,435. The oversampled bitstream 28 at the output of OCC 27, identified in FIG. 2 as a single bit pulse width modulated (PWM) oversampled digital RF signal, can then be passed through an analog bandpass filter 29 to create a broadband analog RF signal 210, which can then be amplified via a power amplifier such as linear amplifier 19 for transmission to a transmitting antenna such as 110.
While the architecture for a digital-RF transmitter shown in FIG. 2 has been discussed in the prior art, to Applicants' knowledge it has never actually been implemented for a broadband RF signal, because it requires an oversampling code converter (e.g., OCC 27) which has to operate faster than can be achieved by existing circuit technology. Thus, the digital-RF approach is difficult or impossible to achieve with conventional technology, given the very fast multi-GHz sampling and digital processing rates required.
Another problem with processing the multibit digital RF signals 26 (and/or the bit stream out of OCC 27) is that these signals, especially if generated using Josephson junction (JJ) based circuits, are of very low amplitude and need to be greatly amplified to increase their voltage/current (power) level before application to an antenna for transmission. One approach, shown in FIG. 3A, is to take the low power analog RF signal 210 from bandpass filter 29 (see FIG. 2) and feed it to a high-quality linear analog amplifier 39. But this mode of power amplification is power-inefficient if linearity is to be maintained, and can introduce noise into the signal.
An alternative approach, as shown in FIG. 3B, is to maintain the signal in a single-bit digital format. Here the output 28 of the OCC is applied to a single switching amplifier 311 whose output swings quickly between the voltage rails of the power supply, e.g., an amplifier which may be operated as a class S or class D amplifier. If the amplifier switching is fast enough, this will reproduce the input PWM stream with larger amplitude, with good power efficiency and without distortion. However, although the switching scheme of FIG. 3B is more efficient than the scheme of FIG. 3A, it requires circuits that need to switch faster than is available using existing amplifier technology. That is, there is no known single amplifier fast enough to perform this function, at the frequencies of interest.
Thus, although the concepts of FIGS. 3A and 3B have been discussed (see, for example, FIG. 8 in P. Asbeck et al., "Digital Signal Processing up to Microwave Frequencies", IEEE Trans. MTT vol 50, no 3 pp. 900-909, 2002), to Applicants' knowledge, they have never been implemented for a broadband RF signal, since the required switching speeds are greater than can be obtained using conventional technology.
Accordingly, a problem exists in processing the signals at the high frequencies (e.g., gigahertz range) of interest. This problem is resolved in circuits and systems embodying the invention.

Multibit digital amplifier for radio-frequency transmission


Disclosed herein are systems and methods for recovering a target material from an aqueous stream. The target material can be a natively hydrophobic target material, such as a hydrocarbon material, such as coal. The target material can also have a surface modification that renders it hydrophobic. Systems for recovering the target material can comprise an extractant formulation comprising a light hydrocarbon solvent and a high molecular weight hydrophobic polymer, wherein the extractant formulation is mixable with the aqueous stream in a mixer to form an admixed solution having a hydrophobic portion and an aqueous portion, with the target material partitioning to the hydrophobic portion; a separator for isolating the hydrophobic portion from the aqueous portion; and a collector to which the hydrophobic portion is directed, wherein the target material is recovered from the hydrophobic portion.

Mining technologies remove valuable geological materials from the earth. The materials of value removed from the earth by mining can include rocks, stones, minerals, mineraloids, and the like. The term "rock" or "stone" refers to a naturally occurring solid aggregate comprising minerals or mineraloids. A mineral is a naturally occurring solid chemical substance formed through biogeological processes and having a specific set of chemical and physical characteristics, including a particular chemical composition, a crystalline or highly ordered physical structure, and discernible properties derived therefrom. Mineraloids have more variability in their chemical compositions, and they do not demonstrate crystallinity. Minerals, mineraloids or rocks having economic value can be extracted from the earth using a variety of mining technologies. Target materials of value recovered by mining include minerals, mineraloids and rocks such as precious and base metals, iron, uranium, limestone, rock salt, potash, oil shale, oil sands, coal, diamonds, an the like.
Mining technologies typically remove large amounts of non-valuable geological materials from the earth along with the valuable material(s) of interest. The target material is then separated from the non-valuable material. The target material can undergo further processing to concentrate it or to make it otherwise more suitable for its end-use. The non-valuable material ("gangue") remaining after the extraction and processing of the target material becomes waste, requiring disposal. This mining waste comprises geological substances such as topsoil, overburden and waste rock that are separated during the earlier stages of processing, as well as tailings remaining after the target material has been largely recovered.
Processing technologies to extract target materials from the gangue can begin by crushing the raw mined substances into smaller fragments. The crushed fragments are then separated by size, and are further treated so that the target materials can be separated physically or chemically from the gangue. Water-driven separation processes are often used to facilitate removing the gangue from the target material. Crushing and separation techniques produce fragments of varying sizes, from large lumps to fine particles. Larger masses of waste materials can be removed mechanically during processing. The fine particles, comprising both target materials and waste, can become suspended in the aqueous fluid stream used for separation processing. This fluid stream, carrying the suspended fine particles ("fines") ultimately exits the processing plant as a liquid waste slurry requiring disposal. This waste slurry contains predominately low-value substances to be discarded as wasted, but it also contains fine particles of target materials that have not been captured by the various extraction processes. In certain cases, the waste slurry is stored in artificial reservoirs, such as tailings ponds. In other cases, the waste slurry is allowed to dessicate, so that the waste products, containing valuable target materials, are stored in dry piles.
Tailings from mining processes thus can contain varying amoungs of valuable target materials, depending, inter alia, upon the initial content of the target material in the mined substance, and upon the efficiency of the separation and extraction processes. Economics can dictate the extent to which the target material is removed during such processing. A precious metal like gold may be removed to a large degree from its ore, with only a small percent entering the tailings. The amount of precious metal in tailings, although small, can nonetheless have great economic value. By contrast, less valuable target materials may be of higher concentrations in tailings, because it does not make commercial sense to extract them more thoroughly. Though such target materials (e.g., coal) may have less intrinsic economic value than other target materials (e.g., precious metals), the relatively high concentration of the lower-value target materials in the tailings waste can make their recovery commercially viable. Processes for recovering target materials from tailings waste therefore offer the potential for extracting additional economic value from what has traditionally been discarded. Moreover, techniques for recovering target materials from tailings waste can offer alternatives to the traditional methods for tailings management, including storage in ponds or behind dikes or embankments or in spent mines (all with well-known environmental implications).
As an example, the mining and processing of coal results in tailings containing significant amounts of this valuable target material. In the U.S., around 1.1 billion tons of coal are mined annually. Approximately 8-10% of mined coal ends up as fines, which are not captured by the production process and typically end up in slurry impoundments. The U.S. Department of Energy estimates that 2 billion tons of coal fines currently exist in impoundment areas. Recovering coal as the target material from such tailings offers a significant economic and environmental opportunity. Recovering coal fines from slurry streams and impoundments can improve coal mining efficiency, because the recovered coal fines can be processed and used for fuel. In addition, recovering coal fines can reduce the waste footprint of coal mining operations. However, recovering coal fines from waste streams in an easy and efficient manner, and in a condition where the recovered coal is ready for transport and other uses, remains a great challenge.
The mining and processing of coal illustrates how such tailings are formed, and how they come to contain sufficient target material to be economically valuable. Coal as it is recovered from the mine is initially crushed to reduce its size and to free it up from the larger mineral inclusions, using a variety of size reduction techniques like crushers, rotary breakers or other similar devices. After crushing and size separation, the smaller coal fragments can be exposed to an aqueous stream such as froth flotation that separates the coal from the minerals that surround it. Using froth flotation, for example, crushed coal fragments can be mixed with water and other additives, then exposed to streams of air bubbles. Coal that is carried to the surface in the froth can be skimmed off, screened and dewatered for commercial uses, while the minerals sink to the bottom. After these water-driven separation processes, fine particles ("fines") comprising inorganic and organic materials (coal, clay, rocks, minerals, and the like) remain suspended in the aqueous slurry. The fines comprising coal particles can be termed "coal fines." Separating fines from the aqueous suspending medium is difficult, as the fines tend to remain suspended unless energy-intensive processes are employed to recover them. In coal mining and processing, significant quantities of coal fines are created that require disposal and handling. Similar aqueous streams containing suspended fines are produced during the mining and processing of other valuable mined materials.
As mentioned above, the amount of suspended fines in the aqueous slurry stream can vary, depending upon the type of valuable material being mined and depending upon how it is processed. As an example, the amount of coal fines in the slurry stream will vary by site depending on the efficiency of the coal processing facility. Other fines in the coal-fines slurry include clays and fine mineral materials. Treating the slurry to remove all suspended solids and recover clarified water is a difficult problem. Additionally, it is highly desirable to recover the high value mined material, such as coal fines in this example, from the aqueous slurry. Older, less efficient coal processing facilities tend to have larger quantities of valuable coal fines ending up in the slurry stream. To increase the overall efficiency of coal processing, the ability to selectively recover the valuable coal fines from the slurry is needed. Recovering the coal-rich fines from the slurry by mechanical means is difficult, expensive, and inefficient.
There remains a need in the art, therefore for systems and methods for recovering valuable materials from mining tailings. Coal offers an example of such a valuable mined material. As would be apparent to skilled artisans, though, the problem of recovering valuable mined materials from tailings waste extends throughout the mining industry. There exists a need in the art for systems and methods capable of recovering a variety of valuable mined materials, including but not limited to precious metals, base metals, rare earth minerals, and the like, from the tailings waste in which they are contained.

Recovering valuable mined materials from aqueous wastes


A method for modeling fluid depletion in a reservoir is disclosed. A map is divided into cells. For each of the cells a value is stored that is based at least in part on a physical characteristic of the cell. At least one cell that contains a depletion location is identified along with a depletion amount corresponding to that location. An amount of walkers associated with the depletion location is determined. For each walker, a plurality of steps are calculated with each step to an adjacent cell. Each walker starts in the cell containing the depletion location associated with that walker. The visits of all the walkers are recorded by cell. The fluid depletion of each cell is then assessed based at least in part on the number of walker visits for each cell.

The invention relates to fluid reservoir analysis and more particularly to a computer system and method for modeling fluid depletion.
Underground reservoirs of petroleum fluids are depleted as the fluids are displaced toward production wells. Primary or secondary type recovery methods that are well-known to specialists can be used in order to better displace petroleum fluids towards production wells. In addition, new production wells can be drilled after initial depletion Adequate modeling of fluids that have been withdrawn from a reservoir and fluids that remain in the reservoir allows for both additional production wells and primary or secondary recovery methods to be more effectively employed to increase the recovery of petroleum fluids from a partially depleted field. The partially depleted field becomes more valuable as a result of the modeling that allows the subsequent use of the techniques under consideration.
Original analysis of the underground reservoir using coring, logging, seismic, or other techniques can produce information about the three dimensional extent of the reservoir and the amount of fluids therein. Obtaining sufficient data for an accurate description is expensive, and additional analysis for a partially depleted reservoir is generally not cost effective. If production has been monitored, the amount of petroleum fluids removed is a known quantity; however, it is generally difficult to determine the current state of fluids in a reservoir based only on the amount produced and the knowledge of the original state.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Computer system and method for modeling fluid depletion


A collapsible structure with a self-locking mechanism includes a first hub, at least two struts pivotable connected at a first ends thereof to the first hub and movable relative to each another between a folded position and an expanded position, and a tension member adapted to limit pivotable movement of at least two struts such that, when in the expanded position, the at least two struts define an angle of less than 180°. The structure further includes a locking hub and at least two locking struts pivotably connected at first ends thereof to the locking hub and, at seconds ends thereof, to connection points on respective ones of the at least two struts. A method of erecting a structure is also disclosed.

The present invention relates to collapsible structures and, more particularly, to collapsible structures with self-locking mechanism and methods of erecting a collapsible structure.
My prior U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,141,934, 5,651,228, 5,444,946, 5,274,980, 5,230,196, RE33,710, 4,970,841, 4,838,003, 4,800,663, 4,761,929, 4,747,239, 4,689,932, 4,666,102, 4,637,180, 4,579,066, 4,561,618, 4,522,008, 4,512,097, 4,473,986, 4,437,275, 4,334,660, 4,290,244, 4,280,521, 4,026,313, and 3,968,808 are incorporated by reference and show various collapsible structures and components therefor. In many collapsible structures of the general type described in these patents, in the course of erecting the structures, the structures must extend beyond the dimensions of the erected shelter. For example, in my U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,444,946 and 5,274,980, in the course of erecting the shelters, they are typically expanded laterally outward significantly past the lateral dimensions of the finished structure. This makes it difficult to provide the structures with a cover as is typically provided on portable shelter type devices. Ordinarily, the covers are attached after erection of the frame of the structure.
Also, because the structures during erection are typically expanded beyond the footprint of the structures in their erected condition, they are generally only secured to the ground or a base after they are finally erected. This can make erection of the structures difficult. For example, in windy conditions, the structures may be blown around. This problem can be exacerbated if there is cover material on the frame because the cover material can act as a sail and make it that much more difficult to erect the structure.
During break down of these structures, the same problems occur as during erection. The covers are ordinarily taken off and the structures are ordinarily disconnected from any ground or base supporting structures before lowering the frame.
It is desirable to provide a collapsible structure that can be erected and broken down without the need to remove a cover from the structure. It is also desirable to provide a structure that can be secured to the ground or a base while the structure is being erected or broken down.
In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, a collapsible structure with a self-locking mechanism includes a first hub, at least two struts pivotably connected at first ends thereof to the first hub and movable relative to each another between a folded position and an expanded position, and a tension member adapted to limit pivotable movement of the at least two struts such that, when in the expanded position, the at least two struts define an angle of less than 180°. The structure further includes a locking hub and at least two locking struts pivotably connected at first ends thereof to the locking hub and, at seconds ends thereof, to connection points on respective ones of the at least two struts.
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, a method of erecting a collapsible structure includes unfolding a collapsible structure from a folded condition to a collapsed condition. A plurality of base-defining ends of a plurality of end struts of the collapsible structure are fixed in the collapsed condition to points on a surface, the points generally defining a size of a base of the structure in the erected condition. After fixing the base-defining ends to the points on the surface, a center region of the collapsible structure is lifted to an erected height of the collapsible structure. The collapsible structure is locked in an erected condition after lifting the structure to its erected height using an internal locking arrangement of the collapsible structure.

Collapsible structure with self-locking mechanism and method of erecting a collapsible structure


A tile measuring device includes a reference bar member having a bottom side with a gap gauge extending therefrom. A plurality of shafts extends through the reference bar member and terminating in a flexible contact bar conformable to an obstruction. Each shaft of the plurality of shafts is independently slidable through the reference bar member and held in position by a brake mechanism.

It has long been appreciated, particularly by those skilled in the art of flooring installation, that careful measuring is required during the installation of tiles. While tiles are of fixed dimensions and shape, the surfaces upon which they are laid very seldom are. This typically results in a need to cut tiles, changing their dimensions for placement in specific areas such as at the edges of rooms and the like. There are a multitude of devices employed for measuring tiles to be cut. These operate in almost as many different ways as there are devices. Typically, these devices permit a distance to be measured from the edge of a laid tile to a wall or other obstruction. This measurement can then be employed to cut a tile to fit. These devices are generally effective, but have a number of drawbacks that can reduce efficiency, increase wasted time and materials and cause a great deal of frustration.
When tiles are laid, regardless of the material employed, a space is often left which is later filled with grout. These spaces between tiles need to be uniform to provide an aesthetically pleasing affect. Thus, when measuring the distance between the wall and the laid tile, this space must be added into the calculation. Often overlooked, this error can result in miss-cut tiles and wasted time. Also, in many modern buildings curved walls are being employed. This prevents the use of many measuring devices.
It would be highly advantageous, therefore, to remedy the foregoing and other deficiencies inherent in the prior art.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a new and improved tile measuring device.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a measuring device which will allow tracing of curves.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a measuring device which will accommodate tile spacing.