To measure oxygen saturation in blood, living tissue is irradiated with a first light beam having a first wavelength and a second light beam having a second wavelength. A first electrical signal is generated from the first light beam reflected from or transmitted through the tissue. A second electrical signal is generated from the second light beam reflected from or transmitted through the tissue. The first electrical signal is divided into a plurality of first segments, each including a part of the first electrical signal for a predetermined time period. The second electrical signal is divided into a plurality of second segments, each including a part of the second electrical signal for the predetermined time period. A gradient of a regression line is calculated between every one of the first segments and an associated one of the second segments, thereby obtaining a plurality of gradients.

The present invention relates to pulse oximetry for continuously measuring arterial oxygen saturation (SaO2) in a non-invasive manner by use of changes in arterial blood volume in tissue caused by pulsation, as well as to a pulse oximeter for performing the same. More specifically, the present invention relates to time-segmented pulse oximetry capable of obtaining arterial oxygen saturation with high accuracy, as well as to a pulse oximeter capable of performing the same.
A so-called "pulse oximetry" method currently adopts the following procedures for obtaining arterial oxygen saturation (SaO2):
(1) light beams having different wavelengths (e.g., denoted as i and j) and transmitted through tissue are continuously measured;
(2) a peak and a bottom in pulsation of the light transmitted through the tissue to be measured are determined, and a transmitted light beam at the peak and that at the bottom are respectively defined as Li+ΔLi and Li, Lj+ΔLj and Lj;
(3) ΔA (attenuation change) is calculated from the following expression:ΔAi≡log [(Li+ΔLi)/Li]≈ΔLi/Li; ΔAj≡log [(Lj+ΔLj)/Lj]≈ΔLj/Lj;
(4) Φij (attenuation change ratio) is calculated from the following expression:Φij≡ΔAi/ΔAj; and
(5) since Φij corresponds to SaO2 in a proportion of approximately one to one, Φij is converted into SaO2.
A currently available apparatus for measurement of arterial oxygen saturation employs a conversion table for conversion of Φij into SaO2. In a case where such an apparatus is configured to use two wavelengths of light beams, no specific problems is encountered in using the conversion table. However, in a case of an apparatus which uses three or more wavelengths of light beams so as to enhance measurement accuracy, the conversion must be performed on the basis of calculation formulae obtained theoretically and experimentally.
For instance, Japanese Patent Publication No. 2005-95606A discloses an oximeter which irradiates a living tissue with five light beams which differ in wavelength, as apparatus for continuously measuring arterial oxygen saturation in a non-invasive manner by use of blood volume changes of arterial blood due to pulsation.
Disturbance in transmitted light caused by mechanical disturbance, such as a body motion, has long posed a problem for pulse oximetry. More specifically, when transmitted light is disturbed, appropriate detection of peaks and bottoms of measured pulse waveforms encounters difficulty. In addition, correction of the peaks and bottoms of the measured pulse waveforms is required. When the correction is not performed, time series data pertaining to an arterial oxygen saturation (SaO2) to be obtained in a final step include a problem of an increase in error. In addition, utilization of information other than the values of the peaks and bottoms becomes essential for elimination of artifacts by the body motion.
In a case where body motions of a patient are extremely vigorous, the conventional pulse oximetry based on determination of peaks and bottoms of pulse waveforms of measured transmitted light has been found to be unable to obtain satisfactory measurement results. More specifically, when body motions are vigorous, the peaks and bottoms of the measured waveforms cannot be uniquely determined. Therefore, there arises a problem that even a technique making use of, e.g., base line correction of the measured waveforms, cannot be expected to exert sufficient effects.
A method having conventionally been proposed or adopted as a countermeasure to solve such a problem is a statistical method of estimating an accurate SaO2 value on the basis of data at time points before and after the target point. However, employment of this method includes the following problems:
(1) since a long time delay is developed, detection of, e.g., a start of decrease in SaO2 is delayed; and
(2) since changes in SaO2 are smoothed, even when, e.g., SaO2 falls steeply, the degree of the decrease involves uncertainty.

Time-segmented pulse oximetry and pulse oximeter performing the same


A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device capable of largely increasing the yield and a semiconductor device manufactured by using the method is provided. After a semiconductor layer is formed on a substrate, as one group, a plurality of functional portions with at least one parameter value different from each other is formed in the semiconductor layer for every unit chip area. Then, a subject that is changed depending on the parameter value is measured and evaluated and after that, the substrate is divided for every chip area so that a functional portion corresponding with a given criterion as a result of the evaluation is not broken. Thereby, at least one functional portion corresponding with a given criterion can be formed by every chip area by appropriately adjusting each parameter value.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device having a functional portion with the characteristics being easily changed by an as-manufactured error, and a method of manufacturing the semiconductor device.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Laser (VCSEL), a pair of multilayer film reflectors is formed on a substrate, and an active layer as a light emitting region is provided between the pair of multilayer film reflectors. In one of the multilayer film reflectors, in order to improve efficiency of current injection into the active layer and lower the threshold value current, a current confinement layer having a structure that a current injection region is confined is provided. Further, a post-shaped mesa is formed in the semiconductor layers. An upper electrode is provided on the upper face side of the mesa. A lower electrode is provided on the rear face side of the substrate. An aperture for emitting laser light is provided in the upper electrode. In the VCSEL, a current injected from the upper electrode and the lower electrode is confined by the current confinement layer, and then is injected into the active layer, where light is emitted. While the light is repeatedly reflected by the pair of multilayer film reflectors, the light is emitted from the aperture as laser light.
The foregoing current confinement layer is generally formed by oxidizing an AlAs layer from the side face of the mesa. In the past, for example, the current confinement layer has been formed by controlling the oxidation confinement diameter (diameter of the current injection region as a non-oxidation region) by oxidation time. Otherwise, as described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2001-210908, the current confinement layer has been formed by forming a mesa for monitoring in one wafer, and controlling the oxidation confinement diameter by reflectance change corresponding to the oxidation area in the lamination face of the AlAs layer included in the mesa.
However, the oxidation rate of the AlAs layer largely depends on the thickness of the AlAs layer, the impurity concentration or the like as well as the substrate temperature and the supply flow rate of reactive gas. Therefore, in general, reproducibility of the oxidation confinement diameter is poor, and the oxidation confinement diameter varies even in one wafer face. In the result, even when the foregoing method is used, the error of the oxidation confinement diameter resulting from such poor reproducibility and variation of the oxidation confinement diameter in the wafer face is often larger than the precision necessary for the oxidation confinement diameter (for example, ±0.5 μm or more), leading to lowering of the number of VCSELs (yield) obtained from one wafer.

Semiconductor device and method of manufacturing it


A laser beam generating unit has a semiconductor laser unit having a plurality of beam emitting portions located in the shape of a matrix, and a plurality of optical fibers for individually transmitting laser beam emitted from the beam emitting portions. An optical fiber bundle is formed by binding a plurality of the optical fibers on a side where laser beam emits, and laser beam is emitted through a taper adaptor provided on the side where laser beam emits. Then, laser beam can be transmitted by the optical fibers at a good condition, and can be collected by a beam transmitting path of the adaptor having the thinner diameter with high efficiency and the power density can be raised.

This invention relates to a laser beam generating unit for collecting laser beam emitted from a plurality of beam emitting portions (emitters) of a semiconductor laser in order to utilize for desired usage.
Generally, a semiconductor laser (laser diode: LD) is known as a source of laser beam having high conversion efficiency from electricity into light, and the efficiency of laser beam exceeding 50 percent, and then, a big scale of cooling unit is not necessary. Therefore, the semiconductor laser is utilized in the field of information processing industry since it can be made compact. But, this semiconductor laser has not been used in the field of machining with laser beam since the size of laser beam of this semiconductor laser is 1 mm or lower at the most and only several watt (W) of beam output is expected although the semiconductor laser has high efficiency of laser beam.
In recent years, a semiconductor laser beam collecting machine to be used for machining with laser beam by using a plurality of semiconductor lasers which are one-dimensionally or two-dimensionally arranged has been planned (see FIGS. 1 through 3 of the Japanese patent application (Publication No.H07-168040). This semiconductor laser collecting machine can obtain high output of laser beam having high light density since a plurality of semiconductor lasers are used although output of laser beam from one semiconductor laser is small.
This semiconductor laser beam collecting machine disclosed in this patent application collects laser beam emitted from the respective beam emitting portions which are sources of laser beam of a semiconductor laser substrate through a beam guiding path formed at the substrate so as to raise the output in order to utilize machining with laser beam. The beam guiding path has input ports having the same number as the sources of laser beam at one end, and all of the laser beam received at each input port is transmitted for only one output port which is formed at the other end.
According to the above-mentioned semiconductor laser beam collecting machine, a relatively big basic plate having a beam guiding path is necessary to be separately prepared in order to collect laser beam emitted from a plurality of beam emitting portions. Dew to the presence of such a basic plate, the machine is not made compact.
Then, an attention is paid to such a structure that laser beam is collected from each of beam emitting ends of the optical fiber bundle which is made by binding a plurality of optical fibers without using the above-mentioned substrate. In such a case, the diameter of the bound portion of the optical fiber bundle is big. In order to collect lower output of laser beam from many beam emitting portions and obtain high output of laser beam, the number of the optical fibers increases, and invites power density down. For this reason, it is desired to make the diameter of the optical fiber bundle smaller on the beam emitting side if the optical fibers are used as the laser beam collecting means.
Then, laser beam generating units for collecting laser beam emitted from each of beam emitting portions with high efficiency by a combination of laser beam collecting means and a taper beam transmitting path are still desired.


A method for Fresnel zone imaging is provided. The method comprises identifying a plurality of constructive regions and a plurality of destructive regions in an energy transmitting device and converting the destructive regions to the constructive regions by using an apodization profile. The apodization profile comprises apodization values for each constructive region and destructive region and the apodization values comprise real numbers.

The present invention relates generally to imaging systems, and specifically to Fresnel zone imaging methods in ultrasound imaging systems.
Ultrasound imaging is usually achieved through the use of a transducer array, which is composed of multiple individually addressable elements that are activated in such a way as to form an acoustic beam (beamforming). The beam is of a certain shape and is directed towards specific locations in the imaging medium that suit the particular imaging configuration. The transducer array receives back scattered signals from the imaging medium which are then used to create an ultrasound image.
In most imaging applications, image quality is an important parameter. Typically, image quality metrics include spatial resolution and contrast resolution. Image quality, including resolution and contrast, is directly related to the acoustic beam characteristics. Characteristics of the acoustic beam are in turn determined by the physical properties of the transducer array, the imager's transmit and receive electronics, as well as the electronic phasing or time delays applied to the array elements.
It is desirable to confine the acoustic beam to as small a spatial region as possible. Sidelobes are regions around the main beam where significant acoustic energy is both propagated and sensed. Sidelobes are usually undesirable as they reduce both image resolution and contrast.
Specifically, in Fresnel zone imaging, a transducer can be divided into regions or zones that contribute either constructively or destructively to the focus point, based on the geometric propagation distance between the focus point and the specific point on the transducer being considered. The Fresnel zones simplify the system hardware in two ways. Firstly, it allows larger groupings of elements to use a single time delay. In other words, all the elements within a given zone share the same delay rather than independent time delays for each element. Secondly, especially in optical or similar narrow-band systems, one specific time delay for all constructive zones is used and a different time delay is used for all destructive zones.
In Fresnel zone imaging with cMUT or electrostrictive elements, regions of destructive interference can be converted to regions of constructive interference by applying an apodization profile consisting of discrete, relative apodization weights of −1 and +1 to the destructive and constructive regions respectively. One problem with the above described method in which the weighting of the various regions of the transducer is restricted to the values +1 and −1 is the generation of radiation patterns with a certain sidelobe level.
Accordingly, there is a need to generate a weighting pattern that minimizes the generation of sidelobes while using Fresnel zone imaging techniques.


Lead in coatings on structures can be removed, without creating hazardous waste, by a flame spray process which utilizes a glass composition having high lead solubility, resistance to devitrification, and an expansion coefficient which is substantially different from that of the metal structure. The process comprises flame spraying particles of a glass powder composition onto the lead based coating to form a layer of glass material, permitting the glass layer to cool sufficiently so that it spalls, thereby forming fragments of the glass layer which readily separate from the structure, collecting the glass fragments, and repeating these steps until any organic material in the coating has been pyrolized and removed as part of the fragments, substantially all red lead present in the coating has been reduced to yellow lead, and all of the lead which was in the lead based coating has been removed from the structure by being incorporated into the glass layers. The preferred glass composition comprises at least one glass forming oxide selected from the group consisting of SiO.sub.2 and B.sub.2 O.sub.3 ; at least one intermediate oxide selected from the group consisting of Al.sub.2 O.sub.3, TiO.sub.2, ZnO, PbO, and ZrO.sub.2 ; and at least one glass modifier oxide selected from the group consisting of Na.sub.2 O, K.sub.2 O, CaO, BaO, and NiO.

In the past, many structures have been coated with a primer and/or a paint containing lead oxide. It is frequently desirable that such primer and/or paint coatings be removed from the structure, particularly where the coatings are beginning to peel from the structure. While the paint and primer coatings could physically be removed from the structure by impacting an abrasive material against the structure surface, this could expose the workers and the surrounding environment to a hazardous atmosphere due to the resulting dust formation. While the dust formation could be minimized or contained by simultaneously applying a liquid dust control agent, such as water, extensive efforts would then be required to prevent escape of mist droplets containing lead as well as preventing the escape of the resulting large quantity of liquid containing dispersed lead particles. Such coatings could also be removed by applying a torch flame to the coated surface to disintegrate the coating by combustion of the organic components of the coating. However, the resulting ash, which would contain the lead, would also require extensive collecting and retention measures in order to avoid releasing hazardous waste into the environment. Thus, each of these techniques for the removal of such coatings containing lead can cause the formation of a hazardous waste. A lead containing waste material is considered by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to be hazardous waste if it releases a larger than 5.0 ppm concentration of lead.

Removal of lead based coating by vitrification

The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Army


An improved swashplate assembly of the main rotor of an AH-64 Apache helicopter includes a stationary swashplate and a rotating swashplate and a ball bearing between the swashplates, the ball bearing having an outer ring, an inner ring, two sets of balls between the inner ring and the outer ring, and a wire loop cage between the inner ring and the outer ring. The improvement includes that the inner ring, the outer ring and the balls are formed from an M50 alloy.

Rotary wing aircraft, such as helicopters, provide unique environments for the use of ball bearings, particularly in their rotor systems. For example, the bearings in helicopter swashplates and in rotor blade mounts must be specially designed to provide reliable ongoing use under the type of load and speed conditions that are unique to helicopters. Thus, the use of bearings in other types of machines is nonanalogous to rotary wing aircraft bearings in general and to helicopter bearings in particular. For this reason, bearing designs that are useful in other kinds of machines are not assumed by those of ordinary skill in the art to be suitable for helicopter swashplates, rotor blade mounts, etc.
The ball bearing for the main rotor of a helicopter generally comprises an outer ring, two inner rings and two sets of balls, all made from an alloy designated as CEVM-52100 with a Rockwell hardness of at least HRC 58, where "CEVM" stands for "Consumable Electrode Vacuum Melting." The 52100 alloy nominally contains iron with 0.98-1.10% carbon, 0.25-0.45% manganese, up to 0.025 phosphorous, up to 0.025 sulfur, 0.15-0.30, 32% silicon and 1.30, 32-1.60% chromium by weight. The balls have a diameter of about 1.11 centimeter (cm) (about 7/16 inch (in.)) and there are usually 83 balls per row. The bearing includes a looped wire cage for each row of balls, for maintaining separation between the balls. The wire cage is made from a 17-7 PH iron alloy, which nominally contains about 16.8% chromium, about 0.8% carbon, about 7.3% nickel and about 1.2% aluminum by weight. Among other problems, the bearing suffers from breakage of the wire cage.

Swashplate bearing assembly with enhanced alloys


A high solidity impeller has a number of equally spaced blades, each formed from a sheet that is bent to a continuous cylindrical curve along a roll axis that lags (in the rotation direction) the radius at which the blade is attached to the shaft. The blade also is pitched by rotation around the radius, i.e., the leading edge is raised in the flow direction and the trailing edge is lowered. The roll axis preferably lags the radius by 45.degree.. This arrangement provides a good approximation of a true hydrofoil and results in an excellent reconciliation between interests of material and manufacturing cost vs. pumping efficiency. The blades can be formed by rolling asymmetrically shaped contours cut from a flat sheet. A base member and preferably a connecting arm couple each blade to the shaft. The base member abuts the rolled contour along surfaces referenced to the roll axis, which surfaces can be used as a reference for rolling. The base member is sufficiently thick to accommodate the continuous curve of the blade, and is preferably welded to the rolled sheet. Although the blade contour is asymmetrical when flat, the roll and pitch preferably place the edges of adjacent blades in common radial planes intersecting the rotation axis, such that the impeller occupies a high percentage of the area of its axial projection.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to the field of impellers for moving fluids axially relative to a rotating shaft. In particular, the invention concerns a hydrofoil impeller having blades of plate or sheet material defining a section of a cylindrical surface, whereby the blades can be formed by rolling operations. The blades are pitched relative to the axis of the cylindrical surface and relative to the radius of the impeller shaft, and encompass a high percentage of the flow cross section.
2. Prior Art
Various forms of impellers are known for generating an axial flow in a fluid with rotation of one or more impeller arrangements on a shaft. The shape of the impeller blade, and in particular the pitch of the blade as a function of radius, can be subjected to mathematical analysis. At shorter radii, the linear velocity of the blade in the fluid is less than at longer radii. Accordingly, the blade is pitched continuously at a steeper angle adjacent to the impeller shaft and at a shallower angle proceeding radially outwardly.
In addition, there is more area available for the impeller blade at larger radii than at smaller radii. The area, pitch, shape and thickness of the blades, and potentially the shapes of the leading, trailing and radial outside edges, are varied to achieve flow characteristics and other attributes that are desirable in a particular application.
An impeller can be cast with blades of complex shape, pitch and varying thickness. However, this results in a heavy structure. Any cast impeller is expensive, and a large cast impeller may be prohibitively expensive. Costs are reduced by producing the blades separately, and attaching the blades to a hub arrangement on the shaft. The blades can be made from solid plates of uniform thickness, bent to approximate the shape needed for the application. The application may require any combination of axial, rotary, tangential and/or radial flow patterns. The present invention, however, concerns an impeller with curved plate blades, optimized for substantially exclusively axial flow.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,147,437 --Jonqueres and 4,468,130 --Weetman teach variations on the shape and character of plate blades for axial flow impellers, generally known as hydrofoil impeller blades. Such impellers are useful for mixing and aerating operations, in particular producing a circulating axially downward flow along the center line of a tank, with an axially upward flow around the periphery. Gas may be sparged into the e.g., below the impeller, where the gas bubbles rise against the axially downward flow. One object of impeller blade design is to obtain the greatest efficiency of fluid movement, which efficiency can be expressed as the volume of fluid moved per unit of power expended to rotate the impeller. Another object of impeller design is to reduce the cost of manufacture without adversely affecting the efficiency of the impeller or the attributes of the impeller for use in its particular mixing application.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,046,245 and 4,896,971, both to Weetman et al, concern the design and production of high solidity impellers using plate blades. This form of impeller is useful in sparging applications because the blades, as viewed in plan (axially along the rotation axis), occupy a large proportion of the area in which the impeller rotates, and thus present an obstruction to gas bubbles that rise in opposition to the axial flow.
A plate blade construction presents design challenges related to production efficiency and flow efficiency. The blades are cut from flat plates, and must somehow be formed to obtain the necessary pitch variation, wherein the pitch is steeper adjacent the shaft and shallower proceeding radially outwardly. This would appear to require a complex bending operation. Furthermore, it is advantageous if the curved impeller blade can be attached to the shaft of the impeller using a flat element or blade portion that can be bolted or welded simply, for example to a flat connecting arm or the like that protrudes radially from the impeller hub.
In the foregoing Weetman et al U.S. Pat. No. 5,046,245, an attempt to resolve these apparently conflicting design objects is made by forming an isolated bend along a diagonal of a flat blade, thereby providing flat blade portions with a bend between them. The blade is attached to the impeller hub via a flat connecting arm and a backer plate that attach at one of the flat portions by bolts. This solution is advantageous from a production standpoint in that a flat surface is provided for attachment and the bending operation is straightforward. However, the resulting impeller blade is a poor approximation of the optimal hydrofoil shape. Accordingly, the impeller is not particularly efficient with respect to the volume of fluid moved vs. power expended to rotate the impeller.

Continuous curve high solidity hydrofoil impeller


The pure enantiomers of alpha-lipoic acid are obtained by formation of the diastereomeric salt pairs with the optical antipodes of alpha-methylbenzylamine in solution.

Alpha-lipoic acid is 1,2-dithiolane-3-pentanoic acid (thioctic acid).
As a coenzyme of alpha-ketonic acid dehydrogenases, alpha-lipoic acid is widespread in plants and animals; the naturally occurring form has the R-configuration. However, when "alpha-lipoic acid" is referred to below, it is always an alpha-lipoic acid of unknown stereochemical composition.
Alpha-lipoic acid is pharmacologically active and has anti-inflammatory and antinociceptive (analgesic) as well as cytoprotective properties.
A series of salts of alpha-lipoic acid are known, for example salts of alpha-lipoic acid with optically active bases such as salts with the basic amino acids arginine and lysine. (See Spanish patent No. 313,056). Neither the reaction of L-arginine with D,L-alpha-lipoic acid nor the reaction of DL-lysine with D,L-alpha-lipoic acid yields separable diastereomeric salt pairs.
Known syntheses of enantiomerically pure alpha-lipoic acid always include chiral primary steps which are split in the course of the synthesis. In Walton, Wagner, Peterson, Holly and Folkers (J. Amer. Chem. Soc. 76 (1954), page 4748 et seq.) the intermediate product 7-carbethoxy-3-acetylthioheptanoic acid is split with L-ephedrine. Another process published by the same authors in J. Amer. Chem. Soc. 77 (1955) page 5144 involves the same intermediate product. Japanese patent 7970 describes the addition compound of alpha-lipoic acid with beta-cyclodextrin without mentioning the separation into enantiomeric compounds.

Preparation and use of salts of the pure enantiomers of alpha-lipoic acid


A method and apparatus for reducing the workload of titrating drug to effect while leaving clinician users in control of a related procedure is described. A drug delivery device is controlled to achieve a target drug concentration at a selected site in the patient or a predetermined infusion rate waveform. The time profile of the target drug concentration or a predetermined infusion rate waveform is controlled by a drug state model that uses clinical heuristics to implement safe, pre-defined changes in the target drug concentration or infusion rate and user-commanded changes in target drug concentration or infusion rate. The invention allows time to assess the response of the patient to changes in drug level by making small incremental and conservative changes in drug level over time.

Titration of a drug is commonly used by clinicians to achieve a desired effect. In general, variability in patient response to titrated drugs may be expected because an identical amount of drug may produce widely dissimilar effects in different patients. During a typical titration, therefore, clinicians may give an initial dose of a drug and observe a patient's reaction. If the desired effect is not achieved within an expected time frame (e.g., if a dose is too weak), additional increments of the drug may be administered. Each additional administration may be followed by an observation period until the desired effect is ultimately achieved. The natural variability of patient response to drugs has maintained titration as a time-honored process in the armamentarium of the clinician. The traditional titration process, however, is time-consuming and labor-intensive and may be vulnerable to human error.
When a clinician performs a painful procedure for a patient, administration and careful monitoring, or supervision of administration, of sedative and/or analgesic agents may be required. Thus, the clinician may often be physically and/or cognitively multi-tasked, thereby potentially increasing the risks of mistakes.
The traditional manual titration process may be multi-stepped and may generally be summarized as follows: (a) selecting an initial, conservative bolus dose of a given drug, based on, among others, the patient's demographic data such as age, gender, weight, height, from, among others, personal memory, a manual and drug insert, (b) delivering an initial bolus of a given drug, (c) waiting a certain time period before assessing an effect or effects of the administered drug, (d) assessing the effect or effects of the drug (possibly in the absence of equipment to objectively and consistently monitor the patient's physiological or clinical parameter(s) affected by the drug), (e) if required, selecting the size of a supplemental bolus to deliver, (f) manually delivering the supplemental bolus of given drug and (g) repeating steps (c) to (f) as required.
On the other hand, computer-controlled drug delivery systems may essentially take clinicians out of the "cognitive loop" of decision making with regard to drug administration. This "all or nothing" aspect of entirely computer-controlled drug delivery systems has hindered the acceptance of these systems by clinicians.
Rate controlled infusion (RCI) describes an infusion mode whereby clinicians define an infusion in terms of volume or mass of drug per unit time or, when normalized to patient weight, in terms of volume or mass of drug per patient weight per unit time. Generally, when using RCI, clinicians will give a loading dose infusion at a higher infusion rate to rapidly attain a desired drug level within the patient's body for a short period of time and then lower the infusion rate so that the desired drug level is maintained.
Target controlled infusion (TCI) allows clinicians to work in terms of target or effect site concentrations (ESC) instead of actual infusion rates. TCI algorithms use a pharmacokinetic (PK) model to predict target or effect site concentrations of a given drug at a given site in a patient with given demographic data such as weight, height, age and gender. Therefore, the infusion rate time profile or waveform in a TCI infusion is not constant as in RCI but generally varies with time to attain a desired target concentration.

Apparatuses and methods for titrating drug delivery


A tagged packet carries a tag which is attached to the main body of the packet by a thread. The thread comprises polypropylene so as to be attachable by heat sealing to the body. The body is made up of layers of sheet material also comprising thermoplastic material to allow the body to be closed by heat seals. The thread is secured to the face of the body at one edge at the same time as that edge is heat sealed and the heating for the thread seal is applied from the opposite face of the body whereas the adjacent regions of edge seal spaced from the thread has the heating applied through the first face. This arrangement gives closer control of the different conditions required for securing the thread and for sealing together only the sheet material of the body.

This invention relates to a method and means for performing heat sealing operations.
The heat sealing of a pair of webs containing thermoplastics material by a pair of clamping jaws, at least one of which is heated, is a well known technique. It is also known to employ threads made of a thermoplastics material which are heated while being pressed into place to secure them by adhesion of the softened material.
While both these processes have been practised successfully in themselves, problems can arise if it is required to secure a thread in place on a heat-sealed seam. The thermoplastic thread if melted may shrink away from the heat sealing device and so be attached, at best, only insecurely. If this does not happen, it may stick to the heating device in contact with it, again giving an insecure attachment but also contaminating the apparatus. The use of threads made of a mixture of thermoplastic and non-thermoplastic materials might avoid these problems but it is found they cannot in any case adhere securely by heat to a paper web.

Apparatus for heat sealing of a thread to a web


Optical waveguide systems and methods are described. In one aspect, a display system includes a planar acoustic cavity having a fundamental resonant acoustic mode. The acoustic cavity includes an array of optical waveguides and an array of acoustic transducers. Each of the optical waveguides includes a respective cladding surrounding a liquid-filled core. The array of acoustic transducers is operable to generate acoustic waves that propagate in the acoustic cavity across the cores of the optical waveguides.

Until relatively recently, the vast majority of displays were built around cathode ray tube (CRT) technology, in which beams of electrons excite phosphors at the screen end of a glass tube. In a CRT display, the length of the glass tube increases with the width of the screen. As a result CRT displays tend to be large and bulky. In an effort to produce large display screens without the bulkiness of CRT displays, a wide variety of different flat panel display technologies have been developed. Among the most promising of these technologies have been liquid crystal, gas plasma, vacuum fluorescent, electroluminescent, and optical waveguide technologies. Indeed, liquid crystal and gas plasma displays are rapidly overtaking CRT displays for television and computer display applications.
Optical waveguide based display systems offer a promising alternative to liquid crystal and gas plasma display systems. For example, optical waveguide displays can be fabricated using lighter and less expensive materials and components than liquid crystal and gas plasma displays.
Some optical waveguide display systems are formed from an array of optical waveguides that include a series of taps along their lengths. The taps are configured to remove light from the waveguides at the pixel locations of the display. The taps may be scanned sequentially to emit visible images from the display. Light tapping techniques based on electro-optic, thermo-optic, and liquid crystal effects have been proposed.
Recently, a display apparatus has been proposed that includes an array of optical fibers with liquid-filled cores and an array of elongate piezoelectric elements. The piezoelectric elements are wrapped around respective pixel regions of the optical fibers. The piezoelectric elements generate acoustic waves that are focused onto the centers of the optical fibers at the pixel regions to induce cavitation in the liquid filled cores. The bubbles that are produced by the cavitation scatter light out of the liquid-filled cores to produce visible light at the pixel locations. In this approach, the acoustic waves only propagate in the optical fibers. In general, acoustic waves cannot be focused onto regions that are larger than the acoustic wavelength. Therefore, in order to achieve any type of acoustic wave focusing in this display approach, the acoustic wavelength should be no greater than the optical fiber diameter. The optical fibers in this display approach are 200–300 μm (micrometers) in diameter, in which case the lowest acoustic frequency is on the order of 5 MHz, assuming the optical fibers are filled with water. The acoustic power needed for cavitation (and the associated operating temperature) increases exponentially with acoustic frequency. Therefore, it is desirable to reduce the operating acoustic frequencies in such optical waveguide display systems.

Optical waveguide display systems and methods

Avago Technologies Fiber IP (Singapore) Pte. Ltd.


The present disclosure provides systems for predicting semiconductor reliability. In an embodiment a method for predicting the semiconductor reliability includes receiving a degradation parameter input of a semiconductor device and using a degradation equation to determine a plurality of bias dependent slope values for degradation over a short time period according to the degradation parameter input. The plurality of slope values include at least two different slope values for degradation over time. The system accumulates the plurality of slope values and projects the accumulated slope values over a long time period to determine a stress effect for the semiconductor device.

The semiconductor integrated circuit (IC) industry has experienced rapid growth. Technological advances in IC materials and design have produced generations of ICs where each generation has smaller and more complex circuits than the previous generation. However, these advances have increased the complexity of processing and manufacturing ICs and, for these advances to be realized, similar developments in IC processing and manufacturing are needed. In the course of integrated circuit evolution, functional density (i.e., the number of interconnected devices per chip area) has generally increased while geometry size (i.e., the smallest component (or line) that can be created using a fabrication process) has decreased. This scaling down process generally provides benefits by increasing production efficiency and lowering associated costs. Such scaling-down also produces a relatively high power dissipation value, which may be addressed by using low power dissipation devices such as complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) devices.
It is generally understood that circuit devices, such as NMOS or PMOS transistors degrade with use over time. As an example of degradation, leakage may increase and/or mobility may decrease as the device is used over time. This problem is multiplied as device size is further reduced. To determine a useful life for the device, designers often use a device model simulator, such as the well known SPICE computer simulation system to input varying parameters for the device. After running the simulation of the proposed device, the designers may use the outputted information from the simulation and modify parameters to improve upon the device where needed.
The traditional simulation systems assume the degradation indexes can be mapped as an age factor. A circuit device's age is generally a linear function of stress time. The simulation age of the device (ΔAge) increases during operation of the circuit. Age duration is traditionally calculated from a direct integral of the age. For example, traditional age calculations may be as follows:
            D      =                        (          Age          )                n              ,          Age      =              Age                          (          t          )                      ,          n      =      const                  Δ                                      Age        =                  ∫        0        tran_time                                    Age                                (            t            )                                            ⅆ          t                                Age      new        =                  Age        old            +              Δ                                                            Age          ·                      dagetime            tran_time                                          D      new        =                  (                  Age          new                )            n      Where D is the degradation of the device and where this traditional system assumes that D vs. time has a constant slope (n). Thus, the system extrapolates dt(tran_time) to T to predict a stress effect for the device. Given that the age is a linear function of stress time, the estimated age after a given long stress time may be obtained by direct linear extrapolation. In other words, contemporary simulation systems use an age constant (constant n) and extrapolate a value to predict a stress effect on the device being simulated. As such, n is assumed as being constant and independent of the bias condition of the device. Thus, this type of system incorrectly simulates bias dependant conditions of aging for circuit devices.
Thus, it is desirable to have a circuit device reliability simulation system addressing one or more of the issues discussed above by having an improved system to predict device reliability.

Circuit device reliability simulation system

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd.


A load pin has an end portion, and a vane has a base with a cutout in the base, wherein the end portion of the load pin engages a wall portion of the cutout in the base of the vane, thereby inhibiting any movement of the vane in a particular direction.

The subject matter disclosed herein relates to gas turbine engines and, more particularly, to a load pin for use in conjunction with a cutout formed in the bottom of a square base vane to lock the vane in place within the compressor case of a gas turbine engine.
A number of square base stator vanes or airfoils are typically loaded circumferentially into a compressor casing through a cutout in the casing. Due to the aerodynamic loads on the airfoils, the stators are commonly loaded into the casing in the counter-clockwise (CCW) direction, as viewed forward looking aft (FLA). Since these stators are essentially stacked up circumferentially without any of the stators being locked in place within the casing by any separate physical means, the cumulative aerodynamic load also increases in the CCW direction. Currently, there is no limit to the number of vanes that load up in either half of the casing. That is, all of the stator vanes in the upper casing half will load up on the vane at the upper casing half left hand joint (as viewed FLA). Similarly, all of the vanes in the lower casing half will load up on the vane at the lower casing half right hand joint (as viewed FLA). Strain gage test data on the stator vanes shows that the vibratory responses are highest at the vanes with the highest cumulative load. For the upper half of the compressor casing, this is the vane at the left hand joint between the upper and lower casing halves (9 o'clock position, as viewed FLA). The lowest vibratory responses are at the vanes with the lowest cumulative load. For the upper half of the compressor casing, this is the vane at the right hand joint between the upper and lower casing halves (3 o'clock position, as viewed FLA). Furthermore, it has been shown that the vibratory response levels increase linearly in the CCW direction.

Load pin for compressor square base stator and method of use


A two side display device includes: a flexible substrate including a first substrate part, a second substrate part under the first substrate part, and a bending part coupling the first substrate part to the second substrate part; a first display panel on the first substrate part and configured to display a first image in a first direction; a second display panel under the second substrate part and configured to display a second image in a second direction opposite the first direction; and a driving chip coupled to the first substrate part.

1. Field
The described technology relates generally to a two side display device and a manufacturing method thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
A display device may include a liquid crystal display (LCD) or an organic light emitting diode (OLED) display capable of displaying an image on one surface of the display device. A two side display device is capable of displaying an image on two surfaces of the display device.
Two side display devices using an LCD may be made by positioning two display modules back-to-back, with each of the two display modules including a display panel, a backlight unit (BLU), and a driving chip (driver IC). Alternatively, a two side display device may include one BLU capable of emitting light in two directions to reduce the overall thickness of the two side display device. Further, a two side display device may include one BLU capable of emitting light in two directions and one driver IC, shared by two display panels that are connected by a flexible printed circuit (FPC).
However, two side display devices with two display panels are difficult to realize a thin thickness, and the process for attaching two display panels together increases manufacturing costs.
The above information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the described technology and therefore it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known in this country to a person of ordinary skill in the art.

Two side display device and manufacturing method thereof

Abstract: According to exemplary embodiments, first and second display panels are positioned on the same surface of a flexible substrate and configured to display images in opposing directions by bending the flexible substrate, which may reduce the thickness and manufacturing cost of the two side display device.


The invention relates to a method for inhibiting an ADAM protease, comprising inhibiting binding to an integrin-binding loop of a disintegrin domain in the ADAM protease. Also provided are cyclic peptides which inhibit binding to an integrin-binding loop of an ADAM protease, as well as associated pharmaceutical compositions, uses and methods of treatment.

ADAMs (a disintegrin and metalloprotease) or MDCs (metalloprotease disintegrin cysteine-rich proteins) form a family of type I transmembrane proteins. Owing to their multidomain structure consisting of pro-, metalloprotease, disintegrin-like, cystein-rich, EGF-like, transmembrane and cytoplasmic domains, ADAMs are capable of four physiological functions: cell adhesion, cell fusion, cell signalling and proteolysis.
ADAMs are implicated in physiological processes such as fertilisation, myogenesis and neurogenesis, and are also involved in a number of pathological processes by releasing cytokines and their receptors under inflammatory conditions (see for example Moss and Bartsch, 2004). To date, 40 members are known in different species (table of ADAMs on http colon-slash-slash www.people.virginia.edu/;jw7g/). Approximately half of these ADAMs contain the catalytic consensus sequence HEXXHHXXGXXHD (SEQ ID NO:1) in their metalloprotease domains and are therefore predicted to be catalytically active. Proteolysis of membrane-anchored precursor proteins is a key event in signalling cascades (Blobel, 2005) and this process has been termed ectodomain shedding (Peschon et al., 1998). A number of ADAM substrates have been defined either by their physiological role or by their cellular localisation (Seals and Courtneidge, 2003; Moss and Bartsch, 2004; Blobel, 2005). So far, no consensus sequence on the substrate side has been reported, making prediction of potential cleavage sites difficult. Rather, ADAMs recognise a structural footprint on the extracellular part of the membrane protein, and it is assumed that cleavage occurs in the juxtamembraneous regions of these membrane proteins.
One particular area of research interest is the ADAM family member ADAM8, originally identified as MS2 or CD156 on mouse macrophages (Yoshida et al., 1990). ADAM8 is expressed in several tissues, such as thymus, cartilage, bone, brain and spinal cord, during embryonic development. As embryonic development of ADAM8-deficient mice appears normal, ADAM8 does not seem to be essential for developmental processes (Kelly et al., 2005). Rather, it is more likely that ADAM8 has a specific function in cytokine response which is reflected by its distinct expression in immune cells like B-cells, leukocytes, neutrophils, macrophages, and dendritic cells. In response to inflammatory stimuli such as lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and tumour necrosis factor a (TNF-α), ADAM8 expression is upregulated in most immune cells. In addition, ADAM8 is upregulated in the central nervous system (CNS) under inflammatory conditions in activated glia cells—astrocytes and microglia—indicating its involvement in neuron-glia signalling, in particular in neuroinflammatory disorders (Schlomann et al., 2000). Similarly to glial cells, ADAM8 is expressed in neurons at low levels, and expression is induced by TNF-α, suggesting that under inflammatory conditions in the CNS, neuronal ADAM8 activity is significantly increased (Schlomann et al., 2000).
In the lung, ADAM8 is upregulated under experimental induction of allergic asthma by inflammatory cytokines (King et al., 2004), suggesting that ADAM8 plays a role in the pathogenesis of allergic asthma. The induction of experimental asthma in ADAM8 deficient mice almost suppresses the asthmatic phenotype, arguing for an essential role of ADAM8 in the pathogenesis of allergic asthma.
All these findings underline the importance of ADAM8 in inflammatory processes and the necessity to inhibit ADAM8 activity under those pathological conditions where ADAM8 activity has detrimental effects.
Recent attention has focussed on ADAM8 as a molecule upregulated in various tumours. ADAM8 is considered a prognostic marker for lung adenocarcinomas (Ishikawa et al., 2004) and renal cell carcinomas (Roemer et al., 2004). In addition, in brain tumours such as glioblastoma, oligoastrocytoma, and ependymoma, ADAM8 expression was increased compared to normal brain controls, and ADAM8 expression in glioblastoma correlates with malignancy and invasive activity (Wildeboer et al., 2006). In B-cells, ADAM8 cleaves the low-affinity IgE receptor (CD23, Fc′RII) suggesting a role in immune modulation (Fourie et al., 2003). Thus ADAM8 is implicated in allergy and inflammation by ectodomain shedding. A number of substrates of ADAM8 and their corresponding cleavage sites are known (Amour et al., 2000; Schlomann et al., 2002; Fourie et al., 2003; Naus et al., 2004, Naus et al., 2006).
Accordingly, inhibition of ADAM proteases is an attractive therapeutic target for many diseases. For example, WO 01/09189 discloses methods for diagnosing or treating neoplastic cell growth (e.g. certain cancers) involving agents which target ADAM8. WO 2005/090991 discloses methods for diagnosing or treating non-small cell lung cancer using agents such an ADAM8 siRNA that reduces expression of the ADAM8 gene. WO 2004/024089 discloses treating diseases associated with pathological neovascularisation (such as cancer, diabetic retinopathy and psoriasis) using agents which inhibit ADAMS or ADAM15. WO 01/94377 discloses that ADAM8 is also a therapeutic target for the treatment of allergy and asthma, whereas ADAM15 is a target for the treatment of osteoarthritis and atherosclerosis. The TNF-α-converting enzyme TACE (ADAM17) is a target for the treatment of inflammatory diseases including rheumatoid arthritis and ulcerative colitis (WO 97/35538 and Sekut et al. 1998, Expert Opin. Invest. Drugs. 7:1825-1839).
However, a number of the methods which have been identified to date for inhibiting metalloproteases such as ADAMs suffer from serious drawbacks. For instance, hydroxamate compounds such as marimastat and batimastat (BB-94) are typically broad-spectrum inhibitors and suffer from a lack of specificity for particular ADAMs. Consequently these compounds have shown deleterious side effects in clinical trials, which seriously restricts their usefulness as therapeutic agents. Therefore there is still a need for improved and more specific methods and reagents for inhibiting ADAM proteases, in particular for treating diseases such as cancer, inflammatory conditions and allergy.

Cyclic peptides as ADAM protease inhibitors


A solar cell includes semiconductor substrate of a first conductivity type; first semiconductor layer having a first conductivity type; second semiconductor layer having a second conductivity type; first electrode; second electrode; and insulating layer. First semiconductor layer and second semiconductor layer are formed on rear surface. When one end portion of insulating layer which is formed on first semiconductor layer and which is on a side close to first electrode is defined as first insulating-layer end portion and another end portion of insulating layer on a side close to second electrode is defined as second insulating-layer end portion in arrangement direction x, a distance from end point of second-semiconductor-layer end portion in contact with rear surface to second insulating-layer end portion in arrangement direction x is shorter than a distance from end point to first insulating-layer end portion in arrangement direction x.

1. Field of the Invention
This disclosure relates to a solar cell of a rear junction type in which an n-type semiconductor layer and a p-type semiconductor layer are formed on a rear surface of a semiconductor substrate and also relates to a method for manufacturing the solar cell.
2. Description of Related Art
A solar cell can convert clean and unlimitedly-supplied solar energy directly into electric energy and is therefore expected to be a new energy source.
A solar cell in which an n-type semiconductor layer and a p-type semiconductor layer are formed on a rear surface of a semiconductor substrate, or a so-called rear junction type solar cell, has been conventionally known (For example, see Document 1).
FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of conventional rear junction type solar cell 100. As shown in FIG. 1, in solar cell 100, n-type semiconductor layer 120 and p-type semiconductor layer 130 are formed on a rear surface of n-type semiconductor substrate 110. Insulating layer 140 is formed to be laid on n-type semiconductor layer 120 and p-type semiconductor layer 130. Short circuit between p-side electrode 150p and n-side electrode 150n is prevented by forming isolation grooves 160 for p-side electrodes 150p and n-side electrodes 150n on insulating layer 140.    Document 1: Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2009-200267

Solar cell and method for manufacturing solar cell

PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CO., LTD.


A stencil printing paper and a process for perforating and engraving the same having the advantages in that the production of the stencil printing paper is easy, the resulting production cost can be thereby reduced and there is no generation of any problem at a time of stencil-making. In a stencil printing paper constituted by laminating a solvent-soluble resin layer to a porous substrate, the present invention comprises a stencil printing paper containing an acetalized polyvinyl alcohol having an acetalization degree of 1-70 mol % and a process for perforating and engraving the stencil printing paper by a mixed solvent containing water and an alcohol type solvent.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a stencil printing sheet and a method for stencil-making the same. Specifically, it relates to a stencil printing sheet having a solvent-soluble resin layer and its stencil-making method.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As a stencil printing sheet, a heat-sensitive stencil sheet has conventionally been known which is obtained by superposing a thermoplastic resin film on a porous substrate and adhering to each other. As for methods for preparing heat-sensitive stencil sheet, there have been known the following methods, for example, (1) a method for stencil-making by using a heat-generating device of a flush lamp, infrared lamp or others, superposing a hand-written manuscript or preliminary prepared manuscript on a heat-sensitive sheet, and melting and perforating a thermoplastic resin film by the generated heat from the device described above, (2) a method for stencil-making by using a thermal head for generating a letter image information converted into an electric signal as a dotting heat, bringing a heat-sensitive stencil sheet in contact with the thermal head, and melting and perforating the thermoplastic resin. However, since the methods for stencil-making described above require a series of complicated processes for bringing a light-absorbed and heat-generated manuscript or thermal head in contact with a heat-sensitive stencil sheet, conveying the heat to the thermoplastic resin film in the heat-sensitive stencil sheet to melt the thermoplastic resin film, and subsequently contracting the melted material so as to perforate the thermoplastic resin film, there were some problems, for example, (1) a perforation failure is produced due to the bad contact between a thermoplastic resin film and a manuscript or thermal head for absorbing the heat; (2) adhesion failure is produced due to the nonuniformity in contact pressure of the thermal head, or shrinkage is produced in the heat-sensitive stencil sheet; (3) transfer failure of the heat-sensitive stencil sheet is produced by the melted material of the thermoplastic resin being adhered to the thermal head; (4) printing failure is produced since the melted material is left in the perforated portion and the passage of the ink is prevented; and others.
In recent years, a further improvement in quality of heat-sensitive stencil sheet is demanded. It is demanded to provide such a heat-sensitive stencil sheet that satisfies the smoothness of a thermoplastic resin film, the separating property of the thermoplastic resin film from the manuscript or thermal head, the melting property and the shrinkability of a thermoplastic resin film due to heat, the adhesive strength between a thermoplastic resin film and a porous substrate, and the mechanical strength and abrasion of the porous substrate, and therefore, the condition for producing heat-sensitive stencil sheet becomes complicated and there was the problem that the production cost was accordingly increased.

Stencil printing sheet and process for stencil making the same


With a support structure (30) for floor plates (32) elongated frieze members (20) meet together in the vicinity of their ends and form individual mutually connected frames (31). The frames (31) are arranged at a separation from a mounting surface (21) of the support structure (30) via spacer elements (16) and hold floor plates (32). The mutually meeting ends of the frieze members (20) have sidewardly disposed angle brace components (10, 11) by means of which the individual frieze members (20) are connected to each other in a detachable fashion with the assistance of connecting elements (15). The spacer elements (16) are attached to the angle brace components (10, 11) in an adjustable and detachable fashion. In this manner adjustment of the horizontal orientation of the floor plates (32) is also possible after complete assembly of the support structure (30). The support structure (30) is permanent and weather-resistant.

The present invention concerns a support structure for floor plates with which elongated frieze members meet at their ends to form individual mutually connected frames which are disposed at a separation from a mounting surface of the support structure by means of spacer elements and which hold the floor plates.
A support structure of this type for floor plates has become known in the art through the brochure "Double flooring" of the company Mahle GmbH from March 1995.
When introducing a floor covering onto a floor of a building, which, for example, is constructed from concrete or stone plates, a support structure is normally utilized which facilitates the introduction of a floor covering above the floor in the form of a second double flooring. This is done for a plurality of reasons. For example, a flooring made from concrete or stone has a rough surface and leaves a cold and hard impression on the observer. The installation of a second flooring facilitates an improved optical and esthetic effect. Cables, leads, pipes and the like are often disposed in or above the floor and must also be covered.
The installation of floor plates with the assistance of support structures is, in particular, done for terraces, balconies, in winter gardens, and in exhibition halls and rooms. Towards this end, on the one hand, a good resistance to weather conditions on the part of the support structure and, on the other hand, a rapid and easy installation of the support structure are desirable.
The support structure for floor plates which has become known in the art through the brochure of the company Mahle utilizes individual support elements onto which frieze members can be attached. These frieze members form a frame or grid for mounting the floor plates which is difficult to screw together. The support elements have, on the one hand, a support function and, on the other hand, serve as spacer elements which can be directed longitudinally facing the mounting surface of the support structure. In this fashion unevenness in the flooring can be compensated for so that the floor plates always are in a horizontal position. Disadvantageously, the length of the support elements can only be adjusted from below so that the adjustment of the length of the spacing bolts can only be done when the floor plates are removed and/or when portions of the support structure are disassembled. As a result it is difficult and expensive to precisely install a plurality of coplanar floor plates.
Since the support elements of the conventional support construction have only limited intrinsic strength, an additional attachment of the support structure to the side walls is usually necessary. The support structure can therefore not be assembled as a freely self-supporting floor covering on only one portion of the floor.
In other conventional support structures for floor platings known from the journal "Schoner Wohnen" (Gruner+Jahr Publishing House) volume 8, 1995, a floor grid made of wood is utilized with which the individual grid members are attached to each other using nails and dowel means. The floor grid is, for example, installed on a gravel bed or on a stone floor for supporting a floor covering comprising individual floor plates. The individual components of the support structure which are connected to each other in this manner do not, however, guarantee that the floor plates maintain their precise orientation over a long period of time under wear conditions. In the event that floor plates made of wood are utilized, there is always the danger of damage to the floor plates caused by moisture collecting below the floor plates.
Floor plates made, for example, from stone or ceramic are also directly connected with the ground using mortar and grouting for terrace and balcony applications so that there is no free space available between the ground and the floor plating. If dampness then penetrates between the floor plating and the ground as a result of weather conditions, same can lead to stresses and strains between the floor plating and the ground so that crack formation and damage to the floor plating results. This occurs in particular in winter under freezing conditions when the moisture below the floor plating freezes and the ice expands. As a result repair of the floor plating must always be carried out and is unavoidable.
It is therefore the purpose of the present invention to further improve the conventional support structure for floor plating in such a fashion that adjustable horizontal orientation of the floor plates is also possible following complete assembly of the support structure, with the support structure being weather resistant and permanent.


Aspects of the disclosure provide a memory device. For example, the memory device can include a memory array, a bitline and a buffer. The memory array can include a plurality of memory strings. The memory strings can be divided into a first memory string group and a second memory string group. The bitline can include a first bitline segment coupled to the first memory string group and a second bitline segment coupled to the second memory string group. The first bitline segment can be disposed between the first memory string group and the buffer and be connected to the buffer through a first conduction path. The second bitline segment can be disposed between the second memory string group and the buffer and be connected to the buffer through a second conduction path.

Semiconductor memory devices can be categorized into volatile memory devices and non-volatile memory devices. Generally, volatile memory devices lose data when power is off, while non-volatile memory devices can retain stored data even when power is disconnected. In order to achieve higher data storage density, semiconductor manufactures developed vertical device technologies, such as three dimensional (3D) NAND flash memory technology, and the like. Such 3D NAND flash memory is a kind of non-volatile memory device. A multi-plane NAND flash memory can have multiple planes, each of which can include a plurality of blocks. Data stored in the blocks can be read and buffered in page buffers.

Page buffer circuit with bit line select transistor


A thermal transfer image-receiving sheet which has excellent printability such as high printing sensitivity and which is not curled greatly when stored even in a high-temperature and/or high-humidity environment.. In the thermal transfer image-receiving sheet in which at least a coloring-material-receptive layer 2 (which will be the face of the image-receiving sheet), a resin layer 3 having minute voids, a support 4, and a backing layer 5 useful for preventing curling are successively laminated in the mentioned order, the backing layer is formed as a laminate of at least two layers 5a and 5b made from different resins. For instance, in the case where a polypropylene film having minute voids is used as the resin layer 3 having minute voids, it is preferable to form the backing layer 5 by the combination use of a polyethylene layer whose behavior in shrinkage is relatively similar to that of the polypropylene film having minute voids, especially a high-density polyethylene layer excellent in water vapor barrier characteristics, and a polypropylene layer excellent in thermal stability, by taking the balance between the total thickness of the layers provided on the surface of the support and the thickness of the backing layer into consideration.

Heretofore, among various thermal transfer recording methods, a heat-sensitive sublimation-type transfer printing method, and a heat-sensitive melt transfer printing method have been widely employed. The heat-sensitive sublimation-type transfer printing method is such that an image is produced, by the use of a heating device such as a thermal head whose heat generation is controlled according to image information, on a thermal transfer image-receiving sheet by transferring a sublimable dye, coloring material, contained in a sublimable dye layer provided on a thermal transfer sheet (dye donor sheet).
In this heat-sensitive sublimation-type transfer printing method, the amount of a dye to be transferred to form each dot can be controlled by the application of heat in an extremely short time. Further, a dye, which is excellent in transparency, is used as a coloring material, so that the image formed is very clear, and, at the same time, excellent in the reproducibility and gradation of half-tone. For this reason, there can be obtained, by this printing method, extremely precise images with high quality, comparable to full-colored images obtainable by photography using silver salts.
As a thermal transfer image-receiving sheet (hereinafter sometimes referred to as "image-receiving sheet") for use in such a heat-sensitive sublimation-type transfer printing method, a sheet prepared by forming a dye-receptive layer on a substrate sheet is generally used.
As the properties required for this image-receiving sheet, not only high printing sensitivity but also resistance to the curling of the image-receiving sheet itself (curling resistance) is important. For this reason, when the image-receiving sheet is prepared in sheet form, there has been adopted a method in which the curling of the image-receiving sheet is prevented by symmetrically providing a plastic sheet or the like on both surfaces of the substrate sheet such as a plastic sheet or paper, or a method in which curling resistance is imparted to the image-receiving sheet by providing a curling-preventing layer made from a resin or the like on the back surface of the substrate sheet.
In order to prevent curling, there has also been employed, for example, a method in which a polyethylene or polypropylene layer is provided on one surface (back surface) of a substrate, opposite to the surface on which a coloring-material-receptive layer is provided, or on both surfaces of a substrate. However, when the image-receiving sheets obtained by these methods are stored in a high-temperature or high-humidity environment, they can not always show satisfactory curling resistance. Specifically, in the case of an image-receiving sheet prepared by providing a polyethylene layer as the curling-preventing layer, although it shows excellent curling resistance when stored at high humidities, the degree of curl tends to be increased when it is stored at high temperatures. On the contrary, in the case of an image-receiving sheet prepared by providing a polypropylene layer as the curling-preventing layer, although it shows excellent curling resistance when stored at high temperatures, the degree of curl tends to be increased when it is stored at high humidities.
Further, in the case where a resin layer having minute voids is provided between a substrate and a coloring-material-receptive layer so as to obtain improved printing sensitivity, a method in which a resin layer having minute voids is provided also on the back surface of the substrate may be employed in order to prevent the curling of the image-receiving sheet. However, although the effect of preventing curling can be obtained by this method, the production cost is remarkably increased. For this reason, this method has been unsatisfactory from the economical point of view.
The present invention has been accomplished in view of the aforementioned background. An object of the present invention is therefore to provide an image-receiving sheet capable of showing excellent curling resistance even in a high-temperature or high-humidity environment although the back and face of the image-receiving sheet are not symmetrical in structure, by forming a layer useful for preventing curling, using a relatively inexpensive general-purpose resin on the back surface or both surfaces of a substrate which is the core of the image-receiving sheet.


An agent based model system provides simulation of the influence of environmental variables and tendencies in individual and social decision making relating to the formation of coalitions and ethnic groups. The system is based on improved understandings of human decision making under risk, and incorporates recent theoretical developments and computational tools. The system gives analysts the ability to predict the development of coalitions and ethnic groups, as well as the ability to manage the behavior of individuals in such groups. The model results provide confidence intervals for various possible scenarios in a mix of agents' decision rules and distribution of environmental resources. Applications include management of ethnic groups and violent conditions in unstable nations, the tracking of terrorist organizations, development of coalitions and oligopolies in business, and the modeling and interdiction of criminal organizations.

Agent based modeling (ABM) provides a means to analyze individual and social behavior, including the formation of coalitions of individuals, their adoption of ethnic and other norms, and the influence of ethnic and other affiliation on coalition members' behavior. Ethnic norms include shared beliefs and behaviors such as religious beliefs, dialects, modes of dress, ideology, and cuisine. Those sharing norms form a coalition of individuals who, at least sometimes, act out of group interest rather than short term individual interest. How coalitions emerge, when members adopt norms, what motivates individuals to join such groups, and how group membership influences behavior are issues that have become increasingly important to researchers in the social sciences. Recent successes in recruiting among terror groups and potential alliances among these groups represent security concerns regarding dynamics of coalition formation that may lead to social unrest, collective violence and/or terrorism. Despite revolutionary rhetoric, rebellions usually are started and led by the well-off.
Human ethnicity involves coalitions of individuals who adhere to norms of behavior. Anthropology is a particularly rich discipline in which to address questions of ethnic coalition formation, given the discipline's important cross-cultural comparative data on the formation and extinction of ethnic groups under a variety of environmental, social, and historical conditions.
Anthropologists have researched the origin of coalitions and the development of cultural norms from cultural ecology or human behavioral ecology research programs. In these programs, human behavior is seen as an evolutionary outcome of adapting to physical and social environments. Adaptive theories of coalition formation and ethnicity are grounded in rational choice, or bounded rationality theories. The methods anthropologists use include optimization, game theory, and computer simulation. Decision rules and other formulations are used to simulate and test proposed theories. In all cases, researchers propose that their models are on the whole, adaptive for meeting agents' material needs, even if agents sometimes adopt norms that fail in particular circumstances.
A drawback to these otherwise useful investigations is that researchers usually evaluate the performance of only one decision rule at a time, and usually over a limited number of iterations. Furthermore, competition for resources via genuinely competing strategies in large populations with varying environments usually has not been simulated or analyzed discretely. The discrete mathematics involved becomes intractable as dimensions or numbers of players increase and the entries in payoff matrices fluctuate. Instead, researchers commonly summarize the effects of model parameters with systems of differential equations and Lyapunov functions to produce more qualitative, global analyses of stability or convergence, ultimately obscuring coalitions and tending to analysis of mean behaviors and variances at best.
Competing theoretical claims of coalition and norm formation may be evaluated using computer simulations. These simulations shed light upon the emergence of ethnic and other affiliation and identification. To simulate the complexity of human social interaction, parallel processing computer clusters that have the computing power required for modeling large numbers of interacting agents may be used. Such simulations may model coalition formations and the development of norms under varying environmental conditions relevant to recent theories of ethnic group formation.
Advantageously, an illustrative ABM stimulation system can be used to evaluate the effects of numerous environmental conditions, simulate large populations, and accommodate more than one type of decision rule. The system can be used to evaluate propositions regarding human rationality and selfishness, develop simulation methodology for modeling coalition formation, and to advance substantive understanding of just how and why coalitions form or disperse. The simulation system provides a test bed for competing theories of macro- and micro-behaviors in dynamic games by controlling the fluctuations of environmental constraints, information constraints, and proximal interactions among agents. Post-simulation analysis provides, with some degree of confidence levels and reproducibility, measures of the model's sensitivity to parameters in payoff matrices, resource allocations, agent strategies and choices.
The use of such a system may have broad impacts for both education and policy. Policy implications involve shedding light on political Balkanization and the rise of ethnic identity in the post-Cold War world. The understanding of individual and coalition behaviors subject to fluctuating environmental constraints or controls is a necessary first step for applications in foreign affairs planning and domestic concerns, such as political action groups, criminal rings, and community organizations.
In accordance with the teachings of this disclosure, a method in a computer system for simulating individual and social behavior, includes: providing for creating a neighborhood of cells; providing for allocating resources to the cells; providing for assigning an agent to each cell; providing for selecting one of a plurality of decision rules for interactions between agents; providing for iteratively conducting discrete interactions between the agents using the selected decision rule and allocated resources; and providing for recording interaction outcome. The one of the plurality of decision rules may include a coordination game.
In accordance with the teachings of this disclosure, a computer-readable medium having machine-executable code for simulating the interactions of agents, includes: code for creating a neighborhood of cells; code for allocating resources to the cells; code for assigning an agent to each cell; code for selecting one of a plurality of decision rules for interactions between agents; code for iteratively conducting discrete interactions between the agents using the selected decision rule and allocated resources; and code for recording interaction outcome. The one of the plurality of decision rules may include a coordination game.
In accordance with the teachings of this disclosure, a system for agent based modeling, includes a computer and software enabling the computer to use a coordination game model to simulate and analyze the interactions of individual agents. The computer may include processors configured for parallel processing of the software.
In accordance with the teachings of this disclosure, a method of estimating the distribution of wealth in a population comprises applying the equation W(x)=e(d+ax+c sin(bx)), where a>bc. A method of estimating parameters of an expo-sigmoid model of wealth distribution comprises: creating a data set by taking the natural log of wealth data of a population; deriving a linear equation in the form of d+ax by performing an ordinary least squares regression of the data set; performing a fast-fourier transform on the residuals of the ordinary least squares regression; picking terms from the fast-fourier transform which are statistically significant to form a trigonometric polynomial in the form of f(x)=Σ cos(x)+sin(x); and constructing an equation estimating the wealth distribution of a population by calculating the exponential value of the sum of the linear terms and the trigonometric terms in the form of W(x)=e(d+ax+Σ cos(x)+sin(x)).
Additional features, which alone or in combination with any other feature(s), including those listed above and those listed in the claims, may comprise patentable subject matter and will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon consideration of the following detailed description of illustrative embodiments exemplifying the best mode of carrying out the invention as presently perceived.

Agent based modeling of risk sensitivity and decision making on coalitions


The present invention discloses an upright vacuum cleaner which comprises a cleaner body (100), a ground brush (200), a dust collection chamber (300), a conversion valve and a pipeline system. The conversion valve (400) is disposed at the outside of the back surface of the cleaner body (100) and is located at an inward recess between the dust collection chamber (300) and the ground brush (200). The conversion valve (400) is provided with a first air inlet, a second air inlet and an air outlet of the conversion valve. The pipeline system comprises a suction soft pipe (501), an air duct (203) of the floor brush, a machine body air inlet duct (503), a machine body air outlet duct (504) and a motor chamber exhaust pipe. The pipeline system further comprises a motor chamber air inlet pipe (505) of which one end is connected with the air duct (203) of the ground brush, and the other end is connected with the first air inlet (505) of the conversion valve after passing through the motor chamber and being bend upward against the outside of the back surface of the floor brush. The upright vacuum cleaner can clean not only the floor but also other places above the floor. The upright vacuum cleaner provides an unblocked air flow, has a compact structure, saves spaces, is convenient to package, and is not easily damaged.

The conventional upright vacuum cleaner comprises a cleaner body (also known as cleaner casing or upright body), a ground brush (also generally named as suction nozzle), a dust collection chamber and a pipeline system (also known as air duct system). The ground brush is positioned at the lower part of the cleaner body and is provided with an air inlet and a motor chamber. The dust collection chamber is positioned above the ground brush and is provided with an air inlet and an air outlet. The pipeline system comprises: an air duct of the ground brush connected with the air inlet of the ground brush; a machine body air inlet duct connecting the air duct of the ground brush to the air inlet of the dust collection chamber; a machine body air outlet duct connecting the air outlet of the dust collection chamber to the motor chamber, and an exhaust pipe of the motor chamber.
In general, the conventional upright vacuum cleaner is suitable for cleaning the indoor open ground, but encounters difficulties in playing its effective role on the other positions such as hidden corners, steps and table tops. The reasons are that the dust enters the cleaner casing from the air inlet of the ground brush which is close to the ground. Except for by the air inlet of the ground brush close to the ground, the conventional upright vacuum cleaner has no other means to absorb dust.
In recent years, in order that the upright vacuum cleaner is capable of cleaning either the indoor open ground or other positions such as hidden corners, the improvements on the conventional upright vacuum cleaners are proposed, and the major improvement is the addition of a conversion valve and a suction soft pipe on the basis of conventional upright vacuum cleaner. For example, a Chinese patent CN 200410002222.3 and its patent family U.S. Pat. No. 7,213,297B2 propose such an upright vacuum cleaner with a suction soft pipe and a conversion valve, and similar products are available in the domestic market. The suction soft pipe is also known as cleaner soft pipe of which one end is connected with one air inlet of the conversion valve and the other end is used as an air suction inlet designed to clean the hidden corners or the other positions on the ground. The conversion valve is also known as pipe switching device which is positioned on the side of the cleaner body and is designed to regulate the connection and disconnection of different pipes, so that the cleaner switches between the operating state for cleaning open ground and the operating state for cleaning other positions.
As to the conversion valve of the upright vacuum cleaner as described above, there are many different structures, however each of them is provided with two air inlets and one air outlet. For the convenience of discrimination, one of the air inlets is named as the first air inlet, and the other air inlet is named as the second air inlet. The first air inlet is connected with the air duct of the ground brush via one air inlet pipe of the conversion valve which is poisoned as a whole on the outside of the ground brush and runs through the casing of the ground brush. The second air inlet is connected with the suction soft pipe. The air outlet of the conversion valve is connected with the air duct of the dust collection chamber via an air outlet pipe of the conversion valve.
When the first air inlet of the conversion valve is communicated with the air outlet of the conversion valve, the second air inlet of the conversion valve is in a closed state. At this time, the air duct of the ground brush, the air inlet pipe of the conversion valve, the air outlet of the conversion valve pipe and the air machine body inlet pipe are in a connected state. To the contrary, when the second air inlet of the conversion valve and the air outlet of the conversion valve are in a connected state, the first air inlet of the conversion valve is in closed state. At this time, the suction soft pipe, the air outlet of the conversion valve pipe and the air machine body inlet pipe are in a connected state.
When the upright vacuum cleaner provided with the conversion valve is used to clean the ground, the conversion valve is regulated firstly, so that the air duct of the ground brush, the air inlet pipe of the conversion valve, the air outlet of the conversion valve pipe and the air machine body inlet pipe are in a connected state. Then, the cleaner is powered on. Under the action of the internal suction of the cleaner, the dust or finely divided sundries adhering to the ground will, together with air, enter the dust collection chamber along the air inlet of the ground brush, the air duct of the ground brush and the air inlet pipe of the conversion valve (which is positioned as a whole on the outside of ground brush; in the specification of the Patent CN 200410002222.3, this pipe is named as "pressure head side suction soft pipe," but is called as "air inlet pipe of the conversion valve" by some market attendants), the air outlet pipe of the conversion valve and the machine body air inlet duct. After being filtered through the filter screen in the dust collection chamber, the air is finally discharged from the cleaner body, while the dust and the finely divided sundries are remained in the dust collection chamber. In this process, the airflow direction in the air duct of the cleaner is shown as follows: air enters the air duct of the ground brush from the air inlet of the ground brush-->the air inlet pipe of the conversion valve (positioned on the outside of ground brush)-->the conversion valve-->the air outlet pipe of the conversion valve-->the air machine body inlet pipe-->the dust collection chamber-->the machine body air outlet duct-->a vacuum chamber-->the motor air exhaust pipe-->an exhaust outlet-->the atmosphere.
When the upright vacuum cleaner provided with the conversion valve is used to clean the other positions such as steps and table top, the conversion valve is regulated firstly, so that the suction soft pipe is communicated with the pipe which has entered the dust separating device, and at the same time, the air inlet of the conversion valve communicated with the air duct of the ground brush is closed. Then the motor is powered on. In the meanwhile, the nozzle of the suction soft pipe is allowed to contact with the position to be cleaned. Under the action of the internal suction of the cleaner, the dust or finely divided sundries adhering to the ground will, together with air, enter the conversion valve along the suction soft pipe, enter the dust-separating device through the air outlet of the conversion valve, and finally are deposited in the dust collecting barrel. In this process, the airflow direction in the air duct of the cleaner is shown as follows: air enters the suction soft pipe-->the conversion valve-->the air outlet pipe of the conversion valve-->the air machine body inlet pipe-->the dust collection chamber-->the machine body air outlet duct-->a motor vacuum chamber-->the motor exhaust pipe-->the exhaust outlet-->the atmosphere.
In a word, the said upright vacuum cleaner provided with suction soft pipe and conversion valve solves the problem of cleaning either the open ground or other positions such as hidden corners, steps and table tops. However, the upright vacuum cleaner with conversion valve in the prior art has deficiencies, in particular the unreasonable arrangement of pipes (air ducts). In other word, in the existing arrangement of air ducts, the airflow enters the air duct of the ground brush from the air inlet of ground brush, and then enters the dust collecting barrel through the air inlet pipe of the conversion valve (soft pipe or rigid pipe) provided on the outside of ground brush and by way of the conversion valve, the air outlet pipe of the conversion valve and the air machine body inlet pipe in turn. Since the soft pipe or hard pipe is provided on the outside of ground brush, such arrangement is not compact in overall structure and thus occupies more space; Furthermore, since the air inlet pipe of the conversion valve is exposed outside as a whole, it may be easily damaged and does not facilitate product packaging; In particular, since the air inlet pipe of the conversion valve is exposed as a whole on the outside of ground brush, the pipe collecting pipe is relatively longer, thus the energy loss of air in the process of flowing in the pipe is increased, leading to inadequate smoothness of air flow.


Provided is a system and method for enabling secure access to a desired end-point server program of at least one end-point server program. The system includes a server having a security server program and the end-point server programs, and a client. During operation, the server establishes a first connection with the client via a known port, causes an end-point program applet and web page associated with the desired end-point server program to be forwarded to the client. While executing the security server program, the server: verifies client access rights via a first encryption means, generates, encrypts and transmits to the client a random port number and a session key, and detects establishment of a second connection between the client and a random port of the server. The second connection enables secure access by the client to the desired end-point server program using a second encryption means and the session key.

The present invention generally relates to controlling access to a headless server, and more specifically, to a system and method for enabling secure access to a program of a headless server device.
The need to protect server- or computer-based systems from malicious activity such as eavesdropping or intruder modification and tampering is well known. The need is especially important for critical infrastructures that include computer-based systems such as, for example, a three phase power system, or electrical power grid, providing electrical power to end users and loads.
Many techniques have been developed in an attempt to establish secure and controlled access and/or communication with a server-based system. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,754,820 ('820 patent), entitled "Multiple Level Access System," naming Scheidt et al. as inventors, discloses a technique for controlling access to computer-based systems. The technique utilizes both symmetric key algorithms (i.e., secret key cryptography) and asymmetric key algorithms (i.e., public key cryptography) with emphasis being placed on asymmetric encryption to establish a credential scheme. The credential is a key pair used for access control where the public key is referred to as the write key and the private key is referred to as a read key. Different credentials are associated with different access levels.
In summary, symmetric encryption uses a shared secret key (i.e., a 128 bit data string) to encrypt (to form cipertext) and decrypt (to form plaintext) messages passed between, for example, a client (sender/receiver) and a server (sender/receiver), where both the client and the server know the secret key. Such encryption and decryption may be performed using one of any suitable algorithms such as data encryption standard (DES) where transmitted messages are encrypted in form during transmission through a public domain such as the Internet. A vulnerability of symmetric encryption however, results from the key distribution mechanism because the secret key, in some form, must traverse the transmission medium between the client and the server.
Asymmetric encryption uses a public/private key pair in which the public key is used (by the sender/server) to encrypt a message and the private key is used (by the receiver/client) to decrypt the message, and vice versa. A message encrypted by the public key can only be decrypted by the private key. Authentication of the sender/server (i.e., verifying that the sender of a public key is the rightful owner of the public key) is typically done through use of a digital certificate. The receiver obtains the digital certificate containing the sender/server's public key from a mutually trusted certificate authority such as VeriSign. The digital certificate is incorporated in the encrypted message so that fraudulent attempts to use another's public key will result in unreadable messages. The digital certificate essentially binds a public key to an entity.
While providing a level of protection, the multiple level access system of the '820 patent includes no provisions for further security measures such as randomizing port selection to thwart an eavesdropper who may have access to a known port or ports used for the encrypted message exchange. When a port number is ascertained by an eavesdropper, a number of vulnerabilities exist. For example, the eavesdropper may determine an application running on the server and may further inject instructions, packets and code via the known port. An eavesdropper may also upload an operating system file to gain control over the server; an unacceptable scenario for critical systems such as the electrical power grid.

System and method for enabling secure access to a program of a headless server device

Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories, Inc.


A method and apparatus for controlling the number of servers in an information handling system in which incoming work requests belonging to a first service class are placed in a queue for processing by one or more servers. The system also has units of work assigned to a second service class that acts as a donor of system resources. In accordance with the invention, a performance measure is defined for the first service class as well as for the second service class. Before adding servers to the first service class, there is determined not only the positive effect on the performance measure for the first service class, but also the negative effect on the performance measure for the second service class. Servers are added to the first service class only if the positive effect on the performance measure for the first service class outweighs the negative effect on the performance measure for the second service class.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method and apparatus for controlling the number of servers in an information handling system in which incoming work requests belonging to a first service class are placed in a queue for processing by one or more servers.
2. Description of the Related Art
Systems in which incoming work requests are placed in a queue for assignment to an available server are well known in the art. Since the frequency at which the incoming requests arrive may not be readily controlled, the principal means of controlling system performance (measured by queue delay or the like) in such a queued system is to control the number of servers. Thus, it is known in the art to start an additional server when the length of the queue being served reaches a certain high threshold or to stop a server when the length of the queue being served reaches a certain low threshold. While such an expedient may achieve its design objectives, it is unsatisfactory in a system in which other units of work besides the queued work requests are contending for system resources. Thus, even though providing an additional server for a queue may enhance the performance of the work requests in that queue, providing such a server may so degrade the performance of other units of work being handled by the system that the performance of the system as a whole deteriorates.
Current operating system software is not able to take over the responsibility for managing the number of servers according to the end-user oriented goals specified for the work requests and considering other work with independent goals running in the same computer system.

Method and apparatus for controlling the number of servers in a client/server system

International Business Machines Corporation