A touch sensing circuit is provided. The circuit is configured to connect to a conducting wire in a touch area for measuring a signal variation. In a driving mode, the wire is coupled to AC voltage. If a first voltage variation which exceeds a first threshold is measured by the circuit, it is determined that something is approaching the touch area near the wire. In a passive mode, the wire is coupled to DC voltage. If a second voltage variation which exceeds a second threshold is measured by the circuit, it is determined that something is approaching the touch area near the wire. When measuring the second voltage variation, no AC voltage is coupled to the wire.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a touch sensing system, and more particularly, to a touch sensing system with a passive mode.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Touch sensing interfaces is one of the important human-machine interfaces for electronic systems. They are widely used in many electronic devices, such as smart phones, laptops, Tablet PCs, and the like. Consumer electronic products that are vital to modern life frequently utilize touch panels as the main human-machine interfaces.
It is well known that an electronic system with touch sensing functionality includes a touch area with which the finger(s) of a user or a stylus can make contact. In general, existing touch sensing systems may be resistive, capacitive, optical, surface-acoustic-wave techniques. Among these techniques, capacitive touch control techniques are mostly used in small/medium sized touch screens, and thus becoming the mainstream techniques with large amount of applications in the market.
Referring now to FIG. 1, a smart phone or a tablet device 100 of the prior art is shown. The device 10 includes a housing 110. The main human-machine interfaces on the housing are a touch screen 120 and at least one button 130. The role of the button 130 is limited to turning on/off the device 100 or the touch screen 120. A user operates all the functions of the device 100 through the touch screen 120.
The touch screen 120 using the capacitive touch sensing technique usually includes a touch panel stacked on top of the screen for allowing the user's hand or stylus to make contact with. The touch panel includes a plurality of conducting wires therein. Each conducting wire is coupled to a touch sensing circuit in a touch sensing device.
There are generally two types of capacitive touch sensing techniques: one is called mutual capacitive technique, and the other is called self capacitive technique. Both of these techniques determine the location of a touch point by measuring a voltage drop of a driving voltage as a result of capacitive variation on a conducting wire touched or approached by the finger or stylus. Both of these techniques rely on the touch sensing circuit coupled to the conducting wires to apply a driving voltage. When supplying this driving voltage, the capacitive touch system has to continuously consume power in order to provide the voltage on the conducting wires.
Referring to FIG. 2, a state diagram of a capacitive touch system of the prior art is shown. On a battery-powered mobile device 100, during continuous use, the capacitive touch system has to remain in a driving mode 210. In the state of this driving mode 210, a driving voltage is provided to the conducting wires in the touch area so as to measure the input of the user. In order to conserve power, after an idle period in which no user input is received, or when a user's instruction is received, the electronic device 100 will turn off its touch screen 120, and the capacitive touch system is made to enter into a stop mode 220.
In the stop mode 220, since no driving voltage is provided to the conducting wires in the touch area, the touch sensing system cannot measure any input of the user made in the touch area, but it also saves power used by the touch sensing system otherwise. When the user wishes to wake up the device 100, she/he has to use other input or sensor on the device 100 to do that. One convenient way is to press the button 130, and the device 100 will start up the touch sensing system and return into the state of the driving mode 210.
The design of the button 130 is usually mechanical having a movable part that allows the user to feel the contact pressure. Since the button 130 has a movable part, compared to other components without any movable part in the device 100, the use lifespan of the button 130 may be the shortest. In addition, because the button 130 has a movable part therein, in terms of waterproof and dustproof abilities, it is poorer than other components that are encapsulated by the housing 110. Therefore, the button 130 is the "Achilles' tendon" in the device 100. When the button 130 is faulty, the user may not be able to wake up the device 100 that is in the stop mode 220.
Therefore, if the main input component, that is, the touch screen 120 in the device is able to enter into a more power-saving mode, then it may be possible to eliminate the button 130 from the device 100. Alternatively, if, at least, the number of buttons 130 is minimized, or the frequency of use of the button 130 is minimized, and the device 100 is woken up directly via the touch screen 120, the overall lifespan or mean time between failures can be lengthened. The probability of accidental failure as a result of water or dust permeation can be considerably reduced.

Touch sensing circuit, apparatus, and system and operating method thereof


A centering screw for aligning two elements, particularly a workpiece and a carrier, relative to each other, the centering screw having a first end section with a first outside diameter and a first length, and a second end section with a second outside diameter and a second length, the first end section having a first thread, at least in sections, and a cone being provided for the centering. In this case, the centering screw has the cone in an intermediate section between the first end section and the second end section, the cone having a diameter changing along the intermediate section, the diameter at an end of the cone facing away from the first end section being larger than the first outside diameter, and the end of the cone facing away from the first end section being assigned an axial stop facing away from the first end section.

Centering screws in various types and forms are known from the related art. Centering screws usually have a centering pin section with a cone in order to fix a workpiece precisely in position with small tolerance dimensions. By using centering screws when securing a workpiece, especially when fixing a workpiece in position, it is possible to obtain the desired precision with respect to the position of the workpiece on a carrier. In order for the workpiece to be secured, especially fixed in position, with a small tolerance, very high dimensional accuracy of the components is necessary. In this context, the centering screw is screwed into the workpiece or carrier and the pin section of the centering screw is inserted with a precise fit into a centering opening provided for it in the carrier or in the workpiece.

Centering screw for aligning two elements relative to each other, centering assembly


A matrix reordering method performs reordering of elements of a coefficient matrix created based on coefficients of linear simultaneous equations whose solutions are to be produced by parallel processing of processors of a computer in accordance with Gaussian elimination. Herein, degrees corresponding to numbers of non-zero elements are calculated with respect to all pivots included in the coefficient matrix. Then, a first pivot whose degree is under a threshold (mindeg+α) is selected from among the pivots of the coefficient matrix, while a second pivot whose critical path length is minimum is also selected from among the pivots of the coefficient matrix. Replacement of elements is performed between the first pivot and second pivot to complete reordering with respect to the first pivot. In addition, non-zero elements, which are newly produced by the Gaussian elimination of the first pivot, are added to the coefficient matrix. If a degree or a parameter of the first pivot is under a threshold (β), reordering is performed on a partial matrix whose elements are not eliminated and are selected from among the elements of the coefficient matrix in accordance with the nested dissection method, so that non-zero elements, which are newly produced by the Gaussian elimination of the partial matrix, are added to the coefficient matrix. Because the critical path length can be reduced as compared with conventional techniques, it is possible to considerably reduce a total processing time of the parallel processing to secure high-speed performance of the Gaussian elimination.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to methods and apparatuses for matrix reordering that is preferable for use in determination of orders of coefficient matrices of linear simultaneous equations. This invention also relates to methods and apparatuses for electronic circuit simulation using the matrix reordering.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, there are provided system simulation methods that use computers to describe elements constructing the system as linear simultaneous equations, which are repeatedly resolved to analyze operations of the system. Gaussian elimination is frequently used in the system simulation methods and is known as one of methods for obtaining solutions of the linear simultaneous equations. The Gaussian elimination produces solutions by an advance elimination process and a back-substitution process with respect to a matrix of n×n+1, which is formed by linearly arranging constant terms and coefficient matrices representing coefficients for n unknowns of linear simultaneous equations, for example. The advance elimination process is effected to transform the matrix of n×n+1 to an upper triangular matrix, while the back-substitution process is effected to sequentially produce solutions for the transformed matrix from its last row. Matrix reordering or matrix ordering is known as the technique for reordering elements (particularly, non-zero elements) of the coefficient matrices representing coefficients of the simultaneous equations in accordance with prescribed rules. Using the matrix reordering, it is possible to reduce a number of times for performing calculations such as multiplication and division that are needed for producing solutions to the linear simultaneous equations.
FIG. 14 shows a flow of processes of the conventional matrix reordering for use in the electronic circuit simulation system. In general, the conventional matrix reordering employ the prescribed method called "minimum (or least) degree method". This is shown by a book entitled "Matrix Calculation Software" that is written and edited by Dr. Tikara Kokuni and is published by Maruzen Co., Ltd. in Japan. The flow of FIG. 14 is provided for reordering elements of a coefficient matrix of n×n. In step S101, a variable is set to '1'. In step S102, a pivot having a minimum degree is selected from among pivots that are not determined in order within a given coefficient matrix, then, a number of the selected pivot is set to a variable p. The coefficient matrix contains a number of pivots, wherein pivot k (where k is an integer ranging from 1 to N) designates a combination of elements of row k and elements of column k. In addition, the degree is defined as a number of non-zero elements that are contained in a plot from which elements on a diagonal line are excluded, wherein the non-zero elements counted for the degree are arranged in a lower side of the diagonal line in a column direction and in a right side of the diagonal line in a row direction. The pivot having a minimum degree is selected from among pivots whose numbers are counted from i. In step S103, new pivot i is determined by replacing its original pivot i with the selected pivot p. In step S104, non-zero elements that are produced by effecting Gaussian elimination on pivot i are added to the coefficient matrix. Replacement between pivots p and i is to interchange all elements of row p and all elements of row i and to interchange all elements of column p and all elements of column i. That is, replacement is effected simultaneously on rows and columns of pivots. A series of processes described above are repeatedly performed until all pivots are to be completely determined in order, which is shown by steps S105 and S106 in FIG. 14. According to the minimum degree method, pivots each having a small number of non-zero elements are reordered toward an upper side within the coefficient matrix. This allows reduction of a total number of calculations such as multiplication and division in the Gaussian elimination.
Using the coefficient matrix whose elements are reordered in accordance with the conventional matrix reordering method, parallel processing is executed on the Gaussian elimination process by using multiple processors in parallel. As compared with successive processing using a single processor, the parallel processing using the multiple processors does not always sufficiently increase the processing speed thereof. Because, in the Gaussian elimination process, an operational process (or calculation) for a certain row is made with reference to result of an operational process effected on another row. In the parallel processing of the Gaussian elimination process, operational processes (or calculations) are respectively made by units of rows and are performed in parallel by the multiple processors. To achieve high-speed performance of the Gaussian elimination process, it is necessary to consider several points in advance. A first point is to reduce a total number of operational processes that are effected in the parallel processing of the Gaussian elimination process. A second point is to reduce a number of operational processes that are effected on each of the rows. As for a first row, for example, its operational process is made with reference to result of an operational process of a second row, which is also made with reference to result of an operational process of a third row. Hence, it is necessary to count all of the aforementioned operational processes that are involved into the operational process being effected on each row. Although the aforementioned points are very important, the conventional matrix reordering is made in consideration of only the reduction of the total number of operational processes being effected in the Gaussian elimination process. Therefore, the conventional matrix reordering do not always contribute to high-speed performance in the parallel processing of the Gaussian elimination process.

Method and apparatus for matrix reordering and electronic circuit simulation


Systems and methods for enhanced runtime hosting are described. In one respect, the runtime identifies any abstraction interface(s) exposed by a host application. The abstraction interface(s) correspond to respective execution environment functionality implemented by the hosting application. During execution of runtime managed code and responsive to an action or event associated with an identified one of the respective execution environment abstractions, the runtime calls a specific interface or object corresponding to a specific one of the abstraction interface(s). This allows the host application to customize/enhance its execution environment, which includes the runtime, as a function of the implemented abstraction(s).

In today's complex computer-program and networking environments, code sharing, scalability, and integration with other cross-platform frameworks are generally highly desired. Use of a runtime by a hosting application (i.e., hereinafter often referred to as a "host") generally allows application developers to write managed code with cross-platform compatibility, increased scalability, a common type system, multiple-language support, automatic memory management, and so on. Runtimes include, for example a Common Language Runtime (CLR), a Java Virtual Machine (VM), and/or the like.
Most hosts consist of both managed code and unmanaged code. Managed code is code that executes under the control of a runtime. Conversely, unmanaged code is code that runs outside of the runtime. Common object model (COM) components, ActiveX® interfaces, and WIN32® API functions are examples of unmanaged code. Unmanaged hosting code is used to configure the common language runtime, load it into the process (i.e., an executing program), and transition the program into managed code.
Other than these basic interactions, once a process is running, interaction between the host and the runtime is typically limited to the host directing the runtime to perform some task. In some cases, the host may receive an event or message to signal that a requested runtime task has completed. Such limited host/runtime interaction represents the substantial lack of integration between the host and the runtime during process execution. For these reasons, the host and the runtime can be said to represent substantially separate entities in a process. Such a lack of execution environment integration between a host and a runtime is substantially limiting in that hosting applications have little or no control over many of the services provided by the runtime.
For example, suppose that the host utilizes cooperative or non-preemptive threading, generally requiring the host to at least have knowledge all threads running in the host's execution environment. Suppose also that a runtime relies on the non-cooperative or preemptive threading model of the OS. (Runtimes typically rely on operating system (OS) threading, memory management, synchronization, security, etc., implementations). In this scenario, the host may send a thread into the runtime. At this point, OS preemptive tasking may block the host's non-preemptive thread and/or the host may move the task to a completely different physical thread. To make matters worse, the host thread may exit the runtime into code that does not belong to the host or the runtime, whereupon just about anything could happen to the host thread without of host knowledge. Such non-integrated host/runtime thread management may substantially degrade host runtime performance and scalability, may result in the loss of data coherence, create deadlocks that the host can not detect, and/or otherwise cause unpredictable host and system behavior.
The foregoing example shows that lack of execution environment integration between a host and a runtime may break the host application's expected implementation(s). This is especially the case when the host has tuned threading, memory, synchronization, and/or security implementations over time for improved scalability and high performance. Thus, although the host may desire the benefits of a runtime use (e.g., cross-platform compatibility, reduced coding efforts, etc.), the host's specially tuned implementation may be incompatible with corresponding runtime services. Accordingly, the host may only load a runtime that relies on host-supplied services, or may completely bypass runtime services by directly accessing underlying OS services. Such work-around(s) do not allow application designers to leverage the benefits runtime system services were designed to provide, resulting in less integrated and portable products.
Accordingly, systems and methods to increase execution environment control between a host and a runtime are greatly desired.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


Disclosed is a method of manufacturing a flash memory device using a STI process. Isolation films of a projection structure becomes isolation films of a nipple structure by means of a slant ion implant process and a wet etching process. A polysilicon layer is removed until the tops of the isolation films through two step processes of a CMP process and an etch-back process, thus forming floating gates and gates of high voltage and low voltage transistors of a cell. As such, as the isolation films of the nipple structure and the floating gates are formed at the same time, it is possible secure the overlay margin between an active region and the floating gates regardless of the shrinkage of the flash memory device. Also, moats can be prevented from being generated at the boundary between the active regions when the isolation films of the nipple structure are formed. Further, when the floating gates and the gates of the high voltage and low voltage transistors are formed, a dishing phenomenon and an erosion phenomenon can be prevented.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a flash memory device, and more specifically, to a method of manufacturing a flash memory device in which the size of the flash memory device can shrink while improving reliability of the flash memory device through a shallow trench isolation (hereinafter, referred to as 'STI') process.
2. Discussion of Related Art
Generally, a flash memory device is a stack gate structure consisting of a floating gate and a control gate. In the floating gate, since the active region must be covered, the overlay margin between the active region and the floating gate is an important factor. As the flash memory device gradually shrinks, however, it is difficult to secure the overlay margin between the active region and the floating gate through an existing STI process and an existing floating gate mask process. It is also difficult to obtain the overlay margin uniformity across the entire wafer.
Further, the flash memory device is formed typically by means of a wet etching process when a trench type isolation film is formed by a STI process. If the wet etching process is performed excessively, moats are generated at the boundary between the trench type isolation film and the active region. This makes a subsequent process difficult. Although an etch target of the wet etching process is properly set in order to solve this problem, it is difficult to obtain a uniform isolation film not having moats across the entire wafer.
As such, there is a limit to the shrinkage of the flash memory device due to securing of the overlay margin between the active region and the floating gate and the moats generated at the boundary between the isolation film and the active region.

Method of manufacturing flash memory device


An expanded beads molded article containing a block copolymer of a polyethylene block and an ethylene-α-olefin copolymer block and having a density of 150 kg/m3 or more and 500 kg/m3 or less and a tensile strength of 0.5 MPa or more.

Expanded polyolefin resin beads can be molded into various shapes depending on purposes thereof, and an expanded polyolefin resin beads molded article obtained through in-mold molding of the expanded beads is applied to a wide range of purposes including various kinds of a packaging and shock-absorbing material, a shock absorber for automobiles, a building material, and the like. As for an expanded beads molded article that is used as a seat cushioning material, a shock-absorbing material, and the like, a molded article having not only shock-absorbing property for impacts, but also more flexibility is demanded.
As a novel expanded article suitable for these purposes, replacing the polyolefin resin expanded beads, an expanded article of an ethylene-α-olefin copolymer is proposed (see, for example, PTL 1).

Foam particle moulded article, and production method therefor


There is described an acetabular cup having an outer shell and an inner liner, which inner liner provides a bearing surface of metallic or ceramic material, wherein there is provided in a position around the rim of the inner liner a shoulder formed of a material that is softer than that used for the head or neck of a femoral component with which the acetabular cup is to be used, which shoulder limits the motion of the femoral component during use. The shoulder may be of a polymeric material such as polyethylene. There is also described an acetabular cup having an inner liner of metallic of ceramic material and an outer shell which is manufactured from a bone cement material. There is further described a method of manufacturing the described acetabular cups which method comprises directly molding the polymeric shoulder of outer shell around the ceramic or metallic inner liner.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to components to be used in hip prostheses and, in particular, to acetabular cups and components therefor for use in hip prostheses and methods of making such components.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
In replacement hip surgery a femoral component is inserted into the prepared femur. The femoral component has a stem portion which projects into the femoral canal of the prepared femur and has an integral or separate modular head of substantially spherical shape. The ball-like head of the femoral component is received within an acetabular cup component which is implanted in the patient's hip socket, i.e, the acetabulum. The acetabular cup has a substantially hemi-spherical bearing surface for movement of the ball head of the femoral component during action of the joint. The acetabular cup is implanted into the prepared hip socket either with or without cement. Cementless types of acetabular cup may be secured in the prepared bone by a press fit or can be directly screwed in place or otherwise secured in place, for example by indirect means, e.g. by the use of separate bone screws passing through apertures provided in the acetabular cup. Generally, the femoral stem is of metal and the ball head is of metal or of a ceramic material.
Various designs of acetabular cups are available and it is often a multi-piece component having at least a separate outer shell and an inner liner. Where the acetabular cup has an inner liner, that inner liner is generally press-fitted into the outer shell. In some designs of hip prostheses the material of the bearing surface of the acetabular cup, e.g. its inner liner where present, is of the same material as that of the ball head, e.g. for a ceramic head a ceramic bearing surface is provided (a so-called ceramic-on-ceramic prothesis) and for a metal head a metal bearing surface is provided (a so-called metal-on-metal prothesis). In some other designs, the acetabular bearing surface is of polyethylene as the acetabular cup is either provided with a polyethylene inner liner or the acetabular cup is a single component made entirely from polyethylene. The shape of the bearing surface into which the ball head is received affects the degree of movement available after implantation of the joint.
It has been found that the use of polyethylene acetabular bearing surfaces in combination with metal or ceramic femoral ball heads leads to high wear rates of the polyethylene. Aseptic loosening of the separate components due to wear of the polyethylene is now emerging as a major factor in hip prosthesis longevity. As a result, there has been a resurgence of interest in alternatives to the use of polyethylene acetabular bearing surfaces. The wear rate is substantially reduced for metal-on-metal prosthesis and ceramic-on-ceramic prosthesis have been shown in most cases to give an extremely low wear rate and generate very little wear debris. There is, however, in a significant minority of cases the possibility of wear debris, e.g. ceramic or metal particles, becoming trapped between the articulating surfaces which can create further debris by third body wear. This sets up an accelerating spiral resulting in massive wear and loosening of the implant. One of the ways in which this can be initiated is impingement of the head or neck of the femoral component on the rim of the acetabular cup. This is particularly a problem with ceramic ball heads articulating with a ceramic acetabular cup. This can generate ceramic debris which gets between the articulating surfaces.
There is, therefore, a need for an improvement in acetabular cup design so as to provide a prosthesis having low wear characteristics.

Acetabular cups and methods of their manufacture


A Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) hardware implementation and method provides efficient FFT processing while minimizing the die area needed in an Integrated Circuit (IC). The FFT hardware can implement an N point FFT, where N=rn is a function of a radix (r). The hardware implementation includes a sample memory having N/r rows, each storing r samples. A twiddle factor memory can store k twiddle factors per row, where 0<k<r represents the number of complex twiddle multipliers available. An FFT module reads r rows from memory, performs an r-point complex FFT on the samples, followed by twiddle multiplication, and writes the results into an r×r register bank. The contents of the register bank are written in transposed order back to the sample memory. This operation is repeated N/r2 times for each stage and then repeated for n-stages to produce the N point FFT.

The Fourier Transform can be used to map a time domain signal to its frequency domain counterpart. Conversely, an Inverse Fourier Transform can be used to map a frequency domain signal to its time domain counterpart. Fourier transforms are particularly useful for spectral analysis of time domain signals. Additionally, communication systems, such as those implementing Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) can use the properties of Fourier transforms to generate multiple time domain symbols from linearly spaced tones and to recover the frequencies from the symbols.
A sampled data system can implement a Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT) to allow a processor to perform the transform on a predetermined number of samples. However, the DFT is computationally intensive and requires a tremendous amount of processing power to perform. The number of computations required to perform an N point DFT is on the order of N2, denoted O(N2). In many systems, the amount of processing power dedicated to performing a DFT may reduce the amount of processing available for other system operations. Additionally, systems that are configured to operate as real time systems may not have sufficient processing power to perform a DFT of the desired size within a time allocated for the computation.
The Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) is a discrete implementation of the Fourier transform that allows a Fourier transform to be performed in significantly fewer operations compared to the DFT implementation. Depending on the particular implementation, the number of computations required to perform an FFT of radix r is typically on the order of N×logr(N), denoted as O(Nlogr(N)).
In the past, systems implementing an FFT may have used a general purpose processor or stand alone Digital Signal Processor (DSP) to perform the FFT. However, systems are increasingly incorporating Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASIC) specifically designed to implement the majority of the functionality required of a device. Implementing system functionality within an ASIC minimizes the chip count and glue logic required to interface multiple integrated circuits. The reduced chip count typically allows for a smaller physical footprint for devices without sacrificing any of the functionality.
The amount of area within an ASIC die is limited, and functional blocks that are implemented within an ASIC need to be size, speed, and power optimized to improve the functionality of the overall ASIC design. The amount of resources dedicated to the FFT should be minimized to limit the percentage of available resources dedicated to the FFT. Yet sufficient resources need to be dedicated to the FFT to ensure that the transform may be performed with a speed sufficient to support system requirements. Additionally, the amount of power consumed by the FFT module needs to be minimized to minimize the power supply requirements and associated heat dissipation. Therefore, it may be desirable to optimize an FFT architecture for implementation within an integrated circuit, such as an ASIC.


A towed, three row cultivator including a frame, a hitch bar, primary and secondary implement bars and vertical columns slidable within bearing housings attached at each side of the frame. The columns are attached to each other at the upper end by a bridge member and terminate in wheel assembles at the lower end. Actuators are provided for lifting and lowering the frame relative to the columns. Fertilizer and chemical tanks may also be provided for attachment to the bridge member, thereby placing the weight of such tanks and their contents directly on the wheels independent of the frame.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to agricultural cultivators and more particularly to multiple row, vehicle drawn cultivators used in the cultivation, fertilization and chemical application of sugar cane.
2. General Background
In most cases a three rows cultivator is simply towed behind a tractor while being raised and lowered by the tractor's hydraulic draw bar. However, this puts an enormous strain on the tractor's draw bar and limits the type and number of implements being towed. Vehicle drawn cultivators are widely used and well known within the art, especially for multiple row cultivators. Such apparatus generally includes an implement frame structure having several wheels and an attachment means or hitch for securing the implement frame structure to a motor vehicle such as a tractor. The apparatus also generally includes a method for raising and lowering the implements relative to the ground to control the amount of penetration of the ground by the implement and to hold the implement above ground level when necessary. This arrangement allows the weight of the frame and implements to be carried by the cultivator wheels rather than by the hydraulic draw bar of the tractor. Examples of the prior art are disclosed in the following patents; Pat. Nos. 3,672,701, 4,036,304, 4,211,288, 4,637,474, 5,346,019, 5,477,930, 5,524,712, and 5,535,832. As can be seen in these disclosures, almost without exception, the cultivators rely on plural wheels to support the implement frame and implements. They all provide some means for caming the wheels, thereby lifting the frame and its implements. These apparatus are generally implement dependent, therefore, generally configured for a specific type of implement rather than utilizing a common implement bar for attaching and positioning any type of implement. Although this arrangement has received wide acceptance in most agricultural applications, there are several disadvantages which are amplified due to special requirements of sugar cane farming. For example, sugar cane requires very high rows and deep furrows, thereby limiting the width of the wheels allowable in a single furrow and requiring high ground clearance. Further, large chemical tanks are normally carried on the tractor, due to their great weight, thereby hindering the visibility of the tractor driver, increasing ground penetration by the front steering wheels and hindering air circulation to the tractor's engine.
Therefore, it would be advantageous for the cane farmer to have a cultivator which utilizes a frame structure having no central axle, thereby allowing for deep furrows, only two wheels for straddling the row, a method for carrying large chemical tanks, and a method for raising and lowering the implement frame without lifting the chemical tanks.


A method of valuation of groups of assets by partial full underwriting, partial sample underwriting and inferred values of the remainder using an iterative and adaptive statistical evaluation of all assets. Statistical inferences drawn from the evaluation are applied to generate the inferred values. The assets are collected into a database, catagorized, subdivided by ratings as to those variables and then rated individually. The assets are then regrouped according to a bidding grouping and a collective valuation is established. Simulated bid scenarios are examined for combinations of bid prices and a best bid price according to risk and return is determined.

This invention relates generally to valuation methods for financial instruments and more particularly to rapid valuation of large numbers of financial instruments.
A large number of assets such as loans, e.g., ten thousand loans or other financial instruments, sometimes become available for sale due to economic conditions, the planned or unplanned divestiture of assets or as the result of legal remedies. The sale of thousands of commercial loans or other financial instruments sometimes involving the equivalent of billions of dollars in assets must sometimes occur within a few months. Of course, the seller of assets wants to optimize the value of the portfolio, and will sometimes group the assets in "tranches." The term "tranche" as used herein is not limited to foreign notes but also includes assets and financial instrument groupings regardless of country or jurisdiction.
Bidders may submit bids on all tranches, or on only some tranches. In order to win a tranche, a bidder typically must submit the highest bid for that tranche. In connection with determining a bid amount to submit on a particular tranche, a bidder often will engage underwriters to evaluate as many loans as possible within a tranche and within the available limited time. When the time for submitting a bid is about to expire, the bidder will evaluate the loans underwritten at that time, and then attempt to extrapolate a value to the loans that have not then been analyzed by the underwriters.
Traditionally, bids and offers are established based upon an asset's inherent worth and a knowledge of the competitive context. Investment and/or divestiture committees of entities making bids come to consensus on minimum and maximum prices they will unilaterally make. As a result of this process, a bidder may significantly undervalue a tranche and submit a bid that is not competitive or bid higher than the underwritten value and assume unquantified risk. Of course, since the objective is to win each tranche at a price that enables a bidder to earn a return, losing a tranche due to significant undervaluation of the tranche represents a lost opportunity. It would be desirable to provide a system that facilitates accurate valuation of a large number of financial instruments in a short period of time and understand the associated probabilities of return for a given bid. It would be further desirable to determine a bid price for each tranche of a portfolio of financial instruments in a sealed bid auction.

Methods and apparatus for simulating competitive bidding yield


An improved pigment composition containing an anthocyanin pigment and a pigment-improving agent selected from the group consisting of flavonoid glycuronides, flavonoid glucuronides, and caffeic acid derivatives. The pigment-improving agents deepen and improve the intensity of the anthocyanin pigment and increase its stability in the presence of light, heat and/or pH.

This invention relates generally to the field of improving the pigmentation and stability of anthocyanin-containing foods and beverages using compounds easily obtainable from naturally-occurring plant materials.
An attractive and stable color is important to the marketability of foods and beverages. Synthetic coloring agents have commonly been used in the food and beverage industry. The safety of synthetic coloring agents, however, has been questioned. For example, the Food and Drug Administration has delisted red dyes No. 2 and No. 4. In general, consumer confidence in synthetic food materials has waned. Thus, the need exists for naturally-occurring pigments.
Anthocyanins are found in many naturally occurring foods and can serve as pigments to impart a wide range of colors. Anthocyanin pigments are biodegradable and water soluble; they are not suspected toxins or carcinogens. In fact, Miniati and Coli have reported that ingested anthocyanins can lower cholesterol, inhibit platelet aggregation, and exhibit anti-thrombotic and antioxidant properties. (Miniati, E. and Coli, R., "Anthocyanins: Not only Color for Foods," The First International Symposium on Natural Colorants, Francis, Dr. F. J., Ed. (1993) available through the Herald Organization, Hamden, Conn.)
Despite those beneficial attributes, anthocyanin pigments have not been widely used as food additives for several reasons. Anthocyanins are difficult to purify which makes obtaining commercially useful quantities difficult. (Mazza, G. and Brouillard, R. "Recent Developments in the Stabilization of Anthocyanins in Food Products," Food Chemistrv, Vol. XXV, pp. 207-225 (1987)). The color of anthocyanin preparations has been reported to be two orders of magnitude weaker than that of synthetic compounds. (Ibid.) Anthocyanins in aqueous solution are degraded by heat, light, enzymes, nucleophiles, oxygen and ascorbic acid.
Acylated anthocyanins have been discovered that retain color over a broader pH range. See, e.g, U.S. Pat. No. 4,172,902. However, source materials for acylated anthocyanins are limited as are the colors which acylated anthocyanins impart. Purified acylated anthocyanins have not been approved as food additives. Thus, it is problematic to improve the color of food products by simple addition of acylated anthocyanins at the present time.
It is highly desirable to improve the performance of anthocyanin pigments as additives for food products. As used herein, the term "food product" includes both solid edible substances and liquid beverages. The term food "additive" refers to a material that is applied to or inserted into a food product. It is particularly useful to find pigment-improving agents that protect, i.e., "stabilize," anthocyanins from color loss due to pH, heat, and/or light. Preferably, the pigment-improving agents are, like the anthocyanins, naturally occurring, biodegradable and water soluble and have no known toxic or carcinogenic effects.
The use of certain compounds, particularly flavonols, to improve the stability of anthocyanin pigments in foods has previously been suggested. See, U.S. Pat. No. 4,285,982, which also recognizes that the use of many naturally-occurring flavonols for this purpose is not "attractive," because of their limited availability and poor water solubility. Indeed, U.S. Pat. No. 4,285,982 teaches the use of certain compounds which are derived by synthetic means. These synthethic materials must be subjected to expensive and time-consuming tests to demonstrate compliance with rigorous regulatory requirements before commercial application. Even then they will always have diminished marketability due to their stigma as non-natural food additives.
It has long been known that flavonoids are often associated with anthocyanins in plants. Certain flavonoids have been shown in vitro to cause both a bathochromic and hyperchromic shift in the absorption spectrum of anthocyanins. The "bathochromic shift" refers to an increase in the wavelength at which the absorbance is greatest, the .lambda..sub.max. The "hyperchromic shift" refers to an increase in absorbance at .lambda..sub.max. The shift in .lambda..sub.max and increase in absorbance is called "copigmentation." Copigmentation results in a color shift toward a longer wavelength and a more intense color than that seen with the anthocyanin alone. Copigmentation of anthocyanins with plant flavonoids is believed responsible for the wide range of color shades found in flowers.
Asen et al. have identified several naturally-occurring copigments, including flavonoids. (S. Asen, R. N. Stewart and K. H. Norris; "Copigmentation of Anthocyanins in Plant Tissues and its Effect on Color," Phytochemistry, 11, 1139 (1972)). Asen et al. measured and reported the copigmentation potency of many of these compounds, as shown by their hyperchromic and bathochromic shifts. The most potent of these copigments have limited availability and water solubility. They are not good candidates as pigment-improving agents for anthocyanin food additives.
Asen et al., were interested in identifying and modifying the color of flowers. In that endeavor they isolated two flavonoid glucuronides from two different flower types, "Blueboy" cornflowers and "Better Times" roses, respectively. Asen and Horowitz attributed the color of Blueboy cornflowers to copigmentation of anthocyanins with apigenin 4'-O-beta-D-glucoside 7-O-beta-D-glucuronide. (Asen, S. and Horowitz, R. M., Phytochemistry, Vol. 13, pp. 1219-1223 (1974)). Asen et al. extracted several flavonol glucosides and quercetin 3-glucuronide from Better Times roses and identified these flavonols as anthocyanin copigments responsible for the color of that rose. (Asen et al., J. Amer. Soc. Hort. Sci., 96 (6): 770-773 (1971)).
Neither Asen reference, however, recognizes the effect of these glucuronides on anthocyanin stability, their potency, or their availability. Indeed, the art does not show or suggest that those glucuronides or any other derivatives of glycuronic acid would have commercial value as pigment-improving agents for anthocyanin-containing products, especially foods. As used herein "pigment-improving agent" refers to a compound which is both a copigment and stabilizer of anthocyanin-based color. References to "improving" pigmentation mean to concomitant copigmentation and stabilization of anthocyanin-based colors.

Pigment composition containing anthocyanins stabilized by plant extracts


A lamp stand with multi-stage light modulation includes plural resistors annularly arranged to form a circular space. The resistors have terminals soldered on the outer walls of U-shaped contact blades, with an empty position terminal provided in the circular space. A light-modulating controller extends in the lamp stand, having a rotor formed with plural slopes on an outer wall for rotor copper strips to rest thereon. A trigger diode is connected to the gate of a triac AC switch and a capacitor is connected to the trigger diode and the paralleled terminals of the resistors and to the main terminals of the triac AC switch. The light-modulating controller is rotated to let the rotor copper strips contact the contact strips of the resistors to turn on power and charge the capacitor. Different resistance values change the breakdown speed of the DIAC and control the gate of the TRIAC to change the voltage effective value of the lamp, thus reaching a goal of light modulating.

This invention relates to a lamp stand with multi-stage light modulation, particularly to one having a function of stabilizing multi-stage light modulation and needless to use a specially-made lamp but a common incandescent one for light modulating.
A conventional lamp stand with multi-stage light modulation is provided with a specially made lamp and other circuits, lacking practicability and increasing producing cost.
The objective of the invention is to offer a lamp stand with multi-stage light modulation provided with only a common incandescent lamp for light modulation, needless to use a specially made lamp and having stability in controlling light modulation.

Lamp stand with multi-stage light modulation


An electronic device and a method of controlling a display lighting are disclosed. A display includes a plurality of light emitting devices. A memory unit is configured to store a message data. A control unit is configured to control to sense a user action requesting an integrated message display, access the message data from a storing device in response to the user action, determine a transmission time or a transmitting time of the accessed message data, determine an area to be turned on among a screen area in which the accessed message data to be displayed based on the determined transmission time or the determined transmitting time, display the accessed message data in a screen of the electronic device according to a result of the determination of the area.

1. Field of the Invention
The present specification relates to an electronic device, more particularly, to a part of electronic device capable of lighting and a method of controlling a display lighting thereof.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
As energy conservation becomes a social issue, energy efficiency is being magnified in using an electronic device. In particular, the elongation of operation time and service life for such a mobile electronic device as a mobile terminal, a notebook, and the like is absolutely important in aspect of efficiently utilizing energy.
One of the most energy consuming modules in an electronic device corresponds to a display. According to a conventional display, a full screen is lighted when a user uses the display and the full screen is turned off when the user does not use the display for a prescribed time. The conventional display reduces power consumption in that way.

Electronic device and method of controlling display lighting thereof


A shape sensing system to determine the position and orientation of one link with respect to another link in a kinematic chain. An optical fiber is coupled to two or more links in a kinematic chain. A shape sensing segment is defined to start at a proximal link and to end at a distal link, crossing one or more joints. A reference frame is defined at the start of the shape sensing segment. As the joints move, an interrogator senses strain in the shape sensing segment. The sensed strain is used to output a Cartesian position and orientation of the end of the shape sensing segment with respect to the reference frame defined at the start of the shape sensing segment. The pose of the kinematic chain is determined from the Cartesian positions and orientations of one or more shape sensing segments defined for the kinematic chain and from an a priori model and constraints of the kinematic chain.

1. Field of Invention
Inventive aspects are associated with shape sensing, more particularly to sensing position and orientation at various points of a kinematic chain, and still more particularly to sensing the shape of a flexible body and sensing the position and orientation of an end effector component of a surgical instrument or of an entry guide for one or more surgical instruments in a telerobotic surgical system.
2. Background Art
FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic view of an optical fiber core portion 100. The surrounding cladding and fiber are omitted for clarity. Two fiber Bragg gratings (FBG's) 102a, 102b are shown formed in fiber core portion 100, which are illustrative of many such FBG's typically formed along the full length of a core. The many vertical lines shown in each FBG 102 represent the changes in refractive index that characterize an FBG. As shown in FIG. 1, the FBG's 102a,102b are separated by a tether segment 104, which is completely transmissive.
As is known, each of the FBG's 102 may be interrogated for strain information. In a fiber that contains two or more cores, with FBG's in each core positioned at the same location along the fiber, the fiber's bend direction and amount of axial twist may be determined from the strains in each core's FBG's. From the strain information from each core at each FBG location, and from the known tether segment length (e.g., 5 mm, 1 cm), the position of the location with the next set of FBG's can be estimated. In this way, the fiber shape associated with the interrogated FBG's may be determined. U.S. Pat. App. Publ. No. US 2006/0013523 A1 (filed 13 Jul. 2005), which is incorporated herein by reference, discloses a fiber optic position shape sensing device and method. In one instance, strain information is used to determine the bend angle between two links, as described in U.S. Pat. App. Publ. No. US 2007/0156019 A1 (filed 20 Jul. 2006), which is incorporated herein by reference. Such bend information may be used in forward kinematic calculations to determine the position of the distal end of a kinematic chain (a set of links coupled by one or more movable mechanical constraints). One non-limiting example of such a kinematic chain is a minimally invasive surgical instrument with one or more revolute joints.
In one instance, a curvilinear coordinate system is defined with an origin at the connection where the fiber is joined to the interrogator unit (i.e., at the proximal end of the fiber). In addition, a Cartesian frame is also defined as a base reference frame having an origin coincident with the curvilinear coordinate system's origin. Using known techniques, each of the FBG's 102 are interrogated for strain information.
Known techniques to interrogate the FBG's by processing the light reflected back when an optical light source is coupled with the fiber are described in, for instance, Andreas Othonos & Kyriacos Kalli, Fundamentals and Applications in Telecommunications and Sensing Ch. 7, 301-388 (Arthech House 1999), which is incorporated herein by reference. Such interrogation techniques include on the use of edge filters, tunable filters, interferometers, tunable lasers, and CCD spectrometers. Each technique provides different spatial resolution in the measurement of strain along a fiber core, different speeds of interrogation, i.e., update of the measurement, and different levels of immunity to disturbances to the strain measurements such as those produced by variation of temperature, light polarization, source light variations, and losses of light along the fiber. Among the interferometric techniques that are based on detection of the phase of the reflected light are Optical Time Domain Reflectometry and Optical Frequency Domain Reflectometry (OFDR), as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,798,521 (filed 27 Feb. 1997) and in U.S. Pat. App. Publ. No. US 2007/0065077 A1 (filed 26 Sep. 2006), which are incorporated herein by reference.
To determine the fiber's approximate shape, the strain information measured at each FBG location is used to determine the approximate local bend for the length of fiber without FBG's (e.g., over a 1 cm tether segment). For example, the strain information from three cores in a fiber is used to compute the plane and the bend radius of the fiber. Segments are defined at various locations along the fiber, and each segment ends at a co-located ring of FBG's in the three cores. Given the Cartesian x,y,z position of the FBG ring being processed (i.e., the segment end position), the position of the next FBG ring can be computed with simple geometry. The position of the first segment's end location with respect to the base frame is then determined from the first segment's bend information. Next, strain information for the second segment is processed to determine the second segment's bend. The second segment's bend information is combined with the position of the first segment's end location to determine the second segment's end location position with respect to the base frame. Thus the position of each segment end location is determined with respect to the base frame, and the position information is used to determine the approximate shape of the fiber.
There are, however, disadvantages to current optical fiber shape sensing methods. To begin with, such methods are based on the average strain measured in each FBG, and so the FBG size limits the measurement resolution. In addition, the shape (or state) of the fiber is reconstructed as a vector of equally spaced three-dimensional (3D) points in world coordinates. The result is a large data set that gets larger as measurement resolution is increased. Also, the resolution of the 3D points is limited by the spacing between FBG's. Further, in these methods there is an assumption that the length of fiber between measured FBG's has a constant bend radius, and this assumption can reduce the accuracy of the sensed shape as compared with the fiber's actual shape. Another disadvantage is that the computation of the fiber tangent vector at a particular fiber location (i.e., the direction the fiber is pointing at that location) requires differentiation of the 3D points. This differentiation delivers even lower measurement resolution. Yet another disadvantage is that the SD point data set is not in a form that is required for the type of processing needed when the fiber is embedded into a kinematic chain, and therefore the kinematic chain's pose has to be inferred from the sensed fiber position. This limitation is especially true if the fiber is embedded in a kinematic chain but is allowed to slide with reference to one or more links. In such configurations, the fiber may not follow a path that exactly corresponds to a bend in one or more of the kinematic chain's joints, and friction between the fiber's surface and a surrounding conduit through one or more links may influence the fiber's shape.
What is needed, therefore, is a more effective and accurate way to determine the shape of an optical fiber and a more effective way of producing the shape information for use in determining the position and orientation of all the links of a kinematic chain, i.e., the pose of a kinematic chain, that is associated with the fiber. These needs are especially true for various real time implementations, such as for telerobotically controlled minimally invasive surgical instruments.


A monitoring apparatus is connected, in parallel with a motor, to a plurality of power supply lines. Each of the power supply lines has a different phase. The monitoring apparatus includes a first isolator that selectively allows a first current to flow from a first power supply line to a second power supply line. A second isolator selectively allows a second current to flow from the second power supply line to a third power supply line. A control module controls the first isolator, controls the second isolator, and receives a first signal corresponding to a total current. The total current includes both the first current and the second current. The control module selectively generates a phase failure signal in response to the first signal indicating that a failure of at least one of the power supply lines has occurred.

The background description provided herein is for the purpose of generally presenting the context of the disclosure. Work of the presently named inventors, to the extent the work is described in this background section, as well as aspects of the description that may not otherwise qualify as prior art at the time of filing, are neither expressly nor impliedly admitted as prior art against the present disclosure.
Distributing electric power in three phases is a common method of electric power transmission. Three-phase power is used to power motors and many other devices. A three-phase power system uses three alternating current (AC) voltage sources whose phases are each separated by 120 degrees. In a balanced three-phase power system, three power supply lines carry three AC signals of the same frequency (and therefore the same period), which reach their instantaneous peak values at different times. Taking a current carried by one of the three power supply lines as a reference, the other two currents are delayed in time by one third and two thirds of one period of the electrical current, respectively.
One common way to produce the three AC voltage sources is to construct an AC generator/alternator in which a rotating magnetic field passes by three sets of wire windings, each set spaced 120 degrees apart around the circumference of the generator/alternator. A phase voltage refers to the amount of voltage measured across any one AC voltage source, such as one set wire winding in an AC generator/alternator.
The windings of a generator or of a motor can be connected to three-phase power supply lines in different configurations, including those shown in FIGS. 1-1A. FIG. 1 depicts a "Δ" (delta) configuration, while FIG. 1A depicts a "Y" configuration, also known as a star configuration. In the delta configuration, the windings are connected between the three power supply lines. In the star configuration, the windings are connected from each of the three power supply lines to a common node. The common node may be connected to a neutral line, which is present in some applications of the star configuration. The neutral line may allow lower voltage devices to be connected between one of the power supply lines and the neutral line, which results in a lower voltage than when connecting between two of the power supply lines.


Provided are a novel compound having CDK8 and/or CDK19 inhibitory activity, and a production method for Tregs. The treatment of T cells with a CDK8 and/or CDK19 inhibitor induces Foxp3 in the T cells. Foxp3+ T cells can be induced by treating Foxp3− T cells with the CDK8 and/or CDK19 inhibitor in vitro. Thus, Tregs can be induced.

Cyclin-dependent kinase 8 (CDK8) and its related isoform CDK19 each regulate transcriptional activity through phosphorylation of RNA polymerase 2 responsible for transcription. CDK8 was identified as an oncogene in melanoma (Nature 468, 1105-1109, 2010) and colorectal cancer (Nature 455, 547-551, 2008), and there is also a report that high expression of CDK8 is associated with progress of malignancy in colorectal cancer (Int. J. Cancer 126, 2863-2873, 2010). In addition, it is known that CDK8 maintains embryonic stem cell pluripotency, suggesting its relationship with a trait of cancer stem cells (Cancer Res. 72, 2129-2139, 2012). Therefore, a large number of CDK8 inhibitors and CDK19 inhibitors have been proposed as therapeutic drugs for various cancers, and as therapeutic drugs for autoimmune diseases and inflammatory diseases. Specifically, there are given, for example, compounds described in U.S. Pat. No. 8,598,344 B2, WO 2013/001310 A1, WO 2013/040153 A1, WO 2013/116786 A1, WO 2014/029726 A1, WO 2014/063778 A1, WO 2014/072435 A1, WO 2014/090692 A1, WO 2014/106606 A1, WO 2014/123900 A1, WO 2014/154723 A1, WO 2014/194245 A1, WO 2015/049325 A1, WO 2015/100420 A1, WO 2015/144290 A1, WO 2015/159937 A1, WO 2015/159938 A1, and WO 2016/009076 A1.
In an immune system, there is a subset of CD4+ T cells called regulatory T cells (Tregs) having a function of suppressing immune responses. The Tregs play important roles in maintaining immune tolerance and immune homeostasis by regulating various pathological immune responses, such as autoimmunity, inflammation, and allergy. The Tregs include natural-occurring Tregs (nTregs), which develop in the thymus, and induced Tregs (iTregs), which are induced by an action of TGF-β in the periphery. Immune response-suppressing functions of those Tregs are defined by expression and maintenance of a transcription factor Foxp3 (Science, 299, 1057-1061 (2003), Immunological Reviews 212, 8-27 (2006), Nat. Immunol., 8, 457-462 (2007)).
There are proposals of a method of treating immune diseases involving enhancing or attenuating immune responses by targeting Tregs, and a cell therapy method using Tregs. Examples thereof include: using an immunosuppressant containing a geranylgeranylation inhibitor as an active ingredient for autoimmune diseases and inflammatory diseases (Patent Literature 1: JP 2009-215284 A); in vitro co-culturing CD4+ naive cells and mast cells in the presence of interleukin-33 (IL-33) to produce Tregs, which are used as an immunosuppressant for suppressing onset of diseases such as allergic diseases and rheumatism and an organ transplant rejection reaction (Patent Literature 2: JP 2010-4853 A); bringing T cells into contact with transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-β) and retinoic acid to stimulate or increase differentiation to Tregs, which are used for autoimmune diseases and the like (Patent Literature 3: US 20090136470 A1); in vitro culturing CD4+ T cells in the presence of interleukin-2 (IL-2), TGF-β1, and all-trans-retinoic acid (atRA or tretinoin) to induce CD8+ Tregs, which are used for autoimmune diseases, malignant tumors, viral infections, and the like (Patent Literature 4: WO 2013/161408 A1); and ex vivo treating non-regulatory T cells with a regulatory composition containing a methyltransferase inhibitor to produce Tregs, which are used for treating autoimmune diseases and aberrant immune responses (Patent Literature 5: US 20090257988 A1).
However, further development of a Treg induction method is expected.

Compound, and method for producing regulatory T cells


The present invention provides an axial machining device comprising a tool-carrier spindle rotatable in a housing, the housing housing a transmission system causing the spindle to advance automatically relative to the housing under the effect of the tool-carrier spindle being driven in rotation, the transmission system including an advance gearwheel screwed onto the spindle, the device including a resilient return member urging the advance gearwheel in a first axial direction opposite to the advance direction of the spindle, and also including a first rolling bearing having rolling members rolling on an undulating raceway having an axial component, thereby periodically urging the advance gearwheel to move in a second direction opposite to the first, such that rotation of the spindle is accompanied by axial vibratory motion.

Patent application FR 2 881 366 in the name of SETI TEC describes a drilling device including a drive gearwheel for driving a bit-carrier spindle in rotation and an advance gearwheel connected to the bit-carrier spindle via a threaded connection.
A similar device is shown in FIG. 1. In this figure the numerical references are the same as those used below for referring to component parts that are identical or similar.
Vibratory drilling devices are also known from the following publications: WO 2008/000935 A1, DE 10 2005 002 462 B4, U.S. Pat. No. 7,510,024 B2, FR 2 907 695, and US 2007/209813.
Vibratory assistance serves to break up swarf and to increase the quality of drilled holes by eliminating the risk of clogging, to increase the lifetime of tools, and to make the method more reliable.
In publications FR 2 907 695, U.S. Pat. No. 7,510,024, and US 2007/209813, the oscillations are generated by cams without rolling members. That gives rise to friction on the cams, thereby generating heat and noise. In addition, the optimum vibratory frequency for good fragmentation of swarf is not always obtained because the frequency is an integer multiple of the speed of rotation differential between the advance gearwheel and either the spindle or the housing, which differential is directly related to the number of oscillations of the cam.
In patent DE 10 2005/002462, a spring exerts a return force on a rolling bearing that includes a raceway that is undulating in the advance direction of the drill bit for the purpose of producing axial vibration. In the event of high axial pressure on the drill bit, the rolling members can cease to roll on the undulating raceway and the bit can cease to oscillate. In order to avoid that drawback, the spring must be very stiff, which can lead to the bearing being overdimensioned. That gives rise to increased costs and size.
Furthermore, the device is fitted to the end of the spindle, under the advance system, thereby adding to overall size and leading to greater complexity.
There exists a need to further improve drilling devices, in particular those for machining aviation workpieces of large dimensions, such as for example fuselage or wing parts.


An interior lining interface incorporates a decorative interface ring having a substantially flat flange with multiple bearing ring bosses on an inner surface of the flange for engagement of an inner surface of a rim of a window ring. Multiple friction fit legs extend from the flange and are received within and constrained by the interface ring to the widow ring rim. A window reveal has a mating surface contacting the flange.

1. Field
Embodiments of the disclosure relate generally to the field of aircraft interiors and more particularly to a decorative ring having a flat presented face mountable within an aircraft structural window ring for low tolerance interface to interior sidewall window panels.
2. Background
Commercial aircraft as well as commercial busses and trains have interiors which employ sidewall linings that incorporate decorative window reveal assemblies to allow passengers to see out the cabin windows while maintaining an aesthetically pleasing cabin interior appearance. The structural window ring of the aircraft is a high tolerance assembly and the interface to the interior lining panels and window reveal assemblies in current installations requires alignment of the lining to the structure with tight tolerances fore and aft, vertically and rotationally ("clocking"). Many current installations employ a flexible bellows seal extending from the lining into the structural window ring which may impinge on window clips or other elements or the aircraft window structure and which may result in an aesthetically unacceptable installation or require frequent or repeated rework to adjust and reinstall linings for proper fit.
It is therefore desirable to provide an interface for the aircraft interior lining window reveal which provides reduced tolerance requirements in forward/aft, vertical and clocking to enhance interior lining installation.

Decorative ring device for free-floating interface of aircraft interior sidewall window lining


A manufacturing method of GaAs metal semiconductor FET is disclosed. The method comprises the steps of: preparing a GaAs substrate; depositing a silicon layer on the GaAs substrate; forming a first photoresist pattern on the silicon layer by means of well-known image reversal process; etching the silicon layer by means of photolithographic process using the first photoresist pattern as a mask to define ohmic contact regions of source/drain electrodes; forming a second photoresist pattern on the GaAs substrate after removal of the first photoresist pattern to define a channel region; injecting a predetermined quantity of silicon ions into the GaAs substrate to form the channel region; depositing a protective layer around the GaAs substrate after removal of the second photoresist pattern; annealing the substrate deposited with the protective layer to activate silicon ions of the remaining silicon layer and thus diffusing the activating silicon ions into the depth direction of the substrate; forming ohmic contacts on the substrate using an ohmic contact mask after removal of the protective layer and the remaining silicon layer; and forming a gate electrode by using a gate mask.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a manufacturing method of GaAs metal semiconductor FET (Field Effect Transistor).
2. Description of the Prior Art
Generally, in order to dope high-density ions of impurity into the source/drain regions of GaAs compound semiconductor devices, ion-implantation methods using high energy have been widely used in the art of the present invention.
However, when the above-mentioned ion-implantation method is applied to the fabrication of a GaAs metal semiconductor device, since lots of impurity ions are injected into the source/drain regions during the process, a problem arises in damaging of ohmic contacts of metal electrodes.
Also, when the ion-implantation method is applied to the fabrication of metal semiconductor devices using a self-aligned gate, ohmic contacts of metal electrodes get damaged due to lots of impurity ions. Thus doping density can not be raised to its maximum, and therefore electrical resistance of the ohmic contacts is raised.
Typical method for forming ohmic contact on GaAs substrate and implanting impurity ions therethrough is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,540,446.

Manufacturing method of GaAs metal semiconductor FET

Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute


A method for removing a predetermined amount of material from the inner surface of a circular article which deviates from a true circular configuration. The outer surface of the article is touch probed to determine its true location in space, and the data are stored in a computer memory. These data are then compared to engineering design data to establish the location of the surface to which material removal is desired. A control computer compares the measured data with the design data, and sends commands to the machine control system, causing the machine to remove the excess material down to the desired dimension. Any deviations from circular are compensated for by moving the article radially relative to the cutting tool as the article moves circumferentially relative to the cutting tool.

The operation of a gas turbine engine involves compressing air in a series of airfoils mounted on disks which are alternately rotating and stationary, combining the compressed air with fuel in a combustion operation, and extracting power by expansion in a second series of airfoils mounted on disks which are alternately rotating and stationary.
In order to maximize efficiency and power output, it is necessary to reduce leakage of the compressed air and combustion products past the tips of the rotating airfoils. An airseal is typically formed by bonding a layer of abradable material to a circular support ring. An alternate method is to bond a honeycomb structure to the backup ring and pack abradable material in the cells of the honeycomb material.
At initial assembly of the engine, the inside diameter of the surface of the abradable material is less than the outside diameter of the tips of the airfoils attached to the rotating disks. During the initial operating period of the engine, the tips of the airfoils remove some of the abradable material from the inside surface of the airseal until the inside diameter of the airseal abradable material is virtually the same as the outside diameter of the rotating airfoils. This insures the least possible gap between the tips of the airfoils and the airseal, and minimizes leakage past the tips of the airfoils during engine operation.
After a designated period of service time, the engine is removed from service and the necessary overhaul and repair operations are performed to insure continued safe operation of the engine. During overhaul and repair, it is necessary to remove the old abradable material and replace it with new abradable material so that a new airfoil tip path may be formed in the airseal after reassembly of the engine.
At overhaul and repair, the airseals often deviate from a true circular configuration. This can be due to deviations from the nominal configuration in the original part or to distortion created by exposure to the elevated temperature conditions during engine operation. During overhaul and repair, the abradable material is typically removed from the support ring using conventional machining techniques. This includes fixturing the support ring in a manner so as to force the ring to a more nearly circular configuration, and rotating the ring about its center past a single point cutting tool which removes the abradable material. This technique generally involves extensive setup and machining time, as well as complex and expensive fixturing, and can still be inaccurate enough to either fail to completely remove the abradable material or to inadvertently cut into the support ring.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,055,752 to Leistensnider et al and of common assignee with this application, a method is presented for machining the elongated edge of a workpiece to preselected dimensions and tolerances using a numerically controlled machining system. The surface of the workpiece along the length of the edge to be machined is probed to determine edge dimensions and/or the actual position and orientation of the edge at preselected locations. The data generated are stored and the edge of the workpiece is machined under the direction of a machine program which accesses the measured data, compares it with original design data for the part, and machines the elongated edge of the part in accordance with the original design configuration as adjusted for the measured data.
Since the conventional machining techniques are inherently inaccurate and the technique disclosed in Leistensnider et al is restricted to a workpiece which has an elongated edge, what is needed is a method to remove a layer of material from a circular object which is slightly out of round so as to leave a predetermined amount of material on the circular object. As applied to a gas turbine engine airseal, this amounts to removing the abradable seal materials completely without inadvertently removing any of the support rings which support the abradable seal materials.

Method for removal of abradable material from gas turbine engine airseals


A two and one half inch form factor single disk drive has a height of 0.60. The spin motor is mounted in a recess in a housing base to reduce height of the housing. A printed circuit board is mounted to the base with all components of the circuit board being mounted on one side of the board opposite from the base. The cover and base are preferably made of cast aluminum alloy with the cover being convex configured for added strength.

This invention relates generally to magnetic disk drives, and more particularly the invention relates to a single disk drive which has increased storage capacity and reduced size, weight and power consumption and conforms to the dimensions of a tape cassette having a height of 0.6 inch.
The technology relating to data storage is following a continuing trend towards increased storage capacity, reduced data storage device weight and size, and reduced power consumption. Factors motivating these trends include the increasing use of portable, lap-top, and notebook computers. Reducing the size of disk drives has been balanced against the corresponding reduction in storage capacity caused by reduction in the area of the storage medium.
Advances in data storage technology and the reduced size of computers have lead to disk drives having smaller dimensions. Eight inch (8") disk drives were followed by the five and one-quarter inch (51/4") disk drives. The length of a five and one-fourth inch drive is approximately the width of an eight inch drive and the width of a five and a quarter inch drive is approximately one-half the length of an eight inch drive. This same relationship applies to so called three and one-half inch (31/2") drives and five and one-fourth drives--i.e. a three and one-half inch drive is approximately one-half the size of five and one-fourth inch drive.
Many of the developments in disk drive technology which lead to the current state of the art for disk drives for personal computers and work stations were made with respect to five and one-fourth inch disk drives and later incorporated into three and one-half inch disk drives. In transferring these developments from five and one-quarter inch to three and one-half inch drives, most parts remain the same and were shoe-horned into a three and one-half inch drive.
Disclosed in co-pending application Ser. No. 508,960 supra, is a disk drive having a two and one-half inch (21/2") form factor in which the length of the drive is approximately the width of a three and one-half inch drive and the width is approximately one-half of the length of a three and one-half inch drive. The dimensions of the disk drive are: length 4 inches, width 23/4 inch, and height approximately 0.68 inch. One embodiment of the disk drive weights less than approximately six (6) ounces, and the single disk in the drive has a diameter of approximately 2.56 inches.
The overall power consumption of the disk drive is less than 3.5 watts and the power consumption may be as low as 1.5 watts during idle periods. Thus, the disk drive is idle for use in portable or other battery powered computers. The power consumption of the disk drive is further reduced by the use of a sleep mode to less than 0.5 watt. A closed loop, embedded servo control system provides the single two and one-half inch diameter disk with a storage capacity of 20 Mb.
Co-pending parent application Ser. No. 07/531,788 is directed to a two and one-half inch diameter disk drive having the form factor 23/4".times.4".times.0.75" with enhanced storage capacity provided by multiple disks.

Two and one half inch diameter disk drive having 0.6 inch height


A novel and useful apparatus for and method of nonlinear adaptive phase domain equalization for multilevel phase coded demodulators. The invention improves the immunity of phase-modulated signals (PSK) to intersymbol interference (ISI) such as caused by transmitter or receiver impairments, frequency selective channel response filtering, timing offset or carrier frequency offset. The invention uses phase domain signals (r, θ) rather than the classical Cartesian quadrature components (I, Q) and employs a nonlinear adaptive equalizer on the phase domain signal. This results in significantly improved ISI performance which simplifies the design of a digital receiver.

Phase modulation communications is well known in the art. Phase modulation is a form of modulation that represents information to be conveyed as variations in the instantaneous phase of a carrier wave. Intersymbol interference (ISI) is a form of distortion of a signal whereby symbols transmitted before and after the current symbol in a close neighborhood to it have an effect on the currently received symbol. This is an unwanted phenomenon as the neighboring symbols contribute to a noise effect, making communications less reliable. Several approaches to fight against intersymbol interference include using adaptive equalization or error correcting codes (i.e. especially soft-decoding using the Viterbi algorithm).
ISI is usually caused by echoes or a nonlinear frequency response of the channel. It is introduced in wireless communication links using phase modulated schemes, by the channel or by the receiver implementation impairments. The ISI creates an error vector magnitude (EVM) floor which degrades overall performance of the demodulator. Note that in the case where the modulation is a differential like 8-DPSK, ISI creates the DEVM floor. In certain modulation schemes such as Bluetooth enhanced data rate (EDR), the receiver often utilizes a filtering scheme which filters the required channel before the demodulation step (after down conversion). The complexity of the filter determines the amount of ISI observed at its output. Thus, when a less complex filter (in terms of area and power) is in use, so further ISI will be introduced. Furthermore, in case there is a frequency offset of the down converted signal prior to the filter, the ISI is more severe since the filter is generally designed under the assumption of zero frequency offset, due to the fact that the frequency offset is unknown during the filter design phase. Any frequency offset in the timing recovery loop contributes to ISI as well.

Nonlinear adaptive phase domain equalization for multilevel phase coded demodulators


A Geneva drive mechanism includes a Geneva gear having arcuate recesses and radially outwardly opening slots arranged alternately in a circumferential direction thereof, and a driving member having an engaging element for engaging the slots. The driving member has a cam. The cam includes a plurality of rolling elements rotatable and movable circumferentially of the driving member. The rolling elements are arranged in a portion of the cam which contacts the arcuate surfaces when the engaging element is disengaged from the slots and rotation of the Geneva gear is restricted.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a Geneva drive mechanism including a driven member defining arcuate recesses and radially outwardly opening slots arranged in a rotating direction, and a driving member having an engaging element for engaging the slots of the driven member to rotate the driven member intermittently by a predetermined angle.
2. Description of the Related Art
The Geneva drive mechanism has a function to convert continuous rotation into intermittent rotation by a set angle. That is, when a continuous rotation is inputted, the Geneva drive mechanism outputs an alternate repetition of rotation and stoppage, i.e. a rotation through a set angle followed by a stopping period, and then a rotation through the same set angle.
Generally, this type of Geneva drive mechanism includes a driven member defining arcuate recesses and radially outwardly opening slots arranged alternately at predetermined intervals circumferentially of the driven member, and a driving member for intermittently rotating the driven member. Such a Geneva drive mechanism is disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Publications Kokai No. S60-64357 and No. H6-40507, for example. In the prior constructions disclosed therein, the driving member includes an engaging roller acting as the engaging element for successively engaging a plurality of slots in the driven member to rotate the driven member intermittently by a predetermined angle. This driving member further includes a plurality of turn rollers rotatable about pivotal axes fixed to the driving member for contacting arcuate surfaces of the arcuate recesses in the driven member when the engaging roller is disengaged from the slots so that the driven member does not rotate with the driving member.
In the Geneva drive mechanism having the above construction, when, with rotation of the driving member, the engaging roller engages one of the slots in the driven member, the driven member is rotated until the engaging roller is disengaged from the slot. Thereafter, the rotation of the driven member is suspended until the engaging roller engages the next slot in the rotating direction.
With the driven member at rest, the turn roller of the driving member, while contacting the arcuate surface of one of the arcuate recesses of the driven member, rotate about the pivotal axes and move with the driving member along the arcuate surface.
According to the conventional Geneva drive mechanism, as noted above, when the driven member is at rest and the driving member is in rotation, the turn rollers move along the arcuate surface one of the arcuate recesses of the driven member. The driving member may include a cam defining a rotation restricting surface movable in sliding contact with the arcuate surfaces of the arcuate recesses of the driven member at rest (see FIG. 4 of Japanese Utility Model Publications Kokai No. H6-40507, for example). Compared with this construction, the foregoing construction has an advantage of reducing friction between the driving member and the driven member when the latter is at rest during intermittent rotation. With the reduced friction, the driving member is smoothly rotatable free of seizure, the Geneva drive mechanism has an extended life, and a reduction in energy consumption may be achieved in relation to rotation of the driving member itself.
However, in the conventional Geneva drive mechanism, a reaction is applied between the turn rollers and the pivotal axes of the driving member rotatably supporting the rollers when the rollers in rotation move with the driving member along the arcuate surfaces of the driven member. The positions where the reaction is applied are subjected to a strong frictional force. Thus, there is room for improvement in achieving an extended life of the Geneva drive mechanism as well as energy saving.


In determining the effectiveness of parameters on cells, after treatment of the cells with one or more selected parameters, the results of the treatment can be quickly determined by measuring the number n.sub.0 of cells having a predetermined cell form, subsequently mechanically stressing the cells for a sufficient period of time t to change the cell form substantially, thereafter again measuring the number n of cells having the predetermined cell form, and determining the cell viability .tau.defined by .tau.=t/1n(n.sub.0 /n).

This invention relates to biological cell treatment, and more particularly to evaluating the biological viability or survivability of cells.
In order to prevent the cells supplied to a microchamber from individually adhering to the surfaces of the walls of the microchambers, a hydrostatic pressure is applied intermittently (in an amount and manner similar to that of the present invention) from apertures in the bottom portions of the chambers to the interior thereof as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 95768/1989 and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/253,560 filed October, 1988 now U.S. Pat. No. 5,154,814.
In general, the protoplast used for the cell fusion of a plant is protoplasm obtained by isolating leaf cells by enzyme treatment to remove the cell walls. As disclosed in the literature (edited by an incorporated body of the Technical Information Association of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, "Research Journal", Vol. 13, No. 5, (1990-5) 3-12), fused hybrid cells are transferred onto a culture medium, and the cell walls are subjected to regeneration, cell division and callusing, the hybrid cells then growing into a plant body. The protoplast isolating condition differs according to the kind of plant, and it is said to be important to develop an optimum protoplast isolating condition under which the viability of protoplast, i.e. the capability of regenerating, dividing and multiplying the cell walls thereof, is not spoiled.
The treatment condition including optimum isolation, culture and cell fusion has been researched by trial and error repeatedly, usually by transferring protoplast pretreated with various kinds of cell wall digesting enzymes (such as pectinase and cellulase) onto a culture medium, culturing the same for several weeks, and observing the condition of the protoplast being divided and multiplied, or by cultivating this protoplast for more several months and observing whether an original plant body is regenerated or not. Such conventional determining of viability involves a technical problem that it takes at least 2-3 weeks before the viability results have been obtained. Moreover, it is necessary that the protoplast be put under an aseptic condition to be cultured for a long period of time. Consequently in determining viability, a great deal of labor is required in enzyme treatment, to make sterilization arrangements and to control the sterilization of a culture medium for a long period of time.

Biological cell treatment method and apparatus


The invention provides a user with a key or a visual clue to a desired content. There is provided a random search mode searching the content randomly when a user has no object for searching the content, and a specific search mode with object or search condition specified. The search condition is randomly generated or the content is extracted regardless of the search condition under the random search mode while the content is extracted based on the search condition such as a media type of the content input by the user or other content attributes.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a content management system, a content management method and a computer program which manage preferably contents of digitized various media. More specifically, the invention relates to a content management system, a content management method and a computer program which manage preferably enormous amount of contents existing across plural devices.
In more detail, the invention relates to a content management system, a content management method and a computer program which manage preferably astronomical amount of contents existing on a global basis and in which contents with various media types provide a user with a key or a clue to a desired content under a computing environment.
2. Description of the Related Art
With a recent rapid progress in information technology (IT), computer systems in various forms have been developed, manufactured and widely used in universities and other research institutes, offices and household. On a computer, various media such as sound, image and natural language as well as a plain text document file are digitized and dealt with mathematically, and thereby it becomes possible to perform an advanced process such as editing, processing, accumulation, management, transmission, distribution and sharing of information. As this, on a computer system, content with various media types can be dealt with.
Recently, in addition, information and communications network extends from a private network such as a home LAN to a wide area network such as the Internet. Various devices such as PC, PDA, camcorder, digital camera, TV receiver, DVD player and HD recorder are connected to a home LAN, and can share the generated or acquired content with each other and use the content for playing and so on. A user can acquire a desired content from a remote content server. In short, enormous amount of contents with various media types can be used on a network to which various devices are connected.
Although the computing environment capable of dealing with enormous amount of various media contents seems to be convenient, there is a problem how to manage the enormous amount of contents. To put it strongly, existence of astronomical amount of contents on a global basis makes it difficult for a user to reach desired media and the user tends to forget what content he/she desires to reach.
Now various resource objects are displayed by icon on a desk top screen with which GUI (Graphical User Interface) is provided, which makes it possible to be dealt with intuitive input operation and to be convenient. However, nothing provides a key or a clue to a desired content. As a result, a user cannot use a usable content effectively to lead to a dead storage of content.
For example, there is proposed an information retrieval system which provides a navigation of search feeding back accurately which part of stored information the information shown to a system by a searcher corresponds to (for example, refer to Patent Document 1). In this information retrieval system, the stored information is classified by an individual fixed viewpoint and a view displaying each component thereof is prepared for each viewpoint. This view changes dynamically operating with each view in response to the matching number of the search results and the view selection process by the user, in the process of searching. Also, the information searched by applying the previous view is fed back to a group of information narrowed by the searcher to give a new condition for narrowing. This feedback, which is a key to find the condition for narrowing that was not expected initially, helps a searcher without a sufficient expertise in the corresponding technical field find a desired subject according to the keyword given in rough examination.
This information retrieval system, however, cannot provide a user having no a guideline for searching such as what media type of content is available, with a key or a clue to find content that the user desires to use from a huge content-accumulated space.
In addition, there is proposed a content retrieval device extracting a keyword automatically by performing voice recognition and image recognition of input information such as voice information and image information to search a desired appropriate content effectively (for example, refer to Patent Document 2). In this content retrieval device, for example, a keyword is acquired by performing voice recognition of input voice information to output the content corresponding to the keyword of the result of voice recognition as a search result by comparing the keyword with a keyword stored and managed corresponding to the content in a keyword-content correspondence table part.
This content retrieval device, however, in which the keyword search is basic, does not provide a user having no a guideline for searching (without technique of specifying even a keyword) with a key or a clue to find a content that the user desires to use from a huge content-accumulated space. In addition, it is assumed that the keyword of content to be searched is registered in the keyword-content correspondence table part. It is impossible to perform a keyword registration for all contents existing in a huge content-accumulated space, and the range of application becomes limited.
[Patent Document 1] JP-A-8-44759
[Patent Document 2] JP-A-2001-229180

Content management system, content management method and computer program