A process for producing a cycloolefin addition polymer in which one or more cycloolefin monomers can be (co)polymerized by addition polymerization with a small palladium catalyst amount to produce a cycloolefin addition (co)polymer while attaining high catalytic activity. The process for cycloolefin addition polymer production is characterized by addition-polymerizing one or more cycloolefin monomers comprising a cycloolefin compound represented by a specific formula in the presence of a multi-component catalyst comprising (a) a palladium compound and (b) a specific phosphorus compound.

With demands for lightening, miniaturizing and densification, substitution of optically transparent resins for inorganic glasses has been advanced recently in fields of optical parts, such as lenses and sealing materials, and liquid crystal display element parts, such as back lights, light guide plates, substrates for TFT and touch panels, where inorganic glasses have been heretofore employed. As the optically transparent resins, addition polymers of norbornene (bicyclo[2.2.1]hept-2-ene) type having features of high transparency, high heat resistance and low water absorption properties have been paid attention.
Further, as transparent resins having, in addition to the above features, small coefficient of linear expansion, excellent thermal dimensional stability, excellent chemical resistance and excellent adhesion to other materials, addition polymers of norbornene (bicyclo[2.2.1]hept-2-ene) and cycloolefins having a hydrolyzable silyl group and their crosslinked products have been proposed (see patent document 1).
Addition polymers of cycloolefins such as norbornene have been obtained by addition polymerization of cycloolefin monomers by the use of catalysts using compounds of transition metals such as Ni, Pd, Ti, Zr and Cr (see, e.g., non-patent document 1)
Addition copolymers of cycloolefin compounds having a polar substituent in the side chain and non-polar cycloolefin compounds are useful as copolymers not only having excellent heat resistance and transparency but also being capable of crosslinking to improve adhesion properties, dimensional stability and chemical resistance, and as polymerization catalysts for obtaining these copolymers, single complexes of late transition metals, such as Ni and Pd, or multi-component catalysts containing Ni or Pd compounds have been mainly employed (see patent documents 1 and 2, non-patent documents 2 to 11).
Of these catalysts, the multi-component catalysts are industrially employed more frequently rather than the single-component catalysts, in order to omit a complicated catalyst synthesis process.
As catalysts of excellent polymerization activity, those using a phosphine compound or an amine compound as a Pd cation ligand and as a neutral donor and using a superstrong acid anion as a weak counter anion ligand are known (see patent documents 1 and 3 to 6, non-patent document 12).
Such multi-component catalysts as used in the prior art are obtained by preparing any of the following catalyst systems.
Catalyst System I
(1) Pd compound
(2) Neutral phosphine or amine compound
(3) Ionic compound capable of becoming weak counter anion for Pd cation
(4) Organoaluminum compound
Catalyst System II
(1) Pd compound having neutral phosphine or amine compound as ligand
(2) Ionic compound capable of becoming weak counter anion for Pd cation
(3) Organoaluminum compound
Catalyst System III
(1) Pd compound having, as ligand, neutral donor having Pd—C bond, such as σ-alkyl, σ-aryl or π-allyl
(2) Ionic compound capable of becoming weak counter anion for Pd cation
Catalyst System IV
(1) Pd compound having, as ligand, neutral donor having Pd—C bond, such as σ-alkyl, σ-aryl or π-allyl
(2) Lewis acid compound
In any of the above catalysts, a phosphine or amine compound as a neutral donor is contained. In case of Pd compounds having, as a ligand, a neutral donor and having Pd—C bond, such as σ-alkyl, σ-aryl or π-allyl, however, syntheses of their complexes become complicated, so that it cannot be necessarily said that they are industrially advantageous. In the prior art, any catalyst having as its constituent an ionic phosphonium salt instead of such a neutral donor has not been known heretofore.
In the case where polymerization of 5-trialkoxysilylbicyclo[2.2.1]hept-2-ene having a hydrolyzable silyl group and bicylo[2.2.1]hept-2-ene (norbornene) having no substituent in the side chain is carried out in a hydrocarbon solvent using a conventional neutral donor catalyst system, a polymer having a compositional distribution is liable to be produced, or precipitation sometimes take place during the polymerization, or the resulting polymer sometimes becomes opaque. It is thought that this is caused by that reactivity of the 5-trialkoxysilylbicyclo[2.2.1]hept-2-ene is higher than that of the bicylo[2.2.1]hept-2-ene, so that the 5-trialkoxysilylbicyclo[2.2.1]hept-2-ene is polymerized in a larger ratio compared to a ratio of these charged monomers at the stage of the beginning of the polymerization, and as a result, a polymer having structural units derived from the 5-trialkoxysilylbicyclo[2.2.1]hept-2-ene in a higher proportion is formed, that is, a compositional distribution regarding the structural units of the polymer occurs, and consequently, solubility in the polymerization solvent or compatibility with the polymer formed in the latter half of the polymerization reaction is lowered.
Moreover, if a compositional distribution regarding the structural units derived from the 5-trialkoxysilylbicyclo[2.2.1]hept-2-ene occurs, crosslink network of a crosslinked product obtained by crosslinking the polymer utilizing the hydrolyzable siyl group becomes ununiform, and the crosslinked product sometimes has poor dimensional stability.
Therefore, as a polymerization process substantially bringing about no compositional distribution, a process wherein one of the monomers is continuously or successively added to the polymerization system can be considered. However, it is thought that such a control becomes difficult if a reactivity ratio of the monomer copolymerized greatly differs.
As a means to prevent precipitation even if such a compositional distribution occurs, copolymerization of the 5-trialkoxysilylbicyclo[2.2.1]hept-2-ene and a cycloolefin compound having an alkyl group of 3 or more carbon atoms as a side chain substituent can be considered. In this case, however, when a film or a sheet is formed from the resulting copolymer, the film or the sheet has a too large coefficient of liner expansion though it has flexibility, and a problem of dimensional stability sometimes takes place. In this case, further, the compositional distribution sometimes becomes much larger, and therefore, a problem of transparency of the resulting polymer and a problem of uniformity of a crosslink network of a crosslinked product formed from the polymer is liable to take place.
In the polymerization reaction of a cycloolefin compound having an ester group or an oxetane group with the bicylo[2.2.1]hept-2-ene, reactivity of the cycloolefin compound having an ester group or an oxetane group is lower than that of the bicylo[2.2.1]hept-2-ene differently from the case of using the aforesaid cycloolefin compound having a hydrolyzable silyl group, so that a polymer having structural units derived from the cycloolefin compound having an ester group or an oxetane group in a lower proportion is formed at the stage of the beginning of the polymerization. With regard to occurrence of a compositional distribution, however, this polymerization is similar to that using the cycloolefin compound having a hydrolyzable silyl group, and the same problems sometimes take place.
On this account, there has been desired a catalyst system which does not substantially bring about the aforesaid compositional distribution in the polymerization reaction of a cycloolefin compound having a polar substituent such as a hydrolyzable silyl group, an ester group or an oxetane group with a non-polar cycloolefin compound and therefore which does not cause precipitation or turbidity of the resulting polymer during the polymerization using a hydrocarbon solvent.
Further, the Pd catalyst is expensive, and remaining of a large amount of the Pd catalyst in the polymer causes coloring or a lowering of transparency of the polymer, and accordingly, there has been desired a catalyst capable of performing polymerization in a small catalytic amount and showing high polymerization activity.
Furthermore, although the multi-component catalyst containing the Pd compound has higher resistance to water or methanol than the multi-component catalyst containing a compound of an early transition metal of Ti or Zr, phosphine that is added as a neutral donor to improve polymerization activity is liable to be oxidized and becomes phosphine oxide if oxygen is present when it is stored, and as a result, lowering of polymerization activity is sometimes brought about. Especially in the polymerization with a small catalytic amount, the catalyst becomes different even in the presence of a trace amount of oxygen, and the influence of oxygen is great.
On this account, a catalyst system which brings about little variability in the polymerization rate and the quality of the resulting polymer even in the presence of a trace amount of oxygen in the polymerization system has been desired from the viewpoint of industrials production.
Moreover, production of a cycloolefin addition polymer crosslinked product having adhesion properties or solvent resistance and chemical resistance usually includes a step of producing a copolymer that is a precursor of the crosslinked product by performing addition polymerization reaction of a cycloolefin compound having a polar substituent that becomes a crosslinking group, such as a hydrolyzable silyl group or an ester group, with a non-polar cycloolefin compound. From the copolymer formed by such an addition polymerization reaction, however, removal of palladium atom is difficult in many cases, and a large amount of residual palladium in the resulting copolymer causes a problem of lowering of optical transparency.
Patent document 1: U.S. Pat. No. 6,455,650
Patent document 2: U.S. Pat. No. 3,330,815
Patent document 3: Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 262821/1993
Patent document 4: WO 00/20472
Patent document 5: Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 130323/1998
Patent document 6: Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 98035/2001
Non-patent document 1: Christoph Janiak, Paul G. Lassahn, Macromol. Rapid Commun. 22,. p. 479 (2001)
Non-patent document 2: R. G. Schultz, Polym. Lett. Vol. 4, p. 541 (1966)
Non-patent document 3: Stefan Breunig, Wilhelm Risse, Makromol. Chem. 193, 2915 (1992)
Non-patent document 4: Adam L. Safir, Bruce M. Novak Macromolecules, 28, 5396 (1995)
Non-patent document 5: Joice P. Mathew et al., Macromolecules, 29, 2755-2763 (1996)
Non-patent document 6: Annette Reinmuth et al., Macromol. Rapid Commun. 17 173-180 (1996)
Non-patent document 7: B. S. Heinz, Acta Polymer 48, 385 (1997)
Non-patent document 8: B. S. Heinz et al., Macromol. Rapid Commun. 19, 251 (1998)
Non-patent document 9: Nicole R. Grove et al., J. Polym. Sci. Part B, 37, 3003 (1999)
Non-patent document 10: April D. Hennis et al., organometallics, 20, 2802 (2001)
Non-patent document 11: Seung UK Son et al., J. Polym. Sci. Part A, Polym. Chem. 41, 76 (2003)
Non-patent document 12: John Lipian et al., Macromolecules, 35, 8969-8977 (2002)
The present invention has been made under such circumstances as described above, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a process for producing a cycloolefin addition polymer in which one or more cycloolefin monomers can be addition-(co)polymerized with a small amount of a palladium catalyst and a cycloolefin (co)polymer can be produced with high activity.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a process for producing a cycloolefin addition polymer using a catalyst of high polymerization activity, in which when a monomer composition comprising a specific cycloolefin compound and a cycloolefin compound having a polar substituent such as a hydrolyzable silyl group is polymerized, a compositional distribution regarding structural units derived from the cycloolefin compound having a polar substituent is not substantially brought about.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a process for producing a cycloolefin addition polymer using a novel catalyst whose polymerization activity is little influenced even when a trace amount of oxygen is present in the (co)polymerization reaction of cycloolefin compounds and which is capable of carrying out addition (co)polymerization with high activity even when monomers containing a cycloolefin compound having a polar substituent such as a hydrolyzable silyl group are (co) polymerized.

Process for producing cycloolefin addition polymer


In a medical diagnostic method a patient is supported in a predetermined position and microwave energy is focused on a predetermined target region in the patient to produce a burst of photoluminescence. Electromagnetic radiation emitted from organic cellular material at the focal point or the microwave radiation is automatically detected. In a subsequent step, a spectral output of the organic cellular material is automatically determined from electromagnetic radiation received from the radiation focal point through the patient during the step of detecting. In addition, a diagnosis of the excited cellular material is automatically implemented based on the results of the spectral analysis.

This invention relates to a system and an associated method for use in performing medical diagnoses. More particularly, this invention relates to a non-invasive diagnostic technique for determining molecular composition of tissue samples internal to a patient.
Substantial advances have been made in the last twenty years in ascertaining internal organic structures without surgery. CAT scanners and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) imaging devices, as well as ultrasonography, have provided the physician with powerful tools for use in diagnosing patients. However, although these tools provide images of internal organic structures such as tumorous growths, those tools cannot provide any information as to whether a growth is malignant or benign. Generally, to make a definitive diagnosis as to potential malignancy of cancerous growths in the internal tissues of a patient, an incision must be made and a sample of the suspect tissues removed in a biospy procedure. Such an invasive procedure is time consuming, expensive and traumatic to the patient.

Medical diagnostic system and related method


A method and apparatus for color screening combines existing halftone pixel matrices into a super cell. Images of different intensities are displayed using such a super cell by selectively illuminating pixels in the super cell in an order that depends both on the illumination order of the original cells and a visitation order for the halftone cells that make up the super cell.

This invention relates generally to the depiction of images on color display systems, and particularly to the use of halftone color screening to efficiently store and process images in computers for display on a monitor or printer.
Common color or monochrome graphics systems, such as laser printers or cathode ray tubes (CRTs) display images by marking pixels on a rectangular grid. Such systems may typically have a resolution of 300 pixels/inch in each direction. Many of these graphics systems employ binary pixels meaning they use only one bit of memory for each color of each pixel in order to save on memory. This means that for a typical color printer that can mark in three primary colors (e.g., cyan, magenta and yellow), each pixel can only be marked in one of 8 color combinations. In order to display the desired number of color gradations, a halftone or dithering technique is used. In this technique, a pattern of pixels (the "halftone cell pattern") is chosen such that the halftone cell can be replicated to cover the display area and that each pixel belongs to exactly one halftone cell. In a common technique the halftone cell pattern is a square of a given size, oriented at a given angle with respect to the bottom edge of the display.
As the color intensity of an image goes from low to high, pixels in the halftone cell are turned on in a fixed order. The order of illumination of the pixels can be illustrated by numbering the pixels from 0 to n-1 where n is the number of pixels in the halftone cell. A common order of illumination or "spot function" illuminates pixels in the order of increasing distance from the center of the halftone cell. This spot function gives a roughly circular peak of color centered in each cell, and is known as a single peak spot function.
Each shade of color displayable by a monitor or printer may thus be associated with its own set of primary color halftone cells, one for each primary color. Any number of sizes, orientations, or spot functions may be used to define halftone cells.
The prior art techniques for generating halftone images generally begin by the user selecting a color setting for the current component of the image. Images are always drawn as a sequence of components where each component is painted with a single fixed color setting. An example of a color component setting for a 3 color printer might be 50 percent cyan, 30 percent magenta, 10 percent yellow.
The second step is computing the halftone cell pattern for each primary color that is to be used in displaying the current component, and determining exactly which pixels in each halftone cell are to be turned on to result in a display with the desired shade and intensity. At this point there is a replicated pattern of halftone cells for each primary color, each with a fixed pattern of on and off pixels in the cell that approximates the desired intensity for that primary color. The size, shape, and angle of the halftone cell, and the spot function may be different for each primary color.
The final step is to paint the desired component of the image, using the superposition of the halftone cell patterns for each primary color to determine how to paint each pixel of the component. The color for each pixel of the image component is determined by combining the corresponding pixels of the replicated halftone cell patterns for each primary color. A pixel of the displayed image is painted with a given primary color if and only if the pixel was part of the image component and the pixel was turned on in the replicated halftone cell pattern for that primary color. Each pixel may be painted with any combination of the possible primary colors.
A well known problem with the prior art halftone cell approach described above is the tradeoff between the number of color intensities that can be represented and the resolution of detail in the image. For example, comparing a 8.times.8 halftone cell and a 4.times.4 halftone cell, both with single peak spot functions, the 8.times.8 cell will give 64 possible color intensities, and the 4.times.4 cell will give only 16 possible color intensities. However, the 4.times.4 cell will give much better perceived resolution of detail at medium intensities because the spots of color will be closer together. One prior art remedy to this problem is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,837,613, where halftone cells are comprised of pixels which may themselves vary in intensity, thus requiring smaller halftone cell patterns to achieve the same range of color intensities. However, such a scheme the use of variable-intensity pixels instead of binary pixels requires additional memory to define the intensity with which each pixel is to be displayed.

Image display apparatus and method using halftone super cells


Disclosed is a hard fat which can be a basic ingredient for obtaining a margarine or shortening having favorable meltability in the mouth of a lauric fat, and also having favorable plasticity, as well as a margarine or shortening in which the hard fat is used, and confectioneries and breads using the same are provided. A hard fat containing 25 to 45% by mass of a lauric acid, having an iodine value of 0 to 25, and having the following triglyceride composition: triglycerides (CN 32 to 54 TG) of 85 to 100% by mass; triglycerides (CN 32 to 38 TG) of 30 to 50% by mass; triglycerides (CN 40 to 46 TG) of 25 to 55% by mass; triglycerides (CN 48 to 54 TG) of 10 to 30% by mass, and further having the following constituent triglyceride ratio: ((CN 32 to 38 TG)/(CN 40 to 46 TG)) of 0.5 to 1.5; ((CN 32 to 38 TG)/(CN 48 to 54 TG)) of no less than 1.0; and ((CN 40 to 46 TG)/(CN 48 to 54 TG)) of no less than 1.0.

Lauric fats that are rich in lauric acid typified by coconut oil and palm kernel oil are fats having a bland taste and superior meltability in the mouth, and have been conventionally used as a basic ingredient of oily foods such as chocolates, margarines, shortenings, whipped creams, and ice creams. When a lauric fat is used as a raw fat material of margarines or shortenings, the amount thereof which may be blended is limited since it is disadvantageous in a narrow temperature range that enables appropriate plasticity as a trade-off for superior meltability in the mouth to be provided. Consequently, there exists a dilemma of failure in sufficiently taking advantage of superior meltability in the mouth.
In attempts to make a temperature range broader that enables provision of appropriate plasticity while maintaining superior meltability of a lauric fat in the mouth, techniques of transesterifying a lauric fat and a solid fat including a saturated fatty acid having 16 or more carbon atoms have been known (for example, Patent Documents 1 and 2). However, although transesterified fats/oils themselves have favorable meltability in the mouth according to these techniques, meltability in the mouth peculiar to the lauric fat has not yet been exploited satisfactorily under current situations as this meltability is diffused when blended as a basic ingredient of margarines or shortenings with a liquid oil or the like.
In addition, puff pastry margarine in which purity of a triglyceride such as trilaurin or trimyristin is improved, and which has a property exhibiting favorable plasticity up to around 35° C., but which melts rapidly at body temperature was also proposed (for example, Patent Document 3). However, the technique proposed in Patent Document 3 necessitates ester synthesis for increasing the content of lauric acid and myristic acid in triglyceride constituent fatty acids to no lower than 90% by mass (hereafter, "%" as referred to herein indicates "% by mass"), and is thus economically disadvantageous due to difficulty according to processing techniques such as fractionation and transesterification carried out using a natural raw fat material.
Therefore, margarines and shortenings having favorable plasticity, and exploiting properties of a lauric fat have not yet been provided.    Patent Document 1: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, Publication No. S47-13607    Patent Document 2: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, Publication No. S57-74041    Patent Document 3: Japanese Examined Patent Application, Publication No. S48-32164


An electronic device has a vibrating element and a package accommodating the vibrating element. Moreover, the package has through-electrodes formed to penetrate a base substrate in its thickness direction and electrically connected with connection terminals, and electrically conductive adhesives (covering members) formed above the connection terminals so as to contain the through-electrodes.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to an electronic device, an electronic apparatus, and a method of manufacturing an electronic device.
2. Related Art
In the related art, electronic devices comprising an electronic component such as a vibrating element accommodated in a package have been known. Moreover, as the package, a configuration comprising a base substrate and a lid (lid portion) bonded together via a bonding member such as a brazing material has been known.
In the package, a connection terminal formed on an upper surface (inner surface) of the base substrate and electrically connected with the vibrating element, a mounting terminal formed on a lower surface (outer surface) of the base substrate, and a through-electrode formed to penetrate the base substrate and electrically connecting the connection terminal with the mounting terminal are disposed. The package is airtightly sealed for purposes of improving vibration characteristics of the vibrating element, or the like.
However, since the through-electrode is formed by burying an electrically conductive material such as a metal in a through-hole formed in the base substrate, the flow of gas inside and outside the package is generated from a gap formed between an inner circumferential surface of the through-hole and the through-electrode or a gap formed in the through-electrode for example, leading to a problem that airtightness cannot be ensured.
For solving such a problem, in an electronic device disclosed in JP-A-2003-179456, a through-electrode (through-hole) is formed in a region of a base substrate, where the region overlaps with an opening edge surface of a lid, and the through-electrode is configured so as to be covered with glass (bonding member) bonding the base substrate with the lid. In recent years, however, a further reduction in size of electronic devices has been desired. With this desire, the width of an opening edge surface of a lid is also reduced. Therefore, it is difficult to form a through-electrode at the portion, and moreover, the through-electrode sometimes protrudes from the portion due to manufacturing variations. Further, since the through-electrode is formed just below the glass (bonding member), the through-electrode is damaged by heat applied in bonding of the lid to the base substrate.
In this manner, the electronic device of JP-A-2003-179456 has a problem that the airtightness of an accommodating space cannot be improved while achieving a reduction in the electronic device.

Electronic device, electronic apparatus, and method of manufacturing electronic device


The present invention provides a method and a device for data traffic distribution. The method includes: measuring, by a mobile wireless interconnection wifi device, signal strength of a wifi network; and switching, by the mobile wifi device, data traffic between a cellular wireless communication network and the wifi network according to the signal strength of the wifi network, where, when the data traffic is transmitted over the wifi network, the mobile wifi device, by means of time division multiplexing, serves as an access point AP and a station STA respectively to route the data traffic between STAs having an Internet access demand and APs capable of providing an Internet access service. The embodiments of the present invention can implement data distribution in the scenario of multiple WAN ports.

Along with the development of mobile communication technologies, a user may access a wide area network (wide area network, WAN) in various manners, for example, a WAN port on a mobile wireless interconnection (wireless fidelity, wifi) device may include an Ethernet (Ethernet) port, a wifi station (station, STA) port, and a 2 G/3G/4G (second-generation/third-generation/fourth-generation mobile communication technologies) port, and the user may access the WAN in any one of the three manners. However, when the user uses the 2G/3G/4G port to transmit data, a large burden is caused to an operator network. Different from the operator network, a local area network (Local Area Network, LAN) usually uses a wifi network to access a wired network, for example, to access an optical fiber network, but the signal quality of the wifi network is usually unstable. On the premise of a stable data service, decision on using the 2G/3G/4G network or the wifi network to perform data transmission is a problem.

Method and device for data traffic distribution


In a method for determining the position and/or the movement of at least one object in the surroundings of a vehicle with the aid of at least one transmitted acoustic signal, the time behavior of at least one electrical signal of an electroacoustic transducer during the transmission of the acoustic signal and/or during a decay of the electroacoustic transducer following the transmission and/or during the reception of the acoustic signal reflected on the object is analyzed at least during a suitable fraction of a signal period in such a way that changes of the electrical signal of the electroacoustic transducer is detected.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for determining the position and/or the movement of at least one object in the surroundings of a means of transportation, in particular of a vehicle, and/or for transmitting information with the aid of at least one transmitted acoustic signal, and a surroundings detection device for carrying out the method according to the present invention.
2. Description of the Related Art
Ultrasonic systems which measure in pulses are presently conventionally used for the acoustic surroundings detection of vehicles. Due to a high level of mechanical robustness, their operating range is generally restricted to a small frequency range. They have a high quality. It is known to those skilled in the art that systems having a high quality require a relatively long time until they have dissipated an oscillation amplitude again after an excitation. The time which is necessary to dissipate the excitations is referred to as decay. Electroacoustic transducers of sensors, which are used both for the emission and for the subsequent reception, require a preferably short decay to also allow a measurement at close range with the aid of pulse runtime measurement.
The decay begins with the end of the transmission pulse generation and ends when the oscillation amplitude is significantly less than the amplitude of potential echoes and/or signals to be received.
The decay may be changed, on the one hand, by external influences, as are shown in FIG. 1, or, on the other hand, by internal-sensor features such as damage to the electroacoustic transducer, for example, by road stone.
FIG. 1a shows a vehicle 10, which has at least one sensor 20, which is covered by a thin ice coating 30. FIG. 1b shows a vehicle 10, whose rear sensors 40 are covered with a layer of powdered snow. Ice coating 30 in FIG. 1c extends over only a part of the diaphragm of the transducer of sensor 20. FIG. 1d again shows a vehicle 10, which has a sensor 20 at the right rear, which is shielded by a snow curtain 40. FIG. 1e shows a side view of vehicle 10 from FIG. 1d, sensor 20, which is installed in bumper 25 and is shielded by snow curtain 40 at a distance of approximately 20 mm in front of the bumper, again being visible.
In the case of the described sensors, it is preferred that they are subjected to a manufacturing test and that they have an independent monitoring function for studying the functional capability of the measuring system formed by the sensors during operation. With the aid of the independent monitoring function, the sensors may be put into a safe operating state, in particular in the event of a decrease of the sensor performance or in the event of damage, which may occur as a result of external disturbances, for example, such as damping due to a coating.
It is not only important to achieve an improvement of the sensor performance in the range of the measuring capability for distances beyond 20 cm, but rather also to be able to detect in the range of the object shape differentiation and the close-range measuring capability at distances of 5 cm or less, for example, to also be able to detect a snow curtain or a coating on the sensor, which cover sensors, as shown in FIGS. 1d and 1e.
These aspects were heretofore only checked on the basis of a measurement of the decay duration.
Alternatively, these aspects could also be checked with the aid of a frequency measurement. For example, the attempt has been made with the aid of a frequency measurement to determine the errors in the decay which occurred during the sensor manufacturing with the aid of bandwidth estimation. For this purpose, a system (surroundings detection device) 50 according to FIG. 2 is operated, in which a frequency measurement is carried out with the aid of an analysis unit 55. FIG. 2 schematically shows a surroundings detection device 50, having an acoustic unit 60 for transmitting and/or receiving acoustic signals 70 of today's ultrasonic sensors 75.
A transmission pulse generator 80 generates a pulsed transmission signal (not shown), in that signal generator 80, during the transmission pulse duration, outputs an electrical signal having signal frequency f to electroacoustic transducer (acoustic unit) 60. This transducer 60 begins to oscillate at frequency f of the transmission pulse and therefore to output an acoustic transmission pulse 70. Depending on the quality and resonant frequency fR of transducer 60 and the frequency locations of the frequency-determining components surrounding transducer 60, in the case of this type of frequency measurement, objects at different distances are often recognized by sensor 75, in particular upon variation of the sensitivity threshold. The experimental concept was based on the assumption that sufficiently good conclusions about sensor features could be drawn solely from the oscillation amplitude of the echoes at various signal frequencies with the aid of this type of frequency measurement.
Undisturbed sinusoidal signals may be described by equation (1) represented as follows:r(τ)=A1·sin(2πf·τ+φ)+A0  (1)
In the frequency range, the features of periodic sinusoidal signals are determined with the aid of filters, while direct component A0 is obtained by averaging. The most important features of filters for periodic signals are filter frequency fh, bandwidth B, and the phase dependence. The closer frequency f of the periodic signal to be studied is to filter frequency fh, the more strongly such a filter oscillates in comparison to the filters of other filter frequencies fh.
Bandwidth B=fO−fU describes the frequency range fU≦fh<fO around filter frequency fh in which signal frequency f may vary, without the strength of the oscillation, (i.e., the deflection amplitude of the filter) having significantly decreased, in particular so that the strength of the oscillation decreases by not more than 3 dB. At a given signal amplitude A1, the strength of the oscillation increases with the decrease of bandwidth B. This feature is also summarized by the parameter designated as quality Q=fh/B.
Filters which are independent of the phase relation of the signal to be studied to the phase relation of the observing measuring system and therefore do not have a phase dependence are referred to as incoherent filters. In contrast, phase-dependent filters are referred to as coherent filters. If the phase of the signal to be studied rotates in relation to that of the measuring system in the case of coherent filters by 90°, the oscillation state of these filters thus changes from maximum deflection in resonance to rest or vice versa.
The less the bandwidth of the filter, the longer it takes, however, until the filter has settled. This phenomenon may also be referred to as fuzziness of the frequency detection. To be able to reliably detect a frequency with the aid of a filter, the time until reaching the settled state of the filter is to be waited out, which generally lasts more than one period.
The time required for determining parameters φ, f, and A1 may be decreased if the gradient of the oscillation intensities is analyzed with the aid of a bank of filters having filter frequencies fh slightly offset to one another.
All frequency measurements have the disadvantage that they require multiple periods until changes in the signal are recognized. In particular, frequency measurements which require an excitation using signal shapes of various carrier frequencies are disadvantageous, for example, as in the case of the above-explained bandwidth estimation.
An important requirement may be recognized from FIG. 1e, specifically the close-range measuring capability of an ultrasonic sensor. Nearby objects, or even curtains in front of the transducer, which do not massively influence the resonance properties of the transducer, may not be recognized with the aid of a frequency measurement, since the echoes already come back to the transducer during the decay of the transducer, on the one hand, and the signal at the transducer is only so slightly varied by such objects, on the other hand, that these changes may not be exposed sufficiently solely with the aid of a form of the runtime-dependent amplification, as is known from the publication published international patent application document WO 2010/076061 A1.
A coating, in particular made of ice or mud, which is 1 mm in front of the transducer, for example, also may not always be sufficiently recognized with the aid of a frequency measurement by way of a pulse duration modulation, which is known, for example, from the publication published European patent application document EP 2 251 710 A2. A system and a method are described in the publication EP 2 251 710 A2, which relate to emitting ultrasonic pulses of different pulse duration (pulse duration modulation) and pulse strength, to monitor partial areas located at different distances from the sensor system.
An intrapulse analysis is known from the publication published international patent application document WO 2011/009786 A1, which is used for surroundings detection. Acoustic alternating signals are used, which may therefore be described as a period duration sequence having a time-variable signal strength. The intrapulse analysis includes the determination of a measurement sequence of period durations of a received acoustic signal, which, similarly to a fingerprint, is a characteristic both for the emitted transmission pulse and for the transmission path to a receiving unit, respectively. If an analysis unit knows the fingerprint which is characteristic for a transmission scenario, which is preferably represented by a sequence of reference period durations, it may thus be detected on the receiver side which scenario was present in the case of a received acoustic signal.

Method and device for determining the position and/or the movement of an object


A system and method for message-based call communication is provided. Speech utterances are obtained from a caller during a call with an agent. Each of the speech utterances are transcribed into a text message and the text messages are provided to the agent. One or more written responses, in reply to each speech utterance from the caller, are received from the agent. The written responses are converted to synthesized speech for providing to the caller. The speech utterances from the caller and the synthesized speech from the agent are processed and one or more characteristics of the caller and the agent are identified. A role for each of the caller and the agent is determined based on the identified characteristics.

Customer call centers, or simply, "call centers," are usually the first direct point of contact for customers seeking direct assistance from manufacturers and service vendors. Call centers are reachable by telephone and provide a single source for customer support and problem resolution. Although World Wide Web-based customer support is becoming increasingly available via the Internet, call centers still offer a convenient and universally-available forum for remote customer assistance.
As customer satisfaction and good will depend significantly on service after the sale, vendors spend substantial time, money and effort in ensuring effective call center operation. Customer assistance professionals are trained in providing both effective and courteous communication and informed and accurate product and service information. Nevertheless, the volume of call traffic can often exceed the capabilities of human customer assistance agents, and a range of automated call center systems are presently used to help bridge the gap between the need to provide responsive assistance and the limits of human call center staff.
Typically, in existing automated call center systems, customers are put on hold until an agent is available to take their call. While on hold, an automated system typically collects information from the customer, such as account number, to determine a priority of service. Such a system may also provide automated menus that attempt to classify the call into basic transaction types, for instance, based on language spoken.
When an agent is available to take the call, the agent will greet the customer, may ask for identification information, and will attempt to determine the nature of the call, often by asking for the same information that the customer previously provided to the automated system. The agent then takes some action, such as performing troubleshooting and providing the caller with instructions for resolving the problem. Further, to assist in improving customer support, the agent will usually log the customer information provided by the caller.
Each customer call is typically an interactive process. During the interaction, the agent may put the customer on hold while the agent gathers information, takes notes, or sometimes handles other customers. Finally, after call completion, the agent will summarize the call as a call log entry. The interactive process is repeated for each new caller throughout the course of the day. This interactive process is time inefficient. Agents are forced to wait for customers to complete their instructions while customers similarly remain on hold while agents are assisting other callers, researching a problem resolution, or creating call logs.
A customer interaction system is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,778,660 to Fromm, issued on Aug. 17, 2004, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference. The system enables agents to simultaneously process voice contacts from telephonic callers by storing incoming voice signals for time-shiftable and fast playback. Calls are routed to assigned agents when possible. If an agent is busy, the user is asked to state his question for storage in one or more queues. An agent subsequently processes and responds to the question in person, in a manner similar to that utilized in Web chat interactions. Agents respond to voice recordings in the order in which received with additionally provided fast playback that enables an agent to catch up with recorded messages. However, both user and agent messages remain as spoken speech recorded in an audible, non-textual format and accordingly require the full attention of the assigned agent.
Call centers and, in particular, agents, are presented with a related set of problems following the completion of a call from a customer. Incoming calls that originate with callers often need to be reviewed for quality control and to identify common problems, keywords, and patterns that can assist the call center in staying current with customer concerns and in generating post-call statistics. Conversely, outgoing calls that originate with a call center are faced with additional concerns where the call is answered by some form of automated response, such as an answering machine or user call menu.
Efficiently processing calls can be a time-consuming and tedious task, especially where the calls are lengthy or include extended periods of inactivity, for instance, where the caller is placed on hold. Similarly, consistently categorizing the participants in a call can be involved and may require identifying roles, genders, languages, and other characteristics of the call participants. Finally, only a part of a call may be of interest while the remainder can be disregarded. Repeat calls to the same type of callee can often be streamlined, for instance, by generating a call "macro" that navigates through an answering machine or user call menu automatically.
Accordingly, there is a need for an approach to providing automated call center operation that allows highly responsive caller support with a minimum of agent idle time and caller hold time.
There is a further need for an approach to providing efficient caller message processing using transcribed and synthesized speech utterances as an internal medium of communication within the automated call center.
There is a further need for an approach to providing analysis of completed calls, as well as in-progress calls, whether incoming or outgoing relative to a call center. Preferably, such an approach would enable automated processing of calls and identification of participant characteristics.
There is a further need for an approach to providing tools to assist with creating automatic call-outs that streamline the calling process in situations where the pattern of the call is generally known beforehand.

System and method for message-based call communication


An induction heating cooker includes an infrared sensor for sensing an infrared intensity from a load pot, a waveguide for guiding infrared radiation from the load pot to the infrared sensor, a first magnetism-proofing unit and a second magnetism-proofing unit for reducing magnetic fluxes leaking from a heating coil. Placement of the waveguide at a position lower than an upper surface of the second magnetism-proofing unit reduces self-heating of the waveguide due to magnetic flux supplied from the heating coil. As a result, a temperature rise of the infrared sensor due to radiation heat from the waveguide can be reduced, and an accuracy of sensing a temperature by the infrared sensor can be improved.

One of conventional induction heating cookers is disclosed in Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. H03-184295, and this cooker employs an infrared sensor for detecting a temperature of a load pot. The infrared sensor directly detects an infrared ray radiated from the pot base, so that a temperature detection of excellent thermal response can be achieved. However, in this conventional cooker, use of an infrared sensor having a wide view angle fails in detecting a correct temperature because the sensor is subjected to infrared rays other than that from the pot base.


A gas turbine engine includes an engine core, a power gearbox, and a lubrication system. The engine core is configured to drive rotation of at least one shaft. The power gearbox is configured to transfer torque from the at least one shaft to other parts of the gas turbine engine. The lubrication system is configured to deliver lubrication to the power gearbox to reduce friction and cool rotating components within the power gearbox.

Gas turbine engines are used to power aircraft, watercraft, power generators, and the like. Gas turbine engines typically include a compressor, a combustor, and a turbine. The compressor compresses air drawn into the engine and delivers high pressure air to the combustor. In the combustor, fuel is mixed with the high pressure air and is ignited. Products of the combustion reaction in the combustor are directed into the turbine where work is extracted to drive the compressor and, sometimes, an output shaft. Left-over products of the combustion are exhausted out of the turbine and may provide thrust in some applications.
Bearing assemblies are typically used to transfer loads between a rotating component and a fixed component or between two rotating components that move relative to one another in gas turbine engines. These bearing assemblies may be rotated at high speeds and may be subject to friction and/or elevated temperatures due to the high rotational speeds. Lubricants, such as oil, may be used to reduce friction in a bearing assembly and remove heat generated in the bearing assembly during operation.

Power gearbox with embedded oil reservoir for use in a gas turbine engine


The invention relates to an indicator apparatus (1) having a ring pointer (2), which is mounted such that it can move in the circumferential direction (5), and having a drive unit (3), which drives the ring pointer (2) in the circumferential direction (5), wherein the ring pointer (2) interacts with a stop (10) in a manner limited in terms of its circumferential movement. Particularly in the case of synchronization, radial disengagement often occurs in conventional ring pointer arrangements, and the aim of the invention is to prevent this. In order to solve the problem, the invention proposes arranging the stop (10) directly next to the drive unit (3). The critical advantage of this is that the tangential force on the ring pointer (2) from the drive unit generates an only small disengagement moment on the ring pointer (2).

The invention relates to an indicator apparatus having a ring pointer which is in the form of a ring or annular segment and is mounted so that it can move in the circumferentially. The indicator apparatus includes a drive unit which drives the ring pointer circumferentially, where the ring pointer has a stop face, and the indicator apparatus has a stop which interacts with the stop face so as to limit the circumferential movement of the ring pointer.
In the age of ever increasing information density in the cockpit of a motor vehicle, in particular manufacturers of combination instruments are faced with the difficult task of presenting a high density of information with, in some cases, safety related significance in a way which can be perceived satisfactorily. At the same times, it is also necessary to comply with relevant safety regulations which are intended to ensure a certain degree of precision, for example of the speed indicator, together with sufficient fail safety measures. In addition, this complex function must be provided with an attractive design, which frequently places strict limits on functionality and has a decisive influence on the requirements made of the overall structure.
In the compression of information, what are referred to as ring pointer, such as are described, for example, in EP 0 997 338, have proven expedient since these indicator devices do not require a central pointer axle. As a result, an analog indication in the classic sense is permitted, while at the same time leaving the central region of the indicator field free of the device's own components for a multifunction displays. Such a multifunction display may be composed, for example, of various small displays or of a relatively large graphic-compatible display.
Compared to conventional indicators with central indicator axes, the driving of the ring pointer, its bearing and its synchronization for a precise indication are much more complex. The usually circular ring pointer must be relatively dimensionally stable, despite its usually filigree embodiment so that it does not deform too much under the force of the drive. In addition, the ring pointer has to be mounted at a plurality of points over its circumference, and in this context the arrangement of three radial bearings over the circumference has proven expedient.
So that, for example, a speed indicator satisfies the high indication precision, a high power drive unit is provided which, for example in the case of severe braking, gives the ring pointer sufficient acceleration. In this context, the high tangential forces on the ring pointer can bring about an undesired radial offset, which not only adversely affects the indication precision for the moment of the offset but also desynchronizes the pointer. In the worst case, the drive unit is permanently no longer in engagement with the ring pointer because of the displacement of the ring pointer. In order to prevent this, previous embodiments have proposed radial stops which limit the possible radial offset of the ring pointer. However, fabricating these stops in a way which corresponds to the geometry of the filigree ring pointer requires extremely high fabrication precision, as a result of which considerable costs are incurred.


A fused deposition process is used to form three-dimensional solid objects from a mixture including a particulate composition dispersed in a binder. The article is formed by depositing the mixture in repeated layers of predefined thickness, with each layer solidifying before the next adjacent layer is dispensed. Following formation and a binder removal step, the article may be at least partially densified to achieve preselected properties. The process permits three-dimensional articles to be formed relatively quickly and inexpensively, without the need for molds or other tooling.

Methods for forming three-dimensional ceramic and metallic articles having a predetermined size and shape are known. Most conventional of these methods are the various pressing and extrusion techniques and, for more complex shapes, injection molding. Because of the time needed to produce the tooling required for such processes and the high initial cost of that tooling, these production techniques typically require long lead times and result in high unit manufacturing costs, particularly for the manufacture of prototypes or for small quantity production runs.
Recently, various solid free form fabrication techniques have been developed for producing three-dimensional articles without the need for molds, dies or other tooling. One such technique, commercialized by Stratasys, Inc. of Eden Prairie, Minn., and referred to as Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM.TM.), builds solid objects layer by layer from polymer/wax compositions by following the signals generated by a computer-aided design (CAD) software program. According to this technique, described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,121,329, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference herein, a flexible filament of the polymer/wax composition is fed by a pair of counter-rotating rollers into a dispensing head including a liquifier and a nozzle outlet. Inside the liquifier, the filament is heating to a temperature just above its melting point where it softens and melts. As the counter-rotating rollers continue to advance the solid filament into the liquifier, the force of the incoming solid filament extrudes the molten material out from the nozzle where it is deposited on a build platform positioned in close proximity to the dispensing head. The CAD software controls the movement of the dispensing head in the horizontal X-Y plane and controls the movement of the build platform in the vertical Z direction. By controlling the processing variables, the extruded bead, called a "road", can be deposited layer by layer in areas defined from the CAD model, leading to the creation of a three-dimensional object that resembles the CAD model.
As noted, the fused deposition modeling process described above has been used to fabricate three-dimensional objects from wax and polymer materials. The primary applications of this technology have been the manufacture of prototypes and the creation of positive forms to be used in investment casting processes. Accordingly, the users of the fused deposition modeling process have heretofore been concerned primarily with the external dimensional accuracy of the part formed and, to a lesser extent, with the exterior surface finish of the final part. As a result, little attention has been paid to the internal integrity of parts built by FDM techniques, and particularly to the elimination of internal defects which might limit the mechanical properties of solid parts built by these techniques. This is particularly the case in fabricating ceramic, metallic or ceramic/metallic parts, where the presence of internal defects such as voids, knit lines, laminations and the like will have a detrimental effect on the mechanical, electrical, optical, magnetic, magneto-optical and other properties of the final product.
The use of solid particle filled material in fused deposition modeling processes raises difficulties not addressed by the prior art. Among these concerns is the need to formulate solid particle filled feed materials having properties in both the solid and fluid forms which enable them to be fed into and deposited from the dispensing head, and the need to remove the binders from the formed article and sinter or otherwise densify the solid particles to from a final product having the desired dimensions and properties. The fabrication of solid functional components from these materials raises additional difficulties, including the need to avoid the occurrence of defects in the interior of the formed article.

Rutgers, the State University Old Queens


An exemplary electronic device includes a housing, a tray, and an ejection mechanism. A slot, a receiving groove, and a slit are defined in a sidewall of the housing. The receiving groove includes a main portion and a reduced portion. The tray is received in the housing and aligned with the slot. The ejection mechanism includes a push member, a first magnet, a shield member, and a second magnet. When ejecting the tray, the push member is moved towards the reduced portion and the shield member moves away from the first magnet and the second magnet to generate magnetic force to drive the pivoting member to rotate, the first end portion is urged by the magnetic force to move away from the sidewall of the housing, and the second end portion is driven to push the tray to move outwardly through the slot.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to electronic devices and, particularly, to an electronic device with an ejection mechanism.
2. Description of Related Art
Electronic devices such as notebook computers may include a retractable tray for holding a storage card. When replacing the storage card of a typical notebook computer, a pin is used to directly insert into a slit of the electronic device to trigger ejection of the tray. This operation requires a tool, concentration by the user, and a high degree of dexterity.
Therefore, what is need is an electronic device with ejection mechanism to overcome the described limitations.

Electronic device with ejection mechanism

ShenZhen Goldsun Network Intelligence Technology Co., Ltd.


A gain control amplifier is disclosed in which its gain changes continuously. Gain control amplifiers are connected in series between a signal input terminal and a signal output terminal. Each gain control amplifier is connected to an up-down counter via a D/A converter. A first up-down counter receives and counts gain control clocks, and increases the gain of a first gain control amplifier through a first D/A converter. When the up-down counter has registered a full count, the gain control clocks are input to a second up-down counter as a second output, during which the full count registered in the up-down counter is maintained as such. Thus, the gain of one gain control amplifier is increased only after the gain of the immediately preceding gain control amplifier has reached its maximum.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a gain control amplifier.
2. Description of the Background Art
FIG. 1 shows an example of a structure of a conventional gain control amplifier 100. A signal input terminal 1 is grounded through resistors 2, 3 and 4 which are connected in series and which have resistances R1, R2 and R3, respectively. A contact 6 is connected to a junction of the signal input terminal 1 and the resistor 2. A contact 7 is connected to a junction of the resistor 2 and the resistor 3 while a contact 8 is connected to a junction of the resistor 3 and the resistor 4.
The contacts 6 to 8 and an input terminal of a gain control amplifier 9 form a switch 5 which selects a contact for connection to the input terminal of the gain control amplifier 9. An output terminal of the gain control amplifier 9 is connected to a signal output terminal 11. A control input terminal of the gain control amplifier 9 is connected to a variable voltage source 10.
A signal received at the signal input terminal 1 is voltage-divided by the resistors 2, 3 and 4 so that voltage-divided signals are available at the contacts 6 to 8. One of the voltage-divided signals is admitted to the input terminal of the gain control amplifier 9 by the switch 5 and amplified with a predetermined gain. The gain of the gain control amplifier 9 is responsive to a potential given to the control input terminal of the gain control amplifier 9; that is, the gain of the gain control amplifier 9 is controlled by increasing or decreasing a voltage supplied by the variable voltage source 10. Hence, the gain of the gain control amplifier 100 is roughly controlled by the switch 5 which selects one of the signals which are voltage-divided by the resistors 2 to 4 and finely controlled by the variable voltage source 10.
The gain control amplifier 100 inherently has a weakness that its gain does not always make a continuous change in response to a voltage generated in the variable voltage source 10. FIG. 2 is a graph of a voltage at the variable voltage source 10 versus the gain of the gain control amplifier 100. The characteristic curves 12, 13 and 14 represent voltage/amplification-degree relations of where the switch 5 selects the contacts 6, 7 and 8 for connection to the input terminal of the gain control amplifier 9, respectively.
As is evidenced in FIG. 2, the gain of the gain control amplifier 100, which is dependent on a voltage at the variable voltage source 10, changes discontinuously at around values G1 and G2 due to switching action of the switch 5. Further, it is impossible to make the characteristics represented by the characteristic curves 12 to 14 different from each other since the gain control amplifier 9 alone amplifies the signals independently of the switching behavior of the switch 5.


A backlight unit includes a plurality a plurality of lamps, each having a first electrode and a second electrode. An alternating current (AC) signal having a high voltage is intermittently applied to the first electrode and the second electrode is connected to a ground. The backlight unit also includes: a pair of lamp guides comprising a first lamp guide and a second lamp guide, wherein the first lamp guide supports the lamps and is disposed to cross the lamps near the first electrodes, and the second lamp guide is disposed to cross the lamps near the second electrodes; a bottom cover for accommodating the lamps and the lamp guide pair; and a plurality of shock-absorbing holes formed in a bottom surface of the bottom cover near the first electrodes, a length of each shock-absorbing hole extending parallel to a corresponding one of the lamps.

1. Field of the Invention
This document relates to a backlight unit and, more particularly, to a backlight unit which can reduce vibration and noise of a bottom cover and a liquid crystal display using the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
The liquid crystal display (LCD) has been increasingly used in a wide variety applications because of the associated characteristics such as light-weight, thinness, and low power consumption during driving. Following this trend of increasing use, the liquid crystal display has employed in such devices as office automation devices, and audio/video devices. An LCD displays desired images on a screen by controlling the intensity of a light beam applied to a plurality of control switches arranged in matrix.
Liquid crystal displays are not self-luminous and therefore LCD devices require a light source such as a backlight.
Backlight units for the liquid crystal display can be broadly classified as either direct lighting types or an edge lighting types. In the edge lighting type, a light source is disposed at the outer block of a flat panel, and light emitted from the light source is incident on the entire surface of a liquid crystal display panel using a transparent light guide plate. In the direct lighting type, a light source is disposed on the rear surface of a liquid crystal display panel, and the entire surface of the liquid crystal display panel is directly radiated. The direct lighting type is advantageous when compared with the edge light type in that it can deliver increased luminance and can distribute light unto a wide light-emitting surface since several light sources are used. In the case of an LCD TV employing a large-sized liquid crystal display panel, the backlight unit of the direct lighting type is generally adopted.
As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the backlight unit of a direct lighting type of the related art includes, a plurality of lamps 20 for illuminating light to a liquid crystal display panel (not shown), lamp guides 34 for supporting the lamps 20, a bottom cover 10 for accommodating the lamps 20 and the lamp guides 34, a diffusion sheet (not shown) disposed to cover the entire surface of the bottom cover 10 and configured to spread light incident from the plurality of lamps, and a plurality of optical sheets (not shown) stacked over the diffusion sheet and functioning to vertically raise a light travel path toward the liquid crystal display panel.
The bottom cover 10 is equipped with a bottom surface, an inclined face that extends at an angle away which from the bottom surface and then extends, and a wing face, which is extends at an angle from the inclined face. The bottom cover 10 accommodates the lamps 20, and the lamp guides 34 for supporting the lamps 20. Each of the lamp guides 34 includes a lamp holder 32 and a frame member 30. The lamp holder 32 is supported by the frame member 30 that is coupled to the bottom surface of the bottom cover 10. The lamp holder 32 and frame member function to fix the lamps 20 to the bottom cover 10. A diffusion sheet support 40 is coupled to the frame member 30 to prevent the diffusion sheet from sagging due to heat of the lamps 20. A reflection sheet 5 is attached to the bottom surface and to the inclined face of the bottom cover 10. The reflection sheet 5 functions to reflect light that travels from the plurality of lamps 20 toward the bottom cover 10, redirecting the reflected light toward the liquid crystal display panel to thus improve the efficiency of light illuminated on the liquid crystal display panel.
The lamp 20 generally employs a cold cathode fluorescent lamp (hereinafter referred to as "CCFL") or an external electrode fluorescent lamp (hereinafter referred to as "EEFL"). A high voltage AC signal generated through an inverter (not shown) is applied to the lamp 20. A high voltage-side electrode of the lamp 20 is connected to the inverter through a lamp wire (not shown), and a low voltage-side electrode of the lamp 20 is grounded. The lamp 20 emits light when supplied intermittently with the output signal of the inverter through the lamp wire, as shown in FIG. 3. The duty ratio of the output signal of the inverter is controlled in response to a burst dimming signal generated from a dimming circuit (not shown). The duty ratio of the output signal of the inverter is Ton×100/(Ton+Toff), where 'Ton' denotes a turn-on period of the lamp 20 and 'Toff' denotes a turn-off period of the lamp 20. The duty ratio of the output signal determines the luminance of the lamp 20.
However, when the lamps 20 are operated based on the output signal of the inverter as described above, an AC signal of a high voltage is intermittently applied to the high voltage-side electrodes of the lamps 20, so that the lamps 20 are subject to micro vibration due to a periodical variation in the supplied energy, as shown in FIG. 4. The lamps 20 are fixed to the bottom cover 10 through the lamp holder and, therefore, the vibration of the lamps 20 is transferred to the bottom cover 10 substantially unchanged. The vibration of the bottom cover 10 generates noise as shown in FIG. 5. The generated noise is greater on the front side of the liquid crystal display having an exposed liquid crystal display panel than is the generated noise on the rear side of the liquid crystal display that is fully sealed by the back cover. Further, the problem of generation of noise due to vibration of the bottom cover 10 increases as a gap between the lamps 20 and the bottom cover 10 is reduced to produce a slim, wide-screen liquid crystal display.

Backlight unit and liquid crystal display using the same


A theatre construction comprises a seating area 120 for an audience, a circular support structure 134 surrounding the seating area and mounted above the seating area and a plurality of arcuate screens 135 suspended from the circular support structure. The screens 135 are mounted to the circular support structure 134 on rails for allowing movement of the screens about the seating area.

Traditional theatres comprise a tiered seating area facing performers on a stage. Performances in such theatres often have multiple parts or scenes that require different equipment or sets to compliment the actors' performance and improve the overall audience experience. These additional sets may be moved on and off the stage or hoisted in and out of the visible stage area during the performance when the stage curtain is lowered, so the audience is not aware of the changes taking place for the next part of the performance or during the course of the performance in view of the audience. This imposes limitations on the sets, as sets need to be designed with practicality in mind so that they can be moved on and off the stage, or hoisted in and out of the stage area, in a timely manner. Further, any sets not on the stage need to be stored off stage or suspended in the area above the stage. The space constraints of the theatre also limit the size and number of sets that can form part of a performance. However, as theatre technology has improved, designers have sought more impressive means to express their creativity and entertain an audience. One such means is the inclusion of a rotating seating area to improve the immersive experience provided by the performance. In this case, the scenery can stay fixed in position while the audience seating area rotates to view successive scenes. Ideally, for such systems to provide truly immersive experiences, visual cues such as lighting, staging and fire escape signage should be as invisible as possible during the performance to prevent the audience from determining the direction and extent of their rotation. A truly immersive experience should be one in which the audience does not have any idea which direction and by how much they are being moved and, therefore, what they might expect to see.
As the theatre-going audience becomes more accustomed to ever-increasing quality of production, it is the quality of the production that will provide a truly immersive experience to the audience. A quality performance must now incorporate outstanding lighting and sound configuration as well as the ability to truly disorientate the audience to provide a fully immersive experience.
A rotating seating area also has other problems. One such problem is how to manage the power lines and data cables that run from the fixed theatre building, for example a lighting desk or sound booth, to the rotating seating area to operate speakers and lighting attached to the rotating seating area. Cables cannot be subjected to significant twisting, as twisting a cable through multiple revolutions will result in mechanical damage as the core of the cable and insulating material is subjected to greater loads caused by the twisting of the cable.
Prior art revolving auditoriums typically comprise six or seven wheel tracks with a large number, typically in the hundreds, of undriven wheels to support the auditorium which is driven by a central motor. This has a high maintenance cost, as any broken wheels must effectively be left until such time as the auditorium cannot rotate and the whole system checked to determine which wheels need replacing. This is a highly expensive and inefficient system.


A method and system are provided for delivering content items to online users. The content items are to be displayed on user operated devices in response to a specified query. Subsets of items are generated from a set of content items responsive to the specified query. The subsets are selected to generally satisfy delivery requirements associated with each item. A different one of the subsets is delivered to each user making the query.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the delivery of content to online users and, more particularly, to a method and system for selective content delivery.
2. Description of Related Art
A vast amount of information is available online, especially over the Internet. Users commonly search for desired information using online search engines. Search engines typically search documents on the Internet for specified keywords and generate a list of the documents having the keywords. The documents are commonly sorted based, e.g., on how well they correlate to the user's query or in some other way such as in alphabetical order. Queries can also be made by clicking on a particular item or category in a list of such items or categories. The sorted results are then returned to the user typically all at once. The user then determines what documents to access by scrolling through the search results.
Scrolling is needed in order to review all of the results, especially in handheld Internet devices, which have small screens with limited display capacities. Scrolling is a tedious and time consuming process as users are typically inundated with large numbers of results. Sorting based on correlating results to user queries is often inaccurate. Accordingly, items at the top of the list of results are often unwarrantedly favored as users typically do not scroll very far down on the results.
A need exists for a method and system for selecting and displaying only a subset of all possible search results at a time with the subset selected based on satisfying some predetermined display requirements associated with the results.

Method and system for selective advertisement display of a subset of search results


Aspects include computing devices, systems, and methods for selecting preferred processor core combinations for a state of a computing device. In an aspect, a state of a computing device containing the multi-core processor may be determined. A number of current leakage ratios may be determined by comparing current leakages of the processor cores to current leakages of the other processor cores. The ratios may be compared to boundaries for the state of the computing device in respective inequalities. A processor core associated with a number of boundaries may be selected in response to determining that the respective inequalities are true. The boundaries may be associated with a set of processor cores deemed preferred for an associated state of the computing device. The processor core present in the set of processor cores for each boundary of a true inequality may be the selected processor core.

Demand for more performance in thin systems (e.g. smartphones and tablets) is increasing. The industry response to this demand has been the addition of more processor cores on processor chips to improve performance. The additional processor cores can provide higher performance, but the increase in processor cores results in the use of more power, which leads to higher temperatures and shorter battery life. Higher temperatures and shorter battery life negatively impact reliability and user experience.
Regardless of the number of processor cores, most user applications are still written so that processing is concentrated in just two cores (i.e., dual processor core intensive), hence adding more processor cores may not directly translate into better user experience/performance. For example, in a quad-processor system, two of the processor cores may not be used for process-intensive user applications. Further, the combination of processor cores selected for processing the user applications may not be the preferred processor cores for the applications.

Algorithm for preferred core sequencing to maximize performance and reduce chip temperature and power


A compact trimming and shaping tool for preparing cemented-on leather tips on billiard cue sticks is described. Because blades are used for trimming and shaping instead of the usual files and sanding surfaces, the tool can be more rapid and suitable for retipping sticks in a short time.

This invention relates to a compact tool for trimming and shaping leather cue stick ends. It can be employed for reconditioning cue sticks which employ a leather tip as the impact end.
Leather tips have become traditional over many years of play because this tip, when adequately chalked, can be used to impact virtually any exposed surface of the cue ball without slippage. When the ball is struck, it will move foreward while carrying various degrees of top, bottom or side spin so that it carries out certain desired motions after it bounces from a side or end rail. Unfortunately leather flattens out after a relatively brief period of play and must be replaced fairly often.
The prior art teaches many devices and machines for renewing leather tips. Many are large requiring the cue stick to be moved to the machine. Thus the apparatus of Boyle(U.S. Pat. No. 89,624) is an early example of these machines. A device of Porper(U.S. Pat. No. 5,228,160 ) is more compact but still too bulky to be carried in a pocket. A pocket tool by Willard(U.S. Pat. No. 4,594,782) employs a sanding surface to shape the leather and provides a gauge to measure when the correct shape is achieved. Sanding is a slow process however; the processing time for a number of cue sticks is therefore too great.

Trimming and shaping tool for billiard cue sticks


Disclosed are preservative systems useful in aqueous pharmaceutical compositions containing an active agent and a cyclodextrin. The preservative systems comprise boric acid and one or more compounds selected from the group consisting of C.sub.16 benzalkonium halide compounds, polymeric quatemary ammonium compounds, and quatemary ammonium alkylene glycol phospholipid derivatives of the following structure ##STR1## where a+b=3; R.sup.1 is C.sub.8 -C.sub.22 alkyl or alkene; X is NH, O, or CH.sub.2 ; R.sup.2 is C.sub.2 -C.sub.6 alkyl; each R.sup.3 is independently C.sub.1 -C.sub.12 alkyl or alkene; and Y is nothing or C.sub.1 -C.sub.6 alkyl or alkene; and pharmaceutically acceptable salts thereof.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the antimicrobial preservation of aqueous pharmaceutical compositions. In particular, the present invention relates to the antimicrobial preservation of pharmaceutical compositions containing cyclodextrins.
2. Description of Related Art
Cyclodextrins are known to possess a number of uses in pharmaceutical formulations. For example, cyclodextrins are known to increase the solubility of insoluble or poorly soluble drug compounds, to increase the stability of chemically labile drugs in pharmaceutical formulations, and to increase the comfort or mask the taste of active drugs. See, U.S. Pat. No. 4,727,064 (Pitha) and EP 0 149 197 B1 (Janssen Pharmaceutica N.V.).
There have been a number of attempts to derivative cyclodextrins in order to decrease toxicity or increase solubility. For example, hydroxy-propyl-beta-cyclodextrin is a derivative which has been shown to have a relatively low toxicity and a high aqueous solubility as compared to the parent compound, beta-cyclodextrin. In addition to hydroxy-propyl derivative of beta cyclodextrin, a number of other cyclodextrin derivatives are known. See, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,376,645 (Stella et al.) and 4,870,060 (Muller).
Typically, multi-dose pharmaceutical products contain preservatives in order to maintain sterility after opening and during use. Antimicrobial preservation of cyclodextrin-containing formulations can present special problems. For example, Loftsson et al., Drug Development and Industrial Pharmacy, 18 (13), 1477-1484 (1992), have investigated interactions between several commonly used preservatives and 2-hydroxypropyl-.beta.-cyclodextrin (HP.beta.CD). Loftsson et al. report that the interactions were twofold: (i) the preservative molecule can displace a drug molecule from the cyclodextrin cavity, thus reducing the solubilizing effects of the cyclodextrin; and (ii) the antimicrobial activity of the preservative can be reduced by the formation of preservative-cyclodextrin inclusion complexes. Specifically, Loftsson et al. report that chlorobutanol, methylparaben and propylparaben have little or no preservative activity in the tested HP.beta.CD solutions. Additionally, Loftsson et al. found that benzalkonium chloride (with the possible exception of the micro-organism, Ps. aeruginosa) and chlorhexidine gluconate did possess significant preservative activity. In contrast, Simpson, FEMS Microbiology Letters, 90, 197-200 (1992), reports that cyclodextrins can inactivate the antimicrobial activity of certain quaternary ammonium compounds. See also, Miyajima et al., Chem. Pharm. Bull., 35(1), 389-393 (1987), regarding the interaction of short-chain alkylammonium salts with cyclodextrins in aqueous solutions, which concluded that .alpha.-, .beta.-, and .gamma.-cyclodextrins form complexes with alkylammonium salts having alkyl groups longer than n-butyl, n-hexyl, and n-decyl, respectively.
Benzalkonium chloride (BAC) is the most popular preservative for ophthalmic drug preparations. BAC, as defined in United States Pharmacopeia XIX, is an alkylbenzyldimethyl-ammonium chloride mixture with alkyl chains or homologs beginning with n-C.sub.8 H.sub.17 and extending through higher homologs of C.sub.10 -, C.sub.12 -, C.sub.14 -, and C.sub.16 -alkyl chains. In our attempts to preserve pharmaceutical formulations containing a cyclodextrin with BAC, however, we have found that cyclodextrin-preservative interactions can significantly reduce or inactivate the preservative efficacy of BAC, when BAC is employed at non-toxic levels.
EP 0 119 737 A2 (Takeda Chem. Ind., Ltd.) discloses aqueous pharmaceutical compositions comprising an active ingredient, a cyclodextrin and a phenol derivative as a preservative. The phenol derivative has the formula ##STR2## where R is alkyl, X is halogen, n is an integer of 0 to 2, and m is an integer of 1 to 3. According to this reference, formulations containing a cyclodextrin and a paraben preservative (methyl-, ethyl-, propyl-, and butylparaben) suffered a significant decrease in the antimicrobial activity of the preservative, while formulations containing a cyclodextrin and a phenol derivative of the formula above did not.
JP 60149530 A (Takeda Chem. Ind., Ltd.) discloses aqueous compositions of a principal agent and a cyclodextrin where the compositions contain as a preservative a chlorhexidine derivative of the formula ##STR3## where A is [independently] (un)substituted phenyl; n is 3-9; and the polymethylene chain may be interrupted by an oxygen atom or an aromatic ring.
JP 01016728 A (Santen Seiyaku KK) discloses antiseptic aqueous preparations containing a drug, a cyclodextrin and a cationic surfactant as a preservative. By adding a cyclodextrin or cyclodextrin derivative, cationic surfactants commonly incompatible with certain drugs can be combined. Disclosed cationic surfactants are benzalkonium chloride, benzethonium chloride or chlorohexidine gluconate. Disclosed drugs include sodium hyaluronate, pilocarpine hydrochloride, lysosyme chloride, Na.sub.2 chondroitin sulfate, glycyrrhetinate, pirenoxine, sodium chromoglycate, and dimethylisopropylazulene sodium sulfate.
JP 6016547 A (Wakamoto Pharm. Co. Ltd.) discloses eye drop compositions containing diclofenac sodium and a water soluble cyclodextrin compound. The reference also discloses that these compositions can be preserved using benzalkonium chloride, benzethonium chloride and chlorhexidine gluconate as cationic surfactants; methylparaben, ethylparaben, propylparaben and butylparaben as parabens; and phenylethyl alcohol and benzyl alcohol as alcohols.
Even if their antimicrobial preservative efficacy is not significantly reduced by interactions with cyclodextrins, benzyl or phenylethyl alcohol and paraben preservatives may present cytotoxicity, evaporation loss, comfort and/or stability problems. Other compounds or systems capable of effectively preserving pharmaceutical formulations containing cyclodextrins are desirable.

Preservative systems for pharmaceutical compositions containing cyclodextrins


Disclosed herein is an apparatus for deterring predators, which may be used as a walking stick until a predator is encountered. Upon encountering a predator, the apparatus allows a user to rapidly deploy a collapsible rigid structure from the interior of the hollow walking stick, which supports a membrane, or set of membranes, that display the image of a fearsome creature. The deployed apparatus may also be used as an offensive or defensive pike should a predator charge a user of the apparatus. By increasing the apparent size of a user and displaying a large image of a fearsome creature, predatory animals may be deterred by this predator-intimidating walking stick.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is in the technical field of walking sticks. More particularly, the preferred embodiments of the present invention relate generally to walking sticks that enclose items. More particularly, the preferred embodiments of the present invention relate generally to walking sticks that can deter animals. More particularly, the preferred embodiments of the present invention relate generally to walking sticks that can deter predators, such as bears. More particularly, the preferred embodiments of the present invention relate generally to walking sticks that can deter predators by quickly displaying a large image of a fearsome creature.
2. Description of the Related Art
The broad concept of walking sticks is known. Hikers have used walking sticks for support for as long as hiking has been around.
It is also known to use hollow walking sticks. Hollow walking sticks allow the walking stick to be lighter and easier to carry. Items may also be stored in a hollow walking stick.
It is also known to enclose items in a walking stick. However, these inventions usually involve storing useful items that are complimentary to a walking stick, such as a compass, fire starter, hunting knife, or the like.
It is also known to use a device to simulate an animal. However, these inventions are usually used as decoys to attract animals during hunting or to condition prey animals to the presence of hunters.
It is also known to use a device to deter animals. However, these inventions are usually used to deter unwanted pests from food sources, such as deterring a deer or squirrel from a bird feeder.
It is also known to use an apparatus to deter predators. However, these inventions are rarely easy to carry along on a hike or may involve dangerous explosives.
It is also known to enclose a deployable predator-deterring device in a walking stick. However, these inventions primarily consist of inflatable devices, which require more material than two-dimensional images, which are limited in size due to the need to include a means of inflating the device, and which are difficult to balance on top of a walking stick. Further, once inflated, these devices cannot be effectively used to deter a charging predator.


A top rail secures skirting to a mobile home and comprises a panel back support portion and a top front rail connector portion spaced from one another by an under mount portion. The under mount portion extends between the top front rail connector portion and the panel back support portion. The top front rail connector portion and panel back support portion are generally parallel. The under mount portion extends transversely to the top front rail connector portion and the panel back support portion. The under mount portion is generally flat and allows mounting of the top rail to the underside of a mobile home. The top rail also includes a top front rail that is connectable with the top front rail connector portion. The top front rail and top front rail connector portion have interlocking geometry. The top front rail and top front rail connector portion are connectable.

The disclosure relates to a method and apparatus for securing skirting to mobile homes. In particular, the discussion that follows relates to a top rail that has a panel back support portion and a top front rail connector portion that are spaced apart by an under mount portion. The under mount portion is configured to be secured to the underside of the mobile home such that the panel back support portion and top front rail connector portion depend therefrom. The spacing created by the under mount portion between the top front rail connector portion and panel back support portion is sufficient to receive a skirting panel therebetween. A top of the skirting panel may be inserted into the space between the top front rail connector portion and the panel back support portion and be held in place on the underside of the mobile home. A bottom of the skirting panel may be attached and secured to the ground with a bottom track. The bottom track may be secured into the ground with spikes. The skirting panel may extend between the top rail and the bottom track. The top rail may comprise a top front rail which connects or assembles with the top front rail connector portion to further secure the top of the skirting panel to the underside of the mobile home.

Method and apparatus for under mounted skirt for a mobile home


A milling tool is disclosed having a front head and a rear holder, which are detachably connected by means of a male/female coupling as well as a screw and a washer. Via a main duct, cooling liquid is fed to a chamber, from which it is fed out via branch ducts to individual milling inserts. The front chamber is closed by means of a cover that is held applied against a ring surface surrounding the chamber. The cover is tightenable by means of a threaded joint that is operative independently of a threaded joint between the screw and a front section of the main duct.

In the discussion that follows, reference is made to certain structures and/or methods. However, the following references should not be construed as an admission that these structures and/or methods constitute prior art. Applicant expressly reserves the right to demonstrate that such structures and/or methods do not qualify as prior art against the present invention.
Tools of the above-related kind are used to mill, by cutting or chip removing machining, workpieces of metal, such as steel, aluminium, cast iron, etc. They may also be used for the milling of composite materials.
In some applications, it is necessary to supply a flushing fluid to the individual chip channels in which the milling inserts are mounted, foremost in order to, as fast as possible, carry away the chips that are removed from the workpiece, but often also to cool the milling inserts and the surroundings thereof. When a chip-evacuating effect as well as a cooling effect is desired, some form of liquid is usually used, e.g., water or oil emulsions. If the fluid only should have a chip-removing effect, the same advantageously may be gaseous, preferably in the form of air. For this purpose, the present milling tools are constructed with an internal, suitably centrally situated, bore that forms a main duct through which the fluid can, from a storage container in or adjacent to the driving machine, be fed up to the head, where it, in one way or the other, is distributed outward to the peripherally situated milling inserts. In respect of the supply of fluid to the milling inserts, the present tools may be divided into two main categories, a first one of which makes use of a chamber that is formed in the front part of the head and to which the fluid is fed via the main duct in order to then be distributed outward individually to the milling inserts via individual, internal branch ducts, most often in the form of drilled holes or bores. The second category of tools makes use of a nozzle that is arranged in the front part of the head and, via a plurality of small nozzle holes, distributes the fluid outward to the milling inserts in an indifferent, shower-like flow. A disadvantage of the latter type of tools is that the initially pressurized fluid quickly loses its pressure as soon as the same has been flushed out through the nozzle, and then has a comparatively long distance to travel before it reaches up to the chip channel. Therefore, the rinsing of the milling inserts and the chip channels becomes fairly mediocre.
By U.S. Pat. No. 6,450,738 and WO 2007/085281, milling tools are previously known belonging to the category that distributes the cooling liquid in an external, indifferent flow, more precisely from a central nozzle via peripheral slots adjacent to the individual chip channels and milling inserts. Because of that, no distinct jets of appreciable pressure via internal branch ducts can be provided.
In SE 517817, there is shown a milling tool that, per se, includes a form of branch ducts intended to individually distribute cooling liquid to the individual milling inserts. However, in this case, the branch ducts are in the form of open grooves in the front surface of the milling cutter head and no sealing cover at all is included in the tool.


Reduced calorie animal food compositions are prepared by incorporating into a fat-containing food a caloric moderator selected from the group of 2,3-butanediol diesters of C.sub.16-14 22 fatty acids.

The present invention relates to the use of a diester of 2,3-butanediol and fatty acids, more particularly C.sub.16-22 fatty acids, as a calorie moderator in animal foods containing fats.
Compounds structurally similar to the diol diesters used in accordance with the invention are generally described in European Patent Application No. O161 114 as plant growth regulators. The esters of 2-methyl-1,4-butanediol and 1,3-propanediol with oleic, linoleic and linoleic acids are mentioned in particular.

Process for making reduced-calorie animal foods


A flex film card edge connector includes a substantially planar substrate having opposite major surfaces joined at an edge; and a flexible film wrapped around the edge and supported on both of the major surfaces. A first and second set of conductive pads are arrayed along the edges on one and the other of the major surfaces. The flexible film has a span that extends around the edge without any electrical connection between the first set of conductive pads and the second set of conductive pads. A flex film cable assembly includes a flexible film configured as an elongated strip having first and second ends, and the flex film card edge connector at least one of the ends. Methods of manufacturing both the flex film card edge connector and the flex film cable assembly are also disclosed.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to an electrical connector that provides a card edge interface for a flex film electrical circuit, and to a cable assembly using the connector.
2. Discussion of Related Art
A flex film electrical circuit comprises a flexible film substrate such as a polyimide sheet that has circuit traces etched thereon. The flex film circuit may be terminated to a card edge type electrical connector that permits the flex film circuit to be repeatedly connected to, and disconnected from, other electrical components.
In a standard flex film card edge connector, the flexible film having circuit traces thereon is sandwiched between a pair of rigid circuit board substrates each having conductive pads on respective outer surfaces thereof. The circuit board substrates have plated vias that electrically connect the circuit traces on the flex film to the conductive pads on the circuit boards. This structure provides a card edge interface for mating with a card edge receptacle connector.
A problem with the standard flex film card edge connector is that the rigid circuit boards generally contain embedded glass fibers which result in an abrasive surface that causes significant wear on mating contacts in the receptacle connector. Another problem is that the vias in the circuit boards must be drilled and plated in manufacturing steps that add to expense.
There is a need for a flexible film connector that overcomes these problems.

Flex film card edge connector and cable assembly