The present invention provides an aspartic proteinase-inhibiting compound of the formula:

A number of serious diseases, including infectious diseases, and even certain types of cancer, utilize proteolytic enzymes in physiological functions that play a critical role in their life cycles. Aspartic proteases are among the proteolytic enzymes that have been identified in this connection. In order to combat diseases which utilize aspartic proteases in critical aspects of their life cycles, aggressive efforts have been undertaken to develop aspartic protease inhibitors, particularly over the last decade. Recent efforts in this area have primarily focused in the treatment or prevention of acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). AIDS is a fatal disease, reported cases of which have increased dramatically within the past several years. Estimates of reported cases in the very near future also continue to rise dramatically.
The AIDS virus was first identified in 1983. It has been known by several names and acronyms. It is the third known T-lymphocyte virus (HTLV-III), and it has the capacity to replicate within cells of the immune system, causing profound cell destruction. The AIDS virus is a retrovirus, a virus that uses reverse transcriptase during replication. This particular retrovirus is also known as lymphadenopathy-associated virus (LAV), AIDS-related virus (ARV) and, most recently, as human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Two distinct families of HIV have been described to date, namely HIV-1 and HIV-2. The acronym HIV will be used herein to refer to HIV viruses generically.
Specifically, HIV is known to exert a profound cytopathic effect on the CD4+ helper/inducer T-cell—thereby severely compromising the immune system. HIV infection also results in neurological deterioration and, ultimately, in the death of the injected individual
The field of viral chemotherapeutics has developed in response to the need for agents effective against retroviruses, in particular HIV. For example anti-retroviral agents, such as 3′-azido-2′,3′-dideoxythymidine (AZT), 2′3′-dideoxycytidine (ddC), and 2′3′-dideoxyinosine (ddI) are known to inhibit reverse transcriptase. There also exist antiviral agents that inhibit transactivator protein. Nucleoside derivatives, such as AZT, are currently available for antiviral therapy. Although very useful, the utility of AZT and related compounds is limited by toxicity and insufficient therapeutic indices for fully adequate therapy.
Retroviral protease inhibitors also have been identified as a class of anti-retroviral agents. Retroviral protease is an aspartic protease that processes polyprotein precursors into viral structural proteins and replicative enzymes. This processing is essential for the assembly and maturation of fully infectious virions. Accordingly, the design of such aspartic protease inhibitors remains an important therapeutic goal in the treatment of AIDS.
The use of HIV protease inhibitors, in combination with agents that have different antiretroviral mechanisms (e.g., AZT, ddI and ddT), also has been described. For example, synergism against HIV-1 has been observed between certain C2 symmetric HIV inhibitors and AZT (Kageyama et al., Antimicrob. Agents Chemother., 36, 926–933 (1992)).
Numerous classes of potent peptidic inhibitors of protease have been designed using the natural cleavage site of the precursor polyproteins as a starting point. These inhibitors typically are peptide substrate analogs in which the scissile P1–P1′ amide bond has been replaced by a non-hydrolyzable isostere with tetrahedral geometry (Moore et al, Perspect. Drug Dis. Design, 1, 85 (1993); Tomasselli et al., Int. J. Chem. Biotechnology, 6 (1991); Huff, J. Med. Chem., 34, 2305 (1991); Norbeck et al., Ann. Reports Med. Chem., 26, 141 (1991); and Meek, J. Enzyme Inhibition, 6, 65 (1992)). Although these inhibitors are effective in preventing the retroviral protease from functioning, the inhibitors suffer from some distinct disadvantages. Generally, peptidomimetics often make poor drugs, due to their potential adverse pharmacological properties, i.e., poor oral absorption, poor stability and rapid metabolism (Plattner et al, Drug Discovery Technologies, Clark et al., eds., Ellish Horwood, Chichester, England (1990)).
The design of the HIV-1 protease inhibitors based on the transition state mimetic concept has led to the generation of a variety of peptide, derivatives highly active against viral replication in vitro (Erickson et al, Science, 249, 527–533 (1990); Kramer et al., Science, 231, 1580–1584 (1986); McQuade et al., Science, 247, 454–456 (1990); Meek et al., Nature (London), 343, 90–92 (1990); and Roberts et al., Science, 248, 358–361 (1990)). These active agents contain a non-hydrolyzable, dipeptidic isostere, such as hydroxyethylene (McQuade et al., supra; Meek et al., Nature (London), 343, 90–92 (1990); and Vacca et al., J. Med. Chem., 34, 1225–1228 (1991)) or hydroxyethylamine (Ghosh et al., Bioorg. Med. Chem. Lett., 8, 687–690 (1998); Ghosh et al., J. Med. Chem., 36, 292–295 (1993)); Rich et al., J. Med. Chem., 33, 1285–1288 (1990); and Roberts et al., Science, 248, 358–361 (1990)) as an active moiety that mimics the putative transition state of the aspartic protease-catalyzed reaction.
Two-fold (C2) symmetric inhibitors of HIV protease represent another class of potent HIV protease inhibitors on the basis of the three-dimensional symmetry of the enzyme active site (Erickson et al. (1990), supra). Typically, however, the usefulness of currently available HIV protease inhibitors in the treatment of AIDS has been limited by relatively short plasma half-life, poor oral bioavailability, and the technical difficulty of scale-up synthesis (Meek et al. (1992), supra).
In a continuing effort to address the problem of short plasma half-life and poor bioavailability, new HIV protease inhibitors have been identified. For example, HIV protease inhibitors incorporating the 2,5-diamino-3,4-disubstituted-1,6-diphenylhexane isostere are described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,728,718 (Randad et al.). HIV protease inhibitors, which incorporate the hydroxyethylamine isostere, are described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,502,060 (Thompson et al.), U.S. Pat. No. 5,703,076 (Talley et al.), and U.S. Pat. No. 5,475,027 (Talley et al.).
The emergence of mutant strains of HIV, in which the protease is resistant to the C2 symmetric inhibitors, also presents a serious challenge in the treatment and prevention of AIDS (Otto et al., PNAS USA, 90, 7543 (1993); Ho et al., J. Virology, 68, 2016–2020 (1994); and Kaplan et al., PNAS USA, 91, 5597–5601 (1994)). In one study, the most abundant mutation found in response to a C2 symmetry based inhibitor was Arg to Gln at position 8 (R8Q), which strongly affects the S3/S3′ subsite of the protease binding domain.
Other mutant viruses have been identified, for example, in which the amino acid at position 84 of the retroviral protease has mutated from isoleucine into valine (84V), and in which the amino acid at position 32 of the retroviral protease has mutated to include valine (84V). Double mutants, for example, 82F/84V also have been identified. Thus, it is desirable to identify new aspartic protease inhibitors in the continuing effort to combat AIDS, and to address the problems emerging with the rise of mutant HIV strains.
Aspartic proteases also have been implicated in the life cycle of other serious infectious diseases, for example, Malaria. Malaria is one of the worlds most devastating diseases, afflicting several hundred million people a year, and killing an estimated two million of those infected, mostly children. The etiologic agent is a parasitic protozoan of the genus Plasmodium, which causes disease in its intraerythrocytic phase. A prominent feature of its development inside red blood cells is the degradation of hemoglobin. During its relatively short life cycle, the malaria-causing parasite consumes nearly all of the host's hemoglobin, generating amino acids for its own growth and maturation. The degradation of the host's hemoglobin, which is a vast catabolic process, involves a series of proteases, two of which have been identified as aspartic proteases termed "plasmepsins." The structure of plasmepsin II has recently been elucidated on the basis of diffraction data Silva et al., Aspartic Proteinases, 51, pp. 363–373, New York (1998).
Although potent plasmepsin inhibitors have been identified, their ability to inhibit the malarial parasite in culture is very limited, possibly due to the inability of the inhibitors to penetrate the cellular structure sufficiently to inhibit plasmepsin in the microorganism itself. See, e.g., Silva et al., Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. USA, 93, pp. 10034–10039, September 1996 (Biochemstry). Metabolism of the inhibitor by the microorganism also may be a factor. Thus, it remains a challenge to identify new plasmepsin inhibitors that are potent and also are effective against the malarial parasite in culture.
Aspartic proteases also have been implicated in essential pathways related to cancer. For example, elevated levels of cathepsin D, an aspartic protease, in primary breast cancer tissues has been correlated with increased risk of metastasis and shorter relapse-free survival in breast cancer patients. See, e.g., Gulnik et al., J. Mol. Biol., 227, 265–270 (1992). Increased levels of secretion of cathepsin D in breast cancer is due to both over overexpression of the gene and altered processing of the protein. High levels of cathepsin D and other proteases may degrade the extracellular matrix and thereby promote the escape of cancer cells to the lymphatic and circulatory system and enhance the invasion of new tissues. Most deaths incurred from cancer are due to its metastatic spread to secondary organs. It is therefore desirable to identify cathepsin D inhibitors as potential therapeutics for the prevention or treatment of cancer.
In view of the foregoing problems, there exists a need for new aspartic protease inhibitors, pharmaceutical compositions, and therapeutic methods of using aspartic protease inhibitors. The present invention provides such aspartic protease inhibitors, pharmaceutical compositions, and therapeutic methods of using them. These and other advantages of the present invention, as well as additional inventive features, will be apparent from the description of the invention provided herein.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Abstract: wherein a, b, c, d, and e, can be the same or different and each are R7, OR7, SR7, NR7R8, NHCOR7, CO2R7, CN, NO2, NH2, N3, or a halogen, wherein R7 and R8 are independently H or an alkyl. Substituents R1 or R2 are each H or an alkyl. Substituent R3 is a straight chain or branched alkyl, alkenyl, or alkynyl substituent, or is a cycloalkyl. Substituent A is OH, NH2, or SH.

Abstract: Further provided are pharmaceutical compositions, which include a therapeutically effective amount of at least one of the foregoing compounds, and therapeutic methods of using the foregoing compounds.

The United States of America as represented by the Department of Health and Human Services


A modular rail assembly for supporting accessories upon a modular weapons platform. The modular rail assembly includes a fore rail preferably positioned above the foretube, and an aft rail preferably positioned above the receiver, which cooperate with one another to enable a modular system whereby one rail may be removed or replaced without affecting the other rail and any accessories mounted thereon. One rail defines a mating member and the other rail defines a mating channel for receipt of the mating member. The rail assembly configuration provides increased flexibility and interchangeability to the modular weapons platform.

Modern firearms, including those employed in military and law enforcement applications, often include various accessories to assist the shooter. Such devices may be mounted directly to the firearm or indirectly on a mount associated with the firearm. Conventional mounts include securing accessories to the firearm with a Picatinny rail. A Picatinny rail is a bracket used on firearms in order to provide a standardized mounting platform for accessories and attachments, such as scopes. These rails generally include a single rail extending along the upper surface of the firearm and typically extend at least over the receiver and barrel portions of the firearm. The rail comprises a series of ridges with a T-shaped cross-section interspersed with flat "spacing slots". Accessories are mounted by sliding them on from one end or the other, by means of a clamp, or onto the slots between the raised sections.
A single rail system has been effective for its intended purpose for traditional rifle stocks. It is desirable, however, to provide modular, user configurable tactical firearms that can be adapted to meet a variety of environmental, operational and/or user preference requirements. An example of a prior art modular firearm is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,802,392 B2. A preferable configurable, tactical firearm is Applicants' modular chassis weapons platform set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 8,429,844 (U.S. application Ser. No. 13/184,501), the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference. Each of these modular weapons platforms employs a single rail assembly. Although a single rail assembly effectively achieves its intended purposes, such as effective accessory mounting for a modular weapons platform, it does not provide configurable or interchangeable features akin to the desirable features of the modular weapons platform upon which it is mounted. Prior art single rail systems do not facilitate the additional felixibility of using a modular weapons platform with a modular rail assembly according to the present invention.


The microstrip antenna of the present invention has a basic structure of a ground conductor plate, dielectric substrate and radiation conductor plate laminated together. On the dielectric substrate, upon which the radiation conductor plate is formed, two radio wave reflectors are placed parallel to each other facing across the radiation conductor plate. The two surfaces of the two radio wave reflectors that are facing each other are either perpendicular to the dielectric substrate, or else the interval between the two surfaces enlarges as they depart from the dielectric substrate. Due to this structure, by increasing the variation in antenna directivity, the antenna can be made less susceptible to noise generated from noise sources in the antenna vicinity. Moreover, the antenna can be small-sized since the radio wave reflectors can be placed close to the radiation conductor plate.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention is related to a microstrip antenna having a plate-shaped radio frequency radiation conductor.
2. Description of the Related Art
The microstrip antennas used in conventional portable radio equipment are equipped with a basic structure as indicated, for example, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 3-166802. In brief, this is a structure in which a ground conductor plate such as a conductor plate of copper foil, etc., a dielectric substrate such as a resin substrate, and a radiation conductor plate of the same material as the ground conductor plate but with a smaller area are laminated into layers. The radiation conductor plate is square or rectangular and is positioned roughly on the central part of the dielectric substrate. The radiation conductor plate is connected to the ground conductor plate by multiple through-holes formed on its periphery. A feeding point is formed somewhat off from the central part of the radiation conductor plate toward the side of the through holes.
This antenna is characterized by having a directional pattern that radiates direct waves of roughly uniform strength in all directions of the radiation surface (plate surface) of a radiation conductor plate 1. It has antenna gain in the direction to the rear of the radiation conductor plate as well.
With a radio device that transmits and receives radio signals by an antenna as described above, it is generally necessary to minimize the reception of noise generated from sources of noise in the vicinity. Conventionally, in order to avoid the influence of noise, noise shields have been employed or the antenna has been placed in a position where it is less likely to be influenced by noise. However, there is a problem with noise source shields, in that there is a large burden imposed by the attendant increase in cost. There is also a problem with placing the antenna in a position where it is less likely to be influenced by noise, in that this is limited by the size of the antenna.
It is also possible to lessen the noise reception of a radio device by reducing antenna gain in the direction of the noise source, by controlling the antenna directivity by using a microstrip antenna with an array structure, like that in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 4-160801. Moreover, directivity can be sharpened to some extent by making the area of the ground conductor plate considerably larger than the radiation conductor plate.
However, devices with these structures require a large area, making it difficult to apply them in radio devices for portable use, for which small size and light weight are demanded.


In some embodiments of this disclosure, a computer-implemented method includes accessing a set of two or more activity logs associated with two or more virtual machines, each activity log being associated with a corresponding virtual machine. A computational capacity is calculated, by a computer processor, for each of the virtual machines based at least in part on the activity logs. A rank is calculated for each of the virtual machines, where a first rank calculated for a first virtual machine is based, at least in part, on a monetary cost of the first virtual machine and the calculated computational capacity of the first virtual machine.

Various embodiments of this disclosure relate to virtual machines and, more particularly, to ranking virtual machines against one another.
When computing work needs to be performed, that work may be assigned to a virtual machine from among a group of available virtual machines. In making such assignments, some form of load balancing is used to determine which virtual machine is assigned new work, so that work is distributed in a reasonable way.

Calculating the rank of multiple virtual machines based on a negative correlation between the rank and each of the computational capacity and monetary investment

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION


The present disclosure provides a vibration damper for an actuator assembly. One exemplary embodiment relates to an actuator assembly including a magnetic assembly configured to produce a magnetic field and an actuator movable relative to the magnetic assembly in response to the magnetic field, wherein the actuator includes a vibration damper which interacts with the magnetic field.

The present disclosure relates generally to actuator assemblies, and more specifically, but not by limitation, to a vibration damper for an actuator assembly.
Actuator assemblies are utilized in many environments and include a positioning assembly (referred to as the "actuator") that is movable within the actuator assembly for generating or controlling motion relative to a mechanism or system. For instance, actuator assemblies are frequently used to introduce motion, or prevent motion (e.g., clamping an object), within a system. Actuator assemblies can be utilized in applications where linear and/or non-linear movement is desired and can include, by way of example, electric, pneumatic, and hydraulic sources, to name a few. For instance, one example of an actuator assembly is an electric motor that uses electrical energy to produce mechanical energy through electromagnetic means. Examples of electric motors that utilize electromagnetic means to produce mechanical energy include stepper motors and voice coil motors, to name a few.
Actuator assemblies are frequently utilized in environments where precise movement is desired. For instance, in an exemplary data storage system environment an actuator assembly (e.g., a voice coil motor) includes a positioning assembly or actuator utilized to position a transducer over a media surface. In a voice coil motor, an electric current is applied to a coil of the positioning assembly. The current in the coil interacts with a magnetic field produced by a magnetic assembly (e.g., one or more permanent magnets) to produce a force on the coil thus moving the actuator assembly in a desired direction. In one example, the coil of the positioning assembly or actuator is positioned in a magnetic pole gap of the magnetic assembly and experiences a force proportional to the current passing through the coil.
In the data storage system example, during a seek operation the positioning assembly or actuator is rapidly moved to a target position on the media by sending a current through the coil of the actuator. Upon arriving at the target position, a large portion of the kinetic energy in the actuator excites mechanical vibrations of the actuator. For instance, forces associated with the deceleration of the actuator cause torsion and/or bending of the actuator, which can result in mechanical vibration and/or oscillation of the actuator. The particular vibration modes associated with the actuator can cause servo errors, some of which are typically known as "post-seek oscillation" or "seek settle" errors, and can result in failed seek operations and/or a decrease in desired or specified performance. For instance, vibration associated with the actuator can cause position error of a transducer attached to the actuator and can result in failed read and/or write operations of the transducer.
The discussion above is merely provided for general background information and is not intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter.


To provide a translation machine for translating the original text, while retaining the relationship information by extracting the relationship information from the original text and editing the text based on the information. At the relationship information extraction and text edition process, the relationship information is extracted, and based on the relationship information paragraphs, sentences and phrases are edited. The text is rewritten based on the rewriting rule of a session layer. Through this process, the original text is rewritten or edited to a simple text but provided with the equivalent information. Subsequently, sentence structure analysis, semantic analysis and sentence synthesis are executed, thereby outputting translated sentences.

Conventionally, in a machine translation system, the original text to be translated is analyzed sentence by sentence by the analyzers thereof. Analysis steps thereby such as morphological analysis, syntax analysis(parsing) and semantic analysis are executed sequentially. To start with, a sentence is parsed through the morphological analysis, followed by the syntax analysis how the parsed words are related and arranged grammatically. At the step of syntax analysis, for example, using a top-down vertical search algorithms, the sentence is analyzed according to Context Free Grammar, and branched into a roots, nodes and leaves, until the termination is reached which is minimum unit for parsing. In the final analysis, tree structure is derived as a whole. Through the semantic analysis, for example by referring and collating a noun having attributes in semantics which are described in dictionaries in the machine translation system, the meaning of the subject is determined, and yet by referring and collating the information regarding sentence structures able to be formed by a detected predicate, the semantic attribute and structure of the subject are determined.
Such a parsing algorithm is implemented as the parsing rule based on the aforementioned analysis tree structure. In the tree structure, individual sentences are related with one another only vertically according to the text, and individual morphemes are related with one another only vertically within the sentence. All of the relationship among these elements must be reduced into only positions in a hierarchy. No relations other than the vertical relation are extracted from the tree structure. For the information regarding the relationship among words and phrases in the sentence, only the relationship able to be extracted as information is the relation that a conjunction positioned at a node indicates the anaphoric relationship together with the previous or subsequent clause or the position relation among adverbs and adjectives in phrase structure.
The text is a unity of syntax and meaning, and a stream of sentences and words. From the viewpoint of the information theory, the text is a randomly variable and continuous information source. Nevertheless, the text is parsed into discrete and unrelated symbols in the aforementioned analysis algorithm, and thus the relationship in the text is outputted as fragmented information called strings of the symbols. The analysis algorithm means information processing for handling the text as a discrete information source. Even if strings mentioned above correspond to the markov information source of Markov process, the information is discrete. Therefore, the relationship information will be lost.
As mentioned above, no relationship within a text can be analyzed through the syntax analysis using the tree structure in the conventional machine translation system, and then no relationship information in semantics and syntax is available. In the conventional machine translation system, the context and the syntax are analyzed insufficiently, which decreases the precision of the translation.
For example, when an English sentence is analyzed in the conventional machine translation system, either the information regarding the connection among clauses or the information regarding correlative and subordinate conjunctions cannot be analyzed or extracted. The correlative conjunctions are used in pairs and define the structure and meaning of the connection. The correlative information is provided by a correlative pair of the precedent adverb and the correlative conjunction, e.g., such . . . that, so . . . that, so . . . as or other, and by a pair of subordinating conjunctions, e.g., partly because . . . , partly because. Such correlative information cannot be analyzed through the conventional morpheme analysis or through the syntax analysis. In the conventional machine translation system, the sentence structure including the correlative words fails to be analyzed.
Through the analysis using the tree structure, it cannot be interpreted that even the same word provides different information according to its position or priority in word order in a sentence. There is a difference in connotation between the word "however" positioned at the beginning of the sentence and that positioned immediately after the subject of the sentence. The adverb "however" positioned immediately after the subject indicates that the content of the sentence forms a contrast to the content of the previous sentence. Such correlative information, word position information or other relationship information cannot be extracted from the original sentence or reflected in the translated sentence in the conventional machine translation system.
The shortcomings in the conventional machine translation system are now explained referring to the parsing tree of a sentence shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B. The parsing tree is composed of an dependent clause and a main clause. In FIGS. 1A and 1B, S denotes a sentence, ADP denotes an adverbial phrase, AD denotes an adverb, NP denotes a noun phrase, N denotes a noun, VP denotes a verbal phrase, V denotes a verb, PP denotes a prepositional phrase, P denotes a preposition, IA denotes a definite article, DA denotes a demonstrative adjective, CON denotes a conjunction, AJ denotes an adjective, and AUX denotes an auxiliary verb. When the sentence "The more all countries link their networks and develop their information infrastructure, the more we all will reap in terms of economic, educational, health care, and environmental benefits." is analyzed using the tree structure as shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B the sentence is parsed into two clauses at a node of the first comma. Subsequently, each clause is divided in phrases and the phrases are branched into individual discrete morphemes. In the process, the relevance information between the clause starting with "The more" and the clause starting with "the more" is lost. Although the repetition of the comparative means the concurrence and synergistic effect of two affairs or situations, such meaning of the clauses is also lost. The meaning and syntax represented by the indivisible clauses in the sentence are lost from the original sentence. For example, the sentence shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B is translated or transformed through the conventional machine translation system into "All countries more link their networks and develop their information infrastructure, and we all will reap more in terms of economic, educational, health care, and environmental benefits." In the translated sentence, no information regarding the correlation between the former clause and the latter clause is represented. The translated sentence does not indicate that the development of the condition mentioned in the former clause increases the result mentioned in the latter clause. Although in the sentence resulting from the conventional machine translation system, "The" positioned at the beginning of the dependent clause and "the" positioned at the beginning of the main clause are analyzed as definite articles, the former "The" is actually a relative adverb meaning "by how much" and the latter "the" is actually a demonstrative adverb meaning "by so much". Such mistake in analysis is made because no correlation information can be extracted.
Also in the conventional machine translation system, by semantically analyzing the deep structure of a sentence, the relations of the individual words or morphemes within the sentence are analyzed. For example, the government-binding theory for analyzing the relationship, the text grammar for analyzing anaphora and cataphora and the like are proposed. The syntax analysis algorithm for complementing the tree structure analysis is also proposed for use in various machine translation systems. For example, a bottom-up method, a bi-directional method, LR method, LL method, Tomita method and other are proposed.
Since in the aforementioned parsing algorithms, the sentence is analyzed as the tree structure, the information on the original text can only be partially extracted. Although the words forming a sentence have organic relations in the sentence, the abstract meaning is synthesized from the universal grammar through the semantic synthesis in the deep structure, irrelevant of the concrete semantic relevance in the original text. The word "organic" in this specification means that parts of a text work are in collaboration and in coordination with each other just as biotic organs.
It is suggested that to mechanically process the natural language it must be considered that the syntax itself has its own meaning, in other words, expression with language is the unity of syntax and meaning. It is described in the paper of Information Processing Society of Japan titled "the Speaker's Cognition in Expression with Language and Multi-step Translation Method" authored by Messrs. Ikehara, Miyazaki, Shirai and Hayashi, Volume 28, No.12 published in December, 1987, that it is difficult to prevent the meaning from being lost in the element synthesis method in which the entire meaning is synthesized from the partial meaning without considering the meaning of the syntax. Also, it is described in the book titled "Computational Linguistics: An Introduction" authored by Ralph Grishman, published by Cambridge University Press in 1986 "Yet the information conveyed by a text is clearly more than the sum of its parts--more than meanings of its individual sentences" (Chapter 4).
Furthermore, in the conventional machine translation system using the aforementioned analysis methods, since the depth of analysis and the number of backtrackings are excessively increased, the speed of syntax analysis is decreased. The calculation time is exponentially increased relative to the length of the sentence. Although the calculation time is extended, no relationship information can be extracted and no analysis precision can be disadvantageously enhanced.
Specifically, the English description of the specification of patent applications have long and complicated sentences and cannot be syntax-analyzed in the conventional machine translation system. In preparation for machine translation, the sentences need to be manually edited by dividing and rewriting the sentences such that they are adapted for the machine translation. The text must be divided and edited to a level such that the syntax analysis through the machine translation system is feasible. Much labor and time are required for such preparation works, thereby inhibiting the smooth, quick and mass translation work. Recently, even the preparation work was mechanized in the machine translation system. However, in the mechanical preparation work, the relationship information of the original text can be only insufficiently extracted, which decreases the translation precision.

Translation machine for editing a original text by rewriting the same and translating the rewrote one

c/o Adachi International Nagoyaseni Bldg. 9-27 Nishiki 2-chome


Provided are a contamination inspection method and a contamination inspection device for highly accurately detecting a defect in a wafer, a liquid crystal substrate and media or the like including patterns, for example, a semiconductor device or the like. The first aspect of the present invention is a contamination inspection device comprising: an irradiation optical system for irradiating lights on the inspection target substrate; and a spatial filter for shading diffracted lights form the inspection target substrate. Herein, the spatial filter comprises: a plurality of light shading materials; a control member for changing at least one of parameters selected from a shape, an angle and an interval with respect to the light shading material, and a control unit for controlling the control members.

In a contamination inspection device, a spatial filter comprised of liquid crystal filters on which optional patterns are formed by picture elements consisting of dot matrices, forms a light shading pattern of diffracted lights projected on a Fourier transformation surface, by tuning on or off each picture element (that is, penetrating or shading lights). This may provide the light shading pattern formed by the spatial filter excellent in diversity of the pattern. However, incomplete light shading ability of a liquid crystal filter may cause malfunction allowing diffracted lights projected on a Fourier transformation surface, which must be essentially shaded, to penetrate the liquid crystal filters. In other words, this malfunction results in the lowering of the detecting accuracy. Therefore, in order to solve the above mentioned malfunction, a product improved with a shading rate thereof has been proposed, formed by stacking a plurality of liquid crystal filters. For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. H11-352075 (or Patent Document 1) discloses the above mentioned invention.
Further, there is a mechanical spatial filter composed of light shading materials and coil springs, which is configured such that the light shading materials are joined to the coil springs. Such a mechanical spatial filter allows an interval between the light shading materials to be controlled and the light shading materials to be arranged at equal intervals through expanding or contracting the coil springs. Accordingly, the mechanical spatial filter is effective in an inspection target having a regular pattern. For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. H10-68698 (or Patent Document 2) discloses the above mentioned invention.

Contamination inspection method and contamination inspection device


A tapered nose tool includes a housing, a retrievable tapered nose disposed in the housing and retrievable from the housing, and a mechanically shiftable sleeve. The mechanically shiftable sleeve is shiftable with a shifting profile disposed in the housing. The sleeve anchors the nose in the housing in a first position and releases the nose from the housing in a second position.

In the resource recovery industry, it is often necessary to join two strings together to complete a wellbore system. The industry makes use of tapered nose tools, such as "bull nose" tools (generally considered closed end tapered tools) and guide shoes (generally considered open end tapered nose tools) in order to improve alignment and bring the two strings into concentricity with one another when joining them together. Such bull nose tools work well and are ubiquitously employed. The shortfall of bull nose tools is that thru tubing and well intervention methods are no longer able to be performed past the bull nose since its profile closes off the well bore. As wells have become increasingly complex and sensitive however, guide shoes are becoming more critical to protect the upward facing profile of the downhole tool string. Simple solutions such as half mule guide shoes are not appropriate in some situations due to potential damage and the inability to rotate the upper tool string. The proposed devices are several configurations that eliminate or mitigate some risks associated with standard mule guide shoes and allow for the capabilities of bull nose tools while being able to perform future tasks down hole of the guide shoe.


Helmet chin-strap harness structure including a pair of bilaterally symmetric, bilaterally equi-flex, non-rigid, fabric-strap-like, substantially mirror-image, flexible lateral elements which define opposite sides for the harness structure, and a bilaterally symmetric chin-strap substructure having laterally opposite sides releasably attachable for fore-and-aft translational sliding on the two lateral elements.

This invention relates to a novel self-load-balancing chin-strap harness structure (or chin-strap system) for use in a protective, safety helmet—a kind of nominally unconstrained, "self-seeking" structure which addresses a number of significant disadvantages found in conventional harness structures of this general character. As will be seen, the concept "nominally unconstrained" refers to the fact that the structure and implementation of this invention include almost nothing in the way of rigidly configured, non-moveably anchored (at least with respect to certain appropriate degrees of freedom of motion) characteristics, insofar as permitting this structure to self-seek a true load-balanced proper condition when employed with a safety helmet. Flexible and pliable fabric-like components, along with a pair of lateral sliding connections, lead to this important performance quality of the invention.
In connection with the disclosure of this invention herein, two special descriptive words/expressions are employed with respect to certain structural characterizations of the invention. These expressions are "symmetriflex" and "symmetriload".
The term "symmetriflex" refers to a quality of the harness structure of the invention involving bilateral symmetry of component flexibility which is offered by the fabric, strap-like, pliable and flexible materials employed substantially entirely/throughout the various elements of the invention. This quality is generally lacking in conventional prior art chin-strap harness structures, wherein, for example, laterally offset, laterally "unbalanced" rigid-body, strap-connection hardware, typically associated with a chin-strap unit per se, is employed.
The term "symmetriload" refers to another quality of the invention which is that, when it is user-cinched and in use, stabilizing and anchoring a helmet in place on a wearer's head, load distribution, in the form of strap tension, is substantially bilaterally load-balanced, with no harness strap component being either noticeably slack, or noticeably over-tensed, in relation to its "mirror-image", bilateral matching companion component. This quality is also generally lacking in prior art structures, especially where rigid-body, strap-connection hardware of the type generally mentioned just above is employed, and/or where the point of connection between the effective lateral end of a chin-strap unit per se is anchored in a fixed-position manner to the usual pair of lateral strap, or strap-like, structures which typically anchor directly to the shell of a helmet.
The concepts of bilateral load balancing, and of load-balanced centering, as employed herein, are intended to relate to a situation wherein, with the invention in use in relation to an associated user-worn helmet, all of the flex-strap components of the invention have self adjusted (during user cinching) to conditions in which different "length parts" of these components effectively meet and connect with one another at two, three-way points of intersection disposed on opposite sides of the helmet, and: (a) each length part extending away from each such point of intersection is substantially purely in tension; and (b) at each point of intersection, there is no tendency of a force carried in any one of such length parts to urge a shifting of the intersection point relative to either of the other two length parts which extend away from that same intersection point. These concepts also include the idea that like portions of the flex-strap components of the invention, disposed on opposite sides of an associated helmet which is in use, carry substantially equal tension loads.
A typical chin-strap harness, including even quite recent entrants into this field of technology, features a pair of strap-like side-strap components, each usually formed with a pair of elongate, defined-length, fixed-angularly-intersecting, lateral strap sub-components which, at their region of fixed angular intersection, intentionally furnish fixed anchoring locations for securement of the outer ends of the usual pair of releasably length-interconnectable, elongate chin-strap elements which together make up a chin-strap unit, or substructure. The term "length-interconnectable" is used herein to describe an arrangement wherein a chin-strap unit achieves its full length through the use of a rigid-body, releasable connection device which, in a lengthwise context, fastens two adjacent ends of two elongate elements which are brought together to create a fully assembled, full-length chin-strap unit.
An illustration of such a recently introduced harness structure is found in the helmet system which is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,804,829 B2, issued Oct. 19, 2004 to Crye et al. The spaced ends of the side-strap sub-components employed in this system, which sub-components are rigid and springy rather than flex-strap and fabric-like, are anchored, in a very traditional manner, to pairs of essentially fixed-position points appropriately provided on the inside of a specialized helmet shell component. The length-interconnectable chin-strap elements employed also in this system, when interconnected to form, collectively, an overall chin-strap substructure, cooperate to provide chin-engaging componentry which is supposed to center accurately on the wearer's chin.
The disadvantages of this kind of conventional arrangement, in its various forms (with rigid or flexible side-strap sub-components), are numerous. To begin with, proper positional placement of that portion of the chin-strap which is intended to center upon and engage the chin is notably difficult to achieve, particularly in the situations where flexible fabric-like side straps are involved. Adjustments to accomplish "load-balanced" centering are often quite challenging. Fixedness of the locations where the outer ends of chin-strap elements connect to the two, lateral side-strap sub-components contributes both to this centering problem, and to the fact that the two pre-fixed-length elongate portions of such sub-components rarely share equally in tension load-bearing when a chin-strap is tightened against a wearer's chin. In point of fact, one or the other of these fixed-length portions in each side strap is often quite slack. Such a condition leads either (a) to helmet instability on the head, (b) to strange angular "cocking" of a helmet on the head in a manner which, because of conventional design, as distinguished from that of the present invention, laterally imbalances load-sharing in a helmet harness structure, and thus undesirably imbalances load-cushioning for the head, or (c) to both. Adjustment to correct this kind of condition, and to keep all parts of a helmet, including the importantly cooperating chin-strap substructure and shell-internal, load-cushioning structure (usually shock-absorbing pads), properly shock-absorbingly positioned relative to one another, and especially so when the associated helmet may be cocked at an "odd angle" on the head, often is just not possible because of the precommitted fixed (defined) lengths of the side-strap sub-components
The releasable length-interconnection mechanism which is most often supplied for coupling the usual two chin-strap elements is (a) typically quite bulky, (b) normally offset to one side of the chin and jaw when the chin-strap elements are coupled for use (see for example what is illustrated in the mentioned '829 patent), and (c) notably easily breakable. Its presence, in addition to being often quite uncomfortable, in that it bears as a "protrusion/enlargement" against one side of the face, results (a) in significant non-bilateral symmetry in overall harness disposition and performance, and, relatedly (b), in appreciable non-uniformity with respect to flexibilities and performance responses of the two lateral sides of a chin-strap harness because of the introduced, nonflexible rigidity which exists in the interconnect mechanism per se.
Another important drawback regarding prior art helmet harness structures is that they may enhance springiness in the manner in which an associated helmet system engages a wearer's head. Contrary to the long-standing, conventional-approach belief that springiness is an asset in handling shock cushioning, it is actually a serious and dangerous detriment. It amplifies rather than moderates a shock event. A good illustration of this problem of enhancement is found in the above-referred-to '829 patent which includes a pair of rigid and springy fixed (nominally) angular side members to which a chin-strap unit is attached.
Another issue presented by the '829 patent structure is that the specific force carried in each "leg" of each of the rigid, springy side members can tend to try to shift the point of three-way intersection existing between the other leg in that side member and the associated, connected of the chin-strap unit. Thus, this situation disables the '829 structure from predictably achieving and implementing the concept of load balancing described above in relation to the present invention.
The chin-strap harness of the present invention definitively addresses all of these conventional-structure disadvantages.
As will become clear from the detailed description of the invention which follows below, and especially when this description is read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, the structure of the present invention features (a) simple and complete bilateral symmetry in all load-balancing respects, including the unique structural-symmetry symmetriflex and symmetriload qualities mentioned earlier herein, (b) sliding rather than fixed connections between flexible and pliable side straps and the opposite ends of a chin-strap substructure, (c) non-fixedness in the relative lengths, and in the angularities of intersections between "legs", of the harness side straps (they are fabric-flexible), (d) automatic self-load-balancing "centering" for the chin-strap substructure which is unitary in nature, and (e), as just suggested earlier, substantially symmetriload, and symmetriflex load-handling by the elongate portions (the "legs") in the side-strap "lengths" which extend away from the points of sliding connections established with the outer, laterally-load-balanced ends of the chin-strap substructure.
Other features and advantages, such as structural simplicity, the absence of anything which might introduce, or contribute to springiness into the cooperative behavior of the invention with a helmet shell, and ease of use with a wide variety of helmets, will also become clearly apparent as the description of this invention now unfolds.


A liquid heat sink is provided that employs natural convection of a liquid coolant (18') to cool a printed circuit board (14) on which are mounted a plurality of heat-generating components (12). In particular, the spacing d between the heat-generating components and a cold plate (20) used to cool the liquid must be such as to provide a Rayleigh number of at least about 1700 in the Rayleigh equation: ##EQU1## In the above equation, g is the acceleration of gravity, .beta. is the volumetric coefficient of expansion of the liquid coolant, T.sub.1 is the temperature of the cold plate, T.sub.2 is the temperature of the component to be cooled, .nu. is the kinematic viscosity of the liquid coolant, and .alpha. is the thermal diffusivity of the liquid coolant. The novel heat sink of the present invention allows complete immersion of the component in the liquid to provide maximum heat transfer, while at the same time providing a mounting/packaging scheme that allows full utilization of the desired heat transfer properties.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to heat sinks used to cool electronic modules, and, more particularly, to liquid heat sinks used to cool such modules.
2. Description of the Related Art
When the surface heat flux from a module exceeds a critical value, a heat sink is required to increase the surface area for heat transfer. This can be done by the use of either a conventional solid heat sink, such as an aluminum heat sink, or a liquid heat sink. When more than one module requires a heat sink and space restricts the use of conventional aluminum heat sinks, a liquid heat sink can be used to transfer heat from hot components to a cold plate.
Conventional liquid heat sinks are enveloped to contain the liquid, and this envelope produces the following restrictions:
1) A pressure has to be maintained between the heat dissipating components and the envelope to decrease the thermal contact resistance.
2) The card, or printed circuit board, on which modules are attached has to be specially supported to maintain sufficient pressure to ensure heat transfer efficiency. This requires a card stiffener and flexible card supports to allow the card to move with the thermal expansion of the liquid. Without this special support mechanism, the circuit card would flex during thermal cycling, with possible damage to lands and component/card interfaces.
3) The liquid envelope restricts complete surface coverage of the component by the liquid.
What is needed is a liquid heat sink that retains the advantages of such heat sinks, but which avoids most, if not all, the problems of the prior art liquid heat sinks.

Method and apparatus for immersion cooling or an electronic board


This disclosure provides an image shooting apparatus and a mobile terminal. The image shooting apparatus includes: a support base, an image shooting circuit board, a first image shooting assembly, and a second image shooting assembly. The support base is provided with an accommodating chamber. The image shooting circuit board is disposed in the accommodating chamber, and divides the accommodating chamber into a first accommodating chamber and a second accommodating chamber. The first image shooting assembly is disposed in the first accommodating chamber, and the second image shooting assembly is disposed in the second accommodating chamber. The first image shooting assembly includes a first lens and a first image sensor. The second image shooting assembly includes a second lens and a second image sensor.

With the development of mobile communication technologies, mobile terminals such as smartphones and tablet computers have become an indispensable tool in people's daily lives. People have increasingly higher requirements for mobile terminals, particularly an image shooting function of mobile terminals. An existing mobile terminal is generally provided with a front-facing camera and a rear-facing camera. The front-facing camera is mainly used in special scenes such as taking a selfie or shooting a video with another person. The rear-facing camera is mainly used in scenes other than the foregoing special scenes, so as to satisfy requirements of people for the mobile terminal to shoot in different usage scenes, and make shooting more convenient and improve shooting quality.
However, at present, to install a front-facing camera and a rear-facing camera in a mobile terminal, it is generally necessary to provide mounting holes at two different locations on a main circuit board of the mobile terminal. As a result, the front-facing camera and the rear-facing camera occupy a large installation clearance, which affects installation of other parts in the mobile terminal. A problem may be seen that a large installation clearance is occupied when a front-facing camera and a rear-facing camera are installed in the existing mobile terminal.

Image shooting apparatus and mobile terminal


The present invention provides a wafer tweezer assembling device by utilizing a chuck member and a plurality of tweezer blades separated by spacers having a predetermined thickness such that the mounting and the calibration of the tweezer can be accomplished in one operation without the need of further calibration steps after the assembling process.

In semiconductor processing technology, wafers of a semi-conducting material are frequently processed for diffusion or oxidation in a reactor chamber. For instance, in a low pressure chemical vapor deposition reactor, a large number of wafers can be accommodated for each run. The wafers can be stacked side by side with only a few mm apart in a quartz reaction tube. The wafers are positioned in wafer holders, or sometimes called wafer boats, which can hold up to 200 wafers. When the wafers are held vertically and separated from each other by a narrow space, maximum wafer capacity can be achieved in a reaction chamber. When wafers are positioned in a diffusion or oxidation furnace, the wafers are placed perpendicular to a gas flow in a quartz tube that has a circular cross-section.
When designing a reactor, the geometry of the reactor is restricted by the pressure regime and the energy source of the reactor. The reactor geometry is also an important factor in the throughput of the reactor. Since atmospheric pressure reactors normally operate in the mass-transport-limited regime, the reactors must be designed such that an equal flow of reactants can be delivered uniformly to each wafer. As a result, it is more desirable to stack the wafers horizontally by laying them flat on a horizontal surface instead of stacking vertically at close spacing. An undesirable consequence of the horizontal wafer layout is the higher susceptibility of the wafers to be contaminated by falling particles.
A horizontal reactor consists of a quartz tube, radiantly heated by a multi-zone furnace. The reactor pressure ranges between about 0.2 Torr and about 2.0 Torr while the temperature ranges between about 250.degree. C. and about 950.degree. C. A vertical furnace operates essentially in the same manner as the horizontal furnace, except for the orientation of the wafers. In a vertical furnace, the wafers are loaded in a horizontal position by a wafer tweezer onto a quartz cassette which can be either lowered or raised into the furnace by an elevator device. One other benefit achieved by a vertical furnace over a horizontal furnace is that only a reduced area needs to be occupied in a clean room environment, and the reduced contamination during wafer processing.
One of the key steps involved in processing wafers in a vertical furnace requires the use of a wafer tweezer to load wafers into a wafer boat from cassettes. The wafer tweezer is frequently constructed of a quartz material in order to withstand high temperature and corrosive chemical exposures. A conventional wafer tweezer used to load wafers into a wafer boat is shown in FIG. 1.
Tweezer assembly 10 that has tweezer blades 12 mounted in a chuck base 14 is shown in FIG. 1 for loading wafers 18 into a wafer boat 22. The wafer boat 22 is generally machined of a quartz material with a plurality of wafer receptacles 24. The tweezer assembly 10 shown in FIG. 1 is commonly used in the loading of six-inch wafers. In a typical wafer boat such as that shown in FIG. 1, the pitch between the receptacles is approximately 4.76 mm and the height of each receptacle is approximately 2.5 mm. Since a typical six-inch wafer has a thickness of 0.67 mm, this leaves a space of approximately 0.9 mm between the wafer surface and the surface of the receptacles. During the loading of wafers into a wafer boat from a tweezer assembly, it is critical to have a very tight tolerance of the spacings between the tweezer blades such that the wafers may be loaded into the boat without touching the edges of the receptacles. The tweezer blades 12 are normally constructed of a quartz material and have a thickness of approximately 1.5 mm. The distance allowed between the tweezer blades in an assembled position is approximately 3.26 mm. The mounting of the tweezer blades 12 in chuck base 14 is therefore a very important step in a semiconductor processing technology. If tweezer blades 12 are not properly mounted in chuck base 14, the wafer loading process may cause damages to the wafers when the wafers are accidentally pushed into the walls 26 of the wafer boat 22.
A conventional process for assembling a wafer tweezer assembly 10 is shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B. In FIG. 2A, a perspective view of the various components of the tweezer assembly 10 is shown. In FIG. 2B, an end view of the components of the tweezer assembly 10 is shown. It is seen, in FIG. 2A, that a plurality of chuck plates 28 are assembled to form the chuck base 14. A plurality of Teflon gaskets 32 of approximately 0.1 mm thick are used as a seal between tweezer blades 34 and chuck plates 28. Vacuum ports 36 are provided in the tweezer blades 34, the Teflon gaskets 32 and the chuck plates 28 such that vacuum can be applied through slot openings 38 in the surface of tweezer blades 34 to securely hold wafers 18. At the top of each tweezer, silicon rubber gaskets 42 of approximately 0.5 mm thick are used as vacuum seals to keep each tweezer as a vacuum chamber independently. Vacuum can be applied through vacuum holes 36, slot opening 38 and vacuum holes 44 at the tip section of the tweezer blade 34 to hold the wafers.
FIG. 2B is an end view of an unassembled chuck base 10 consisting of chuck plates 28, Teflon gaskets 32 and tweezer blades 34. Mechanical means, such as four bolts 48 are used to fasten the plurality of chuck plates 28, the Teflon gaskets 32, the silicon rubber gasket 42 and the tweezer blades 34 together. In the assembling process for chuck base 14, the position of the tweezer blades 34 in relation to the chuck plates 28 is determined by the Teflon gaskets 32 and the silicon rubber gaskets 42. There is no reliable method available for calibrating the exact distance between the tweezer blades 34 such that wafers can be precisely positioned on top of the tweezer blades.
In assembling the tweezer assembly 10 shown in FIG. 2A, there is no assembly aid or guide which can be used for determining the position of the tweezer blades 34 and the gaskets 32, 42 in relation to the chuck plates 28. The assembling process for the tweezer assembly is therefore very difficult to execute. Moreover, the horizontal accuracy and the gap tolerance are difficult, or impossible to calibrate during such assembly.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a wafer tweezer assembling device that can be easily utilized to assemble a wafer tweezer assembly.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a tweezer assembling device that can be used as a guide for fixing the positions of the various components in a tweezer assembly.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a tweezer assembling device that performs not only the assembling function but also the calibration function simultaneously.
It is another further object of the present invention to provide a tweezer assembling device that can be utilized to assemble a wafer tweezer together without the need for further calibration procedures.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a tweezer assembling device that can be repeatedly used for assembling tweezer assemblies.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a tweezer assembling device that utilizes spacers of a predetermined thickness for fixing the positions of the tweezer blades such that no further calibration is required.
It is still another further object of the present invention to provide a method for assembling and calibrating a wafer tweezer assembly simultaneously by utilizing a tweezer assembling device equipped with spacers of a predetermined thickness.
It is yet another further object of the present invention to provide a method for using a calibrated wafer tweezer assembly to load wafers into a process chamber by first utilizing a tweezer assembling device to assemble and calibrate a tweezer assembly.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd.


Low density well cement compositions which set into hard substantially impermeable masses, but which are removable by dissolution in acid, and methods of utilizing such compositions for forming removable cement plugs or seals in subterranean zones are provided. The compositions are comprised of pumpable foamed slurries of magnesium oxychloride cement.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to lightweight well cement compositions and methods for forming cement plugs or seals in subterranean zones which can subsequently be removed.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the drilling and completion of well bores penetrating subterranean formations containing hydrocarbons, voids and other highly permeable zones within the formations are often encountered. Such zones can cause a variety of problems including the loss of expensive drilling or completion fluids thereinto. Heretofore, lost circulation treatments whereby plugging materials such as walnut hulls, mica and cellophane have been used to prevent or lessen the loss of fluids from well bores. The disadvantages of such treatments include the potential for damage to hydrocarbon bearing formations as a result of the inability to remove the plugging materials therefrom, and the dislodgment of the plugging materials from highly permeable zones whereby fluid losses subsequently resume.
A more preferable technique for preventing lost circulation problems has been to temporarily plug voids or permeable zones with magnesium oxychloride cement compositions. Solid magnesium oxychloride cements can be removed with minimal damage to hydrocarbon bearing zones or formations by dissolution in acids. However, prior magnesium oxychloride cement compositions utilized in well drilling and completion applications have relatively high densities whereby they can not be utilized in applications calling for low density cements.
Thus, there is a need for low density magnesium oxychloride cement compositions and methods whereby removable plugs or seals can be formed in subterranean zones therewith.

Acid removable low density well cement compositions and methods


A system and method for shopping at a variety of different vendors easily and securely is disclosed. A user computer, a checkout processor, and one or more merchant computers are interconnected via a network. A user first selects a merchant and receives product information from the merchant. The user may select products from the merchant along with options for the selected items. When the user is finished shopping at a particular merchant, the user may select another merchant or checkout. At any time during the shopping or during checkout, the user may modify items previously selected by the user. When the user requests to checkout, product selection data is transferred to a secure central checkout processor and the checkout processor obtains order information from the user, performs review order processing, and then processes the order.

In an information handling system, electronic shopping on a global computer network such as the Internet can be frustrating and time consuming. While analysts expect shopping on global computer networks to increase dramatically over the next few years, the popularity of "cyber-shopping " will remain low if a few significant problems are not solved. Specifically, consumers spend too much time searching for items and currently have difficulty conducting comparisons between competing items at different merchants. Consumers are also presented with a checkout screen by each merchant where they purchase items. This requires the user to enter essentially the same information over and over again. Finally, users have little confidence that the security of their sensitive financial data, such as credit card numbers, will be maintained by each and every merchant web site. Some merchants may be sophisticated and utilize security means to protect data while others are simply trying to keep up with their competitors and want a "web presence " without fully understanding the security issues involved.
One of the major problems with the prior art is that users are frustrated with the time it takes to go shopping on the Internet. Much of the consumption of time stems from the fact that each conventional virtual store is typically designed like a traditional paper-based catalogue. Each virtual store typically has a way for customers to browse for items, select items they wish to purchase, and checkout using a credit card. Conventionally, the user is forced to go to each specific store and do the same set of activities over and over again. When the user wishes to checkout, he or she is typically shown a checkout screen requiring the user to fill in their name, address, phone number(s), electronic mail (e-mail) address, credit card information, and other information that the merchant may require. As there are no standards yet in place on the Internet, each merchant's checkout screen typically varies considerably from other merchants'checkout screens. This causes the user additional confusion and frustration.
Another problem with conventional virtual stores is that it is difficult for the user to comparison shop. If the user finds a better deal at a second store they may have already purchased the item at the first store. At that point, it is usually too late to return the first item. The user will have to wait until the item arrives and return the item if the merchant allows for such returns. To avoid this problem, the user must typically make two shopping trips. The first trip is needed to browse through available merchandise without making any selections or purchasing any items. The user typically has to make notes throughout their browsing trip as to which merchant offers the best terms based upon the user's personal shopping preferences. These preferences include price, quality, shipping terms, return policies, and other criteria which users utilize to make shopping selections. The second trip is needed to go back to the stores with the best deals in terms of the user's preferences and complete the purchase. The user completes the purchase by finding the items and merchants identified during their browsing trip, selecting those items on the selection screen provided by each merchant, and completing the checkout screen for each merchant.
A third problem with the prior art is security. Each merchant sets up its virtual store differently. Since shoppers at virtual stores typically purchase items using a credit card, this sensitive financial information may be able to be seen by would be thieves and computer hackers if the merchant's site is not secured using encryption and other forms of data security. Distrust over the security of the merchant's payment system often causes shoppers to look elsewhere even though the merchant has better quality or prices.

System and method for secure transaction order management processing


An improved electron or ion gun support structure includes a hollow cylinder for rigidly connecting the source assembly to the source-motion ring, with the source cathode and associated lens extending into the hollow portion of the cylinder. The gun is thus made very stable and less susceptible to outside vibrations.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a mechanical stabilizing structure for particle beam sources, electron or ion (field emission) guns, especially as used in photolithography applications such as semiconductor mask fabrication.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Electron and ion guns are well known. Typically an electron gun includes an electron beam source (also called a cathode) which is held in fixed relation to a magnetic or electrostatic lens assembly for focussing the electron beam. The electrostatic lens assembly is a set of annular electrodes for focussing the electron beam. The source and its support structures are connected to a source-motion ring for small adjustments in electron beam position with respect to the fixed lens.
One prior art source support structure uses a set of three rods extending vertically between the source-motion ring and a source attachment disk from which the source itself is suspended. FIG. 1 shows such a prior art electron gun in an exploded view including gun-module mounting plate (base plate) 1, source-motion ring 2, three source support rods 3, lens assembly 4, lens 5, extractor cap 6, aperture clamp 7, wires 8, spring assembly 9, suppressor 10, suppressor ring clamp 11, high voltage collars 12, source attachment disk 13, high voltage cover connectors 14, filament connectors 15, spring assemblies 16, springs 17, screws 18, screw 19, washers 20, aperture 21, emitter 22, screws 23, screws 24, octupole 25, beam skirt 26, screws 27, 28, cap screws 29, 30, spring assembly connector 31, washers 32, 33, 34, and wire 35. The vertical rods 3 extend between the source-motion ring 2 and the source attachment disk. Alternative prior art source support structures include long rods or cantilevered supports. All such structures are undesirably vulnerable to external vibration, reducing the accuracy of the electron beam.


A starter motor and balancers are disposed reasonably so as not to interfere with each other by effectively utilizing spaces in an engine. Cylinders are set so as to be tilted forward on casings supporting a crankshaft in a transverse position, a rear balancer and a starter motor are disposed in a space behind the cylinders, and a front balancer is disposed on an opposite side of the rear balancer with respect to the crankshaft. The rear balancer and the front balancer are disposed on the right side of a plane including the center of gravity of the engine and perpendicular to the crankshaft, and the starter motor is disposed on the left side of the plane. Weight portions included in the rear balancer and the front balancer are disposed close to the plane to prevent coupling vibrations.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an engine with balancers for a vehicle wherein cylinders are set so as to be tilted forward on casings supporting a crankshaft disposed transversely of a body. A rear balancer is disposed in a space behind the cylinders. A front balancer is disposed on an opposite side of the rear balancer with respect to the crankshaft.
2. Description of Background Art
An engine with balancers for a vehicle is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-open No. Hei 4-277349. In this related art engine, a starter motor for starting the engine is disposed under the front end of a casing. In a motorcycle, exhaust pipes extend forward from the cylinder heads of the engine, and then the exhaust pipes are curved downwardly and rearwardly so as to extend under the front portion of the casing. Therefore, if the starter motor is disposed under the front end of the casing, the starter motor will interfere with the exhaust pipes and the exhaust pipes cannot properly be arranged. The starter motor may be disposed in a space behind the cylinders set on the casing so as to be tilted forwardly. However, the starter motor must be disposed in that space so as not to interfere with balancers disposed in that space.


A method, device, and/or medium may be associated with identifying user information associated with user behavior and generating keywords based, at least in part, on the user information. The keywords may be compared to metadata associated with user applications, and the user applications may be prioritized according to a correlation of the metadata with the keywords based, at least in part, on the comparison.

The total number of mobile applications available across the top smart-phone platforms in the world is quickly approaching one million. Many of the initial mobile applications were primarily created for entertainment purposes. However, as mobile application usage increases, the subject matter of the mobile applications has also changed. Mobile applications may be designed to improve lives, increase productivity, disseminate news, predict weather, and even provide crop data in places like rural India.
Industry distribution of mobile applications is growing faster than the rate of sales of digital music, which used to be the undisputed leader in online sales. The number of mobile applications is likely to continue growing, due to increased smart-phone usage around the world, and the availability of toolkits and frameworks that make it easier to develop new mobile applications. Known application search tools may allow a user to select a user application from the large number of available user applications. Additionally, the known search tools may be used to sort user applications based on the general popularity associated with a particular user application. Nevertheless, the selection of the user application may be very time consuming and inefficient, and the known search tools may not locate the user application that is best suited for the user.

Methods, devices, and mediums associated with recommending user applications


An electrowinning cell comprised of a tank; an electrolytic solution within the tank defining a solution surface at a predetermined level within the tank; a plurality of flat metallic electrode plates, each of the plates having a support beam along an edge thereof; a support assembly disposed outside the tank for supporting a plurality of the electrodes by the support beams, the support assembly dimensioned to position the electrodes in side-by-side, spaced apart, parallel relationship with a lower portion of the electrodes immersed in the electrolytic solution and an upper portion disposed above the solution surface, the upper portions of the electrodes and the solution surface forming parallel channels extending from one side of the tank to a second side of the tank; a plurality of apertures formed in the tank wall along the one side of the tank, the apertures being disposed above the solution surface and positioned wherein at least one of the plurality of apertures is located between an adjacent pair of the electrodes; a blower and manifold assembly connected to the plurality of apertures for creating gas flow through the plurality of apertures, the blower and manifold assembly dimensioned to create a stream of gas through the channels across the solution surface; an elongated slot formed in the tank wall along the second side of the tank, the slot disposed above the solution surface; and an exhaust blower and manifold assembly for creating a suction through the slot to create a drop in gas pressure opposite the apertures.

It is well known that an exceptionally pure form of copper can be extracted from copper dissolved in a sulfuric acid solution through an electrowinning process. An electrowinning process utilizes the known technique of plating metal out of an electrolytic solution onto a cathode.
Modern electrowinning typically occurs in large non-conductive tanks containing copper sulphate dissolved in sulfuric acid solution. A plurality of side-by-side, parallel cathode and anode plates are suspended in the sulfuric acid solution, wherein a portion of the plates extends above the upper surface of the acid solution. The cathodes and anodes are alternately arranged such that each cathode is disposed between two anodes. The anodes and cathodes are connected to a sufficient electrical power source to cause the electroplating to occur. It is well known to use such a process to form either copper plate or copper powder based upon the concentration of copper in solution and the current densities applied to the plates.
During the electrodeposition process, oxygen is liberated at the surface of the anode plates. The gas forms tiny bubbles which rise to the top of the acid solution. At the upper surface of the acid solution, these gas bubbles burst and create an acid mist above the tank. This acid mist represents not only a health hazard to the workers in the area, but also creates a corrosive environment for the electrical equipment and connections necessary to electrically energize the plates, as well as for the overhead mechanical equipment required for inserting and removing the cathodes to retrieve the plated copper. In this respect, because of the structural material required for inserting and removing the cathode plates, conventional overhead ventilation hoods are not practical for removing the acid mist. In this respect, any type of cover which interferes with access to the cells for removing or replacing the cathodes is not desirable.
It has been known to use large massive ventilation systems to remove and circulate air through the building structure, conventionally referred to as tank houses, in which such electrowinning cells are located. As will be appreciated, to remove and circulate sufficient air to meet environmental standards requires extremely massive and expensive ventilation systems. Even then, workers within the tank houses are still exposed to the acid mist, albeit at lower levels, and such systems do not prevent the mist from settling onto surfaces within the structure before they can be removed from the facility. In this respect, such ventilation systems do not really solve the acid mist problem, but merely reduce its levels within a facility.
It has also been known to suppress the mist using foam or floating coalescing balls which float upon the surface of the acid bath. The foam and floating balls theoretically prevent the air bubbles from bursting when they reach the surface of the acid bath, thereby reducing the mist generated by the tank. While such systems do reduce the acid mist, they do not completely eliminate the problem, and present problems in themselves. In this respect, when forming copper powder, copper particulate formed within the tank has a tendency to adhere to the foam and coalescing balls, forming possible short circuits between the adjacent anode and cathode plates. Further, the collection of the gaseous mist within the foam and balls creates potential for gas explosions.
It is thus desirable to provide a method of ventilating an electrolysis tank which overcomes the foregoing drawbacks, yet eliminates the environmental and corrosive hazard of the acid mist without undue expense, and without interfering with the operations of the tank.
The present invention thus provides a ventilation system for an electrolysis cell which suppresses and removes acid mist at the surface of the tank without obstructing access to the tank and without the use of foams or coalescing balls.
In addition, no impurities or foreign objects are added to the acidic solution.

Ventilation system for electrolytic cell


A design-change-target-circuit detecting unit inputs circuit information including an element model describing an electronic circuit to detect an electronic circuit using a changed element model. A determining unit compares a characteristic of an element model before change and that of the element model after change. An analysis-necessity deciding unit decides whether waveform analysis is necessary, and when determining that waveform analysis is necessary, makes an instruction for waveform analysis of the electronic circuit using the element model after change. Furthermore, after the determination-necessity deciding unit determines that waveform analysis of the electronic circuit using the element model after change is not necessary and design requirement conditions of the electronic circuit including the element model after change are changed from those before change, an instruction for pass/fail determination as to whether existing waveform analysis results satisfy the design requirement conditions after change is made to cause the instruction to be executed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electronic-circuit analysis program, method, and apparatus that checks the operation of an electronic circuit through simulation, and particularly to an electronic-circuit analysis program, method, and apparatus that checks the operation of an electronic circuit through simulation of waveform analysis.
2. Description of the Related Arts
With recent years' speedups of electronic circuits, for example, LSI (Large Scale Integration), printed circuit boards (Printed Circuit Board), and multichip modules, an increasing number of design changes in layer configuration and materials of LSIs, packages, and printed circuit boards have a non-negligible influence on signal waveform transmission. For this reason, signal waveform analysis at the time of design and design changes has become increasingly important. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing one example of an electronic-circuit analysis apparatus. This electronic-circuit analysis apparatus includes a circuit-information input storage unit 300, an analysis-model generating unit 302, an analyzing unit 304, an analysis-result determining unit 306, and a display unit 308. The circuit-information input storage unit 300 has stored therein, as input information, analysis conditions, layout data, element-model data, and parameter data for use in a simulation of an electronic circuit. The analysis conditions include an analysis frequency, analysis time, and others. The layout data is data at the time of designing the board layout. The element-model data is data with electrical characteristics of elements written in a predetermined format. The parameter data represents analysis-purpose parameters corresponding to the material property and shape of the board. The analysis-model generating unit 302 generates an analysis model for simulation based on the input information stored in the circuit-information input storage unit 300, performs a simulation by using the model to be output to the analyzing unit 304, and outputs a waveform calculated with respect to an arbitrary measuring position of the electronic circuit to the analysis-result determining unit 306 and the display unit 308 as an analysis result. The waveform represents, for example, a voltage-value change with time. The analysis-result determining unit 306 uses a predetermined condition to perform a pass/fail determination on the analysis result, and outputs pass or fail as a determination result to the display unit 308. The predetermined condition is, for example, a threshold of a rated voltage of the element described in a data sheet or the like. Here, if a plurality of analysis results are present, the analysis-result determining unit 306 performs a plurality of pass/fail determinations. For example, in the case where the analysis result is a voltage waveform and the threshold for pass/fail determination is a maximum rated voltage value, it is assumed that when a peak value of the voltage value is equal to or lower than the maximum rated voltage value, the determination result indicates passed, and when the peak value exceeds the maximum rated voltage value, the determination result indicates failed. Also, when the threshold for pass/fail determination is VIH (the lower-limit voltage value with which the voltage is determined as High), it is assumed that when the voltage in the analysis result exceeds the threshold VIH during a time when High is expected, the determination result indicates passed, and when the voltage is equal to or lower than the threshold VIH, the determination result indicates failed. The display unit 308 displays the analysis result and passed or failed indicated by the determination result.
[Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 10-21267
Here, LSI manufacturing sources provide an element model for use in signal waveform analysis in a form of an IBIS model (Input/Output Buffer Information Specification Model), SPIC model (an industry-standard model for use in an SPICE-family simulator on the basis of an electronic-circuit simulator developed at University of California at Berkeley), encrypted SPICE model, or the like. These element models have been often revised due to a change in LSI design or a correction of a malfunction in generation conditions and measurement conditions of an element model. Moreover, in recent years, with speedups of LSIs, it has become difficult to design an LSI alone, and it might be the case where a revision of an LSI model requires a change in design of a printed circuit board. In the conventional electronic-circuit analysis apparatus, every time the design of an element model or a printed circuit board is changed, it is required to perform signal waveform analysis and waveform determination to check whether there is a problem in waveform quality and timing conditions of the circuit. However, with speedups and high-density of LSIs and printed circuit boards, the number of nets requiring signal waveform analysis is increasing. To perform all signal waveform analyses for every design change, a large amount of CPU time and manual check time is required. In this case, if an influence of revision of an element model on the waveform under the operation conditions of the circuit is small, it is not required to again perform signal waveform analysis However, to decide whether re-analysis is necessary, there are problems such that expert knowledge is required regarding signal waveform analysis for grasping changes of an element model or the like, and even if such a determination is possible, it takes a long time to perform manual determinations for all analysis targets.

Electronic-circuit analysis program, method, and apparatus for waveform analysis


A method and apparatus for queue concatenation have been disclosed.

Queue memory structures are often used in communications, data processing applications, computing, etc. particularly where data or data streams may be "bursty" in nature and temporary storage of this data is needed. Fixed sized queues, statically allocated queue memory sizes, etc. may be too small in size to store enough data for an application or a data stream leading to loss of data. This may present a problem.
A current approach is to concatenate queues by externally connecting the flow control interfaces, however this involves exiting and entering the chip through an interface which ties up the interface, causes delay and latency issues, wastes pins and does not allow queue control. This may present a problem.

Method and apparatus for queue concatenation