The device includes a motor that move the web and an electronic camera which supplies a signal representing an image of the web formed on an image sensor having photosensitive points. The device has synchronization of the duration of a predetermined number of successive pitches of the web passing through the optical field of the camera and the duration separating the start of two successive imaging operations of the camera. Thus, an optical filtering is performed. From one image to the next, the same photosensitive point of the sensor corresponds to identical portions of threads and interstices of the web, so that any optical variation of the threads or interstice is detected. The signals representing the images produced by each photosensitive point during successive shots correspond to zones of material with similar designs. If there is no difference in the material between two successive zones observed in this manner, and in particular if there is no defect, the representative signals corresponding to these zones are exactly identical. The processing of the signal is therefore simplified and makes it possible to detect defects of very small size and/or very little different from the normal pattern.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention concerns a device for optical inspection of moving material. It applies to all materials which bear a lattice and in particular textiles, cloth, wallpaper, plastic, printed materials or dyed weaves.
2. Related Art
Inspection devices known at present have an electronic camera or an array of photosensitive components, generally linear, the optical field of which is constant, in width and time frequency of view capture.
The duration between the start of two successive view captures is therefore independent of possible changes in speed of running of the material or changes in pitch of the lattice borne by successively inspected materials. The two lattices, that of the individual inspection areas, linked to the optoelectronic system, and that of the textile, interfere and prevent any fine inspection.
This is because, on the one hand, when the textile lattice has a mesh which is smaller than that of the optoelectronic system, a defect on only one element of the textile lattice cannot be detected by the inspection system since it causes too small a variation in signal. On the other hand, when the textile lattice has a mesh which is larger than that of the optoelectronic system, the latter detects each space between the elements of the textile lattice and interprets it as a perforation in the lattice.
French patent application FR 93 02279 is known which describes a method and device for woven textile fabric image processing. Each fabric having a repetitive design and being defined by its period, the method of this document consists of acquiring an image and filtering it by subtracting, at each digital illumination value of a point of the image corresponding to a point of the fabric, the digital illumination value of another point of the image which is substantially displaced by one period of the cloth structure. This is intended to avoid the effects due to the cloth framework, that is to say the design which is periodically reproduced on the cloth, during weaving.
The filtering thus performed is purely electronic and is performed a posteriori on an image which, at view capture, has no particular characteristic apart from being in synchronised with the running of the cloth so that each view capture corresponds to the same distance travelled by the cloth.
Since the image capture performed by this camera is synchronised with the speed of running of the fabric, between two view captures, the same length of fabric is passed under the camera, whatever the speed of movement of the fabric. However, between two points of one image or between two points of two images, the number of threads or the number of lattice pitches or the number of framework periods which have passed in the camera field between two view captures is not an integer number or the inverse of an integer number, but only a constant number, unvarying with the speed of the cloth.
Thus the lattices of the points observed during view captures and that of the cloth threads have the same defect as described above: two points at which the illumination values are subtracted, since they are approximately one period apart, may correspond one to an interstice between threads and the other to the centre of a thread. The result of the difference then gives a high value even though the cloth has no weaving defect. Conversely, a defect, such as a thick thread which fills up the said interstice, may correspond to a small difference in illuminations. It is then not detected according to the method of the document. Again, the smallest defects may not be detected by this method.
Consequently, no solution is satisfactory and only a few extremely visible defects are detected by these systems, that is to say holes in the textiles and possibly strongly contrasting threads.
The present invention intends to remedy these drawbacks by synchronising the duration between two view captures of the image sensor and the duration of passage of one or more pitches of the lattice borne by the material.

Device for the automatic detection and inspection of defects on a running web, such as a textile fabric


The present invention provides a method and system for eliminating redundant execution sequences that appear in workloads during workload simulation on an e-business application server. The invention eliminates redundancy by creating command patterns for commands that recur. This use of the command patterns permit execution of commands without having to rewrite the software code necessary for implementing the command every time there is a necessity to use the command in a workload. By building a reference workload and cloning the command patterns for each workload, redundancy can be eliminated among the workloads.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to the field of e-business, and more particularly, to a method and apparatus for testing an e-business application server to ensure that it can adequately handle overload conditions.
2. Description of the Related Art
The pervasiveness of the Internet has allowed companies to exploit electronic communications to engage in what is commonly known as e-business activities with their customers. E-business involves conducting business on the Internet and not only includes buying and selling goods and services, but can also include servicing customers and collaborating with trading or business partners. To accommodate this vast range of activities, companies strive to ensure that their systems operate optimally by implementing a traffic flow management policy.
A traffic flow management policy is a set of rules which dictate how workload should be handled by a system and corresponding subsystems. A workload is a task or group of tasks that require system resources in order for the system and its corresponding subsystems to process the task or group of tasks. A work request is an electronic request which can be used to request the processing of a workload. Hence, an effective traffic flow management policy should assign and distribute tasks associated with a workload to various processing elements within the system and its subsystems. Moreover, to ensure optimal performance, the traffic flow management policy must constantly monitor system conditions and dynamically adjust resources allocated to process the workload accordingly. Dynamic adjustment can also include redistributing and rescheduling processing of the tasks associated with a workload. Still, it is sometimes necessary to execute multiple application steps in order to simulate a single request. More particularly, this can happen whenever a work request requires the processing of multiple commands. Since the application steps are continuously repeated in multiple application steps, continually recoding the same commands necessary for executing the application steps is not the most efficient methodology for simulating a request. Furthermore, if there is a change to a command sequence that occurs in multiple application steps, then all occurrences of the command must be changed. This could require extensive code modifications which can be time consuming and costly.
Given these drawbacks, what is needed is an efficient method and system for eliminating redundancy among multiple execution sequences during workload simulation.

Method and system for eliminating redundant execution sequences that appear in workloads during workload simulation on an e-business application server

International Business Machines Corporation


Provided are an injectable and implantable drug delivery composition and a method for using such composition to release active ingredients and/or pharmaceutical agents to a site of action. The composition includes a gellan-gum crosslinked with L-cysteine and at least one pharmaceutical active agent in a biocompatible solvent.

Treatment for chronic diseases often involve a long-term pharmaceutical therapy. For some conditions, two or more injections per day may be required and thus may lead to poor patient compliance. Biodegradable polymers are well known for their use in biomedical applications such as sutures, surgical clips, staples, implants and other forms of drug delivery systems. However, most of the currently known biodegradable polymers are solid materials that are used to form solid articles such as implants or surgically inserted microcapsules. In addition, prolonged drug delivery by means of injections, inhalation, transdermal, or swallowing pills or capsules generally results in varying drug concentrations in the system and between each dosing period. The local inflammatory reaction triggered by repeated medication injections may also increase poor patient compliance, resulting in an incomplete drug therapy. For this reason, the implantable and injectable drug delivery system has attracted great interest for its potential uses in overcoming the limitations including inconsistency in the drug delivery to the site of action (Hatefi and Amsden, 2002). For example, runny formulations which are also known as liquid implants to create a semi-solid depot following subcutaneous injection are considered to be an attractive parenteral delivery system for many reasons. In contrast to using solid implants, which require an anesthesiology local and a small procedure, the drug delivery procedures of runny formulation are less invasive or traumatic. Such runny, liquid composition can be designed for longer durations, usually from one to multiple months, and for local or systemic drug distribution. (Packhaeuser et al., 2004).
The use of water-dissolving polymers, which can form a gel after use at the delivery site, are also known in the art. In comparison to much more powerful gels, this gelling polymers of so called in-situ are highly lucrative because they can be simply applied on drug absorption site in the form of fluid. When injected into the body, the water-dissolving polymers enlarge to create a solid gel that can extend the active substance's retention time. These types of delivery system offer a number of advantages including the ease of manufacture of the polymer solution, the incorporation of the drug into the polymer solution just prior to administration leading to increased drug and polymer stability as well as no loss of drug during the manufacturing process, and the ability to terminally sterilize the polymer solution as well as the drug. However, the main disadvantage of the natural water-soluble polymer is that they possess poor gelation properties, and they also trigger immunogenic reaction at the site of application. In addition, the water-soluble polymer delivery system may not be suitable for some since the injection is primarily limited to a subcutaneous region where the injected material may form quite distinct and noticeable bumps. Further, some of the solvents commonly used in these delivery systems may cause unfavorable side effects due to their potential toxicity in the body.
Thus, there is a need for a method and composition for providing liquid polymeric implants with low viscosity sufficient for ease of injection yet improved gelation property. In addition, there is a need in the art for implantable and injectable polymeric implant compositions that are biodegradable, non-toxic and capable of providing easy administration into the body using standard syringes and needles.

Injectable drug delivery implant composition and method of use thereof


A recorded stream generator generates a data block stream in synchronism with the phase of a recording clock, from the input data. The recorded stream generator further generates, for each predetermined data unit constituting the data block stream, a data phase reference pulse indicative of the phase of the data unit. An inserting section inserts a VFO signal into a predetermined amount (32 sectors) of the data block stream, the VFO signal having a length of time corresponding to a difference in phase between an wobble address phase signal and a data phase reference pulse. The inserting section thus provides a data stream DST consisting of the VFO signals and the data block streams. An LD uses light beams to record the data stream on an optical disk.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical disk on which address information is recorded as wobbles of a recording track, an optical disk apparatus that records and reproduces information on and from the optical disk, and a method of recording information.
2. Description of the Related Art
DVD-RAMs and DVD RWs are known as rewritable optical disks. These optical disks have an information recording layer formed on a transparent substrate. Laser light is condensed on the information recording layer to record and reproduce information. Further, as means for recording and reproducing information, the information recording layer of the optical disk has a guide groove often simply called a groove. Information is recorded and reproduced along the guide groove. Furthermore, physical addresses are formed along the guide groove to identify spatial positions at which recording or reproduction of information is carried out.
In a DVD-RAM, a technique called land and groove recording is used as means for increasing density. In the DVD-RAM, information is recorded both on a groove, which is a concave portion of the guide groove, and on a land, which is a convex portion of the guide groove. This serves to reduce the intervals at which data is recorded in a radial direction, to increase a recording capacity. On the other hand, the physical addresses are formed of intermittent concaves and convexes on the substrate called prepits. The guide groove is discontinued in these physical address areas.
In contrast, in a DVD-RW, information is recorded only on the groove, which is the concave portion of the guide groove. On the other hand, as means for forming physical addresses, modulation of groove wobbles (hereinafter referred to as "wobble modulation") is used in which the guide groove is slightly vibrated in the radial direction. The physical addresses formed using the wobble modulation do not block a recording track (guide groove). Accordingly, these physical addresses have the advantages of increasing an area in which user information is recorded, that is, improving a format efficiency, and making the optical disk easily compatible with reproduction-exclusive media.
Thus, for an optical disk apparatus that records information on an optical disk having address information based on the wobble modulation, it is necessary to synchronize the phase of a wobble address with the phase of data to be recorded in a sector or the like during information recording. However, there may be a difference in phase between the wobble address and the data to be recorded for some reason. When data is recorded on the optical disk while there remains a phase difference, it may be difficult to reproduce the recorded data. Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 2002-32962 describes a technique for varying the frequency of a recording clock depending on the phase difference.
With this patent document, if there is a difference in phase between a recorded stream and the wobble address, the recording clock frequency is controlled to remove the phase difference. Thus, disadvantageously, jitter may occur in the recording clock, which degrades recording signals.

Optical disk apparatus, method of recording information, and information recording medium


In a network system comprising first through N-th agents, each of which performs a management operation on a management object (N representing a predetermined natural number which is not less than two), an active manager for managing the first through the N-th agents, and a backup manager for managing the first through the N-th agents when a fault occurs in the active manager, the active manager includes a fault detecting unit for detecting the fault in the active manager to produce a fault detection signal. Supplied with the fault detection signal, the backup managing process delivers a name signal representative of a backup manager name assigned to the backup manager as an indicated name to the first through the N-th agents through backup transmitting/receiving unit and the circuit switching device. In each of the first through the N-th agents, an agent process stores, as a stored manager name, the indicated name in a memory unit on reception of the name signal.

This invention relates to a networks management system including a plurality of agents and, in particular, to a network management system for switching a manager for managing the agents from an active one to a backup one, when a fault occurs in the active manager.
A network management system comprises first through N-th agents each of which carries out a management operation on a management object, where N represents a predetermined natural number which is not less than two, an active manager for managing the first through the N-th agents, and a backup manager for managing the first through the N-th agents, when a fault occurs in the active manager.
In prior art, a change from the active manager to the backup manager is carried out by using a changing device. More specifically, the changing device physically changes the active manager into the backup manager so as to change the connection of signal lines of the first through the N-th agents from the active manager to the backup manager, when the fault occurs in the active manager. Therefore, such a conventional method of changing from the active manager to the backup manager is called a physical changing method. The physical changing method is expensive. In addition, the physical changing method is incapable of easily switching from the active manager to the backup manager.

Network management system capable of easily switching from an active to a backup manager


A decorative article of manufacture has a penetrable core into which the ends of sprigs are inserted. Leaves forming the ends of the sprigs preferably conceal the core completely. The sprigs include preserved leaves on the unsupported projecting ends which define an approximate geometric shape. The sprigs have their natural leaves on their unsupported ends and are preferably form of preserved eucalyptus The core is preferably formed of a rigid plastic foam. The geometric shape defined by the sprigs' ends may have for example a conical, semi-conical, toroidal, or spherical shape.

It goes without saying that it is very common to decorate the interiors of dwellings with many different types of materials in many different shapes. For example, sculptures may be made of everything from steel to papiermache. The appearance and texture of such sculptures is strongly influenced by the choice of materials. It is also possible to make decorations from natural materials such as dried or preserved flowers, leaves, or grasses. By proper selection of the type of material from which a particular decoration is made, the aesthetic appeal can be strongly enhanced.
It is possible to preserve certain types of vegetation from leafy trees and bushes by impregnating this vegetation with glycerine or other preservative liquid using well known procedures. By so doing, this vegetation will hold its leaves and appear to be fresh for a very long time, typically a number of years. This process is particularly suitable for preserving eucalyptus vegetation. Typically, the eucalyptus branches are dyed a dark green during the preservation process. Preserved eucalyptus is available from most floral supply concerns in bunches comprising a plurality of long branches. The ability of the eucalyptus odor to emanate from the leaves and branches is not impaired by this preservation process.

Decorative article made of preserved sprigs


The invention relates to a method and system for generating handwritten text with different degrees of maturity of the writer without needing to have the original text of the writer, thereby allowing the generation of text online (synthesizing temporal movement) and offline (generating the image of the handwriting), the simulation of real development in terms of the number of strokes and the velocity profile of the writer according to his or her progress, and the generation of handwriting of writers with possible neurological and motor disorders.

Research on handwriting synthesis is used in different fields. A first reason for the use thereof was to provide a large database of biometric writing to evaluate automatic signature verifiers or automatic writer identifiers and to avoid legal problems concerning privacy [U.S. Pat. No. 7,227,993 (B2)]. Today, it is understood that the inclusion in a handwriting synthesizer of intra- and interpersonal variability and health variability due to different diseases such as Parkinson's disease or Alzheimer's disease, etc., may help to improve understanding of the underlying processes in human handwriting production. Artistic creations and the generation of CAPTCHAs constitute another reason [Chetan Ramaiah, Réjean Plamondonm, and Venu Govindaraju, A Sigma-Lognormal Model for Handwritten Text CAPTCHA Generation, in: Proceedings of the International Conference on Pattern Recognition, 2014, pp. 250-255.], [O. Thomas, A. Rusu, V. Govindaraju, Synthetic handwritten CAPTCHAs, Pattern Recognition 42 (2009) 3365-3373].
Some patent documents seek to solve the technical problem of generating synthetic handwritten text. For example, patent document U.S. Pat. No. 5,327,342 (A) relates to a method for producing simulated handwriting, and more particularly to an apparatus and a method for producing handwriting that simulates the user's own handwriting.
Patent document WO 2006042307 (A2) relates a method and an apparatus for generating a realistic handwritten communication.
Patent document U.S. Pat. No. 7,227,993 (B2) relates to a learning-based system and a process for synthesizing cursive handwriting.
Patent document U.S. Pat. No. 7,983,478 B2 relates to Markov model-based calligraphy generation.
Patent document GB 2394348 relates to a synthesis method which, based on the handwriting data of a user, generates other letters of the same user by means of dividing into glyphs and storing in a memory.
Patent document U.S. Pat. No. 7,227,993 B2 describes a method which generates cursive letters similar to those of the user. It is also based on taking an image of the user's letter (glyphs) and adding variations in the image. It does not simulate the velocity profile.
These methods are based on processing the image of the handwritten text, so processing time increases. They neither simulate the learning and variability obtained with practice nor provide the positions of the pencil with its temporal reference.
Patent document WO 2000078215 (A1) relates to a method for analyzing motor skill based on measuring and monitoring motor control by means of the approximation of a lognormal summation with different parameters of the velocity profile obtained from the writing on a digitizing tablet.
Patent document WO 1992014219 (A1) relates to a method for digitizing and segmenting writing movement based on curvilinear movement and angular speed. Based on a previous user movement, it parameterizes the data in order to retrieve it again.
Patent document WO 2009018983 (A1) relates to a method to animate writing by means of a virtual pen which writes and draws, synthesizing different types of shapes and texts.
In turn, the paper that comes closest to solving the technical problem of generating synthetic signatures with handwritten text, providing the possibility of generating variability in the signatures and text, has been presented in [Ferrer, M. A.; Diaz-Cabrera, M.; Morales, A., "Static Signature Synthesis: A Neuromotor Inspired Approach for Biometrics," IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence, vol. PP, no. 99, pp. 1, 1 (2015)]. The method is based on fixing in the points of a grid the position and trajectory of the character to be generated, joining all the generated characters to form words, and then applying a method for generating the text, as if it was real text, by fixing the values of filters simulating the neuromuscular model. This model generates variability by varying the distances in the grid, the inclination of the grid, and by varying the parameters of the filters to simulate letters written at different speeds. The drawback of this model is that it cannot simulate the variability that occurs naturally in a writer over time and does not allow varying the parameters to simulate writers of different ages.
These preceding methods fail to solve the problem of generating, without using real written text, written text that simulates the different ages of the writer and allows, by means of the minimum number of parameters, simulating the positions of the pen or pencil over time and the way of writing depending on the writer's age, degree of maturity, or learning time.
Therefore, the technical problems that remain unsolved include: the synthesis of text similar to the real text, simulating real development in terms of the number of strokes and the velocity profile of the writer according to his or her progress and providing the possibility of varying parameters which may be related to neurological or motor parameters of human learning in a simple manner.

Method and system for generating handwritten text with different degrees of maturity of the writer

UNIVERSIDAD DE LAS PALMAS DE GRAN CANARIA


A workpiece container storage and handling system includes a base, a number of wheels connected to the base, and a container handling system connected to the base. The wheels provide for movement of the base. The container handling system is defined to hold at least two containers in a vertically overlying orientation relative to each other. The container handling system is defined to provide for controlled vertical travel of the at least two containers in unison relative to the base. Also, the container handling system is defined to provide for controlled and independent horizontal travel of each of the at least two containers relative to the base.

Modern semiconductor factories use a variety of automation systems for movement of materials and control of fabrication processes. As used herein, the terms semiconductor factory and semiconductor fab are synonymous, and are respectively abbreviated as factory and fab. The various automation systems within the fab include hardware and software that are interfaced to work together to automate the movement of material, data, and control through the fab. Major automation systems in the fab may include: MES (Manufacturing Execution System), AMHS (Automated Material Handling System), MCS (Material Control System), station Control for tool connectivity, EFEMs (Equipment Front-End Modules) and loadports for interface between factory tools and the AMHS, material tracking systems like radiofrequency identifier (RFID) and barcode, and associated software products that may or may not be used in a fab and may or may not be bundled together to handle functions like fault detection, recipe management, scheduling and dispatch, statistical process control (SPC), and others.
During semiconductor manufacturing, a semiconductor wafer undergoes a plurality of process steps, each of which are performed by a specialized process tool. Pods are used to convey semiconductor wafers from one tool to another. Each pod is capable of transporting a number of wafers of a specific diameter. The pods are designed to maintain a protected internal environment to keep the wafers free of contamination, e.g., by particulates in the air outside the pod. Pods are also known for conveying other types of substrates, such as reticles, liquid crystal panels, rigid magnetic media for hard disk drives, solar cells, etc. It is an ongoing desire to improve fab logistics and productivity in the areas of cycle time, throughput, WIP (Work-In-Progress) levels, material handling, etc. It is within this context that the present invention arises.

Dynamic storage and transfer system integrated with autonomous guided/roving vehicle


A bit patterned medium in which an exchange coupling layer induces exchange coupling between adjacent bits in order to reduce a switching field difference resulting from different magnetization directions of bits. The exchange coupling layer is disposed either over or under a recording layer having a plurality of bits. The exchange coupling layer induces exchange coupling between a bit which is to be recorded and an adjacent bit and reduces a switching field difference resulting from a difference between the magnetization direction of the bit to be recorded and the magnetization direction of neighboring bits due to an exchange coupling force generated during the exchange coupling.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a perpendicular magnetic recording medium and, more particularly, to a bit patterned medium where bits, which are units of data, are isolated in the form of islands.
2. Description of the Related Art
Since hard disk drives (HDDs) using a magnetic recording medium have high capacity and high speed access, HDDs are used as the main storage media for various digital devices as well as computers. The capacity of magnetic recording media is determined by tracks per inch (TPI), which is track density in the rotational direction of a disk, and by bits per inch (BPI), which is bit density on tracks. One of the most popular magnetic recording media, continuous magnetic recording media where bits are not physically isolated, have limitations in increasing TPI and BPI by reducing a bit size or a track pitch. This is because, when a bit size or a track pitch is reduced below a limit, noise increases due to magnetic interaction between adjacent bits and recording stability degrades drastically.
In bit patterned media where bits, which are units of data, are isolated in the form of islands, the bits are formed along tracks of a rotating disk and spaces between the patterned tracks or bits are empty or filled with a nonmagnetic material. Since there is no interaction between adjacent bits, the bit patterned media can achieve high recording density.
However, one of the requirements for bit patterned media applications is the minimization of a switching field distribution of bits. Factors affecting the switching field of each bit include the dimension and magnetic characteristics of each bit, and the magnetization directions of neighboring bits. It is preferable that the dimensions and magnetic characteristics of bits be uniform. A difference between the dimensions or magnetic characteristics of bits can be kept within allowable ranges by controlling manufacturing processes. However, a switching field difference due to magnetostatic interaction between adjacent bits cannot be reduced by controlling manufacturing processes. In order to reduce a switching field difference, it is necessary to reduce a bit size or a saturation magnetization (Ms). However, in such a case, output is reduced, thereby causing another problem.


A solid state relay circuit includes a MOSFET receiving a photovoltaic output generated across a photovoltaic diode array responsive to a light signal from a light emitting element, a control electrode of a normally ON type driving transistor made to be at a high impedance state by a voltage generated across an impedance element connected in series to the photovoltaic diode array upon application of the photovoltaic output across the gate and source of the MOSFET and at a low impedance state upon disappearance of the photovoltaic output is connected to a connecting point between the diode array and the impedance element, and the driving transistor is connected across the gate and source of the MOSFET with a resistor interposed. A falling gradient of output signal upon being turned OFF of the relay circuit is made thereby sufficiently gentle, and relay operation upon being turned OFF can be minimized in response time.

This invention relates to a solid state relay and, more particularly, to a solid state relay in which a light emitting diode converts an input signal to a light signal, a photovoltaic diode array optically coupled to the light emitting diode converts the light signal to an electrical signal which is used for driving a metal-oxide-semiconductor field effect transistor (hereinafter reffered to simply as "MOSFET") as an output means to obtain a contact signal as an output.

Normally open solid state relay with minimized response time of relay action upon being turned off


A powder mixture alloy is provided for manufacturing surface densified high carbon sintered steel articles containing iron or iron pre-alloyed powder, which has been preliminary mixed with at least 0.4 wt % graphite, lubricant and optionally at least one alloying element from the group of nickel, chromium, copper, manganese and molybdenum. Components are manufactured utilizing the alloy mixture comprising the steps of: a) compacting the metallic powder to obtain a compact; b) pre-sintering the compact at a low temperature to prevent graphite from diffusing into the iron; c) surface densifying of the pre-sintered compact to a predetermined densification depth; d) sintering under neutral gas or carburizing atmosphere; e) heat treating the sintered compact.

Ferrous-based sintered materials have typically not been a material of choice for utilization in high strength applications because of their intrinsic porosity. However, sintered products have high versatility as to shape and are easily manipulated into complex forms for relatively low cost. In general, sintered products exhibit low strength when formed from low carbon materials, and they have low formability when containing a significant amount of carbon.
In the case of low carbon materials, surface densification is a technology that greatly improves mechanical properties and strength, in particular contact and bending fatigue properties. This technology has been proven efficient for manufacturing moderately loaded automotive powertrain components such as gears, sprockets and races using low or carbon free materials. Several methods have been proposed to surface densify these articles. Among them, several have been successfully implemented in high volume manufacturing, being those that perform the surface densification as some form of a cold forming process. Cold forming, as compared to hot forming, has four key advantages: (1) results in high precision components; (2) has low tooling wear; (3) avoids oxidation of the work piece; and (4) does not require heating of the work piece. However, cold forming has important limitations as well. It is well known in metal forming technology that cold forming is severely limited by: (1) high yield strength of the material that results in extremely high forming stress that, in turn, can induce tooling failure and requires larger forming equipment; and (2) low material workability, in that the material ability to withstand plastic strain, without failure, e.g., fracture, under a given stress state is reduced. These deleterious effects are exacerbated by the presence of carbon in the powder mixture in any significant amount. While higher carbon concentrations add strength to the component parts, these higher carbon components are only effective if little or no post sintering workability is required.
The presence of carbon, furthermore, does not facilitate an increase in density of the sintered forms. In most applications, full densification of the surface layer is required for reasonable performance, which is generally incompatible with alloys containing a significant amount of carbon.
The workability or formability of the material is further limited by the presence of porosity, which greatly reduces the strain required to cause fracture. For example, sintered steel with more than 0.3 wt % carbon and 5% or more porosity is limited to 0.5-2% deformation before rupture. For an effective densification, a component with a density of 7.2 g/cm3 will need over 9% deformation to reach a full density of 7.87 g/cm3. The required level of deformation will be higher if the initial density of the part is lower.
As stated above, surface densification methods have primarily relied on the use of materials with either no or very low carbon content, typically under 0.2 wt %. Iron (no carbon) or low carbon steels exhibit workability that is higher than that of higher carbon steel. However, the use of low carbon steel has some important practical limitations. Low carbon steels are not directly heat treatable; they require addition of carbon prior to heat treatment, typically through a gas carburization process. Carburizing processes are lengthy and expensive, particularly for large components. Such heat treatment produces a hard surface layer of few millimeters (0.1 to 2 mm) deep and a relatively carbon free soft core. In some applications where the stresses are confined to the shallow surface layer, the current technology has produced very good results. Indeed, careful selection of alloying elements and optimization of post-sintering operations such as the carburization process have been successfully applied in manufacturing of high performance surface densified low carbon powder metal products. As reported in SAE Paper # 0396, 2006 by Trasorras, Nigarura and Sigl and in Gear Solutions pages 18-22, July 2006 by Ulf Engstrom, surface densification of low carbon powder metal components produces equivalent or higher performance when compared with low carbon wrought or forged steels.
These successful developments in powder metal technology, however, fail to provide the performance required in applications where through-hardened forged components are necessary, such as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,992,763 and 4,002,471.
An alternative method to produce surface densified high carbon materials which are competitive with through-hardened forged components is therefore lacking in the art. Such a method would need to be capable of producing a surface densified product which can be hardened directly in a sintering furnace if given an accelerated cooling; hardened by induction directly after sintering or through-hardened by a short austenitization period followed by oil quenching.

High carbon surface densified sintered steel products and method of production therefor


Various methods and systems for efficiently performing the blind decoding of downlink signals is described. Several forms of arranging possible CCE combinations are examined and investigated. Based on PDCCH size estimation/information, CCE concatenations that are most likely (of of limited sets) can be arrived at. Tree-based concatenations are also devised using largest CCE ordering to align smaller CCE sizes to similar boundaries. By such ordering, the search space for all possible CCE ordering and sizes can be reduced to an efficient tree. Set mapping between possible lnposelstartCCElnposelend/REs are also described using a first set to secondary and tertiary sets. Various other ordering and sorting schemes are also detailed that enable a blind decode of a PDCCH channel to be efficiently performed.

For the purposes of the present document, the following abbreviations apply:    AM Acknowledged Mode    AMD Acknowledged Mode Data    ARQ Automatic Repeat Request    BCCH Broadcast Control CHannel    BCH Broadcast CHannel    C- Control-    CCCH Common Control CHannel    CCH Control CHannel    CCTrCH Coded Composite Transport Channel    CP Cyclic Prefix    CRC Cyclic Redundancy Check    CTCH Common Traffic Channel    D-BCH Dynamic Broadcast CHannel    DCCH Dedicated Control CHannel    DCH Dedicated CHannel    DL DownLink    DSCH Downlink Shared CHannel    DTCH Dedicated Traffic CHannel    FACH Forward link Access CHannel    FDD Frequency Division Duplex    L1 Layer 1 (physical layer)    L2 Layer 2 (data link layer)    L3 Layer 3 (network layer)    LI Length Indicator    LSB Least Significant Bit    MAC Medium Access Control    MBMS Multmedia Broadcast Multicast Service    MCCH MBMS point-to-multipoint Control CHannel    MRW Move Receiving Window    MSB Most Significant Bit    MSCH MBMS point-to-multipoint Scheduling CHannel    MTCH MBMS point-to-multipoint Traffic Channel    P-BCH Primary Broadcast CHannel    PCCH Paging Control Channel    PCFICH Physical Control Format Indicator CHannel    PCH Paging Channel    PDCCH Physical Downlink Control CHannel    PDU Protocol Data Unit    PHY PHYsical layer    PHICH Physical Hybrid-ARQ Indicator CHannel    PhyCH Physical CHannels    RACH Random Access Channel    RE Resource Element    RS Reference Signal    RLC Radio Link Control    RoHC Robust Header Compression    RRC Radio Resource Control    SAP Service Access Point    SDU Service Data Unit    SHCCH SHared channel Control CHannel    SN Sequence Number    SUFI SUper FIeld    TCH Traffic CHannel    TDD Time Division Duplex    TFI Transport Format Indicator    TM Transparent Mode    TMD Transparent Mode Data    TTI Transmission Time Interval    U- User-    UE User Equipment    UL UpLink    UM Unacknowledged Mode    UMD Unacknowledged Mode Data    UMTS Universal Mobile Telecommunications System    UTRA UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access    UTRAN UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network
Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) is one of the third-generation (3G) wireless phone technologies. Currently, the most common form of UMTS uses W-CDMA as the underlying air interface. UMTS is standardized by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), and is sometimes marketed as 3GSM as a way of emphasizing the combination of the 3G nature of the technology and the GSM standard which it was designed to succeed.
UTRAN (UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network) is a collective term for the Node-B's and Radio Network Controllers which make up the UMTS radio access network. The UTRAN allows connectivity between the UE and a core network, and can include UEs, Node Bs, and Radio Network Controllers (RNCs)—noting that an RNC and Node B can be the same device, although typical implementations have a separate RNC located in a central office serving multiple Node B's.
For UMTS, a Broadcast Channel (BCH) may have a fixed pre-defined transport format and may be broadcasted over the entire coverage area of a cell. In Long Term Evolutino (LTE) which improves upon the UMTS standard, the broadcast channel may be used to transmit a "System Information field" necessary for system access. However, due to the large size of a System Information field, the BCH may be divided into two portions including a Primary Broadcast CHannel (P-BCH) and Dynamic Broadcast CHannel (D-BCH). The P-BCH may contain basic Layer 1 (physical layer)/Layer 2 (data link layer) (or "L1/L2") system parameters useful to demodulate the D-BCH, which in turn may contain the remaining System Information field.
It may occur that a UE may need to blindly decode a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) from from several possible formats and associated Control Channel Elements (CCEs). Unfortunately, this may impose a substantial burden on the UE that may exceed practical hardware limitations and thus lead to increased costs and/or reduced performance of the UE.
Therefore, there is a need for addressing this issue. Accordingly, methods and systems for addressing this and other issues are disclosed herein.

Methods and systems for PDCCH blind decoding in mobile communications


A system includes multiple optical Fourier transform cells which simultaneously scan a device under test. The illuminated area for each Fourier transform cell is small to provide high resolution, while the number of cells is large to cover a relatively wide area and keep inspection speed high. The advantages of optical computing performed by Fourier transform optics also keeps the inspection speed high because illuminated areas are large when compared to the resolution and Fourier transforms are linear shift invariant so that optical measurements can be performed during scanning. In one embodiment, Fourier transform cells are offset from each other perpendicular to the scan direction by less that the width of an illuminated area. This provides complete coverage during scanning of a device under test. Because the illumination for the Fourier transform is collimated, the system is insensitive to focusing errors due to fluctuations in working distance.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to systems and methods for using Fourier transform optics to inspect devices.
2. Description of Related Art
Inspecting substrates used in integrated circuits or flat panel displays typically relies on one of three methods: scanning the substrate with a beam that generates a signal indicating reflection, transmission, or absorption of the beam in a small portions of the substrate; imaging the substrate and analyzing the resulting image; or forming the Fourier transform of a light pattern from the substrate and analyzing the Fourier transform. For these methods, reducing the area simultaneously inspected can improve the resolution (i.e., detect smaller defects or features). For scanning, a smaller beam diameter isolates the attributes of a smaller portion of the substrate. For imaging, higher magnification increases the size of features in the image but decreases the substrate area inspected by a fixed size detector. For Fourier transform inspections, transforming a light pattern from a smaller area of the substrate reduces the area represented by the Fourier transform but makes light from a small feature a larger portion of the light in the Fourier transform and therefore more easily detectable. In all these cases, decreasing area simultaneously inspected improves resolution but decreases the speed of inspection by requiring more scans, more images, or more exposures to cover a substrate.
Fourier transform based inspection systems which scan a substrate can provide fast inspection because Fourier transform optics perform "optical computing" which separates a defect signal from a non-defect signal. Optical computing allows the area illuminated by a scan beam to be large when compared to beams used in a conventional scanning system. For example, a conventional scanning system for a substrate having a feature size of a few microns might use a beam which is a few microns in diameter. A Fourier transform inspection system for the same substrate would use a beam which is millimeters in diameter. The large beam for the Fourier transform optics encompasses repetitive features which create a characteristic spatial frequency light pattern that is transformed to a distinctive Fourier transform pattern. However, when inspecting for defects about a micron in size, the amount of light reaching the Fourier plane from a defect is typically small relative to the total amount of light reaching the Fourier plane. The small signal generated by the defect may be of the same order of magnitude as the noise associated with the non-defective signal, making defect detection difficult.
Reducing the area of illumination improves the signal-to-noise ratio by making light from a defect a larger fraction of the total light, but reducing the illuminated area also increases the number of scans required to cover the substrate. For example, changing the beam diameter from 0.15 mm to 2 mm changes the inspected area by more than a factor of fifty, and requires increasing a scan rate by a similar factor to maintain the original inspection time. This magnitude of change in scan rate is typically not achievable.

High-speed, high-resolution, large area inspection using multiple optical fourier transform cells


A chip damage detection device is provided that includes at least one bi-stable circuit having a first conductive line passing through an observed area of a semiconductor integrated circuit chip for damage monitoring of the observed area. The at least one bi-stable circuit is arranged to flip from a first stable state into a second stable state when a potential difference between a first end and a second end of the first conductive line changes or when a leakage current overdrives a state keeping current at the first conductive line. Further, a semiconductor integrated circuit device that includes the chip damage detection device and a safety critical system that includes the semiconductor integrated circuit device or the chip damage detection circuit is provided.

Semiconductor integrated circuits may be subject to malfunction or inoperability during operation caused by physical damage, for example cracks, of the integrated circuit (IC) die due to for example physical stress or heat. Especially when being used in a safety critical system such as for example a car safety system, this may result in a dangerous situation for a user of the system. Therefore, physical damage of the die must be handled properly.
A measurement for performance of a safety function or a target level of risk reduction is given by the Safety Integrity Level (SIL) which is defined for example by the International Electrotechnical Commission's (IEC) standard IEC 61508 as a relative level of risk-reduction provided by a safety function.
Further, steps of semiconductor integrated circuit fabrication such as the step of wafer dicing may involve applying physical stress to the die which may result in physical damage especially of border areas, i.e. wafer dicing may damage the die areas close to their edges. Later on, the die may get damaged for example during assembly in a system, for example when being placed on a printed circuit board.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,723,875, a chip damage detection circuit for semiconductor IC is shown wherein the chip contains a chip check circuit for applying a scan testing technique. An actively driven detector line extends through several observed circuits. A signal is applied to the line and a possible damage is derived from monitoring variation of the output signal over time.
In US 2008/0184083 A1, another dynamic circuit and method for physical defect detection of an integrated circuit is shown. Here, a test line on the integrated circuit chip is connected to a power supply and to a complex continuity sense circuit for deriving damage from observed continuous current through the test line and detection of differences.
In KR10-2007-0089500, a circuit for detecting a defect of a repair fuse in a semiconductor device is shown. A first sense circuit is wired to an address fuse for sensing current flow through the fuse by observing a potential change at the fuse, a second sense circuit is wired to a repair fuse. Comparison of both sensed signals is used for determining operability of the fuses.
In JP09-129830, a semiconductor integrated circuit having damage detection means is shown. Here, a well potential monitoring circuit is integrated with the circuit to be observed. The monitoring circuit outputs an anomaly detection signal when a potential of a portion of a well in the substrate located within the observed integrated circuit is detected to be out of a predetermined range.

Chip damage detection device for a semiconductor integrated circuit


A system and method for non-invasively monitoring the hemodynamic state of a patient by determining on a beat-by-beat basis the ratio of lusitropic function to inotropic function as an index of myocardial well-being or pathology for use by clinicians in the hospital or by the patient at home. In one embodiment of the system a smartphone running an application program that is connected through the internet to the cloud processes electronic signals, first, from an electrocardiogram device monitoring electrical cardiac activity, and second, from a seismocardiogram device monitoring mechanical cardiac activity in order to determine such ratio as an instantaneous measurement of the hemodynamic state of the patient, including such states as sepsis, myocardial ischemia, and heart failure.

1. The problem to be solved: Lusitropic function is the ability of the left ventricle to relax during diastolic filling, following maximal left ventricular tension, and ejection of the stroke volume with each heartbeat during systole. Inotropic function is the ability of the myocardium to develop tension and pressure in the left ventricle during systole. Quantifying lusitropic function, and lusitropic function in relation to inotropic function, is the key to quantifying acute conditions, such as myocardial ischemia, myocardial infarction, and sepsis. At present, there is no non-invasive way to quantify lusitropic function during the relaxation and filling phase of the cardiac cycle. Nor is there such a way to quantify lusitropic function in relation to inotropic function on a beat-by-beat basis.
At present, the state-of-the-art in the measurement of myocardial ischemia consists in the measurement of ST segment elevations or depressions on an EKG. Modern technology has permitted the use of computer learning devices that can measure the baseline ST segment position, and report to the operator any upward or downward deviation in the ST segment (in mm) that may evolve during surgery, or during an ICU stay. This technology misses a large fraction of the episodes of ischemia that may occur in parts of the heart whose electrical vectors are not well aligned with the electrical axes represented by the EKG leads that are being monitored, typically Lead II and Lead V.
Also, modern trials of new medications for the treatment of sepsis have suffered from the lack of a clear clinical decision point early in the natural history of sepsis that defines precisely when to use a drug, and on precisely whom to use it.
Inotropic function can be measured invasively as the maximal value of the first derivative of left ventricle ("LV") pressure during systolic contraction. Conversely, lusitropic function can be quantified as the absolute value of the most negative dip in the first derivative of LV pressure during diastolic relaxation. In the ASA Abstract published by the inventor, Torjman, and Goldfarb, in 2011 (the "Abstract"), a pig model of sepsis showed a clear and sudden reversal in the ratio of lusitropy to inotropy on a beat-to-beat basis, from greater than 1 to less than 1 exactly 14 minutes after the experimental placement of a clot of specially chosen E. coli bacteria in the peritoneum of the pig. This is likely due to the signal effects of the interleukin storm that precedes frank sepsis, upon the contractile nano-machinery of the myocardium. The brevity of that 14-minute interval is constitutes an important step forward in monitoring heart problems. By contrast, conventional metrics of cardiodynamic function such as blood pressure, stroke volume, or cardiac output take hours before they show signs of deterioration during experimental sepsis. So, the data shows that this ratio of lusitropic to inotropic function can serve as an early warning sign of cardiac decompensation in sepsis. But in the experiment, this required the invasive placement of a solid-state pressure transducer at the end of a catheter directly into the left ventricle. If it were possible to detect this inversion of the ratio of lusitropy to inotropy cheaply, routinely, and non-invasively, then clinicians would be empowered to treat each patient with sepsis with appropriate medication, however expensive it may be, with high reliability, sensitivity, and with few false positives and false negatives. In other words, the "number needed to treat" ("NNT"), would be low. This new capability would remove a great deal of the "noise" in clinical trials of new medications for the treatment or palliation of sepsis. That, in turn, would allow any clinical trials of new medications to be conducted conclusively, on small numbers of patients, in significantly less time, and at much lower cost than is possible at present. This should be of great interest to the pharmaceutical industry.
Moreover, at the present time, there is no inexpensive, convenient, continuous way to monitor, or precisely quantify the natural history of congestive heart failure, understood as inotropic failure, or heart failure without preservation of ejection fraction. Similarly, there is no such way to monitor or quantify the natural history of diastolic heart failure, understood as lusitropic heart failure, or heart failure with preservation of ejection fraction ("HFpEF"). The latter category accounts for about 50% of all cases of heart failure. Such a capability would be useful as new and better drugs and treatments emerge over time. This advancement would also be useful for hospice and palliative care, as a way of sharpening prognosis in these usually fatal conditions and would be of interest to the life insurance industry as a low cost method of risk assessment.
2. A Description of the Prior Art: In addition to the Abstract, the inventions relating to non-invasive methods of monitoring cardiac parameters that are disclosed in the following patents to Hirsh, the inventor of the instant invention, relate to the field of the instant invention: U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,761,141, 7,054,679, 7,657,306, and 8,843,194 (the "'194 patent"). Certain hardware technology relevant to the system of the present invention is described in the New York Times Article of Oct. 9, 2014 by Nick Bilton titled "Wearable Technology, Warts and All," as well as in the Anh Dinh article from the 2011 Conference on Biomedical Engineering and Technology titled "Heart Activity Monitoring on Smartphone."

Non-invasive system and method for monitoring lusitropic myocardial function in relation to inotropic myocardial function


An articulated clamp connector is for interconnecting pipes, cables, etc. preferably underwater, where interconnecting ends of pipes are provided with connecting flanges with outer conical surfaces which interact with opposite surfaces of the clamp. When joining the pipes, the connecting flanges are pressed against each other and provide a metal seal between the flanges. The clamp connector has a set of outer articulated clamp halves for placing around the joining flanges, and a first tightening bolt for closing the outer clamp halves around the joining flange. Further, the clamp coupling has a split activating ring slideably arranged inside the outer clamp halves, a second tightening bolt arranged for tangential movement of the split activating ring, a number of spring elements arranged between the split activating ring and locking segments. These spring elements are placed in grooves, respectively, in the inner part of the split activating ring and the outer part of the locking segments. Tangential movement of the split activating ring when tightening the second tightening bolt, thus produces radial movement of the locking segments and the inner coned surfaces of the locking segments press the joining flanges together. Thus, an even distribution of pretension around the joining flanges is achieved, which initiates and maintains pretension in a metal sealing connection.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention concerns an articulated clamp connector for interconnecting pipes, cables, etc. where metal seals are used in the connecting surfaces. The clamp connector is preferably intended for subsea applications where there are high requirements on reliability and integrity.
2. Description of the Related Art
Interconnecting pipes, etc. in a subsea (underwater) environment place severe demands on the connection arrangement, both with regard to the operation of the connection arrangement during interconnection and disconnection, and also the function of the connector system, i.e. reliability and tightness in the connector, during use and in connection with, for example, deep sea activities and the transport of oil and gas under high pressure.
A need with such connectors is, therefore, to meet both the requirement of simple operation, that is, the mounting/dismounting of the connector, while at the same time meeting the reliability requirement for the connector during use.
There are innumerable variants of mechanical connectors within this field. These connectors can be divided into two groups. Group 1 consists of segment/collet type connectors and group 2 consists of clamp type connectors. Both connector groups have the common goal of seeking to achieve an axial pretension between the connector flanges where segments or clamps respectively generate this force. This is achieved through a wedge effect between one or more conical outer surfaces (flange profile) arranged on parts that are to be connected and opposite surfaces in the connector segment or clamps, where the latter is sought to be displaced by a radial force produced by the mechanics in the connector. Both these groups have the following properties.
Group 1 is characterized by the segment being run mechanically, either by an outer cam ring that causes rotation of a set of collet fingers, or directly driven locking segments, both based on radial running of the mentioned segments. There is significant interaction between a connector house of one of the flanges and the other connection flange, making it necessary to perform an axial joining movement between the flanges before the connection itself can be performed. This movement must be provided by use of mechanical flexibility in the pipe system, or alternatively, in some other way. The main advantage of this group of connectors is an even distribution of the pretension force. The main disadvantage is a deep interaction (engagement), with corresponding limited possibility for replacing metal gaskets on site, for example, by use of a remotely operated vehicle (ROV), as well as a correspondingly costly embodiment of the connector house.
Group 2 is characterized by the clamps, in 180xc2x0 design (in two parts) or 60xc2x0 design (in three parts) hinged/bolted, being operated with a screw-based mechanism where only parts of the clamp move radially towards the flange center. The main advantage with this solution is that a hinged variant entails reduced requirements of the connecting movement, as well as that an emergency opening can be performed with cutting only a single bolt. The main disadvantage is that the loss of friction in the arrangement between the flanges and the clamps disrupts the distribution of axial tension. This results in the clamp connector having to be over-dimensioned to compensate for low mechanical efficiency. The function required from the clamp is complex and must be made subject to a compromise. Thus, it is typically a contradictory requirement that must be met with regard to the clamp""s structural stiffness, xe2x80x9cstiff enoughxe2x80x9d to carry tangential forces, xe2x80x9csoft enoughxe2x80x9d at reduced bending resistance, to offer resiliency when tightening involves placing the clamps in a smaller circle segment. This may be solved by making several linked clamp elements, according to the xe2x80x9cbicycle chain principlexe2x80x9d.
The articulated clamp connector according to the present invention seeks to combine the advantages with the seals according to above mentioned groups 1 and 2 connectors.
The aim of the present invention is, therefore, to achieve a connector that simply can be mounted around a joint where, for example, two pipes that are to be connected only to a minimal degree, need be moved apart to apply the connector. Furthermore, the connector shall be easy to operate. That is, it shall be able to be easily locked around the connection and in the same manner, securely and easily opened, for example, in an emergency situation. The connection must be reliable and leak free, as an even distribution of pretension must be achieved between the connection""s metal meeting surfaces.
A very important aim for the clamp connector according to the present invention is to produce mechanical tension between two flanges so that a metallic sealing ring creates a tight connection between the flanges, especially for this purpose. The operation is reversible and may be performed manually or with the use of automated tool systems, the latter in connection with underwater (subsea) operations without the use of divers.
More specifically, the aim of this invention is a clamp connector consisting of a mechanical arrangement containing a split or whole tangential working ring for activating radial pawl, the purpose of which is to achieve even distribution of pretension around a flange pair, which is necessary to initiate and maintain pretension in a metal seal connection.
The above mentioned goals are achieved according to the invention by an articulated clamp connector for connecting pipes, cables, etc., preferably subsea, where the interconnecting ends of the pipes are constructed with joining flanges with outer conical surfaces which interact with opposite surfaces of the clamp, whereby the connecting flanges are pressed against each other during the connection, bringing about a metal seal between the flanges, in that the clamp connector constitutes a set of outer articulated clamp halves placed around the connecting flanges, and a first tightening bolt for closing of the outer clamp halves around the connecting flanges. The clamp connector further comprising a split activating ring slideably arranged within the outer clamp halves, a second tightening bolt arranged for tangential movement of the split activating ring, a number of spring elements arranged between the split activating ring and locking segments placed in grooves, respectively, in the inner part of the split activating ring and the outer part of the locking segments, whereby tangential movement of the split activating ring by use of the second tightening bolt brings about radial movement of the locking segments and the locking segments inside conical surfaces force the connecting flanges together, thus achieving an even distribution of pretension around the connecting flanges to initiate and maintain pretension in the metal seal connection.


A bumper with an attachment member to be made thereon for the purpose of mounting the bumper onto longitudinal beams of a vehicle, is such that section walls acting as compressive and tensile struts and a pair of flanking walls joining them form a hollow section. The attachment member is in the form of a hollow section exhibiting at least one side wall and two transverse walls following on therefrom with a length of hollow section with the longitudinal beam. The hollow section is in the form of a push-fit length matching the inner cross-section of the longitudinal beam. The other end region of the attachment member is provided with collar-type parts projecting from their end edges and aligned approximately parallel to the transverse walls. In a use position, the collar-type parts of the attachment member are aligned with the flanking walls of the bumper and are releasably attached to it. The bumper is bolted to the collar-type parts of the attachment member.

The invention relates to a bumper with attachment means to be made thereon for the purpose of mounting the bumper onto longitudinal beams of a vehicle, whereby the bumper is such that profiled section walls along with a pair of flanking walls form a hollow section, the section walls of the bumper being spaced apart forming compressive and tensile struts. The attachment means is in the form of a hollow section exhibiting at least one side wall and two transverse walls following on therefrom with a length of hollow support section for attachment to the longitudinal beam. Thereby, the hollow section of the bumper may, if desired at least in the region of the attachment means, be designed such that it is curved i.e. with respect to a transverse plane of the longitudinal axis of the vehicle.
A bumper with plate-shaped attachments running transverse to the longitudinal axis of its longitudinal beam is described in EP 0 718 158 B1, pointing out that apart from the cross-sectional shape of the bumper also the design of the connection to the longitudinal beams of the vehicle influences the stability of shape and the capacity to absorb energy of deformation due to impact.
A variety of attachment means is known for mounting the bumper onto the vehicle—for example from U.S. Pat. No. 5,080,410 or U.S. Pat. No. 4,563,028—these are, however, hardly able to contribute towards improving the shape-stability of a bumper.
EP 0 894 675 A1 described a bumper arrangement in which the mounting elements of the bumper broaden conically outwards causing their outer walls to lie intimately against the bumper or to converge with it.
Proposed in DE 298 23 973 U1 are particularly light bumpers which are reinforced with an additional section in load-bearing areas subjected to high loads. Thereby, the reinforcing section may also be a part of a facility for mounting the bumper. In that case the side-walls of the mouting facility expand conically outwards and come into position with the parts of the bumper section.


A method for determining surface area of a created hydraulic fracture that originated from a wellbore. Pressure in the wellbore is monitored after creation and extension of the created hydraulic fracture. Injection rate of an injection fluid to the created hydraulic fracture is regulated. This is done to maintain a constant pressure for a continuous period of time. The injection rate is regulated such that the created hydraulic fracture maintains its current dimensions and the injection rate of the injection fluid into the created hydraulic fracture equals the total fluid leak-off rate from the created hydraulic fracture. The constant fracture pressure is larger than a formation pore pressure and smaller than a fracture propagation pressure. Finally, a numerical simulation is performed to obtain the relationship between the total fluid leak-off rate and the surface area of the created hydraulic fracture.

Production of hydrocarbons from a subterranean formation may be affected by many factors including pressure, porosity, permeability, reservoir thickness and extent, water saturation, capillary pressure, etc. Generally, to increase production from a wellbore and/or to facilitate the flow of hydrocarbons from a subterranean formation, stimulation treatment operations, such as hydraulic fracturing, may be performed. Hydraulic fracturing is a standard practice in enhancing the production of hydrocarbon products from low permeability rocks, such as shale oil/gas formations. In almost all horizontal wells and some vertical wells, the wellbore is divided into several sections, and hydraulic fracturing is executed in each section sequentially. A hydraulic fracturing stage is a section of the wellbore that is being hydraulic fractured and each hydraulic fracturing stage is isolated from previous hydraulic fractured stages by an isolating device. Today, horizontal wells in the U.S. commonly have 20-40 hydraulic fracturing stages.
During hydraulic fracturing treatment, pressurized fluids are injected into a wellbore to overcome the breaking strength of rock. Consequently, one or more hydraulic fractures are initiated that subsequently propagate away from the wellbore into the reservoir until fluids injection stops. Eventually, the created hydraulic fractures serve as conductive pathways through which hydrocarbon products migrate en-route to the wellbore and are brought up to the surface. In general, as the hydraulic fracture surface area becomes larger, the reservoir contact area between the wellbore-fracture system and hydrocarbon-bearing formation also gets larger, and it leads to more production.
Knowing how much hydraulic fracture surface area has been created is critical in assessing stimulation efficiency, quantifying geological uncertainties and calibrating hydraulic fracturing models. Injectivity tests that are typically performed in geothermal and injection wells, using a constant injection rate or a series of discrete constant injection rate intervals, can be used to estimate the overall formation transmissibility and wellbore skin factor, but the stimulated fracture surface area cannot be quantified. Injection flow-back techniques combined with chemical tracer can infer hydraulic fracture surface area, but only limited to the near well-bore region. Micro-seismic data gathered during hydraulic fracturing can be used to detect shear failures, but it only provides the upper bound of how far hydraulic fractures can propagate. Hydraulic fracture induced poroelastic pressure response in offset wells can be used to constrain fracture dimensions, but such quantitative analysis is often non-unique and not well-bounded, and requires assumptions of planar fracture geometry and knowledge of closure stress, rock mechanical properties and fracture size in the offset wells.
Currently, production data are commonly used to estimate hydraulic fracture surface area via rate transient analysis (RTA). However, RTA has several drawbacks, such as: (i) it relies heavily on the identification and analysis of the linear flow regime, however, the linear flow regime may not emerge in some heterogeneous reservoirs where power-law behaviors dominate; (ii) its accuracy is compromised if the reservoir exhibits highly pressure-dependent in-situ properties (e.g., pressure-dependent viscosity, compressibility or permeability) or non-Darcy flow (e.g., gas slippage in nanopores) as production pressure declines over time; (iii) multiphase flow and phase change behavior in the reservoir and wellbore during production makes it difficult to analyze the production data; and (iv) it only estimates the total hydraulic fracture surface area originated along the entire wellbore and cannot distinguish fracture surface area from each hydraulic fracturing stage in a multistage fractured horizontal well (MFHW), because continuous production rate and pressure data within each individual hydraulic fracturing stage are often not available during production.
Based on the above, better means for estimating hydraulic fracture surface area are desired, especially systems and methods that are not only compatible with current field practices and procedures, but also can estimate hydraulic fracture surface area for each individual hydraulic fracturing stage of a MFHW.

Systems and methods for estimating hydraulic fracture surface area


A system and method for searching multimedia databases using a pictorial language, input via an iconic interface and making use of trained ontologies, i.e., trained data models. An iconic graphic user interface (GUI) allows a user to specify a pictorial query that may include one or more one or more key-images and optional text input. Similarities between the query key-images and images in a multimedia database based on a pictorial edit distance are used to select the images that are the closest match to the query. The result images are returned to the user in order of their relevance to the query.

A conventional Internet search engine is a document or file retrieval system designed to help find information stored in one or more databases that are typically part of one or more websites comprising the world-wide network commonly known as the Internet.
Search engines, such as, for example, the Google™ engine provide by Google, Inc. of Mountain View, Calif. ("Google™") and the Yahoo!™ engine provided by Yahoo! of Sunnyvale, Calif. ("Yahoo!™") are used by millions of people each day to search for information on the Internet. Such search engines enable a user to query databases, web sites, web pages and other data sources comprising the Internet using one or more keywords that may be combined into a search string using Boolean logic. The search engine returns a list of documents, files and web pages having content that allegedly meets the user's request, i.e., the documents, files, web pages and other data contain the keywords in the combination specified by the search string (among other factors relied upon by the text-based search engine conducting the search). The documents, files and web pages are usually listed in order of the relevance of the results, as determined by some metric of relevance such as, but not limited to, Google™'s well-known "Page" ranking method. The unique resource locator (URL) of each document is also typically displayed. Advertising, or links to advertisers' sites, having content that may be based on the keywords in the search string is also often displayed along side the search results. This form of advertising has become widely used and is a source of enormous revenue for the search engine companies.
As more users gain access to the Internet via high-bandwidth connections, websites that are rich in image content, including video and photographs, are becoming more common and more important. This trend may be seen in the rapid rise in popularity of, for instance, Google™'s YouTube™ website and Yahoo!™'s Flickr™ website. The YouTube™ website features short video clips that are typically homemade and uploaded by registered members of the website. Flickr™ is a website for storing and sharing photographs.
A problem with websites that have image rich content, such as YouTube™ and Flickr™, is that conventional search engines are text based and, therefore, do not and are not able to search actual image content. Both YouTube™ and Flickr™ attempt to solve this problem by having users add text tags and/or text annotations to the images and video, which is not objective search content, but subjective interpretation of the content. The conventional search engines may then do conventional searching on the text that is associated with the image—whether or not the text is appropriate and applicable to the image or video content.
One short coming of the keyword tag approach to searching image databases is that it requires human intervention, i.e., it is based on subjective interpretation of the content of the image or video and not on the actual objective content of the file itself. A second short coming of this search method is that it does not allow searching for an image, i.e., looking for an image that matches, or is similar to, an example image.
The potential importance of being able to search for an image may be illustrated by considering the following scenario: A YouTube™ user sees a clip of a celebrity on a TV show and likes the handbag the celebrity is carrying. The YouTube™ user would like to buy the same model of handbag, and has even downloaded an image of the handbag, but doesn't know where to begin looking. A search on the Internet, for instance, using the key words "Kelly Ripa" and "handbag" turns up hundreds of sites, dozens of which are handbag manufacturers' sites that claim Kelly has been seen wearing their handbags. The problem is that the sites each have dozens of handbags and there is no indication of which site may have the closest match or, better still, which page on which site may have the closest match. And, all of the information presented by the search engine to the YouTube™ user is based on subjective interpretation—what other people believe (or worse yet, what other people want others to believe) is the information that satisfies the crude text search of "Kelly Ripa" and "handbag." Moreover, the YouTube™ user must now manually sort and cull through scores of "hits," usually in the form of URLs or links to websites, all of which collectively contain hundreds of images of handbags on dozens of pages, all in order to hopefully find a match.
What would be more useful to such a user is a system that allows the user to somehow enter into the search engine the actual downloaded image of the handbag (or image obtained from some other source), have the search engine search for matches of that image and automatically deliver "hits"—matching or similar images with links to the Internet source of the images, preferably with a reliable ranking system that indicates how similar each of the images contained in the "hits" is to the example image, with such ranking system being based on the actual objective content of the images and not on subjective interpretation of each such image.
There are a few image search systems which attempt to provide the ability to search for matches to example images using attributes from the images themselves. These methods are called Content Based Image Retrieval (CBIR) methods and have been described in detail in, for instance, U.S. Pat. No. 5,751,286 to Barber, et al., issued on May 12, 1998, entitled "Image query system and method," the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference. The attributes that have been used in such systems include, but are not limited to, color layout, dominant color, homogeneous texture, edge histogram, shape region, and shape contour. Most CBIR systems allow the user to input qualitative values for parameters such as color, texture and low level shape descriptors. A drawback of such existing systems is that these attributes are frequently not known by users. A further drawback is that ranking images in order of the most likely match in such systems is heavily dependent on the weight given to different attributes, making consistent results difficult to attain. And, again, such a system requires subjective human interpretation.
An image search system that does not rely on user supplied text tags and can consistently find good matches from easily entered data may be of great importance in fields from Internet shopping, to browsing photo and video content, to searching surveillance tapes. Such a system's use would be greatly facilitated by a method of entering search queries that is visual and intuitive.

System and method for searching a multimedia database using a pictorial language


The exhaust cleaner for internal combustion engine is equipped with NOx storage reduction catalyst (161, 162) which is disposed in exhaust passage of an internal combustion engine and which absorb and reduce the NOx contained in exhaust gas. The NOx storage reduction catalyst (161, 162) each include a coating layer that has been formed on the inner wall of cells through which the exhaust passage, the coating layer having the catalytic function. The coating layers have been formed so that the thickness of the coating layer of the NOx storage reduction catalyst (161) located upstream in the flow of the exhaust gas is smaller than the thickness of the coating layer of the NOx storage reduction catalyst (162) located downstream. Due to this configuration, the NOx storage reduction catalyst (161, 162) are inhibit from being poisoned by sulfur and high NOx removal percentage is maintained.

For example, Patent Literature 1 discloses a catalyst device for reducing and removing NOx. The catalyst device of Patent Literature 1 reduces and removes NOx with HC in a fuel as a reducer. The catalyst device has two catalysts with different cell sizes in an inside thereof. The two catalysts are disposed in series side by side so that the catalyst with a larger cell size is located at an upstream side.
Further, there has been conventionally known an exhaust cleaning system in which a three-way catalyst (TWC), an NOx storage reduction catalyst (NSR catalyst) and an NOx selective catalytic reduction catalyst (SCR catalyst) are disposed in this order from the upstream side of the exhaust passage of an internal combustion engine. Bank control or rich spike is executed, whereby ammonia (NH3) is generated in the three-way catalyst and the NSR catalyst, and the generated ammonia (NH3) is supplied to the SCR catalyst. In the SCR catalyst, the supplied ammonia (NH3) is used, and the NOx that flows therein is selectively reduced. The system like this aims to enhance the removal performance for NOx by further removing the NOx that remains without being removed by the three-way catalyst and the NSR catalyst, in the SCR catalyst.

Exhaust cleaner for internal combustion engine


The present disclosure proposes a method for device to device (D2D) communication. The method includes the step of receiving from the first device a first callee identification (ID) as the first device is handed over to the control node, searching for the second device having a second callee ID in response to receiving from the first device the first callee ID, determining that the second device has been found includes when the first callee ID is identical to the second callee ID, and arranging for the D2D communication between the first device and the second device in response to the second device is found when a first condition is fulfilled, wherein the first condition is fulfilled at least includes the second device has been found when the first callee ID is identical to the second callee ID.

Wireless technologies have brought about conveniences and benefits to many people's daily lives as devices such as cell phones, notebooks, and tablet PCs, have enabled users to communicate with each other from just about any location and to make resources on the internet more easily accessible. Among various wireless technologies, Device-to-Device (D2D) communication has drawn more and more attention since D2D communication, unlike the traditional cellular communication system, does not require information exchanges to always pass through a base station and a core network upon transmission as users communicating in a D2D mode could make direct link establishment and transmission between devices.
While a conventional cellular communication requires resources allocated for both uplink (UL) and downlink (DL), D2D communication could only require resources allocated for a direct link. Also for a convention cellular system, resources are dedicated to a device within the coverage of a cell for a particular point in time; whereas for D2D communication, resources could be allocated to different pairs of devices at a particular point in time as long as each pair of devices would cause no interferences between other pairs of devices engaging in D2D communication.
Since a conventional cellular communication system requires a base station to deliver UL and DL data from one device to another while D2D communication has one direct link, D2D communication would result in less data transmission overall. In a conventional cellular communication system, there would be uplink and downlink radio links transmission delay as well as the transmission delay in the core network and even other networks. However, in D2D communication, only one radio link transmission delay would exist normally.
Because of the improved resource utilization and the reduced transmission delay in D2D communication as previous mentioned, both network providers and consumers would benefit from D2D communication. Efficient resource utilization in D2D communication could translate to more users served by the network providers, and the benefit of having less round trip delay could include uninterrupted conversations and more pleasant feelings during a conversation.
Methods of D2D connection establishment could be roughly divided into two categories. One category would be to establish D2D connections by devices themselves, and the other category is to establish D2D connections with the assistance of a network. For the former category, one device may send a signal to detect neighboring devices, and then a nearby device may receive the detection signal. After device synchronizations and coordination are finished, devices may communicate with each other directly, and thus D2D communication is established by devices themselves. As for the latter category, devices would synchronize with each other with the help of the network, or otherwise the devices could also synchronize with each other by using default parameters or by negotiating parameters agreeable to both devices through the network. Once the network assisted synchronization and coordination is finished, a direct communication between devices could be performed under the guidance of the network.
Unlike a conventional cellular communication system in which devices could communicate regardless of the distances between them, D2D communication would less likely allow communications over long distances. For this reason, the aforementioned D2D connection establishment method may require a device to possess a foreknowledge of the presence of other devices nearby as well as explicit indications as to whether these devices have activated their D2D communication capabilities. Otherwise, a blind initiation to attempt D2D communications would not only consume the battery power of the device itself but also waste radio resources of the network. Therefore, when one wants to communicate with another user without knowing the proximity of such user, the person usually would make a normal call through the conventional cellular communication means. However, in many situations, people could practically be right by each other but at the same time not being aware of such fact and thus may dial another user in proximity through the conventional cellular communication means without taking D2D communication.
A method has to be proposed for a device to automatically perform D2D communication if such capability exists and is activated in the device without making mandatory the foreknowledge of the proximities of other devices or the explicit indications for whether other devices and would be capable and willing to participate in D2D communications.

Method for device to device communication and control node using the same

Industrial Technology Research Institute


The present invention relates to eseroline, N.sup.1 -noreseroline, and N.sup.1 -benzylnoreseroline phenyl carbamate analogues which provide highly potent and selective cholinergic agonist and blocking activity and their use as pharmaceutical agents. The invention further relates to improvements in therapeutic methods related to diseases such as glaucoma, myasthenia gravis, alzheimer's disease and to improvements in therapy related to organophosphate poisoning. The invention further provides for selective acetyl-cholinesterase and butyrylcholinesterase agents and a method for inhibiting these esterases.

Physostigmine, also called eserine, and particular derivatives of physostigmine are anti-cholinesterase inhibitors which are well known. Such well known compounds are also useful in the treatment of glaucoma, Myasthenia Gravis, Alzheimer's disease and as antidotes against poisoning with organophosphates.
It has been discovered that the natural isomer of physostigmine has blocking properties as well as agonist properties at the neuromuscular AChR. By contrast (+)-physostigmine shows only negligible inhibition of cholinesterase (ChE). See Brossi et al., FEBS Lett., Vol. 201, pages 190-192 (1986).
Even though (+)-physostigmine has only negligible ChE inhibitory activity, it is as effective as a protective pretreatment drug against multiple lethal doses of sarin, see Albuquerque et al, Fundam. Appl. Caltoxicol., Vol. 5, pages 182-203 (1985). The observed beneficial protection appears to be due to direct interactions of the carbamates with the postsynaptic nicotinic AChR. The protective effectiveness of the carbamates against organo-phosphates appears to be related to the direct ability of the carbamates to decrease the hyperactivation caused by accumulation of the neurotransmitter.
The above information, available due to the research in this field, is important in the evaluation of potential new pharmacological agents for treating cholinergic disorders, for example, Myasthenia Gravis and Alzheimer's disease. Potential agents can be evaluated for potency in vitro by testing the agents against electric eel acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and human plasma butyrylcholinesterase (BChE).
Of the two enzymes known to hydrolyze acetyl-choline (ACh) in vivo, AChE, which is found in red blood cells, in the brain and in nerve tissues, seems to be more specific than BChE which is found in serum, pancreas and in the liver. It, however, has not previously been shown in the art that compounds which selectively inhibit one of the two enzymes more than the other would offer a medical advantage. The natural alkaloid (-)-physostigmine, its potential metabolite (-)-(N1)-norphysostigmine, and the natural alkaloid physovenine which are used as biological standards in this art area, inhibit AChE and BChE in vitro similarly at similar concentrations.
Accordingly, there is need in the art for highly selective agents active against one of AChE and BChE while not being potent against the other so as to lead to better treatment of a particular cholinergic disorder and minimize negative side effects. Such compounds would be of great medical importance in the treatment of cholinergic disorders.

Phenylcarbamates of (-)-eseroline, (-)-N1-noreseroline and (-)-N1-benzylnoreseroline: selective inhibitors of acetyl and butyrylcholinesterase, pharmaceutical compositions and method of use thereof

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


A keyswitch assembly is provided with a scissors-type lever positioned over a rubber spring having the shape resembling an asymmetrical inverted cup. The thickness of a portion of the side wall of the rubber spring on one side is greater than the thickness of a side wall on the opposed side of the rubber spring. Also, the top surface of the rubber spring is inclined so that the height of a portion of the outer surface of the upper wall of the rubber spring nearer to one side of the lever is smaller than that of the height of the spring nearer to the other side of the lever.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a keyswitch assembly for use on a keyboard to be used as the input device of a word processor or a personal computer.
2. Description of Related Art
A prior art keyswitch assembly, such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,580,022 and 4,560,845, for use on a keyboard has a key provided with a stem, a base plate provided with a guide member having a hole receiving the stem of the key to guide the key for vertical movement, a rubber spring provided with a contact on the inner surface of the upper wall thereof and disposed below the stem, and a switching device, such as a membrane switch consisting of electric contacts formed on a flexible sheet.
In a keyswitch assembly disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,580,022, a key of a relatively large size as compared with corresponding electrical contacts, such as a space key, is supported on a key support mechanism formed by pivotally joining a pair of support levers in the middle portions thereof in a scissors-like form. The key is placed on a base plate to enable the key to move downward in a level position without being tilted when depressed.
Recent progressive reduction in the thickness of keyboards requires reduction in the thickness of the key. However, on the other hand, the stroke of the key must be sufficiently large to facilitate keystroke operation and to ensure reliable keystroke.
However, if the thickness of the keyboard provided with the foregoing prior art keyswitch assembly having the key provided with the stem projecting from the lower surface thereof and the guide member having the hole receiving the stem of the key to guide the key for vertical movement is desired to be reduced, the length of a sliding portion of the stem in sliding engagement with the guide member must be reduced. If the length of the sliding portion of the stem is reduced, the key is liable to tilt relative to the guide member and, consequently, the stem is liable to slide awkwardly in the guide member when the key is depressed. Therefore, the key is unable to be operated smoothly and lightly. If the length of the sliding portion of the stem in engagement with the guide member is increased to ensure smooth movement of the key, the stroke of the key is reduced. Thus, the effort of reducing the thickness of the keyboard and the effort of securing a sufficiently large key stoke are contradictory.
Further, in order to ensure accurate operation by the operator, satisfactory tactile sensation upon depression of the keys is necessary. In prior art switching members which utilize flexible membrane switches, the shape of the switching device is designed on the assumption that the switch is depressed linearly, and upon depression, the switching device is designed to buckle. Such devices are formed of membranes having a uniform thickness. However, a membrane of uniform thickness will not provide satisfactory tactile feedback since there is not a sufficiently sharp change in the resistance of the key against depression at the moment the electrical contact is closed. Further, if the key is not pressed perfectly linearly downward, the pressure will be inefficiently transferred to the switching device and the switching device will buckle indefinitely.

Assembly with an asymmetrical resilient spring