Provided is a cylinder head including a head casting defining a plurality of exhaust ports. A tuned exhaust manifold is internally defined by the head casting. The tuned exhaust manifold includes a plurality of exhaust runners in communication with the plurality of exhaust ports and a collector volume in communication with the plurality of exhaust runners. Each of the plurality of exhaust ports and each of the plurality of exhaust runners are substantially oriented or directed toward the collector volume. Additionally, the head casting defines a main cooling jacket operable to cool the head casting. The head casting also defines an upper and lower cooling jacket disposed in heat exchange relation to the tuned exhaust manifold. The cylinder head casting may include integral spark plug tubes and cam drive case. Additionally, the cooling jackets may have a series coolant flow pattern or a parallel coolant flow pattern.

An internal combustion engine converts the chemical energy of the combustion fuel into mechanical energy to produce driving force. The internal combustion engine typically includes one or a plurality of reciprocating pistons that operate to drive a crankshaft. The crankshaft converts the reciprocal motion of the pistons to rotational motion. The pistons are slidably disposed within cylinders defined by a cylinder block or case. A cylinder head is removably mounted to the cylinder case and cooperates with the pistons and their respective bores to form variable volume combustion chambers within which the combustion of fuel occurs.
The cylinder head typically contains spark plugs, inlet valves, exhaust valves, and may contain one or a plurality of camshafts. Much of the valvetrain may be mounted with respect to the cylinder head. Generally, the cylinder head is an aluminum or iron casting that defines a portion of the variable volume combustion chambers, intake ports, and exhaust ports. The intake ports operate to communicate air or an air-fuel mixture to the variable volume combustion chamber, while the exhaust ports operate to exhaust products of combustion from the variable volume combustion chamber. An exhaust manifold is typically removably mounted to the cylinder head using conventional fastening techniques, such as threaded fasteners. Additionally, a gasket may be provided between the cylinder head and the exhaust manifold for sealing purposes. The exhaust manifold is typically formed from stainless steel or cast iron and includes runner portions in communication with each of the exhaust ports of the cylinder head. Additionally, the exhaust manifold typically includes a collector volume, in fluid communication with each of the exhaust runner portions, which operates to communicate the products of combustion to the downstream components of the vehicle exhaust system, such as catalytic converters and mufflers. The cylinder head and cylinder case define a series of passages or cooling jackets that facilitate coolant flow. Coolant is circulated through the cooling jackets to cool the cylinders and the general area above the combustion chambers.
Recently, engine manufacturers have designed cylinder heads wherein the exhaust manifold, i.e. the exhaust runners and collector volume are internally defined by the cylinder head casting to form an integral exhaust manifold. These designs typically include exhaust ports and exhaust runners that are configured in a generally orthogonal relation to the collector volume forming a "log style" exhaust manifold.

Cylinder head with integral tuned exhaust manifold


Ferroelectric PbZr.sub.x T.sub.1-x O.sub.3 (PZT) thin films are deposited on Pt coated Si substrates by using RF magnetron sputtering. A method for obtaining desirable stoichiometric PZT, the desired ferroelectric perovskite phase, and better dielectric properties using a PZT target with Pb/(Zr+Ti) ratio of 1.2 and depositing at 350.degree. C., followed by thermal treatment at 620.degree. C. for 30 min is disclosed. The structural and electrical properties of the PZT layer were further improved by a method of fabricating a novel multi-layer structure which combined the PZT thin film with nanolayers of BaTiO.sub.3. The method and device of the present invention provided reduced leakage current density while maintaining high relative effective dielectric constants.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to thin film capacitors having high dielectric constants and more particularly to thin film dielectric articles comprising a thin film layer of ferroelectric material in combination with a thin film layer of an amorphously configured low leakage dielectric material.
2. Description of the Related Art
In forming dielectric articles such as semiconductor integrated circuit devices, it is desirable to utilize capacitive elements that have high capacitance in small dimensioned, planar structures to improve the electrical performance and particularly to improve the response of integrated memory circuits. A typical capacitor comprises a pair of electrode layers having dielectric material therebetween. Voltage is applied across the electrode layers and a charge is stored in the capacitor with the amount of charge being storable in the capacitor, e.g. the capacitance, being proportional to the opposing areas of the electrodes and the dielectric material.
Capacitance has also been found to be inversely proportional to the thickness of the dielectric material, thus thin film capacitors are generally seen as a preferable means to achieve high performance. Problems still exit however, in optimizing the performance of thin film capacitors, so there is a continuing need to improve electrical properties, such as attaining higher dielectric constants and lowering charge dissipation factors.
Further, it is often highly desirable in the fabrication of electrical devices such as capacitors to minimize leakage current while maximizing capacitance per unit area.
It has been found that leakage current can be controlled by utilizing Schottky barriers such as lead zirconium titanate (hereinafter PZT) in conjunction with Platinum (hereinafter Pt) electrodes. However, interdiffusion between the PZT layer and bottom electrodes of capacitors of this type has been a problem in that deterioration of the electrical properties of the capacitors and reduced crystallinity of the PZT films can result. A preferred embodiment of the present invention provides a structure combining PZT and one or more BaTiO.sub.3 (hereinafter BTO) layers. According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, one or more BaTiO.sub.3 layers may be employed to suppress the interdiffusion between Pt electrodes and the Pb element of the PZT layer. In addition, the combination of PZT and BTO according to a preferred method of the present invention has a synergistic effect and acts to increase the crystallinity of the PZT films. Thus, the present invention provides a capacitor having a high dielectric constant and lower leakage current than previously obtainable.
European Patent 46,868 discloses fabrication of capacitor structures using dielectrics having high dielectric constants and discusses some of the problems associated therewith, particularly the tendency of dielectric materials having a high dielectric constant to degrade rapidly at higher temperatures and their forming a capacitor structure that includes dual dielectric layers, comprising a first dielectric layer of silicon nitride or aluminum oxide and a second layer selected from a specific group of selected metal oxides and titanates. Such dual layered dielectric capacitors are said to have high capacitance (epsilon/t>0.04) and satisfactory Pb and dielectric loss.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,734,340 discloses an improved thin film capacitor wherein a particularly thin film dielectric layer, having high dielectric capacitance, is deposited by a sputtering technique and comprises a mixture of tantalum and titanium oxides.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,803,591 discloses an improved capacitor comprising layers of dielectric ceramic compositions of high dielectric constant. The ceramic compositions are characterized as comprising magnesium dioxide together with barium titanate, niobium pentoxide and zinc oxide. The capacitors formed from such ceramic compositions are said to have high dielectric constant with decreased temperature dependency over a wide temperature range.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,873,610 discloses a dielectric article having a laminate of plural thin film dielectric material layers, comprising a combination of dielectric material layers, that have different temperature characteristics of permittivity. The patent specifies that opposing laminates constitute different dielectric compositions for attaining adjacent layers having different temperature characteristics of permittivity. The reference does not disclose or infer that layers constituting the same dielectric material can have different temperature characteristics of permittivity.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,931,897 discloses a semiconductor element and method of manufacture wherein a lower electrode, having a polycrystalline silicon film thereon, is treated so that the silicon film comprises an amorphous silicon surface. A thin film of dielectric material is thereafter deposited on the amorphous silicon surface in such a manner that the amorphous surface does not recrystallize to a polycrystalline form. The stated objective of the patent is to produce an interface, between the polycrystalline silicon film serving as the lower electrode and the dielectric film, that is flat and uniform to prevent pinholes and electric field concentration. The reference does not disclose the formation of a dielectric film having an amorphous and a polycrystalline layer.
Thus, though the prior art is replete with proposed solutions for manufacture of optimized and dielectric articles, such solutions have not sufficiently met the ever increasing demand of the emerging industry for their various uses.

The Research Foundation of the State University of New York


Methods of delivering agents to target cells including methods of immunotherapy, are disclosed in which monospecific binding proteins are administered to a host and bind to target cells followed by administration of multivalent antibodies to direct the agents to the target cells.

Cytotoxic cells express specific receptors on their surfaces by which they distinguish altered or foreign cells from normal autologous cells. These receptors form multiple links to structures on target cell surfaces, leading to stable conjugates between cytotoxic and target cells. Each cytotoxic cell then delivers a "lethal hit" to its conjugate target cell and detaches from it, leaving a dying target cell and a cytotoxic cell which is free to locate and destroy another target. (Segal, D. M. et al., Cancer Invest. 6(1): 83-92 (1988); Segal, D. M. et al., Mol. Immunol. 25: 1099-1103 (1988)).
Recently, a method has been developed by which the natural recognition system of cytotoxic cells can be artificially manipulated, giving rise to cytotoxic cells of any desired specificity, including specificity against tumor cells (Segal, D. M., et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,676,980; Karpovsky, B., et al., J. Exp. Med., 160: 1686-1701 (1984); Perez, P., et al., Nature, 316: 354-356 (1985)). The method for retargeting cytotoxic cells employs crosslinked heterobispecific antibodies, in which one antibody is directed against the receptor on the cytotoxic cell which is involved in lysis, while the second antibody is directed against a target cell structure, for example, a tumor antigen. By linking the relevant receptor on the cytotoxic cell directly to the target cell, the crosslinked heterobispecific antibodies promote the formation of effector: target conjugates and signal the cytotoxic cell to deliver a lethal hit. Antibody heteroaggregates can be produced by chemical crosslinking, or by fusing two hybridoma cells. (Segal, D. M., et al., in: Biological Therapy of Cancer Updates Vol. 2, V. T. DeVita, S. Hellman, and S. A. Rosenberg, eds. J. B. Lippincott Co., Philadelphia pp. 1-12 (1992)).
In recent years a great deal of interest has been focused on redirecting cytotoxic cells to kill unwanted neoplastic or virally infected cells. A common way of doing this is to use a bispecific antibody with dual specificity for an antigen on the target cell and a triggering molecule on the effector cell (such as CD3 on T cells). Such bispecific antibodies are being used in a number of clinical trials to target T cells against tumor. (Segal, D. M. and Wunderlich, J. R., Cancer Investigation 6: 83-92 (1988)).
The concept of retargeted effector cells for treatment of pathological conditions, such as cancer, offers some advantages over conventional, non-targeted immunotherapy. However, immune selection of targeted cells over normal cells is still problematic. Increased selectivity may be accomplished by combining forms of therapy, such as radiation and/or chemotherapy in conjunction with immunotherapy. However, these supplemental therapies are often accompanied by serious side effects. Moreover, to reach the targeted cancer cells, these large crosslinked antibodies, must penetrate solid tumor tissue sufficiently to bind to the targeted tumor cell.
Additionally, host immune responses to xenoantibodies (i.e., antibodies produced in species other than the host undergoing treatment) have been observed in clinical trials. These responses could destroy the antitumor specificity of retargeted effector cells. Furthermore, clearance of unbound crosslinked antibodies of this size, as well as clearance of the antibodies following binding, is also a problem.
Finally, retargeted effector cells may lose their artificially acquired tumor receptors (the heterobispecific antibodies) by interaction with tumor cells, by effector cell division, by endocytosis, by proteolytic extracellular enzymes, or by natural shedding. Antitumor activity in the host can be maintained by repeated treatments with effector cells and targeting antibodies. However, it is expensive and time consuming to produce large quantities of heterobispecific antibodies with the specificity necessary to interact with the intended target such as cell surface tumor antigens. Thus, it would be advantageous to be able to produce large amounts of clinical grade bispecific antibodies, for use with many different tumor antigens or cell surface markers for repeated treatment.

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


Embodiments of an integrated platform for fabricating n-type metal oxide semiconductor (NMOS) devices are provided herein. In some embodiments, an integrated platform for fabricating n-type metal oxide semiconductor (NMOS) devices may include a first deposition chamber configured to deposit a first layer atop the substrate, the first layer comprising titanium oxide (TiO2) or selenium (Se); a second deposition chamber configured to deposit a second layer atop the first layer, the second layer comprising titanium; a third deposition chamber configured to deposit a third layer atop the second layer, the third layer comprising one of titanium nitride (TiN) or tungsten nitride (WN).

As the technology node for semiconductor devices continues to shrink, for example to 20 nm and below, various schemes are being investigated to replace the nickel platinum silicide scheme currently used at up to the 20 nm node. Many of the new schemes under investigation require the use of many separate fabrication tools for the realization of the contacting scheme. However, the inventors have observed that the use of separate process chambers each configured to perform one or more processes (e.g., layer deposition, etching, annealing, or the like) required for the fabrication of the completed device can lead to undesired exposure of the device to an uncontrolled environment outside of the process chambers. Such exposure may contaminate the device or cause unintended reactions with portions of the device (e.g., oxidation of layers), thereby adversely affecting the characteristics of the completed device.
Therefore, the inventors have provided an improved integrated platform for fabricating n-type metal oxide semiconductor (NMOS) devices.

Integrated platform for fabricating n-type metal oxide semiconductor (NMOS) devices


A method and system for debugging a computer upon a kernel hang and/or upon a software failure, the method comprising executing a debugger on a remote computer, connecting the hung or crashed computer to the remote computer with a communications link, and debugging the hung or crashed computer with the debugger without rebooting the system. The method may include deconfiguring any kernel driver of the computer attached to the communication card prior to connecting the remote debugger to the computer.

Existing servers running UNIX brand or comparable operating systems (such as HP-UX) generally must remain running for extended periods, in some cases for months. However, such a server may—after prolonged use—behave slowly or become unresponsive. For example, owing to prolonged and heavy use, the server may have become so loaded that it does not allow the spawning of even a single process. For example, even simple programs such as "ps" and "ls" may fail and give rise to the error message "fork: no more processes".
In such situations, system administrators at user sites employ performance monitoring tools and "Live" Kernel debugging tools. However, these tools essentially run as user processes and, in heavily loaded systems, even these processes require system resources so may not work. Also, kernel debuggers require the kernel to be booted with special flags, a further inconvenience.
Some operating systems include a system debugger that operates in the kernel space of their respective kernels and which can be entered upon entering a special key sequence from the system console. However, single system debuggers are often assembly level debuggers, so are limited to program debugging at the machine instruction level; they do not allow at program debugging at the source level. In addition, they cannot kill offending processes or free up any resources from the system. Significantly, they require the kernel always to be booted with special debug options, such that these debuggers remain effective throughout the lifetime of the system; as a result their use can significantly reduce the performance of the system at the lowest level, especially on interrupt and trap processing by the kernel, such effects arising from the memory requirements of running the debugger.
Alternatively, when a system hangs, the system administrator may induce a crash dump so that he or she can perform a post-crash (or 'post-mortem') analysis of the problem; this is time consuming for the system administrator and incurs considerable downtime for users, particularly those of large enterprise servers. Such downtime is unwelcome for critical applications, reducing as it does the availability of, for example, enterprise servers.
Similarly, following a 'kernel panic' (a software failure inside the kernel) in most implementations of UNIX, actual post-mortem analysis can begin only after a crashdump (which provides a snapshot of the physical memory state) has been written to the disk and subsequently saved to the file system. As mentioned above, this leads to considerable system downtime, which may not be acceptable to enterprise UNIX customers.
FIG. 1 is a schematic time-line 100 of the downtime in a crash dump based method of the background art. The system is booted up at time T=0. At T=t1 the system enters the hung state and the system administrator issues a forced crash. From T=t1 to T=t2 a file system buffer save is performed and the crash dump collection writes the dump to the dump device (i.e. the dump disk). At T=t2 the system is down and, from T=t2 to T=t3 firmware tests are performed by the system administrator. A system boot is performed at T=t3 and, from T=t3 to T=t4, the startup script (known in HP-UX as savecrash(1)) saves the dump to the file system. From T=t4 the system is again running normally.
The total downtime of the system is therefore ΔT=(t4−t1), the greater part of which is due to the time required for the crash dump collection to write the dump to the dump disk; the next greatest contribution to the downtime is due to the time required to copy the crash dump from the dump device to the file system. In most UNIX implementations, the crash dump readers cannot process the crash dump until the crash dump has actually been written onto the file system, because the dump in the dump disk device is not in a format that can be understood by the file system. This is essentially a two step process, as servers cannot write crash dump onto the file system directly while going down after the crash; this is because the state of the file system itself may be inconsistent, and using the file system at that time may involve significant risk.
The main limitation of this approach is that the actual analysis of the problem can start only once the dump has been saved to disk (such as with the aforementioned savecrash(1) utility) during the boot process that follows the crash. Also, users cannot again use the system until after the system has completed saving the dump to the file system. The writing of the dump to the dump device itself depends on the size of the physical memory of the system and, as mentioned, this contributes the greatest amount of downtime. This approach is essentially the same method followed for all kinds of crash dumps, whether after a software panic, a hardware failure or the detection of a hung system.

Method and system for remotely debugging a hung or crashed computing system

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


A transparent master is mechanically sensed to detect the emulsion. The master is then advanced into a projection arrangement where a scanner scans the master point-by-point and line-by-line to generate signals containing data on the master. The signals are entered in a memory and electronically enhanced. The enhanced signals are sent to a cathode ray tube which produces a printing beam responsive to the signals. The printing beam prints an image of the master on copy material. If sensing of the emulsion indicates that the master is inverted, the image of the master is electronically inverted in the projection arrangement to thereby obtain a normal copy. The electronic inversion can be accomplished in any one of several ways as follows: (i) reversing the order in which the signals are generated by the scanner; (ii) reversing the order in which the signals are entered in the memory; (iii) reversing the order in which the signals are retrieved from the memory; or (iv) reversing the direction of movement of the printing beam.

The invention relates generally to the reproduction of a master or original.
More particularly, the invention relates to the production of correctly oriented copies of a transparent master, especially a diapositive which is framed without glass, using a procedure in which the master is photoelectrically scanned point-by-point and line-by-line. The printing or imaging signals generated during scanning are entered in a memory. The image represented by the printing signals is subsequently printed on light-sensitive copy material point-by-point and line-by-line in that the signals are read out from the memory and used to control a printing beam.
A difficulty exists in the production of copies of a framed diapositive. This difficulty stems from the fact that the marks at the margins of the diapositive are covered by the frame and are thus not available to determine whether the diapositive is properly oriented on the copying platform. As a rule, and particularly when so-called service frames are involved, the two sides of the frame of a diapositive are differently colored. One side is white and the frame is positioned so that such side faces the light source which is used to transilluminate the diapositive and project an image of the same onto the copy material. On the one hand, this reduces heating of the frame. On the other hand, for the purpose of placing the framed diapositive on the copying platform of a copying apparatus, it can be assumed that the emulsion is located on the side of the frame which faces away from the white side.
However, in addition to diapositives in service frames, there are diapositives which have been framed by amateurs fond of photographs. Furthermore, for reasons which are not always clear, diapositives are sometimes removed from a service frame and then improperly replaced because of a lack of knowledge of the proper orientation. Diapositives which are placed on the platform in a inverted position naturally result in inverted copies.
The patent literature discloses methods which make it possible to detect the emulsion by machine even when a diapositive is framed without glass. See, for example, the German Offenlegungsschrift 36 35 386. The method described here is based on the fact that, when a directed light beam impinges upon the emulsion of a developed photographic film, the reflected beam contains a higher proportion of scattered light than a beam reflected from the opposite side of the film. When a framed diapositive lying on the copying platform is found to be improperly oriented using this method, the diapositive must be removed, rotated and once again placed on the platform. This causes a considerable delay in the copying procedure.
Another method for detecting the position of the emulsion is described the German Offenlegungsschrift No. 40 31 108 of the present assignee. Here, the coarseness of one side of a film is determined by means of a sensing head and compared with the coarseness of the other side. This makes it possible to immediately ascertain when the emulsion faces in the wrong direction. However, there is again the problem of bringing an improperly oriented film into the correct position without a substantial loss of time.

Production of properly oriented copies of transparent masters


For integrity communication, a navigation satellite system has a space segment with satellites that emit navigation signals for reception and analysis by user systems, and a ground segment with observation stations that monitor the satellites. The ground segment controls cause distribution of integrity information concerning the satellites to user systems with the navigation signals. The integrity information has a first SISMA value and a second broadcast SISMA value for the accuracy of the satellite monitored by the ground segment. The second broadcast SISMA value takes into account a failure of an observation station of the ground segment, and a threshold value for the second broadcast SISMA value is provided. The threshold value with the integrity information for a satellite is transmitted instead of the second broadcast SISMA value when the latter exceeds the threshold value and the first SISMA value is lower than the threshold value for the satellite. The integrity information to be transmitted when the second broadcast SISMA value and the first SISMA value for the satellite each exceed the threshold value.

This application claims the priority of German patent document no. 10 2008 061 276.6-55, filed Dec. 10, 2008, the disclosure of which is expressly incorporated by reference herein.
The invention relates to a method and apparatus for integrity communication in a navigation satellite system.
Satellite systems for worldwide navigation, referred to as GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System, abbreviated navigation satellite system) are used for position determination on the ground and in the air. GNSS systems, such as the European Navigation Satellite System (also called the Galileo System, or simply "Galileo", which is currently under construction, include a satellite system (space segment) comprising a plurality of satellites, and an earth-fixed reception equipment system (ground segment). The latter is connected with a central computation station and comprises several ground stations as well as Galileo sensor stations (GSS) and user systems which analyze and use the satellite signals transmitted from the satellites by radio particularly for the navigation. Each satellite in the space segment emits a signal, referred to as the signal-in-space (SIS) characterizing the satellite. In particular, the SIS comprises information concerning the orbit of the satellite and a time stamp of the emission point in time; the latter are used for detecting the position of a user or user system.
Accurate detection of the position of a user requires integrity in the case of a GNSS, meaning that, on the one hand, the GNSS is capable of warning a user within a defined time period when parts of the GNSS should not be used for the navigation (for example, in the event of a failure of system components), and on the other hand that the user can trust the navigation data, which the user receives from the satellites of the GNSS by way of satellite navigation signals, and particularly can rely on the accuracy of the received navigation data.
In the integrity concept of the Galileo, the following information is transmitted to user systems in the form of navigation signals:                The predicted accuracy of the transmitted navigation signal for each satellite (i.e., a signal-in-space accuracy (SISA) of satellites as a quality measurement for an SIS of a satellite);        Status reports concerning the predicted accuracy of the satellite signal monitoring by the ground segment (i.e., a signal-in-space monitoring accuracy (SISMA) for each satellite); and        An integrity signal in the form of a simple error flag for a faulty SIS of a satellite "Not OK" (the so-called integrity flag IF), and the threshold value for the report that the error of an SIS of a satellite is no longer acceptable (also called an IF threshold). In this case, the IF threshold may be a function of the SISA and the SISMA.
This information enables the user system itself to quantify and evaluate the integrity and the integrity risk.
In Galileo, the signals in space of the satellites are monitored within the ground segment by analyzing the measurements from the individual Galileo sensor stations (GSS). The measurements of the GSS are processed in a central integrity processing center of the ground segment in order to determine the above-listed integrity information to be distributed to the user systems.
Based on the known positions of the GSS in the integrity processing center, the current position of a satellite, the time momentarily physically implemented in the satellite and the quality of the emitted signal, and thus the error of the satellite or of the signal in space (the so-called signal-in-space error, or "SISE") emitted by the satellite are estimated.
A prediction of the distribution of the SISE can be derived from a normal distribution with the smallest standard deviation. This representation can take place, for example, in accordance with the overbounding. This prediction is designated as the above-mentioned signal-in-space accuracy (SISA) which is distributed by the ground segment by way of the satellites of the space segments to the user systems. In the above-mentioned sense, the difference between the current 4-dimensional position (orbit and time of day) of a satellite and the predicted 4-dimensional position contained in the navigation message, can be described by means of the SISA.
However, estimating the SISE is a process prone to errors. As a rule, it is therefore assumed that the distribution of the actual SISE about the value of the estimated SISE can be described by a normal distribution, with the standard deviation which is indicated as the above-mentioned signal-in-space monitoring accuracy (SISMA). The SISMA is therefore a measurement for the accuracy of the estimation of the SISE for a satellite in the ground segment, and is also transmitted, from the ground segment to the user systems by way of the satellites of the space segment SISMA. In Galileo, the SISMA values for the satellites are transmitted approximately every 30 seconds. In order to reduce the integrity risk to the extent possible, the highest SISMA value of the respective SISMA values predicted in a measuring period is transmitted for each satellite. In this case, a high SISMA value indicates a low accuracy of satellite monitoring by the ground segment, and thus reflects an increased integrity risk for a user.
Furthermore, when determining the SISMA of a satellite whose navigation signals are measured by several GSSs, the failure of precisely one GSS of the GSSs provided for the measuring can be taken into account, so that the SISMA value is increased again because the measuring accuracy suffers from the failure. For differentiation from the conventional SISMA, a SISMA determined in this manner is called a broadcast SISMA. More precisely, the broadcast SISMA is a function of the measurements of the GSSs visible from the satellite and made available to the integrity processing center of the ground segment, and is computed with the assumption that the GSS is no longer providing data whose loss would cause the broadcast SISMA to rise the most. This leads to a very dense network of GSSs. In addition, very high broadcast SISMA values may be transmitted because the failure of one GSS is assumed, so that many user systems will classify the integrity risk as very high, and will possibly no longer use the GNSS, despite the fact that the actual SISMA has a much lower value and integrity would exist.
In order to avoid the above problems, it has been suggested to define in each case a maximal value in the form of a threshold value for the broadcast SISMA values, which threshold value is virtually never exceeded. However, this technique may cause a user system to underestimate its integrity risk and therefore erroneously to classify received navigation signals (and the information contained therein) as having integrity, specifically when actually a broadcast SISMA larger than the maximal value would have to be sent and the SISMA is also above this threshold value. In addition, by restricting the broadcast SISMA by an upper limit, the continuity risk will rise because it is no longer ensured in every case that, when a GSS fails, the user can continue to use for a defined time the SISMA being used by the user, because this loss had no longer been taken into account in the SISMA transmitted to the user.

Method and apparatus for integrity communication in a navigation satellite system


A process for reducing the poling field of congruent LiNbO3 and LiTaO3 crystal-based nonlinear optical devices and for the production of domain structures with precise reproducibility of the main parameters by depositing a thin layer of a stoichiometric LiNbO3 film on the Z-face of a congruent LiNbO3 or LiTaO3 wafer. A new domain nucleation, evolution and stabilization process is provided to afford a uniform, short period domain superstructure for the conversion of near infra-red light to near ultraviolet, blue and green light.

Since the invention of the first laser many years ago, the frequency conversion off laser radiation by nonlinear optical crystals has become an important technique widely used in quantum electronics and laser physics for solving various scientific and engineering problems. The fundamental physics of three-wave light interactions in nonlinear optical crystals is now reasonably well understood. This has enabled the production of various harmonic generators, sum- and difference-frequency generators, and optical parametric oscillators based on the nonlinear optical crystals that are now commercially available. At the same time, scientists continue an active search for improved nonlinear optical materials. The present invention relates to a method for the fabrication of a bulk periodically poled domain (PPD) structure-in congruently grown lithium niobate (LN), Lithium Tantalate (LT) and Magnesium Oxide doped LN and LT (MgO:LN and MgO:LN). These structures comprise nonlinear optical materials which are suitable for use in optical devices to convert near infrared (NIR) radiation from a diode or other laser to light in the blue-green (visible) or near UV region of the optical spectrum. In particular this invention relates to an efficient process for the fabrication of poled Lithum Niobate and Lithum Tantalate crystals for the generation of blue-green and UV light using quasi phase matching (QPM). These materials are ferroelectric, which means that below their Curie temperature they exhibit a spontaneous electric polarization even if no external electric field is applied. Periodic inversion of the spontaneous polarization is called "poling" and provides a means for producing the 180° phase shift required to implement QPM. Further information on the applications and properties of nonlinear crystals, especially LN and MgO doped LN, are given in "Handbook of Nonlinear Optical Crystals" by V. G Dmitriev, G. G Gurzadyan and D. N. Nikogosyan Springer-Verlag (1999) ISBN3-540-69354-5292.
Laser light in the blue-green (visible) wavelength (i.e., 400-550 nm) wavelength region is used in a wide variety of analytical techniques. Currently the only generally available source of coherent blue-green light is the Argon ion laser. Argon ion lasers are relatively bulky, delicate and expensive. There is a great need for a solid state blue-green laser. None is currently available which emits in this spectral region. However there are solid state (semiconductor diode) lasers which emit in the near infra-red (NIR) region.
Frequency doubling (nonlinear frequency conversion) would enable a NIR laser to provide blue-green light. An extensive discussion of blue-green laser technology and applications, including biomedical engineering, spectroscopy, semiconductor wafer inspection, display science, optical data storage, reprographic, color display and undersea communication is contained in "Blue-Green Lasers" by W. Risk, T. Gosnell and A. Nurmikko, Cambridge University Press (2003) ISBN 0-521-52103-3. The discussion of nonlinear frequency conversion using quasi phase matching in nonlinear crystals contained therein is incorporated herein by this reference (see especially pages 77-84 and 101-104 and 108).
Conversion of NIR laser source light into light in the green-blue spectral range can be carried out by using second harmonic generation (SHG), also known as frequency doubling techniques, a technology generally known in the laser-based optical industry. A reasonable goal for single-pass conversion efficiency is that it should be in ˜25% range to avoid excessive laser cost. Conversion efficiency is proportional to input power, the square of the effective nonlinear coefficient of the nonlinear element (crystal) and the length of the nonlinear element As crystal length is increased, conversion efficiency increases, but the frequency doubling process becomes more sensitive to changes in temperature, strain and other factors affecting the uniformity of the refractive index of the non-linear element. As a result, length alone cannot be used to compensate for an element's low nonlinearity.
A technique that compensates for the difference in phase velocity between the fundamental wave and its harmonic in a nonlinear crystal caused by natural dispersion is known as birefringent phase matching. In this case, the optical anisotropy of a nonlinear crystal is used to find a unique propagation direction where fundamental and harmonic waves have the same phase velocity. For most of the commercially available nonlinear optical materials (LN, LT, and KTP) the maximum conversion efficiency is about 1.25%. LN and LT are particularly attractive materials because of their status as commodity materials, and as follows from Table 1 they have a high nonlinear coefficient (normally referred to as d33) and also are available in relatively large size crystals.
Quasi-phase matching (QPM) provides the mechanism for an efficient way to generate second harmonic frequencies. The general concept of using QPM as a mechanism for doubling optical frequencies has been known for about forty years. Essentially it is a technique that compensates for the difference in phase velocity between the fundamental wave and its harmonic in a nonlinear crystal caused by natural dispersion. In QPM, the two waves are allowed to have different phase velocities, and they shift out of phase relative to one another over a distance called the coherence length
At present the most efficient way to create a QPM structure is to use periodically poled crystalline ferroelectric materials. In these materials, creating specific micrometer scale domain configurations with a periodically alternating direction of spontaneous polarization, are used for this purpose. Due to the polar character of these materials the sign of the non-linear coefficient (d33) can be changed by switching the direction of spontaneous polarization. If the period (Λ) of the periodically polled domain structure is equal to double the coherent length, the phase difference due to natural dispersion is compensated for by the change of the sign of the non-linear coefficient (d33−d33) at the domain boundaries, causing the continuous transference of power from the fundamental beam to the harmonic beam throughout the entire length of the crystal.
The efficiency of a conversion is a strong function of both the non-linear coefficient and the length of the crystal Therefore, to enhance the efficiency of conversion the material with the maximum non-linear coefficient should be used, and the interaction region should also be as long as possible.
Effective nonlinear coefficient value, poling period and absorption edge (the range of limited absorption) are the factors which influence the choice of periodically poled materials for SHG applications.
There are only a few ferroelectric materials with nonlinear coefficients greater than 10 pm/V (as shown in Tab. 1). While dispersion prevents direct access to the full value of d33, QPM can provide up to (2/π)×100%=64% of the full nonlinearity, making each of the materials shown in Table 1 a prima facie candidate for efficient doubling of the frequency of semiconductor lasers.
TABLE 1Parameters of perspective ferroelectrics for QPM-SHG applicationsCurieCoercived33TemperatureField, EcGrowth method andCrystalpm/V° C.KV/mmmax. crystal sizeLiNbO340 ± 5~1160≦2*CZ(LN)20-25**100Φ × 60 mmLiTaO320 ± 2610≦2*CZ(LT)18-25**100Φ × 50 mmKNbO325 ± 5225≦0.6CZ(KN)15Φ × 20 mmKTiOPO415 ± 2~6702.6CZ(KTP)20Φ × 25 mm*For stoichiometric LN and LT**For congruent LN and LT
Table 1 shows that most effective material for SHG application i.e., the material which has the biggest value of d33 is a LN crystal. Due to QPM, it is possible to create viable bulk single-pass blue-green light sources using LN, since it provides a way to obtain a normalized room temperature conversion efficiency of 2.6-3% /(watt•cm) for 1064 nm532 nm SHG and 5.2%/(watt•cm) efficiency for 852 nm426 nm SHG. LT has a normalized room temperature conversion efficiency of 0.85-1%/(watt•cm) for bulk single-pass 1064 nm532 nm SHG. For 852 nm426 nm SHG, LT has a normalized conversion efficiency of 2%/(watt•cm). It should be noted that for wavelengths of ≦410 nm LT has higher transparency compared to LN and therefore it may be the material of choice for 300 nm-410 nm wavelength (near UV) conversion . Two materials in which QPM has been demonstrated for blue green (BG) light generation are KN and KTP. The normalized conversion efficiency for these materials is ˜2.5%/(watt•cm) for KN and 1.5%/(watt•cm) for the 852 nm426 nm SHG. To achieve 25% single-pass conversion efficiency, a KN crystalline element of 2.5 cm and a KTP crystalline element of 3.5 cm length is required. However the maximum crystal length currently available is 2 cm for KN and 3 cm for KTP. Therefore, KN and KTP are currently not viable choices because both crystals are not commercially available in sufficiently long sizes, are very expensive, and also suffer from a number of quality issues. Lithium niobate (LiNbO3), often referred to as "the silicon of nonlinear optics," is an excellent material for SHG for two reasons. First, LiNbO3 is already produced at a volume of 40 tons per year for consumer applications (cellular phones and televisions) using a very stable fabrication technology. Second, LiNbO3 is transparent from 350 nm to 5000 nm, providing low loss for both the fundamental and harmonic for visible light generation. Finally, LiNbO3 has nonlinear coefficients for visible light generation among the highest of all inorganic materials.
While LiNbO3 is an attractive material because of its status as a commodity material, the only component of its nonlinear tensor large enough to satisfy the requirements of display applications is d33, having a value of 25.2 pm/volt. While dispersion prevents direct access to the full d33 coefficient, quasi-phase-matching (QPM) can provide up to 64% of the full nonlinearity, or 16 pm/volt, making LiNbO3 a very strong candidate for display applications that use QPM.
Essentially QPM is a technique that compensates for the difference in phase velocity between the fundamental wave and its harmonic in a nonlinear crystal caused by natural dispersion. In QPM, two waves having different phase velocities shift [pi] out of phase relative to one another over a distance called the coherence length. The sign of the nonlinear coefficient reverses every coherence length, causing the locally generated harmonic field to transfer power to the harmonic beam. By compensating for phase-velocity mismatch in this way, all elements of a crystal's nonlinear tensor can be accessed throughout the entire transparency range
Three other potential materials in which QPM has been demonstrated for visible light generation are LiTaO3 and MgO doped LN and LT. LiTaO3 has a normalized room temperature conversion efficiency of 0.83%/(watt-cm), below that required for bulk single-pass 1064 nm SHG. However, for 852 nm SHG, LiTaO3 has a normalized conversion efficiency of 1.8%/(watt-cm) and is therefore a strong candidate for that application.

Method for the fabrication of periodically poled Lithium Niobate and Lithium Tantalate nonlinear optical components


A method of treating involuntary muscle dysfunctions includes administering a therapeuticaly effective amount of relaxin to a patient. Involuntary muscle dysfunctions amenable to treatment with relaxin include fibromyalgia, myofascial pain syndrome, chronic fatigue syndrome, dystonia, pelvic floor dysfunction, irritable bowel syndrome, and others.

The present invention relates to the treatment of involuntary muscle dysfunctions. In particular, the present invention relates to the treatment of involuntary muscle dysfunction with relaxin hormone.
Involuntary muscle dysfunction plagues a large portion of the chronic pain and chronic fatigue patient population. Two prominent conditions involving involuntary muscle dysfunction include fibromyalgia and myofascial pain syndrome, amongst others.
Fibromyalgia is identified by the main symptoms of generalized chronic pain occurring mainly in the muscles and hyperalgesia, i.e. multiple tender points spread out over the body. The full range of symptoms include generalized pain, hyperalcesia, sleep disturbance, fatigue, muscle stiffness, hypersthesias, tension-type headaches, decreased muscle endurance and muscle weakness. Fibromyalgia has also been associated with irritable bowel syndrome, chronic fatigue syndrome, temporomandibular dysfunction syndrome, migraines, primary dysmenhorrea (painful menstruation) and others conditions including Raynaud's phenomenon. See Yunnus, Fibromyalgia Syndrome: Clinical Features and Spectrum, The Fibromyalgic Syndrome: Current Research and Future Directions in Epidemiology, Pathogenesis, and Treatment, 1994, pp. 5-21. See also Wolfe, When to Diagnose Fibromyalgia, Rheumatic Disease Clinics Of North America, Vol. 90, Number 2, May 1994. See Henriksson, Patogenesis of Fibromyalgia, Journal of Musculoskeletal Pain, 1993, Vol. 1, pp. 3-16.
Fibromyalgia is the second or third most common disorder seen in community practice. The economic effects of fibromyalgia are substantial. In one study, it was reported that only 60% of fibromyalgia patients were employed, 30% of patients changed jobs because of fibromyalgia, 10% of patients considered themselves disabled, and 6% received disability payments. See Rothschild et al, Retrospective Assessment of Fibromyalgia Therapeusis, Comprehensive Therapy 1994, Vol. 20, pp. 545-549.
Fibromyalgia also appears to be concentrated amongst the female patient population. It is estimated that about 80 to 90% of fibromyalgia patients are women. In addition, most patients are reported to fall in the 40 to 50 year age range. However, some studies have identified an archetypical patient as being a young women between the ages of 20 and 40. See Masi, A., Review of The Epidemiology and Criteria of Fibromyalgia and Myofascial Pain Syndromes: Concepts of Illness in Populations as Applied to Dysfunctional Syndromes, Journal of Musculoskeletal Pain, 1993, Vol. 1, pp. 113-116. See also Yunnus, supra, page 6.
While there is no current cure for fibromyalgia, it has been reported that some patients have responded to therapy with Halcion.RTM. and hypnosis. See Rothschild et al. However, these treatment modalities primarily address sleep disturbance and do not squarely address the cause of fibromyalgia or its full range of symptoms. Mvoreover, the use of Halcion.RTM. is not suitable for long-term treatment. While Halcion.RTM. induces sleep, Halcion also inhibits the patient's ability to achieve rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, which is necessary for therapeutic sleep.
Other conventional treatments of fibromyalgia include treating localized pain and muscle tension with intramuscular application of botulinum toxin as well as treatments including relaxation medication, exercise, and physical therapy. These latter treatment methods are aimed at relaxing and elongating the affected muscles.
However, none of these previous attempts at alleviating the symptoms of fibromyalgia and related involuntary muscle dysfunctions are effective. Moreover, these methods do not address the cause of fibromyalgia and other involuntary muscle dysfunctions.
In addition, many patients suffer from one or several of the symptoms (e.g., dysmenorrhea) associated with fibromyalgia without actually having fibromyalgia or the full range of symptoms. No single treatment is currently available for treating most or all of these symptoms.

Method of treating myofascial pain syndrome with relaxin


A clear hair spray composition exhibiting low drying times and low tack during use consisting essentially of, by weight of the composition,. (a) 0-10% of a fixative resin that is a linear homopolymer or random copolymer including a monomer selected from the group consisting of a vinyl monomer and an acrylate monomer, PA1 (b) 0.01-10% of a hydrolyzed crosslinked maleic anhydride-C.sub.1 -C.sub.5 alkyl vinyl ether copolymer, PA1 (c) 10-99.99% water, and PA1 (d) 0-80% alcohol.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to hair spray compositions, and, more particularly, to non-aerosol or aerosol hair spray compositions which provide films having low drying times and low tack during use.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Almost all commercial hair spray compositions contain ethanol as a solvent for the film-forming hair fixative resin. However, ethanol is disfavored because it is a volatile organic compound (VOC) which can pollute the air; also it can give beauticians upper respiratory infections and irritations of the nose and skin. Accordingly, it is desired to provide a hair spray product which has a substantially reduced amount of alcohol therein, or is alcohol-free, i.e., it is a water-based formulation, and which can perform as effectively as an ethanol-based product. Most particularly, what is desired is a clear, non-foaming aqueous-based composition suitable for use in both non-aerosol and aerosol delivery systems which provide tack-fee films which dry rapidly.

Clear hair spray composition capable of forming low tack films which dry rapidly


A locking projection (29) of a housing (10) fits in a temporary locking concavity (65) of a retainer (60) to hold the retainer (60) at a temporary locking position and fits in a main locking concavity (64) to hold the retainer (60) at a main locking position. The main locking concavity (64) has a first slope (67) on a forward surface in a direction in which the retainer (60) is drawn out. The temporary locking concavity (65) has a first locking surface (69) on a forward surface and aligned orthogonal to the direction in which retainer (60) is drawn out. The locking projection (29) has a second slope (35) aligned along a surface of the first slope (67) at the main locking position and has a second locking surface (33) disposed along a surface direction of the first locking surface (69) at the temporary locking position.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a connector.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional connector has a housing into which terminal fittings can be inserted and a retainer mounted in a mounting hole of the housing for movement between a temporary locking position and a main locking position. A temporary locking concavity and a main locking concavity are formed side by side on an inner surface of the mounting hole. A flexible elastic piece is formed on the retainer and a locking projection is formed on the elastic piece. The locking projection can fit elastically in the temporary locking concavity to hold the retainer at the temporary locking position. The locking projection also can fit elastically in the main locking concavity to hold the retainer at the main locking position.
The main locking concavity has a first slope, the locking projection has a second slope and the temporary locking concavity has a third slope. The first slope is formed at a forward portion of the main locking concavity in the direction in which the retainer is drawn out and is inclined along the direction in which the retainer is drawn out. The third slope formed at a forward portion of the temporary concavity in the direction in which the retainer is drawn out and is inclined along the direction in which the retainer is drawn out. The second slope is disposed substantially along the surface direction of the third slope when the retainer is at the temporary locking position and is disposed substantially along the surface direction of the first slope when the retainer is at the main locking position. The retainer can be returned smoothly to the temporary locking position because the second slope slides on the first slope.
The retainer of the above-described connector can be moved from the main locking position to the temporary locking position. However, there are times when the second slope of the locking projection slides on the third slope of the temporary locking concavity so that the retainer separates from the housing without the being stopped at the temporary locking position.
The connector can be provided with a dedicated locking construction separate from the locking projection for securely stopping the retainer at the temporary locking position. However, the construction of the connector then becomes undesirably complicated.
The invention was completed based on the above-described situation. It is an object of the invention to prevent a retainer from being separated from a housing without a complicated construction.


A telematics server manages meeting request messages sent from, and to, a vehicle-coupled device. The server performs authentication services when a subscriber logs in to the server from the vehicle-coupled device, or with a device associated with the subscriber's telematics services account. Upon login, the server may append a session identifier to the request message. After the message passes through the server, an application running on a device remote from the vehicle receives the request message and accepts user input that permits the remote device to transmit its current location to the vehicle-coupled device in a confirmation message according to the session identifier. The telematics server can use the session identifier to determine the destination address of the vehicle-coupled device to forward the confirmation message to. The vehicle-coupled device displays the remote user device location on a map. The request and confirmation messages may include a media content file.

Telematics devices facilitate connecting a vehicle with a communications network. A telematices control unit ("TCU") installed in a vehicle typically comprises a global positioning satellite ("GPS") circuit, or module, wireless communication circuitry, including long range wireless (cellular telephony and data services) and short range wireless ("BlueTooth") capabilities. A TCU typically includes at least one processor that controls, operates, and manages the circuitry and software running thereon, and also facilitates interfacing with a vehicle data bus.
For example, a TCU installed by a vehicle's original equipment manufacturer ("OEM") such as Ford, Toyota, BMW, Mercedes Benz, etc., typically couples directly to the corresponding vehicle's data bus, such as, for example, a controller area network ("CAN") bus, an international standards organization ("ISO") bus, a Society of Automotive Engineers ("SAE") bus, etc. The TCU can process and communicate information retrieved from the bus via links of the wireless communication networks, to a user's mobile device local to the vehicle, or a computer device remote from the vehicle. An OEM typically cautiously guards access by third party software to a vehicle's bus through a TCU because of the potential of computer virus infection, other malware, and software and data that although innocuous may nonetheless interfere with operation of the vehicle, which could expose the OEM to warranty liability and other liability.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method and system for sending user information to a car


A gage for measuring the external threads of a threaded body has a segment housing formed from a housing body. The housing body has a generally U-shaped cross section with a bottom extending between a pair of opposite, upright sidewalls so that a channel with a longitudinal axis is defined. First and second gage segments are configured to engage the threads of the threaded body when the threaded body is positioned between the first and second segments and the first and second segments are closed together. The first gage segment is fixed to the housing body, and the second gage segment is received within the channel of the housing body. The second gage segment moves linearly within the channel along the longitudinal axis to allow the first and second segments to be separated for insertion of the threaded body between the first and second segments. This also allows the first and second segments to be closed together for engagement with the threaded body. An indicator having a movable indicator shaft that actuates the indicator is mounted to the housing body. The indicator shaft is spring loaded so that the indicator shaft projects into the channel of the housing and engages the second gage segment, urging the second gage segment within the channel into engagement with the threaded body.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a device for measuring the external threads of a threaded fastener.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Threaded fasteners such as screws and threaded bolts must meet minimum tolerances in order to avoid damage and to ensure proper functioning of the fastener during tightening and loosening operations. For this reason, thread gages have been designed for gaging the diameter of the screw threads. While there are various devices for measuring the external threads of these fasteners, they are often complex in design. The devices usually involve gaging segments that are pivotally mounted on arms so that the segments can be open and closed around the threaded fastener. Often, removal and replacement of the segments from such devices is difficult and time consuming.
What is therefore needed is an external thread gage that is reliable and simple in design and that allows the gage segments to be easily removed and replaced.


A valve is disclosed for selectively permitting passage of fluid media such as gaseous fuel, from a first location to a second location. A valve body has one end portion defining a cylindrical inner wall surface and a flat annular seat extending inwardly thereof. An end plug is positioned for axial movement toward and away from the valve seat and an annular seal ring is positioned between the end plug and the valve seat and adapted to provide gaseous sealing contact between the end plug and the valve body at a plurality of locations when the end plug is moved to a first closed position which prevents gaseous communication between the first and second locations. In one embodiment the seal ring moves axially with the end plug and in another embodiment the seal ring remains seated and the end plug moves in the axial direction away from the seal ring. Other embodiments provide alternative means to direct the gaseous media from the first location to the second. One application is disclosed wherein the valve is provided in a gas lighter for selectively permitting gaseous fuel to flow from the fuel reservoir to the burner nozzle.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a one-way valve for fluids. In particular, one intended application of the valve is for use with gas lighters.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In conventional gas lighters the fuel which is generally stored in liquid form in a reservoir is generally selectively directed through a valve device in gaseous form, after which it arrives at a burner nozzle where it is ignited. The valve device generally consists of a hollow body of which one end has a bottom wall provided with an orifice to permit the passage of the gaseous fuel coming from the reservoir. The orifice can be selectively closed by a valve seal when the lighter is not in use.
The valve seal is generally provided at the base of the burner tube, which is equipped with a gasket in the form of a disc. The gasket is adapted to selectively close or open the orifice at will by the upward and downward movement of the nozzle and the burner tube. In fact, the burner tube, which normally includes a central channel which opens into at least one radial wall opening for the flow of the gas, is mounted in movable fashion within the body while it is normally biased toward the "valve closed" position by a resilient spring positioned beneath the finger operated lever of the lighter. The seal provided by a conventional valve of the type described generally depends essentially upon the characteristics of the gasket and the force of the resilient spring which is indirectly applied against the valve seat.
In general, since the seal is normally provided by engagement of the gasket with the valve seat over a single peripheral contact portion, sealing of the opening can be further enhanced by providing a plurality of contact portions to seal the opening. The present invention relates to a valve device for selectively passing fluids therethrough and which provides multiple sealing contact locations. One application of the valve device is for use with a gas lighter.

Minitek Feinmechanische Produkte Gesellschaft m.b.H.


A coil component includes a body having one surface and the other surface facing each other; an insulating substrate embedded in the body, and having one surface substantially perpendicular to the one surface of the body; a coil portion disposed on the one surface of the insulating substrate, and including a coil pattern layer having a coil pattern and a lead-out pattern extending from the coil pattern and exposed from the one surface of the body; an insulating layer disposed on the one surface of the insulating substrate to cover the coil pattern layer; and first and second external electrodes arranged to be spaced apart from each other on the one surface of the body and respectively connected to the lead-out pattern. A thickness of the lead-out pattern is greater than a thickness of the coil pattern, and less than a thickness of the insulating layer.

An inductor, a coil component, is a typical passive electronic component used in electronic devices, along with a resistor and a capacitor.
With higher performance and smaller sizes gradually implemented in electronic devices, coil components are becoming thinner.
Here, as coil components become thinner, a bonding area between the end portion of the coil portion and the external electrode gradually decreases, and reliability of bonding between them may become a problem.


Anisotropic conductive coatings and electronic devices made using the coatings are provided. The anisotropic conductive coatings are particularly useful in electronic devices that contain flexible substrates.

Anisotropic conductive films and coatings generally include an anisotropic non-conductive matrix and conductive particles. The films and coatings can also include adhesives as a non-conductive component. The adhesives typically bind the electrical components in electronic devices, e.g. flip-chips, while the conductive particles dispersed in the adhesive provide a conductive media between the electrical components. Conductive adhesives are typically used as films in the manufacture of devices such as circuit boards and display modules.
In the past, anisotropic conductive films were used in the flat panel display industry to make the electrical and mechanical connections from the drive electronics to the glass substrates of displays. More recently, the films are also being used to make connections between two or more electronic components, such as integrated circuits and circuit boards.
JP 11-135561 discloses an anisotropic conductive adhesive film comprising an elastic conductive particle in a film that consists of a thermosetting adhesive. The diameter of the elastic conductive particle is slightly larger than the thickness of the film of the thermosetting adhesive.
JP 08-007658 discloses an insulating adhesive film in which conductive particulates are uniformly dispersed. The conductive particulates are porous spherical polymer particulates having an average particle diameter of 2 to 20 μm, and are coated with metal.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,636,996 discloses an anisotropic interposer layer comprising a plastic layer (preferably a polyamide polymer) and a plurality of electrically conducting particles disposed in a random pattern throughout the plastic layer. The individual particles extend from one surface of the interposer layer to the other surface, preferably outwardly from the surfaces.
Other anisotropic conductive films have been disclosed that require high temperatures and/or pressures in order to provide adhesion and connection between the layers between which they are interposed. Anisotropic adhesive films have also been disclosed that have a thickness greater than the diameter of conductive particles present in it. The film thickness is reduced only when the layers on either side compress the adhesive film such that the conductive particles come in contact with the layers.
Thus, even though various anisotropic conductive films exist in the art, there is a need for anisotropic conductive films that have a thickness less than the diameter of conductive particles dispersed in them, that can be produced by a simple method, that can be used on flexible substrates, that are compatible with organic conducting materials, and that do not require high temperatures and pressures for providing connection and adhesion. Furthermore, there is a need for anisotropic conductive films that allow the preparation of complex circuitry.


Difficulties in downsizing annular combustors (20) due to orienting fuel injectors with respect to oxidant blast tubes are avoided in a construction for a combustor (20) including radially spaced annular walls (22, 24) and an interconnecting radial wall (26) defining an annular combustion chamber (32). A plurality of circumferentially spaced tubes (28, 30) extend through the radially outermost annular wall (24) and are directed generally tangentially into the combustion space (32). A plurality of fuel injectors (42) are provided for directing fuel radially inwardly into the space (32) and are circumferentially spaced about the combustion space (32) and located between the tubes (28).

The design of combustor systems for small turbines is much more than simply a scale down of designs that have been shown to be operative in large turbine engines. Regardless of combustor size, there is a minimum residence time for fuel and oxidant within the combustor necessary to effect sufficiently complete combustion to generate the gases of combustion required to drive a turbine wheel. Given the dynamics of gas flow in and out of a combustor to a turbine wheel, it will be readily appreciated that as the size of the combustor is decreased, if conventional techniques were employed, combustion would only be starting, if occurring at all, by the time the fuel oxidant mixture was exiting the combustor outlet.
Moreover, in small combustors, which necessarily provided with small fuel injectors and consequently having small fuel flow at each injector, it is difficult to provide the needed fine fuel atomization utilizing conventional techniques. This is due to the fact that small scale effects increase viscus losses resulting in a deterioration in fuel atomization at the injector. In addition, the small fuel metering orifices associated with such small fuel injectors tend to promote premature fuel spray deterioration due to orifice fouling which in turn can cause early engine failure due to gas temperature maldistributions. Conventional injector design techniques are ordinarily complex and costly. Consequently, when employed for reduced scale design for use in small combustors, it results in a very high additional cost.
Recognizing these difficulties, in recent years there has been a trend towards combustor systems employing so-called "sidewinding." Combustors used in sidewinding systems are annular combustors. Unlike conventional combustors, the path of travel for fuel and oxidant in the flame zone as well as the products of combustion is primarily in the circumferential direction around the annular combustor. The axial flow component of fuel, oxidant and products of combustion is minimized. This arrangement maximizes the time available for combustion within a given small volume and also permits a significant reduction in the number of fuel injectors without a resultant undesirably high turbine inlet temperature maldistribution as would be obtained using more conventional design techniques if the number of injectors is reduced. Maximizing the time available for mixing and combustion while minimizing the number of fuel injectors is most advantageous from cost and efficiency standpoints, particularly when accomplished in small turbines.
In recent proposals for annular combustors operating on the sidewinding technique, it is typical to find a series of oxidant blast tubes circumferentially spaced about the combustor and normally located in a radially outer wall thereof. One end of each tube is open to the interior of the combustor while the opposite end is opened to the space between the radially outer wall of the combustor and the outer combustor case. As is known, this space is typically charged with compressed oxidant from the compressor associated with a gas turbine engine or from a storage place such as a pressure bottle containing the oxidant. These tubes are directed tangentially into the annular combustion space of the combustor. For fuel injection purposes, fuel injection tubes have typically been mounted within the oxidant blast tubes. As a consequence, fuel atomization of fuel injected from the tubes may be achieved as the fuel is injected toward the combustion space in an associated oxidant blast tube as the oxidant passing through the oxidant blast tube provides oxidant blast atomization. While this works well for its intended purpose, as smaller and smaller combustors are designed, because the diameter of the oxidant blast tubes becomes commensurately reduced, it becomes increasingly difficult to locate the fuel injection tubes inside the oxidant blast tubes. Furthermore, space available for so called "start" injectors, which are typically pressure atomization injectors used only when the turbine is in a starting mode, and which are not always effective at high altitudes, is commensurately reduced.
It can be shown that the combustion process in a turbine engine requires a total time which is the sum of the times required for a) fuel evaporation, b) fuel-oxidant mixing, and c) fuel-oxidant reaction. The mixing of fuel and oxidant is speeded up in direct proportion to the reduction in scale and therefore does not pose a new problem in a small scale combustor. The fuel-oxidant reaction time can, for the most part, be assumed to be infinitely fast as compared to the time required for fuel-oxidant mixing and fuel evaporation and thus is negligible as far as small scale is concerned.
However, for a fixed fuel droplet size, the time for fuel evaporation is also fixed, independent of combustor size. As a consequence, as the combustor scale is reduced, an increasing proportion of the combustor volume must be devoted to fuel evaporation. Hence, the portion of total combustor volume devoted to fuel evaporation increases as scale is reduced.
In addition, the flame performance as defined by combustion efficiency and flame stability has been found by experience to suffer as a consequence. However, the problem of fuel evaporation may be avoided as scale is reduced by reducing the fuel droplet size. As is well known, the time required for fuel evaporation is more or less inversely proportional to the square of fuel droplet size. Using conventional fuel injection design methods, the fuel droplet size tends to increase with reduced scale, primarily due to viscus loss effects. Consequently, novel design techniques are needed to improve the fuel atomization while avoiding the cost and reliability problems usually associated with small size fuel injectors.
The present invention is directed to overcoming one or more of the above problems.

Tangentially directed air assisted fuel injection and small annular combustors for turbines


A composite structure including a multi-layer laminate having a plurality of regions each oriented out of plane relative to an adjacent region, and each extending in a longitudinal dimension of the multi-layer laminate, wherein the multi-layer laminate includes at least one ply layer having an oblique fiber orientation relative to the longitudinal dimension, and wherein the at least one ply layer includes a first section and a second section each having a side edge, the first and second sections aligned side-by-side such that a first interface defined between the respective side edges is oriented to extend in the longitudinal dimension.

Composite stiffeners such as spars and stringers are used in a wide range of aerospace, marine, and other applications. In some cases, stiffeners must be contoured with a radius of curvature along their length to conform to the geometry of a structure, such as an aircraft wing or fuselage skin.
Punch forming is one technique for fabricating contoured composite stiffeners. Punch forming includes forcing a flat composite laminate charge into a die with a punch to achieve a desired cross-sectional shape. Both the punch and the die may be articulated along their lengths, allowing them to bend. Once the charge has been punch formed to the desired cross-sectional shape, the punch and the die may be forced to bend, thereby forming the stiffener to the desired contour. However, difficulties arise in fabricating composite stiffeners that are highly contoured. For example, as the formed charge is bent to the desired contour, portions of the charge, such as the webs in a hat stiffener, are placed in compression, resulting in undesired wrinkling of some of the plies of the charge. Hand rework of the stiffeners is required to eliminate the wrinkling, adding to labor costs and reducing production rate.
This section is intended to introduce the reader to various aspects of art that may be related to various aspects of the disclosure, which are described and/or claimed below. This discussion is believed to be helpful in providing the reader with background information to facilitate a better understanding of the various aspects of the present disclosure. Accordingly, it should be understood that these statements are to be read in this light, and not as admissions of prior art.

Composite structure and method of forming


A pivotally retractable seed planting apparatus that comprises a main frame assembly, a pivoting transverse member, a pivotally retractable transverse member, a lift system, a set of retractable wheels, a plurality of set of transverse member wheels, a hitching pole member, a central transverse member and a set of frame wheels.

Traditionally, seed planting apparatus had a fixed frame having a series of seed planting units perpendicularly positioned to the planting direction. Such seed planting apparatus must be towed by a tractor using a hitching pole. Over the years, in order to optimize the seeding process and as the power of the tractor engines increased, more seed planting units have been added to the seed planting apparatus, thus increasing the width of the planters. As the areas covered by cities have increased or as new land have been developed or acquired by farmers, the travel distance between different fields of a farm have considerably increased, thus increasing the need for a seed planting apparatus being able to travel over existing roads.
In order to overcome such problems, pivotally foldable seed planting apparatus have been developed. Such apparatus typically comprises one or two longitudinal members holding one or more seed planting units and one or more fertilizer discs. The members may be pivoted around a vertical axis position within the center of the frame of the seed planting apparatus, thus considerably reducing the width of the seed planting apparatus.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,430,972 issued Oct. 7, 2008 to the inventor of the present invention shows a seed planter allowing the seed planters unit supports to be folded along the frame of the seed planter apparatus. The reduced width of the described seed planter facilitates public road travel in countries where road are large, such as in North America, but make it impracticable on narrower road such as in European or Asiatic countries.
To enact the Agriculture Agreement adopted by the World Trading Organization, many countries have agreed to reduce the subsidizing offered to farmers. As a consequence, farmer will need to improve the efficiency of their agricultural process and to reduce the expenses allocated to equipment and employees. However, even if a pivotally foldable seed planting apparatus would avoid a farmer to buy multiple seed planters by allowing transport between the different fields, in many countries, a large proportion of roads are still too narrow to allow a folded seed planting apparatus to freely travel.
There is therefore a need for a seed planting apparatus having foldable members and having a width allowing the apparatus to travel on most of the roads while folded.

Pivotally retractable seed planting apparatus and method


The finite impulse response (FIR) filter is implemented as a table using read-only memory (ROM). The FIR filter table stores a pre-calculated output filter value for each permissible combination of input values to be filtered. Streams of input values are successively shifted into the table and corresponding output values are successively output. In an exemplary implementation, the FIR filter is employed within a digital cellular telephone for use in smoothing a digital signal to be transmitted. The size of the required FIR filter table is minimized by exploiting constraints imposed upon the signal to be filtered and by exploiting linearity and symmetry within the filter itself. More specifically, the telephone employs a data burst randomizer to provide a data signal composed of sequences of null or 0 values and sequences of antipodal values (+1's and -1's). Hence, the permissible input combinations for the FIR filter include only patterns containing either all antipodal signals, all null signals, leading antipodal signals followed by trailing null signals, or leading null signals followed by trailing antipodal signals. The FIR filter look up is configured to exploit these limitations on the input streams yielding a look up table having relatively few entries. Method and apparatus implementations are disclosed.

I. Field of the Invention
The invention generally relates to mobile telephones and in particular to finite impulses response (FIR) filters for use within cellular telephones employing code division multiple access (CDMA) transmission techniques.
II. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 1 is an illustrative block diagram of the variable rate code division multiple access (CDMA) transmission system as described in the Telecommunications Industry Association's Interim Standard TIA/EIA/IS95-A Mobile Station-Base Station Compatibility Standard for Dual-Mode Wideband Spread Spectrum Cellular System. Data for transmission by transmission system 10 is provided by a variable rate data source 12. In the exemplary embodiment, the variable rate data source is a variable rate vocoder used for the variable encoding of speech signals as described in detail in U.S. Pat. No. 5,414,796 which is assigned to the assignee of the present invention and is incorporated by reference herein.
In the exemplary embodiment, variable rate transmission system 10 transmits data in frames in accordance with TIA/EIA IS-95-A. Variable rate data source 12 receives digitized samples of input speech and encodes the speech to provide packets of encoded speech as illustrated in FIGS. 3A-3D. The output of variable rate data source 12 is the information bits shown in FIGS. 3A-3D. In the exemplary embodiment, variable rate data source 12 provides variable rate packets of data for transmission at four possible rates 9600 bps, 4800 bps, 2400 bps and 1200 bps, referred to herein as full, half, quarter, and eighth rates. Speech samples encoded at full rate contain 172 information bits, samples encoded at half rate contain 80 information bits, samples encoded at quarter rate contain 40 information bits and samples encoded at eighth rate contain 16 information bits.
Referring again to FIG. 1, in the exemplary embodiment, the variable rate packets are provided to packetizer 13 which in the exemplary embodiment selectively appends cyclic redundancy check (CRC) bits and tail bits. As shown in FIG. 3A, when a frame is encoded by the variable rate data source 12 at full rate, packetizer 13 generates and appends 12 CRC bits and 8 tail bits. Similarly, as shown in FIG. 3B, when a frame is encoded by the variable rate data source 12 at half rate, packetizer 13 generates and appends 8 CRC bits and 8 tail bits. As shown in FIG. 3C, when a frame is encoded by the variable rate data source 12 at quarter rate, packetizer 13 generates and appends 8 tail bits. As shown in FIG. 3D, when a frame is encoded by the variable rate data source 12 at eighth rate, packetizer 13 generates and appends 8 tail bits.
The variable rate packets from packetizer 13 are then provided to encoder 14. Encoder 14 encodes the bits of the variable rate packets for error detection and correction purposes. In the exemplary embodiment, encoder 14 is a rate 1/3 convolutional encoder. The convolutionally encoded symbols are then provided to repetition generator 17.
In the exemplary embodiment, repetition generator 17 receives the packets. For packets of less than full rate, repetition generator 17 generates duplicates of the symbols in the packets to provide packets of a constant data rate. When the variable rate packet is half rate, then repetition generator 17 introduces a factor of two redundancy, i.e. each symbol is repeated twice within the output packet. When the variable rate packet is quarter rate, then repetition generator 17 introduces a factor of four redundancy. When the variable rate packet is eighth rate, then repetition generator 17 introduces a factor of eight redundancy.
In the exemplary embodiment, the encoded symbols are provided to CDMA spreader 16, an implementation of which is described in detail in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,103,459 and 4,901,307 which are assigned to the assignee of the present invention and are incorporated by reference herein. In the exemplary embodiment, CDMA spreader 16 maps six encoded symbols to a 64 bit Walsh symbol and then spreads the Walsh symbols in accordance with a pseudorandom noise (PN) code.
In the exemplary embodiment, repetition generator 17 provides the redundancy by dividing the data packet into smaller sub-packets referred to as "power control groups". In the exemplary embodiment, each power control group consists of 6 Walsh symbols. The constant rate frame is generated by consecutively repeating each power control group the requisite number of times to fill the frame as described above.
The packets are then provided to a data burst randomizer 18 which removes the redundancy from the packets in accordance with a pseudorandom process as described in copending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/291,231, filed Aug. 16, 1994 assigned to the assignee of the present invention and incorporated by reference herein. Data burst randomizer 18 selects one of the power control groups for transmission in accordance with a pseudorandom selection process and gates the other redundant copies of that power control group.
Thus, the output from data burst randomizer 18 consists of sequences of gated values with value 0 bracketing sequences of ungated antipodal data with values of +1 and -1. FIG. 4 illustrates a portion of an exemplary transmission signal having long null portions of value 0 bracketed by antipodal portions of +1's and -1's. Data burst randomizer 18 provides the packet to spreader 16.
The packets are provided by spreader 16 to finite impulse response (FIR) filter 20. The operation of an FIR filter can be described generally by equation 1 below: ##EQU1## In the exemplary embodiment, FIR filter 20 is a 4 times oversampled 48-tap FIR 20 filter illustrated in FIG. 2. As shown in FIG. 2, each sample is delayed by one fourth of the period of the input sequence. Thus, there is a four times redundancy in the data stream.
The filtered signal is then provided to digital to analog-converter 22 and converted to an analog signal. The analog signal is then provided to transmitter 24 which upconverts and amplifies the signal for transmission through antenna 26.
Conventionally, FIR filter 20 would be implemented by means of a digital signal processor or specially designed hardware programmed to perform the numerical calculations of equation 1. For portable cellular telephones, however, the power required to operate the processor or specialized hardware may be unacceptably high. So there is a need for a more efficient means of implementing the FIR filter.

ROM-based finite impulse response filter for use in mobile telephone


An inspection method of the present invention performs a step of giving the electric motor an instructing for rotating a foot shaft in a reverse direction and checking whether the foot shaft is rotating in the reverse direction, and a step of checking whether hydraulic pressure acting on the hydraulic pump has reached a predetermined pressure level. By checking a rotating direction of the electric motor, it is possible to check electrical connections. By checking the hydraulic pressure, it is possible to check whether there is any trouble in a hydraulic system. Namely, the present invention can perform an electrical connection check and a hydraulic pressure check in a collective fashion.

In four-wheel-drive vehicles, where all of front and rear wheels are drive wheels, there would occur rotating speed differences between the left and right front wheels and between the left and right rear wheels, and thus, it is important to inspect respective drive systems of the vehicles. Heretofore, there have been proposed various methods for inspecting the drive systems of the four-wheel-drive vehicles, such as one disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 4191001 (hereinafter referred to as "the relevant prior patent literature").
According to the disclosure of the relevant prior patent literature, drive power is transmitted from a front-wheel differential gear, driven directly by an engine, to a rear-wheel differential gear disposed between rear wheels, via a hydraulic clutch and two hydraulic pumps. Further, a one-way clutch for mechanically connecting the rear-wheel differential gear to the front-wheel differential gear at the time of acceleration is attached to the hydraulic clutch.
Further, according to the disclosure of the relevant prior patent literature, a first connecting oil passage is provided to connect between first and second ports, and a second connecting oil passage is provided to connect between third and fourth ports. However, the first connecting oil passage may sometimes be provided to connect between the third and second ports due to an assembly mistake. Thus, there is a need to confirm that the first connecting oil passage is accurately provided to connect between the first and second ports.
Whether the oil passages are connected accurately can be confirmed also by checking behavior of the rear wheels with the vehicle set in a forward traveling state by the engine.
Further, because the one-way clutch is set in a connected or engaged state at the time of acceleration, the drive system including the one-way clutch can be checked by setting the vehicle in a forward traveling acceleration state.
As a result of remarkable enhancement of performance of electric motors in recent years, there have been proposed four-wheel-drive vehicles in which one of the front and rear wheels are driven by an engine while the other of the front and rear wheels are driven by electric motors. One specific example of such four-wheel-drive vehicles will be described with reference to FIG. 7.
As shown in FIG. 7, an electric drive apparatus 100 of the four-wheel-drive vehicle includes: a case 101; a left electric motor 102L ("L" is a suffix indicating "left"); a left sun gear 104L mounted on a left motor shaft 103L; a left planet gear 105L meshing with the left sun gear 104L; a left ring gear 106L surrounding the left planet gear 105L; a left carrier 107L extending from the left planet gear 105L; and a left foot shaft 108L connected to the left carrier 107L and extending through the left motor shaft 103L. The electric drive apparatus 100 also includes: a right electric motor 102R ("R" is a suffix indicating "right"); a right sun gear 104R mounted on a right motor shaft 103R; a right planet gear 105R meshing with the right sun gear 104R; a right ring gear 106R surrounding the right planet gear 105R; a right carrier 107R extending from the right planet gear 105R; a right foot shaft 108R connected to the right carrier 107R and extending through the right motor shaft 103R; brake plates 111 and 112 extending between the left and right ring gears 106L and 106R and the case 101; a hydraulic piston 113 for pressing the brake plate 112; a hydraulic pipe 114 for supplying hydraulic pressure to the hydraulic piston 113; and a hydraulic gauge 115 mounted on the hydraulic pipe 114.
The above-mentioned left sun gear 104L, left planet gear 105L, left ring gear 106L and left carrier 107L together constitute a left planet gear mechanism, an similarly, the above-mentioned right sun gear 104R, right planet gear 105R, right ring gear 106R and right carrier 107R together constitute a right planet gear mechanism. The left planet gear mechanism is a transmission mechanism that places one of the three elements, i.e. left sun gear 104L, left ring gear 106L and left carrier 107L, in a non-rotating state by constraining the one element and the remaining two of the three elements in a rotatable state. More specifically, in the illustrated example of FIG. 8, the left ring gear 106L is placed in the non-rotatable state by the hydraulic piston 113.
Once the left electric motor 102L is activated, the left sun gear 104L rotates, in response to which the left planet gear 105L rotates to revolve along the left ring gear 106L. Then, the left carrier 107L is rotated, so that the left foot shaft 108L is rotated. During that time, hydraulic pressure is continuously applied via the hydraulic pipe 114 to the hydraulic piston 113. However, because a considerable amount of energy is required to generate high hydraulic pressure, continuously applying such high hydraulic pressure to the hydraulic piston 113 as above would increase energy cost.
For the foregoing reason, there exists a need for a sophisticated electric drive apparatus which can reduce necessary hydraulic pressure generating energy. One specific example of such a sophisticated electric drive apparatus will be described below with reference to FIG. 8. As shown in FIG. 8, the electric drive apparatus 100B is characterized by being constructed by adding a one-way clutch 117 to the electric drive apparatus 100 of FIG. 7. The other elements in the electric drive apparatus 100B are similar to those in the electric drive apparatus 100 of FIG. 7 and thus will not be described here to avoid unnecessary duplication.
The one-way clutch 117 is mounted in a given orientation such that it is placed in an engaged state at the time of forward travel of the vehicle and in a disengaged state (free-rotating state) at the other times. When the left electric motor 102L rotates in the forward travel direction, the left ring gear 106L is placed in the non-rotatable state through operation of the one-way clutch 117, and thus, the hydraulic pressure can be set at a zero ("0") level during that time.
For the electric drive apparatus 100B of FIG. 8, various items are inspected during forward acceleration in the same manner as disclosed in Patent Literature 1. However, because the hydraulic pressure is at the zero ("0") level during the forward acceleration, it is not possible to inspect the hydraulic pressure, and thus, there is a need to conduct a separate inspection of a hydraulic system by applying hydraulic pressure to the hydraulic piston 113. Therefore, an increased inspection time would be required, which would adversely influence the productivity.
Thus, even with the electric drive apparatus having the one-way clutch incorporated therein, it is required to inspect the hydraulic pressure in parallel with another inspection item, because of a demand for enhanced efficiency of the inspection.

Inspection method for inspecting electric drive apparatus


Various embodiments are described that relate to random number generation. When a desire arises for a random number a circuit can be completed with a reverse biased semiconductor junction element. When the circuit is completed an analog voltage spike can be produced that is random due to properties of the reverse biased semiconductor-junction element. This analog voltage spike can be converted into a digital value that serves as the random number. The digital value can be outputted and used as the random number.

Computer systems can employ pseudorandom numbers for a variety of applications. To gain these pseudorandom numbers, a seed number can be employed. The seed number can be provided to an algorithm that uses the seed number to produce the pseudorandom numbers. Since the seed number is known, resulting numbers are not actually random numbers, but instead are pseudorandom. Therefore, if a party discovers the seed number, then security can be compromised.

Semiconductor-junction-derived random number generation with triggering mechanism

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