A system and method for transforming data from a data source for use in a target application are disclosed. In one embodiment, a system includes a user interface and a global data flow model representing a process of moving the data from the data source to the target application. The system further includes a graphical view generator that generates a local view of at least a portion of the global data model for the use interface. The local view is configured for manipulation by a user of the user interface. The system further includes a transformation engine configured to integrate a manipulated local view into the global data flow model. In one method, receiving data from a data source is received, and one or more entities associated with the data are determined, where each entity defines a storage structure. At least a portion of the one or more entities is selected for defining a storage structure of a target system, and a target storage is generated based on the at least portion of the one or more entities.

Business analytics are a subset of analytical applications used to improve business processes by operationalizing decision-making processes. Using modern business analytics, it is possible to quickly get an overview on aggregated data, such as key performance indicators, with added functions of drill-down and drill-through to more detailed information. To provide the data for analysis, business analytics extract, transform, and integrate data from multiple sources. Business analytical applications may apply complex formulae and theories to data that represents past and current trends to generate predictions that can be used to improve business processes, and to unify data that comes from different sources for faster analytics.
Business analytics may include customer relationship analytics, enterprise analytics, supply chain analytics, and marketplace analytics. Customer relationship analytics measure and optimize customer relationships, and can include campaign management, market exploration, and customer retention analysis. Enterprise analytics typically include planning and simulation tools for enterprise applications. Supply chain analytics may include supplier evaluation, spending optimization, demand aggregation, strategic sourcing, inventory analysis, and manufacturing analysis. Marketplace analytics may yield insights about usage of marketplace offerings through bidding, auctioning, and traffic analysis.
In a business analytics application, data often needs to be translated or transformed from a source system's format into a different format for, among other things, unification of multiple data sources and optimized access in analytical applications. For example, data from an SAP R/3 or a Siebel ERP application would need to be transformed for use in an SAP Business Information Warehouse InfoCube. While most conventional business analytics applications include a user interface for creating record transformations to data, these user interfaces are not optimized for creating and providing representations of structure transformations. In data warehouse applications, structural transformations and record transformations are usually separate transformation steps, enlarging the data flow model and making separate user interfaces necessary. Further, present business analytics applications do not provide separate storage of local user interface views having separate layouts.


A bandwidth advertisement update method in an optical network, an optical network, and a controller provide a configurable mechanism for bandwidth advertisement updates in a control plane providing flexibility and reducing bandwidth advertisements in the control plane while concurrently supporting aggregated connections. The bandwidth advertisement update method includes defining a plurality of bandwidth update threshold values for a plurality of bandwidth units supported on a link in the optical network, responsive to a change in available bandwidth on the link, sending a bandwidth advertisement if the available bandwidth for any of the plurality of bandwidth units is less than the associated bandwidth update threshold value, and responsive to a change in available bandwidth on the link, withholding the bandwidth advertisement if the available bandwidth for all of the plurality of bandwidth units is greater than or equal to the associated bandwidth update threshold value.

Optical networks and the like are deploying control plane systems and methods that span multiple layers (e.g., wavelength division multiplex (WDM), Synchronous Optical Network (SONET), Synchronous Digital Hierarchy (SDH), Optical Transport Network (OTN), Ethernet, and the like). Control plane systems and methods provide automatic allocation of network resources in an end-to-end manner. Exemplary control planes may include Automatically Switched Optical Network (ASON) as defined in G.8080/Y.1304, Architecture for the automatically switched optical network (ASON) (February 2005), the contents of which are herein incorporated by reference; Generalized Multi-Protocol Label Switching (GMPLS) Architecture as defined in Request for Comments (RFC): 3945 (October 2004) and the like, the contents of which are herein incorporated by reference; Optical Signaling and Routing Protocol (OSRP) from Ciena Corporation which is an optical signaling and routing protocol similar to PNNI (Private Network-to-Network Interface) and MPLS; or any other type control plane for controlling network elements at multiple layers, and establishing connections there between. Control plane systems and methods use bandwidth advertisements to notify peer nodes of available link capacity. The bandwidth advertisements exchange information over a dedicated and well known communication channel with peers on opposite ends of the communication link.
With respect to GMPLS, for example, Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) extensions for GMPLS define how bandwidth is advertised, i.e. "Traffic Engineering Extensions to OSPF for Generalized MPLS (GMPLS) Control of Evolving G.709 OTN Networks," (September 2011), available online at tools.ietf.org/html/draft-ceccarelli-ccamp-gmpls-ospf-g709-07, the contents of which are incorporated by reference herein. The OTN strategy taken by the IETF is straight forward in that the Interface Switching Capability Descriptor (ISCD) indicates the available bandwidth for each individual container size. For example, an aggregated link of 4×Optical channel Transport Unit 3 (OTU3) interface with no label switched paths (LSPs) or subnetwork connections (SNCs) provisioned would advertise: Optical channel Data Unit 0 (ODU0): 128 (4×32), ODU1: 64 (4×16), ODU2: 16 (4×4), and ODU3: 4 (4×1). An Optical channel Data Unit flex (ODUFlex) is advertised as a separate value. An ISCD is sent whenever the available bandwidth changes on a link. Conventional bandwidth advertisement systems and methods including ISCDs introduce a scaling problem for large network domains and large links. For example, in state of the art OTN networks, dense wave division multiplexing (DWDM) links are typically 40 Gbps OTU3, and migrating to 100 Gbps OTU4. Customer traffic on such links is expected to include a large number of ODU0, ODU1, and ODU2 LSPs carrying Gigabit Ethernet (GbE), 10 GbE, and legacy Synchronous Optical Network (SONET)/Synchronous Digital Hierarchy (SDH). ISCD messaging can become expensive to process during network restoration or reconfiguration as the available bandwidth of the link changes.
A conventional solution can include only advertising supported ODUk rates, i.e. advertise maximum supported capacity rather than advertising actual capacity. In this case, no update would be transmitted until the interface becomes incapable supporting a given ODUk rate. Using the 4×OTU3 aggregated link example from above, the starting bandwidth would simply be: {ODU0, ODU1, ODU2, ODU3}. If for example, a single ODU0 is taken on each line, a new message is transmitted advertising: {ODU0, ODU1, ODU2}. Continued use of ODU0 resources does not result in a further ISCD update until only 3 ODU0s remain on a line, at which point the advertised bandwidth becomes: {ODU0, ODU1}. This conventional solution is very efficient with respect to messaging, but it fails to address the case of an aggregated LSP utilizing multiple ODUk tributaries (due to the fact the actual number of available tributaries is not known by the control plane). Control planes are looking to support co-routed LSPs where a single client service is composed of N×GbE or N×10 GbE aggregated links, and the aforementioned conventional bandwidth advertisement solution is not an acceptable solution with such aggregated links.

Bandwidth advertisement systems and methods for optical transport network


A medical syringe apparatus includes a syringe unit, a hypodermic needle attached to the syringe unit and at least one interfacing member for mating a labeled medication container to the syringe unit. The medication label is visible. The container remains mated to the syringe when the syringe is in use. Risk of mislabeling the syringe may therefore be substantially reduced or eliminated and patient safety may accordingly be improved.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to hypodermic syringes and, more specifically, to hypodermic syringes with vial attachment.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
In the course of administering medication to a patient by hypodermic injection, a syringe is filled from a vial of medication. While the vial is generally pre-labeled according to its contents, the syringe is generally unlabeled when removed from sterile wrapping. Medical practitioners such as physicians, nurses and medical technicians, may take the time to manually label a syringe after drawing medication from a vial. A syringe that is so-labeled reduces the chance of administering an incorrect medication, an occurrence that is commonly known as syringe swap error.
Syringe swap error may be a particular risk in the field of anesthesiology where multiple different medications are used and a particular medication may be called upon at a moment's notice. For example, some medications must be administered in rapid succession.
Multiple medications may be drawn up in multiple syringes and labeled in the course of preparing for a surgical case, however this process may be time consuming and may itself be prone to error. In the real-world setting, medical practitioners may be unwilling and/or unable to take the time to properly label each syringe. Moreover, in manually labeling each syringe, labeling errors may occur, especially where labels are written hastily. Additionally, manually labeled syringes may not be readily legible.
Manual labeling may give rise to other potential problems, for example, the type of medication may be labeled but other information such as the concentration, the inactive ingredients, and the expiration date may be omitted. Such information may even be intentionally omitted from the syringe labels but may later be needed in order to quickly determine the cause of a problem in the event of complications, at which point, the vial may have since been deposited in a sharps container and may be irretrievable.
Labels may be preprinted in an attempt to minimize some of the problems discussed above; however, preprinted labels may be mistakenly applied to the wrong syringe. Moreover, the use of adhesive labels may be problematic when working with gloved hands, as is generally the case in operating rooms.
Syringes may be pre-labeled at the time of assembly; however, pre-labeled syringes are significantly less versatile as a syringe pre-labeled for one medication may not be used to administer another medication. Accordingly, hospitals and other medical facilities must stock enough syringes for each type of medication used. Accordingly, the costs of procuring, storing and retrieving the correct pre-labeled syringe may be inordinately expensive. Moreover, the incorrect pre-labeled syringe may be inadvertently used.


A testing method includes: storing QC data for each of electronic device manufacturing processes in a storage unit; changing the QC data for each of the processes to a common fixed form of data; providing a contour for the QC data for each of the processes using the common fixed form of data; comparing a singularity map to a failure generation map for a completed device; and finding a causal process for a failure and a defect through the comparison.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a testing method and a method of manufacturing an electronic device. The present invention also relates to a testing system and a testing program.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional testing method of testing for causes of defects of electronic devices used for semiconductor device manufacturing, for example, is generally destructive. In this method, a wafer is cut at a defect point and observation of the resulting cross-section is conducted using a scanning electron microscope (SEM) or a transmission electron microscope (TEM). According to this method, preparation of a sample in which a cross-section at a defect is to be observed takes time. After the preparation, estimation of a causal process for a defect is conducted through observation of the cross-section, and such estimation is then verified by experiment. Since it takes time and is costly to determine and prevent a defect of an electronic device, simplification for the task of finding the cause of a defect of an electronic device has been in demand. A simulation method has been proposed as a means of solving such problems (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2000-195766). However, the problems described above have not yet been solved.
Those problems occur in manufacturing of electronic devices such as liquid crystal displays as well as manufacturing of semiconductors.

Testing method and method for manufacturing an electronic device


A method of changing between a Data over Cable Service Interface Specifications (DOCSIS) mode and a DOCSIS Set-top box Gateway (DSG) mode in a digital broadcast receiver, includes: performing channel searching to change into the DSG mode, and detecting a cause of a failure in securing a channel via a database upon failing to secure the channel in response to a user requesting a change of mode via a host; and recovering the DSG mode as a result of detecting the failure cause upon receiving DSG data. It is therefore possible to change from the DOCSIS mode to the DSG mode according to the state of the OpenCable digital broadcast receiver, thereby improving its capability of coping with a field.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an apparatus and method of changing between a Data Over Cable Service Interface Specifications (DOCSIS) mode and a DOCSIS Set-top box Gateway (DSG) mode in a digital broadcast receiver and, more particularly, to an apparatus and method of changing a mode in a digital broadcast receiver, capable of smoothly changing between a DOCSIS mode and a DSG mode in the broadcast receiver.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, DOCSIS, as a standard interface of a cable modem for processing input and output of data (signals) between a cable television operator and a personal or business computer or television set, is known now as "CableLabs Certified Cable Modem." DOCSIS 1.0 was ratified by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU-TS) in March of 1998.
Cable modems conforming to DOCSIS are now being marketed. However, cable operators can support their existing customers who have non-standard cable modems by adding a backwards-compatible DOCSIS card in order to handle their existing customers. As DOCSIS continues to evolve into new versions, users of the existing modems can upgrade DOCSIS to the newer versions by changing the program of the Electrically Eraseable Programmable Read-only Memory (EEPROM) in the cable modem. The cable modems supporting DOCSIS show a tendency to be integrated into set-top boxes for use with television sets, and must also support high definition television. The set-top box itself follows a standard known as OpenCable.
DSG is a transmission standard for supporting digital television in the OpenCable standard. DSG is a digital cable television data transmission standard for performing bi-directional communication, which includes performing bi-directional communication for transmission and reception with a service information server, transmission and reception with a conditional access server, and recovery function of uni-directional mode, upstream channel and downstream channel in addition to performing as a data modem through the existing DOCSIS.
Digital broadcasting includes digital terrestrial broadcasting, digital satellite broadcasting, and cable digital broadcasting according to a transmission medium. The current digital satellite broadcasting has be activated all over the world, and is being tested in the United State of America and some countries in Europe.
Digital broadcasting very efficiently compresses an amount of information of channel-specific programs on the basis of a Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) coding standard, and very efficiently multiplexes and transmits programs corresponding to a plurality of channels on the basis of transmission medium-specific digital modulation schemes. Thus, digital broadcasting can broadcast several tens to hundreds of channels without using a great deal of repeaters as in analog broadcasting.
A broadcast system for cable digital broadcasting is generally composed of a head end for transmitting a broadcast-related digital signal and receiving and processing data uploaded from a subscriber, and a set-top box for receiving a digital signal transmitted from the head end and converting the received digital signal into an analog signal to thereby reconstitute it into its original audio and video signal.
The head end refers to a main control center equipped with technical equipment capable of a cable television system receiving, creating and re-transmitting a program from a satellite or another place via a system network. The set-top box refers generally to a domestic communication terminal required for multimedia communication services inclusive of video-on-demand services.
With this configuration of the broadcast system, each System Operator (SO) creates programs, contents and other data of the cable television, or is supplied with them from creators to then transmit them to subscribers. The subscribers can watch their desired broadcast after looking at the programs or the other data transmitted from the SO.
Video and audio compression technology for use in the cable digital broadcasting employs MPEG-2 as a standard in the world. Its modulation scheme employs one digital modulation scheme, namely a Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM) scheme capable of changing an amplitude and a phase according to a digital data signal to be transmitted, which is suitable for higher-efficiency transmission of data within a limited transmission band. In particular, 64-state QAM digital frequency modulation technology is mainly used to transmit downstream data on a coaxial cable network, and supports a maximum data rate of 28 Mbps on a single 6-MHz channel.
Most technologies used in cable broadcasting are used for digital television. One difference between them is that digital television technology makes use of a wireless transmission medium while cable television broadcasting makes use of a wired transmission medium. Thus, cable broadcasting has an advantage in that it is better than the terrestrial broadcasting in bi-directional services.
The digital broadcast receiver, such as a set-top box, for digital broadcasting is a device which is mainly directed to deciphering digitalized broadcasts and management information transmitted from the head end, which is installed at a local cable television firm, for the cable television or modem services provided to the subscribers and transmitting analog signals to television receivers. The digital broadcast receiver receives the broadcast and management information from the head end, such as an audio-video server, a service information server for transmitting and receiving broadcast channel information, or a conditional access server.
The cable digital broadcast receiver for cable digital broadcasting based on the cable network includes a cable modem in many cases. The cable modem is a device for converting an analog signal into a digital signal so as to make high-speed Internet service available through a cable network. The name "modem" is proper because the cable network is an analog network like a telephone network. The telephone network is made up of copper wires, and the cable network is made up of coaxial cables or optical cables. Accordingly, the cable network has a much wider bandwidth than the telephone network. However, the cable network requires modulation and demodulation technology for converting digital into analog, and vice versa when transmitting data. It is the cable modem that is being developed to support this.
The cable digital broadcast receiver including the cable modem in cable digital broadcasting is basically composed of a plurality of broadcast channels and a single modem channel. The broadcast channel and the modem channel are distinguished by a physical frequency, and cannot overlap each other, so that they have a reciprocal exclusive relationship. Information on the broadcast channels is managed by Service Information (SI), while information on the modem channel is adapted to find its own channel via a self search process.
A cable digital broadcast system generally has a structure where a local cable broadcast station and a subscriber side are generally connected through a cable network. Subscriber-side equipment includes a cable digital broadcast receiver having a cable modem, a television (TV) receiver, etc., and local cable broadcast-side equipment includes an SI server for transmitting broadcast channel information, a CA (Conditional Access) server, a Cable Modem Termination System (CMTS), an audio-video server, a broadcast head end, etc.
Data transmitted from the local cable broadcast station to the subscriber-side equipment includes additional information such as broadcast program information except video and audio signals, and are transmitted in packets. The cable digital broadcast receiver receiving this information processes broadcast signals received by the TV receiver and by the cable broadcast station, and converts them into analog signals capable of being recognized by the TV receiver.
Hereinafter, the equipment located at the local cable broadcast station will be described first.
Devices associated with Internet signals are the CMTS, the CA server, and the SI server. These devices are interconnected via an Internet Protocol (IP) network.
The CMTS is a cable modem head end, which is device for converting data of a cable modem into an Internet data packet. The CMTS provides some functions including routing for storing local data in the cable system, filtering for protecting a cable operator from undesired hacking and traffic embodying for guaranteeing a Quality of Service (QoS) to the subscriber.
The SI server transmits channel information of the cable broadcast, program map information, event information to the subscriber side, and the CA server permits access to a specific service or content only to an authenticated user.
The devices associated with the broadcast signals include the audio-video server and the broadcast head end.
The audio-video server compresses and digitizes MPEG audio and video signals and transmits them to a subscriber-side MPEG(Host) via the broadcast head end.
The broadcast head end refers to a main control center having technical equipment for receiving, creating and re-transmitting programs from the audio-video server via the network.
The local broadcast station side constituting the abovementioned devices communicates with the cable digital broadcast receiver, adopting the CMTS and the broadcast head end as terminal points for connecting to the network.
In the case of communication between the cable digital broadcast receiver and the subscriber side, there is a signal stream from the CMTS to the subscriber side, and vice versa. In other words, communication between the cable digital broadcast receiver and the subscriber side is bi-directional.
In contrast, in the broadcast head end, there is a signal stream from the broadcast head end to the subscriber side, but not in reverse. The broadcast head end is characterized by uni-directional communication.
Equipment required to watch the cable digital broadcast on the premise includes the cable digital broadcast receiver.
The cable digital broadcast receiver is essentially composed of the cable modem, the MPEG(Host) and so forth.
The cable modem makes it possible to connect a Personal Computer (PC) to a cable TV line and receive data at a maximum data rate of 10 Mbps or so. When the cable modem is installed together with the set-top box, it is possible to watch the television. All of the cable modems should be connected to a coaxial cable of the cable television firm in to communicate with the CMTS of each local cable broadcast station. Each cable modem can transmit and receive data with respect to only the CMTS, but it cannot exchange signals with the other cable modems connected to the same line. The real bandwidth of the cable TV line for Internet services is a maximum of 27 Mbps or so downstream (from the broadcast station to the subscriber side) and 2.5 Mbps or so upstream (from subscriber side to the broadcast station).
The cable modem function of the cable digital broadcast receiver enables the Internet services of the PC of a user by connection to the user PC, and is used as a return path of a conditional access device which the cable digital broadcast receiver includes, thereby being used as a path for communicating with the CA server. When the cable digital broadcast receiver has a built-in data broadcast application, it is used as the communication path of bi-directional data broadcasting.
A standard for the cable modem is originally made to utilize a cable television network, which has been already established, to provide the Internet services. The cable network installed by each communication company supports a maximum bandwidth of 750 MHz, wherein an upstream channel and a downstream channel are used one by one. Furthermore, a frequency band uses 6 MHz per channel.
Among them, the upstream channel mainly uses a Quadrature Phase Shift Keying (QPSK) scheme, while the downstream channel mainly uses a Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM) scheme. The downstream channel uses about a maximum of 30 Mbps with a 64 QAM scheme that is widely used at present. The upstream channel uses 10 Mbps when using all of the 6 MHz bandwidths. However, the upstream channel does not use all of the 6 MHz bandwidths, but rather uses about 2.4 Mbps due to noise or other various influences. Because of this noise, the upstream channel is slower than the downstream channel. In order to protect the network equipment from the noise generated by devices installed at each home, the QPSK scheme, which is capable of reducing the noise a bit more, is used. By contrast, the downstream channel uses the QAM scheme because speed is important.
The MPEG (Host) demodulates video and audio data from the received MPEG data to enable a video and audio processor to process the demodulated data, wherein broadcast program information as additional information from the MPEG data is demodulated and transmitted to a Central Processing Unit (CPU).
The overall operation of the cable modem is as follows.
First, a frequency of a channel used for downloading is scanned. When being turned on, the cable modem automatically finds the frequency used for uploading and downloading. The frequency is different according to a cable modem operator. When the frequency is found, it is locked to the corresponding channel.
After searching and locking the frequency, the cable modem receives data containing contents of the channel used for uploading, or an Upstream Channel Descriptor (UCD), and communicates with an external network using this information. When the cable modem fails to receive the UCD, it makes an attempt at upstream channel recovery after setting a DSG unidirectional mode.
The cable modem then checks the intensity (referred to as a "level") of a signal being transmitted on uploading. When setting of the channels used for uploading and downloading is completely terminated, the cable modem provides access to a Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) server and is assigned an IP address and a gateway address. The cable modem reserves the assigned addresses and then transmits them to a LAN card of the PC.
A server supplies the cable modem assigned the IP address with a 'configuration file' which contains various information required for operation other than frequency information. The cable modem uses a protocol known as Trivial File Transfer Protocol (TFTP). The configuration file is different for each cable modem. Cable modem operators can restrict uploading and downloading speeds by using the configuration file.
The DHCP server leases the IP address to the cable modem on the basis of a preset time period (e.g., 24 hours, 12 hours, 1 hour, etc.). When the cable modem is still being used after the preset time has elapsed, the cable modem is allowed to continue to use the leased IP address. In order to calculate this time, the cable modem is supplied with a current time from a server, wherein the server is the DHCP server for the most part. When the IP address is not assigned from the DHCP server, the cable modem makes an attempt at a DSG uni-directional mode.
With a series of processes mentioned above, an environment where users can normally use Internet is set.
In an OpenCable digital broadcast system, the digital broadcast receiver operates in a DOCSIS mode as soon as the system begins to operate.
Then, when an instruction of a DSG mode is issued from a user host, the digital broadcast receiver attempts to operate in the DSG mode.
In other words, a process of searching the channel is performed for digital broadcasting. When all the channel searching processes fail to secure the channel, the digital broadcast receiver runs to the DOCSIS mode after searching the channel.
In the OpenCable digital broadcast system, the digital broadcast receiver is adapted to change the operational mode between the DOCSIS mode and the DSG mode. However, only the minimum requirements are prescribed in the OpenCable digital broadcast system, so that it is impossible to cope with exceptional cases which are generated under real various network environments and broadcast systems.

Changing mode in digital broadcast receiver


In a golf ball having a parting line formed at the junction between a pair of mold sections and a plurality of dimples some of which lie across the parting line, the average space volume Vp of the dimples lying across the parting line is greater than the average space volume Vp' of the remaining dimples lying outside the parting line and/or the average Dp/Dm of the dimples lying across the parting line is greater than the average Dp/Dm of the remaining dimples lying outside the parting line wherein Dp and Dm are the depth and diameter of dimples, respectively. The golf ball is improved in symmetry in that no substantial difference occurs in flight distance between seam hitting and pole hitting.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a dimpled golf ball free of a great circle which does not intersect with the dimples and having high symmetry.
2. Prior Art
The flying performance of golf balls is greatly affected by the arrangement and configuration (including diameter, depth and cross-sectional shape) of dimples. Various dimple arrangements are known in the art for arranging a plurality of dimples on the ball surface in an even or dense fashion. Typical known dimple arrangements are regular polyhedral arrangements. It is also known to equally divide the hemisphere into one to seven sections, especially three to six sections from its center.
It is attempted in JP-B 7875/1994 to tailor the dimple configuration such that the overall effective volume of dimples remains substantially equal between pole hitting (the spin axis is in the equator plane) and seam hitting (the spin axis is a pole-to-pole line).
Golf balls are generally molded in an axisymmetric manner by using a mold comprising a pair of mold halves, removably mating them along a parting line to define a spherical cavity therein, and introducing stock material into the cavity. The thus molded golf balls tend to have a higher degree of roundness or sphericity about a pole-to-pole axis corresponding to a line connecting the apexes of the mold half cavities, but a lower degree of roundness about an axis on a plane circumscribed by a seam line corresponding to the parting plane of the mold. Because of such roundness variation, conventional golf balls exhibit different flight performance depending on the position at which the ball is hit. Such flight performance variation raises a serious problem in the game of golf wherein the Rules of Golf prescribe that "the ball shall be played as it lies, except as otherwise provided in the Rules."
More specifically, when a golf ball is hit by a club, the ball is given back spin although the number of revolutions varies with a particular type of club. The ball hitting is generally classified into pole hitting and seam hitting depending on an impact point. Reference is now made to FIG. 4(A) and 4(B) wherein a golf ball 11 has a seam line 12 and a center 16. The pole hitting means that the ball 11 is hit at arrow 20 so as to give back spin about a straight line 18 connecting two diametrically opposed points 14, 14 on the seam line 12 and the center 16 as shown in FIG. 4(A). The seam hitting means that the ball 11 is hit at arrow 26 so as to give back spin about a straight line 24 extending perpendicular to a circular plane 22 circumscribed by the seam line 12 and passing the center 16. As previously mentioned, in the event of pole hitting shown in FIG. 4(A), the ball is susceptible to extra lift or drag since it does not define a true circle about the spin axis 18. On the other hand, in the event of seam hitting shown in FIG. 4(B), the ball is substantially free of extra lift or drag since it is close to a true circle about the spin axis 24. As a consequence, if the ball is simply designed such that the effect of dimples may be equal between pole hitting and seam hitting, the effect of dimples would be greater on pole hitting because of a deviation from roundness. Then on pole hitting, the golf ball receives extra lift or drag, exhibiting different flight performance than on seam hitting. This means that the flight performance varies with a particular hit position.
To produce a golf ball which is improved in symmetry in that the flight performance remains constant regardless of a particular hit position, the arrangement and configuration of dimples must be designed in consideration of the shape or roundness of the ball so as to optimize the effect of dimples. This requirement has not been fully satisfied.


Methods, systems, and data structures for modeling information quality are provided. Information metrics, levels of maturity, and capabilities are integrated and linked with one another to provide an information quality and maturity assessment framework and tool. The framework is visualized and traversed in one or more dimensions. Sets of three metric values are provided to the tool for generating a current information quality state of a specific information repository. A desired information quality state is selected, and the tool generates a map of intermediate information quality states needed to optimally reach the desired state from the current state.

Organizations have become increasingly dependent on information collection and analysis in today's information age. Information gathering use to be done, if at all, primarily on print media filed in various physical locations, thus making data collection and subsequent analysis a process fraught with errors and manually intensive. Today information collected on traditional print media is likely converted into various usable electronic forms and stored in an information repository.
In an effort to facilitate better information collection and analysis a variety of vendors have provided software and hardware services for collecting, storing, and analyzing information. For example, a data warehouse assimilates and indexes information from a variety of disparate information repositories (e.g., electronic files, databases, and the like) to present a single organizational view of information.
The true value of an organization's data warehouse or information repository, however, depends on information quality (e.g., collection accuracy, types and variety of data, time coverage of data collected, and usable structure of data). Value also depends on information maturity. Information maturity can be viewed as error free and robust information having an up-to-date electronic structure with information needed by an organization to maximize the organization's internal knowledge base about its business. Accordingly, the traditional phrase "garbage in garbage out" still applies in the information industry.
Organizations and the economy are continually evolving with the ever changing market. Therefore, organizations find it extremely challenging to continuously improve the quality and maturity of their legacy information because of their limited organizational time, capital, and resources. As a result, many organizations are not aware of the true value in improving the quality and maturity of their information, since taking on such an exercise appears on the surface to be painfully expensive and time consuming.
Therefore, there exist a need to provide techniques for automatically modeling information quality and maturity. With such techniques, organizations can practically and efficiently analyze, plan, and move their information quality and maturity from a current state to a more desirable state.

Methods, systems, and data structures for modeling information quality and maturity


A skin whitening composition includes an extract of asparagus obtained by sequentially exposing the asparagus to two or more solvents of varying solvent strengths. The root and shoot portions of the asparagus can be separately used to obtain the extract. The composition can be topically applied to the human skin and can further include one or more cosmetically acceptable ingredients. A method of suppressing melanogenesis includes topically applying to the skin a composition comprising an extract of asparagus obtained by sequentially exposing the asparagus to two or more solvents of varying solvent strengths.

The present invention relates to skin whitening compositions that contain an extract of asparagus. The extract can be obtained by exposing the asparagus, or a portion thereof, to a single solvent or by sequentially exposing the asparagus to two or more solvents of varying solvent strengths. The compositions are suitable for external use through topical application. The present invention further relates to the cosmetic use of such compositions, and a method of suppressing melanogenesis.
Skin color is primarily determined by the amount of melanin in the skin. Melanin is a brown-black pigment present in the skin. Due to the dark color of the pigment, lower amounts of melanin result in lighter skin color while higher amounts result in darker skin color. Melanin is formed by the oxidation of the amino acid tyrosine to dihydroxyphenalanine in melanocytes. This reaction is catalyzed by the enzyme tyrosinase.
As a result of this pivotal role of tyrosinase in melanin formation, efforts to develop effective skin whitening compositions have focused on agents that inhibit the function and activity of tyrosinase. For example, compositions have been proposed that include a variety of known tyrosinase inhibitors, such as hydroquinone, vitamin C and its derivatives, kojic acid, arbutin, glutathione, cysteine, and mulberry extract, among others. Compositions including these agents achieve a skin whitening effect through inhibition of the catalysis of the tyrosine oxidation reaction by tyrosinase.
The present inventors have discovered that certain extracts of asparagus effectively suppress the formation of melanin, melanogenesis, despite the fact that the extracts show little to no inhibition of tyrosinase activity. This result is surprising and unexpected considering the pivotal role of tyrosinase in melanogenesis and the focus of development efforts in the art to inhibit this enzyme.

Skin whitening compositions containing asparagus extract


Provided are a device and method of controlling a wearable device. The device may include a communicator configured to communicate with one or more wearable devices that are worn on a user's body and obtain physical information of the user; and a controller configured to determine wearing positions where the one or more wearable devices are worn on the user's body, to determine a type of activity (e.g., exercise) performed by the user, and to determine, as a main controlled-device based on the wearing positions, at least one wearable device that corresponds to the activity type of the user and is from among the one or more wearable devices worn on the user's body, wherein, via the communicator, the controller controls, from among the one or more wearable devices worn on the user's body, the main controlled-device differently from wearable devices excluding the main controlled-device.

The present disclosure relates to a device and method of controlling another device, and more particularly, to a device and method of controlling a wearable device that is worn on a user's body so as to obtain physical information of the body.
Recently, various types of wearable devices that may be worn on a user's body are being developed, and functions of the wearable devices are various, thus, each wearable device has a function for sensing a motion of the wearable device or a function for measuring physical variation data of a user.
In this regard, a technique of using the wearable device by interoperating with another device, so that the wearable device worn on a user's body, and the other device interoperating with the wearable device is lacking for convenient use.

Device and method of controlling wearable device


A direct digital frequency synthesizer outputting a sine signal is disclosed, comprising an accumulator, a symmetry circuit, a coarse circuit, a fine circuit and a sign circuit, wherein the accumulator sequentially outputs a sample address according to a frequency control signal. The symmetry circuit takes the complement of the sample address according to a first clock, the period of the first clock being twice the period of the first MSB of the sample address, to obtain a symmetric sample address represented by N bits. The coarse circuit connected to the symmetry circuit outputs the first M MSBs of the symmetric sample address as the first M MSBs of the sine signal. The fine circuit predicts the last N-M LSBs of the sine signal from the last N-M LSBs of the symmetric sample address according to the first M MSBs of the symmetric sample address of the coarse circuit. Then, the sign circuit outputs a sign bit of the sine signal according to a second clock, the period of the second clock being four times that of the period of the first MSB of the symmetric sample address.

In communication systems, FSK (frequency-shift-keying) modulation/demodulation systems are often used to modulate a digital signal (like 0 and 1) at transmitting terminals into an analog signal with two kinds of frequencies (like f0 and f1), and demodulate the modulated analog signal with such two kinds of frequencies at receiving terminals back to a recovered digital signal, so that the data enclosed in the modulated analog signal can be distinguished. In such modulation/demodulation systems, since the alternation frequency of the inputted digital signal between logic 0's and 1's is very fast, high-frequency noise at transmitting terminals may occur.
Therefore, GFSK modulation/demodulation systems have been designed as FIG. 1 (Prior Art) to reduce high-frequency noise introduced in conventional FSK modulation/demodulation systems. In GLPF modulation systems, an digital signal Data.sub.-- in (like 0 and 1) is first input to a Gaussian low-pass filter GLPF to obtain a frequency control word FCW, which is smoother than the inputted digital signal Data.sub.-- in and is represented by a plurality of bits according to the Gaussian low-pass filtter GLPF. The frequency control word FCW then is inputted to a direct digital frequency synthesizer DDFS to obtain a corresponding digital sine signal Sin.sub.-- out, which is outputted through the D/A converter DAC as the modulated analog sine signal Sin.sub.-- wave.
The advantages of GFSK modulation systems are:
1. A constant envelope;
2. A narrow power spectrum; and
3. Non-coherent detection.
FIG. 2 (Prior Art) is a circuit diagram of a conventional direct digital frequency synthesizer DDFS. The direct digital frequency synthesizer comprises an accumulator Acc, a sine ROM, a digital-to-analog converter DAC and a low-pass filter LPF, wherein the accumulator Acc is used to sequentially output a sample address ADDRESS according to a frequency control word FCW. The sample address ADDRESS and the frequency control word FCW can be respectively represented by L bits. The sine ROM is looked up according to the sample address ADDRESS and a corresponding digital sine signal Sin.sub.-- is outputted. Then, the digital sine signal Sin.sub.-- is output through the digital-to-analog converter DAC and the low-pass filter LPF to obtain a corresponding analog sine signal Sin.sub.-- wave and the modulated output Vo. In this case, since the sine signal has been digitized, the direct digital frequency synthesizer DDFS can avoid such problems as the ageing of components, frequency deviation, high-frequency noise interference, and can easily achieve better communication quality, interference robustness, anti-eavesdrop and extra functions. In addition, the relative phase and sign of each node in GFSK modulation/demodulation systems are also shown in FIG. 2.
However, the size of the direct digital frequency synthesizer DDFS is large because of the sine ROM. Generally, in order to reduce high-frequency noise in the direct digital frequency synthesizer DDFS, the frequency control word FCW is often represented by 16 or more bits. That is, there are 2.sup.16 sine signal samples stored in the sine ROM, therefore, as the size of the sine ROM increases high-frequency noise is reduced.
Consequently, most conventional direct digital frequency synthesizers utilize various kinds of decompositions of the sine function to reduce the number of the stored sine signal samples to thereby reduce the size of the sine ROM.
FIG. 3 (Prior Art) is a circuit diagram of another conventional direct digital frequency synthesizer using the symmetry property of the sine function. Differing from the direct digital frequency synthesizer of FIG. 2, the sample address ADDRESS outputted from the accumulator Acc is first transmitted to a symmetry circuit SYMMETRY before being transmitted to the sine ROM, and, the digital sine signal Sin.sub.-- out is first transmitted to a sign circuit SIGN before being transmitted to the digital-to-analog converter DAC.
Often, the symmetry circuit SYMMETRY is an XOR gate controlled by a clock CLOCK1 the period of which is twice that of the first MSB of the sample address ADDRESS. Furthermore, the accumulator Acc is designed to have more bits than the sample address ADDRESS. When the accumulator Acc is designed to have 16 bits and the sample address ADDRESS is the last 12 LSBs of the output of the accumulator Acc, the clock CLOCK1 can also be the last 13.sup.th LSB of the output of the accumulator Acc. In addition, the symmetry circuit SYMMETRY, which may be the XOR gate, can then the take 1's (or 2's) complement of the sample address ADDRESS to sequentially output a symmetric sample address ADDRESS' every two period 2T (T is the period of the sample address ADDRESS). That is, the symmetry circuit outputs the sample address in a period and the 1's (or 2's) complement of the sample address in the next period as the symmetric sample address ADDRESS'.
The sign circuit SIGN may be an inverter controlled by a clock CLOCK2 of which the period is four times as the first MSB of the sample address ADDRESS. The clock CLOCK1 can be the last 14.sup.th LSB of the output of the accumulator Acc in this case. And the sign circuit SIGN, which may be the inverter, can alternate the sign of the outputted modulated sine signal corresponding to the symmetric sample address ADDRESS' every four period 4T. That is, the sign circuit SIGN outputs the sign bit "1" (positive) in two periods and the sign bit "0" (negative) in the next two periods as the sign bit of the outputted sine signal Sin.sub.-- out.
FIG. 4 (Prior Art) is a diagram showing the waveform of each node of the direct digital frequency synthesizer as shown in FIG. 3. Wherein, T is the period of the sample address ADDRESS outputted by the accumulator Acc; CLOCK1 is a clock of which the period is twice the period of the first MSB of the sample address ADDRESS; CLOCK2 is a clock of which the period is four times that of the period of the first MSB of the sample address ADDRESS; ADDRESS' is the symmetric sample address outputted from the symmetry circuit SYMMETRY; Sin.sub.-- out' is the output of the sine ROM according to the symmetric sample address ADDRESS' of the symmetric circuit SYMMETRY; and Sin.sub.-- out is the output sine signal from the sign circuit SIGN.
Further, for EQU sin (x)=sin (180.degree.-x), 90.degree.<x<180.degree. EQU sin (x)=-sin (x-180.degree.), 180.degree.<x<360.degree.
the output sine signal Sin.sub.-- out obtained after inserting the symmetry circuit SYMMETRY and the sign circuit SIGN can match both the phase and sign of a real sine function. Therefore, it is necessary to store only 1/4 of the sine signal samples in the sine ROM, effectively reducing the size of the sine ROM.


Floating gate memory cell having a first layer with first and second source/drain regions and a channel region arranged between and next to the first and second source/drain regions, and a floating gate layer arranged on the first layer, wherein the first and second source/drain regions and the floating gate layer are formed of a metallically conductive material, and the channel region is formed of an electrically insulating material.

In view of the rapid developments being made in computer technology, there is a demand for ever faster and denser storage media. Among semiconductor memories, a distinction is drawn between different concepts. In the case of dynamic RAMs (Dynamic Random Access Memories), the information is stored in a storage capacitor, but this capacitor loses its charge over the course of time and therefore has to be regularly refreshed. Although DRAM memories have sufficiently fast access times, a stored item of information is lost on disconnection from the voltage source.
By contrast, the memory contents of a static RAM, SRAM (Static Random Access Memory), do not have to be constantly refreshed. However, should the supply voltage fail, the memory contents of a static RAM are lost. Although static RAM memories have short access times, the structure of a static RAM is complex and requires a relatively large number of components. Therefore, the storage densities that can be achieved with static RAMs are too low for some applications.
A non-volatile memory is distinguished by the fact that the information stored in a memory cell of this type is retained for a sufficiently long retention time (a retention time in the range of years is typically required) after a supply voltage has been switched off. A non-volatile semiconductor memory which is often used is the EEPROM (Electrically Erasable and Programmable Read Only Memory).
One important example of an EEPROM is what is known as the floating gate memory. In a floating gate memory which is known from the prior art, an electric charge is stored in a polysilicon structure, the floating gate, which is electrically decoupled from its surroundings. The floating gate is charged and discharged by means of electrical charge carriers which tunnel through a thin insulation layer between the semiconductor and the floating gate. A floating gate memory is programmed by an n+-doped silicon region below the thin insulation layer being brought to a sufficiently high electrical potential, so that the electrical field strength in the thin insulation layer comes close to the breakdown field strength. As a consequence, electrical charge carriers tunnel between the floating gate and the n+-doped silicon region beneath it. As a result, an uncompensated electrical charge remains in the floating gate, where it stays for a sufficiently long retention time even in a state in which electric voltages are no longer being applied to the floating gate memory. In the event of a read operation, the memory transistor, on account of the electrically charged floating gate, has a better electrical conductivity than with an electrically uncharged floating gate, with the information item, which is preferably binary, to be stored being coded in the value for the electrical conductivity of the memory transistor.
However, flash EEPROM cells which are known from the prior art have the drawback that the write and erase times are in the range between approximately one millisecond and approximately ten microseconds. Therefore, the write and erase times of flash memories are considerably slower than the write and erase memories of DRAM memories. By way of example, Widmann, D, Mader, H, Friedrich, H (1996) "Technologie hochintegrierter Schaltungen" [Technology of large scale integrated circuits], Chapter 8.4, Springer Verlag, Berlin, ISBN 3 540 59357 8, provides an overview of the technology of semiconductor memories.
Hitherto, high-density non-volatile memory cells have only been based on silicon. The area taken up by the known non-volatile semiconductor memory cell is in the range from 5 F2 to 8 F2, where F is the minimum feature size in one dimension which can be achieved within a technology generation.
It is known from Fujimaru, K, Matsumura, H (1996) "Theoretical Consideration of a New Nanometer Transistor Using Metal/Insulator Tunnel Junction" Jpn.J.Appl.Phys. Vol. 35, pp. 2090 2094, to form a transistor on a nanometer scale using a metal-insulator tunnel junction. In accordance with the transistor which is known from Fujimaru et al., an electrical metal-insulator-metal tunneling current is controlled by application of an electric voltage to a gate electrode, the gate electrode being arranged above the insulator. According to a computer simulation described in Fujimaru et al., the device described has a similar functionality to a conventional silicon transistor.
Furthermore, Fukushima, K, Sasajima, R, Fujimaru, K, Matsumura, H (1999) "A Novel nanoscale Metal Transistor Fabricated by Conventional Photolithography" Jpn.J.Appl.Phys. Vol. 38, pp. 7233 7236, proposes a realization of a metal transistor in accordance with the theoretical concept described in Fujimaru et al. A fabrication method for forming a metal insulator tunnel transistor (MITT), including a metallic source region and a metallic drain region as well as an electrically insulating channel region, is described using a conventional photolithography process. A gate insulator and a gate electrode are arranged on the electrically insulating channel region arranged between the metallic source region and the metallic drain region. A tunneling current through a tunnel insulator between source and drain regions can be controlled by changing the gate voltage.

Floating gate memory cell with a metallic source/drain and gate, and method for manufacturing such a floating gate memory gate cell


A fundus observation apparatus according to an embodiment comprises: a photographing part that photographs the fundus of a subject eye; a forming part comprising an optical system that irradiates signal light onto the fundus and interferes reflected light of the signal light from the fundus with reference light via a reference path and detects the resulting interference light, wherein the forming part forms a tomographic image of the fundus based on the detection result; and an analyzing part that analyzes a photographed image of the fundus from the photographing part to delete predetermined low-frequency components from the photographed image.

In recent years, OCT that forms images of the surface morphology and internal morphology of an object by using a light beam from a laser light source or the like has attracted attention. Unlike an X-ray CT apparatus, OCT is noninvasive to human bodies, and is therefore expected to be utilized in the medical field and biological field. For example, in the ophthalmology, apparatuses that form images of a fundus and a cornea are in a practical stage.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. Hei 11-325849 discloses a device to which OCT is applied. This device has such a configuration that: a measuring arm scans an object by a rotary deflection mirror (a Galvano mirror); a reference arm is provided with a reference mirror; and an interferometer is mounted at the outlet to analyze, by a spectrometer, the intensity of an interference light of light fluxes from the measurement arm and the reference arm. Moreover, the reference arm is configured to gradually change the light flux phase of the reference light by discontinuous values.
The device disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. Hei 11-325849 uses a technique of so-called "Fourier Domain OCT." That is to say, the device irradiates a low coherence light beam to an object, superposes the reflected light and the reference light to generate an interference light, and acquires the spectral intensity distribution of the interference light to execute Fourier transform, thereby imaging the morphology in the depth direction (the z-direction) of the object. The technique of this type is also called Spectral Domain.
Furthermore, the device described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. Hei 11-325849 is provided with a Galvano mirror that scans with a light beam (a signal light), and is thereby configured to form an image of a desired measurement target region of the object. This device is configured to scan with the light beam only in one direction (the x-direction) orthogonal to the z-direction. An image formed by this device is a two-dimensional tomographic image in the depth direction (the z-direction) along the scanning direction (the x-direction) of the light beam.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2002-139421 discloses a technique of scanning with a signal light in the horizontal direction (x-direction) and the vertical direction (y-direction) to form multiple two-dimensional tomographic images in the horizontal direction, and acquiring and imaging three-dimensional tomographic information of a measured range based on the tomographic images. As the three-dimensional imaging, for example, a method of arranging and displaying multiple tomographic images in the vertical direction (referred to as stack data or the like), and a method of executing a rendering process on volume data (voxel data) based on the stack data to form a three-dimensional image are considered.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2007-24677 and Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2006-153838 disclose other types of OCT devices. Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2007-24677 describes an OCT device that images the morphology of an object by scanning (sweeping) the wavelength of light that is irradiated to an object, acquiring the spectral intensity distribution by detecting interference light obtained by superposing the reflected lights of the light of the respective wavelengths on the reference light, and executing Fourier transform. Such an OCT device is called a Swept Source type or the like. The Swept Source type is a kind of the Fourier Domain type.
Further, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2006-153838 describes an OCT device that irradiates a light having a predetermined beam diameter to an object and analyzes the components of an interference light obtained by superposing the reflected light and the reference light, thereby forming an image of the object in a cross-section orthogonal to the travelling direction of the light. Such an OCT device is called a full-field type, en-face type or the like.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2008-73099 discloses a configuration obtained by applying OCT in the ophthalmic field. It should be noted that before the use of OCT, a retinal camera and a slit lamp microscope have been widely used as devices for observing a subject eye (refer to, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. Hei 9-276232 and Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2008-259544). The retinal camera is a device that photographs the fundus oculi by projecting illumination light onto the eye and receiving the reflected light from the fundus oculi. The slit lamp microscope is a device that obtains an image of the cross-section of the cornea by cutting off the light section of the cornea using slit light.
A device using OCT is advantageous compared to a retinal camera etc. with respect to the fact that it is capable of acquiring high-definition images, and is also capable of acquiring tomographic images and three-dimensional images.
In this manner, the device using OCT may be applied to the observation of various sites of the subject eye, and because high-resolution images may be obtained, it is applied to the diagnosis of various ophthalmologic diseases.
What is important not only in ophthalmology but to the general medical field is to appropriately image the region of interest. Particularly in ophthalmology, the subject eye, which is the photographing subject, has a very fine structure and accompanies eye movement; therefore, it is not easy to accurately designate the scanning location of a signal light.
Designation of the scanning location is conducted with reference to a real-time moving image (near-infrared fundus image) that uses a near-infrared light. For example, in the OCT measurement of the fundus, there is a method of scanning the fundus with a laser beam in the near-infrared region and imaging a two-dimensional distribution of the reflection intensity from each point (SLO, Scanning Laser Ophthalmoscope) and a method of photographing the fundus lit with a near-infrared light. According to the former, high resolution is achieved by a confocal optical system; however, there is a demerit in that the structure is complicated and expensive. Meanwhile, regarding the latter, it may be achieved by a simple optical system as in conventional retinal cameras; however, because confocality is not used, reflected lights (background components) from optical elements and/or from various depth locations of fundus get mixed, preventing high-resolution such as SLO from being obtained. Accordingly, techniques such as for adjusting the contrast of images, gamma adjustment, etc., are employed (for example, refer to Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2004-41371, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2004-313455, and Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. Hei 11-238129).


A mixture of liquid particles dispersed in a fluid is introduced into an upright cylindrical separator at one end of an involute channel formed therein by a coaxial spiral partition of fibrous material to flow continuously under near plug-like flow conditions in an involutional or evolutional direction. The centrifugal force of the fluid in the channel causes the particles to impinge the fibrous material, separate from the fluid, and form films of the liquid which drains by gravity to a collection at the bottom of the separator.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to fluid separation, and more particularly to a new and improved method and apparatus for separating dispersed liquid from a continuous fluid.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Many industrial processes involve contacting operations where droplets or particles of liquid are dispersed in a gas phase or in another liquid phase in the form of a mist, fog, fume, droplets or similar dispersion. The particles may vary widely in size from several hundredths of a micron to several hundred micron and their separation is often necessary to recover or purify either or both the liquid and gas components.
Some of these processes generate gas streams containing valuable entrained organic liquid compounds such as alcohols and petrochemicals, or they create hazardous workplaces with liquid particles of acids, ammonia, oils, etc. entrained in the air. Sources of oil mist, for instance, may be derived from compressed air and machine shops. Another process involves erosion of steam turbine impellers by water particles contained in steam. To prevent the particles from forming, the steam is superheated but at a significant waste of energy. There are also many industrial examples in which a dispersed liquid must be removed from a continuous liquid. Oil spills in streams, lakes, etc. and oily contaminants in drinking water are good examples.
Various devices for the physical separation of liquid particles entrained in a gas or another liquid utilize differences in physical properties such as particle size, density, velocity, wettability, and electric and magnetic characteristics. One device generates a centrifugal force to remove the liquid particles by increasing their inertial velocity in a rotating device, especially of large or heavy particles. However, this is usually not suitable for the separation of liquid particles in a gas because they may break up and vaporize upon contact with the rotating device.
Electric or magnetic force fields are also applied to liquid particles to remove them from a gas or another liquid. Electrostatic precipitation for example, effectively separates submicron-size liquid particles from a gas stream, but because of the large size of equipment required the capital investment is generally high and it is not applicable to combustible mixtures. Other electrostatic methods of separation, such as electrostatic adsorption, electrostatic filtration, electrostatic repulsion, electrostatic double-layering, elestrophoresis etc. have drawbacks similar to the above mentioned.
Another form of separator is the scrubber. It utilizes a spray chamber, spray cyclone or packed tower, in which a stream of water impinges the particles on solid surfaces. These forms can be effective for separating liquid particles insoluble in water, but it generates waste water which must also be treated before it is discharged into the environment.
Particles several microns and larger can be separated by gravity settling, direct interception and inertial deposition while smaller sub-micron particles are collected by Brownian diffusional deposition inside a fiber bed. However, the size of this type of separator is relatively large and usually requires a long particle residence time and/or high gas pressure.
Another form of separator employs a screen or filter such as a sieve, septum, or membrane in which impingement surfaces retain the liquid particles and allow the gas to pass. The particles, with their inertial forces due to the gas, strike and adhere to solid surfaces. This form is not very effective because the particles accumulated near the solid surface can prevent further flow of the gas through the screen or filter and allow the particles to reentrain if the gas velocity is high. The efficiency is also limited because the gas back-mixes inside the separator lowering the net separation rate of the particles. Furthermore, the size of equipment is relatively large for dilute mixtures.
Conventional impingement separators exist in a wide variety of forms such as disclosed in Perry's Chemical Engineers' Handbook. Sixth Edition, McGraw-Hill, Inc. .COPYRGT.01969, pp. 18-70 to 18-84. The simplest form consists of a nozzle and target of solids or a container of inert packing material through which the liquid particles and gas slowly pass. The particles impinge and collect on the solids or packing material and are removed in a route separate from the gas stream. Examples of other forms are jet impactors, wave plate separators, staggered channels, vane-type mist extractors, zigzag plate separators, staggered vane separators, baffle separators, and wire-mesh de-misters.
Impingement separators are best suited for large entrained liquid particles moving at high velocities. The efficiencies are low because there is back-mixing of flowing gas and reentrainment of the particles. Efficiencies in the range of 20% to 70% are typical in industrial operations.
For the impingement separation of fine mists or fog with liquid particles less than one micron in diameter, a cylindrical bed of randomly packed fibrous materials such as glass or polypropylene lining the inside of a vertically disposed cylindrical separator is used. The liquid-gas mixture is introduced through a side-wall, passes through the fibrous bed under pressure. The liquid particles impinge on the fibrous material and coalesce to form a continuous film which drains by gravity out the bottom of the separator while the gas exits through the top. Liquid particles one micron and larger move in the gas according to Stokes' law and separate readily from the gas upon impingement. Smaller particles move more slowly through the material in a random motion close to Brownian movement. On the average, all of the particles travel across a distance equal to half the inside diameter of the cylinder. For. mixtures having a wide range of liquid particle sizes, a larger filter area, longer residence time, and higher gas pressure are required to maintain the same separation efficiency and throughput capacity. Several impingement beds placed in series may be needed to improve efficiency, or placed in parallel to increase throughput capacity. The trade-off is more capital investment and higher operational costs.
Efforts to improve the separation efficiency of the cylindrical impingement separator have been tried by placing a fan inside the unit or rotating the cylindrical impingement filter inside in order to generate more dynamic conditions and greater centrifugal force in the gas as it flows through the fibrous bed. The fan and the rotational motion break up and vaporizes the liquid particles creating a large amount of liquid vapors in the treated gas stream. The separation efficiency of the unvaporized liquid particles may be higher but separation of the total liquid component in the gas is lower.
Some liquid particle-gas separators use both impingement and centrifugal force. One separator of this type has a number of target plates arranged in a circular fashion inside a cylindrical tank. The wet gas flows in a vortex through the spaces between the plates to produce a greater impingement effect. The separator is frequently used for treating wet steam. The steam enters the tank tangentially near the top and leaves through a central outlet, while liquid is drained from the bottom of the separator. Another type has a rotating surface which produces a vortex of the liquid particle-gas mixture before it impinges on target plates on the inside wall of a cylindrical tank. The mixture enters at the top, the gas leaves at the bottom, and the liquid particles are drained from a separate outlet near the bottom. Still another type separator has a curved baffle which creates a vortex of the incoming liquid particle-gas mixture at the top of a cylindrical tank and directs it toward target plates arranged on the inside wall for impingement. Liquid particles are drained from the bottom of the separator. Each of these separators is only effective for separating large liquid particles and not for a fine liquid mist or fog because the fine particles move at very low velocities with little or no centrifugal force. While the separation efficiency of liquid particles larger than one micron may be improved by combining centrifugal force with impingement, the investment in capital is comparatively large.
From all of the above, it is apparent that the turbulence and back-mixing of fluid inside conventional impingement separators are pervasive problems because of reentrainment of particles and low separation efficiency. Low flow rates or large residence time of gas reduces turbulence and back-mixing, but at the expense of throughput capacity. Larger equipment may handle larger flow rates, but the travel distance for the particles is increased making the equipment less efficient. Parallel or series arrangements of an equipment increases capital and operational costs. Higher operational pressures increase the transfer rate of very small particles that move by the Brownian motion, but at the expense of higher capital costs. Separation equipment designed for separation of large particles is not effective for separation of small particles, such as in a fog or fume. Impingement filters may be designed for separating particles of a wide size range, but only for very slow flow rates or very high residence time required for small particles. Centrifugal force is beneficial for impingement of large particles, but the rotating equipment used to produce the force can break up and vaporize liquid particles in contact.
Most separation principles for liquid-gas mixtures are equally applicable to separation of liquid-liquid mixtures in which one or more liquids are dispersed in another liquid except that the design and the operation of conventional separation equipment varies greatly from that for gas-liquid mixtures. Early conventional separation technology is based on coalescence by impingement followed by simple phase separation. It is effective only for separation of larger droplets, and requires a large residence time since liquid turbulence will redisperse once coalesced particle. Furthermore, the equipment must provide a large surface area for a greater rate of impingement and a shorter distance for short particle transfer times. The capital and operational costs of this technology are relatively low.
Flotation and foam separation using coagulating and flocculating agents or foaming agents are very effective and could achieve complete separation of liquid-liquid mixtures containing a very fine dispersed liquid if the turbulence and back-mixing of the liquid mixture were prevented.
For the separation of sub-micron size dispersed liquids, industry widely and very effectively uses centrifugation and membrane separation. However, at high-speeds the expenditure is relatively high. Membranes used for micro-filtration are usually made specifically for a given system for best results. In membrane filtration, only the continuous fluid is allowed to pass while the dispersed liquid particles blocked by the membrane accumulate in the fluid mixture being treated. Consequently,. pressurization of the fluid being treated and/or vacuuming of the treated liquid are often required with all attendant increases in costs of equipment and maintenance.
Electric or magnetic force fields can also be used to separate liquid-liquid mixtures, although the separation rates are usually very slow due to higher viscosities of liquid-liquid mixtures. In order to increase the separation rate and efficiency, the particle transfer distance must be shortened and the contacting surface must be increased. Furthermore, liquid turbulence inside the equipment must be prevented completely for the separation to take place. Therefore, solid surfaces and high surface-potential fields are often used for generating electrostatic attraction or repulsion forces for separation, instead of using low external fields in the liquid. Capital and operational costs of electric and magnetic separators are relatively high.

Apparatus for separating dispersed liquid from a continuous fluid


An isolation and positive shut-off system for a fuel dispensing facility having a plurality of dispensers and at least one fuel storage tank in electrical communication with one or more of the dispensers is provided comprising a power source for supplying a power signal to the dispensers and fuel storage tanks, a plurality of relays connected between the dispensers and the storage tanks and power source for selectively interrupting the electrical communications and power signals to each of the dispensers, a control signal for the relays, and a plurality of switches for independently and selectively controlling transmission of the control signal to the relays in order to trigger the relays to separately interrupt transmission of the power signal and electrical communications to each of the dispensers.

Presently, many convenience stores and service stations are of the "self-service" type, which contain dispensers for dispensing fuel products, such as gasoline or kerosene, upon the request of a customer. These stations typically have a number of fuel dispensers so that more than one customer may be serviced at a time. In addition, each of the dispensers typically includes a number of nozzles which are each connected to a separate fuel storage tank, or else includes a single nozzle with access to more than one fuel storage tank in order to dispense a number of different fuel products. To operate the dispenser, a customer activates an on/off lever or a start button to enable fuel to flow from the designated underground tank, through a fuel line, to the dispenser, and out the nozzle to a waiting vehicle or container.
At these types of refueling stations, there is typically a single control panel for controlling the operation of all of the dispensers at the station. This panel is typically operated by a station attendant from the interior of the station or store. This panel may contain controls for setting and clearing the dispensers, as well as registering the amount of fuel dispensed from each dispenser.
One problem that has arisen with these multi-dispenser service stations is that when a single dispenser requires servicing, or in the case of an accident such as a dispenser being struck by a vehicle, isolation and shut-down of all power to the individual malfunctioning or damaged dispenser cannot be accomplished without also shutting down the power to the rest of the dispensers at the station. A complete shut-down of the station, even for short periods of time, is very undesirable since during the shut-down period no fuel sales and thus no revenue generation can occur. However, by law, all fuel dispensing stations are required to have an emergency shut-off system for immediately disconnecting power to a damaged or malfunctioning dispenser in order to eliminate the risk of fire or electric shock. Without a mechanism to isolate and separately shut-off an individual dispenser, the only way to satisfy this requirement and safely repair a damaged dispenser is to shut-down all power to all of the dispensers, thus rendering the entire station inoperable.
In the past, emergency shut-down systems were primarily mechanical and relied upon mechanical switches to break the power connections to the fuel dispensers. More recently, emergency shut-off systems have been developed wherein a single stop switch with annunciator is attached to the station control panel to provide for a true isolation of all of the fuel dispensers in the case of an urgent situation at the pumps. In these types of systems, which operate on DC power, relays rather than mechanical switches are used to break the AC connections to the dispensers, thereby disconnecting the power to the dispensers. While these systems are beneficial in that they enable the emergency stop to be activated directly from the station control panel, they too have a number of problems. In particular, these systems still require that all of the dispensers at a particular station be shut-down in order to disable a single dispenser, even if only one dispenser is damaged or in need of servicing.
To avoid the financial consequences of a complete station shut-down when only a single dispenser needs repair, some station operators have resorted to disabling a breaker for the targeted dispenser to disable power to that dispenser. However, this practice is risky, since it may be difficult to determine whether the correct breaker has been disabled. Further, it may be possible for backfeed power from the underground pumps for the fuel tanks to migrate back to the supposedly "isolated" dispenser, when another dispenser connected to that same tank is operated, creating, a hazardous situation.
Thus, a need exists for a lock-out, tag-out, true isolation system for a fuel dispensing facility which enables not only the emergency shut-down of all of the dispensers at the facility, but also the isolation and shut-off of power to each dispenser individually, so that an individual dispenser can be shut-down for service or repair without interrupting the operation of the rest of the station.

Isolation and positive shut-off system for a fuel dispensing facility


A silicon-on-insulator lateral bipolar transistor having an edge-strapped base contact is disclosed. A thin layer of oxide is deposited on a silicon-on-insulator structure and a layer of polysilicon is deposited on the thin oxide layer that is patterned and etched to form an extrinsic base region of the transistor. The polysilicon extrinsic base is very heavily doped and the thin oxide layer acts as both a diffusion stop and an etch stop during the formation of the extrinsic base. A silicon edge contact region is formed of selective epitaxy or polysilicon to connect the extrinsic base to the intrinsic base formed in the silicon-on-insulator layer.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to silicon-on-insulator devices and more particularly, to lateral bipolar transistors formed on silicon-on-insulator structures.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There is renewed interest in fabricating MOSFETs and bipolar transistors on thin silicon films on insulator structures. All such structures have inherent problems that are associated with parasitic circuit elements arising from junction capacitance. These effects become a more severe problem as devices are made smaller. A way to circumvent the problem is to fabricate devices in small islands of silicon on an insulating substrate. In such devices, junction capacitances are minimized, as devices can be placed closer to each other, because isolation is eliminated. In addition, such devices are more resistant to soft errors. Furthermore, silicon-on-insulator devices are potentially faster and more reliable. It is furthermore possible to obtain high performance complementary bipolar devices on such films. The processes for fabrication of bipolar and MOS transistors on silicon-on-insulator (SOI) structures are highly compatible.
The initial approach to fabricating such structures is to grow silicon epitaxially on a substrate of sapphire. An example of such a device can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,050,965, which describes the process for the simultaneous fabrication of a CMOS transistor and a bipolar device formed laterally in the epitaxial layer. Another example of a bipolar device formed in a silicon-on-insulator structure can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,792,837 which discloses an orthogonal bipolar device in which the base and collector are formed in a first layer of silicon and the emitter is formed in a second layer of silicon deposited directly on the base region. Another lateral bipolar transistor is described by Dennard et al. in IBM Technical Disclosure Bulletin, Vol. 32, No. 6B, November 1989, which discloses an elevated base contact of heavily doped polysilicon formed on the active silicon layer.
An example of the device proposed by Dennard et al. is shown in FIG. 1 herein. FIG. 1 depicts device 10 having a substrate 12 on which is formed an oxide layer 14. A layer of silicon 16 is formed on oxide layer 14 and is lightly doped. The elevated extrinsic base-contact 18 is formed by a deposition of a heavily doped p-type polysilicon film and patterning by lithographic techniques. Patterned photoresist masking techniques are used to introduce p-type doping into layer 16 to form intrinsic base 20, and to introduce n-type doping to form collector 22 and emitter 24. Insulating side wall spacers 26 and 28 are formed on the edges of the extrinsic base contact by well-known insulator deposition and reactive-ion-etching methods.
While the Dennard et al. device has lower base and emitter resistances than conventional structures and most junction capacitances are reduced, thereby improving the device speed, the structure suffers from several drawbacks. The base polysilicon has to be as heavily doped as possible to achieve low base resistance. Furthermore, this doping has to be done before emitter drive-in and the intrinsic base doping. During these steps, there is a potential for the base dopant to diffuse into the lightly doped collector region. In the fabrication of an NPN transistor, it is very difficult to control the p.sup.+ diffusion depth from the polysilicon into the underlying silicon. In a thin SOI film, this problem is aggrevated. A second problem is due to lack of an etch stop for the polysilicon etching step. When the base is patterned, there is no etch stop between the polysilicon and single crystalline silicon, thus there is a possibility of etching into the single crystal silicon film. This is a major problem when thin epitaxial films are used. In addition, the structure has a very large base-collector capacitance, caused by overlap between the heavily doped base and the lightly doped collector.

SOI lateral bipolar transistor with edge-strapped base contact and method of fabricating same


Electronic device assemblies and methods including an organic substrate based space transformer are described. One assembly includes a space transformer comprising an organic substrate. The assembly also includes a carrier on which the space transformer is positioned, and a clamp positioned to couple the space transformer to the carrier. The assembly also includes a probe array positioned on the space transformer, wherein the space transformer is positioned between the probe array and the carrier. The assembly also includes a printed circuit board, wherein the carrier is positioned between the printed circuit board and the space transformer. The assembly also includes electrical connections to electrically couple the space transformer to the printed circuit board. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

Semiconductor devices are often tested to ensure their functionality. Testing may be carried out at the wafer level, prior to individual chips being diced apart and packaged. Wafer level testing may include the use of test probes that are brought into electrical contact with pads on the devices to be tested. Such testing of devices on the wafer is commonly known as "wafer sort". Devices that fail the testing may be marked and sorted accordingly during a subsequent wafer dicing process.
A wafer sort assembly may include a number of components, including, but not limited to, a probe head coupled to a printed circuit board (PCB) that acts as a sort interface unit (SIU). The PCB is electrically coupled to a tester. The probe head may include test probes that are electrically coupled to a space transformer that is electrically coupled to the PCB. The space transformer generally serves as a pitch transfer medium from a high-density first level interconnect (FLI) to a lower density second level interconnect (SLI). The space transformer proves an electrical path between the FLI and the SLI with internal routing, through which the FLI inputs/outputs (I/Os) are routed through the space transformer and printed circuit board (PCB) to the tester. A force retainer plate (FRP) structure may be utilized to serve as datum and loading frame for the SIU.

Organic space transformer attachment and assembly


This invention relates to a process for the production of aldehydes/alcohols and alkyl benzene. According to the invention, a hydrocarbon feed stream containing olefins and paraffins having an average number of carbon atoms from 10 to 18 per molecule, typically derived from the condensation product of a Fischer-Tropsch reaction is subjected to a hydroformylation reaction to provide a hydroformylation product containing aldehydes/alcohols and paraffins. An aldehyde/alcohol product is separated from the paraffins in the hydroformylation product to provide an aldehyde/alcohol product stream and a paraffin stream. The paraffin stream separated from the hydroformylation product is then subjected to a dehydrogenation reaction to form a dehydrogenation product containing olefins and paraffins, and the dehydrogenation product is subjected to an alkylation reaction to convert olefins to alkyl benzene.

This invention relates to a process for the co-production of alcohols and alkyl benzenes, typically those in the detergent range.
Detergent range alcohols are alcohols, usually in the C8 to C20 range, (i.e. from 8 to 20 carbon atoms in the molecules) that are useful in the manufacture of detergents and surfactants.
Detergent range alcohols are commercially produced from the condensate product of a high temperature Fischer-Tropsch reaction, employing an iron based catalyst. Typically a feed stream consisting predominantly of olefins is recovered from such a Fischer-Tropsch reaction by distillation. The feed stream from the Fischer-Tropsch reaction is fractionated into a stream containing olefins in the 2C range, which is introduced to a hydroformylation reactor in which the olefins are converted to aldehydes (in the case of modified-Rh) or alcohols (in the case of modified-Co). The aldehydes/alcohols are then separated from paraffins in the stream. The resulting aldehydes/alcohols are in predominantly the 2C range.
The condensate products of iron catalysed high temperature Fischer-Tropsch reactions have relatively high concentration of olefins, relative to total volume of hydrocarbon products. Such high concentrations of olefins can be recovered economically by means of distillation or other separation techniques. However, when a relatively low concentration of olefins is produced, the cost of recovery thereof could even exceed the value generated by converting olefins to alcohols.
However, it has now surprisingly been found that alcohols and alkyl benzene can advantageously be co-produced from a Fischer-Tropsch derived feedstock, when the Fischer-Tropsch process is integrated with a hydroformylation and alkylation process.
It is an object of this invention to provide an improved method for the production of alcohols and alkyl benzene, typically those used as detergent precursors.


A crash pad for an instrument panel includes a crash pad skin forming an external surface of the instrument panel and positioned on the upper part of a gauge board of a vehicle, a crash pad core attached to the lower surface of the crash pad skin, the crash pad core configured to withstand impact, and a lower frame forming an impact absorbing space that attenuates impact transmitted to the crash pad core, the lower frame attached to the lower surface of the crash pad core and fixed to a cluster facia.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a crash pad for an instrument panel, and more particularly to a main crash pad for an instrument panel, which comprises a crash pad core including an acrylonitrille butadiene styrene (ABS) panel and a polycarbonate (PC) panel, and a lower frame made of polypropylene fumarate (PPF) of urethane series and attached to the lower surface of the crash pad core, thereby improving impact resistance.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, an instrument panel is a molded product made of synthetic resin and installed on an upper part of a center facia, in which an audio system or an air conditioning unit is installed. A front part of a driver's seat, in which a gauge board is installed, is made from a crash pad made of a rigid compound material so that the front part can withstand impact and protect a driver from impact when a vehicle collides with an object.
A crash panel is a molded structure made of plastic, and comprises a main crash pad installed for maintaining the shape of the crash panel, a urethane foam member positioned on the outer surface of the main crash pad, and a skin member attached on the outer surface of the urethane foam member.
FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view illustrating installation of a conventional crash pad for vehicles.
A conventional instrument panel (A) comprises a main crash pad 2 positioned on the upper part of a gauge board-receiving portion 10 and formed by plastic injection molding for maintaining the shape thereof, a urethane foam 4 covering the external surface of the main crash pad 2 and serving as a cushion, and a skin 6 having a small thickness and covering the external surface of the urethane foam 4.
A protruded portion 8 for intercepting a gauge board installed on the gauge board-receiving portion 10 is formed on the main crash pad 2.
In order to increase impact resistance and absorb impact, the above conventional main crash pad has a large thickness and includes the urethane foam therein, thereby having a heavy weight and increasing production costs.