Provided is a rotating electrical machine including an armature core on which an armature winding is wound; a rotor core which is supported by a rotation axis at a predetermined air gap in an inner diameter side of the armature core, and includes claw-shaped magnetic pole portions in which adjacent magnetic poles have different poles and a cylindrical portion having a field winding; and a permanent magnet which is provided in a magnetic circuit of the rotor core and supplies magnetic flux to the armature core with the field winding, wherein a magnetic short-circuiting mechanism for demagnetizing the magnetic flux of the permanent magnet by deforming a portion of the magnetic short-circuiting mechanism by a centrifugal force and short-circuiting between the magnetic pole portions of the rotor core is provided in the rotor core.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a rotating electrical machine having a permanent magnet for supplying magnetic flux to an armature core in cooperation with a field winding in a rotor.
2. Description of the Related Art
For example, in a charging generator (alternator) for a vehicle, in order to increase an electrical load necessary for the vehicle or improve fuel consumption due to a light weight, a high output, a small size, and a light weight are required. In order to address such requirements, by adding a magnetizing force due to a permanent magnet to the magnetic field of the generator, leakage magnetic flux between magnetic poles is reduced and efficient magnetic flux increases to improve an output. However, in the generator having such a configuration, even if electrical generation is performed only by the magnetic flux of the permanent magnet without flowing field current, generated electrical energy exceeds the electrical load at the time of a small electrical load and high rotation and thus a battery may be damaged due to overcharging or an abnormal voltage may be applied to the electrical load to be damaged.
Japanese Patent 3063106 discloses a generator including a permanent magnetic and a field winding in a magnetic field, in which magnetic flux passing through an armature core, that is, linked to an armature coil, increases or decreases by changing a value of field current flowing in a field winding and a flow direction thereof such that an output voltage is adjusted to an adequate value to prevent an over-voltage from being generated.
However, in the technology disclosed in Japanese Patent 3063106, a rotor includes two kinds of rotors, that is, a first rotor including at least the field winding and a second rotor including the permanent magnet. Thus, the structure thereof is complicated and weight or cost increases. In addition, since a switching means for switching the flow direction of the field current is further included, the cost more increases.
Furthermore, when the rotor rotates at a high speed and an electrical load is small, in order to suppress the over-voltage from being generated, there is a problem that the current must continuously flow in the field winding in a direction for reducing the magnetic flux of the permanent magnet and thus power consumption increases.


A casing tube of a vibration damper is provided with a connecting sleeve extending substantially radially from the radially outer circumferential surface of the casing tube. At the location where the connecting sleeve is fastened to the casing tube, the casing tube is provided with a planar face area.

This invention refers to a vibration damper. Such vibration dampers are used in motor vehicles for damping the oscillations between the body work of the motor vehicle on the one hand and the wheels of the motor vehicles on the other hand.
More particularly the invention refers to the so-called twin tube vibration dampers or oscillation dampers which comprise a pressure tube and a casing tube surrounding the pressure tube.
In modern vibration dampers it is frequently necessary to provide on the radially outer side of the casing tube a flow control unit and more particularly a bypass valve unit. This flow control unit is used for controlling the flow of a damping fluid within the vibration damper. The flow control unit can be controlled by external signals, for example, electrical signals such as to alter the flow conditions of the damping fluid within the vibration damper. For example, it is possible to provide such a flow control unit in a bypass flow path bypassing a primary flow path which extends through a piston unit of the vibration damper. By opening or closing the flow control unit the bypass flow path can be either opened or closed. Opening of the bypass flow path has the effect that a softer damping station is obtained, whereas closing of the bypass flow path has the effect of obtaining a harder damping.
The flow control units and, more particularly, bypass valve units are frequently to be provided on a radially outer surface of the vibration damper and more particularly on the radially outer surface of a casing tube in case of a twin tube vibration damper.


An improved orthodontic accessory for transmitting corrective forces from a corrective force generation device to an orthodontic bracket securable on a tooth generally includes a pin interconnected at one end with a channel defining member. The pin is insertable in a pin receiving slot of an orthodontic bracket also having a primary arch wire slot for receiving an arch wire therethrough. The bracket may be an Edgewise orthodontic bracket and the pin receiving slot may extend vertically. The channel defining member defines a channel, which extends laterally in at least one of a mesial and a distal direction and which may be closed, for receiving a corrective force generation device therethrough. Corrective forces applied by the corrective force generation device to the channel defining member are transmittable to the orthodontic bracket by the pin. A method of applying corrective forces to a patient's tooth involves attaching an orthodontic bracket to the tooth, inserting the pin of the disclosed orthodontic accessory device into a vertically extending slot of the bracket, and engaging a corrective force generation device in the channel of the accessory device. A portion of the pin may be bent to secure the accessory device to the bracket, and, after the corrective forces are applied to the tooth for a period of time, the corrective force generation device may be disengaged from the channel and the pin may be removed from the vertically extending slot to remove the accessory device from the bracket.

Traditionally orthodontic treatment involves the application of corrective forces to one or more of a patient's teeth in order to move and properly align the teeth. Orthodontic brackets secured on the teeth are often used to transmit corrective forces generated by other orthodontic auxiliary devices to the teeth. The corrective forces may be generated by corrective force generation devices, such as springs, wires, hooks, rubber bands, torquing auxiliaries, cuspid retraction devices and the like.
Brackets known in the art are typically classified as an Edgewise type bracket or a Lightwire type bracket. Edgewise brackets are characterized by their relatively wide mesial-distal extent and a labially opening, horizontal slot defined between one or more pair of opposing tie wings for receiving an arch wire therethrough. The arch wire is often retained in the slot by a steel or elastomeric ligating device. Lightwire brackets are characterized by their relatively narrow mesial-distal extent and a vertical slot for receiving a pin used to retain an arch wire in an occlusal facing opening of the Lightwire bracket. Often the Lightwire pins include auxiliary means for dynamically acting between the Lightwire bracket and the arch wire.
As modern orthodontic techniques have evolved, Edgewise brackets having Lightwire type vertical slots have become available. Relatedly, special cuspid brackets adapted for use with cuspid retractor devices exist. Known cuspid retractor brackets often include a labially opening, horizontal slot for receiving an arch wire therethrough and a another horizontal, integral gingival auxiliary tube for receiving a cuspid retraction device mesial-distally therethrough.
To apply appropriate corrective forces to a patient's tooth, a practitioner typically mounts an appropriate bracket on the tooth, secures an arch wire in the arch wire slot (e.g., with a ligature), and if necessary, employs another suitable corrective force generation device. For example, when a practitioner wishes to move a cuspid distally, the practitioner may secure a special cuspid bracket on the cuspid and employ a special cuspid retraction device that engages the horizontal, integral gingival auxiliary tube of the cuspid bracket.
Sometimes, in order to achieve different treatment objectives, different suitable corrective force generation devices must be installed in the auxiliary slot of a bracket at different times during the treatment period. Furthermore, at certain times during the treatment period, only the arch wire may be required and additional corrective force generation devices may be removed.

Orthodontic accessory for corrective force application to orthodontic bracket


Boride thin films of conducting and superconducting materials are formed on silicon by a process which combines physical vapor deposition with chemical vapor deposition. Embodiments include forming boride films, such as magnesium diboride, on silicon substrates by physically generating magnesium vapor in a deposition chamber and introducing a boron containing precursor into the chamber which combines with the magnesium vapor to form a thin boride film on the silicon substrates.

Integrated circuits using superconductors are more suitable for ultrafast processing of digital information. Niobium (Nb) based superconductor integrated circuits using rapid single flux quantum (RSFQ) logic have demonstrated the potential to operate at clock frequencies beyond 700 GHz. However, the Nb-based circuits must operate at temperatures close to 4.2 Kelvin (K), which requires heavy cryocoolers with several kilowatts of input power, which is not acceptable for most electronic applications. Circuits based on high temperature superconductors (HTS) would advance the field. However, reproducible HTS Josephson junctions with sufficiently small variations in device parameters have proved elusive despite 16 years after the discovery of HTS.
The success in HTS Josephson junctions has been limited due to the lack of an adequate thin film technology. Because superconducting integrated circuits utilize a multilayer structure including superconducting, insulating and resistive films, an in situ process in which the HTS is formed directly on the substrate is desirable.
The newly-discovered superconductor material magnesium diboride (MgB2) holds great promise for superconducting electronics, in part, because of its relatively high transition temperature (Tc), at which temperature the respective material becomes superconducting and changes in electrical resistance from a measurable or relatively high value of resistance to a value of zero. This temperature for MgB2, in bulk, can be as high as 39 K. Like the conventional superconductor Nb, MgB2 is a phonon-mediated superconductor with a relatively long coherence length. These properties make the prospect of fabricating reproducible uniform Josephson junctions more favorable for MgB2 than for other high temperature superconductors.
A problem encountered in depositing MgB2 thin films, however, is that sufficient magnesium vapor pressure is necessary to provide for a thermodynamically stable MgB2 phase at elevated temperatures. This problem is complicated when forming boride thin films on substrates containing silicon because of magnesium's propensity to chemically react with silicon at high temperatures. Indeed, previous thermodynamic calculations and investigations indicate that it is not possible to grow magnesium diboride thin films on a silicon substrate (T. He, R. J. Cava and J. M. Rowell, "Reactivity of MgB2 with common substrate and electronic materials", Appl. Phys. Lett., vol. 80, 2002, 291–293). Magnesium's reactivity with silicon and silicon oxides leads to magnesium-silicon and magnesium-silicon-oxide compounds that contaminate the silicon surface and, in extreme situations, prevents usable magnesium boride films on silicon substrates.
Accordingly, a continuing need exists for the efficient manufacture of boride thin films on silicon. It is further desirable to form high purity, super conducting boride films on silicon by an in situ process to facilitate fabrication of semiconductor electronic components.


The invention provides methods and compositions for treating lactose intolerance. In embodiments, the invention provides methods and composition for decreasing symptoms of lactose intolerance by administering to an individual suffering from lactose intolerance increasing doses of lactose using a protocol such that at the end of treatment the individual's symptoms of lactose intolerance are decreased and such that symptoms remain decreased after a period of time.

According to several sources, there are 30 to 50 million people in the world who are lactose intolerant. In the 1960's and 1970's, it was reported that 70% of the adults in the world had lactose intolerance. In 1995, it was reported that 75% of the adults in the world and 25% of the adults in the U.S. were categorized as being lactose intolerant. In 1994, it was reported that 75% of African Americans and Native Americans and 90% of Asian Americans had lactose intolerance. It has also been reported that 30% of adults who are mostly North Western and North American descendants of the Europeans, have adapted to high lactase activity into adulthood. Research concludes that this adaption is genetically controlled, permanent and related to a long tradition of milk and milk products consumption in these regions of the world.
If an individual suspects that he has lactose intolerance, it is potentially harmful for him to restrict his diet since it may result in a nutrition shortage or a failure to detect a more serious disease. Mile and other diary products are major sources for nutrition in the basic American diet. The primary nutrients in milk are protein, calcium, riboflavin, vitamin A, and vitamin D. Calcium is an important part of the recommended daily allowances of vitamins and minerals and any deficiency therein can lead to osteoporosis.
Lactose is not digested when the amount of lactose consumed exceeds the lactase enzyme capacity of the small intestine. Instead, excess undigested lactose passes through the small intestines into the large intestine where it is fermented by a bacteria called colinic flora. The fermentation of the lactose in the large intestine produces hydrogen and methane which can lead to bloating, gas, and diarrhea. These symptoms are caused by a very low activity of lactase in the intestines.
Young children who have lactose intolerance are very rare. The amount of lactase enzyme a body produces generally reaches a maximum immediately after birth and then decreases in the majority of people after their body adjusts during the ages of 3-15. A stool test is used to test lactose intolerance in young children. For young children, the breath test is not as accurate because they usually have a tendency to get dehydrated which can cause diarrhea.
The reasons for an onset of lactose intolerance are generally unknown. However, there is a general belief that by consuming small amounts of lactose frequently over a period of time, lactose intolerance can be improved. Whole milk and chocolate milk appear to be tolerated better than low fat milk because the fat content of whole milk and chocolate milk slows the rate of gastric emptying. Previous attempts at improving the symptoms of lactose intolerance have met with some success. See, e.g., Published U.S. Patent Application No. 0020034496 The present invention builds upon this previous success.

Methods and compositions for treating lactose intolerance


A low-dropout (LDO) regulator and an associated method and apparatus are described. The LDO regulator generally includes a first transistor coupled between an input voltage node and an output voltage node of the LDO regulator. The LDO regulator further includes a first amplifier having an output coupled to a gate of the first transistor, wherein a feedback path couples the output voltage node to an input of the first amplifier. The LDO regulator further includes a second amplifier having an output coupled to an enable input of the first amplifier, wherein a voltage-sensing path couples the input voltage node to an input of the second amplifier. The LDO regulator further includes and a second transistor coupled between the gate of the first transistor and a reference potential node, the output of the second amplifier being coupled to a gate of the second transistor.

A voltage regulator ideally provides a constant direct current (DC) output voltage regardless of changes in load current or input voltage. Voltage regulators may be classified as linear regulators or switching regulators. While linear regulators tend to be small and compact, many applications may benefit from the increased efficiency of a switching regulator. A linear regulator may be implemented by a low-dropout (LDO) regulator, for example. A switching regulator may be implemented, for example, by a switched-mode power supply (SMPS), such as a buck converter, a boost converter, or a buck-boost converter.
Power management integrated circuits (power management ICs or PMICs) are used for managing the power requirement of a host system. A PMIC may be used in battery-operated devices, such as mobile phones, tablets, laptops, wearables, etc., to control the flow and direction of electrical power in the devices. The PMIC may perform a variety of functions for the device such as direct-current (DC)-to-DC conversion, battery charging, power-source selection, voltage scaling, power sequencing, etc. For example, a PMIC may be used for voltage regulation and may feature an LDO regulator.

Low quiescent current low-dropout regulator (LDO)


This invention relates to an improved lever driven bicycle including a shifting mechanism for controlling a drive ratio between the oscillating lever and the drive wheel. The drive lever arrangement may be located about the front or rear wheels of the bicycle and, when about the rear wheel, may include a sole lever or dual levers. The drive lever arrangement includes a drive lever, a force applicator, a shifting mechanism, and a force converter which together transform the oscillating displacement of the lever to a rotation of the drive wheel. The shifting mechanism includes a slide block located about the lever which engages with the drive lever upon downward motion of the drive lever and controllably slides along the drive lever upon upward motion of the drive lever. The position of the slide block corresponds to a drive ratio between the drive lever and the drive wheel.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to bicycles specially designed for physically disabled riders, and more particularly to lever driven bicycles having simple shifting mechanisms for controlling the drive ratio between the lever and a drive wheel.
2. Description of Related Art
Typical bicycles are driven by crank systems which utilize unidirectional rotational movement to propel the bicycle drive wheel. Such unidirectional rotational movement results in a varying torque from zero, to a maximum, and back again to zero, for each half revolution. This motion is necessitated by the conventional crank design which includes a continuous chain that is received about a crank and a sprocket. Conventional bicycles also include shifting mechanisms which adjust the drive ratio between the crank and sprocket by controllably locating the chain about selected sprockets of different diameter.
These conventional crank driven bicycles with their varying torque are difficult or impossible to ride for those with certain physical disabilities, such as an amputee with only one leg, a person having one leg weaker than another, or possibly even a paraplegic who only has the use of his or her arms.
One possible solution to assist the physically disabled in riding a bicycle includes the design of a lever driven bicycle. Various lever driven bicycles have been designed which replace the conventional rotational drive with the oscillating displacement of a lever. Such lever driven bicycles utilize a dual lever arrangement in with each lever is oscillated individually by each leg of the rider. An example of this type of lever driven bicycle can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 3,039,790 to Trott. Lever driven bicycles have also been designed with shifting mechanisms which allow for manual control of the drive ratio between the lever and the drive wheel. In particular, U.S. Pat. No. 3,834,733 to Harris and U.S. Pat. No. 4,421,334 to Efros both disclose lever driven bicycles having shifting arrangements which allow the rider to manually adjust the drive ratio between the lever and drive wheel.
While the oscillating motion of the lever driven bicycle is more preferable for the physically disabled rider because of its substantially constant torque and less cumbersome linear movement, the lever driven bicycles to date still do not produce the efficient drive and ease of power application required by many persons with physical disabilities.
In light of the foregoing, there is a need for an improved lever driven bicycle which is uniquely designed to address the needs of the physically disabled.


Described herein are multi-segmented nanowires, nanosheets and nanobelts, and devices and methods using them for the generation of multicolor and white light.

Alloying two semiconductors of different bandgaps generally results in a semiconductor of bandgap different from that of either original constituent. Varying the relative compositions of the two constituents will lead to the corresponding change in bandgap. This has long been one of the standard methods of achieving a bandgap (and thus the operating wavelength of an optical device) that is not provided by naturally-occurring semiconductors. Unfortunately, this method of achieving wavelength variability is severely limited by existing methods of growing planar epitaxial heterostructures of semiconductor thin films on a crystalline substrate. Such methods invariably require a close match of lattice constants of the substrate and the materials to be grown (or a means of relieving the strain due to lattice mismatch). The very limited lattice constant mismatch required for growing high quality wafers has been the main obstacle of making semiconductor-based optoelectronic devices (such as lasers, detectors, multicolor detectors and solar cells) with controllable and widely variable (or tunable) operating wavelengths. With the advent of nanowire based technology, such restrictions are removed or are very much relaxed, depending on the method of growth. For epitaxial growth of nanowires, the relaxed requirement of lattice matching has led to the growth of materials with a mismatch as large as 8%. InP, GaAs, and other III-V nanowires have been epitaxially grown on Si (see, Martensson et al., Nano Lett. 4, 1987-1990 (2004)) and InAs and InP nanowires have been grown into nanowire heterostructures (see, Bjork et al., Nano Lett. 2, 87-89 (2002)) despite large lattice mismatches. In addition, nanowires can also be grown using an amorphous substrate as simply a mechanical support, allowing alloy nanowire growth with a much larger range of composition variation than is possible with planar growth technologies.
Multicolor lasing and dynamic color-tuning in a wide spectrum range are critically important in many areas of technology and daily life, such as general lighting, display, multicolor detection, and multi-band communication. Multicolor laser sources have an extremely wide range of applications including color display, general lighting, biological detection, holographic imaging and 3-D projection. Color display itself is important in many aspects of technology and daily life. One important advantage of multicolor lasers for color display is the more widely available color range, or color gamut, compared to the currently existing display technologies based on incoherent sources, such as cathode ray tube (CRT) and organic light emitting diode (OLED). The large spectral linewidth of incoherent light sources degrades the color purity and leads to a small color gamut. As coherent light sources, multicolor lasers render high purity monochromic colors and thus can extend the color range significantly if proper wavelengths are chosen. For lighting and illumination applications, the combination of four separate lasers with specifically selected wavelengths can achieve the large chromaticity range and similar color rendering ability as state-of-the-art LEDs or phosphors, even though lasers contain only a series of narrow emission lines. For many of the above applications that require high power output, multicolor lasers offer great advantages due to the much higher wall-plug efficiency than incoherent LED sources, thus leading to greater energy efficiency. While the importance of multicolor lasers and dynamical color control has been well-recognized for a long time, the realization of such sources has been challenging due to several technology barriers.
Multicolor lasers that are necessary for all these critical applications mentioned above require color ranges with widely separated wavelengths, or even across the entire visible spectrum. Such multicolor lasers are fundamentally different from multimode lasers. A multimode laser is conventionally made of a single semiconductor and relies on cavity structure to generate multiple lasing wavelengths corresponding to various cavity modes. Since these multiple modes are all supported by the same gain material, their separation is limited within the gain bandwidth of a semiconductor, typically in the range of 1-30 nm. Such a wavelength range is smaller than usually desired for display or lighting applications. Thus, multicolor lasers require integration or monolithic growth of multiple gain materials, or semiconductor alloys of different alloy compositions. This requirement poses a formidable challenge for traditional planar epitaxial technology due to the large degree of lattice mismatch typically involved. In addition to material challenges, cavity design is also a crucial issue when multiple gain materials are involved in a single integrated structure. This is because the light emitted by the wide-gap materials will be absorbed by the narrow-gap materials. Thus lasing is typically achieved only in the longest wavelength of the structures.
Although various semiconductor alloy nanowires of different compositions have been achieved under separate growth conditions, it is both challenging and important to achieve a full-range composition variation within a single substrate in a single run of growth. To achieve fully tunable lasing within the entire composition range on a single substrate would be even more appealing and challenging.
Therefore there exists a need in the art to provide semiconductor compositions and structural assemblies which enable continuously tunable bandgap on a single substrate. Further, methods for preparing the same which enable straightforward preparation of such semiconductor structures in a single step are needed in the art.

Multi-bandgap semiconductor structures and methods for using them

ARIZONA BOARD OF REGENTS, A BODY CORPORATE OF THE STATE OF ARIZONA ACTING FOR AND ON BEHALF OF ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY


Aspects of the subject disclosure provide a card reader for receiving payment card information at a mobile point-of-sale terminal. In some implementations, a reader of the subject technology can include a memory, a conditioning module and a 3.5 mm audio plug including an audio bus that is configured for insertion into a headphone port of a host device, such as a smart phone or tablet computer. Implementations of the subject technology also include a microprocessor configured to perform operations for tuning communication parameters. That is, upon connection of the reader device to the host computing device, the devices can engage in an exchange of carrier waves which the devices exchange can used to not only determine and negotiate operational parameters for the devices that support a highest possible connection speed with acceptable connection quality.

An increasing number of hardware attachments are available to expand upon the functional capabilities of mobile computing devices, such as smart phones. In some instances, card reader attachments, which enable the reading of payment information from a magnetic strip (such as a credit card), can be coupled to a host device via a standard 3.5 mm headphone port. However, due to limitations in transmitting data over such audio ports, some conventional card readers do not possess bi-directional communication capabilities. One impediment to bidirectional reader communication is the wide variation in configurations between different types of host devices. For example, different smart phones or tablet computers can possess a large degree of variation in the way they send and receive audio signals.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Audio signaling training for bidirectional communications


Disclosed is an apparatus for modifying a semiconducting thin layer, which has: a hermetically sealed container having a substrate mount section for mounting thereon a substrate with an amorphous semiconducting thin layer formed thereon, and a light transmissive window for introducing a laser beam; laser beam irradiation means for heat-melting the amorphous semiconducting thin layer; holding means for fixing and holding the substrate on the substrate mount section; and pressure control means which regulates the flow rate of gas fed into the hermetically sealed container to control the pressure of the atmosphere within the hermetically sealed container at the time of irradiation with the laser beam at a value above a vapor pressure specified by the temperature of the heat-melted amorphous semiconducting thin layer.

The invention relates to an apparatus for transforming a semiconducting thin layer, and more particularly to an apparatus for transforming a semiconducting thin layer, utilizing a laser crystallization method (a method wherein an amorphous semiconductor material deposited on a substrate is crystallized with laser irradiation).
Field-effect thin film transistors (TFTs) provided on a glass substrate or the like have hitherto been extensively used, for example, as driving elements for displays, sensors, and printing devices. Representative technology for forming such TFT include a hydrogenated-amorphous silicon TFT technology and a polycrystalline silicon TFT technology.
In the former method, the highest temperature of the preparation process is about 300xc2x0 C., and a carrier mobility of about 1 cm2/Vsec is realized. This method is used in the production of switching transistors for each pixel in active matrix (AM-) liquid crystal displays (LCDs). AM-LCD has a driving TFT for each pixel and drives TFT of each pixel is driven by peripheral integrated circuit around the display area(IC; LSI formed on a monocrystalline silicon substrate). Since a switching TFT is provided on each pixel, as compared with passive matrix LCD wherein a liquid crystal driving electric signal is sent from a peripheral driver circuit, AM-LCD features a reduction in cross talk and the like and the realization of good image quality.
On the other hand, the latter method uses, for example, a quartz substrate, and the use of a high-temperature process similar to LSI using a temperature of about 1,000xc2x0 C. can provide a performance of 30 to 100 cm2/Vsec in terms of carrier mobility. The realization of this high carrier mobility, when this method is applied, for example, to liquid crystal displays, enables pixel TFT for driving each pixel and a peripheral drive circuit section to be simultaneously formed on a single glass substrate. This can lead to advantages associated with a reduction in production process cost and a reduction in size of LCD. That is, connecting TFT to peripheral drive circuits through tab connection or wire bonding according to a prior art method is difficult to cope with a reduction in pitch of connection between the AM-LCD substrate and the peripheral driver integrated circuit due to the reduction in size of LCD and the increase in resolution. The above polycrystalline silicon TFT method has an advantage of the reduction in size, but on the other hand, when the high-temperature process is used, the inexpensive glass having a low softening point usable in the former process cannot be disadvantageously used.
For this reason, in order to solve the above problems, it is necessary to lower the temperature in the polycrystalline silicon TFT process. This has led to enthusiastic research and development of a method for polycrystalline silicon layer formation at a low temperature that has applied a laser crystallization method. For example, Japanese Patent Publication No. 118443/1995 discloses a method wherein a short-wavelength pulse laser beam is applied to crystallize a thin layer of amorphous silicon provided on an amorphous substrate and the crystallized thin layer is applied to thin film transistors. According to this method, amorphous silicon can be crystallized without raising the temperature of the whole substrate. Therefore, a semiconductor element or a semiconductor integrated circuit can be advantageously prepared on a large area substrate, such as a liquid crystal display, and an inexpensive substrate such as glass. As described in the above publication, however, an irradiation intensity of about 50 to 500 mJ/cm2 is necessary for the crystallization of a thin layer of amorphous silicon by a short-wavelength laser beam.
On the other hand, the maximum light emission output in a currently generally available pulse laser device is about 1 J/pulse, and, upon simple conversion, the area over which the laser beam can be applied per single laser beam irradiation is as small as about 2 to 20 cm2. Therefore, for example, a laser beam should be applied to at least 87 to 870 sites for crystallizing the whole substrate having a size of 47xc3x9737 cm2 by the laser beam. When the size of the substrate is increased, for example, to 1 m square, the number of laser irradiation sites should be increased accordingly. Further, an attempt has also been made wherein a linear beam (length 100 to 300 mm, width about 1 to 0.1 mm) is used as the beam applied to the substrate and the beam is scanned in the direction of width to change the beam scanning direction from two axes (x axis and y axis) to one axis (x axis).
In general, the laser crystallization is realized by a pulsed laser irradiation device having a construction shown in FIG. 14.
FIG. 14 is an explanatory view of a conventional ELA apparatus. As shown in the drawing, a laser beam fed from a pulsed laser beam source 1401 reaches a thin layer 1407 of silicon on a glass substrate 1408 as an irradiation object through optical paths 1406 specified by a group of optical devices, such as mirrors 1402, 1403, 1405 and a beam homogenizer 1404 provided for homogenizing spatial intensity. In general, since one irradiation area range is smaller than the glass substrate, a laser beam is applied to any desired site on the substrate by moving the glass substrate 1408 on an x-y stage 1409. A construction may also be adopted wherein, instead of the use of the x-y stage 1409, the group of optical devices is moved, or alternatively the group of optical devices is used in combination with the stage.
A linear beam irradiation form having a length equal to the size of one side of the substrate is adopted, and this beam can also be applied while moving a Y stage with the substrate disposed thereon. In this case, the movement of the stage and the feed of the pulsed beam are carried out according to the following procedure.
1) Simultaneously with the movement of the stage at a given rate, a pulsed laser beam is oscillated and fed at a given cycle.
2) (Movement of the stage by one step followed by stop)+(the feed of the pulsed laser beam by one pulse) are repeated.
FIG. 15 is a diagram illustrating a conventional irradiation method in the case where the beam irradiation form is rectangular. In general, since one irradiation area range 1502 is smaller than the glass substrate, a laser beam is applied to any desired site on the substrate by moving the glass substrate 1501 on an x-y stage. A construction may also be adopted wherein, instead of the use of the x-y stage, the movement of a group of optical devices (for example, direction X) is utilized in combination with the movement of the stage (direction Y). Crystallized regions 1503 are successively formed by adopting this method. In this case, the movement of the stage and the feed of the pulsed beam are carried out according to the following procedure. Numeral 1504 designates a laser introduction window provided in the chamber.
3) Simultaneously with the movement of the stage at a given rate, the pulsed laser beam is oscillated and fed at a given cycle.
4) (Movement of the stage by one step followed by stop)+(the feed of the pulsed laser beam by not less than one pulse) are repeated.
In the laser crystallization using a linear beam or a rectangular beam, means for moving a substrate stage is utilized.
In some cases, the laser beam irradiation is carried out within a vacuum chamber in vacuum or in a high-purity gas atmosphere. If necessary, as shown in FIG. 14, a system may be adopted wherein a glass substrate-containing cassette 1410 provided with a thin layer of silicon and a substrate-carrying mechanism 1411 are provided and the taking-out and the housing of the substrate are mechanically carried out between the cassette and the stage. In the adoption of the above method, the glass substrate has been merely disposed on the xy stage, and any special means for fixing and holding the substrate on the stage has not been adopted.
In order to enhance the utilization efficiency of the laser beam, however, it is necessary to apply the laser beam to only a desired region while avoiding the application of the laser beam to a portion unnecessary to be irradiated with the laser beam (for example, a cut margin created at the time of cutting of devices), thereby reducing the number of laser beam irradiation sites and enhancing the utilization efficiency of the laser beam. To this end, the device preparation region should conform to the laser irradiation region, and the accidental shift of the substrate on the stage should be prevented. In particular, when the stage has a coordinate system and the irradiation site is controlled based on this coordinate system, the accidental shift should be avoided. Further, deflection of the glass substrate upon the formation of a semiconducting thin layer or heating of the substrate results in defocusing. Therefore, the substrate should be intimately contacted with the stage from the viewpoint of correcting the deflection.
Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to solve the above problems of the prior art and to provide an apparatus for modifying a semiconducting thin layer, which can apply a laser beam to only a desired region through the prevention of accidental shift between the stage and the substrate.
In order to attain the above object, according to the invention, an apparatus for modifying a semiconducting thin layer, comprises:
a hermetically sealed container comprising a substrate mount section for mounting thereon a substrate with an amorphous semiconducting thin layer formed thereon, and a window for introducing a laser beam;
laser beam irradiation means which is provided outside the hermetically sealed container and applies a laser beam through the window, for heat-melting the amorphous semiconducting thin layer;
holding means for fixing and holding the substrate on the substrate mount section; and
pressure control means which regulates the flow rate of gas fed into the hermetically sealed container to control the pressure of the atmosphere within the hermetically sealed container at the time of irradiation with the laser beam at a value above a vapor pressure specified by the temperature of the heat-melted amorphous semiconducting thin layer.
The invention includes the following preferred embodiments.
Specifically, the holding means may be vacuum adsorption means.
The holding means may be electrostatic adsorption means.
The substrate may be a glass substrate, and the amorphous semiconducting thin layer may be a thin layer of amorphous silicon.
The apparatus may further comprise: means for introducing nitrogen or inert gas into the hermetically sealed container; and means for introducing oxygen gas into the hermetically sealed container.
The apparatus may be used in the production of a field-effect thin film transistor.
The field-effect thin film transistor may be used as a driving element for active matrix liquid crystal devices.
By virtue of the above construction, the invention can prevent accidental shift of the substrate, and can closely control the irradiation site. Therefore, the number of laser beam irradiation sites can be reduced, and the utilization efficiency of the laser beam can be enhanced. In particular, in the case where the stage has a coordinate system and the laser beam irradiation site is controlled based on this coordinate system, the effect of preventing accidental shift is large. Further, the substrate can remain fixed onto the stage even under conditions such that the glass substrate is deflected upon the formation of a semiconducting thin layer and heating of the substrate. Therefore, the correction of the deflection is possible. This can realize the prevention of defocusing of the laser beam.

Apparatus for transforming semiconducting thin layer


The invention is directed to a laser ultrasound testing system with adaptive generation of sonic energy signals. The system may detect or test features of the manufactured object such as defects and layer properties. A laser generator initiates a sonic energy signal in a manufactured object. A measuring device measures the sonic energy signal. Then, a signal analyzer and/or a model processor determine if the signal is optimized. If the signal is not optimized, optimized operating characteristics of the laser generator are calculated. These optimized operating characteristics may include wavelength, beam dimension, temporal profile and power. Next, the laser generator initiates an improved sonic energy signal by utilizing the optimized operating characteristics. In this manner, more accurate testing and detection is achieved.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to an apparatus and method for improving ultrasonic signal generation by an ultrasonic testing device. In particular, the present invention relates to optimizing an ultrasonic response in a manufactured object or part by adaptively adjusting operating characteristics of a laser ultrasound testing device.
2. Description of Prior Art
Ultrasound testing methods are non-invasive, generally non-destructive, techniques used to measure features of materials. These features may include layer thickness, cracks, delamination, voids, disbonds, foreign inclusions, fiber fractions, fiber orientation and porosity. The features influence a given material's qualities and performance in given applications. Each application places unique demands on the material's qualities including the need for differing strength, flexibility, thermal properties, cost, or ultraviolet radiation resistance. With the changing demands, more non-invasive, non-destructive testing of materials is being performed using techniques such as ultrasound testing.
Ultrasound techniques are applied in research as well as industrial settings. In research, ultrasound techniques are used to test new materials for desired features. The techniques are also used to seek defects in material that has undergone stress or environmental endurance testing. In industry, the techniques are used during scheduled servicing to inspect parts for defects. Aircraft, automobile and other commercial industries have shown increasing interest in these techniques.
Ultrasound testing includes transducer-induced, laser, electromagnetic-induced and plasma-initiated ultrasound. Transducer-induced ultrasound techniques use piezoelectric transducers to induce an ultrasonic signal in an object.
Laser ultrasound techniques use a laser pulse. When the laser pulse is directed at an object, it causes thermal expansion in a small region. This thermal expansion causes ultrasonic waves. These ultrasonic waves are then measured by a detector and converted into information about the features of the object. The laser pulse may be generated by several lasers including a ruby laser, a carbon dioxide laser, and a Nd:YAG laser.
In some cases, a higher laser-energy density can be used and some matter at the material surface is ablated. The recoil effect of the pulverized matter launches ultrasonic waves in the material. Similarly to the thermoelastic regime, this ablation regime produces ultrasonic waves can be detected and converted into information about the features of the object.
The electromagnetic-induced ultrasound technique can be used on metallic parts. Coils in the transducer produce an electromagnetic field that induces ultrasonic waves in the sample.
Similar to the laser ultrasound, plasma-induced ultrasound techniques cause thermal expansion initiated ultrasonic waves. Often, a laser generates the plasma by directing the laser at a false target in proximity to the manufactured object. The plasma then hits the manufactured object, causing the thermal expansion and the ultrasonic wave.
The manufactured object may be composed of metal, composite, polymer, ceramic or any other materials. The detector may be one of several devices. For example, the detector may be a transducer on the surface of the object, a laser interferometer directed at the object, or a gas-coupled laser acoustic detector, to name a few.
The measured ultrasonic signals are analyzed to reconstruct physical attributes of the object that have a position or location with the object and a size. A combination of the optical penetration depth in the material given the generation-laser optical wavelength and of the temporal profile or pulse width of the generation-laser pulse dictate the frequency content of the laser-generated ultrasonic waves.
One problem associated with many typical ultrasound detectors is a poor signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) in the resulting signals. SNR is proportional to the amplitude of the sonic wave and inversely proportional to the square root of the bandwidth of the sonic wave. Many typical generation techniques produce low amplitude and/or broad bandwidth ultrasonic signals. These conditions lead to a reduced SNR and limit the quality of data acquired through such ultrasonic testing. In combination, these effects reduce the ability to detect features in the tested object. The reduced SNR in these typical sonic testing systems leads to corresponding reduced resolution in the resulting analysis. Smaller features like fractures may be difficult to detect with the reduced resolution. With the lower SNR of the typical systems, these smaller size features may go unnoticed.
When testing fails to detect features, these features may ultimately yield many problems, such as poor material performance or catastrophic failure of the part. When testing parts used in the airline industry, failure to detect flaws may lead to safety problems and costly accidents.
As such, many ultrasonic testing devices suffer from reduced SNR. Many other problems and disadvantages of the prior art will become apparent to one skilled in the art after comparing such prior art with the present invention as described herein.

Method to optimize generation of ultrasound using mathematical modeling for laser ultrasound inspection


A method that includes calculating multiple set parity units for multiple sets of data units that are cached in a storage system thereby providing a group of units that includes multiple sets of units. Each set of units includes a set of data units and at least one associated set parity unit that facilitate a reconstruction of the set of units when a first number of units of the set of units is lost. Calculating at least one group parity unit for the group of units. A combination of the at least one group parity unit and at least one associated set parity unit facilitate a reconstruction of the set of units upon a failure of a second number of units of the set of units. The second number of units of the set of units exceeds the first number of units of the set of units. Destaging the group of units and the at least one group parity unit to multiple disks of the storage system.

A disk storage or disc storage is a general category of storage mechanisms, in which data are digitally recorded by various electronic, magnetic, optical, or mechanical methods on a surface layer deposited of one or more planar, round and rotating disks (or discs) (also referred to as the media).
A disk (also referred to as a disk drive) is a device implementing such a storage mechanism with fixed or removable media; with removable media the device is usually distinguished from the media as in compact disc drive and the compact disc.
Notable types are the hard disk drives (HDD) containing a non-removable disk, the floppy disk drive (FDD) and its removable floppy disk, and various optical disc drives and associated optical disc media (www.wikipedia.org).
Storage systems are generally expected to tolerate at least two concurrent disk failures without data loss. Since the capacity of disks keeps growing immensely, the chances for data loss increase dramatically. When taking into account the longer time it takes for a storage system to rebuild a failed disk of an increased size and the chances to deal with a second failure during the longer rebuild time, it is estimated that the chances for data loss in a storage system increases by the square of the size growth of the disks. Hence, storage systems should be capable of handling more than two concurrent disk failures.
Since the number of tolerated failures dictates the number of parity units need to be calculated, the more disk failures the system is expected to deal with, the greater is the overhead wasted on parity information, on the expense of user data. For example, for three tolerated disk failures for a redundant array of independent (RAID) stripe that includes 12 data units, the overhead of the three parity units need to be added to the 12 data units is 20% and for 2 tolerated disk failures, the required two parity units impose an overhead of 14% of the 12+2 data and parity units.
In order to reduce the overhead imposed by storing multiple parities for a certain amount of data units in a stripe, the amount of data units in the stripe needs to be increased. For example, instead of composing stripes of 12+3 data and parity units, the stripe can be constructed of e.g. 60+5 data and parity units, which wastes 7.7% of the total storage space, instead of 20% wasted in the case of 12+3 unit stripes. However, in such a configuration, each disk rebuild, even of a single disk failure, requires reading an excessive amount of data. In the aforementioned example, 65 data and parity units need to be processed upon recovering each lost data unit from a single disk failure (comparing to 15 units in the case of using the smaller stripe), which complicates the reconstruction, lengthen the reconstruction time and increases chances for a second failure while reconstructing.
There is a need for increasing the amount of parities for supporting more concurrent disk failures, while improving a reconstruction of a single disk failure and reducing the parity overhead.

Layered failure protection scheme for protecting destaged data units


A method of a tuning process for WLAN devices is to select test channels of the DUT (device under test) by utilizing the method of random sampling or sequence. Besides, the method obtains a parameter average by averaging the parameters of the already tested channels (or further includes the current test channel) of the DUT in a batch method or a recursive method. The parameter average is provided for tuning the non-tested channels of the DUT or the channel under test of the DUT.

1. Field of Invention
The invention relates to a WLAN (wireless local area network) and, in particular, to a method of a tuning process of WLAN devices.
2. Related Art
Accompanying with the development of wireless transmission industry, various kinds of devices and technologies applied to multiple frequency transmission are invented. The WLAN device utilizes multiple frequency channels for receiving or transmitting signals. Unfortunately, the variants between the receiving system and the transmitting system having radio and analog modules of different components cause the different channel characteristics. To identify the characteristics of the multiple frequency channels and to eliminate the distortion of the received or transmitted signals, the tuning process for the WLAN device must test the channels and generate the optimum parameter(s) for setting. The WLAN device has various kinds of parameter observations and parameter settings such as the error vector magnitudes (EVM) or the sidelobe levels of the measured signals for tuning the transmit-powers of different channels, or the packet error rate (PER) of the measured signals for tuning the receive-powers of different channels. Regarding to the device utilizing IEEE 802.11 (WLAN/WiFi), IEEE 802.16 (may be named as WMAN/WiMAX), IEEE 802.15.3a (WPAN/UWB), or IEEE 802.20 (WWAN/MBWA), both the architectures of multiple frequency channels in a single antenna/radio and in multiple antennas/radios (MIMO or Multiple-Input-and-Multiple-Output systems as per IEEE 802.11n and other related standards) must to test and to tune the different channels or the different antennas/radios so as to ensure the production yield of the WLAN devices.
In the early days, the WLAN devices are tuned one by one. In more detailed, the channels of each WLAN device are tested and tuned by turn. According to the progress of the related technologies, the customers have more and more requirements and the environment for wireless transmission becomes more complex. In the complex environment for wireless transmission, the WLAN devices must have more usable channels, which results in that to tune the WLAN devices one by one takes longer testing time. In other words, since the channels of the WLAN device are increased and the tuning speed for a single channel is the same, the production time for the WLAN devices grows. To speed the tuning process for the WLAN devices, the tuning process with the normalized settings is adopted. In this case, some channels of several WLAN devices are tested to tune the transmit-power and receive-power to reach the minimum EVM, minimum sidelobe levels, or minimum PER so as to obtain the parameter setting values for most channels of most WLAN devices. Alternatively, to reduce the testing time, the parameters obtained in the product developing stage can be used as the parameter setting values in the mass production stage.
As mentioned above, the tuning process with the normalized settings can shorten the testing time of the WLAN devices. However, this method uses the only normalized setting for each parameter setting, so that the identification of the multiple frequency channels may not be maintained and the distortion in receiving signals or transmitting signals may not be eliminated. To consider with the testing speed and the device quality both, the tuning process by utilizing means or arithmetic means are disclosed. In this method, a front channel, a middle channel and a rear channel are tested. For all channels between the front channel and the middle channel, the median or the average of the parameters for the front and middle channels is used as the parameter calibration value for tuning all of the channels between the front and middle channels or for tuning the arithmetic mean channels. Similarly, for all channels between the middle channel and the rear channel, the median or the average of the parameters for the middle and rear channels is used as the parameter calibration value for tuning all of the channels between the middle and rear channels or for tuning the arithmetic mean channels. Regarding to the current situation in Taiwan, the WLAN (in the case of IEEE802.11b/g) devices use channels 1 to 11. In this case, the tuning process by utilizing means or arithmetic means is to obtain the parameters of channel 1, channel 6 and channel 11 in advance. Then, the average of the parameters of channels 1 and 6 is calculated to be the parameter of channel 3 or channel 4 or to be the parameters of channels 2 to 5. As the same manner, the average of the parameters of channels 6 and 11 is calculated to be the parameter of channel 8 or channel 9 or to be the parameters of channels 7 to 10. The tuning process by utilizing means or arithmetic means is to test some predetermined channels in each WLAN device. In other words, this method uses only two or three parameters to determine the parameter calibration value for all channels of a single WLAN device. However, regarding to the WLAN devices, the improvement of the quality for each channel is limited.
It is therefore an important subject of the invention to provide a method of a tuning process for WLAN devices, which can tune multiple frequency channels efficiently and accurately, improve the transmit maximum power or more while decreasing the EVM and sidelobe levels, and enhance the receive sensibility while decreasing the PER

Method of tuning process for WLAN devices


The present invention provides a nuclear fuel assembly, where a boron-containing compound is used as a burnable poison and is distributed in a majority of the rods in the assembly. The assembly comprises a plurality of fuel rods, each fuel rod containing a plurality of nuclear fuel pellets, wherein at least one fuel pellet in more than 50% of the fuel rods in the fuel assembly comprises a sintered admixture of a metal oxide, metal carbide or metal nitride and a boron-containing compound.

In a typical nuclear reactor, such as a pressurized water (PWR), heavy water or a boiling water reactor (BWR), the reactor core includes a large number of fuel assemblies, each of which is composed of a plurality of elongated fuel elements or rods. The fuel rods each contain fissile material such as uranium dioxide (UO2) or plutonium dioxide (PUO2), or mixtures of these, usually in the form of a stack of nuclear fuel pellets, although annular or particle forms of fuel are also used. The fuel rods are grouped together in an array which is organized to provide a neutron flux in the core sufficient to support a high rate of nuclear fission and thus the release of a large amount of energy in the form of heat. A coolant, such as water, is pumped through the core in order to extract some of the heat generated in the core for the production of useful work. Fuel assemblies vary in size and design depending on the desired size of the core and the size of the reactor.
When a new reactor starts, its core is often divided into a plurality, e.g. three or more groups of assemblies which can be distinguished by their position in the core and/or their enrichment level. For example, a first batch or region may be enriched to an isotopic content of 2.0% uranium-235. A second batch or region may be enriched to 2.5% uranium-235, and a third batch may be enriched to 3.5% uranium-235. After about 10–24 months of operation, the reactor is typically shut down and the first fuel batch is removed and replaced by a new batch, usually of a higher level of enrichment (up to a preferred maximum level of enrichment). Subsequent cycles repeat this sequence at intervals in the range of from about 8–24 months. Refueling as described above is required because the reactor can operate as a nuclear device only so long as it remains a critical mass. Thus, nuclear reactors are provided with sufficient excess reactivity at the beginning of a fuel cycle to allow operation for a specified time period, usually between about six to eighteen months.
Since a reactor operates only slightly supercritical, the excess reactivity supplied at the beginning of a cycle must be counteracted. Various methods to counteract the initial excess reactivity have been devised, including insertion of control rods in the reactor core and the addition of neutron absorbing elements to the fuel. Such neutron absorbers, known in the art and referred to herein as "burnable poisons" or "burnable absorbers", include, for example, boron, gadolinium, cadmium, samarium, erbium and europium compounds. Burnable poisons absorb the initial excess amount of neutrons while (in the best case) producing no new or additional neutrons or changing into new poisons as a result of neutron absorption. During the early stages of operation of such a fuel element, excess neutrons are absorbed by the burnable poison, which preferably undergoes transformation to elements of low neutron cross section, which do not substantially affect the reactivity of the fuel element in the later period of its life when the neutron availability is lower.
Sintered pellets of nuclear fuel having an admixture of a boron-containing compound or other burnable poison are known. See, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,349,152; 3,520,958; and 4,774,051. However, nuclear fuel pellets containing an admixture of a boron burnable absorber with the fuel have not been used in large land-based reactors due to concerns that boron would react with the fuel, and because the use of boron was thought to create high internal rod pressurization from the accumulation of helium in the reaction:10B+1n→11B(excited state)→4He+7Li
Current practice is to coat the surface of the pellets with a boron-containing compound such as ZrB2, which avoids any potential reaction with the fuel. However, this does not solve the pressurization problem, which limits the amount of coating that can be contained within each rod. More rods with a lower 10B loading must be used, thus necessitating the handling and coating of a large number of fuel pellets, which is very expensive and results in high overhead costs. Complex manufacturing operations also result from the need to separate the coated and non-coated fuel manufacturing and assembly operations. In practice, the cost of coating the pellets limits their use, and they are used in as few rods as possible, taking into account the pressurization problem described above. Historically this was acceptable, because fuel cycles were shorter, levels of 235U enrichment were lower, and overall thermal output of a reactor was lower.
Other compounds such as Gd2O3 and Er2O3 can be added directly to the pellets, but these are less preferred than boron because they leave a long-lived, high cross-section residual reactive material.
Nuclear reactor core configurations having burnable poisons have been described in the art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,075,075 discloses a nuclear reactor core having a first group of rods containing fissionable material and no burnable absorber and a second group of rods containing fissionable material with a burnable absorber, wherein the number of rods in the first group is larger than the number of rods in the second group. The burnable absorber comprises a combination of an erbium compound and a boron compound.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,337,337 discloses a fuel assembly where fuel rods containing a burnable poison element having a smaller neutron absorption cross-section (such as boron) are placed in a region of the core having soft neutron energy and a large thermal neutron flux, while rods having a burnable poison element having a larger neutron absorption cross-section (such as gadolinium) are placed in regions of the core having average neutron energy spectrum. Neither of these prior patents disclose an arrangement of fuel rods in fuel assmeblies in which a majority of fuel rods contain boron alone, as the burnable poison. Neither disclose assembly arrangements suitable for reactors producing over 500 megawatts thermal power.
With the use of longer fuel cycles and higher levels of 235U enrichment, there remains a need for the development of nuclear fuels and fuel assemblies having integral burnable absorbers that are cost-effective and can extend the life of the fuel without creating additional reactive materials.


A system for displaying contents on an augmented reality (AR) device comprises a capturing module configured to capture a field of view of a user, a recording module configured to record the captured field of view, a user input controller configured to track a vision of the user towards one or more objects and a server. The server comprises a determination module, an identifier, and an analyser. The determination module is configured to determine at least one object of interest. The identifier is configured to identify a frame containing disappearance of the determined object of interest. The analyser is configured to analyse the identified frame based on at least one disappearance of the object of interest, and generate analysed data. The display module is configured to display a content of the object of interest on the AR device.

Augmented reality (AR) is an interactive experience of a real-world environment, whereby objects that reside in the real-world are augmented by computer-generated perceptual information across multiple sensory modalities, including visual, auditory, and the like. The augmented reality (AR) supports real-time augmentation of content by understanding user's field of view, and by using scene and object detection techniques. A user can experience the augmented reality (AR) using wearable augmented reality (AR) devices.
Existing augmented reality systems use one or more object tracking techniques, such as digital cameras and/or other optical sensors, accelerometers, global positioning systems (GPS), solid state compasses, and radio-frequency identification (RFID) systems. The object tracking techniques provide varying levels of accuracy and precision. One of the techniques is tracking of an eye gaze, and position and orientation of the user's head. The eye tracking in the AR device is the process of measuring point of gaze, where the user is looking, or the motion of eye relative to the head.
Typically, every individual has his own speed of reading/viewing/observing the information/text/object. If the object or the individual is moving, then his ability of reading/viewing/observing the information/text/object is further reduced. During motion, the user needs more time to understand the information. The user can watch any object only in a specific time interval during which the object is in his field of view and there is no obstruction between the user and the object.
An obstruction has one or more characteristics, such as the obstruction is an object big enough to hide an "object of user's interest" in part or full, so that the user could not see the object of interest properly (e.g. a train or a car comes between the user and the object of interest). The obstruction could be an environment condition like reduction in visibility due to rain, fog, etc. The obstruction could be reduction in size of the object of interest due to relative movement. Further, the obstruction could be change in state/direction/orientation of the object containing the object of interest, which causes disappearance of the object of interest (e.g. a user is interested in reading a slogan on a T-shirt and the other person wearing the t-shirt turns in other direction). The obstruction could be due to limit of user's area of vision.
The user cannot prevent any obstruction from coming in between him and the object of interest. The user does not have any control on the speed and direction of the movement of the object of interest, on the appearance (e.g., color/size, etc.) of the object of interest, and/or on environmental factors like visibility, wind, etc.
U.S. Pat. No. 9,633,479 discloses time constrained augmented reality. In the patent, a pre-defined list of items is used to identify a document from a scene. The identified document may not be of user's interest. U.S. Pat. No. 9,633,479 discloses displaying of the content related to the document till the time the document is available in the AR view. A virtual content overlaps the document in the AR. Further, a viewing time of the scene is determined according to a relative motion between the AR device and the scene. The viewing time is an estimated period of time that the scene will be visible to the AR device. Further, the virtual content is selected, based on the determined viewing time, from a predetermined range of the virtual content. For example, if a viewing time is 10 seconds, then a video whose play time is approximately 10 seconds is selected. A type of the virtual content (image/video) is selected based on a comparison of the determined viewing time, and on relative motion of the object and the user. U.S. Pat. No. 9,633,479 is related to displaying advertisement related to posters.
US Patent Application Publication No. 20150113454 discloses delivery of contextual data to a computing device using an eye tracking technology. US20150113454 replaces mouse/touch pad with eye gaze. US 20150113454 does not disclose any feature of calculating content complexity of the object of interest. In this, objects which are not in view, are not considered. Further, an action is taken as soon as the user views an object from minimum dwell time (i.e. threshold time). In this, only objects in view are considered. Furthermore, widening of pupil of an eye is not considered in identifying the object of interest.
European Patent Application Publication No. EP 1422922 is related to generating and saving data related to user's area of interest. It considers eye gaze to identify user's area of interest and saves it along with the captured images. In the publication, an object which has moved out of view is not considered. The content complexity of the user's area of interest is also not calculated. EP 1422922 discloses determination of eye information including eye gaze direction of an eye of a user of a camera system during an image capture sequence, and then associates the eye information with the captured image.
None of the prior art documents determine user's interest in seeing the disappearing object. Further, no prior art documents determine un-intentional or intentional disappearance of object of interest of the user, and perform analysis of obstruction between the user and the object of interest. None of the prior art documents prior art documents consider automatic real time identification of the object of interest and displaying the object of interest on the AR device by unintentional or intentional (despite user interest) disappearance of object of interest, any threshold eye gaze time on the object to consider it as "object of interest", the content complexity of object of interest to determine the duration required by user to properly see the object, and environment changes causing reduction in visibility of object of interest like light condition, fog, rain, as disappearance condition. The prior art documents also do not show object of interest for extended duration without user's explicit request, and do not disclose about predefined location in AR device where user can gaze to request the display of AR content of object of interest even when the object of interest is clearly visible to user.
Therefore, there is a need of a technique for displaying contents on an augmented reality (AR) device that limits the aforementioned drawbacks.

Apparatus and method for displaying contents on an augmented reality device


A method of fabricating a microchannel plate includes defining a plurality of pores extending from a top surface of a substrate to a bottom surface of the substrate where the plurality of pores has a resistive material on an outer surface that forms a first emissive layer. A second emissive layer is formed over the first emissive layer. The second emissive layer is chosen to achieve at least one of an increase in secondary electron emission efficiency and a decrease in gain degradation as a function of time. A top electrode is formed on the top surface of the substrate and a bottom electrode is formed on the bottom surface of the substrate.

Microchannel plates (MCPs) are used to detect very weak signals generated by ions and electrons. For example, microchannel plates are commonly used as electron multipliers in image intensifying devices. A microchannel plate is a slab of high resistance material having a plurality of tiny tubes or slots, which are known as microchannels, extending through the slab. The microchannels are parallel to each other and may be postioned at a small angle to the surface. The microchannels are usually densely distributed. A high resistance layer having high secondary electron emission efficiency is formed on the inner surface of each of the plurality of channels so that it functions as a dynode. A conductive coating is formed on the top and bottom surfaces of the slab comprising the microchannel plate.
In operation, an accelerating voltage is applied across the conductive coatings on the top and bottom surfaces of the microchannel plate. The accelerating voltage establishes a potential gradient between the opposite ends of each of the plurality of channels. Ions and electrons traveling in the plurality of channels are accelerated. These ions and electrons collide against the high resistance layer having high secondary electron emission efficiency, thereby producing secondary electrons. The secondary electrons are accelerated and undergo multiple collisions with the resistance layer. Consequently, electrons are multiplied inside each of the plurality of channels. The electrons eventually pass through the anode end of each of the plurality of channels. The electrons can be detected or can be used to form images on an electron sensitive screen, such as a phosphor screen.

Method of fabricating microchannel plate devices with multiple emissive layers


The present invention relates to new processes for the preparation of gabapentin by the desilylation of a silylated gabapentin or by the silylation-desilylation of an acid addition salt of gabapentin with a silylating agent.

Gabapentin of formula (1), is the generic name of a well-known anticonvulsant agent, described for example in the Merck Index, 13th Edition (2001), page 767 (4342).

1-(aminomethyl)-1-cyclohexane acetic acid (Gabapentin) has been used for the treatment of cerebral disorders such as epilepsy, hypokinesia, faintness attacks and brain trauma. Commercially available gabapentin currently on the market is an anhydrous crystalline form that, hereinafter, will be referred to as form II. Several other gabapentin polymorphic forms have been described in the literature, being the more important gabapentin monohydrate (form I, EP0340677) and gabapentin form III (WO98/28255).
Many processes for the preparation of gabapentin have been hitherto described in the literature.
For example, WO99/18063 discloses a multi step synthesis wherein gabapentin of formula (1) is obtained as a final product after the catalytic hydrogenation of chemical intermediates comprising a cyano group. The involvement of cumbersome multi-step synthesis, high pressure hydrogenation and use of cyanides or other toxic reagents make these processes difficult from the technical point of view.
However, most of the reported synthesis proceed through the intermediate of an acid addition salt of gabapentin which is finally neutralized to gabapentin of formula (1).
This neutralization can be carried out with the use of ion exchange columns (U.S. Ser. No. 03/009,055, WO02/074727, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,319,135, 5,693,845, 5,362,883, EP0432504, EP0414274, EP0414262, WO03/089403, WO02/034709, WO00/064857, U.S. Pat. No. 4,024,175, and EP0340677). In this neutralization process, solutions of acid addition salts of gabapentin in water or in short chain alcohols are eluted through ion exchange columns to get solutions of gabapentin of formula (1) in a free amino acid form. The rather long elution time needed, the large volumes of water or alcohols that should be evaporated and the need to introduce a rinse of the column in order to maintain the exchange capacity make these processes difficult to scale up.
In other cases, the neutralization can be carried out with the use of a base (WO98/28255, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,362,883, and 53,191,385).
WO98/028255 discloses a process for preparing gabapentin of formula (1) consisting of dissolving gabapentin hydrochloride in a solvent and neutralizing it by addition of an amine in solution, said solvent being chosen in such a way that the amine hydrochloride formed during the neutralization is more soluble therein than the anhydrous gabapentin. In accordance with WO98/028255, a new form of anhydrous gabapentin, named form III, is prepared in the neutralization process. It is necessary to reprocess this form III by digestion or recrystallization in another solvent, to be able to prepare the pharmaceutical grade anhydrous gabapentin base, which is named form II in WO98/028255. This process does not require the use of ion exchange resins, but has the drawback that, unless closely adjusted amounts of neutralizing amine are used, the product obtained may be contaminated with appreciable amounts of the amine used in the neutralization and which have to be removed subsequently from the end product, by additional purification steps. Furthermore, this process also requires the preparation of an intermediate, the so-called form III, which has to be reprocessed, with the corresponding decrease in yield and productivity.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,362,883 and 5,319,135 disclose that gabapentin among other products, may be prepared from the acid addition salts thereof, e.g., from the hydrochloride, by their neutralization with a long list of bases, among which there are the free amines, sodium hydroxide, potassium hydroxide, calcium hydroxide and basic ion exchange resins. However, the examples (Method F) of said patents only describe the use of the said resins for neutralizing aqueous solutions of gabapentin hydrochloride, i.e. a method corresponding with the one already described for example in the aforementioned patent EP0340677. If sodium hydroxide, potassium hydroxide or calcium hydroxide are used as neutralizing agent, the obtained gabapentin is contaminated with mineral salts insoluble in organic solvents. The only way of getting rid of these mineral salts is by adding water, but then the yield decreases due to the high solubility of gabapentin in water. In addition, since water is used, the polymorph of gabapentin which is obtained is the monohydrate (Form I).
Finally, WO00/001660 discloses a process for the preparation of gabapentin in anhydrous form (i.e. form II), without using monohydrate gabapentin (i.e. form I), by treating an aqueous suspension of gabapentin with 2-methoxyethanol or 2-ethoxyethanol and crystallizing with an alcoholic solvent. In this process, the isolation of gabapentin monohydrate is avoided since water is eliminated by azeotropic distillation, however big volumes of water should be distilled in order to be removed.
There is, therefore, a need for developing alternative processes for the preparation of pharmaceutical grade gabapentin, allowing the industrial preparation of this product to be simplified and, therewith, the production costs to be reduced.

Processes for the preparation of gabapentin


A densified web of cellulose fibers has a high absorbent capacity and good wet strength. The web is produced by combining cellulose fibers with a bonding agent, activating the bonding agent, allowing it to contact the cellulose fibers, and thereafter deactivating the bonding agent. The web is thereafter compressed in a cooled state to form a densified web. The web exhibits an absorbent capacity superior to that of prior densified and bonded webs.

Cellulose fibers derived from wood pulp are used in a variety of absorbent articles, for example, diapers and feminine hygiene products. It is desirable for the absorbent articles to have a high absorbent capacity for liquid, as well as to have good strength characteristics for durability. Cellulose fibers for pad formation have traditionally been shipped to end users, that is, manufacturers of absorbent articles, in large densified rolls, or less frequently in compressed bale form. The end user fluffs the cellulose fibers, combines them with additives, such as absorbency enhancing polymers or specially engineered fibers, forms them into a pad, and then forms them into an absorbent article for the consumer. While this methodology is effective, it is desirable for some applications to provide absorbent webs that include additives to the manufacturer of the absorbent article in a form that can be incorporated directly into the absorbent article without the intermediate steps of fluffing, additive incorporation, and pad construction.
It is desirable to density webs before forming them into a roll to decrease the shipping costs. However, densified webs have insufficient strength for incorporation directly into absorbent structures. Therefore, the strength of the web must be increased, for example, by bonding the fibers together. The prior art suggests the simultaneous heating and compressing of a cellulose fiber web that has been combined with a thermoplastic bonding material to form a densified web with increased integrity. While this densifying technique provides higher bulk density and strength compared to densified webs of conventional non-bonded pulp, it has been found that the resulting densified web has a lower capacity for absorbing liquid than the non-densified, or fluffed, material normally incorporated into absorbent structures.
It is therefore desirable to provide a densified web of cellulose fibers that has an absorbent capacity superior to prior densified webs, and that has a wet integrity or strength that is substantially higher than non-bonded, densified webs.

Densified cellulose fiber pads and method of making the same


A method for supporting multiple advertisement sizes in a single advertisement unit includes receiving a format preference for an advertisement unit and a selected advertisement and size for the selected advertisement. The method further includes applying editing properties to determine additional visual content for the selected advertisement. The additional visual content is determined based on the format preference of the advertisement unit and the size of the selected advertisement. The method further includes rendering the selected advertisement and the additional visual content in the advertisement unit based on the editing properties.

The present disclosure relates generally to the display of advertisements in an advertisement unit for a website.
Advertisements displayed on a webpage on the Internet are displayed in advertisement units having predetermined dimensions (e.g., width, height). Often, advertisements are restricted such that only advertisements (e.g., image or Flash® animation advertisements) with dimensions that exactly fit the dimensions of the advertisement unit can be displayed in the advertisement unit.
If there is not a lot of inventory for a given advertisement unit (e.g., there are not many advertisements whose dimensions match the dimensions of the advertisement unit), there is a natural restriction on advertisements which can participate in an auction or selection for rendering in the advertisement unit. Further, in some instances, the dimensions of the advertisement unit may not match the dimensions of any available advertisements and text advertisements would have to be rendered in place of advertisements.

Systems and methods for displaying advertisements in an advertisement unit


A technique for protecting an electronic system having a programmable input/output interface from erroneous operation due to static electricity includes the steps of: (a) setting an internal timer for continuously resetting a program state of the input/output interface at a predetermined time interval; (b) storing a present program state of the input/output interface after setting the timer; (c) resetting the stored program state of the input/output interface when a value of a driven timer corresponds to a value of the set timer after storing the present program state of the input/output interface; (d) repeatedly resetting the program state of the input/output interface by driving again the timer after resetting the program state of the input/output interface.

1. Technical Field
The present invention generally relates to an electronic system having a programmable input/output interface, and more particularly, relates to a method for stably maintaining operation of such an electronic system against static electricity.
2. Related Art
Portable electronic systems such as hand held calculators, telephones, cameras, wristwatches, mini-computers, electronic typewriters, and those electronic devices that are not grounded but contain sensitive electronic, magnetic circuits and/or memories, are prone to erroneous operation due to static electricity.
Generally, there are many available techniques used to protect an electronic system from erroneous operation due to static electricity. These techniques typically include means to deflect or dissipate the electrostatic discharge emanating from the user to the system. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,935,508 for High Voltage Discharge Switch For Protecting Sensitive Electronic Equipment And The Operators Thereof Moister, Jr. discloses an electronic system having a discharge switch formed of an electrically conductive material connected to a chassis of the electronic system for dissipating a charge of static electricity from the user. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,752,862 for Electronic Device, Takahashi et al., discloses a metal housing structure which is made of an insulating material for protecting an electronic system from erroneous operation due to static electricity. U.S. Pat. No. 4,821,320 for Device For Protecting Electrical Apparatus And The Operator When The Operator Carries A High Electrostatic Charge issued to Andert et al., provides a resistance path arranged to lead the electrostatic discharge from the user to a ground potential point of the electronic system. U.S. Pat. No. 4,844,630 for Method And Circuit Arrangement For Protection Of Typewriters Or Similar Machines Against Consequences OfElectrostatic Discharge issued to Hagen et al., discloses an electronic typewriter which uses a cover switch to reset operation of a microprocessor for operation protection against a consequence of an electrostatic discharge. U.S. Pat. No. 5,123,102 for Method And Apparatus For Suspending Computation Due To Detection Of Electrostatic Discharge issued to Puckette, discloses a digital hand held calculator which uses an edge detector for detecting a leading edge of an electrostatic discharge and an internal wait circuitry for suspending operation of a microprocessor for a predetermined time period before an electrostatic discharge can disturb operation of the microprocessor. U.S. Pat. No. 5,401,926 for Data Input Device With A Manually Operable Key Having Static Electricity Releasing Function issued to Aoyama et al., discloses an electronic system which uses a static electricity releasing circuit formed from a manually operable keytop of a keyboard to a ground in order to instantaneously release static electricity that has accumulated from the user to the ground.
While the contemporary electrostatic discharge techniques for modern electronic systems are valued, I have observed however, that a simpler technique for protecting an electronic system from erroneous operation due to static electricity can be contemplated.

Method and apparatus for protecting an electronic system from erroneous operation due to static electricity


A connection for flexible tubes includes a rigid tubular insert with at least two ends onto which the ends of flexible tubes are force-fitted. A cover of plastics material is moulded over the tubular insert and over the ends of the tubes. At least one respective integral, circular sealing lip projects from the internal surface of the end of each tube and engages the external surface of the corresponding end of the insert.

The present invention relates to a connection and/or T-joint for flexible tubes, particularly for fluid circuits such as cooling systems for motor vehicles.
More specifically, the invention relates to a connection and/or T-joint including:
a rigid tubular insert with at least two ends, PA1 at least two flexible tubes, the ends of which are force fitted onto the ends of the tubular insert, and PA1 a cover of plastics material moulded over the tubular insert and over the ends of the tubes which are fitted onto the insert.
A connection and/or T-joint for flexible tubes of this type is described, for example, in prior Italian patent application 67534-A/90 in the name of the present Applicant.
The object of the present invention is to provide a connection and/or T-joint of the aforesaid type which can remain functional even when the fluid circulating in the tubes reaches quite high pressures, for example, of the order of tens of bars.
This object is achieved, according to the invention, by means of a connection and/or T-joint of the type specified above, characterised in that at least one respective integral, flexible, circular sealing lip projects from the internal surface of the ends of each tube and engages the external surface of the corresponding end of the tubular insert.
According to a further characteristic, the ends of the tubular insert have (in known manner) respective pluralities of external perimetral projections and (according to the invention) the at least one sealing lip at the end of each tube extends between two adjacent perimetral projections of the insert.
Conveniently, in known manner, the end of each tube has at least one respective external perimetral groove into which the moulded cover extends and, according to the invention, the internal lip at the end of each tube is formed substantially in the same cross-section as the groove.

Connection and/or T-joint for flexible tubes