Methods, information handling systems and computer readable media are disclosed for determining a priority score for a pending support request document. According to one embodiment, a method includes receiving current support request information from within a pending support request document and accessing current additional information associated with the pending support request document. The method further includes associating a set of parameter values with the pending support request document, wherein the values within the set of parameter values are based on information within one or both of the current support request information or the current additional information. The method continues with determining a priority score corresponding to the set of parameter values, where determining the priority score comprises applying a machine learning model developed using previous support request information and previous additional information associated with previously-resolved support request documents, and assigning the priority score to the pending support request document.

The present disclosure relates generally to networked information handling systems, and more particularly to automated prioritizing of incoming support requests.
As the value and use of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and store information. One option available to users is information handling systems. An information handling system generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes thereby allowing users to take advantage of the value of the information. Because technology and information handling needs and requirements vary between different users or applications, information handling systems may also vary regarding what information is handled, how the information is handled, how much information is processed, stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the information may be processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in information handling systems allow for information handling systems to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use such as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, or global communications. In addition, information handling systems may include a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems.
As noted above, networked information handling systems may be used for communications between users of the systems. In particular, requests for assistance or support may be sent between information handling systems. A large organization, or "enterprise," may receive thousands of support requests or "tickets" per day. Some tickets should be addressed before others, depending on multiple factors which might include, for example, severity of the problem reflected by the ticket, importance of the entity submitting the ticket, or contractual obligations dictating support response time. Factors affecting a ticket's priority may involve sensitive information not available to the support personnel initially receiving a ticket. The factors may also vary with time, so that a given ticket could appropriately have different priorities if received on different days.

System and method for prioritization of support requests


The invention relates to an electrode for discharge lamps, with an electron mitter which contains a barium compound from the group barium zirconate (BaZrO.sub.3), barium hafnate (BaHfO.sub.3), barium titanate (BaTiO.sub.3) and barium cerate (BaCeO.sub.3) as well as one or more metallic components.

The invention relates to an electrode for discharge lamps. An electrode of this type, used in low-pressure discharge lamps, is, for example, described on pages 137 to 139 of the book "Die Oxydkathode" (The oxide cathode), Vol. 2 by G. Hermann and S. Wagener, Johann Ambrosius Verlag, Leipzig, 2nd Edition (1950). This electrode has a rod-shaped, doubly or triply wound electrode coil made of tungsten, which is provided with an electron emitter. In standard fashion, the electron emitter consists of a mixed oxide, which contains oxides of barium, strontium and calcium. This standard emitter is usually obtained, on activation of the electrodes fitted into the lamp, from an emitter paste with 45 mol percent barium carbonate, 45 mol percent strontium carbonate and with 10 mol percent calcium carbonate, by chemical decomposition of the carbonates into the corresponding oxides. A disadvantage with this electrode is that the emitter paste must be converted from the carbonate into the oxide, since the carbon dioxide produced in this process must be removed. Furthermore, when used in cold-starting low-pressure discharge lamps, that is to say those which strike without electrode preheating, this electrode has too short a lifetime. In addition, because of its geometry and its dimensions, this electrode coil is only partially suitable for use in T1 and T2 fluorescent lamps.
Swiss Patent CH 449 117 discloses a sintered electrode for gas discharge lamps, the electron emitter of which is produced from a mixture of metal powder with oxides or peroxides of the alkaline earth metals. This mixture preferably contains two parts of oxides or peroxides of the alkaline earth metals and one part of metal powder. It is pressed into the electrode body under high pressure, about 1000-2000 kg/cm.sup.2, and then sintered. In this patent application, barium oxide is explicitly mentioned as oxide and/or peroxide, and zirconium, tantalum and tungsten are cited as metal powders. The production process for this electrode is comparatively expensive, and the electrode does not have sufficient durability in terms of cold starting. European Patent EP 0,253,316 discloses cold-startable electrodes for low-pressure discharge lamps, which essentially consists of a semiconducting porcelain. As their main component, these electrodes contain one or more oxides of the elements titanium, barium, strontium, calcium, lanthanum and tin. They furthermore have one or more additives from the group Y, Dy, Hf, Ce, Pr, Nd, Sm, Gd, Ho, Er, Tb, Sb, Nb, W, Yb, Sc and Ta. The production of these electrodes is too expensive. In addition, these electrodes are suitable only for low-pressure discharge lamps with comparatively low operating currents of up to about 50 mA, but not for operating currents of more than 100 mA, as occur in conventional fluorescent lamps.

Patent-Treuhand-Gesellschaft fuer elektrische Gluehlampen mbH


Disclosed is a compact self-ballasted fluorescent lamp with higher luminous efficiency than conventional lamps and improved luminous flux rising characteristics at lamp startup equivalent to those of general fluorescent lamps. The compact self-ballasted fluorescent lamp (1) includes an arc tube (2) formed by a bent glass tube (9) covered with a globe (6). The glass tube (9) has a turning part substantially in the middle between its both ends, a first spiral part starting from one end and wound around an axis toward the turning part, and a second spiral part starting from the turning part and wound around the axis toward the other end. The arc tube (2) has mercury enclosed therein in a single form. The glass tube (9) has a substantially circular-shaped cross section and an inner diameter of 7.4 mm. The turning part is connected to the globe (9) via a heat-conductive member (15).

In the present energy-saving era, compact self-ballasted fluorescent lamps that exhibit high luminous efficiency and long life are calling attentions as alternative light sources to incandescent lamps. Compact self-ballasted fluorescent lamps (hereafter simply referred to as "lamps") have bent arc tubes. Roughly two design types of such lamps are available, namely, lamps having globes for covering arc tubes, and lamps not having globes for covering arc tubes. Hereafter, a lamp having a globe is referred to as a "globe-type lamp" and a lamp not having a globe is referred to as a "non globe-type lamp".
The difference between a globe-type lamp and a non globe-type lamp lies not only in the presence of a globe, but also in the form of mercury enclosed within an arc tube. For a globe-type lamp, mercury is enclosed within its arc tube in the form of an alloy containing bismuth (Bi), indium (In), tin (Sn), and the like, i.e., in the form of an amalgam. For a non globe-type lamp, mercury is enclosed within its arc tube not in the form of an amalgam but in a single form.
For a globe-type lamp, too, mercury used to be enclosed within its arc tube in the single form. However, a globe-type lamp in which mercury is enclosed in the single form has the following problem. When such a globe-type lamp is lit, heat is trapped in its globe covering the arc tube, causing the temperature of the arc tube to increase excessively. Along with this, a mercury vapor pressure within the arc tube increases, thereby greatly degrading the luminous efficiency of the lamp. For a non globe-type lamp, mercury is still enclosed within its arc tube in the single form because the temperature of the arc tube does not increase much during lighting and so only subtle degradation of the luminous efficiency occurs.
In view of the above problem, a number of techniques for suppressing an increase of a mercury vapor pressure within an arc tube have been proposed as disclosed in Japanese published examined application Nos. H03-22016, H03-22017, H03-24018, and H03-24019. However, these techniques can be effective only for lamps of energy-saving type, such as a 9 W lamp that is an alternative to a 40 W incandescent lamp. For a 12 W lamp and a 22 W lamp that are alternatives to a 60 W incandescent lamp and a 100 W incandescent lamp, the temperature of an arc tube increases excessively during lighting, and accordingly, these techniques fail to effectively suppress the increase of the mercury vapor pressure.
With such a background, a technique that can be applied to a 12 W lamp and a 22 W lamp that are alternatives to a 60 W incandescent lamp and a 100 W incandescent lamp has been developed. The technique is to enclose mercury within an arc tube in the form of an amalgam as employed in a conventional lamp, instead of enclosing mercury within an arc tube in the single form. This technique has been found to prevent degradation of the luminous efficiency when using an amalgam selected from BiIn, BiPbSn, InPb, BiIn, and InPbSn. It should be noted here that this technique of using an amalgam is now predominantly employed for globe-type lamps.
As a result, for a 12 W lamp using a triple U-shape arc tube or a quad U-shape arc tube that is an alternative to a 60 W incandescent lamp, the luminous efficiency of 68 lm/W level has been achieved.
These various techniques described above have greatly improved the luminous efficiency of lamps. However, due to an amalgam enclosed within an arc tube for the purpose of suppressing degradation of the luminous efficiency, rising of the luminous flux at the lamp startup is delayed. To be more specific, mercury is absorbed by an amalgam when the lamp is turned off. This reduces the luminous flux at the lamp startup because a mercury vapor pressure at the lamp startup is relatively low as compared with a lamp in which mercury is enclosed within an arc tube in the single form.

Fluorescent lamp and manufacturing method for arc tube

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


In a photometering lens for an SLR camera in which object light transmitted through a finder screen and emitted from a reflecting optical member is received by a light measuring receiver, wherein the photometering lens has a light path for illumination light upon assembling the light measuring receiver, said illumination light being applied from said reflecting optical member toward the light measuring receiver, and wherein the position of said light measuring receiver is determined in accordance with an image of the light measuring receiver formed on the finder screen. An adjusting method of a photometering device having a photometering lens to adjust the position of the light measuring receiver is also disclosed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a photometering lens of a single lens reflex (SLR) camera, and in particular, it relates to a structure of a photometering lens incorporated in a photometering device in an SLR camera and an adjusting method of the photometering device.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a known type of photometering device for an SLR camera, light transmitted through a finder screen (focusing screen) is received by a light receiving element to measure the brightness of an object.
The basic structure of a conventional SLR camera and photometering lens is shown in FIGS. 10 and 11. A camera body 101 is provided with a photographing lens 103 which is detachably attached thereto. Light carrying an object image incident upon the photographing lens 103 is partly transmitted through a main mirror 105 and is reflected by a sub-mirror 107 toward an AF sensor unit 109. The object light incident upon the photographing lens 103 is partly reflected by the main mirror 105, is converged onto a finder screen (focusing screen) 31 to form (or project) an object image thereon, and passes through the finder screen 31. The finder screen 31 is located at a position which is optically equivalent to a film surface 111. The object light passing through the finder screen 31 is reflected by a hollow pentagonal mirror (a reflecting optical member) 21. The light reflected by the hollow pentagonal mirror 21 partly passes through an eyepiece 41 and is partly transmitted through a photometering lens 11' and is received by a light measuring receiver (a light receiving element) 13. The hollow pentagonal mirror 21 can be replaced by a pentagonal prism per se known.
In the SLR camera mentioned above, position of the light measuring receiver 13 is adjusted to coincide with the image of the finder screen 31. In particular, in case that the light measuring receiver 13 is a center-weighted measuring type or a divided brightness measuring type, it is necessary to precisely make the image of the finder screen 31 coincidental with the light receiving area (measuring area) of the light measuring receiver 13. Namely, the centering operation to register the center of the object image on the finder screen 31 with the center of the central light receiving element of the light measuring receiver 13 must be precisely carried out.
To this end, in the prior art, the relationship between the light measuring receiver 13 and the measuring area is adjusted in such a way that a reference chart is placed in a predetermined position on the optical axis and the position of the photographing lens is adjusted with respect to the reference chart. The output of the central light receiving element of the light measuring receiver 13 is measured while moving the light measuring receiver 13. The position in which the output of the central light receiving element of the light measuring receiver 13 becomes maximum corresponds to the center position.
However, in this adjustment, since the output of the light measuring receiver is measured while moving the light measuring receiver 13, it takes a long time to detect the peak value of the output.

Photometering lens for SLR camera and adjusting of photometering device


A novel stilbene derivative is provided with motivation of providing a blue emissive material showing excellent color purity. The use of the stilbene derivative of the present invention allows the fabrication of a blue-emissive light-emitting element with excellent color purity. The invention also includes an electronic device equipped with a display portion in which the stilbene derivative is employed. The stilbene derivative of the present invention is represented by formula (1), in which Ar1 and Ar2 may form a 5-membered ring by being directly bonded to each other. In formula (1), A11 represents any one of substituents represented by general formulas (1-1) to (1-3). The variables shown in formula (1) and (1-1) to (1-3) are as defined in the specification.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to stilbene derivatives, light-emitting elements which use stilbene derivatives, display devices having the light-emitting elements, and electronic devices having the display devices. In more detail, the present invention relates to novel stilbene derivatives which can provide excellent color purity of blue; and light-emitting elements, display devices, and electronic devices which use the stilbene derivatives.
2. Description of the Related Art
Light-emitting elements have features such as low-voltage drive, high efficiency, and high luminance and are expected to be applied to flat panel displays of the next generation. It is considered that a light-emitting device in which light-emitting elements are used for a pixel portion is superior to a conventional liquid crystal display device in viewing angle and visibility.
A light-emitting element is formed by interposing a layer including a luminescent substance between a pair of electrodes (an anode and a cathode). An emission mechanism thereof is regarded as follows: when voltage is applied between the pair of electrodes, holes injected from the anode and electrons injected from the cathode recombine in a light-emitting layer including a luminescent substance, whereby a molecular exciton is formed, and energy is released when the molecular exciton relaxes to a ground state. Thus, light is emitted. A luminescent substance can exist in singlet excited state and a triplet excited state. Light emission from a singlet excited state is referred to as fluorescence and light emission from a triplet excited state is referred to as phosphorescence.
An emission wavelength of a light-emitting element is determined by an energy difference between a ground state and an excited state, that is, a band gap, of a light-emitting molecule included in the light-emitting element. Therefore, various emission colors can be obtained by devising a structure of the light-emitting molecule. By using the light-emitting elements capable of emitting red light, blue light, or green light, which are the three primary colors of light, a full-color light-emitting device can be manufactured. Accordingly, highly reliable light-emitting elements which are excellent in color purity and emit red light, blue light, or green light are being investigated.
As a result of recent development of materials, red emissive and green emissive light-emitting element with high reliability and excellent color purity have been realized. However, a blue emissive light emitting element having sufficient reliability and color purity has not yet been developed in spite of intensive research thereon (for example, see Reference 1: Japanese Published Patent Application No. 2004-75580).

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Stilbene derivatives, light-emitting element, display device, and electronic device

Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.


The present disclosure is generally directed to a holder element, also generally referred to herein as a welding element, configured to couple an optical coupling receptacle to a substrate and provide an integrated optical arrangement to redirect light received from the optical coupling receptacle along a receive light path to an output light path that is offset from the receive light path.

Optical transceivers are used to transmit and receive optical signals for various applications including, without limitation, internet data center, cable TV broadband, and fiber to the home (FTTH) applications. Optical transceivers provide higher speeds and bandwidth over longer distances, for example, as compared to transmission over copper cables. The desire to provide higher transmit/receive speeds in increasingly space-constrained optical transceiver modules has presented challenges, for example, with respect to thermal management, insertion loss, RF driving signal quality and manufacturing yield.
The data center market for optical transceivers continues to grow and systems such as those utilizing 100G CWDM4 transceivers remain in high demand. Reducing component costs in such optical transceivers while maintaining nominal performance and strict conformance with relevant standards raises numerous non-trivial challenges.

Holder element with integrated optical arrangement to offset an output light path


An electronic device of a chip size having improved airtightness is designed to be formed by a reduced number of process steps. An electronic component including a chip having a functional surface and electrodes at least on one side and a substrate having a portion which can be connected to the electrodes of the chip is designed as such an electronic device. In the electronic component, electroconductive glass or an intermetallic compound is used for connection portions to establish electrical connections between the chip and the substrate and to simultaneously seal the device surface on the chip.

The present invention relates to an electronic component which needs to be sealed in an airtight manner and a method of manufacturing the electronic component part. More particularly, the present invention relates to a technique effective in an application to a surface acoustic wave device.
A surface acoustic wave device used as a high-frequency filter for portable telephones, etc., is formed in such a manner that a pair of interdigital electrodes are formed on a surface of a piezoelectric monocrystal chip such as a lithium tantalate (LiTaO3) chip or a lithium niobate (LiNbO3) chip (hereinafter referred to as "SAW chip"), the chip is mounted on a package substrate, and input and output electrodes on the package substrate are electrically connected to the pair of interdigital electrodes.
Ordinarily, a SAW chip is die-bonded to a ceramic package substrate while being positioned so that the chip surface on which a surface acoustic wave propagates, i.e., the surface on which the pair of interdigital electrodes are formed, faces upward, and chip electrodes connected to the pair of interdigital electrodes are electrically connected to internal electrodes on the package substrate by bonding using metallic wires mainly formed of Al or Au. The chip is thereafter sealed with a metallic cap in an airtight manner to form a surface acoustic wave device.
In recent years, there has been a strong demand for reducing the size of components of portable telephones, etc.
To meet the demand, the size of surface acoustic wave devices is reduced by eliminating the wire bonding area in such a manner that the SAW chip is flip-chip-connected to the package substrate.
JP-A-8-316778 discloses a typical device structure relating to such a size reduction method. FIG. 17 shows a diagram schematically showing the device structure.
According to this related art document, a SAW chip 100 having a flow prevention frame 320 formed so as to surround interdigital electrodes 110 is flip-chip-connected to the a package substrate 200 with bumps 400 interposed therebetween, and a sealing resin 310 is injected from a side surface of the SAW chip 100 and is set, thereby forming a surface acoustic wave device.
The sealing resin 310 is stopped by the flow prevention frame 320 at the time of injection. A space 500 is therefore formed on the interdigital electrode 110 surface side to ensure propagation of a surface acoustic wave. The bumps 400 are formed by an Au wire bump method and are connected to the package substrate 200 by a solder or an electroconductive resin.
Known documents relating to the present invention include JP-A-2001-94390, JP-A-4-293311 and JP-A-9-289429 as well as the above-mentioned JP-A-8-316778.

Electronic device and method of manufacturing the same


Example embodiments are directed to materials useable as burnable poisons in nuclear reactors, components using the same, and methods of using the same. Example embodiment burnable poison materials produce desired daughter products as they burn out, thereby permitting placement and use for neutronic characteristic improvement and/or neutron flux shielding in locations conventionally barred as uneconomical. Example embodiment burnable poison materials may include natural iridium and enriched iridium-193. Example embodiment components may be fabricated, shaped, and placed to provide desired burnable poison effects in the reactor core in conventional locations and locations not conventionally used due to economic infeasibility. Example methods include use of example embodiment components, including determining locations benefiting from burnable poison effects, fabricating example embodiment components of a desired amount of example embodiment burnable poison materials, placing the example embodiment components, exposing example embodiment components to flux within the operating nuclear reactor, removing and harvesting example embodiment burnable poison components for desired daughter products produced from example embodiment burnable poison materials.

1. Field
Example embodiments and methods generally relate to materials and components used in reactors of nuclear power plants.
2. Description of Related Art
Generally, nuclear power plants include a reactor core having fuel arranged therein to produce power by nuclear fission. A common design in U.S. nuclear power plants is to arrange fuel in a plurality of fuel rods bound together as a fuel assembly, or fuel bundle, placed within the reactor core. Power is generated by the nuclear fuel, typically uranium, through a fission chain reaction of the fuel atoms.
Steady-state fission in the reactor fuel releases large amounts of neutrons, which initiate and sustain the fission chain reaction. Conventionally, managing and maintaining a steady-state fission reaction and corresponding power production and safety standards is achieved by managing the amount of neutrons and neutron flux within the core. Managing neutron flux may achieve several goals, including, for example, maximizing power production, equalizing fuel neutron exposure and fissioning or "burn," minimizing neutron flux peaking, and providing safety margins for safe operation and shut-down of the reactor.
Conventional neutron flux management has several forms. Burnable poisons are one form of neutron flux management conventionally used in nuclear reactors. Burnable poisons typically absorb neutron flux, thereby reducing or "poisoning" fuel reactivity and fission rate, where they are placed. Based on the engineer's knowledge of the reactor core and reactor physics, the engineer can determine areas of the core subject to unwanted amounts of neutron flux at particular points in time during operation and place burnable poisons in those positions. Thus, unwanted flux may be reduced, resulting in a more even and/or safer burn throughout the fuel. Alternatively, burnable poisons may be placed in the core coolant or moderator and reduce reactivity throughout the core, potentially providing easier shut-down of the core and/or reducing reliance on other neutron flux management approaches, such as control rod/blade usage.
Burnable poisons also conventionally have a reduced effect as time passes in an operating core. The more neutrons a particular burnable poison absorbs, the lesser its ability to continue absorbing neutrons. Through this property, burnable poisons may be used to control neutron flux or reactivity at specific time periods subject to unwanted amounts of neutron flux, such as beginning of operating cycles, while having minimal effect at other time periods where the poisoning effect is undesired, such as end of operating cycles.
Conventional burnable poisons include, for example, gadolinium and/or boron compounds. These and related elements have a high absorption cross-section, or probability, for thermal neutron flux commonly found in light water reactors. As the burnable poisons absorb neutrons and lower reactivity, they are converted into other elements with much lower thermal neutron absorption cross-sections, thereby "burning out" over time in the operating core. Gadolinium and/or boron compounds are conventionally fashioned into special rods or fuel additives. In these forms, burnable poisons may be placed at specific axial and radial locations within the core to reduce unwanted levels of neutron flux predicted or experienced at those locations at certain times. Conventional burnable poison elements may be removed from the core and disposed of at the completion of each operating cycle, and new burnable poison elements may be introduced to replace the old, depending on new core characteristics.

Burnable poison materials and apparatuses for nuclear reactors and methods of using the same


A virtual image display system provides video displays based upon virtual images of the external world having synchronized structural outlines superimposed on the video displays to a pilot operating an aircraft such as a helicopter in non-visual flight conditions. The virtual image display system includes a virtual imaging subsystem for generating virtual images of the external world, a video display subsystem for generating video images based upon the virtual images and for displaying the video images for the pilot's viewing, a sensing means for providing signals corresponding to the spatial location and perspective of the video display subsystem, a map comprising structural outlines corresponding to structural members forming the canopy structure of the helicopter, and a computer subsystem providing electronic interfacing between the elements of the virtual image display system, for synchronizing the orientation of the virtual imaging subsystem with the video display subsystem, and for processing the virtual image signals to provide signals to the video display subsystem to generate video displays. The computer utilizes the helmet position signals to define the relative position and orientation of the video display subsystem in the cockpit, and utilizes such definition to reconstruct structural outlines from the map that are synchronized to the perspective of the video images. The synchronized structural images are superimposed upon the video display.

Future generation aircraft (including helicopters) now in planning and/or development phases (as well as many present generation aircraft) are complex systems comprised of a large number of interrelated, complex subsystems such as the airframe, powerplant, flight controls, avionics, navigation equipment, armament, etc. Such subsystems generate significant amounts of status data, much of which must be frequently monitored by the pilot for the safe and/or efficient operation and/or pilotage of the aircraft. A considerable portion of pilot workload in these future generation aircraft will be devoted to monitoring the status of the aircraft subsystems during flight operations via reference to the generated status data.
In addition, mission requirements for such future generation aircraft may involve a greater percentage of high pilot workload flight operations such as hap-of-the-earth (NOE), adverse weather, and/or night flying. Such high pilot workload flight operations require the pilot to maintain a continual spatial awareness of aircraft orientation and/or location with respect to the external world and a situational awareness of objects of interest in the external world vis-a-vis the aircraft in addition to continual monitoring of the status of aircraft subsystems.
It will be appreciated that the task of monitoring the status of the various aircraft subsystems may conflict with the tasks of maintaining continual spatial and situational awareness of the external world. To monitor the status of aircraft subsystems, the pilot may have to divert his attention from the observation of the external world outside the cockpit to reference generated status data. Such diversions may lead to losses, in varying degrees, of spatial and/or situational awareness of the external world, which, in turn, may lead to less than optimal flight conditions, especially during high pilot workload flight operations.
Current aircraft design methodology strives to optimize the interrelationship between the functional task of monitoring aircraft status information and the functional tasks of maintaining continual spatial and situational awareness of the external world vis-a-vis the aircraft. Such design methodology seeks systems and methods that allow vital aircraft status information to be accessible to the pilot in such a manner that there is no interference with the continual spatial and situational awareness functions being performed by the pilot. In addition, such aircraft status information should be presented in a manner consonant with the spatial orientation and perspective of the pilot to preclude any decoupling among the various functional tasks. Such decoupling may lead to increased pilot workload (to maintain a viable frame of reference) and/or to pilot disorientation.
Electro-optical systems have been developed to provide aircraft status information to the pilot to facilitate simultaneous accomplishment of both the status monitoring functions and the spatial and situational awareness functions. These systems generate symbolic and digital status information images that correspond to the aircraft status information generated by the various aircraft subsystems and superimpose such symbolic status information images into the pilot's field of vision. The images are typically introduced into the pilot's field of vision by means of collimated light rays so that the symbolic images appear to be at optical infinity with respect to the pilot's visual system.
Thus, the pilot views the external world outside of the cockpit at infinity and simultaneously sees symbolic and digital images at infinity. The superimposition of two sets of images, i.e., the external world and electronically generated symbolic and digital status information images, enable the pilot to simultaneously maintain awareness of the status of the aircraft, the spatial orientation of the aircraft with respect to the external world, and a situational awareness of the external world vis-a-vis the aircraft.
Exemplary prior art electro-optical systems utilizing collimated light rays to generate symbolic images include head-up display (HUD) subsystems and helmet mounted display (HMD) subsystems. Representative examples of HUD and HMD subsystems are illustrated in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,446,480, 4,439,775, 4,439,157, 4,305,057, 4,269,476, and 3,923,370. While such electro-optical systems have contributed significantly to the optimization of the interrelationship between the functional task of monitoring aircraft status information and the functional tasks of maintaining continual spatial and situational awareness of the external world vis-a-vis the aircraft during both visual and non-visual flight conditions, a problem has been identified that interferes with the functional tasks of maintaining spatial and situational awareness of the external world vis-a-vis the aircraft.
During visual flight conditions, the pilot utilizes a cognitive mechanism that allows the pilot to safely and efficiently maintain continual spatial and situational awareness of the external world vis-a-vis the aircraft. More specifically, the pilot, either consciously or subliminally, utilizes the canopy structure of the aircraft as a frame of reference to orientate his visual view of the external world vis-a-vis the aircraft. This cognitive mechanism precludes pilot disorientation during visual flight conditions inasmuch as the canopy structure provides an effective reference for maintaining spatial and situational awareness of the external world. A useful analogy would be the automobile driver who utilizes the hood and front bumpers of his automobile to maintain a continual spatial and situational awareness of the external world, i.e., the relationship of his automobile to the road, other traffic, pedestrians, etc.
During non-visual flight conditions such as night and/or adverse weather flight operations, a pilot cannot generally rely on the cognitive mechanism described in the preceding paragraphs. Many times the non-visual flight conditions are such that the pilot cannot visually perceive the canopy structure and/or the external world, and therefore cannot effectuate a referential relationship between the canopy structure and the external world to facilitate maintenance of spatial and situational awareness of the external world. Moreover, to an increasing degree, pilots operating an aircraft in non-visual flight conditions utilize virtual images of the external world, which are coupled into the pilot's field of view by means of the aforedescribed electro-optical systems, for pilotage of the aircraft.
Such virtual images may be generated by various sensor systems such as low-light television systems, infrared imaging systems, etc. A common characteristic of such virtual image generating systems is that the frame of reference of such generated virtual images of the external world is totally divorced from the canopy structure. For example, a virtual image generating system is typically located in the nose section or the forward belly section of an aircraft so as to generate virtual images of the aircraft's projected flight path. Such virtual images, especially where the aircraft is engaging in flight maneuvers other than straight and level flight, cannot be easily correlated to the canopy structure of the aircraft, which provides an essential underpinning for the utilization of the aforedescribed cognitive mechanism during flight operations.
As a result, pilots utilizing virtual images to pilot aircraft in non-visual flight conditions may become easily disorientated when engaging in flight maneuvers other than straight and level flight. Such disorientation adversely affects the safe pilotage of the aircraft, especially in high pilot workload flight conditions such as NOE flight operations. A need exists to provide pilots utilizing virtual images for non-visual flight conditions with an aircraft referent that will allow the pilot to utilize the cognitive mechanism that the pilot utilizes during visual flight conditions to maintain continual spatial and situational awareness of the external world vis-a-vis the aircraft during flight operations utilizing virtual images of the external world.

Helicopter virtual image display system incorporating structural outlines


A car body of railway rolling stock suitable for use for passenger cars or electric passenger cars and easy to fabricate at a low material cost. An underframe constituting the car body comprises a center underframe produced at light-alloy extruded shapes and an end underframe produced of a ferrous material, and a roof framing, a side framing and an end framing which constitute the car body are composed of outer plate members produced of a ferrous material and frame members produced of a ferrous material.

Generally, car bodies of rolling stock are produced of light alloys such as aluminum alloys, steel for structural use or stainless steel materials. In the car bodies of rolling stock, the whole body is essentially constructed of one type of material.
A car body produced or a stainless steel material has a long life because the stainless steel is less susceptible to corrosion than an aluminum alloy and steel. A stainless steel body, however, requires a special surface treatment of its outer places when the body surface is to be painted. Therefore, the stainless steel body requires considerable time and labor for painting. A car body built of an aluminum alloy material is light in weight and easy to paint; however, an aluminum alloy is more expensive than stainless steel. Therefore the material cost of aluminum alloy car body is higher than that of stainless steel body and body built of steel for structural use. However, the steel material for structural use is susceptible to corrosion as compared with the stainless steel and heaver than the aluminum alloy material. The car body built of steel for structural use is heavier than the aluminum alloy body and has a shorter service life than the stainless steel body.
Recently various technologies have been proposed for joining different types of materials. Also there has been achieved improvement in the strength of the connecting section of material, thereby enabling the combination of the different types of materials, for example, a light alloy material and a steel material for structural use. In the meantime, there has been an increase in the number of railway cars equipped with control equipment and air-conditioning apparatus on the undersurface of an underframe. In a car body described above, it is imperative to construct the underframe such that the various equipment can be mounted on the undersurface of the underframe as easily as possible. The underframe, therefore, is built of a plurality of extruded shapes of aluminum alloy formed integral with a rail sturdy enough to support the various equipment. The plurality of the extruded shapes of aluminum alloy extend in the longitudinal direction of the car and are arranged in parallel with the direction of width of the car body and joined to one another by welding. A side framing of a stainless steel material or a steel material is used for structural purposes. A car body using an underframe made up of the extruded shapes of an aluminum alloy joined with the side framing is proposed in, for example, Japanese Laid-Open Utility Model No. 60-108584, wherein the entire body of the underframe is composed of extruded shapes of aluminum alloy; however, no consideration is given to the reduction of material costs in fabricating the underframe.
Another example of the car body underframe composed of extruded shapes of aluminum alloy is proposed in, for example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent No. 62-94466, wherein an equipment mounting section is provided separately from sections for other equipment is built as one frame by assembling and joining these sections. Since this underframe is generally constituted of the extruded shapes of aluminum alloy, material costs are increased.

Car body of railway rolling stock and method for fabricating car body


A method for coating polymeric substrate articles with a barrier coating that imparts improved vapor, gas or aroma permeability characteristics to the coated substrate, without efflorescence or hazing of the dried coating. The method employs a lithium-potassium copolysilicate of the formula (L.sub.2 O).sub.x (K.sub.2 O).sub.1-x (SiO.sub.2).sub.y, wherein y is between 1 and 10, if x is less than 1; or y is greater than 4.6, if x is 1.

Alkali metal polysilicates have long been known as protective coatings that modify the permeability or surface characteristics of polymeric films and other articles. Lithium (Li), sodium (Na), and potassium (K) polysilicates are known to be effective as protective coatings for a variety of surfaces. For example, Japanese Patent Publication No. H7-18202, published Jan. 20, 1995 refers to a water-insoluble, coating material and binder for use on metals, synthetic resins, glass, wood, cement, etc, which contains mixtures of an aqueous solution of sodium or potassium silicate and an aqueous solution of lithium silicate, where the ratio of the sodium or potassium silicate to lithium silicate is in the range of 1-3.
As another example, Hecht and Iler, Canadian Patent No. 993,738, describe a gas and liquid-impermeable coating for polymeric substrates comprising lithium polysilicate having a mole ratio of SiO.sub.2 to Li.sub.2 O of about 1.6 to 4.6. However, polymeric articles are known to become hazy after certain polysilicate coatings have been incorporated. The tendency of sodium (Na) polysilicate coatings to effloresce, i.e., to become covered by powdery crystalline material as a result of atmospheric exposure, has been documented Weldes and Lange, Ind. Eng. Chem., 61(4):28-44 (1969)!. This characteristic has similarly been observed for lithium polysilicate coatings by the present inventors. In contrast, pure potassium polysilicate coatings do not effloresce, but suffer severe loss of barrier performance above 50% relative humidity. Pure lithium polysilicate coatings, on the other hand, exhibit little or no loss of barrier performance over the same relative humidity range.
There remains a need in the art of barrier coatings for coating compositions and methods which overcome the above deficiencies, and are widely available as vapor, gas and/or aroma barriers for polymeric articles, e.g., packaging products.

Lithium and potassium copolysilicate barrier coatings


Network management apparatus and methods are described. A network management apparatus comprises network data receiving means for receiving network data that is representative of the current condition of a communications network, the network data comprising a plurality of values indicative of the performance of network elements; network data transformation means for transforming the received network data into a network state vector that is indicative of a current state of the network; and network state prediction means for predicting a future network state vector of the network from the current network state vector, the network state prediction means comprising a self-learning prediction module having a memory for storing at least one internal state.

Management of communications networks such as mobile networks relies heavily on the use of rulesets, generated and maintained by operators or network architects. As networks increase in size, complexity, and diversity, this approach is becoming less viable due to excessive human labour requirements. To reduce labour intensity, implementing automated rule generation derived from example data sets—a process called machine learning—is currently the most successful alternative.
Self-Organizing Networks (SON) can use generated rulesets for fault detection, diagnosis and deployment of corrective actions in order to implement automated self-healing of networks. So far, these efforts are mainly done under strict human supervision and are focused on reactive self-healing; the correction of degradations after these have become damaging/apparent. With the use of precise machine-learned rules/models that describe the networks, a more advanced self-healing could be achieved, where faults are predicted and corrected in a very early stage, avoiding performance degradation altogether. This concept is called proactive self-healing, where measures are taken to prevent the occurrence of faults.
In many cases, off-the-shelf machine learning algorithms perform poorly in their respective tasks. This is caused by case-by-case differences in the structure of data generated by the monitored systems or the behaviour of the systems themselves that these algorithms try to model. Mobile networks pose a unique environment for machine learning algorithms in this sense, because of the unusually large number of influencing factors that stem from outside of the network, such as, human diurnal behaviour, weather, user movement, etc. Another aspect of mobile networks is the interconnected behaviour of many distinct elements, such as base-stations or gateways. It is likely that using machine-learning algorithms without adapting them to this unique environment means not utilizing them to their fullest potential. Mobile network data is unique, in that it exhibits complex temporal, spatial and dimensional correlations, often all three at the same time. Since currently the strongest state-of-the-art machine learning model builders are Deep Neural Networks, it is a logical aspiration to use them for learning and predicting mobile network behaviour. One choice for modelling the sequential data collected in the mobile domain is Recurrent Neural Networks (RNN), in particular Long-Short Term Memory RNNs (LSTMs).
Network Performance Management (PM) data, which is the basic input for most of the network optimization and self-healing use cases, consists of continuous numerical values (also called Key Performance Indicators, KPIs). These values form a multi-dimensional stream of data that is collected from measurements at a large number of network elements. The problem is that RNNs are similar to state-machines, which makes them better suited to work on quantized or discrete streams of data, such as written text. This mismatch in the data structure causes a degradation in the prediction accuracy of the LSTM when used directly on PM data, reducing the possibility of early detection of faults when used for proactive self-healing. Such prognostic self-healing functions would be very desirable in cognitive network management, since they would improve the system's capability to detect faults before they cause a service degradation.

Method and an apparatus for fault prediction in network management


A system may include two input terminals, e.g., HI and LO, and a floating circuit that is physically separate from the input terminals and includes a gain amplifier. The floating circuit can be surrounded by a conductive enclosure that is electrically connected to the second input terminal. The floating circuit can further switch between input signals received from the first and second input terminals to the gain amplifier and the floating circuit ground.

Over the years, certain digital voltmeter (DVM) designs have improved input signal observation time but have also concurrently introduced sensitivity to the offset drift of the input amplifier feedback, thus limiting the performance of the product. For example, certain nanoVolt DVMs have used a measure zero cycle to remove the input amplifier's offset. In such DVMs, a measurement with the input applied to the input amplifier is typically made followed by a measurement with zero applied. The difference thus removes the input amplifier's offset but the zero cycle is time spent not measuring the input signal.
Other designs have used a reversing input amplifier that inverses its offset between each measurement. Thus, by averaging two adjacent measurements, the input amplifier's offset is cancelled and the input can be observed during both measurements thereby reducing the noise. However, the offset drift of the input amplifier's feedback is not cancelled and, therefore, limits the performance of the unit.
Accordingly, a need remains for a design that maintains high observation time while removing the detrimental sensitivity to the feedback offset drift.


The present invention relates to compositions and methods for identifying, assessing, preventing, and treating melanoma. A variety of PD-L1 isoform biomarkers are provided, wherein alterations in the copy number of one or more of the biomarkers and/or alterations in the amount, structure, and/or activity of one or more of the biomarkers is associated with melanoma status.

PDL1 is a membrane bound protein. In human, it is mainly expressed on DC and monocytes (Keir et al. (2008) Annu. Rev. Immunol. 26:677-704). The recepter for the ligand is PD1, which is expressed on activated T cells and B cells, DC, and monocytes (Keir et al. (2008) Annu. Rev. Immunol. 26:677-704). During the engagement of T cells with antigen/MHC complex, interaction of PDL1 with PD1 exerts inhibitory effects on T cell activation, leading to immune suppressionb (Sharpe and Freeman (2002) Nat. Rev. Immunol. 2:116-126 and Keir et al. (2008) Annu. Rev. Immunol. 26:677-704). PDL1 expression is also present in a wide varieties of tumor cells (Thompson et al. (2004) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 101:17174-17179; Ghebeh et al. (2007) Int. J. Cancer 121:751-758; Hamanishi et al. (2007) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 104:3360-3365; and Inman et al. (2007) Cancer 109:1499-1505). Levels of PDL1 expression in tumor is associated with survival rate (Hino et al. (2010) Cancer 116:1757-1766 and Gadiot et al. (2011) Cancer 117:2192-2201). An increasing number of studies indicate that the disruption of the pathway increases antigen-specific T cells and decreases Treg suppression function (Wong et al. (2007) Int. Immunol. 19:1223-1234 and Wang et al. (2009) Int. Immunol. 21:1065-1077). An initial clinical trial with antibody PD1 blockade show promising clinical beneficial outcomes in immunotherapy on melanoma (Brahmer et al. (2010) J. Clin. Oncol. 28:3167-3175 and Topalian et al. (2012) N. Engl. J. Med. 366:2443-2454).
Recent studies indicate the existence of a soluble PDL1 (sPDL1) in human sera and culture medium of mature DC by ELISA using PDL1 specific antibodies (Chen et al. (2011) Cytokine 56:231-238; Frigola et al. (2011) Clin. Cancer Res. 17:1915-1923; and Frigola et al. (2012) Immunol. Lett. 142:78-82). Protein analyses show the size is around 45 kDa, confirmed by mass spectrometry. The level of PDL1 in the sera is associated with aging and aggresive renal cell carcinoma. However, the mechanism of the generation of soluble PDL1 in patient sera remains a mystery and the clinical significance of sPDL1 in cancer patients, such as melanoma patients, remains unclear. Accordingly, there is a great need to identify sPDL1 biomarkers useful for diagnostic, prognostic, and therapeutic purposes.

Compositions and methods for identification, assessment, prevention, and treatment of melanoma using PD-L1 isoforms


An alkyloxirane derivative represented by formula (1), wherein MH and ML calculated from a gel permeation chromatogram satisfy formula (2):Z—[O-(AO)n-H]x  (1)where Z represents a residual group of a compound having 1 to 22 carbon atoms and one to six hydroxyl groups and wherein all of the hydroxyl groups are excluded from said compound; x is 1 to 6; and AO represents an oxyalkylene group having 3 carbon atoms; and n is 25 or more;0.35≤ML/MH≤0.75  (2)where MH represents a distance between point O and intersecting point P, and ML represents a distance between point Q and intersecting point P determined from the chromatogram.

Generally, an alkyloxirane derivative is synthesized by anion polymerization of ring-opening addition of an alkyloxirane, such as oxirane, methyl oxirane and ethyl oxirane, to an initiating agent having an active hydrogen such as an alcohol using an alkali metal hydroxide such as potassium hydroxide. In particular, in the case that methyloxirane is used in the anion-polymerization to synthesize a methyloxirane derivative, an unsaturated mono-ol is generated as a byproduct, whose amount of production is increased as an increase of the molecular weight of the methyloxirane derivative. As a result, an increase of the molecular weight of the methyloxirane derivative is interrupted and the ratio of the derivatives of lower molecular weights is increased in the molecular weight distribution, which is problematic.
For solving the problem, it has been used a phosphazene compound or the like having P=N bond, a catalyst of a complex of a composite metal cyanide or the like. By using such catalyst, it is possible to reduce the generation of the unsaturated mono-ol and to synthesize the methyloxirane derivative of a high molecular weight. Among the catalysts, the catalyst of the complex of the composite metal cyanide has higher catalyst activity than the former catalyst, and thus useful polymerizing catalyst for producing the methyloxirane derivative (Non-patent document 1).
It is further reported that the high-molecular methyloxirane derivative synthesized by using the catalyst of the complex of the composite metal cyanide has a lower content of the unsaturated mono-ol and narrower distribution of the molecular weights. As the molecular distribution of the methyloxirane derivative is narrower, the viscosity is lower and thus easy to handle, so that it is considered to be useful raw material of polyurethane. It is reported that the method of producing methyloxirane derivative having the narrower distribution of molecular weight (Patent documents 1, 2 and 3).
However, in applications of a lubricant oil or the like, there is a problem that the viscosity is not high enough. Further, most of the number (number of the functional groups) of hydroxyl groups in the molecule of such methyloxirane derivative of a high molecular weight is 2 or more, and it is particularly difficult to synthesize a high-molecular weight methyloxirane derivative having a single functional group.
The alkyloxirane derivative has been used as a material for a cosmetic. For example, patent document 4 discloses a hair cosmetic blending polyoxypropylene butyl ether. It is described that the cosmetic can be washed by rinse to obtain smooth finishing sense in hairs. However, in the case that such hair cosmetics is used, hairs are got loose by water and can be easily passed by fingers while hairs are rinsed with a large amount of water.
However, creaking occurs during the removal of water from hairs and stiff feel or sticky feel may be left in hairs after the rinsing, which are problematic.

Alkyloxirane derivative, cosmetic material for hair, hydraulic oil composition, resin composition curable by actinic rays, and oil cleansing agent


A method and system for identifying a defect or contamination on a surface of a material. The method and system involves providing a material, such as a semiconductor wafer, using a non-vibrating contact potential difference sensor to scan the wafer, generate contact potential difference data and processing that data to identify a pattern characteristic of the defect or contamination.

The multi-billion dollar global market for semiconductor defect management is growing both in absolute terms and as a percentage of semiconductor capital equipment investment. In general, there are two factors that determine the economics of a semiconductor fabrication facility at a given utilization level, namely throughput and yield. As complex new technologies such as 300 mm wafers, copper interconnects, and reduced feature (circuit) sizes drive the margin of error in fabrication ever lower, new inspection technologies are critical to keep yields high and bottom-line economics attractive. Detection and elimination of chemical contamination and other types of defects is a constant concern for semiconductor manufacturers and equipment suppliers. Contamination can arise from use of processing chemicals, processing equipment and poor handling techniques. Contaminants can include for example metals, carbon and organic compounds. Other types of defects can result from a wide range of causes, including flaws in the semiconductor crystal, improper processing, improper handling, and defective materials. In addition, many cleaning steps are required in semiconductor wafer fabrication. Each step is time consuming and requires expensive chemicals that may require special disposal procedures. Existing methods for monitoring or controlling these processes are expensive and time consuming. As a result, wafers are often cleaned for a longer period of time and using more chemicals than are required.
Defect detection and characterization systems can be divided into in-line and off-line systems. "In-line" refers to inspection and measurement that takes place inside the clean room where wafers are processed. "Off-line" refers to analysis that takes place outside of the wafer processing clean room, often in a laboratory or separate clean room that is located some distance from the manufacturing area. In addition, many of these analytical techniques are destructive, which requires either the sacrifice of a production wafer or the use of expensive "monitor" wafers for analysis. In-line inspection and measurement is crucial for rapidly identifying and correcting problems that may occur periodically in the manufacturing process. A typical wafer can undergo over 500 individual process steps and require weeks to complete. Each wafer can have a finished product value of up to $100,000. Because the number of steps, and period of time, involved in wafer fabrication are so large, a lot of work in process can exist at any point in time. It is critical that process-related defects be found and corrected immediately before a large number (and dollar value) of wafers are affected.
Many types of defects and contamination are not detectable using existing in-line tools, and these are typically detected and analyzed using "off line" techniques (described below) such as Total Reflectance X-ray Fluorescence (TXRF), Vapor Phase Decomposition Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry (VPD ICP-MS) or Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (SIMS). Since these techniques are used off-line (outside of the clean room used to process wafers) and usually occur hours, or even days, after the process step that has caused the contamination, their value is significantly limited.
A brief description of some well known techniques for wafer inspection and chemical contamination detection are presented in Table 1. This list is not in any sense exhaustive as there are a very large number of techniques that are used for some type of semiconductor analysis or characterization.
TABLE 1Analytical In-line/TechniqueDescriptionOff-lineTotal ReflectionX-rays irradiate the wafer within theOff-lineX-Raycritical angle for total external reflectance,Fluorescencecausing surface atoms to fluoresce.(TXRF)AutomatedOptical images are acquired andIn-lineOpticalautomatically analyzed for detection ofMicroscopylarge defects.LaserWafer surface is illuminated with laserIn-lineBackscatteringspots and the angle and/or polarization ofreflected light is analyzed to detect andclassify particles.Vapor PhaseWafers "scanned" with a drop of HF that isOff-lineDecompositionanalyzed using mass spectrometry.InductivelyCoupled-MassSpectrometry(VPD ICP-MS)Secondary IonIon beam sputters the wafer surfaceOff-lineMasscreating secondary ions that are analyzedSpectroscopyin a mass spectrometer.(SIMS)
Table 2 summarizes some major advantages and disadvantages of each technique. In general, off-line detection techniques are extremely sensitive to tiny amounts of contamination; but are slow, expensive and complex to operate. Some have limited, or no, imaging or surface mapping capability, or are destructive in nature. In-line techniques are much faster, non-destructive and provide defect mapping, but have limited chemical contamination detection or analysis capability.
TABLE 2Analytical TechniqueAdvantagesDisadvantagesTotal Reflection X-RayVery sensitiveSlow (>1 hour/wafer)Fluorescence (TXRF)Some mapping capabilityLimited coverageNondestructiveUnpatterned wafers onlyAutomated OpticalFastVery limited chemical andMicroscopyRelatively low costparticle detectionDetects a wide range of macrodefects (>50 microns)Imaging of wafer surfaceNon-contact/non-destructiveLaser BackscatteringFastOnly detects particles - noRelatively low costchemistryDetects very small particlesImaging of water surfaceNon-contact/non-destructiveVapor PhaseVery sensitiveDestructiveDecompositionAble to identifySlowInductively Coupled-wide range of contaminantsExpensiveMass SpectrometryOnly works on bare siliconComplex(VPD ICP-MS)Cannot imageSecondary IonVery sensitiveExpensiveMass Spectroscopy (SIMS)Detects a wide range ofSlowcontaminantsDestructiveDetects sub-surface
In general, existing in-line wafer inspection tools operate at production speeds and generate images of the wafer surface that are processed to identify and locate defects. These techniques, however, are as mentioned above very limited in their ability to detect chemical contamination. Laser backscattering systems are limited to detecting particles down to sub-micron sizes, and optical microscopy systems can only detect chemical contamination that results in a visible stain or residue. Both techniques lack the ability to identify or classify the chemical composition of the particle or contamination. Off-line laboratory techniques are used to qualify the cleanliness of new processes and equipment, or to analyze defects detected by in-line equipment or as part of failure analysis. A critical need therefore exists for a fast, inexpensive and effective means of detecting, locating and classifying relatively small quantities of chemical contamination on production wafers.
It is therefore an object of the invention to provide an improved method and system for inspection of surfaces of materials, such as semiconductor wafers.
It is an additional object of the invention to provide an improved method and system for providing images of surface defects on an semiconductor wafer.
It is yet another object of the invention to provide an improved method and system for identifying different classes of semiconductor wafer surface defects by pattern recognition.
It is still a further object of the invention to provide an improved method and system for classifying categories of surface defects on semiconductor wafers, including without limitation surface defect states, electrostatic field variations, oxide states and chemical contamination.
It is also an additional object of the invention to provide an improved method and system for sensing electrostatic fields arising from semiconductor wafer surface defects.
It is yet another object of the invention to provide an improved method and system for detecting the presence of thin dielectric films on surfaces of semiconductor wafers and to detect film defects such as pinholes, bubbles, delaminations, or contamination under the film.
It is a further object of the invention to provide an improved method and system to sense variations in oxide states on semiconductor wafer surfaces.
It is also a further object of the invention to provide an improved method and system to classify particulate contaminants on semiconductor wafers identified initially by optical inspection systems.
It is yet a further object of the invention to provide an improved method and system for detecting variations in dopant concentration of semiconductor wafers.
It is another object of the invention to provide an improved method and system for use of an NVCPD sensor to inspect the surface quality of semiconductor wafers.
It is still another object of the invention to provide an improved method and system of NVCPD sensors in combination with other inspection systems for evaluating semiconductor wafer surface properties.
It is a further object of the invention to provide an improved method and system for producing topological images of differing contact potential characteristic of defects on a semiconductor wafer.
It is also an object of the invention to provide an improved method and system for rapidly scanning the surface of a semiconductor wafer to identify sub-microscopic, microscopic and macroscopic surface defects characterized by potential field disturbances on the wafer surface.
It is also an object of the invention to provide an improved method and system for detecting the cleanliness of a semiconductor wafer to determine if a cleaning process has eliminated all contaminants and to avoid the time and expense of cleaning wafers for longer than is necessary to remove contaminants.
In each case described above, wafer surface can refer to the front-side (patterned side) of the wafer, back-side (unpatterned side) of the wafer, or the edge of the wafer.
Other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be readily apparent from the following description of the preferred embodiment thereof, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings described below.


Plate-image-inspection RIP data CD2, CD3 are prepared using the same RIP processing conditions from two print image data prepared in different steps of the prepress process, and inspection results are obtained by comparing these data CD2, CD3. Plate-image-inspection RIP data CD2, CD3 can be prepared in several methods: (1) a method for RIP processing respective non-RIP data using standard RIP processing conditions; (2) a method for respectively converting two RIP data to standard RIP processing conditions; and (3) a method for converting one of two RIP data such that it conforms to the RIP processing conditions of the other.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to technology for inspecting a printing image that is sequentially being processed by a plurality of processing steps.
2. Description of the Related Art
In line with the progress of computer technology, computer-based digitization has come into widespread use even in prepress systems for commercial printing. In a digital printing prepress system, print image data (for example, PDF data or PostScript data, PostScript being a trademark of Adobe Systems Incorporated) is received, various data processing is performed on this print image data, binary plate data is prepared, and either a plate or screen film is outputted using this plate data. Furthermore, recently binary print image data is being prepared in printing prepress systems, and on-demand printing, whereby this binary print image data is sent to an on-demand printer and direct printing is executed, is being carried out. In this specification, the overall process for preparing this kind of binary plate data and binary print image data is referred to as "printing prepress."
In the printing prepress process, it is important that a printing image be revised in accordance with client instructions. Thus, special care is taken in carrying out the proofchecking of printed material, and in conducting plate image inspections for checking whether or not proofchecking results are being accurately reflected. In a digital printing prepress system, a plate image inspection is carried out by comparing binary plate data before and after proofchecking.
Recently, the importance of plate image inspection processing in particular is increasing. One reason for this is the desire to reduce the number of times that proofs are outputted in order to reduce printing prepress work volume and costs. For example, when a slight change is added immediately prior to final output (the output of a plate or printed material), since it is not necessary to confirm the contents of the revision with the client, who is the originator of the printing order, the proof is most often omitted. Another reason is because, for example, since a printing image is processed as digital data, and an operator can easily change the print image data, there is the risk of errors occurring as a result of this. Thus, when a relatively insignificant revision is added, failure to check this revision properly runs the risk of the final printed material being no good. Thus, the desire to carry out plate image inspection processing automatically for printed images between different steps has increased.
Also, in conventional plate image inspection processing, since plate data was compared before and after proofchecking, it was impossible to carry out a plate image inspection at the processing stage for outputting a first proof. Accordingly, technology for enabling a plate image inspection to be carried out even at the processing stage for outputting a first proof has been needed for some time now.

Inter-step plate image inspection for printing prepress


Systems and methods are presented for combining media recommendations from multiple recommendation engines. In some embodiments, a recommendation system receives a first indication that a first media recommendation was generated by a first content provider, the first media recommendation being associated with a first media asset. The recommendation system receives a second indication that a second media recommendation was generated by a second content provider, and then determines whether the second media recommendation is associated with the first media asset. In response to determining that the second media recommendation is associated with the first media asset, the recommendation system generates a combined recommendation representing the first and second media recommendations.

Users are interested in reducing the time involved in finding media content of interest to them. To find content, users typically resort to content recommendation engines, which are able to predict content that a user might like based on tracked viewing habits of the user, the way the user has rated similar content, or based on demographic information.
However, it is often the case that users are dissatisfied with individual recommendation engines in the sense that those systems do not "understand" them. These engines are typically managed in isolation in that they are forced to work independently to gather pieces of information about a user. As such, each engine tends to have only a portion of the knowledge on an individual. This inherently limits the degree to which the engine is able to understand its audience and reduces the effectiveness of any resulting analytics on that data.

Systems and methods for combining media recommendations from multiple recommendation engines


The present invention relates to a voltage regulator, including at least two input terminals for receiving, each, an independent supply voltage, and including a means for automatically selecting the highest supply voltage from among the voltages present at the input terminals, and a means for insulating the supply terminal associated with the lowest voltage from the rest of the circuit, these means introducing a very low voltage drop between the input terminal at the highest voltage and an output terminal of the regulator.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a voltage regulator for providing a regulated supply voltage to a load from an input voltage.
An example of application of the present invention concerns integrated circuits for remote-supply telephone sets where the supply is provided by the telephone line, either by the ring circuit when the set is not picked up, or by the speech circuit when the set is picked up, or even by a supply specific to the telephone set (for example, a battery).
The present invention more specifically applies to a regulator for automatically selecting a highest input voltage from among several uncorrelated supply voltages, that is, voltages issued by distinct circuits and provided on several independent inputs of the regulator.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
FIG. 1 shows a conventional diagram of a regulator for supplying a voltage regulated at a specific value from a single supply voltage.
Such a regulator receives, on an input terminal E, a supply voltage to be regulated V, and provides, on an output terminal S, a regulated voltage V.sub.R. The regulator includes a circuit 15 supplying a reference voltage, and a control circuit 16 for controlling a P-channel MOS power transistor M10, the source of which is connected to terminal E and the drain of which constitutes terminal S. Circuit 15 has the finction of determining a precise reference voltage V.sub.BG for controlling, via control circuit 16, output voltage V.sub.R. Circuit 15 includes two PNP-type bipolar transistors Q1 and Q2, the respective emitters of which are connected to terminal E and the respective collectors of which constitute two output terminals 3, 4, of circuit 15 for controlling circuit 16, as it will be seen hereafter. The bases of transistors Q1 and Q2 are connected to the collector of transistor Q1. The collectors of transistors Q1 and Q2 are respectively connected to the collectors of NPN-type bipolar transistors Q3 and Q4, the bases of which are interconnected and form a terminal 5 at reference potential V.sub.BG. The emitter of transistor Q4 is connected to the ground via two resistors R1 and R2 mounted in series. The emitter of transistor Q3 is connected to the midpoint of the series association of resistors R1 and R2. Resistances R1 and R2 and the surface ratio of transistors Q3 and Q4 are chosen to obtain the desired voltage V.sub.BG with a given current in transistors Q1, Q2, Q3, and Q4. Circuit 15 includes a starting circuit formed of a current source I, the output of which is connected to the ground via a diode D and to the base of an NPN-type bipolar transistor Q.sub.D, the collector of which is connected to terminal 4 and the emitter of which is connected to the midpoint of the series association of resistors R1 and R2.
Circuit 15 shown in FIG. 1 is generally referred to as a "band gap" (BG) circuit and its operation is perfectly well known.
Circuit 16 for controlling transistor M10 is formed of two PNP-type bipolar transistors Q5 and Q6, the respective emitters of which are connected to terminal E and the bases of which are respectively connected to terminals 4 and 3. The collectors of transistors Q5 and Q6 are connected to the respective drains of two N-channel MOS transistors M11 and M3 mounted as a current mirror, the sources of transistors M11 and M3 being connected to the ground and transistor M11 being diode-connected. The collector of transistor Q6 constitutes an output terminal of circuit 16 connected to the gate of transistor M10. A resistive bridge formed by resistors R3 and R4 is generally connected between terminal S and the ground when the desired voltage V.sub.R is different from reference voltage V.sub.BG. The midpoint of their dividing bridge is connected to terminal 5 of circuit 15 to constitute a reverse feedback loop enabling maintenance of reference voltage V.sub.BG on the bases of transistors Q3 and Q4. This reference voltage ensures that the currents in transistors Q3 and Q4 are equal. When there is a drift with respect to this reference voltage, the currents in transistors Q1 and Q2 are unbalanced. This current unbalance is amplified by circuit 16 and modifies potential V.sub.G of control of transistor M10 to reestablish, via resistive bridge R3-R4, voltage V.sub.BG which makes the current in transistors Q3 and Q4 equal. Voltage V.sub.R is equal to V.sub.BG (R3+R4)/R4.
A capacitor C is generally provided at the output of the regulator and is connected between terminal S and the ground. The function of this capacitor is, in particular, to ensure the stability of the reverse feedback loop.
A disadvantage of a regulator such as shown in FIG. 1 is that, if voltage V becomes lower than regulated voltage V.sub.R, terminals E and S are short-circuited by transistor M10. Indeed, the substrate of MOS transistor M10 or its well generally is connected to its source, that is, to potential V. The substrate of a MOS transistor or its well is generally referred to as the "bulk" of the transistor to distinguish it from the general substrate of the integrated circuit whereon are implemented the different components. The bulk of a MOS transistor is generally symbolized by an arrow, the direction of which indicates the P or N type of the transistor channel. When voltage V.sub.R is higher than voltage V, the PN junction between the drain and the bulk of transistor M10 is forward biased and the transistor then is short-circuited by the drain/bulk diode. Further, the drain and the source of transistor M10 exchange (the current being reversed), which turns the reverse feedback operated by circuit 15 into a feedback.
This short-circuiting is prejudicial to a second function of capacitor C, which is to temporarily supply the load in case of a deficiency or a disappearing of supply voltage V. For example, when the regulator is used to supply a microprocessor, it is desired to maintain the supply of the microprocessor for the time required for it to store the data, after a deficiency or a disappearing of the supply voltage. Voltage V.sub.R is generally compared with a threshold by means of a circuit external to the regulator to detect a decrease in voltage V.sub.R and then use capacitor C to temporarily supply the microprocessor before voltage V.sub.R disappears.
A conventional solution to insulate terminal E from the rest of the regulator, when the supply voltage becomes lower than voltage V.sub.R, is to place a diode at the input of the regulator. However, a disadvantage of such a solution is that it introduces a voltage drop of about 0.7 volt between the input and output terminals of the regulator.
Insulating diodes are also used when it is desired to supply the regulator such as shown in FIG. 1 from different voltages by selecting, as the voltage to be regulated, that having the highest potential.
FIG. 2 shows a conventional example of a voltage regulator automatically selecting, among two supply voltages V.sub.M and V.sub.L arriving on two input terminals E.sub.M and E.sub.L, the highest voltage. Circuits 15 and 16 shown in FIG. 1 have been functionally schematized in FIG. 2 by a reference voltage generator 1 and by an amplifier 2 receiving, as an input, reference voltage V.sub.BG and the potential of the midpoint of resistive dividing bridge R3-R4. Amplifier 2 and generator 1 are biased by the highest supply voltage V.sub.M or V.sub.L by means of diodes, respectively D1, D2, and D3, D4 interposed in series between each terminal E.sub.M or E.sub.L and the biasing terminal of generator 1 or of amplifier 2.
If such a circuit does enable selection of the highest supply voltage, the use of diodes has, as previously, the disadvantage of introducing a voltage drop of about 0.7 volt in series with the regulator.
Another solution known in the art consists in using, instead of diodes, MOS transistors suitably controlled and that have the same function of selecting the highest voltage and the function of isolating the lowest voltage. These transistors, like diodes, introduce an additional voltage drop.
European Patent application 0465933 discloses us a voltage regulator adapted to be supplied from a plurality of mutually independent voltages. An amplifier of a voltage proportional to an error voltage between the regulated voltage and a reference voltage controls a multi-emitter bipolar transistor, each emitter of which is connected to a supply voltage. A first drawback of this regulator is that it has high power consumption when the highest of the supply voltages is lower than the desired regulated output voltage. Indeed, the amplifier then tries to maintain the output voltage at the desired value and a high current is drawn through the bipolar transistor. Another drawback is that the supply terminals associated with the lowest voltages are not isolated from the remaining parts of the circuit if they are at least 0.7 volts highest than the control voltage of the multi-emitter transistor. Additionally, in this case, a plurality of supply terminals can be short circuited. Additionally, the use of diodes for supplying the control amplifier causes a significant residual voltage (that is, a minimum voltage between the highest supply voltage and the output voltage), even if the bipolar transistor is replaced by field effect transistors.

Voltage regulator with automatic selection of a highest supply voltage


The vehicle has a first clamp unit which fixes a harness for a wheel speed sensor above an outer tube on the side on which a wheel speed sensor. The vehicle has a second clamp unit which bundles the harness and a brake hose at substantially the same height as that of the first clamp unit above an outer tube on the side on which a caliper is provided. The second clamp unit includes a harness second cramp for fixing the harness and also a harness third cramp which changes the orientation direction of the harness so as to be oriented along the brake hose. The harness and the brake hose form a swing part which is curved in the horizontal direction between the second clamp unit and a bottom bridge.

In a saddled vehicle such as a motorcycle or tricycle, there is a case that a brake hose for a front wheel and a cable for an electric speed sensor are routed in a front fork supporting a front wheel. For example, a motorcycle disclosed in Patent Literature 1 is provided with a wheel speed detecting device on the right or left side of the vehicle body, that is, on the same side as the side where a front disc brake is provided. A brake hose extended from a caliper of the front disc brake and a harness extended from an electromagnetic rotation sensor of the wheel speed detecting device are routed upward along the front fork.


The present invention pertains to a fitting for an appliance such as a sink. A first anchor is clipped onto a hanger of a sink rim by a nib. A second L-shaped anchor engages the underside of the worktop and is pulled towards the first anchor by a strap of surface fastener material which is locked fast by engaging the surface fastener elements. The second anchor has arms which are guided in channels in the first anchor.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a fitting for a fixing an appliance on a worktop and in particular to a fitting for fixing an appliance such as a sink or basin in place in a cut out in a worktop.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Existing fitting for fixing a sink in place on a worktop typically comprise a two part hook arrangement. One part is attached to an eye or hanger on the sink, and the other grips the underside of the worktop. The parts are pulled together by a screw to pull the rim of the sink onto the worktop surface. This holds the sink in place and an elastomeric seal is clamped between the rim and worktop surface to provide a water tight seal.
The prior art fittings are expensive, being formed of small metal parts of complex shape and high stiffness, and they are difficult to manipulate in the confines of the cupboard space beneath the sink. Adjustment of the sink during installation is difficult, and the screws may corrode, making it difficult or impossible to release the sink without breaking the fittings or the hanger on the sink.


A device selects a plurality of other devices to participate in a blockchain based at least in part on observed behavior of a communication link between the device and each of the other devices. The device, based at least in part on the selecting, participates in the blockchain with at least some of the plurality of other devices.

Blockchain technology may be used to guarantee the accuracy of stored information. Blockchain technology has many practical applications, including device authentication, secure data recovery and data authenticity guarantee.
A blockchain is a linked and growing list of records, called blocks, that are cryptographically linked to each other. For example, each block in a blockchain may include a cryptographic hash of the immediately previous block, a timestamp, and transaction data. Blockchain is resistant to undetectable modification of data contained within it. For example, once data in a block is recorded, the data cannot be undetectably changed, since doing so would require changing all subsequent blocks. A blockchain may be managed by a peer-to-peer network of nodes that communicate data with each other and that validate new blocks.
The communication and validation are highly consumptive of individual node and collective network resources. As a result, blockchain technology may severely affect the operation of a resource-constrained network. For example, a node in a network may have limited data storage, and only some of that limited storage may be available for block storage. As another example, inter-node network communication bandwidth may be limited, and only some of that limited inter-node communication bandwidth may be available for communicating block data.

Forming a blockchain in low-bandwidth, resource-constrained network


A glass door and hinging mechanism where a glass panel may have a frame disposed entirely outside of the panel surface and perimeter of the panel which is held to the panel edge by a zone of bonding material, the glass door frame being provided with mounting members for receipt in hinging mechanism assemblies which are positioned above and below a doorway.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to doors and hinging assemblies for use in doorway systems.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
Present architectural applications rely on the use of glass doors in the design of modern buildings. The use of glass panels in a door is often employed, wherein a variety of hardware must first be attached to the glass itself in order to securely mount the panel in a doorway. Once secured to a glass panel, the mounting hardware may be connected to a doorway or other support, such as for example a closer mechanism, in order to install the door in its position within the doorway.
The glass panels required for use as doors are usually heavy due to the strength requirement necessary to ensure safety from breakage during operation. Therefore, the more a door must be moved around by a crew of workers during installation the more difficult and awkward the task of installing a door becomes. This holds true for both the original installation process and any subsequent times when repairs to the closer mechanism are necessary. Such repairs mandate that the entire glass door be removed in order to access the closer mechanism.
In existing glass walls it has become possible to mount fixed panels or side-lights with minimal evident hardware interrupting the view through the glass. It has been possible even to mount the glass directly into the building structure. However, the glass doors used in such glass walls have necessarily included some means for pivotally mounting the doors in the building structure. Such hardware has been reduced or disguised by including it within a shoe or strip along the top and/or bottom of the door, or by reducing it to a box only large enough to cover the hardware. In either case, the hardwareholding element is aesthetically inconsistent with the seethrough character of the glass wall.

Glass door and hinging mechanism with method of installation


Disclosed is a charger for an electric vehicle. The charger includes a connector connected to the electric vehicle, a plug connected to an outlet of the commercial power source, a switching unit to selectively shut off the current according to a temperature of the charger, a display unit to display information about an operation of the charger, and a control unit to control the operation of the charger, wherein the control unit controls the display unit to display two kinds of mutually different information when the current is shut off because the battery is fully charged or the connector is separated from the electric vehicle and when the current supplied from the commercial power source to the electric vehicle is shut off by the switching unit. The charger is prevented from being damaged due to overheat during the charging operation for the electric vehicle.

The embodiment relates to a charger for an electric vehicle.
The electric vehicle refers to a vehicle driven by using electricity. The electric vehicle is mainly classified into a battery powered electric vehicle and a hybrid electric vehicle. The battery powered electric vehicle is driven by using only electricity, which is generally called an electric vehicle. In addition, the hybrid electric vehicle is driven by using both of the electricity and the fossil fuel. In addition, the electric vehicle is equipped with a battery to supply electricity for driving. In particular, the battery powered electric vehicle and a plug-in type hybrid electric vehicle have batteries charged with power supplied from an external power supply, and drive an electric motor by using the power charged in the battery.
Meanwhile, in the case of a cord-set type charger among chargers used to charge the electric vehicle, the commercial power is used to charge the electric vehicle. To this end, the cord-set type charger is connected to an outlet of a home or an office or the electric vehicle to supply power to the electric vehicle.
However, according to the related art, there is no technology to control the charge of a battery by taking the temperature of the cord-set type charger into consideration. Thus, according to the related art, the cord-set type charger may be overheated during the charging operation for the battery so that the charger may be damaged.


A folding pistol is balanced so that it is held making three points of contact with the user's hand, resulting in more stability when discharged. When held by a user, the invention puts the gun bore axis in close alignment to the center axis of the user's forearm; reducing barrel jump and improving accuracy. A folding rear activation arm when in the closed position mechanically blocks the hammers preventing unintentional discharge.

Conventional compact handguns do not collapse and may be hard to carry concealed on a person's body because of their larger size. In many cases, the only safeties these pistols have are a heavier pull trigger. The very small compact handguns that use center fire ammunition, which is more effective for self defense, can be difficult to control during shooting because of their small hand grip size, heavy pull triggers, and the typical above-center barrel designs.


An image forming device includes an image forming unit, a roller unit, a static elimination brush, a moving unit, and a control unit. The static elimination brush eliminates static electricity of the printing medium. The moving unit moves the static elimination brush between a first position that does not intersect a first conveyance path on a downstream side of the roller unit in the conveyance path and a second position that intersects the first conveyance path. The control unit controls the moving unit during the conveyance of the printing medium, positions the static elimination brush at a position different from the second position until a front end of the printing medium passes an intersection position at which the static elimination brush and the first conveyance path intersect if the static elimination brush is positioned at the second position, and moves the static elimination brush to the second position after the front end of the printing medium passes the intersection position until a rear end of the printing medium passes the intersection position.

In the related art, an image forming device that eliminates static electricity from a print medium with a static elimination brush is known. In such an image forming device, the stronger the static elimination brush is brought into contact with the print medium, the higher the static elimination efficiency. However, if the static elimination brush is strongly brought into contact with the print medium, the front end of the print medium may be blocked by the static elimination brush. In this case, the image forming device causes a paper jam.


A conductive porous material includes a matrix having a sintered compact of an oxide, a communicating opening formed in the matrix, having a small diameter and being permeable to gas and impermeable to substance other than gas, and a conductive layer provided on an internal wall of the communicating opening and receiving a current to generate heat. As conductive material is used, an organic substance adheres on the internal wall of communicating opening. To address this, conductive layer is caused to generate heat to decompose and thus remove the organic substance and thus prevent the communicating opening from clogging.

Conventionally, a semiconductor chip mounted on a lead frame or a printed circuit board or the like (hereinafter simply referred to as a "substrate") is sealed with resin by employing resin-molding referred to as transfer mold. In transfer mold, a resin molding die is employed.
For the resin molding die, porous material can also be used. The porous material includes a filter layer capable of introducing air into the die or exhausting air from the die, as described in Patent Document 1. The filter layer has an air vent having a ventilating opening connected for example to a pump. The air vent has a surface connected to a surface of the die that has a communicating opening communicating with the ventilating opening. When the communicating opening is exposed to flowable resin the communicating opening prevents the flowable resin from flowing into the ventilating opening and permits the gas in the die to flow into the ventilating opening.
Furthermore, the resin molding die overlies a heater heating the flowable resin, composed of thermosetting resin, approximately at 180° C. to set the flowable resin to provide set resin. Consequently, the set resin seals the semiconductor chip mounted on the substrate.
A conventional resin molding die employing the above described conductive porous material has the following effects:
Initially, air or similar gas in a cavity can be externally exhausted. This can provide a resin molded product internally free of air bubbles or the like. Furthermore, after resin-molding when a molded product is released from the die, gas of high pressure is externally injected into the cavity. This can eliminate the necessity of employing an ejecter pin to release the molded product from a molding surface.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 8-192438 (pages 6-10, and FIGS. 5, 7 and 10)

Conductive porous material, resin molding die employing the same, and method of preparing conductive porous material


A computer-implemented method comprises: determining, by a computer system of a first vehicle, that a traffic standstill criterion is met, the traffic standstill criterion including that the first vehicle is stationary in traffic and that a second vehicle immediately in front of the first vehicle is also stationary; receiving, by the computer system, a camera output relating to a driver of the first vehicle, the camera output generated by a camera positioned in a passenger cabin of the first vehicle; assigning, by the computer system, a distraction level for the driver based on the camera output, the distraction level selected from among multiple distraction levels; determining, by the computer system, that a criterion for a drive-off event is met; and selecting, by the computer system and based on the distraction level assigned for the driver, a first alert level from among multiple alert levels regarding the drive-off event.

There are multiple scenarios where a vehicle in traffic may come to a standstill behind one or more other vehicles, such as in a traffic jam or at a stoplight. It is often up to the driver of the vehicle to be cognizant of when the traffic again begins to flow, so that the vehicle can continue to move forward at that time. If the driver delays resuming the vehicle's forward motion, a gap develops in the traffic which is typically undesirable. While some approaches have been tried for issuing a warning to the driver in such situations, they may be unnecessarily obtrusive and can degrade the driver's concentration level or detract from the driving experience.

Distraction-sensitive traffic drive-off alerts