An abrasion apparatus having a freely rotatable platen, an application block to which a workpiece is applied, and at least one pressing plate to press the workpiece on the platen with the application block being located therebetween. A working face of the platen is corrected by providing the pressing plate with a retaining ring to which the application block is fitted, which also serves as a dresser, and by pressing the retaining ring on the platen when the application block has been removed.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a single-sided abrasion apparatus which abrades, by means of a platen, one side of a work piece having a substantially flat face, such as electronic parts like semiconductor wafers, glass wafers, magnetic disc bases, and others or mechine parts, and more particularly to a single-side abrasion apparatus that has the dresser to correct the working face of a platen.
2. Discussion of the Background
A single-side abrasion apparatus having a platen that is driven and freely rotated by a motor, an application block to which a work piece to be abraded is applied, and a plurality of pressing plates which press the work on the platen with the application block in between at the required processing pressure, has been widely known.
If such a single-side abrasion apparatus is used, the working face of the platen must be corrected regularly because abrasion precision is lowered by the worsening conditions of the working face: the evenness of the platen diminishes as the work piece is abraded, or if a pad is used, the pad is clogged or abraded nonuniformly, and the like.
In order to correct the working face of the platen, conventionally an exclusive dresser was separately provided and fitted in the pressing plates, then pressed on the platen.
However, if the exclusive dresser is mounted on or removed from the pressing plates as described above, mounting and removing the dresser is extremely troublesome and workability is poor; especially when an oversized single-side abrasion apparatus is used, the dresser is necessarily large and heavy, and as a dresser too large to be moved by one person is often used, thus making mounting and removing of the dresser more troublesome and dangerous.
Moreover, when the dresser is not used, it must be stored near the abrasion apparatus, which means that it is necessary to maintain space to store the dresser, and to transport the dresser.

Single-side abrasion apparatus with dresser


A method of producing a growth promoting factor for Bifidobacterium species from lactose which comprises contacting lactose with resting cells of a lactose-utilizing yeast strain having activity to rearrange lactose to galacto-oligosaccharides.

It is known that bifidobacteria are useful inhabitants of the human intestine and it is known that as they are colonized there, these bacteria produce lactic acid, acetic acid and formic acid to lower the pH in the intestinal tract and thereby tend to preclude local settlement of pathogenic organisms. Compounds having activity to encourage the growth and proliferation of these useful bifidobacteria have been utilized as additives incorporated into various foods such as evaporated milk, beverages and so on.
Much research has been undertaken into growth promoting factors for bifidobacteria (hereinafter referred to as bifidus factors) and as such factors, there have been reported lactulose, fructo-oligosaccharides, galacto-oligosaccharides of the general formula Gal--(Gal).sub.n --Glc (wherein Gal is a galactose residue, Galc is a glucose residue, and n is a whole number of 1 to 4), carrot extract, N-acetyllactosamine, and so on.
For the production of a galacto-oligosaccharide from lactose using an enzymatic or microbial technique, there are known a process which employs .beta.-galactosidase produced by Aspergillus oryzae (Japanese Patent Publication No.20266/83; corresponding U.S. Pat. No. 4,435,389), a process which comprises growing a strain of Bacillus sp. in a lactose-containing medium and harvesting the bifidus factor from the culture broth (Japanese Patent Application (OPI) No. 115796/81 (the term "OPI" as used herein refers to a "published unexamined Japanese patent application"), a process which comprises growing a yeast of the genus Cryptococcus in a lactose-containing medium and harvesting a galacto-oligosaccharide from the broth (Japanese Patent Application (OPI) No. 251896/85), a process in which a galacto-oligosaccharide is produced using the lactase derived from Saccharomyces fragilis (Agricultural and Food Chemistry 5, 130 k, (1957)), a process in which a strain of Sporobolomyces singularis is cultured in a lactose-containing medium to produce a galacto-oligosaccharide in the broth (Canadian Journal of Chemistry 42, 1341, (1964)), a process which comprises growing a strain of Penicillium chrysogenum in a lactose-containing medium to produce a galacto-oligosaccharide in the broth (Tetrahedron 9, 125, (1960)), a process in which a galacto-oligosaccharide is produced by using a .beta.-galactosidase of Lactobacillus origin (Journal of Dairy Science 64, 185, (1981)), and a process which employs the .beta.-galactosidase derived from Bacillus circulans to produce a galacto-oligosaccharide (Agricultural Biological Chemistry 48, 3053, (1984)), among others.
The foregoing processes for producing bifidus factors from lactose may be roughly classified into those employing enzymes extracted from the microbial cells and those in which a certain strain of microorganism is cultured in a lactose-containing medium and the resulting galacto-oligosaccharide is harvested from the culture broth. Of these two groups of processes, the processes employing the enzymes extracted from microbial cells of course call for the extraction of enzymes which is labor- and time-consuming. Moreover, these processes entail hydrolysis of lactose as well as of the desired galacto-oligosaccharide and the consequent accumulation of glucose and galactose as by-products of the reaction, thus causing a waste of the starting material lactose and leading to a reduced yield of the galacto-oligosaccharide.
On the other hand, the processes involving the production of galacto-oligosaccharides in culture media are disadvantageous in that because the cells grow and multiply, other microbial secretions are also accumulated in the media and interfere with the separation and purification of galacto-oligosaccharides and also in that the desired galacto-oligosaccharides must be separated from the materials incorporated in the medium, namely the nitrogen sources, vitamins, trace elements and so on which are necessary or useful for the growth of bacteria.

Method for production of a growth factor for Bifidobacterium sp.


An accessory rail and method for attaching the accessory rail to a firearm is described. An accessory rail includes a first block and second block positioned respectively at a rear end and forward end of the accessory rail. The first block is configured to engage a first receiving area of the firearm, and the second block is configured to engage a second receiving area of the firearm. The accessory rail can advantageously be connected to a firearm such as the Samozaryadnj Karabin sistemy Simonova (SKS) assault rifle by utilizing manufactured points present in the SKS. The first block may engage a receiver cover attachment point. The second block may engage a receiving area present in the rear sight. No machining modifications to the firearm are required.

1. Field
The present disclosure relates generally to firearms and, in particular, to an accessory rail for use with firearms. Still more particularly, the present disclosure relates to a firearm accessory rail and method of attaching the accessory rail to a firearm.
2. Background
In the field of armaments and firearms, various products and accessories are available for use with firearms. These accessories may include, for example, optical devices/scopes, illumination devices, range finders, laser devices, and various targeting aids. The variety of accessories available presents a user with different options from which to choose for various situations. A user may wish to use one kind of accessory with respect to one kind of objective or situation and may wish to use a different kind of accessory with a different objective or situation. For example, different kinds of scopes may be used in different conditions, light or dark, target shooting or field hunting. Thus, it is desired to provide a means by which a user may exchange accessories used with a firearm.
An accessory rail may be used with firearms in order to provide a means by which to attach various accessories to the firearm. For example, an accessory rail known as the Picatinny rail is described by Military Standard MIL-STD-1913. However, problems and issues are present with known accessory rails.
A popular firearm is the SKS assault rifle. The SKS is a firearm that originated in the Soviet Union; SKS is an acronym for Samozaryadnj Karabin sistemy Simonova, hereinafter SKS. The SKS has been manufactured in the millions both within the former Soviet Union and various licensee countries. The SKS is widely available in the United States as military surplus, and it is popular in the United States as a generally simple but robust assault rifle. Existing accessory rail systems do not function well with the SKS.
An accessory rail may suffer from a poor attachment to the firearm. Movement between the accessory rail and the firearm may cause an accessory, such as an optical device, to move out of alignment. Even a small movement of the accessory rail relative to firearm may cause the accuracy of the firearm to suffer. Firearms that are designed with high rates of discharge, such as a semiautomatic assault rifle, also suffer from movement of the accessory rail.
Thus, it would be advantageous to have a method and apparatus that takes into account at least some of the issues discussed above, as well as possibly other issues.

Firearm accessory rail and method of attachment


A robotic lawn mower includes a first wheel driven by a first electric wheel motor, a second wheel driven by a second electric wheel motor, a cutting implement driven by an electric cutting implement motor, a power system for powering the electric wheel motors and the electric cutting implement motor, and a controller configured to control operation of the electric wheel motors and the electric cutting implement motor to autonomously mow a yard. The power system includes multiple removable rechargeable battery modules and multiple receptacles, each receptacle configured to receive one of the battery modules.

The present invention relates generally to the field of battery-powered outdoor power equipment, and in particular, to robotic lawn mowers. A robotic lawn mower may include a chassis, wheels, a cutting implement, motors configured to drive the wheels and cutting implement, a controller, one or more sensors, and a battery. The robotic lawn mower uses the wheels to move about a yard and uses the cutting implement to trim the grass beneath the mower to provide a lawn having grass of a uniform length. The controller uses information from the sensors to navigate the yard, allowing for autonomous operation of the robotic lawn mower. Conventionally, the battery of a robotic lawn mower is fixed to the chassis, and a user must use tools to disassemble the robotic lawn mower in order to remove the battery. Accordingly, conventional robotic lawn mowers have a fixed runtime, after which the lawn mower must stop operation to recharge.

Robotic lawn mower including removable rechargeable battery module


A memory cell of a memory array stores two bits. A memory array sense amplifier provides two bits in a verify operation. Two bits in a page buffer stores a write target value for the corresponding memory cell. Each bit in a mask buffer stores a value defining processing to be effected on the corresponding memory cell. A write driver applies a write pulse when the bit in the mask buffer corresponding to the selected memory cell is “0”. A verify circuit compares the two bits provided from the memory array sense amplifier with the corresponding two bits in the page buffer, and changes the corresponding bit in the mask buffer from “0” to “1” when the result of the comparison represents matching.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a nonvolatile semiconductor memory device, and particularly to a technique for writing multivalued data in a nonvolatile semiconductor memory device.
2. Description of the Background Art
In recent years, nonvolatile semiconductor memory devices such as a flash memory capable of nonvolatile data storage have become mainstream. A verify operation is performed in the nonvolatile semiconductor memory device such as a flash memory for determining whether writing was correctly performed or not.
For example, Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2001-312890 has disclosed the following verify operation. One page buffer P/B is connected to one bit line. Each page buffer P/B latches program data corresponding to a selected memory cell. The plurality of page buffers P/B are connected to sense amplifiers S/A·0 in a read/write circuit via column gates. In verify read, read data in a selected column is detected by using the sense amplifier provided for normal data reading. The read data detected by the sense amplifier S/A·0, i.e., a result of the verify read is transferred to the page buffer P/B in a selected column. The program data in page buffer P/B is rewritten based on a result of the verify read.
For writing multiple values into one memory cell transistor, two verify operations, i.e., lower foot verify and upper foot verify must be performed of determining whether a threshold of the memory cell is within a desired range or not. However, program data in a page buffer is rewritten with a result of the first verify read so that the second verify cannot performed.

Nonvolatile semiconductor memory device for writing multivalued data


A method is provided which includes etching one or more layers in an etch chamber while introducing a noble gas heavier than helium into the etch chamber. In a preferred embodiment, the introduction of such a noble gas may reduce the formation of defects within an etched portion of the semiconductor topography. Such defects may include bilayer mounds of nitride and a material comprising silicon, for example. In some embodiments, the method may include etching a stack of layers within a single etch chamber. The stack of layers may include, for example, a nitride layer interposed between an anti-reflective layer and an underlying layer. In addition, the single etch chamber may be a plasma etch chamber designed to etch materials comprising silicon. As such, the method may include etching an anti-reflective layer in a plasma etch chamber designed to etch materials comprising silicon.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to semiconductor device manufacturing, and more particularly, to an improved method for processing a semiconductor topography.
2. Description of the Related Art
The following descriptions and examples are not admitted to be prior art by virtue of their inclusion within this section.
In general, it is desirable to have an integrated circuit fabrication process produce a semiconductor device with structures and spaces within certain dimension specifications. In some cases, the dimensions of structures and spaces within a device may be referred to as critical dimensions. "Critical dimension" (CD), as used in this application, may generally refer to the dimensional design value of a feature. Critical dimensions are of interest since they may represent the smallest dimension that may be formed on a semiconductor topography using various techniques such as photolithography and etch processes. In addition, it is desirable to have each processing step of a semiconductor fabrication process, including the photolithography and etch processes, produce a minimal amount of defects. Depending on a defect's size, location, and composition, a defect within a device may cause a failure within a subsequently formed integrated circuit. For example, a defect in a contact may increase resistance of the contact or may even prevent sufficient contact to the underlying structure. In other cases, defects may cause elevational disparities within a semiconductor topography, thereby making further deposition of layers and fabrication of structures difficult. Failures within integrated circuits can cause an increase in the overall manufacturing costs associated with integrated circuit fabrication.
As such, it is desirable for integrated circuit fabrication processes to be optimized such that the formation of defects is minimized and critical dimensions are well controlled. In order to reduce the amount of defects within an etch process, for example, and control the critical dimensions of a device component, different etch tools are typically used to etch different layers of a device structure. For example, oxide etch tools are generally used to etch dielectric materials and require high, energetic uniform ion bombardment such that defects may be minimized. In particular, oxide etch tools may produce a plasma density between approximately 2.0×1014 molecules/cm3 and approximately 2.0×1017 molecules/cm3 and may be referred to as "high-density" etch tools. In addition, oxide etch tools are typically run at a pressure between approximately 7.5 mTorr and 5.6 Torr. Generally, anti-reflective layers may be etched in an oxide etch tool since anti-reflective materials have similar properties of dielectric layers. Etching materials comprising silicon, however, typically requires higher CD control and thus requires low ion energies with precise wafer temperature control. As such, in an embodiment in which a topography including a dielectric and a material comprising silicon is etched, for example, the etch process may include using at least two different etch tools. In addition, the formation of defects within "silicon" etch tools, however, may be higher than in oxide etch tools. Consequently, an undesirable amount of defects may exist within a structure formed within a silicon etch tool.
It would, therefore, be desirable to develop an etch process that creates fewer defects during the fabrication of an integrated circuit. In particular, such an etch process preferably fabricates device components of the integrated circuit within critical dimension specifications.

Reducing defect formation within an etched semiconductor topography


Methods, apparatus and articles of manufacture for key management in full disk and file-level encryption are provided herein. A method includes fetching a distinct cryptographic key from a secure module in connection with a request to perform one of a decryption operation and an encryption operation on at least one of an individual file and an individual sector within a storage device on a computing device; using the distinct cryptographic key to perform the one of a decryption operation and an encryption operation on the at least one of an individual file and an individual sector within the storage device on the computing device; and discarding the distinct cryptographic key subsequent to said performing the one of a decryption operation and an encryption operation on at least one of an individual file and an individual sector within the storage device on the computing device.

The use of data encryption to prevent unauthorized disclosure of data stored on a storage medium is a widely used control, applicable, for example, from mobile devices through to the Internet of Things and high-end servers. Two standard data encryption approaches include full disk encryption (FDE) and file-level encryption (FLE). Full-disk encryption encrypts an entire disk (or partition, or logical unit number (LUN)) using a single key. Variants exist which provide key splitting and/or certificate-based access, although such variants nonetheless result in the production of a single key which decrypts the on-disk content.
FLE includes encrypting individual files on a disk. Each file may have its own key, or each entity (for example, a specific user) may have its own key, and some parts of a disk may even remain unencrypted (a concept also referred to as "folder encryption"). Key derivation is typically used so that key reuse across multiple files does not present the possibility of cryptanalytic attacks, and each file has its own unique key. FLE allows for protection of data from entities (users, processes, etc.) even on the same system, for which FDE does not protect.
FDE typically protects against inappropriate access to a given storage device. However, users and processes on a validly authorized system must rely on the operating system's (OS's) own controls, as entities on the system see the disk as plaintext. On the other hand, FDE can be carried out in hardware and/or device drivers. Both FDE and FLE require a reliable root of trust, thereby ensuring that the code associated with the cryptographic functionality has not been compromised.
In contrast to FDE, an FLE's threat model typically includes entities on the same system, potentially including even users with administrative access to the system. Protection against administrative users is difficult, however, because those administrative users may be able to access keys in memory. FLE can facilitate more complex access controls than FDE, even extending the base controls in the underlying OS. However, the implementation of FLE typically requires OS changes at the file (or filesystem) level, either implementing an entirely new encrypted file or fitting into an existing file. As such, the need to integrate the existing OS's identity management system to the key access control system can add significant complexity.
Key management presents challenges with both FDE and FLE. Keys are exposed to risk vectors that include storage and use. Accordingly, attempts are made to store keys securely, protected from all but authorized access. However, existing FDE and FLE approaches face challenges in protecting access to keys during use. For example, a key used in FDE and a key used in FLE are loaded into the given system's memory. There, the key is protected only by the OS's isolation techniques, where a malicious system process or administrator could access the keys. Research has shown that in-memory keys are easy to identify because such keys have very high entropy compared to other non-key memory contents. Ideally, keys should be resident in memory for as short a time as possible to minimize the possibility of attack.
Potential problems and vulnerabilities exist with such approaches. For example, such an approach can create vulnerability to a cold-boot attack, wherein the running memory of the system is accessed. Additional vulnerability can include potential key leakage via side-channel attacks (with respect to other processes on the system and/or other virtual machines (VMs) co-resident on a hypervisor). Further, another potential vulnerability exists via access to the key from malicious processes with administrative privileges (such as a rogue administrator, for example).
Accordingly, once access to the key to a disk, partition, and/or LUN is attained, full access to the data contained therein is possible. As such, a need exists for improved key management in connection with FDE and FLE.

Key management in full disk and file-level encryption


A method for forming a sheet of loop material in which a sheet of fibers is passed between a first cylindrical forming member having sockets and a second cylindrical forming member having mating posts to generally conform the sheet of fibers to the peripheral surface of the first forming member and retain it there for a distance after which molten thermoplastic material is bonded to it to form a backing layer. Arcuate portions of the sheet of fibers that were in the sockets then projecting from the backing. The formed sheet of fibers is retained along the peripheral surface of the first forming member for said distance by drawing air through those air passageways in the bottoms of the sockets. The first forming member can be heated, and a source of heated air can be supplied to restrict cooling of the first forming member.

Many sheets of loop materials are known that are adapted to be cut into pieces to form the loop portions for fasteners of the type comprising releasably engageable hook and loop portions. Such sheets of loop materials typically comprise a backing and a multiplicity of loops formed from longitudinally oriented polymeric fibers bonded to or anchored in the backing and projecting from a front surface of the backing so that they may be releasably engaged with the hooks on the hook portion of such a fastener, and can be made by many methods including conventional weaving, or knitting techniques. Sheets of loop materials in which the loops are stitched into the backing are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,609,581 and 4,770,917. While the loop fastener portions made from many such sheets of loop materials work well with many different hook fastener portions, many of the processes by which the sheets of loop material are made are more expensive than may be desired, particularly when the loop fastener portions are intended for a limited amount of use, such as to attach a disposable diaper, brief or garment to a person.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,256,231 (Gorman et al, the content whereof is incorporated herein by reference) discloses a sheet of loop material and a method and equipment for making it that provide effective loop fastener portions for such fasteners while being very inexpensive to manufacture either in a form intended for a limited amount of use, such as to releasably attach a disposable diaper or other disposable garment to a person, or in a form intended to be used a larger number of times. That sheet of loop material includes a backing comprising a thermoplastic backing layer with generally uniform morphology, and a sheet of longitudinally oriented fibers having generally non-deformed anchor portions bonded or fused in the thermoplastic backing layer at spaced bonding locations, and arcuate portions projecting from a front surface of the backing between the bonding locations; and is made by forming a sheet of longitudinally oriented polymeric fibers so that the sheet of fibers has arcuate portions projecting in the same direction from spaced anchor portions of the sheet of fibers, and then forming at least a portion of a backing around the spaced anchor portions of the sheet of fibers by extruding thermoplastic material onto the anchor portions of the sheet of fibers so that the arcuate portions of the sheet of fibers project from a front surface of the newly formed backing.
Such forming of the sheet of fibers is done by providing first and second generally cylindrical corrugating or forming members each including a plurality of uniformly spaced ridges defining its periphery, mounting the corrugating members in axially parallel relationship with portions of the ridges of the corrugating members in mesh with each other, rotating at least one of the corrugating members, feeding the sheet of fibers between the meshed portions of the ridges of the rotating corrugating members to generally conform the sheet of fibers to the periphery of the first corrugating member, thereby forming the arcuate portions of the sheet of fibers in spaces between the ridges of the first corrugating member and the anchor portions of the sheet of fibers along outer surfaces of the ridges of the first corrugating member, and retaining the formed sheet of fibers along the periphery of the first corrugating member after it has moved past the meshing portions of the ridges. At least a portion of the backing (or the entire backing) is then formed around the anchor portions of the sheet of fibers by extruding the molten thermoplastic material onto the anchor portions of the sheet of fibers while those anchor portions are on the end surfaces of the ridges on the first corrugating member.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,256,231 (Gorman et al) discloses that the ridges of the corrugating members can be elongate and generally parallel so that the bonding locations are also elongate and generally parallel and are continuous in one direction across the front surface of the backing so that continuous rows of the arcuate portions extend across the backing of the sheet of loop material; or alternately the ridges can be elongate, generally parallel, and in a regular pattern of discontinuous lengths so that the parallel bonding locations are also in a regular pattern of discontinuous lengths to form a regular pattern of discontinuous rows of the arcuate portions of the sheet of fibers along the front surface of the backing. Also, U.S. Pat. No. 5,256,231 (Gorman et al) contemplated that the ridges of the first corrugating member could form interlocking closed patterns (e.g., in the shape of circles, diamonds, octagons, letters, numbers, etc.) to form corresponding patterns for the arcuate portions of the fibers along the front surface of the backing, in which case the second corrugating member would be formed with post like ridges to press the sheet of fibers into the centers of the closed patterns.
As contemplated, this form of the corrugating or forming members can be used to form suitable loop materials when used as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,256,231. Some difficulties arise, however, when that equipment is run at higher speeds as is desired for production equipment, particularly when the sheet of fibers being fed into the equipment is a relatively low cost non woven sheet of cut fibers in which the fibers are not bonded together as is produced by a carding machine or off of a spunbond process in which the fibers are not consolidated. At those higher speeds difficulties have been found in maintaining the desired shape of a formed sheet of such fibers while it is retained along the periphery of the first forming member after it has moved past the meshing portions of the ridges and before the molten thermoplastic material is extruded onto its anchor portions. Also, unbonded webs can tend to loose fibers during the process.

Method and equipment for rapid manufacture of loop material

Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company


The present invention relates to a method and system for the management of subscriber functions in a digital telephone exchange. According to the invention, the functions for default subscribers are stored in and read from default records common to the subscribers, and only the functions for special subscribers are stored in and read from subscriber-specific records. The invention allows significantly faster execution of operations applying to subscriber functions.

At present, for each subscriber in a telephone exchange, there are about 130 subscriber functions. Most (about 80%) of these functions are of a nature that that does not allow any changes to be made in them by the subscriber him/herself via his/her telephone. Generally, these functions are also operator-specific rather than subscriber-specific. In practice, for about 90% of the subscribers in the exchange, these functions are the same.
For each subscriber, an individual subscriber record of a length under one hundred bytes for has been reserved the storage of subscriber functions. When a subscription is created, certain default functions are created for it, and these can be defined specifically for the operator and for the exchange in conjunction with the delivery of the exchange and later using MML (Man Machine Language, MML) commands. However, once the subscription has been created, there is no information available as to whether the functions included in the default set of functions are still valid for the subscriber or whether they have been changed.
A problem with the present arrangement is the slowness of any operations pertaining to subscriber functions. For instance, if all subscribers in an exchange are to be given the right to call transfer, then it will be necessary to use MML commands applying to the functions defined for each subscriber. As there are hundreds of thousands of subscribers, this process may take several weeks.
On the other hand, if subscribers are to be transferred from one exchange to another, then it will be necessary to first read all the subscribers in the old exchange, in other words, a MML command is issued that will print out the functions defined for each subscriber. After that, the functions for each subscriber are read one by one. In this way, the data for hundreds of subscribers at a time are transferred to a computer, whereupon they are created again in the other exchange using MML commands via the computer in question. These operations are repeated in batches of a few hundred subscribers until all the subscribers have been transferred. Although the transfer is carried out by computer, it has to be done at a quiet time at night, so the time available for this is about five hours a day. In addition, since the data in question is in ASCII form (American Standard Code for Information Interchange, ASCII) and has to be processed character by character, the process for each subscriber takes as long as 20–30 seconds. For example, to complete the transfer of a hundred thousand subscribers in practice takes several weeks.
The object of the present invention is to disclose a new type of method that will eliminate the drawbacks described above. A specific object of the present invention is to disclose a method and system for the optimisation of subscriber functions and their management.

Method and system for the management of subscriber functions


A polymeric dispersant containing a vinyl polymer having a constitutional unit represented by the following formula 1:

In ink-jet printing methods, droplets of ink are directly projected onto a recording medium from very fine nozzles and allowed to adhere to the recording medium, to form characters and images. The ink-jet printing methods have been rapidly spread because of their various advantages such as easiness of full colorization, low costs, capability of using ordinary paper as the recording medium, non-contact with printed images and characters, etc. Among such printing methods, in view of enhancing the fastness to light of printed images and characters, an ink-jet printing method utilizing an ink containing a pigment as the colorant has now come to dominate.
In the ink containing a pigment as the colorant, however, the dispersion of the pigment is difficult to often reduce the storage stability of ink. In addition, the gloss of printed images and characters is inferior to those formed by an ink containing a dye as the colorant.
To remove such disadvantages, it has been proposed to use a polymeric dispersant which is made of several kinds of acrylic monomers each having a polyoxyethylene glycol chain (for example, EP 1 323 789A). However, it has been still demanded to develop an ink capable of forming images and characters with more excellent gloss.
There have been also disclosed a pigment composition suitable for ink-jet printing which contains a resin having phosphoric acid groups (for example, JP 2002-201378A), a phosphoric acid-based dispersant and a water-based ink for ink-jet printing containing such a dispersant (for example, JP 2003-506536A). However, the proposed composition and ink are still insufficient in gloss.

Abstract: wherein R1 is a hydrogen atom or a methyl group, R2 and R4 may be the same or different and are each independently an alkylene group having from 2 to 18 carbon atoms or an arylene group having from 6 to 18 carbon atoms, R3 is an alkylene group having from 4 to 18 carbon atoms or an arylene group having from 6 to 18 carbon atoms, M1 and M2 may be the same or different and are each independently a hydrogen atom or a cation, k and m may be the same or different and are each independently a number from 0 to 20, and L is a number from 1 to 20, with the proviso that L is 2 or more when k is zero. The polymeric dispersant is used for the production of a water dispersion for ink-jet printing. The water dispersion for ink-jet printing is used for the production of a water-based ink for ink-jet printing.


Methods and systems for automated asset tracking within an aircraft are disclosed. In one example, a method for use in automated tracking of assets in a vehicle utilizing a robotic vehicle is provided. The method includes receiving inspection data concerning the vehicle and the assets. A navigation path is generated thorough the vehicle. The robotic vehicle traverses the navigation path and locates at least one asset with the vehicle along the navigation path. An identification of the asset located within the vehicle is transmitted to a remote computing device and stored in a database associated with the remote computing device.

The field of the disclosure relates generally to automated asset tracking, and more specifically to methods and systems for automated asset tracking within a vehicle.
Vehicles, such as aircraft, spacecraft, busses, trains, ships, and space stations, often contain many assets within the vehicle that are periodically inventoried, upgraded, and/or replaced. For example, the passenger cabin of a commercial, passenger aircraft often includes numerous items of safety equipment that are inventoried frequently, e.g., after every flight. These assets can include several different types of equipment such as, for example, fire extinguishers, medical kits, flotation devices, and flashlights. The number of pieces of each type of equipment may vary between types of equipment. For example, there may be many more flotation devices than medical kits. Moreover, the number of pieces of equipment of any type of equipment may vary depending on the particular aircraft. For example, the number of pieces of equipment may depend on the maximum number of passengers that the aircraft can transport. Thus, aircraft with larger passenger capacities may include greater numbers of one or more types of equipment. Moreover, the types of equipment may vary depending on the type of aircraft, the types of uses of the aircraft, the operator of the aircraft, etc. Additionally, some of the assets may require periodic maintenance, inspection, replacement, etc. For example, fire extinguishers need to be checked, maintained, and/or replaced periodically. The frequency with which assets need inspection, maintenance, replacement, etc. will often differ from the frequency of inventorying the assets.
Currently, inventorying of assets in vehicles is commonly performed manually. One or more persons traverse through a vehicle and visually check for the expected assets within the vehicle. In a commercial, passenger aircraft for example, flight attendants walk through the passenger cabin visually searching for each flotation device, fire extinguisher, medical kit, flashlight, etc. The flight attendants record the total number of each type of asset located to ensure that the correct number of each type of equipment is located within the aircraft. This record of the inventory may be made on a paper checklist or a computerized checklist. In some operations, the flight attendants may also check assets to determine whether maintenance, repair, or replacement of any asset is needed. For example, the flight attendant may check a maintenance tag attached to a fire extinguisher, a date of manufacture displayed on a flotation device, expiration dates on items in medical kit, etc. In other operations, such inspections may be part of a separate procedure or may be based on data regarding the particular assets in a particular aircraft stored in a remote database. Such manual inspection and inventory procedures may be time consuming, labor intensive, and/or subject to human error.

Methods and systems for automated vehicle asset tracking


The invention relates to a process and tooling for the lining of molds for curved pieces, the process comprising the application of a lining (15) of width A2 on the mold (3) in several successive passes, exerting pressure thereon so that it adapts to the curvature of the piece, and the number of passes being the minimum required so that the width A2 of the tape (15) allows achieving such adaptation, and the tooling comprising a drum (25) for applying the lining (15), a means of attaching its end to the mold (3) at the beginning of each pass, a conical roller (25), to exert pressure on the lining (15) uniformly along its entire width, and means (26, 29) for its movement through side guides (27, 28) arranged on the mold (3) parallel to the curved lines (5, 7) demarcating the piece.

Lining is a process consisting of placing layers of reinforced composite in the form of linings on a mold. A very widely used example of a composite in the aeronautical industry is the preimpregnated composite, a mixture of fibrous reinforcement and polymer matrix used for manufacturing composites such that they can be stored for subsequent use.
It may be in the form of a sheet, lining, tow or fabric form. For thermosetting matrices, the resin is generally partially cured or is taken by means of another process to a controlled viscosity, called B-stage. Added elements, such as flame catalysts, inhibitors and retardants, can be added to obtain specific features in the final use and to improve the process, storage and handling features.
In this process, the linings are not randomly arranged, but they are generally arranged or placed in certain directions, specifically at 0°, 90°, 45° and −45°. The number of layers (thickness) and the arrangement of the linings in certain directions or in others are determined according to the nature and magnitude of the stresses that the piece will support at each point.
There are two types of lining: planar and curved, according to whether the surface being lined is planar or curved, respectively.
The lining process can be done manually or automatically. Machines performing lining are basically of two types:                Lining machines: lining on planar or slightly curved surfaces.        Fiber positioning machines: lining on surfaces with a large curvature on which lining machines cannot line.
There are mainly two criteria determining whether a part is lined manually or automatically: the material used and the dimensions of the piece.
One material used, among others, for lining is the preimpregnated material. This material is sticky and its handling is not simple. Manually adapting the preimpregnated lining to a straight line contained on a plane is not very complex, however adapting such lining to a curve is very complex since this material does not deform by itself, so the operator must constantly put pressure on the lining so that it deforms and adapts to the desired curve, with the added difficulty that the lining is sticky. Furthermore, if the number of linings to be placed is very high, the complexity ostensibly increases.
This invention comes about from the need to line a piece of the new Airbus A380 airplane, which is an ellipse carried out on a plane, resulting from the section in a cylinder with an inclined plane.
In a manufacturability test, it could be seen that the manual lining of this mold was very complex given the geometry of the curve to be lined and the high number of layers to be arranged.
The lining was also carried out with a lining machine. In these cases, given the size of the mold, a larger area is first lined, and then it continues to a cutting operation to define the curve in question. This process is not cost-effective since the machine is not being used optimally.
This invention aims to overcome the difficulties mentioned for the manual lining of said piece and the non cost-effectiveness of lining or fiber positioning machines.

Process and tooling for lining molds of curved pieces


A mini-sized side dump trailer comprising a wheeled frame having a pair of wheels supporting the rearward end thereof and a steerable front wheel assembly of the forward end thereof with a forwardly extending tongue extending from the front wheel assembly for connection to a small vehicle such as a utility terrain vehicle, an all terrain vehicle or a small tractor. The small side dump body may be pivoted to either the first side of the trailer or to the second side of the trailer.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a side dump trailer and more particularly to a mini-sized side dump trailer. The reduced size of the side dump trailer as compared to the existing side dump trucks and trailers makes it extremely useful for landscapers, lawn services, farms and ranches, city maintenance, state and national parks, fairgrounds, sports complexes, golf courses, camp grounds, general contractors, etc.
2. Description of the Related Art
Side dump bodies for use on trucks and trailers have become extremely popular in recent years since the introduction of the side dump trailer of applicant's grandfather, Ralph R. Rogers, which is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,480,214 and many other patents granted to applicant's grandfather. The side dump trailers of the prior art are extremely large and are not practical for smaller scale dumping needs. To applicant's knowledge, no one has previously provided a mini-sized side dump trailer which has a capacity of approximately 34 cubic feet with an additional capacity if the material in the side dump body is heaped. Further, in most prior art side dump bodies, the power for pivoting the side dump bodies from a transport position to a first side dumping position or to a second side dumping position is derived from the prime mover itself. In other words, the trailer is not self-contained. Since the small side dump trailer of this invention will be pulled by small vehicles such as an utility terrain vehicle, an all terrain vehicle, or a small tractor, some of those vehicles may not have either a hydraulic pump system or an electrical system needed to power the side dump body of the trailer.


The present invention relates to novel tau protein aggregate-binding peptides, homologs, fragments, parts and polymers thereof and to the use thereof.

The invention relates to peptides for the treatment and early diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease and other tauopathies.
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is characterized by the pathological aggregation of two proteins, the Aβ peptide (amyloid beta peptide, Abeta peptide) and the tau protein. Both kinds of protein aggregations are considered neurotoxic, while the respective monomers are not toxic or have important functions in vertebrate cells.
In vertebrate cells, the tau protein binds to supporting cytoskeleton proteins (microtubules) and regulates the assembly of the same. The group of tauopathies covers neurodegenerative diseases involving deposits of the tau protein. The most widely known tauopathy is Alzheimer's disease. However, pathological tau aggregates also occur in 17 other diseases, such as frontotemporal dementia and Parkinson's disease. In some instances, a mutated tau protein is the only main feature in terms of pathology.
Various isoforms of the tau protein can be found in the human central nervous system. Tau proteins can agglomerate and form abnormal "paired helical filaments" (PHF). As a result of these pathological changes, PHF deposits can be observed as neurofibrillary tangles in the brains of Alzheimer patients. Since aggregated tau proteins are no longer functional, the assembly of the microtubules is disrupted.
Small molecules that are intended to prevent tau protein aggregation were already described. However, they are low in numbers compared to molecules that are intended to prevent, or reverse, Aβ aggregation. Of late, since treating Alzheimer's by solely focusing on Aβ aggregates may not be able to produce the desired success, the tau protein and the interaction thereof with the Aβ peptide have been increasingly addressed in the literature. For example, reducing the plaque content through anti-Aβ immunotherapy has not resulted in the expected improvements in the cognitive capabilities of the treated patients. Many scientists meanwhile even ascribe a neuroprotective effect to Aβ.
Tau aggregation inhibitors and modulators can potentially complement existing therapeutic experiments. While the cause of the tau aggregation cascade remains unknown to this day, a close correlation exists between the number of neurofibrillary tangles in the neurons, cellular degeneration, and the symptoms of dementia.
Preliminary data from phase 2 clinical studies demonstrate that the inhibition of tau aggregation is useful for treating AD. Rhodanine-based inhibitors resulted in a clear reduction of tau aggregation-based cytotoxicity in the cytosol of neuronal cell models. In phase IIa clinical studies, AL-108, the intranasal formulation of the NAP peptide consisting of eight amino acids, was found to have a positive influence on the memory capacity of patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI). A direct influence on the hyperphosphorylation of tau was shown for NAP, among other things, initial studies substantiate successes after tau-based immunotherapy of transgenic mouse models. Tau-based therapies will play an ever greater role in the future, since tau aggregates have infectious properties. The pathological tau aggregation can be passed on from one cell to another. In addition, tau-expressing mouse models show a clearer pathology after artificial infection with tau aggregates.
In addition to therapeutic components, there is an urgent need for improved diagnostic methods for AD. So far, a variety of substances that bind to aggregated Aβ peptide exist. Following the incorporation of radionuclides into these substances, imaging methods such as positron emission tomography (PET) and single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) can be carried on the live patent ("in vivo imaging"). Since the amount of plaque has little correlation with the progression of AD, substances that bind with high specificity to tau aggregates potentially provide a diagnostic alternative, since the occurrence of neurofibrillary tau tangles correlates with the progression of the disease. So far, only few substances have been described which selectively bind in vitro to the aggregated tau protein. Quinoline and benzimidazole derivatives selectively stained neurofibrillary tangles in brain sections of deceased AD patients.
The disadvantage is that, so far, only symptoms of AD can be treated. No approved medications exist which can stop or reverse the disease process. The majority of substances being explored for AD treatment focus on extracellular Aβ, but not on tau pathology or, preferably, on both.

Peptides for the treatment and early diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease and other tauopathies


A container that includes a lockable zipper. The container includes a cavity having an opening. A zipper is provided that includes first and second rows of teeth and a slider. The first row of teeth is connected on one side of the opening and the second row of teeth is connected on an opposite side of the opening. The slider is configured to cause the rows of teeth to mesh together when the slider is moved to the closed position and to cause the rows of teeth to separate when moved to the open position. A locking arrangement is provided that includes a lock mechanism and a locking latch opening. A locking latch is provided that is designed to be releasably connected to the locking latch opening. The locking latch is designed to prevent the slider from moving to a fully open position when the locking latch is locked in the locking latch opening. The locking latch is designed to allow the slider to move to a fully open position when the locking latch is released from the locking latch opening.

There are many zipper containers that are designed to include various types of items. However, many of these zipper containers cannot be securely closed to inhibit or prevent access to the container and the one or more items in the container. For example, keys, make-up, medications, money, self-protection items (e.g., mace, firearm, etc.), sharp items (e.g., scissors, letter opener, knife, etc.), electronic devices (e.g., phone, USB drive, memory cards, headphones, etc.), eye glasses, and other or additional items can be included in a purse. Some of these items may be included in a zipper container, whereas other items are merely contained in the purse. It is common for children, young adults and other adults to view or access items in the purse without the owner's knowledge. As such, free access to items in a purse could injure or be otherwise harmful to an unauthorized accesser, be personal items that the owner does not want others to see, and/or the items can be damaged by the unauthorized accesser.
There are also many items that are included in the home to which a user may not want others to have free access (e.g., medications, firearms, electronic devices, make-up, personal items, etc.). However, many of these items are contained in unsecured or easily accessible containers.


Systems are described herein for providing card reader configuration and access control, including a card reader, a remote computing device, and a communications network coupled to the card reader and the remote computing device. The card reader is configured to connect to the remote computing device via the communications network, transmit a request to the remote computing device via the communications network, receive data from the remote computing device via the communications network, and configure operational settings based on the received data. The remote computing device is configured to receive the request from the card reader via the communications network, generate data responsive to the request, and transmit the data to the card reader via the communications network.

Traditionally, card readers are associated with an access point to a system or building. In a physical access control system, card readers are commonly located at a door and each person who is authorized to enter the premises carries an access card that interacts with the readers. The access card can contain a semiconductor chip containing an EEPROM memory or a similar device (e.g., a radio-frequency identification (RFID) chip or an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) chip) that is programmed with a code number. The code number can be a single value or stored in multiple fields that correspond to, e.g., a serial number and a facility code to designate a building or series of buildings. Generally, the card is programmed by the card manufacturer before delivery to the systems integrator or user. The chip within the card is connected to an antenna, and the card transmits the number to the card reader through use of an electromagnetic induction signal.
The reader is typically no more than a pass-through device, where the reader routes messages to the control panel without addition or modification. The reader typically sends out an interrogating signal at 125 KHz to 134 KHz, known as Low Frequency (LF). Other frequencies are also used; for example, another frequency band known as HF operates at the singular frequency of 13.56 Mhz. The card is presented to the reader (e.g., by being placed in proximity to the reader), and the reader reads a message from the card. The reader is programmed to strip the message of its overhead structure, and reformat the message in a standardized data stream which the reader sends to a control panel. For example, the standardized format can be the so-called Wiegand code. The control panel may or may not recognize the card as belonging to the population of authorized entrants. If the card is recognized as authorized, the panel takes appropriate action to open the door which generally involves setting a relay that sends an electric current to activate a device at the door (e.g., a magnetic strike or lock).
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a system 100 comprising a card access control reader 103 connected to a control panel 101, as illustrated in the art. The reader 103 is connected to the control panel 101 via connection 102 (e.g., Wiegand interface). A card 104 is presented to the reader 103 (e.g., by passing the card in close proximity to the reader, or touching the card to the reader) using an RFID signal 105, and the reader 103 receives a message from the card 104.

RFID access control reader with enhancements


A garment having an integral backless, strapless bra, and a method of using the garment. The garment includes a chest portion facing towards a user's breasts and a pair of bra cups adjoined to an inside surface of the chest portion. Each bra cup includes an interior surface facing towards a user's breast and an exterior surface facing opposite the interior surface, wherein the interior surface includes a pressure sensitive adhesive layer for adjoining the bra cups to the user's breast. The garment also includes a connector adapted to draw the bra cups together, wherein the connector is positioned between the bra cups. A method of using the garment provides for customizable positioning of the bra cups and optional degrees of breast cleavage and push-up enhancement.

Various devices and methods are available to women who wish to enhance their breasts. Generally, women can either undergo a surgical procedure to be fitted with a breast implant, or can use some form of externally worn article. To accommodate women wishing to avoid the dangers involved with surgical breast implants, several efforts have been made to provide externally worn articles that have the look and feel of natural breasts, yet are non-permanent and health-risk free. Such externally worn devices have included a wide range of foam pads, push-up bras, and more recently gelled breast inserts to be worn between the user's breasts and a bra.
In addition to the demand for devices and methods for enhancing breast size and shape, there is also a demand for being able to use those devices and methods while wearing a full-range of clothing. For example, women wearing a backless dress or a halter top will not want to wear a traditional bra. As a result, bras have been developed that are both backless and strapless. Such backless, strapless bras have used non-permanent adhesives, such as a disposable double-sided tape, to secure the bra to the user. There have also been garments, such as shirts, that include some type of breast support function, but do not provide the full utility of a standalone bra.
As a result, there exists a need for a garment that includes an integral backless, strapless bra having a system for pushing-up the breasts and enhancing breast cleavage. Further, there exists a need for such a garment where the bra includes a re-usable adhesive that allows the user to position the bra in a desired position without concern of the bra shifting from that position.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A floating-body dynamic random access memory device may include a semiconductor body having a top surface and laterally opposite sidewalls formed on a substrate. A gate dielectric layer may be formed on the top surface of the semiconductor body and on the laterally opposite sidewalls of the semiconductor body. A gate electrode may be formed on the gate dielectric on the top surface of the semiconductor body and adjacent to the gate dielectric on the laterally opposite sidewalls of the semiconductor body. The gate electrode may only partially deplete a region of the semiconductor body, and the partially depleted region may be used as a storage node for logic states.

Efforts to integrate more on-die memory, that is, larger caches, with a microprocessor are guided by the premise that to do so is a power-efficient means of achieving better performance. For example, the area used by six transistor (6T) SRAM cells, which are typically used in large caches, is limited by constraints on die size and to limit manufacturing costs. Thus, a key to enabling larger caches is minimizing the additional cost of incorporating a denser memory cell than SRAM.
One transistor—One Capacitor (1T-1C) DRAM cells have been proposed. These DRAM cells strive to be ten times smaller in area than traditional SRAM cells. The design goals for these DRAM cells need to account for the greater costs involved in making a capacitor that can store enough charge to maintain reasonable refresh times. For example, capacitances at least of 25 fF are calculated to be required.
The recent work in DRAM gain cells has sought to fabricate cells using standard complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) processes. Such cells may be less expensive to manufacture and more scalable to future device technologies than the SRAM cells, since they do not need a fixed capacitor value. With these goals in mind, it is, therefore, desirable to devise an integrated DRAM that provides for larger memory caches without additional process complexity or costs.
It should be understood that these figures depict embodiments of the invention. Variations of these embodiments will be apparent to persons skilled in the relevant art(s) based on the teachings contained herein. For example, the flow charts contained in these figures depict particular operational flows. However, the functions and steps contained in these flow charts can be performed in other sequences, as will be apparent to persons skilled in the relevant art(s) based on the teachings contained herein.

Floating-body dynamic random access memory and method of fabrication in tri-gate technology


This invention relates to elastomeric coatings for electronics. Disclosed is a electronic device comprising a substrate layer, a conductive layer and an encapsulant layer. The encapsulant layer comprises at least a butyl rubber material. The butyl rubber encapsulant prevents a change in resistivity of the conductive layer following exposure to nitric acid vapour for 12 hours or hydrochloric acid vapour for 10 hours.

Electrical or electronic devices comprise a backplate or other mounting component on to which the electrical or electronic components are mounted. To protect the electrical or electronic devices from corrosion, flexible encapsulants, such as poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) are sometimes used. However, due to the high permeation rate of this material, moisture and gas are still able to eventually penetrate the PDMS encapsulant, leading to premature device failure. In order to improve device lifetime, improved encapsulants are needed.

Electronic devices comprising butyl rubber


Systems and methods herein provide for a proxy infrastructure. In the proxy infrastructure, a network element (e.g., a supernode) is connected with a plurality of exit nodes. At one of a plurality of messenger units of the proxy infrastructure, a proxy protocol request is received directly from a client computing device. The proxy protocol request specifies a request and a target. In response the proxy protocol request, a selection is made between one between one of the plurality of exit nodes. A message with the request is sent from the messenger to the supernode connected with the selected exit node. Finally, the message is sent from the supernode to the selected exit node to forward the request to the target.

Proxy servers generally act as intermediaries for requests from clients seeking content, services, and/or resources from target servers (e.g., web servers) on the internet. For example, a client may connect to a proxy server to request data from another server. The proxy server evaluates the request and forwards the request to the other server containing the requested data. In the forwarded message, the source address may appear to the target to be not the client, but the proxy server. After obtaining the data, the proxy server forwards the data to the client. Depending on the type of request, the proxy server may have full visibility into the actual content fetched by the client, as is the case with an unencrypted Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) session. In other instances, the proxy server may blindly forward the data without being aware of what is being forwarded, as is the case with an encrypted Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS) session.
To interact with a proxy server, the client may transmit data to the proxy server formatted according to a proxy protocol. The HTTP proxy protocol is one example of how the proxy protocol may operate. HTTP operates at the application layer of the network stack (layer 7). In another example, HTTP tunneling may be used, using, for example, the HTTP CONNECT command. In still another example, the proxy may use a SOCKS Internet protocol. While the HTTP proxy protocol operates at the application layer of the OSI (Open Systems Interconnection) model protocol stack, SOCKS may operate at the session layer (layer 5 of the OSI model protocol stack). Other protocols may be available forwarding data at different layers of the network protocol stack.
Proxy servers, however, do more than simply forward web requests. In some instances, proxy servers can act as a firewall, act as a web filter, provide shared network connections, and cache data to speed up common requests. Proxy servers can also provide privacy and can control internet usage of employees and children. Proxies can also be used to bypass certain internet restrictions (e.g., firewalls) and to circumvent geo-based content restrictions. For example, if a client requests content from a webpage located on a webserver in one country, but the client's home country does not allow access to that content, the client can make the request through a proxy server that contacts and retrieves the content, thereby concealing the location of the target server. Proxy servers can also be used for web scraping, data mining, and other similar tasks. A proxy server changes the request's source IP address, so the web server is not provided with the geographical location of the scraper. Using the proxy server makes a request appear more organic and thus ensures that the results from web scraping represents what would actually be presented were a human to make the request from that geographical location.
Proxy servers fall into various types depending on the IP (Internet Protocol) address used to address a web server. A residential IP address is an address from the range specifically designated by the owning party, usually Internet service providers (ISPs), as assigned to private customers. Usually a residential proxy is an IP address linked to a physical device, for example, a mobile phone or desktop computer. Blocks of residential IP addresses may be bought from the owning proxy service provider by another company directly in bulk. Mobile IP proxies are a subset of the residential proxy category. A mobile IP proxy is one with an IP address that is obtained from mobile operators. A datacenter IP proxy is the proxy server assigned with a datacenter IP. Datacenter IPs are IPs owned by companies, not by individuals.
Many service providers across the Internet provide services to consumers, and hence are configured to block, or require additional verification (such as CAPTCHAS), when they receive requests originated from data centers. Residential and mobile IP proxies may be advantageous over data center proxies because, to the target website, requests from these proxies appear to originate from consumers.
Exit node proxies, or simply exit nodes, are gateways where the traffic hits the Internet. There can be several proxies used to perform a user's request, but the exit node proxy is the final proxy that contacts the target and forwards the information from the target to a user device, perhaps via a previous proxy. There can be several proxies serving the user's request, forming a proxy chain, passing the request through each proxy, with the exit node being the last link in the chain that ultimately passes the request to the target.

Sticky sessions in a proxy infrastructure


An adjustable measuring device for measuring contents, such as liquids and granulated solids, having a usable volume for measuring. The adjustable measuring device includes a housing, a platform having a lower position and an upper position, and an adjusting system for moving the platform between the lower position and the upper position. When the platform is in the lower position, the usable volume is maximized. When the platform is in the upper position, the usable volume is minimized. The adjusting system comprises a restraint system adapted to maintain the platform between the lower position and the upper position. Also, the adjusting system comprises a discrete locking system adapted to temporarily lock the platform into a plurality of predetermined positions, which represent discrete usable volumes. By applying a first adjusting force, the platform moves toward the upper position. By applying a second adjusting force, the platform moves toward the lower position.

Measuring devices are used in a variety of industries, for many different purposes. Generally, measuring devices are used to measure contents such as liquid or dry materials that are to be subsequently dispensed from the measuring device. As the amount or quantity of the content to be measured depends on the situation, various measuring containers of different sizes and shapes have been used.
In the food industry and culinary arts, measuring cups are commonly used for measuring ingredients for recipes during food preparation and cooking. A busy kitchen can be the focal point of creation, disarray, and demanding conditions. Amateur and professional chefs are often required to multitask during the cooking and/or creation process. During the preparation of a recipe, a cook can experience difficulty measuring out the proper amounts of various ingredients such as flour, sugar, shortening, water, salt, and other staples. Moreover, the appropriately sized measuring container must be located, which can often involve searching through a collection of measuring bowls, spoons, cups, and scoops to find the correct measuring container, if one can be found at all. Such an experience can be cumbersome, time-consuming, and frustrating.
To alleviate this problem in the past, adjustable measuring containers have been proposed such that the capacity of the container can be adjusted, thereby eliminating the hunt for a separate container having the needed measuring volume. Such previously known adjustable measuring containers have been designed to be used in the measuring of granulated solids or semi-solids, but were generally incapable of containing liquids. Typically, these adjustable measuring containers incorporated slots and the like as part of the adjusting mechanism, through which liquid materials could pass through quite easily. Accordingly, previous adjustable measuring containers did not address a general use, because in ordinary kitchens it becomes very inconvenient to have to remember that a particular measuring cup cannot be used for liquid material.
Additionally, such previously known adjustable measuring cups have also been generally constructed so as to require an individual to visually read the measuring units on some part of the cup when adjusting from one capacity to another capacity. This construction is inconvenient in busy kitchens as such measuring units are often obscured by materials such as flour that are being used in food preparation and cooking. The individual, therefore, can find it difficult to ensure that the adjustable measuring cup is correctly adjusted for the current measurement required by a recipe.
To address these problems in the past, adjustable measuring cups with multiple fixed capacities have been proposed. Unfortunately, most of these adjustable measuring cups require the pushing and pulling of stops for changing capacities for measuring.
Additionally, the adjustable measuring cups are not easily disassembled for cleaning after use. Such complete disassembly and dishwasher cleaning is essential in any successful cup for the present-day kitchen. Without complete disassembly, a cup cannot be thoroughly cleaned. And if not easy to reassemble, the discerning chef will not use it.
What is needed is an adjustable measuring device having a usable volume for measuring contents that can easily be disassembled for cleaning and adjusted to a plurality of discrete usable volumes during use. Additionally, what is needed is an adjustable measuring device that can be easily adjusted to the plurality of discrete usable volumes, without the need to visually inspect the measuring units on the outside of the adjustable measuring device. It is to such a device that the present invention is primarily directed.


A compensating shaft (1, 1a, 1b, 1c, 1d) for compensating mass forces and/or mass moments of a reciprocating piston internal combustion engine (13) is provided, with at least one bearing journal (2a, 2b, 2c, 2d), on whose outer casing surface (3a, 3b, 3c, 3d) the compensating shaft is supported in the radial direction in a housing support (10) of the reciprocating piston internal combustion engine, and with at least one unbalanced section (4) bordering the bearing journal in the axial direction. The outer casing surface of the bearing journal is formed on the side of the unbalanced section facing away from the unbalanced direction by a cylindrical section (5) of the bearing journal and by one or more axial projections (7a, 7b, 7c, 7d), wherein these axial projections extend like a collar from the cylindrical section while forming a radial undercut (6).

The invention relates to a compensating shaft for compensating mass forces and/or mass moments of a reciprocating piston internal combustion engine. The compensating shaft has at least one bearing journal, on whose outer casing surface the compensating shaft is supported in the radial direction at a housing support position in the reciprocating piston internal combustion engine, and at least one unbalanced section bordering the bearing journal in the axial direction.
Such a compensating shaft is known from DE 10 2004 014 014 A1, which is viewed as a class-forming patent. The compensating shaft proposed there has two bearing journals each with unbalanced sections bordering both sides. In a known way, the unbalanced effect of the unbalanced sections rotating with the compensating shaft acts against the free mass forces and/or mass moments of the reciprocating piston internal combustion engine, in that the unbalanced force is introduced via the bearing journals into associated housing support positions of the reciprocating piston internal combustion engine. The unbalanced direction, which is stationary relative to the bearing journal, is directed onto the side of the unbalanced section facing the unbalanced direction for forming a load zone on the bearing journal, while this bearing journal is load free or at most minimally loaded due to dynamic effects on the side of the unbalanced section facing away from the unbalanced direction. Consequently, solid bearing journals of a compensating shaft according to the cited document are mechanically overdimensioned in their load-free or low-load peripheral region. Such overdimensioning, however, is equivalent to unnecessarily carrying along material and consequently mass and directly counteracts the increasing effort for lightweight construction, which conserves resources and the environment, especially in the automotive industry.


A home node for selecting a source node using a cache coherency protocol, comprising a logic unit cluster coupled to a directory, wherein the logic unit cluster is configured to receive a request for data from a requesting cache node, determine a plurality of nodes that hold a copy of the requested data using the directory, select one of the nodes using one or more selection parameters as the source node, and transmit a message to the source node to determine whether the source node stores a copy of the requested data, wherein the source node forwards the requested data to the requesting cache node when the requested data is found within the source node, and wherein some of the nodes are marked as a Shared state corresponding to the cache coherency protocol.

Multi-core (e.g. multi-processor) systems may comprise a plurality of cache nodes used to store data, such as processing instructions and frequently referenced data in main memory locations and/or other cache levels. One or more copies of data (e.g. a cache line) that references a particular main memory location may be stored within different locations in the multi-core system. For example, a data value of "0" associated with main memory address "0" may be stored in each of the cache nodes within the multi-core systems. When one copy of the data is modified in one of the cache nodes, a cache coherence mechanism may modify other copies located in other cache nodes. The cache coherence mechanism may maintain the consistency of data stored within many different cache nodes by propagating changes in the data throughout the multi-core system.
Two types of cache coherence mechanisms that may be used within a multi-core system are snooping-based coherence and directory-based coherence. In snooping-based coherence, requests to modify data (e.g. a write instruction) may be broadcast by each of the cache nodes. Other cache nodes may monitor the requests sent out and determine whether the received requests correspond to data stored within their own cache memory. Although snooping-based coherence may have short latency periods, the systems that implement snooping-based coherence may suffer from bandwidth and scalability problems caused by constant broadcast of data. Alternatively, in directory-based coherence, data that is being shared amongst one or more cache nodes may be stored in a home node. The home node may maintain the coherence between cache nodes within a multi-core system using a directory. When data is changed in one cache node, the home node may update or invalidate entries in other cache nodes that store the data. Cache nodes may also send a request for permission to the home node prior to loading data from the main memory. As a result, in comparison to snooping-based coherence, directory-based coherence improves scalability and bandwidth concerns, but suffers from longer latencies caused by the constant access of the home node.
To reduce latency within directory-based coherence, cache coherency protocols, such as Modified Owned Exclusive Shared Invalid (MOESI) protocol or Modified Exclusive Shared Invalid Forward (MESIF) protocol may be used to implement peer-to-peer cache forwarding. Peer-to-peer cache forwarding occurs when one of the cache nodes is used to forward the requested data to another cache node. Instead of the home node receiving the requested data from the designated cache node and subsequently responding to the request, the designated cache node directly responds to the request. In the MOESI protocol, the cache node designated to hold the data and respond to request for the data may be designated with an "Owned" state, while the MESIF protocol may use a "forward" state to designate the cache node. In both MOESI and MESIF protocols, the designated cache nodes are responsible for responding to requests from other cache nodes for a particular data (e.g. cache line).
Unfortunately, the MOESI and MESIF protocols lack flexibility in selecting cache nodes designated to respond to request from other cache nodes. For instance, the MESIF protocol designates the cache node that requested the data most recently with the "forward" state. For the MOESI protocol, the "Owned" state is designated for the cache node that stores the more recent, correct copy of the data. Therefore, both the MOESI and MESIF protocols do not dynamically select cache nodes based on performance factors, such as location of the requesting cache node and the current workload being processed at the designated cache node. Hence, in some instances, the designated cache node may become a processing bottleneck and cause performance degradation within a multi-core system. Therefore, a solution is needed to dynamically select a cache node to satisfy requests within the multi-core system.

Method for peer to peer cache forwarding


A method for determining the charge drawn by an energy storage battery starting from an initial state of charge at the start of the drawing of the charge includes determining the charge drawn as a function of an exponential function with a time constant. The time constant is defined at least as a function of the energy storage battery type and of the temperature of at least one of the battery temperature and the electrolyte temperature. The method may be carried out utilizing a monitoring device or a computer program.

The present invention relates to a method for determining the charge drawn by an energy storage battery, and for monitoring devices and computer programs for carrying out such a method.
During operation of batteries (e.g., lead-acid energy storage batteries for use in vehicle starting, lighting, and ignition applications) it is advantageous to determine the instantaneous state of the energy storage battery and to predict a future state with assumed environmental and battery state conditions. In this case, it is also desirable to determine the charge which is drawn in the charging mode.
It is known for the to measure battery current continuously during the operating life of the energy storage battery for this purpose. The charge flowing into the energy storage battery and the charge drawn from the energy storage battery can be calculated from the converted current, and the state of charge can be determined by balancing these factors.
It is also known for the change in the state of charge by an energy storage battery to be determined by means of mathematical models, such as equivalent circuits.
One disadvantage of this method is that the battery current must be measured. Particularly for starter batteries with relatively high starter currents, this is highly complex.
It would be advantageous to provide an improved method for determination of the charge drawn by an energy storage battery, by means of which the amount of charge drawn by the energy storage battery during the charging mode can be determined as accurately as possible and with little measurement complexity, without measuring the battery current. It would also be advantageous to provide a monitoring device which has computation means for carrying out such a method. It would further be advantageous to provide a computer program to carry out the method described above. It would be advantageous to provide any one or more of these or other advantageous features.

Method for determination of the charge drawn by an energy storage battery


A process for the production of a liquid detergent composition comprising the steps of: providing an aqueous solution free of perfumes through a main stream; providing a second solution comprising at least one perfume and at least one material selected from the group consisting of surfactants, organic solvents, carboxylic acids, and mixtures thereof, through a first side stream, wherein the ratio of said perfume to said at least one material is from 0.05 to 0.5; providing at least a third solution comprising at least one aesthetic component and/or finishing component, through at least one second side stream; and mixing the solutions to provide the liquid detergent composition. The second solution is mixed with the aqueous solution at a first confluence region of said main and first side streams and the at least third solution is mixed therewith at, at least one, second confluence region, said at least one second confluence region being downstream said first confluence region.

A number of different methods and processes exist for the manufacture of liquid detergent compositions. These are typically classified in two groups: continuous processes and batch processes.
It is highly desirable, in such processes, to reduce the time lag between process steps and in particular reduce waiting time between the time a composition is fully formulated and the time such composition is bottled. Such whilst achieving quick formulation turnaround, minimizing waste material, minimizing number of storage vessels for intermediate process and finished product storage, and achieving a well dispersed composition at minimal energy and cost.
For such reasons continuous processes have become more and more desirable as they offer the potential for achieving the aforementioned desideratum. However, room for improvement still exists.
In particular, improvement in the dispersion of ingredients that are difficult to mix with aqueous components, such as perfumes, is desired. Indeed, perfumes may require a considerable amount of energy in order to be appropriately and quickly dispersed into an aqueous solution with low level of surfactants.
It has been found that the present invention is highly effective in generating a well dispersed liquid detergent composition utilizing minimal energy for its production, as well as enabling quick formulation turnaround and minimal waste material. Moreover, the present invention allows a high degree of product customization, minimizing the need of introducing dedicated storage vessels where different finished products need to be stored before bottling and packing operation.

Process for the production of a liquid composition


A power seat positioning device for automatically adjusting the horizontal fore and aft position of a seat within a vehicle using a single electric motor. A lower track assembly is attached to a vehicle floor and includes a first and second laterally spaced lower track members. An associated upper track assembly attaches to a vehicle seat and includes a first and second upper track member which slide within the first and second lower track members respectively to adjust the for and aft position of the seat within the vehicle. A drive motor and gearbox arrangement is supported on the first upper track to provide the motive force which drives only the first upper track relative to the first lower seat track. A brace member directly connects the first upper track to the second upper track to coordinate the horizontal position of the first upper seat track with the position of the second upper seat track.

The present invention generally relates to a motorized system for adjusting the horizontal position of a vehicle seat using a single drive motor.
A variety of vehicle seats are commercially available. In many instances, it is desirable to provide a seat occupant with the ability to adjust the position of the seat base relative to the floor of the vehicle. A variety of powered seat adjustment mechanisms are available for use on the driver's seat and on the front passenger seat of the vehicle.
Known power seat adjusters typically carry a seat support frame which supports the seat bottom and sometimes the seat back of a vehicle seat. The seat support frame is mounted on first and second laterally spaced track assemblies, each formed of an upper track which is connected to the seat support frame and which is slidably mounted on a lower track anchored to the vehicle floor. A motor drive mechanism typically includes at least one bi-directional electric motor which rotates a pair of drive shafts extending outward from the motor to a gear assembly or box mounted on each upper track. In one known arrangement, each gear box rotates a lead screw extending longitudinally below each upper track. A drive block is fixedly mounted to each lower track and threadingly receives the lead screw to cause reciprocal, horizontal movement of the upper track and the attached seat support frame upon selective energization of the drive motor and the drive shafts.
One challenge associated with the currently available automated seat adjustment mechanisms is that they include relatively expensive components which must be duplicated along each track. The duplication of identical components increases the weight and the cost of the seat and therefore the overall cost of the vehicle to the consumer.

Single horizontal drive for a vehicle seat


An embodiment of the present invention provides a fly eye lens which is applied to a proximity exposure machine optical system. The fly lens includes a first lens assembly and a second lens assembly, wherein the first lens assembly includes a plurality of lenses which form a first lens face, and the second lens assembly includes a plurality of lenses which form a second lens face. The first lens face is used to split an incident broad light beam into narrow light beams and then refract the narrow light beams onto the second lens face, and the second lens face is used to dispersively refract the received narrow light beams onto a concave mirror in the optical system. A lens closer to a center of the second lens face has a higher transmittivity, and a lens farther from the center of the second lens face has a lower transmittivity. According to the embodiment of the present invention, since different lenses on the second lens face have different transmittivities, the illuminances of light radiated to different regions of a mask plate through the fly eye lens are different, and thus the uniformity of the critical dimensions of the exposed patterns can be improved to a certain extent.

With development of display technology, a display device with large size, high quality and low cost is the trend. Quality of a color filter which is a major component of a display device (for example, a TFT-LCD display device) determines the display effect of the display device.
At present, a proximity exposure machine optical system is mostly used to perform exposure when fabricating a color filter. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 1, the above mentioned optical system includes an exposure lamp 101, a first planar mirror 102, a fly eye lens 103, a concave mirror 104 and a second planar mirror 105, and further includes a mask plate 106, a substrate 107, an exposure region 108 and a photoresist (not shown in FIG. 1). In this optical system, the exposure lamp 101 is mainly used to emit a light beam to the first planar mirror 102, the first planar mirror 102 is mainly used to reflect an incident light beam onto the fly eye lens 103, the fly eye lens 103 is mainly used to split the received light beam into narrow light beams and then refract the narrow light beams onto the concave mirror 104, the concave mirror 104 is mainly used to reflect the received light beam onto the second planar mirror 105, and the second planar mirror 105 is mainly used to reflect the received light beam onto the mask plate 106. Generally, the concave mirror 104 and the second planar mirror 105 are designed based on a principle that reflectivities of light at respective positions on the mirror are equal so as to guarantee the uniformity of light at different positions in the optical system.
Here, the fly eye lens 103 may include a first lens assembly and a second lens assembly. The first lens assembly includes a plurality of lenses forming a first lens face, and the second lens assembly includes a plurality of lenses forming a second lens face. The first lens face is used to split a broad light beam reflected from the first planar mirror 102 into narrow light beams and then refract the narrow light beams onto the second lens face, and the second lens face is used to dispersively refract the received narrow light beams onto the concave mirror 104. In general, there is positional correspondence existing between the fly eye lens 103 and the concave mirror 104, that is, a lens closer to the center on the second lens face contributes more illuminance to a point closer to the center on a surface of the concave mirror 104 but contributes less illuminance to a point farther from the center on a surface of the concave mirror 104; on the contrary, a lens farther from the center on the second lens face contributes more illuminance to a point farther from the center on the surface of the concave mirror 104 but contributes less illuminance to a point closer to the center on the surface of the concave mirror 104.
When performing the proximity exposure, generally, the illuminance of incident light on the mask plate is evenly distributed, that is, illuminance at any region on the mask plate is identical. In this case, as shown in FIG. 2, when fabricating a color filter using a substrate 201 (for example, a glass substrate), a mask plate 202 and a photoresist 203, a distance between the mask plate 202 before being bent and the substrate 201 ranges from one hundred micrometers to several hundred micrometers. As such, as to the mask plate, it is bent when performing the exposure, which causes the exposure distance in a vertical direction between the substrate 201 and the central region of the mask plate 202 to differ from that between the substrate 201 and an edge region of the mask plate 202. For example, as shown in FIG. 2, the exposure distance G2 between the substrate 201 and the central region of the mask plate 202 is smaller than the exposure distance G1 between the substrate 201 and the edge region of the mask plate 202. During a usual fabricating process, since the proximity exposure machine optical system is influenced by factors such as diffraction angle and light parallelism when performing the exposure, the critical dimension (CD) of the pattern exposed on the substrate 201 is increased as the exposure distance of each region is increased (as shown in FIG. 2). Thus, in a case where the illuminance is fixed, since the exposure distance in the central region is shorter than that in an edge region, the critical dimension of the pattern exposed on the central region is smaller than that of the pattern exposed on an edge region, that is, the critical dimensions of the exposed patterns are not uniform (for example, CD2>CD1, as shown in FIG. 1). In other words, the critical dimensions of the patterns exposed by the above-mentioned optical system have a poor uniformity.
It can be seen from the above fabricating manner that when the proximity exposure machine optical system performs the exposure, the bending of the mask plate causes exposure distances in respective regions to vary so that the critical dimensions of the patterns exposed on the substrate have a poor uniformity and the quality of the color filter is further affected.

Fly eye lens and proximity exposure machine optical system

Beijing BOE Display Technology Co., Ltd.