A cover for a stethoscope to prevent microbes from transferring from a patient to a stethoscope is disclosed. In one embodiment, a stethoscope cover comprises an antimicrobial barrier having a first and second surface, image forming material disposed on the antimicrobial barrier first surface, and an adhesive layer disposed on the second surface of the antimicrobial barrier to attach the antimicrobial layer to a stethoscope. In some embodiments, the image forming material is configured to depict an image of a product. In some embodiments, the image forming material is configured to depict an image of an animal or character to evoke feelings of happiness in a young patient.

1. Field of the Invention
This application relates to a stethoscope cover that acts as a barrier to prevent the spread of microbes from patient-to-patient via a stethoscope. More particularly, this application relates to a stethoscope cover having image forming material disposed thereon.
2. Description of the Related Art
Patients expect doctors and hospitals to provide the most sterile environment possible for treatment. In some cases, however, patients become ill after a visit to the doctor due to the transfer of microbes from another patient. One way this can occur is through reuse of a stethoscope or other medical equipment that has not been properly cleaned or sterilized. The possibility of becoming ill during a routine check-up or contracting another illness during an appointment to treat a different ailment may diminish one's desire to seek treatment at the doctor's office. Some medical plans may fail to cover treatment for illnesses contracted from hospital and doctor's office visits, making it even more important for medical facilities to provide sterilized medical devices that are used on multiple patients, or provide a disposable alternative. Furthermore, medical facilities may be liable for health problems that they cause or fail to prevent. Accordingly, measures that help prevent the spread of diseases from patent-to-patient patients can benefit insurers, medical providers, and patients.


To provide a roller bearing assembly that can provide a high load bearing capacity and in which the strength of roller retainers can be increased, the roller bearing assembly includes inner and outer roller retainers (13, 23) each having a plurality of circumferentially arranged pockets (4), and a circular row of rollers (2) received in part within the pockets in the inner roller (13) and in part within the pockets in the outer roller (23). The inner roller retainer (13) has pillars (5) each left between the neighboring pockets to retain the circular row of the rollers from radially inwardly and having an outer diameter smaller than the diameter of the pitch circle PCD of the circular row of the rollers. The outer roller retainer (23) has pillars (5) each left between the neighboring pockets to retain the circular row of the rollers from radially outwardly and having an inner diameter greater than the pitch circle diameter PCD. One of the outer and inner roller retainers is made of a metallic material while the other thereof is made of a resinous material.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a roller bearing assembly that can be applied where a large load bearing capacity is required within a limited space, such as including a bearing assembly for supporting big and small ends of a connecting rod in an engine, a bearing assembly for a transmission, a bearing assembly for use in car air conditioners, a bearing assembly for use with a seat reclining mechanism and a bearing assembly for use in reduction gear units.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The roller bearing assembly has hitherto been well known, of a type in which neither an inner race nor an outer race is employed and a row of rolling elements are held in direct contact with inner and outer peripheral surfaces of operating elements of a device or equipment. This type of roller bearing assembly is generally referred to as a roller and retainer assembly or a caged roller assembly. In order to avoid accidental separation of some or all of the rollers from the roller retainer prior to the roller bearing assembly incorporated in a machine or equipment, the roller retainer used in this roller and retainer assembly hitherto largely employed has a generally M-shaped cross section, including an inner annular member of a diameter smaller than the diameter of the pitch circle of the rollers and an outer annular member of a diameter greater than the pitch circle diameter.
However, the M-sectioned roller retainer has pillars that lie on the pitch circle where the neighboring rollers are positioned closest to each other and, therefore, an attempt to increase of the number of rollers that can be accommodated within a limited space requires reduction of the circumferential width of each of the pillars left between the neighboring pockets. Accordingly, not only is the machining limit of the roller retainer encountered with, but the strength of the roller retainer tends to decrease.
In order to alleviate the foregoing problems, the roller and retainer assembly has been suggested, in which outer and inner annular members are positioned radially outwardly and inwardly of the pitch circle, respectively. See, for example, Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2000-179544. According to this known roller and retainer assembly, since no pillar of the retainer lie on the pitch circle where the neighboring rollers are positioned closest to each other, the pitch between the neighboring rollers can be reduced to permit an increase of the number of the rollers that can be accommodated in the retainer and this is indeed in contrast to the conventional roller retainer of the M-shaped section discussed above.
As an improved version of the roller retainer disclosed in the above mentioned Japanese patent document, the retainer has been suggested, in which a single split region is provided in the inner member at a location circumferentially thereof, so that the assemblability of the inner member can be increased. See, for example, the Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2003-166540.
On the other hand, Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2005-249163, filed in the name of the assignee of the present invention, discloses the roller and retainer assembly which includes a roller retainer made up of inner and outer members, each made of a resinous material, and having a plurality of circumferentially spaced slits each being of a shape cut-in inwardly from one side edge towards the opposite side edge.
The roller and retainer assembly disclosed in the first mentioned Japanese patent document includes an outer member and an inner member, in which the pillar between the neighboring pockets defined in the outer retainer has a rectangular cross-sectional shape. Accordingly, when an attempt is made to reduce the pitch between the neighboring rollers to render the resultant roller and retainer assembly to have an increased load bearing capacity, the plate thickness cannot be increased with no decrease of the strength, rendering the strength of the retainer to be low.
On the other hand, the roller and retainer assembly disclosed in the second mentioned Japanese patent document, that is, of the structure in which the split region is employed in the inner member at a location circumferentially thereof, a problem tends to arise that when the retainer is made of a resinous material, no injection molding process cannot be employed, making it difficult to manufacture. In other words, the presence of the split region at the location circumferentially of the inner member render the roundness of the retainer to be degraded and, therefore, no injection molding process can be employed. For this reason, the inner member is generally manufactured by injection molding in a ring member having no split region, which is subsequently formed with a split region by means of a mechanical cutting process. Thus, the necessity of the mechanical cutting process increases the number of manufacturing process steps, resulting in increase of the cost of manufacture.
Also, opposite ends of the inner member on respective sides of the split region must be overlapped one above the other to render the inner member to have a size smaller than the diameter of the inscribed circle of the roller. Thereafter, the split region is engaged to restore the inner member to the original diameter. For this reason, no assembly can be achieved relying only on the elasticity possessed by the material of the retainer, resulting in low assemblability.


A new and distinct cultivar of Verbena plant named ‘Balazwilro’ characterized by its rose pink-colored flowers with “eye”, dark green-colored foliage, good basal branching character, and spreading and trailing growth habit.

The present invention comprises a new and distinct verbena plant botanically known as Verbena hybrida and hereinafter referred to by the cultivar name 'Balazwilro'.
The new cultivar was developed by the inventor through a controlled breeding program during December 2001 at Arroyo Grande, Calif. The objective of the breeding program was the development of verbena cultivars with trailing habit, continuous flowering, excellent basal branching, small, dark green-colored foliage, and unique flower coloration.
The female (seed) parent of the new cultivar was the proprietary Verbena breeding selection designated BFP-0970, not patented, which exhibits a semi-trailing habit, bright red-colored flowers, and dark green-colored foliage. The male (pollen) parent of the new cultivar was the proprietary Verbena breeding selection designated BFP-1476, not patented, which exhibits a semi-trailing habit, bright red-colored flowers with 'eye' and dark green-colored foliage.
The new cultivar was discovered and selected by the inventor as a single plant within the progeny of the above stated cross-pollination in April 2002.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar by terminal cuttings since April 2002 has demonstrated that the characteristics of the new cultivar, as herein described, reproduce true to type and are firmly fixed and retained through successive generations of such asexual propagation.


The present invention is a process for oxidation of a liquid which contains cyanide and soluble metal ions, using an oxygen-containing gas. Art example of such a liquid is the liquid waste produced during metal treatment processes. The disclosed process not only eliminates the cyanide completely, but also converts the metal dissolved in the liquid into granular metal oxides which can be readily recovered.

Conventionally, research into the use of oxidation by an oxygen-containing gas for the treatment of liquid wastes containing cyanide focused on the elimination of the cyanide and did not include methods of recovering any dissolved metal from the oxidized waste. Using the conditions of the prior art, oxidation of the cyanide in solution by an oxygen-containing gas produced carbon dioxide and ammonium which would further react with dissolved metal ions present in the liquid to form metal ammonium complexes. Disposal or recovery for further use of these dissolved complexes is difficult. Therefore, the use of the oxidation methods of the prior art eliminate the possibility of reusing metals present in liquid waste and also create additional waste elimination problems.

Process for the recovery of metal from cyanide-containing liquid wastes

Industrial Technology Research Institute


Input data is partitioned and organized by building a sequence of predefined data structures corresponding to respective data models, each having a different organization and including pointers for propagating input data or data from a preceding data structure therethrough. Each data structure also includes fields for data values which may be input by a user or computed from other data stored therein and pointers referencing instances in a previous data structure in the sequence of data structures. As applied to the production of schematic drawings of cables connecting portions of a large and complex system with a high uniformity of style, such as to ANSI standards, the data is organized by unit, connector and pin priority and in prioritized groups of nets or subnets and partitioned into sheets for rendering in a standardized format. The pointers to instances of data in previous data structures facilitates collection of data for the production of other types of drawings at differing degrees of abstraction, producing reports referenced to drawing content and the like.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to the design and documentation of complex electronically interconnected systems and, more particularly, to automation of the drawing of schematic diagrams depicting interconnections of elements of the system through wiring, busses and cables and production of other diagrams and documentation correlated to such drawings.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Increasing computational and data processing power of modern digital circuits has allowed the design and fabrication of systems and devices of extremely high performance which were impossible only a few years ago due to the impracticality of exploiting that potential performance. For example, the performance of aircraft has been greatly increased by exploitation of instabilities which could not previously be controlled by a human pilot but can be managed by the ability of modern data processors to rapidly collect and assimilate large amounts of information from various types of sensors and to manipulate portions of the aircraft to achieve control functions consistent with control commands manually input by the pilot. Thus the pilot can control the aircraft in the same manner as controlling an aircraft not subject to such instabilities while largely unaware of the actual manipulations of the portions of the aircraft. Such complex systems for aircraft control and other purposes are broadly referred to as avionics. As another example, the integration of sub-systems to improve and coordinate overall function, such as in environmental and operational controls of a large vehicle, building, assembly line, manufacturing plant, multi-site network or the like, may result in a system too complex to be managed or maintained by a sufficiently small number of people to be operationally or economically feasible. Nevertheless, such complex systems may be managed by suitable control processors and often more efficiently and effectively than a large number of human operators.
The design of complex systems and devices also imposes physical constraints on the overall design. For example, particularly in avionics applications, the system will be comprised of many functional units distributed throughout the aircraft as dictated by space, weight and other design constraints. Such distribution of the complex system requires numerous cables and/or wiring yokes containing a few to several thousand individual connections or more used to connect the functional units. Formation of connections by cables and wiring yokes is often necessary in vehicles such as automobiles or aircraft which are subject to vibration since the mutual support of the connections and the further support and protection of cabling structures significantly reduces the potential for damage to individual connections and increases reliability.
Cables must often be designed for specific applications and interconnections to be made since, for example, unused connections should generally be avoided to reduce weight, capacitive or inductive coupling and the like. The signals or power carried by the connections must also be considered in such designs to specify the types of connections made such as wire gauge, twisted pair or group wiring, ribbon cable, order of connector pins at cable terminations, shielding and the like. Compatibility of connectors and pin assignments therein must often be coordinated between numerous suppliers and consistency must be maintained.
While software is known which can automate specification of point-to-point connectivity in complex system designs, at the present state of the art, design of cabling must be done manually. Specifically, even using computer assisted design (CAD) arrangements to produce graphic representations of the cable designs, time-consuming manual transposition of point-to-point connectivity data was required and resulted in inconsistencies of design style in the finished product when numerous draftsmen work on particular ones of the numerous sheets of drawings generally required.
Such manual intervention is understandably error-prone and prevents automated error detection or automated design revision to implement changes which may be necessitated by other manually input changes to the design. Likewise, logging of design changes becomes difficult since the documentation is, at best, in the form of full drawings and particular changes are not specifically identified. Further, for the same reason, the form of data resulting from the CAD operation is not in a form from which manufacturing data, such as parts lists, cable lengths, connector types and the like can be extracted other than manually. The time required for revisions necessitated by design changes and error correction also delays and complicates system testing and integration since changes in system connectivity require extended turn-around time for inclusion in drawings and other documentation.
These difficulties remain even after the system or device is produced since schematic diagrams must be provided to permit repair and maintenance of the system or device. Block diagrams at various levels of abstraction, such as assembly drawings and illustration of system operational hierarchy or architecture as well as indices for service or assembly manuals are generally prepared manually from the schematic diagrams for reference documentation of the system and the intervention by data entry personnel is again error-prone and may obscure the hierarchical architecture or the configuration control properties of the system.
In connections with these concerns described above, drawings of large and complex systems must be partitioned in order to develop legible renderings on each of perhaps a very large number of sheets. At the same time, for reference of systems integrators and maintenance and repair personnel, this partitioning must also allow rapid assimilation and congruence with physical layout of the system and thus must embody a logical grouping on each sheet. Such a logical grouping consistent with practical limitations on graphical content is very difficult to organize, particularly for manual rendering or manual transposition for CAD rendering. At the same time, development of indices or other listings in accordance with drawing content becomes exceptionally difficult to track as systems become large and the number of sheets of drawings increases.
This difficulty can be readily understood since CAD files, for example, are developed with reference to a drawing sheet and do not provide for tracking of content, as alluded to above. Likewise, from the standpoint of connectivity information, there has been no mechanism or methodology for systematically approaching layout of a schematic depiction on a page or addressing the issue of accommodating operational function and/or logical grouping during drawing layout. As complex systems become large, these issues become more complex than can be comprehensively organized by the number of people required to transpose connectivity data to CAD files and the likelihood of errors and, particularly, omissions, is dramatically increased.


An oscillation-type state measuring apparatus has an oscillation-type sensor, a reference oscillation signal generating circuit for producing reference oscillation signals, a beat signal generating circuit for generating beat signals having a beat frequency by synthesizing the sensor oscillation signals and the reference oscillation signals, a counter for measuring a period of the beat signals, and a physical quantity calculation circuit for calculating a physical quantity from the period of the beat signals and from the period of the reference oscillation signals. The reference oscillation signal generating circuit varies the frequency of the reference oscillation signals, and the physical quantity calculation circuit calculates the physical quantity based on the varied period of the reference oscillation signals.

A variety of state measuring apparatuses have been used in a wide field of applications for taking measurements by converting physical quantities into electric quantities. In automotive vehicles, in particular, states of various portions are accurately detected by using many sensors, so that control operations are carried out to optimize the operating performance, fuel efficiency and harmony with the environment.
The measuring apparatuses must satisfy the requirements of wide detection ranges and high resolution in addition to the accuracy of measurement. To satisfy such requirements, in the case of a measuring apparatus, the gain of an amplifier is adjusted depending upon the content that is measured, and an offset is adjusted depending upon the gain adjustment.
One conventional measuring apparatus that measures pressure is disclosed in JP 2003-273673A and schematically illustrated in FIG. 1A. In this figure, a sensor chip 1 is a bridge circuit constructed with four resistors including a resistor, which varies its resistance depending upon the pressure being applied and measured. In the bridge circuit, tow resistor rows each having two resistors connected in series are arranged in parallel, and a voltage is applied to the resistor rows. A difference of the voltage is detected across the two connection nodes of the resistors connected in series. When the resistance of one resistor varies depending upon the pressure, the difference in the voltage varies across the two connection nodes of the resistors connected in series, and the variation thereof is output after being amplified by an amplifier 2. To convert the voltage into a digital signal, the output is converted into a digital data through an analog/digital (A/D) converter. It is also allowable to measure a difference in the pressure by so constructing the two resistors of the sensor chip 1 that the resistances thereof vary depending on the pressure on the two portions that measure the difference in the pressure.
The amplifier 2 is capable of varying is gain using a gain control 3, and the gain is adjusted depending upon a pressure value being measured. The amplifier 2 is further capable of varying the zero level of its output by using an offset control 4, and adjusts the zero level at the time of initialization, when the gain is varied and when the temperature is varied. The gain control and the offset control are calibrated at all times by holding the sensor chip 1 under a predetermined condition or by inputting a signal for calibration.
The measuring apparatus may be capable of effecting the calibration at all times, but a sensor incorporated in a device is not capable of effecting the calibration. Further, to effect the gain adjustment or the zero level adjustment, a circuit having a variable resistor must be added. This increases the cost. Therefore, a unit incorporated in the device is constructed with no gain control nor offset control.
A pressure state measuring apparatus for measuring pressure may be constructed as shown in FIG. 1B. The state measuring apparatus has a pressure sensor 5 including the sensor chip 1 shown in FIG. 1A. An amplifier 6 is provided to amplify a voltage difference across the two connection nodes of the sensor chip 1 and outputs it as Vout. The gain and the offset of the amplifier 6 are fixed and not variable. A low-pass filter 7 is provided to remove high-frequency components, which are noise components in the output Vout of the pressure sensor 5, and an A/D converter 8 is provided to convert the output of the filter 7 into a digital data. The digital data are sent to a control unit which executes a variety of controls based on the values detected by the sensor.
Devices that use a temperature sensor or a humidity sensor basically assume the similar construction. The pressure sensor is an electric element which varies the resistance depending upon the physical quantity (pressure) to be measured. Depending upon the cases, however, there will be used an electrostatic capacity or an electronic element that varies the inductance.
The resolution of the construction illustrated in FIG. 1B is determined by a value obtained by dividing a dynamic (measuring) range of the amplifier 6 by the number of discrimination levels specified by the number of bits of the A/D converter 8. When the noise level of the measuring system is greater than the resolution, the resolution is specified by the noise level. To obtain a wide dynamic range while decreasing the resolution, it is considered to increase the number of bits of the A/D converter. However, the cost of the A/D converter sharply increases with an increase in the number of bits thereby increasing cost.
It has further been attempted to provide an oscillation circuit with an electric element which varies the electric characteristics depending upon the physical quantity to be measured, so that the oscillation frequency (period) of oscillation signals varies depending upon a change in the physical quantity to thereby measure the physical quantity by detecting the oscillation frequency. The oscillation frequency can be detected by, for example, counting the number of pulses of oscillation signals in a predetermined period. Further, the length of the oscillation period of oscillation signals can be detected by counting the pulses in a predetermined period. The effect of noise can be decreased by converting the physical quantity into a change in the oscillation frequency instead of converting it into an analog intensity signal. Here, the sensor, which varies the frequency (period) of oscillation signals in response to a change in the physical quantity, is called an oscillation-type sensor.
JP 9-147283A discloses a long-distance transmission system for executing signal transmission over a distance by converting a physical quantity into a frequency (period) of oscillation signals by using an oscillation-type sensor, which varies an electric resistance or an electrostatic capacitance depending on an amount of water content, temperature or pressure and a CR oscillation circuit, which varies the oscillation frequency depending upon an electric resistance or an electrostatic capacity of the sensor. Further, JP 9-43078A discloses a construction that converts a capacity of an electrostatic capacity-type sensor into an oscillation frequency. Further, IP 2000-55954A discloses a construction that converts a resistance into an oscillation frequency.
In the conventional state measuring apparatuses for detecting the physical quantity by utilizing the above oscillation-type sensors, the range of variation in the oscillation frequency is designed for each of the state measuring apparatuses to meet the range of variation in the physical quantity to be measured, resolution and characteristics of the electric element, and is fabricated in the form of a hardware. Therefore, the dynamic range and resolution are fixed and cannot be, usually, changed.
In a unit, such as an engine control unit for an internal combustion engine, that executes processing by reading outputs from many sensors, therefore, detector circuits are provided for detecting various oscillation frequencies (periods) to meet various oscillation-type sensors. Namely, a number of different detector circuits are required, thus increasing cost and size.
In addition, the state measuring apparatus requires a wide dynamic range and a high resolution. It is therefore difficult to satisfy both of these requirements even by using the detection circuits in the oscillation-type sensors. For example, it is possible to take a measurement over a wide dynamic range maintaining a high resolution if the period for counting the oscillation signals is lengthened. However, an increase in the number of bits of the counter necessarily causes an increase in the size of the counter, in the size of the detector circuit and an increase in the cost.

State measuring apparatus and operation control method for the same


Methods and systems for distributed ledger-based digital content distribution chain tracing may comprise receiving an indication of a content asset and an indication of a first user associated with the content asset. A first distributed ledger record may be stored and/or created on a distributed ledger comprising the indication of the content asset and the indication of the first user. A second distributed ledger record may be stored on and/or created on the distributed ledger comprising an indication of a second user associated with the content asset. A version of the content asset may be generated comprising one or more frames having a digital marker. The digital marker may comprise an indication of the first user. At least one of the first distributed ledger record or the second distributed ledger record may be determined based on the digital marker as part of tracking or tracing the content asset.

Content may be distributed to viewers. Prior to distributing content to viewers, the content may be edited by and/or sent to content handlers, such as creators and editors. Current systems may not be adapted to trace a chain of custody of the content, such as a chain of custody of the content between content handlers.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Distributed ledger-based digital content tracing

Combined Conditional Access Development and Support, LLC


A silencer panel includes an acoustic absorbing material; and an enclosure surrounding the acoustic absorbing material. The enclosure includes at least one plastic, perforated side wall. A first electrostatic particle removing electrode may be associated with the enclosure to remove particles from a working fluid in conjunction with a second electrostatic particle removing electrode.

The disclosure relates generally to acoustic attenuation, and more particularly, to a silencer panel and system including an enclosure having at least one plastic perforated side wall and an electrostatic particle removal system.
Noise reduction systems are used on a large variety of industrial machines such as turbomachines to reduce the acoustic impact to surrounding areas. In gas turbine systems, for example, noise reduction systems may be employed in the inlet duct, gas turbine enclosures and barrier walls. Traditionally, to attain the necessary acoustic reduction requirements, silencer panels and/or acoustically treated walls are used in the noisy areas. One mechanism to reduce acoustic impact is to treat walls with acoustic absorbing material. Another mechanism is to place silencer panels in areas where noise reduction is required to contain the acoustical energy, such as a working fluid flow path in an intake system duct to prevent noise escaping.
With regard to silencer panels, each panel typically includes an acoustic absorbing material such as mineral/glass wool wrapped with fiber glass cloth positioned by a metal supporting member and surrounded by an enclosure including stainless steel perforated sheets on the sides thereof. The sheets are held together by stainless steel end caps. The stainless steel perforated sheets are typically welded to the supporting members that hold the acoustic absorbing material. The perforated stainless steel sheets hold the acoustic absorbing material intact with the supporting members and propagate the sound waves through the perforations into the acoustic absorbing material. Use of stainless steel enclosures presents a number of challenges. For example, the enclosures are very heavy, and are also difficult and costly to manufacture due to the cost of the material and the need for welding to form the panels. In addition, the steel construction must be welded in place to the surrounding duct and must be custom fit for a particular sized duct.
Another challenge for certain industrial machines, such as gas turbines, is ensuring particle removal from incoming working fluids, e.g., air. For example, advanced gas turbines are using higher firing temperatures to achieve higher performance. Here, particle removal from the working fluid is desired to reduce particle build up, such as calcium magnesium-aluminosilicate (CMAS) build up, and more readily achieve and maintain the higher firing temperatures. Electrostatic particle removal has been employed in a variety of settings to remove particles from working fluids. Previously, however, use of this form of particle removal with all metal noise reduction systems employing silencer panels has not been feasible because the electrostatic discharge is shorted by the metal enclosures, and/or particle build up on the silencer panels diminishes and/or eliminates acoustic absorption by the panels.

Silencer panel and system for having plastic perforated side wall and electrostatic particle removal


A method of constructing a well comprising a borehole drilled through underground formations, comprises: positioning at least one device on the outside of the tubular string (e.g. a drill string or casing string), the device being operable to move between first and second configurations; positioning a tubular string in the borehole with the device positioned in the annular space between the tubular string and the borehole wall in its first configuration so as to interact with the tubular string and the borehole while allowing borehole fluid to flow along the annular space and around the device; and operating the device so as to move it from its first configuration to expand into its second configuration in which it substantially fills at least part of the annular space so as to inhibit flow of fluids along the borehole in the space. Apparatus comprises: a string of tubular members; at least one device positioned on the outside of the string, the device being operable to expand between: (i) a first configuration in which, when the tubular string is positioned in the borehole with the device located in the annular space between the tubular string and the borehole wall, interacts with the tubular string and the borehole while allowing borehole fluid to flow along the annular space and around the device; and (ii) a second configuration in which it substantially fills at least part of the annular space so as to prevent flow of fluids along the borehole in the space.

Completion of boreholes by casing and cementing is well known. Following drilling of the borehole, a tubular casing, typically formed from steel tubes in an end to end string is placed in the borehole and cement is pumped through the casing and into the annulus formed between the casing and the borehole wall. Once set, the cemented casing provides physical support for the borehole and prevents fluid communication between the various formations of from the formations to the surface (zonal isolation). However, problems can occur if drilling mud remains in the borehole when the cement is placed, or microannuli form around the casing and/or borehole wall. The effect of these can be to provide fluid communication paths between the various formations or back to the surface and consequent loss of zonal isolation.
Sections of annulus can also be isolated by the use of packers. These are typically flexible bladders that can be inflated by pumping a fluid into them so that they expand and seal against the borehole wall. One common type of packer, the external casing packer (ECP) is inflated by pumping cement into the bladder where it is allowed to set and form the local seal.
Packers also suffer from problems. For example, they can fail to inflate or hold their inflation; they can be damaged during installation so that inflation is not possible; they are expensive and unreliable.
There are certain devices used in casing cementing operations that assist in trying to avoid the problems mentioned above. Centralizers for holding casing in place, are well known. A schematic view of a known centralizer is shown in FIG. 1 and comprises a pair of collar sections 2, 4 that are located around the casing (nor shown). The collars 2, 4 are connected by arms 6 that are bowed so as to extend away from the casing. In use, the bowed arms 6 bear on the borehole wall and hold the casing centrally in the borehole at this location. This helps ensure a regular annulus that can be filled with cement evenly to try to provide a good seal. Turbolizers are devices for attachment to casing that interact with fluid (cement) flowing in the annulus to provide uniform placement of cement while it is being placed. FIG. 2 shows a schematic view of a known tubolizer which, like the centralizer shown in FIG. 1 comprises a pair of collars 8, 10 connected by bowed arms 12. However, in this case, a number of shaped fins 14 are connected to the arms 12. In use, the turbolizer is placed on the casing and as cement is pumped through the annulus in a cementing operation, the fins modify the flow so as to assist in more uniform placement of the cement and avoid irregular flow.
The problems discussed above in relation to cementing for zonal isolation discussed above can occur even when using devices such as centralizers and turbolizers. It is therefore an object of the invention to provide methods an apparatus that can help avoid these problems.

Methods and apparatus for well construction


A data-processing system and method include a processor core associated with a cache controller. A plurality of cached memory components is associated with the processor core and the cache controller. A cached processor is provided, which supports a plurality of varying sizes of instruction and data cache, wherein the cached processor comprises a processor core separated from the cache controller and the plurality of cached memory components, thereby permitted the cached processor to support varying sizes of cache memory in a flexible memory arrangement thereof.

Integrated circuits comprise many transistors and the electrical interconnections between them. Depending upon the interconnection topology, transistors perform Boolean logic functions like AND, OR, NOT, NOR and are referred to as gates. Some fundamental anatomy of an integrated circuit will be helpful for a full understanding of the factors affecting the flexibility and difficulty to design an integrated circuit. An integrated circuit comprises layers of a semiconductor, usually silicon, with specific areas and specific layers having different concentrations of electron and hole carriers and/or insulators. The electrical conductivity of the layers and of the distinct areas within the layers is determined by the concentration of ions referred to as dopants that are implanted into these areas. In turn, these distinct areas interact with one another to form the transistors, diodes, and other electronic devices.
These devices interact with each other by electromagnetic field interactions or by direct electrical interconnections. Openings or windows are created for electrical connections through the layers by an assortment of processing techniques including masking, layering, and etching additional materials on top of the wafers. These electrical interconnections may be within the semiconductor or may lie above the semiconductor areas using a complex mesh of conductive layers, usually of metal such as aluminum, tungsten, or copper fabricated by deposition on the surface and then selectively removed. Any of these semiconductor or connectivity layers may be separated by insulative layers, e.g., silicon dioxide.
Integrated circuits and chips have become increasingly complex with the speed and capacity of chips doubling about every eighteen months because of the continuous advances in design software, fabrication technology, semiconductor materials, and chip design. An increased density of transistors per square centimeter and faster clock speeds, however, make it increasingly difficult to design and manufacture a chip that performs as actually desired. Unanticipated and sometimes subtle interactions between the transistors and other electronic structures may adversely affect the performance of the circuit. These difficulties increase the expense and risk of designing and fabricating chips, especially those that are custom designed for a specific application. The demand for complex custom designed chips has increased along with the demand for applications and products incorporating microprocessors, yet the time and money required to design chips have become a bottleneck to bring these products to market. Without an assured successful outcome within a specified time, the risks have risen with the costs, and the result is that fewer organizations are willing to attempt the design and manufacture of custom chips.
One of the primary areas of interest in the design of integrated electronic systems is the field of cached processors and related memory blocks and components. Examples of cached processors include ARM (Advanced RISC Machines) and MIPS (Million Instructions Per Second) processors. Such cached processors can be implemented in the context of a core processor configuration. One example of such a core processor configuration is a processor core ware (CW) hard macro (HM). A hard macro (HM) is a complete physical implementation and addresses all requirements and design rules of the supported technology. Such a methodology has received wide acceptance in the integrated circuit industry, because implementation issues can be solved readily and the core ware (CW) integration at the chip level is predictable and can be executed efficiently. The hard macro implementation does not offer flexibility when it comes to supported cache size or processor specific configuration options. Thus, the often implemented processor hard macro is actually not a very good fit for typical customer requests.
One solution to these problems was the introduction of a flexible design for memory use in integrated circuits, which has been referred to as a "landing zone" technology or concept, which results in the implementation of a cached processor. An example of this technology is disclosed in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. US 2005/0108495, entitled "Flexible Design for Memory Use in Integrated Circuits," which published on May 19, 2005 and is assigned to LSI Logic Corporation of Milpitas, California, U.S.A. U.S. Patent Application Publication No. US 2005/0108495, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, generally describes a method for designing and using a partially manufactured semiconductor product.
As disclosed in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. US 2005/0108495, the partially manufactured semiconductor product, referred to as a slice, contains a fabric of configurable transistors and one or more areas of embedded memory. The method contemplates that a range of processors, processing elements, and processing circuits exists which might be manufactured as a hard macro or configured from the transistor fabric of the slice. The method then evaluates all the memory requirements of all the processors in the range to create a memory superset to be embedded into the slice. The memory superset can then be mapped and routed to a particular memory for one of the processors within the range; ports can be mapped and routed to access the selected portions of the memory superset. If any memory is not used, then it and/or its adjoining transistor fabric can become a "landing zone" for other functions or registers or memories.
Such technology can be thought of as one possible hard macro methodology, with the additional features of the hard macro constructed on an r-cell and the use of diffused memory resources of the slice. The metal hard macro with known timing characteristics that "snap" to a specific location and set of memories in a given slice as, for example, "integrator 1," have been recognized by the integrated circuit industry as constituting an innovative concept. Thus, the technology disclosed in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. US 2005/0108495 can be utilized to enable a cached processor on an RC slice family "integrator 1" without the burden of developing processor specific slices.
Such "landing zone" technology, however, has several limitations, including reduced flexibility regarding processor type, the number of processors and the supported cache size. The "landing zone" concept supports only one processor hard macro implementation with a fixed cache size, while the demand from users and customers for multiple processor systems has increased, along with an increased demand for combinations of processor types and varying cache configurations.
One other related technology that has become more popular in recent years is the field of semi-programmable ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) devices. Integrated circuit foundries have begun to develop standard, or base, platforms, known as "slices" containing the base layers of an integrated circuit but without the metal interconnection layers. The base layers are patterned to form gates that can be configured into cells using tools supplied by the foundry. The chip designer designs additional metal layers for the base platform to thereby configure the integrated circuit into a custom ASIC employing a customer's technology.
An example of such a configurable base platform is the RapidChip® platform available from LSI Logic Corporation of Milpitas, Calif. The RapidChip® platform permits the development of complex, high-density ASICs in minimal time with significantly reduced design and manufacturing risks and costs. The design effort for a semi-programmable ASIC encompasses several stages. After the chip size has been selected and the input-output (I/O) cells have been placed in a layout pattern for the base platform, mega cells, including memories and other large hard macros (i.e., "hardmacs"), are placed. Thereafter, standard cells are placed to complete the chip design.
Consider a base platform containing basic sets of memories of a predetermined type, such as RRAMs. RRAMs are sets of memory of the same type that are placed compactly and have built-in testing and self-repairing capabilities. Usually, IC designers prefer not to use all the available memory sets of the RRAM so that unused memory sets are available for self-repairing processes. The base platform might also contain single memories such as single diffused memories. The design created by the IC designer may contain user-defined memories, herein, sometimes called customer memories, which are mapped into one or more of the pre-defined memory locations on the base platform.
Typically, a customer design includes one or more processors that run a sequence of stored instructions to perform tasks defined by a user program. Different instruction sets are used by different types of processors to complete the tasks defined in the program. For example, general purposes instruction sets are typical of microprocessors. Application specific instruction sets are used when it is required to speed up certain computational tasks. For example, a digital signal processor (DSP) embodies instruction sets that enhance computation of certain mathematical algorithms.
Different implementations of the same instruction sets are possible in hardware with different trade-offs of performance and resources. One common implementation in which this difference arises is how much support memory is available and how that memory is organized. For example, a processor might utilize cache memory for enabling a large address space to be mapped onto a smaller one, by re-using addresses. Another processor might utilize a tightly coupled memory (TCM) having a fixed address space, which is sufficient for most critical instructions of the program. During the design process, the support memory needed to support the processor is mapped to available memory locations that are pre-defined on the base platform, and the processor core is placed relative to the memory location.

Data-processing system and method for supporting varying sizes of cache memory


A silver halide photographic emulsion is disclosed, comprising silver halide grains containing a first silver halide phase containing at least 3 mol % of silver iodide and having a completely uniform silver iodide distribution, and a second silver halide phase having at least 5 dislocation lines.

With regard to photosensitive silver halide emulsions for use in the photographic field, emulsions other than silver iodobromide emulsions have only limited application in high speed camera photographic elements. As used in the photographic field, silver iodobromide grains normally contain silver iodide in the silver bromide crystal lattice in an amount not greater than the solubility limit in silver bromide, i.e., an iodide content of up to approximately 40 mol %. The iodide contained in a silver iodobromide emulsion has the following merits (1) and disadvantages (2).
(1) An increase in the latent image formation efficiency, increase in the light absorbance (the intrinsic absorbance of the silver halide), improvement in the adsorption of additives and improvement in the graininess.
(2) Inhibition of development, impairment of chemical sensitization.
To date, there have been a great many studies concerning enhancing the aforementioned merits, and minimizing the disadvantages in the evolution of silver iodobromide photographic materials having useful camera speeds. A particularly important consideration has been in regard to the location (e.g., portion or site) of the silver iodide in the silver halide emulsion grains (referred to as "grains" hereinafter).
The following is disclosed on p. 18 of Photographic Emulsion Chemistry (Duffin, Focal Press, 1966). "An important factor to be considered in the case of iodobromide emulsions is the location of the iodide which may be present mainly at the center of the crystal, distributed throughout the grain or mainly on the outside. The actual location of the iodide is determined by the preparation conditions and will clearly have an influence on the physical and chemical properties of the crystal."
In the single jet method wherein both the iodide and bromide salts are charged in their established concentration in the reaction vessel, and then silver iodobromide grains are formed by introducing an aqueous silver salt solution into the reaction vessel, the silver iodide is first precipitated, and it therefore becomes easier for the silver iodide to collect in the center of the grain. On the other hand, with the double jet method wherein both the iodide and bromide salts are simultaneously introduced into the reaction vessel together with the silver salts, it is possible to control the distribution of the silver iodide within the grain as desired.
For example, it is possible to distribute the silver iodide uniformly over the entire grain, or to form a shell of silver iodide or of silver iodobromide with a high silver iodide content on the outer surface (outside) of the grain by decreasing or stopping the addition of the bromide salts during grain formation while continuing with the addition of the iodide salts. JP-A-58-113927 (the term "JP-A" as used herein means an "unexamined published Japanese patent application") discloses a silver halide emulsion containing tabular silver iodobromide in which at least 50% of the total projected surface area is comprised by tabular silver iodobromide grains having a thickness of less than 0.5 .mu.m, a diameter of 0.6 .mu.m or more and an average aspect ratio of 8 or more, and in which the said tabular grains have first and second opposite parallel principal surfaces and a central region extending between the said two principal surfaces, and in which the silver iodide content in an inner portion in a transverse direction of the central region extending between the 2 main surfaces is lower than the iodide content in at least one outer portion of the central region. JP-A-59-99433 discloses a silver halide emulsion containing silver halide grains in which 10% (by number) or more of the silver halide grains present in the silver halide emulsion are tabular silver halides having an aspect ratio of 5 or more and containing silver iodide in the region from the center in the long-axis direction or the short-axis direction of the grain to a portion within 80 mol % with respect to the amount of silver in the entire grain (high internal iodide phase), wherein the average iodide content of the high-internal iodide phase is not less than 5 times the average iodide content of the silver halide present outside the phase, and wherein the silver amount in the high-internal iodide phase is 50 mol % or less of the amount of silver in the entire grain. Furthermore, JP-A-60 -1477277 discloses a silver halide photographic emulsion containing silver halide grains wherein, in silver halide grains having a multilayer structure and an aspect ratio of 5 or less, the difference between the average iodide content of 2 arbitrary layers adjacent within the said grains and respectively having homogeneous iodide distributions is 10 mol % or less, and in which the total silver iodide content of the silver halide grains having this multilayer structure is 10 mol % or less.
JP-A-60-14331 discloses a silver halide photographic emulsion containing silver halide grains with a distinct laminar structure, characterized in that they are composed of a core containing 10 to 45 mol % of silver iodide and a shell containing 5 mol % or less of silver iodide, and in that the average silver iodide content is 7 mol % or more. Furthermore, JP-A-61-245151 discloses a silver halide emulsion characterized in that it has a laminar structure with a plurality of different silver halide contents, the silver iodide content of the outermost shell being 10 mol % or less, a high-silver iodide shell with a silver iodide content at least 6 mol % higher than the abovementioned outermost shell is provided on the inside of the abovementioned outermost shell, and an intermediate shell having an intermediate silver iodide content is provided between the abovementioned outermost shell and the abovementioned high-silver iodide shell. With regard to details further described in the above-noted patents, the amount of silver iodide contained in any one of the grains is modified in terms of its location (in particular, whether the silver iodide is present on the inside or outside of the grain to thereby obtain various photographic characteristics.
On the other hand, Y. T. Tan and R. C. Baetzold have calculated energy states for silver halides and, at the 41st annual meeting of the SPSE, have advanced the theory that the iodide has a tendency to form clusters in silver iodobromide crystal grains. With regard to the silver iodide distribution in the tabular silver iodobromide grains described above, there is a variation in the amount of silver iodide contained in different areas of the grain over an interval of at least 300 to 1,000 .ANG., but a more microscopically non-uniform silver iodide distribution is observed in the silver iodobromide crystals as predicted by Y. T. Tan and R. C. Baetzold.
The silver halide grains having a completely uniform silver iodobromide phase as described in Japanese Patent Application No. 63-7853 (corresponding to U.S. Pat. application Ser. No. 07/298,601 filed Jan. 18, 1989) exhibit a high speed due to this uniformity, but are ineffective in terms of speed when the developing time is shortened. It is possible to determine the microscopic silver iodide distribution and dislocation lines in silver iodobromide grains by means of a cooled transmission electron microscope, and the silver halide grains in which the silver iodide distribution is completely uniform as disclosed herein have not been obtained hitherto.

Silver halide photographic emulsion and material


This invention provides methods for the processing of platinum metallized high temperature co-fired ceramic (HTCC) components with minimum deleterious reactions between platinum and the glass constituents of the ceramic-glass body. The process comprises co-firing a multilayer laminate green ceramic-glass body with via structures filled with a platinum powder-based material in a reducing atmosphere with a specified level of oxygen partial pressure. The oxygen partial pressure should be maintained above a minimum threshold value for a given temperature level.

Various approaches are described in the literature for fabricating hermetically sealed electrical circuit housings suitable for extended operation in corrosive environments, e.g., in medical devices implanted in a patient's body. For such applications, a housing must be formed of biocompatible and electrochemically stable materials and typically must include a wall containing multiple hermetic electrical feedthroughs. A hermetic electrical feedthrough is comprised of electrically conductive material which extends through and is hermetically sealed in the wall material.
One known approach uses an assembled pin feedthrough consisting of a conductive pin that is bonded chemically at its perimeter through brazing or the use of oxides, and/or welded, and/or mechanically bonded through compression to a ceramic body. Typically, gold is used as a braze material that wets the feedthrough pin and the ceramic body resulting in a hermetic seal. Wetting to the ceramic body requires a deposited layer of metal such as titanium. This layer acts additionally as a diffusion barrier for the gold.
Other alternative feedthrough approaches use a metal tube co-fired with a green ceramic sheet. The hermeticity of the metal/ceramic interface is achieved by a compression seal formed by material shrinkage when the assembly is fired and then allowed to cool. The use of a tube inherently limits the smallest possible feedthrough to the smallest available tubing. Acceptable results have been reported only when using tubes having a diameter >40 mils in ceramic substrates at least 70 mils thick.
High temperature co-fired ceramics (HTCCs) are typically constructed with tungsten-based metallization fired in a reducing atmosphere. When the tungsten is replaced with platinum, particularly in filled vias, the firing process is complicated by the undesired interaction of platinum with the ceramic-glass system. A platinum system has a greater thermodynamic tendency than does tungsten towards reduction of silica resulting in the volatilization of silicon monoxide and the formation of low melting temperature platinum silicides. These reactions respectively lead to devitrification of glass and abnormal microstructure evolution in liquid phase sintering ultimately producing the following functional defects: loss of via hermeticity, loss of electrical continuity, and loss of high temperature stability.
Additionally, since platinum is more resistant to oxidation than is tungsten, a platinum-based system may be fired in an atmosphere that would be considered oxidizing (i.e. air). However, in an oxidizing environment, the formation of volatile platinum oxides would be possible at high temperatures. This would lead to the following functional defects: loss of hermeticity and loss of high temperature stability.

Method for providing hermetic electrical feedthrough


The present invention teaches a field emission display ("FED") architecture for isolating display grids, wherein an FED has a plurality of pixels. Each of the pixels comprise at least two field emitter tips for displaying information to the pixel and a pixelator for driving the field emitter tips. Further, an isolated display grid is incorporated for each of the field emitter tips. Each display grids is coupled to a bus having a predetermined voltage by a link. In one embodiment of the present invention, the link can be disintegrated by internal or external means. In a second embodiment, the FED comprises a first and second bus, each of bus having a predetermined voltage, whereby a first isolated display grid is coupled to the first bus by a first link and a second isolated display grids is coupled to the second bus by a second link.

Until recently, the cathode ray tube ("CRT") has been the primary device for displaying information. While having sufficient display characteristics with respect to color, brightness, contrast and resolution, CRTs are relatively bulky and power hungry. In view of the advent of portable laptop computers, the demand has intensified for a display technology which is lightweight, compact, and power efficient.
One available technology is flat panel displays, and more particularly, Liquid Crystal Display ("LCD") devices. LCDs are currently used for laptop computers. However, these LCD devices provide poor contrast in comparison to CRT technology. Further, LCDs offer only a limited angular display range. Moreover, color LCD devices consume power at rates incompatible with extended battery operation. In addition, a color LCD type screen tends to be far more costly than an equivalent CRT.
In light of these shortcomings, there have been several developments recently in thin film, Field Emission Display ("FED") technology. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,210,472, commonly assigned with the present invention and incorporated herein by reference, a FED design is disclosed which utilizes a matrix-addressable array of pointed, thin-film, cold emission cathodes in combination with a phosphor luminescent screen. Here, the FED incorporates a column signal to activate a column switching driver and a row signal to activate a row switching driver. At the intersection of both an activated column and an activated row, a grid-to-emitter voltage differential exists sufficient to induce a field emission, thereby causing illumination of the associated phosphor of a pixel on the phosphorescent screen. By employing this design, the bus line associated with the current regulator has a low parasitic capacitance, thus being easier to control.
Extensive research has recently made the manufacture of an inexpensive, low power, high resolution, high contrast, full color FED a more feasible alternative to LCDs. However, in order to produce a high resolution FED, a greater number of pixels per unit of area measured--i.e., square inches--are required. Thus, resolution is inversely proportional to the number of field emitter tips per pixel. For example, while a lower resolution FED may comprise 1000 tips per pixel, a higher resolution FED will comprise 1, 2, 3 or 4 tips per pixel.
Several problems may arise where a number of field emitter tips relate to a single pixel. Referring to FIG. 1, an FED is illustrated having a four tip per pixel design. In this architecture, four emitter tips, 20, 20', 20", and 20'", are each coupled together at a common node 25. Emitter tips 20, 20', 20", and 20'" are additionally coupled through a singular grid 15 to form a singular pixel 10 on an FED 5. Further, a pixelator 30 is coupled between a drive resistor 35 and common node 25.
The problems associated with this architecture can best be viewed from a topographical perspective. Referring to FIG. 2, pixel is illustrated comprising field emitter tips 20, 20', 20", and 20'". Further, each tip, 20, 20', 20", and 20'" is positioned within the singular grid 15, which is coupled to a power bus 45 by means of a via or link 40. Given this structural configuration, should one emitter tip of tips 20, 20', 20", and 20'" be inoperative, the entire pixel 10 will fail. This can be realized because tips 20, 20', 20" and 20'" are each coupled to common node 25. Thus, should one tip electrically short, the remaining tips and the pixel as a whole will be inoperative as well. As there is no present design enabling the removal of the malfunctioning pixel, the entire FED, depending on the specifications, may be unusable. As such, the yield of an FED utilizing this design may be substantially impacted.
In light of these limitations, presently there is a need for an FED architecture which provides a means for decoupling a nonfunctional field emitter tip or tips. Ideally, this structural design must not increase manufacturing and labor costs. Thus, a circuit design solution incorporated into current FED is preferred.

Architecture for isolating display grids in a field emission display


The end fitting of a flexible flowline is provided with a mechanical clamp that secures the end fitting to the flowline while isolating the sealing area between the end fitting and the flowline from tension forces exerted on the flowline body. The pressure seal between the end fitting and the flowline is disposed behind the mechanical clamp so that the seal area of the flowline remains unaffected by flowline tension forces. The flowline is connected to the end fitting with a tubular assembly sleeve that is concentrically disposed between layers of the flow conduit adjacent the conduit end. During the initial assembly of the end fitting to the flowline, collet fingers in the assembly sleeve are snapped behind a receiving shoulder formed internally of the end fitting. The assembly sleeve may be welded to the flowline end before the sleeve is inserted into the end fitting. Snapn-in connection of the separable sleeve permits the flowline end to be welded and otherwise prepared for mating with the end connector before it is inserted into the end connector. In the assembled position, the sleeve is contained within the end fitting intermediate layers of the flowline end. The mechanical seal connecting the end fitting to the flowline body compresses the flowline radially toward the internal connector components to mechanically secure the end fitting and flowline body. The flowline end intermediate the clamp and the free end of the end fitting maintains a pressure seal with the surrounding end fitting and seal ring as the flowline is stressed in tension. Lateral and longitudinal adjustments in the fasteners of the clamp permit adjustment of the radial forces exerted by the sealing and clamping mechanism against the flowline.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the end attachment for a tubular flowline. More specifically, the present invention relates to an improved end connector for a flexible flowline in which the sealing mechanism between the connector and the flowline is isolated from tension forces existing in the flowline.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
The end connector described and claimed in the aforementioned parent of the present application is comprised of a tubular end fitting that receives the end of the flowline with a termination structure that both anchors and seals the flowline to the connector. As tension and pressure-induced forces are applied to the flowline, the material of the flowline forming the seal with the end fitting is distorted, which may damage and ultimately permit leakage failure of the seal.
The end connector described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,950,001 also employs a combined anchoring and sealing mechanism that exposes the sealing area of the flowline to the effects of tension and other induced forces acting in the flowline.

Stress isolated seal for flexible flowline connector


Some embodiments provide a method for a first network controller located at a first domain that manages a logical network spanning several physical domains including the first domain. Upon reconnection to a second network controller located at a second physical domain of the several physical domains after a period of disconnect, the method receives a first set of updates indicating modifications to logical network state from the second network controller. The method reconciles any conflicts between (i) the logical network state stored at the first controller, (ii) the first set of updates received from the second network controller, and (iii) updates received from other network controllers located at different physical domains of the several physical domains. The method transmits a second set of updates to the second controller indicating modifications to the logical network state based on the reconciliation of conflicts.

A high-level challenge in networking is the establishment of a global service model abstraction and allowing the service model to operate and be reconfigured while the underlying physical network infrastructure is partitioned (i.e., while portions of the network are disconnected from the rest of the network). Possibly, no majority of failure domains will be available.
In general, routing protocols are able to sustain partitioning. For example, Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) can sustain partitioning even in the presence of independently configured policies. Therefore, in such cases network partitioning becomes a non-issue and the routing state can be expected to converge towards a consistent state.
However, in the case of software-defined networking (SDN), the state model is richer and the control plane is not coupled over the physical topology. As such, handling the partitioning of the underlying physical network becomes more difficult.

Reconciliation of network state across physical domains


An electrophotographic photoreceptor comprising a conductive substrate having thereon a photosensitive layer, the photosensitive layer containing a hydroxymetal or hydroxysilicon phthalocyanine pigment represented by formula (I) as a charge generating material, the phthalocyanine pigment having been treated with an orcanometallic compound having a hydrolyzable functional group or a hydrolysis product thereof: ##STR1## wherein Me represents A, Ga, In, Si, Ge or Sn; X representsH, C, Br or I; m represents an integer of from I to 4; and n represents 1 where Me is A, Ga or In, or 2 where Me is Si, Ge or Sn.

Phthalocyanine compounds are useful as paints, printing inks, catalysts, and electronic materials. In recent years, they have been extensively studied particularly for their use as electrophotographic photoreceptor materials, optical recording materials and photoelectric conversion materials.
Electrophotographic photoreceptors using a hydroxymetal phthalocyanine pigment, such as dihydroxygermanium phthalocyanine, dihydroxytin phthalocyanine or dihydroxysilicon phthalocyanine, are disclosed, e.g., in U.S. Pat. No. 4,557,989.
Application of an organometallic compound having a hydrolyzable functional group or a hydrolysis product thereof to an electrophotographic photoreceptor using a phthalocyanine compound is reported in JP-A-55-127565 (the term "JP-A" as used herein means an "unexamined published Japanese patent application"), JP-A-59-19946, and JP-A-60-130745. Application of a titanium coupling agent to hydroxytitanyl phthalocyanine is mentioned in Japan Hard Copy '92, pgs. 153-156 (1992) while the report says that the application has no effect on electrophotographic properties of the phthalocyanine compound. Any of these reports makes no mention of application of an organometallic compound having a hydrolyzable functional group or a hydrolysis product thereof to a hydroxymetal or hydroxysilicon phthalocyanine pigment.
Where a hydroxymetal or hydroxysilicon phthalocyanine is dispersed in a binder resin in a usual manner for the production of an electrophotographic photoreceptor, it has poor dispersibility only to provide a pigment dispersion having insufficient coating properties and insufficient preservability for forming a smooth coating film. The resulting photoreceptor fails to exhibit satisfactory reproducibility of electric characteristics and tends to cause image defects, such as fog and black spots.

Phthalocyanine pigment for electrophotographic photoreceptors


A process for separating, in the liquid phase, a reaction mixture which comprises a first chlorinated sucrose and at least one additional component selected from the group consisting of at least one other chlorinated sucrose different from said first chlorinated sucrose, salt and solvent, by injecting said reaction mixture onto a fixed bed of solid adsorbent and treating with a desorbent such that:. (a) the first chlorinated sucrose passes through the adsorbent into a first recoverable product stream rich in said first chlorinated sucrose at a rate, which is different than the rate at which, PA1 (b) at least one of said additional components passes through the adsorbent into at least a second recoverable stream rich in said additional component.

Selective modification of sucrose presents a major synthetic challenge because of the multiplicity of reactive OH groups and the acid lability of the glycosidic linkage. When the target of interest is the commercially important non-nutritive sweetener, sucralose, i.e., 4,1', 6'-trichloro-4,1', 6'-trideoxygalactosuccrose (in the process of making the compound, the stereo configuration at the 4 position is reversed; therefore, sucralose is a galacto-sucrose), the difficulty is compounded by a need to chlorinate the less reactive 4- and 1'-positions, while leaving intact the more reactive 6-position. In spite of the numerous strategies developed to preblock the 6-position, usually by forming a sucrose-6-acylate such as sucrose-6-acetate and removing the blocking moiety as by hydrolysis after chlorination and so minimize side reactions, the crude chlorination product inevitably still contains some unwanted di-tri- and tetra-chlorinated sucroses (hereinafter, respectively referred to as Di's, Tri's and Tet's), as well as the high-boiling solvent used in the reaction and the chloride salts generated in neutralization after the chlorination step. In aggregate, these present a multi-faceted purification problem and a pivotal concern to the overall economics of sucralose manufacture. The prior art teaches various combinations of distillation liquid-liquid extraction, crystallization and/or derivatization to effect said purification. We have now discovered that adsorption technology exploiting the differing affinities of the associated components for particular solid adsorbents can be applied, in various liquid-solid designs, alone or in combination with the aforementioned processes, to offer significant operational advantages over the prior art.
The simplest form of adsorption technology is the pulse mode, wherein a single concentrated mixture is introduced onto an adsorbent column, and subsequently separated into its various components under passage of a suitable desorbent. Axial or radial flow devices may be used, depending on the pressure drop needs of the system. FIG. 1 depicts a generic separation in this mode of a mixture of components (or bands of components), A, B, and C, where affinity for the adsorbent follows an order, A>B>C, and t.sub.o through t.sub.n denote increasing elution time (or column length). Operationally, the take-off port may be positioned at t.sub.3 or later, if all 3 bands need resolving; or at any point along the t.sub.o to t.sub.3 continuum, if some degree of overlap is tolerated. In the latter instance, if the focus is solely to purify A and C, without concern for B, one option is to just take the early and late slices of the overlapping profile at t.sub.2 and intermix the center-cut with fresh feed; the composite recycling back to the same, or cascading forward to, a second column. In these continuous pulse modes, maximum productivity is sought by operating close to the minimum acceptable resolution and minimizing the interval between feed pulses; in effect minimizing the amount of desorbent used to that which just maintains the leading edge of one pulse from catching up with the trailing edge of the one immediately preceding.
Truly continuous operation, demanding simultaneous flow of feed, desorbent and take-off(s), is also possible. In one approach, termed continuous annular chromatography (CAC), an annular column is slowly rotated about its axis, to cause the feed and desorbent, being injected from the top, to separate into helical bands in the annulus--and be duly withdrawn through discrete ports at the bottom. Though continuous in operation, this design resembles pulse in its less than efficient use of adsorbent. An alternate mechanical arrangement, termed simulated moving bed (SMB), is greatly preferred--minimizing adsorbent and desorbent usage and maximizing take-off concentrations. It consists of a fixed-bed, comprising several serial sections or columns in a closed loop, each individually capable of receiving and relieving liquid flow. In operation, the desorbent, feed and take-off ports, held in a fixed arrangement relative to one another, ratchet forward, at a fixed time interval (referred as the step time), in a direction cocurrent with the liquid flow--thus, simulating counter-current movement of the liquid-adsorbent contact. This design has won wide acceptance in the manufacture of a broad range of commodity chemicals, e.g., xylene, ethylbenzene, high fructose corn syrup and sugar, with commercial units operating up to 22 ft. in diameter. Yet another mode, termed continuous cocurrent SMB, has also been described continuously cascading the overlap fractions through a plurality of columns, utilizing an SMB-type valve-switching arrangement.
It will be understood from the above discussion that in order to apply any or all of these adsorption techniques to a particular service, one first has to discover an adsorbent-desorbent pair capable of effecting the requisite separation, and that the single-pulse mode, stripped of the mechanical complexity of the more continuous approaches, provides the intrinsic picture of the relative separation factors involved. This picture, or chromatogram, records the concentrations of each constituent in individual fractions, collected along a volumetric line, denoting desorbent flow. By convention, where the elution order directly reflects the increasing polarity of the components, the profile is termed "normal phase". This arises when a polar adsorbent is combined with a non-polar desorbent, e.g., cyclohexane on silica-gel. In contrast, the term "reversed phase" describes the pairing of an apolar adsorbent with a polar desorbent--and an elution order of decreasing polarity.
A broad diversity of application is possible--both in regard to the position and composition of the actual stream being treated. In cases, where the adsorption step can be situated in benign aqueous environments, organic resins are permitted. When the environment contains a harsh organic solvent, one is constrained to the more inert adsorbents, e.g., molecular sieves, silica-gel, zeolites, and activated carbon. We have now found that both classes of adsorbent, when combined with appropriate desorbents, can be utilized in systems applicable to a wide range of sucralose purification services.

Chromatographic purification of chlorinated sucrose


A solid-state circuit breaker for a DC power system which may operate unidirectional and bidirectional and does not require an external power supply to provide current interruption protection during an event of a short circuit fault.

DC power systems are gaining more popularity with increased DC loads (IT equipment, variable speed motor drives, LED lighting, etc.), renewable power generation (photovoltaic, wind, etc.), and distributed energy resources (batteries, fuel cells, microturbines, small gas generators). This is especially true for data centers, residential/commercial buildings, shipboard power systems, and high voltage DC transmission systems (HVDC), for example as described in "Low-Voltage DC Distribution System for Commercial Power Systems With Sensitive Electronic Loads," D. Salomonsson and A. Sannino, IEEE Trans. Power Delivery, Vol. 22, No. 3, pp. 1620-1626, July 2007. DC power architectures improve energy efficiency by eliminating several conversion stages between AC/DC required in AC power systems. However, one major technical challenge for DC systems is to provide circuit breaker (CB) protection in the event of short circuit faults.
Electromechanical DC circuit breaker products are available from companies like ABB, Eaton, and Schneider Electric, but suffer from slow action, typically with a response time of 30-100 milliseconds, and limited lifetime due to arcing. DC solid-state circuit breaker (SSCB) solutions were also developed to provide a much faster response time, typically with a response time of tens to hundreds of microseconds, and a much longer lifetime. Power semiconductor switching devices such as silicon IGBTs or thyristors, and more recently silicon carbide (SiC) JEFTs (Junction Effect Transistors) or SITs (Static Induction Transistors) are often employed in these solutions. For further reference see: "Solid-state circuit breakers for Medium Voltage DC power," Kempkes, M., Roth, I., Gaudreau, M., IEEE Electric Ship Technologies Symposium (ESTS), 2011, Page(s) 254-257; U.S. Patent Application Publication 2014/0029152 A1; U.S. Patent Application Publication 2013/0154391; and "SiC-SIT Circuit Breakers With Controllable Interruption Voltage for 400-V DC Distribution Systems," Y. Sato et al., IEEE Tran. Power Electronics, Vol. 29, No. 5, May 2014, Page(s):2597-2605.
One challenge of these "smart" SSCBs is that they typically rely on complex and expensive over-current sensing circuitry, signal processing and data communication functions, and one or more external power supplies, which may or may not be available during the same short circuit fault event. A simple, stand-alone, two-terminal SSCB as reliable as the conventional electromechanical AC circuit breaker without requiring external power supply is highly desirable.
An objective of this invention is to develop a family of unidirectional and bidirectional SSCBs that do not require an external power supply to provide current interruption protection during the event of a short circuit fault in a DC power system. All known solutions rely on sensing over-current through a switch during a short circuit fault event and require one or more separate power supply to power up the control electronics of the SSBC. A preferred embodiment of this invention does not sense an over-current through a switch but rather a voltage across the switch to detect a short circuit fault. The sudden increase in the voltage across the switch, "desaturation," provides the power to turn and hold off the switch until the short circuit condition is removed. In a preferred embodiment, the stand-alone SSCB of this invention does not require or draw any power in the conduction state for normal operation. The stand-alone SSCB uses a very small amount of leakage power to cut off a fault current when a short circuit condition is present. The power is drawn from the high voltage built across the switch using a DC-DC converter. For example, one or more isolated low wattage flyback DC-DC converters can be used for this purpose. These DC-DC converters must offer very fast dynamic response but relatively relaxed efficiency and voltage regulation requirements. This invention is simpler and more reliable than the prior art. In addition, the embodiments of the invention require a smaller die size of the core semiconductor switches than the prior art, resulting in considerable cost reduction.

Self-powered DC solid state circuit breakers


Video surveillance systems are used for monitoring such areas as streets, railroad stations, industrial plants, buildings, or squares with video cameras, and on the basis of the sequences of images recorded with the video cameras, discovering anomalies in the monitored areas. A method for detecting image regions that are conspicuous in terms of the movement in them in a sequence of images of a scene and a corresponding apparatus and computer program are proposed, in which a current optical flow field in the sequence of images is calculated that includes motion vectors of image regions of the scene; an optical main flow field is determined that includes main flow directions of image regions of the scene; and a counterflow field with motion vectors of image regions that are conspicuous in terms of the movement in them is formed from image regions of the scene whose motion vectors are oriented differently from the main flow directions.

The invention relates to a method for detecting image regions that are conspicuous in terms of the movement in them in a sequence of images of a scene; an apparatus, in particular for performing this method; and a corresponding computer program.
Video surveillance systems are used for monitoring such areas as streets, railroad stations, industrial plants, buildings, or squares with video cameras, and on the basis of the sequences of images recorded with the video cameras, discovering anomalies in the monitored areas.
While in earlier times the evaluation of the sequences of images was usually done by trained monitoring personnel, this monitoring activity is increasingly being either taken over or at least supported by computers. The computers use image processing algorithms for automatic evaluation of sequences of images. A typical principle for extracting moving objects from a monitored scene is to separate moving objects from the—essentially static—background of the scene, track them over time, and in the event of relevant patterns of motion, trip alarms. For object segmentation, particularly in the context of detecting the object in a sequence of image, the differences in the image between a current camera image and a so-called scene reference image that models the static background of the scene, are typically evaluated. Such image processing algorithms are described for instance in the scientific article by K. Toyama, J. Krumm, B. Brumitt, and B. Meyers: "Wallflower: Principles and Practice of Background Maintenance" in ICCV 1999, Corfu, Greece.
From other fields in image processing, namely video data compression, it is known to use what is known as the optical flow. For example, International Patent Disclosure WO 2005/006762 A2 defines the optical flow as the distribution of motion speeds of brightness patterns in an image, and uses the optical flow to improve the compression in video data streams. However, nothing about object detection or object tracking is found in this reference.

Method for detecting image regions that are conspicuous in terms of the movement in them; apparatus and computer program for performing the method


The method comprises a phase of reconstruction of a static three-dimensional image of the object from a first set of digitized two-dimensional projected images of the object respectively obtained for different positions of a camera around the object, a phase of acquisition of at least a second set of n static two-dimensional projected images respectively obtained for a same first position of the camera and at n successive propagation times of the contrast medium, and a phase of reconstruction of the dynamic three-dimensional image of the object from each static two-dimensional image of the second set and the reconstructed static three-dimensional image.

The invention concerns the reconstruction of a three-dimensional image of an object covered by a contrast medium.
Its application is of particular interest in the medical field, in which reconstruction of the internal structures of patients under examination is undertaken and, in particular, the reconstruction of angiographic images, that is, obtaining images of opacified vasculatures by injection of a contrast medium.
The invention can, nevertheless, have applications in other fields, notably, in nondestructive industrial control, in which examinations of the same type as medical examinations are performed.
In the medical field, two-dimensional projected images of the object, for example, a patient's head, are generally obtained by rotation of an X-ray camera turning around the object. There are essentially two types of reconstruction algorithms in X-ray imaging. A first type provides for a calculation by back projection and filtering or even a Fourier transform reconstruction in several dimensions. A second type concerns the iterative methods of reconstruction, also called algebraic. The principle of such an algebraic algorithm is disclosed, for example, in French Patent Applications Nos. 8903606, 8916906 or 9807371, which describes an application of an iterative algorithm of algebraic reconstruction of images on a multi-resolution volume.
In short, after a calibration of the apparatus used to determine, notably, the parameters of projection in the projection planes of the acquired images, of an observed volume broken down into elementary volume elements or voxels (those calibration parameters forming projection matrices), the algebraic image reconstruction algorithm is used to reconstruct the three-dimensional volume from those two-dimensional projected images. The basic principle of that algorithm is to initialize the voxels of the volume to a predetermined initial value, for example, a zero value, and to iterate a number of times the following operations: projection of voxels in the plane of each acquired image so as to obtain a virtual image, determination of the difference between the projected volume (virtual image) and the corresponding acquired image, and then back projection of that difference in volume. After a number of iterations, an estimated value representative of the density of contrast medium injected in the vessels X-rayed is obtained for each voxel, which makes it possible to visualize in three dimensions the cartography of those X-rayed vessels.
Those three-dimensional images are of valuable assistance to the neurologist and the surgeon, whether for a diagnosis, planning of therapeutic procedures or evaluation of the shape and size of objects.
On the other hand, such reconstructed volume images have one major dis-advantage. Actually, they do not make it possible to visualize propagation of the contrast medium injected in the arteries, since the acquired two-dimensional images, from which the three-dimensional images has been reconstructed, are acquired for a quasi-stationary condition of the contrast medium. In fact, for the reconstruction of a three-dimensional image, which will be described here under the term "static" by reason of the quasi-stationary character of the contrast medium, it is sought rather to obtain a set of images corresponding to a same degree of propagation of the contrast medium.
Consequently, with such a reconstruction, the patient's vascular system cannot be analyzed with just three-dimensional information and blood flow information (propagation of contrast medium).

Method and device for reconstruction of a dynamic three-dimensional image of an object covered by a contrast medium

GE Medical Systems Global Technology Company, LLC


A gaming device displays at least one set of game outcomes and a plurality of pay-tables. Each pay-table has a plurality of awards. Each award corresponds to one game outcome. The pay-tables are arranged in ascending order based on the awards. The pay-table having the lowest awards is the base pay-table and the pay-table having the highest awards is the top pay-table. The cumulative amount of wagers made by the player determines how many pay-tables for which the player may play. If the player qualifies to play for only the base pay-table, then the awards in the base pay-table are not modified. If the player is qualified to play for a next, succeeding pay-table, then the player plays for both the base pay-table and next succeeding pay-table simultaneously and some or all of the awards of the base pay-table are modified.

Casino gaming devices, such as electronic gaming machines, video poker machines and electronic slot machines are well known in the art. Casinos provide gaming machines in order to be competitive and to offer players a variety of gaming machines so as to stimulate player loyalty. Casinos are always interested in motivating players to bet relative higher amounts per play in order to increase revenue.
What is needed is a gaming device that can increase the handle (coins and/or credits wagered) and reward players that wager a higher amount of coins or credits per play with a higher percentage of pay-back so that the more coins and/or credits the player wagers per play, the higher the pay-back percentage.

Gaming device having pay-table awards modification feature


A rolling bearing and a rod end bearing are provided with a tilt mechanism and a rotary mechanism that are mutually independent. The tilt mechanism has a non-lubricated type spherical sliding bearing structure. The rotary mechanism has a rolling bearing structure which may or may not be sealed. By means of the non-lubricated type spherical sliding bearing structure, a tilt of the shaft center is made possible, and by means of a sealed rolling bearing structure, problems such as a lubrication oil leak are avoided, and carrying out high speed rotation and continuous rotation become possible. Because the sealed rolling bearing structure of the rotary mechanism does not call for a shaft center tilt function at all, the material of the seal can be chosen such that it emphasizes sliding resistance and high durability.

The present invention relates to the improvement of bearings such as rolling bearings and rod end bearings, having a shaft center tilt mechanism and rotary mechanism that are mutually independent.
Up to now rod end bearings have, generally, been used as bearings for aircraft use. The conventional rod end bearing 1 shown in FIG. 6 is provided with rolling elements 2 (the illustrated example is a roller), and the inner race 6 which is supported by the main body 4 and is capable of being rotated. Furthermore, in order to prevent the leaking of lubrication oil filled in the inner part of the bearing, the bearing is sealed with a seal 3. Additionally, in the illustrated example, a shield 5 is also fixed to the outer race 4a integrated with the main body 4. At the time of the rotation and at the time of the tilting of the inner race 6 with respect to the outer race 4a, the seal 3 and shield 5 have a sliding relationship. Here, the sealing between the seal 3 and the shield 5 is ensured, mainly, by means of the adhesive strength due to the elasticity of the seal 3.
Another bearing, commonly used in the industry, is the self-aligning type bearing 7 which has a shaft center tilt mechanism, as shown in FIG. 7. This self-aligning type bearing 7 uses a rolling element 8 (the illustrated example is a ball) as shown in FIG. 7, and has a sealed rolling bearing structure that provides a shield 11 and seal 12 between the inner race 9 and the outer race 10 in order to prevent leaking of the lubrication oil filled in the inner part of the bearing. In the example of FIG. 7, the shield 11 fixed to the outer race 10 has the function of holding the seal 12. The sealed relationship between the spherical surface 9a of the inner race 9 and the seal 12 is mainly ensured by the adhesive strength due to the elasticity of the seal 12. Furthermore, bearings without the seal structure are also widely used in both rod end bearings and self-aligning type bearings.
The above-mentioned bearings each have a shaft center tilt mechanism, which is a mechanism that changes the relative angle of the inner race shaft center and the outer race shaft center. For this reason, seals 3 and 12 in FIGS. 6 and 7 respectively, are mainly selected for the purpose of obtaining a highly sealed nature in response to the changes of the tilt angles of the shaft centers. This selection emphasized sliding resistance and high durability, unlike seals of ordinary radial ball bearings. Use of the above-mentioned former rod end bearings 1 and self-aligning type bearings 7 is complicated because the seal function necessary in high speed, long duration and continuous rotation is not provided and, under conditions in which regular maintenance could not be done, the danger of a lubrication oil leak is always possible.
Furthermore, as for the above-mentioned former rod end bearings 1 and self-aligning type bearings 7, regardless of the tilt angle of the shaft center, in order to heighten the sealing property of seals 3 and 12, it is also necessary for the sliding area to become larger, and, at the time of high speed rotation, this large sliding area causes greater noise, friction and "wear and tear".
On the other hand, in the case of rod end bearings without the seal structure, problems attributable to seals, of course, did not arise, but sufficient lubricity could not be obtained, and making a shaft center tilt mechanism with a compatible high speed rotation mechanism had been regarded as difficult.
In order to make the tilt and rotary mechanisms compatible, the bearing structure became extremely complex and an increase in cost, and the difficulty of maintaining rod end bearings and self-aligning type bearings could not be avoided.


A skin care composition having from about 0.01% to about 5%, by weight, of an superabsorbent polymer which is a sodium polyacrylate, sodium polacrylate starch, sodium acrylates crosspolymer-2 or mixtures of these and a portion of the polymer comprises a grafted starch material. The superabsorbent polymer is particulate where the particles have an average particle size in the range of from about 5μ-30μ, and the individual particles in their dry or un-swollen condition are substantially non-spherical, flat, platelet, or elongated in shape. The particles have an absorption capacity of at least about 1000 times their initial dry or un-swollen volume. Additionally, the skin care composition contains from about 0.01-10% of a dry powder that is either starch or silicone based and wherein the dry powder is coated with a silicone based material. Further there is provided a UV active.

Skin care composition and methods of emulsifying them are known. But there is a continuing need for compositions that look and feel better and are more stable over time. This is especially critical when the skin care composition is a protective composition such as a sunscreen. Consumers of these products are continually looking for newer and longer lasting compositions. As new materials, specifically superabsorbent polymeric thickeners are developed, it is largely up to skin care composition formulators to determine the best methods to blend these into consumer products in a way that delights consumers, but has superior properties to existing formulae. Thus, as each new active ingredient or composition enhancer is developed, there exists an ongoing need to find the optimal blend of ingredients and actives to develop entirely new skin care compositions that have superior qualities over existing formulae.

Superabsorbent polymers and sunscreen actives for use in skin care compositions