Process for extraction or recovery of acids, in particular hydrofluoric acid, hydrochloric acid and nitric acid, from solutions of these acids containing metal, by pyrohydrolytic treatment and subsequent absorption and/or condensation of the acid gases thus formed in an aqueous absorption solution, in which process the solids produced are removed. In order to guarantee economical acid recovery in existing plants without requiring large-scale adaptation, the waste pickling liquor is subjected to pre-concentration first of all before pyrohydrolysis, using the heat contained in the exhaust gas from the pyrohydrolysis. In a device for extraction or recovery of acids in particular hydrofluoric acid, hydrochloric acid and nitric acid, from solutions of these acids containing metal, comprising a feed pipe for the solution, a pyrohydrolysis reactor, and at least one absorption or condensation column connected to the exhaust gas pipe from the reactor, a device is provided for pre-concentration and upgrading of the solution.

The invention refers to a process for extraction or recovery of acids, in particular hydrofluoric acid, hydrochloric acid and nitric acid, from solutions of these acids containing metal, by pyrohydrolytic treatment, separation of the metals and subsequent absorption and/or condensation of the thus formed acid gases in an aqueous absorption solution.
Solutions of hydrofluoric, hydrochloric or nitric acid containing metal are produced in the metal industry, for example, in the form of mixed acid waste pickle liquor from the surface treatment of standard steel grades, stainless steels, special alloys and special metals. These solutions contain free acids, such as hydrofluoric acid, hydrochloric acid and nitric acid, as well as dissolved metals, such as iron, chrome and nickel, in the form of fluorides, nitrides and chlorides and they have to be renewed as from a metal concentration of approximately 35-120 g/l, depending on their application. A number of methods have already been developed to recover the hydrofluoric acid, hydrochloric acid and nitric acid from the used solutions for recycling back to the pickling process and, to a large extent, these methods also avoid the problems of disposal which arise due to environmental regulations and the ever increasing disposal costs. The methods already known for recovery of hydrofluoric acid, hydrochloric acid and nitric acid are, for example, solvent extraction, dialysis and the use of ion exchangers.
In AT-PS 395.312, the author also suggested releasing these acids from solutions containing metals by means of the pyrohydrolytic stage of the spray roasting and then either absorbing and/or condensing the gases produced. It is preferred to conduct absorption and/or condensation in two columns, in which process the amount of hydrofluoric acid, hydrochloric acid or nitric acid extracted can be improved by controlling the column temperature.
Low temperatures (<50.degree. C.) are particularly important for recovery of nitric acid from NO.sub.x. In this process, however, the acid regenerated is diluted because of the water condensation from the exhaust gas, so large amounts of fresh acid have to be added in order to reach the concentration required for use in the pickling process. The continuous increase in volume also creates the need to discard a part of the waste pickle liquor or the regenerate or to neutralize it. Even if the regenerated acid is split into a portion rich in hydrofluors and a more dilute acid portion, there is less need to acidify further, however the dilute acid is not always required and part of it has to be discarded or neutralized.
In addition, the amount of nitric acid extracted drops automatically if the hydrofluor concentration in the regenerate is increased by splitting into acids with a high concentration of hydrofluors and a low concentration of hydrofluors, although the concentrated, regenerated acid only contains the condensable HNO.sub.3 portion and has to be further acidified by adding nitric acid, which again causes dilution.
The energy consumption for this has also been high to date because, on the one hand, the waste pickle liquor has to be evaporated during spray roasting in order to be regenerated and on the other hand, the flow of exhaust gas after the Venturi washer has to be condensed again.

Process and plant for extraction or recovery of acids from solutions of these acids


A method and signal processing apparatus for reducing the number of bits of a digital input signal (Mi), includes adding a pseudo-random noise signal (Na) to the digital input signal (Mi) to obtain an intermediate signal (Di), the pseudo-random noise signal (Na) being defined by noise parameters (Np), and quantizing the intermediate signal (Di), having a word length of n bits, to a reduced word-length signal (Me) having a word length of m bits, n being larger than or equal to m. The method further includes quantizing the intermediate signal (Di) using a first transfer function which is non-linear, the first transfer function being defined by non-linear device parameters (NLDp).

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for reducing the number of bits of a digital input signal, comprising the steps of adding a pseudo-random noise signal to the digital input signal to obtain an intermediate signal, the pseudo-random noise signal being defined by noise parameters, and quantizing the intermediate signal, having a word length of n bits, to a reduced word-length signal, having a word length of m bits, n being larger than or equal to m. In a further aspect, the present invention relates to a signal processing apparatus comprising a pseudo-random noise generator for generating a noise signal being defined by noise parameters, an addition element connected to the noise generator for adding the noise signal to a digital input signal to provide an intermediate signal, and a first quantizing element connected to the addition element for transforming the intermediate signal, having a word length of n bits, into a reduced word-length signal, having a word length of m bits, n being larger than or equal to m.
2. Description of the Related Art
British Patent Application No. GB-A-2 293 297 describes an apparatus for processing an input digital signal with a word length of 32 bits to generate an output digital signal of a lower resolution (16 bits). Before converting the digital signal to an output digital signal with the lower resolution, pseudo-random noise is added to the input digital signal. Adding the noise results in a dithering of the signal, in order to smooth out the harsh linear transfer function of the 32-bit to 16-bit quantizer. When reproducing the digital signal, the identical noise signal is subtracted from the recorded signal to provide a substantially noise-free 16-bit signal. Synchronization of the noise signal and the digital signal is achieved by regenerating an indicator signal from the recorded signal.
Present day quantization of signals for recording on a recording medium, such as compact discs, is limited to 16 bits, resulting in a maximum dynamic range of only 96 dB. Although it is possible to use the same recording techniques for recording digital signals with a larger word length and thus higher dynamic range, such a recording would not be compatible with older systems for replay. The method and system described in GB-A-2 293 297 improve the quality of playback of the signal by adding noise to the signal before quantizing, but as the synchronization and noise parameter data are included in the recorded signal, identical copying of the recorded signal is possible.

Method and apparatus for reducing the word length of a digital input signal and method and apparatus for recovering a digital input signal


A semiconductor package includes one or more semiconductor stack structures mounted on a package board. The semiconductor stack structures include sequentially stacked first to fourth semiconductor devices. Each of the first to fourth semiconductor devices includes a first unit semiconductor chip and a second unit semiconductor chip. The first unit semiconductor chip and the second unit semiconductor chip are unitary. A method for fabricating the semiconductor package includes forming pairs of unit semiconductor chips on a wafer, forming a scribe lane between the pairs of unit semiconductor chips, separating the pairs of unit semiconductor chips into semiconductor devices, each of the semiconductor devices having a corresponding one pair of unit semiconductor chips.

1. Field
Embodiments of the inventive concept relate to a semiconductor package, and more particularly to a semiconductor package including unified semiconductor chips.
2. Description of Related Art
As semiconductor packages are improved to be small and thin, technology for horizontally arranging and vertically stacking the semiconductor packages is more frequently being applied.

Semiconductor package having unified semiconductor chips


The present invention discloses an asymmetrical PN junction thermoelectric couple structure and its parameter determination method. By changing the structural parameters of p-type semiconductor or n-type semiconductor, the current generated by p-type semiconductor is equal to the current generated by the n-type semiconductor, so that the high-efficiency output of PN junction thermoelectric couple can be realized. Meanwhile, the present invention provides a method for determining the parameters of PN junction based on the numerical solution method. Finally, the optimal size parameters of PN junction are obtained.

In recent years, the energy problem is becoming more and more serious. Various countries have issued relevant policies, such as increasing oil prices, promoting new energy vehicles, etc., to control the exploitation and utilization of non-renewable energy (e.g. oil, coal and natural gas). On the other hand, energy technologies such as nuclear power, hydropower, wind power, photovoltaic power and thermoelectricity don't need to consume fossil fuels, and attract great attention at home and abroad. Among them, photovoltaic and thermoelectricity are clean energy technologies that generate electricity by utilizing directional movement of carriers of semiconductors which are generated under the reaction of solar radiation and temperature difference, and have the advantages of permanence, cleanness and no moving parts, etc. At present, the photovoltaic technology develops rapidly, and has achieved a great number of mature applications. However, thermoelectric technology is still in the development stage of commercialization due to its high material cost and low conversion efficiency.
Thanks to the development of modern technology, the performance of thermoelectric materials has been greatly improved. Thermoelectric technology starts to be widely used in the field of heat recovery, such as automobile exhaust waste heat recovery, industrial waste heat recovery, etc. In addition, due to the low output voltage of a single PN junction thermoelectric couple, a number of PN junctions are generally connected in series to form a thermoelectric power generation module, so that the output voltage can reach an energy level that can be recycled. However, thermoelectric power generation module is only a combination of many PN junctions in series. In the research, it is often simplified. A single PN junction is taken as the research object for structure optimization (such as hexagonal semiconductor structure, segmented semiconductor structure and pyramid semiconductor structure), so as to achieve higher output power and thermoelectric conversion efficiency. However, these structural optimization methods ignore the essence that PN junction is formed by p-type semiconductor and n-type semiconductor in series. Both p-type semiconductor and n-type semiconductor use the same structural size and the same number of thermoelectric materials. In practical applications, in order to make p-type semiconductors rich in holes and n-type semiconductors rich in electrons, the thermoelectric materials and doping concentration used by P-electrode and N-electrode are different, causing the differences in parameters of thermoelectric materials of P-electrode and N-electrode. When the PN junction works in the same temperature difference, the current density generated by P-electrode is different from the current density generated by N-electrode, so that the overall output current of the PN junction is limited by the smaller current density.

Asymmetrical PN junction thermoelectric couple structure and its parameter determination method


The present invention provides a cosmetic material which consists of a disintegration phase which is obtained by harvesting lactic acid bacterial cells from the lactic fermentation broth, disintegrating the cells, subjecting the broken cells to centrifugation to give a supernatant and adding to the supernatant 10 .mu.M of 500 .mu.M of at least one metal ions followed by filtration to obtain a filtrate and an extraction phase which is obtained by extracting cell pellets precipitated by the centrifugation step in (a) with water or an organic solvent and a non-ionic surfactant and subjecting the extract to filtration to obtain a filtrate. The cosmetic material of the present invention exhibits properties of scavenging harmful oxygen species, reinforcing DNA repair system of the skin and reinforcing immune systems of the skin. It further comprises mannitols or flavonoids in order to enhancing its ability of scavenging harmful oxygen species.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a functional cosmetic material. More particularly, it relates to a functional cosmetic material obtained from a lactic acid fermentation broth, which exhibits an active oxygen species-scavenging, a DNA repair system-reinforcing and an immune system-reinforcing properties.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Recent research on the cell biology leads to a development of functional cosmetics for, for example, retarding aging in humans. One aspect of the development of functional cosmetics is to provide cosmetics which have an ability of scavenging harmful active oxygen species. The active oxygen species are byproducts generated from the oxygen metabolism in humans and other mammals, and include, for example, superoxide radical (O.sub.2 --), hydroxyl radical(.OH) and singlet oxygen (.sup.1 O.sub.2). These active oxygen species have critical roles in lipid superoxidation, protein denaturation and nucleic acid mutation. Although the harmful active oxygen species are continually destroyed by protective enzymes, for example, superoxide dismutase, catalase and glutathione peroxidase, such defenses are not 100% efficient, and particularly aging and environmental stimuli make the defenses by the protective enzymes less efficient. Thus chemical destruction of cells can result, an example of the cell damage caused by the oxygen species is damage to DNA, which virtually may resulted in a formation of cancer (Leibvitz B. E. & Siegel B. W. 1980, J. Gerontol. 35:45). Active oxygen species also are related to inflammation (William F. P. et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 77:1159 (1980)) and to various diseases (Chikako Nishigen M. D. et al., J. Invest. Derma. 1989).
The raising needs for an artificial active agent which can scavenge the harmful oxygen species lead to a development of cosmetic materials containing superoxide dismutase, flavonoids and lactoferins. However, these active components have a drawback, when used in cosmetic compositions for the skin, that the superoxide dismutase is sparingly soluble in oils and unstable as well as is poor in its adsorption and absorption to the skin. Further, lactoferins have a drawback that their production from milk by extraction methods is complicate and the yield is low.
Another aspect of the development of functional cosmetics is to find out an agent which can reinforce the DNA repair systems in the skin. DNA is a cell's genetic material which carries genetic information and plays most important roles in PG,4 the survival of cells. DNA molecules are always exposed to various sources causing a damage thereto and also have specific enzymatic mechanisms to repair damaged sites. However, continued environmental stresses and aging make the DNA repair by the enzymatic machinery less efficient. The damaged cells, which are not repaired, may become cancerous and cause abnormally high skin cell death and skin diseases (V. A. Bohr et al., 1989, Laboratory Investigation 61(2):143). Particularly, excess exposure to UV light of sunlight leads to a formation of thymine dimer which causes cell death and DNA mutation.
So far some cosmetic materials are developed as an anti-mutation agent in order to impart DNA repair ability to cosmetic compositions and such cosmetic materials include, for example, specific plant extracts, placenta extracts and Actinomycetes strain extracts. However, the extracts derived from plants and Actinomycetes strains have a weak substantivity to the skin and may induce adverse effects. Placenta extracts have no such problems, but their production is limited.
Another aspect of the development of the functional cosmetic compositions is to provide an agent which can reinforce the immune systems of the skin. The immune system is a defence machinery of a living body, which maintains and protects the living body from the environment containing a large variety of infectious microbial agents. Aging considerably weaken the capacity of the immune system, resulting in various skin diseases (Atsushi Uchida, Fragrance J., 19C9):29 (1991). However, so far no satisfactory agent for enhancing the function of the dermal immune systems, which can be used in cosmetic compositions, is proposed.
By the way, it has been known that an useful moisturizing factor can be obtained from skim milk. Particularly, U.S. Pat. No. 4,524,136 discloses a process for preparing a cosmetic material comprising the steps of simultaneously carring out in skim milk the processes of lactic acid fermentation by lactic acid bacteria and decomposition of casein by proteases; and simultaneously carrying out the processes of sterilization of lactic acid bacteria and inactivation of proteases to produce a cosmetic material. However, the said patent is based on a fact that lactates is an useful moisturizing factor and its purpose is to provide a transparent cosmetic material which can be easily absorbed and adsorbed to the skin, and therefore, has no relation to the present invention.
The present inventors had found out that there may be obtained a cosmetic material, which is useful to scavenge harmful oxygen species and has moisturizing property, by fermenting a lactic acid bacteria in skim milk or powdered skim milk cantaining metal ions and proteases and treating the harvested cells (Korean Patent Application No. 90-6419). However, the cosmetic material obtained by the method described in said patent application is insufficient in its ability of reinforcing the DNA repair system. Moreover, the method is less economical of cost and of DNA repair-reinforcing efficacy of the product because it uses only supernatant obtained from centrifugation of the broken cells.
Therefore, there remains a need for a cosmetic material which shows a harmful active oxygen species-scavenging, a DNA repair system-reinforcing and an immune system-reinforcing properties as well as shows good compatiability with and absorption to the skin, and less irritate the skin.

Cosmetic material obtained from a lactic acid fermentation broth


A printer includes a feeding portion for feeding a print medium in a first direction, an ejection portion for ejecting liquid, a carriage, a guide shaft, a rail member, a first pressing portion, an eccentric member, a regulating portion, and a prohibition portion. The carriage includes the ejection portion and reciprocates in a second direction which is orthogonal to the first direction. The guide shaft extends in the second direction and supports the carriage. The rail member is disposed facing the guide shaft. The first pressing portion presses a first surface of the rail member. The eccentric member has a rotating shaft portion and an eccentric shaft portion that is eccentric with respect to the rotating shaft portion. The regulating portion comes into contact with a second surface of the rail member, and regulates movement of the carriage. The prohibition portion prohibits rotation of the rotating shaft portion.

The present disclosure relates to a printer that performs printing by ejecting liquid onto a print medium.
In related art, an inkjet printer is known which performs printing by ejecting ink from nozzles onto a print medium, and which can inhibit printing failure. Specifically, an inkjet printer is known that inhibits evaporation of ink by causing a cap, which is used to seal nozzle openings, to come into contact with an ink ejection surface when printing is not being performed, and thus inhibits printing failure due to an increase in ink viscosity or the like. There are cases in which an inkjet head is mounted on a carriage that is supported by a guide shaft and a guide plate (rail). The guide shaft is provided in a direction that is orthogonal to a movement direction of the print medium. The guide plate is provided in parallel with the guide shaft. For example, an inkjet printer that includes a gap adjustment device is disclosed. In this inkjet printer, a cam surface of an eccentric cam that is rotatably provided on the carriage is caused to come into contact with a rail, and a distance between the ink ejection surface and a printing surface of the print medium is adjusted.


A wireless terminal includes: an antenna that receives a plurality of beams formed by a radio base station; and a power control unit that adjusts transmission power of an uplink signal transmitted from the antenna to the radio base station after beam switching, on the basis of a reception power difference between a downlink signal of a beam used before the beam switching and a downlink signal of a beam to be used after beam switching, the beam switching being switching of a beam used for communication with the radio base station among the beams formed by the radio base station.

Wireless terminals communicating with radio base stations typically perform transmission power control of radio waves transmitted to the radio base stations. According to the Long Term Evolution (LTE) standard specified in the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), the radio base station transmits a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) to a wireless terminal, and the wireless terminal reports, to the radio base station, channel state information (CSI) that is a channel quality measured on the basis of the CSI-RS. The wireless terminal periodically transmits the CSI to the radio base station. For transmission of the CSI to the radio base station, a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) is used. If the wireless terminal transmits the PUCCH with unnecessarily high transmission power, the interference with communication of other wireless terminals occurs. To prevent the interference, the wireless terminal controls the transmission power of the PUCCH.
The LTE specifies two methods for controlling transmission power; open-loop power control; and closed-loop power control (Non Patent Literature 1). The open-loop power control is a method performed when a wireless terminal starts communicating with a radio base station or when a wireless terminal connects with another radio base station by handover and starts communicating with the other radio base station. The wireless terminal performs random access control when starting the communication. For the random access control, the radio base station measures reception power of a preamble transmitted with a physical random access channel (PRACH), and notifies the wireless terminal of the reception power value of the preamble. The wireless terminal estimates a path loss of downlink transmission from a reception power value of the signal transmitted from the radio base station and the transmission power value of the radio base station separately notified by the radio base station. The wireless terminal determines transmission power of an uplink signal by adding a power corresponding to the estimated path loss to the reception power value of the preamble notified by the radio base station.
For the closed-loop power control, a transmission power control (TPC) command explicitly specifying an increase or decrease in the transmission power is transmitted from the radio base station to the wireless terminal after communication is started, such that the transmission power of the wireless terminal is controlled. During the communication with the radio base station, the wireless terminal performs transmission power control according to the closed-loop power control by the radio base station.

Wireless terminal, transmission power control method of wireless terminal, and radio base station


Cutting elements having a slanted top surface for an improved cutter to blade transition, the slanted top surface being integratable into a receiving pocket of a bit blade such that the slanted top surface and the perimeter of the receiving pocket are relatively contiguous when the slanted cutter is mounted within the receiving pocket. Also, a bit with slanted cutters as well as a method of manufacturing a bit having slanted cutters.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to improvements in drag bit cutter geometries and the attachment of such cutters to a bit blade.
2. Background Art
Oil wells and gas wells are typically created by a process of rotary drilling. In conventional rotary drilling a drill bit is mounted on the end of a drill string. At the surface a rotary drive turns the string, including the bit at the bottom of the hole, while a drilling fluid, or "mud," is pumped through the drill string.
When the bit wears out or breaks during drilling, it must be brought up out of the hole in a process called "tripping-out." During this process, a heavy hoist pulls the drillstring out of the hole and rig workers disconnect the components thereof in stages. Tripping-out of the borehole is a time-consuming endeavor. One trip can require days, and may significantly impact the drilling budget, as no drilling progress occurs during this period. To resume drilling the entire process must be reversed. Accordingly a bit's durability and drilling efficiency are very important, to minimize round trips for bit replacement during drilling, and to maximize drilling progress between trips.
The teeth of a drill bit crush or cut rock. One type of bit is a "drag" bit, where the entire bit rotates as a single unit. The body of the bit holds fixed teeth, or "cutters," which are typically made of an extremely hard material, such as tungsten carbide, and are often coated with even harder substances, such as polycrystalline diamond compact (PDC). The body of the bit may be steel, or may be a matrix of a harder material such as tungsten carbide.
All drill bit teeth can be expected to fail eventually. Typically, PDC-type drill bit teeth have three common failure modes. The first failure mode involves inward abrasive wear of the cutting face in which a side of the cutter's hardened face is gradually eroded inward, so that a portion of the tooth's volume is gradually removed.
A second failure mode involves fracture of the cutting face or the cutting teeth. Because the force on the tooth's face is typically not evenly distributed, it is possible for failure in shear to occur (where part of the face, and possibly part of the body behind it, breaks away from the rest of the tooth). This is a particularly damaging failure mode, as the separated tooth fragment is likely to be encountered by remaining cutting teeth. Being much harder than the surrounding formation, the tooth fragment can fracture one or more other teeth. There is also a chance of a cascading effect where shards from one or more broken teeth cause further tooth breakage which continues to propagate to other teeth of the bit.
A final failure mode is a "prying out" failure, where all or most of a single tooth is removed from its retaining socket. With this type of failure, the single mass of hardened material has an even greater chance of damaging other teeth on the bit.
Accordingly, one approach to maximizing drilling efficiency is by increasing the durability and cutting efficiency of individual cutters, within the constraints of known cutter failure modes. Typically, this will involve balancing increased tooth clearance and exposure against increased susceptibility to the failure modes previously discussed.
Bent and bullet-type teeth represent two variations of such an approach. Angled or bent teeth, such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,302,224, issued to Sherwood, hereby incorporated herein by reference, typically have two nonparallel axes. Often, bent drill bit teeth have a greater volume embedded in the bit body, and a lesser volume protruding therefrom. Such teeth can have a cutting face bent at an angle of up to 90 degrees relative to the shank. Although a greater volume of tooth embedded within the bit will reduce the likelihood of a prying out failure and results in an increased clearance, the bent tooth design is susceptible to increased fracture rates at the vertex of the bend. Furthermore, the pockets and other tooth retention mechanisms are relatively complex compared to a typical straightforward cylindrical cutter design. Additionally, because so much of a bent tooth is required to be embedded within the bit body, the number of teeth that may be located in a given area may be limited by the size of the bit body.
Bullet-type drill bit teeth as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,558,170 issued to Thigpen et al., hereby incorporated herein by reference, are generally cylindrical, with a hemispherical back end for seating in a correspondingly milled pocket. Typically the body of a bullet tooth comprises a hardened material and the face includes a flat circular body coated with a superhard material such as a polycrystalline diamond compact ("PDC") or tungsten carbide. The corresponding pocket of a bullet-type tooth can include sidewalls extending upwards to partially enclose the top of the tooth to resist prying-out of the tooth. However, such partial enclosure of the top of the tooth may affect tooth clearance and the hemispherical back end may not permit as strong a braze as may be achieved with typical cylindrical cutter designs. Cylindrical designs have a flat back end that is more easily brazed in a corresponding receiving pocket.
In drilling through softer formations, it is advantageous to maximize the depth of cutter penetration. This is achieved by maximizing distribution of the applied drilling load on the cutters, and avoiding distribution of such load to surfaces of the bit that are less capable of efficiently shearing the formation. Accordingly, there exists a need for a cutter design having an increased exposure for greater cutting efficiency, an increased clearance to minimize contact of the formation with the bit body, and with decreased susceptibility to typical cutter failure modes.

Cutting element with improved cutter to blade transition


In accordance with the present invention, there are provided methods for the treatment of polycystic kidney disease and related indications in mammals, employing IGF-I as the active agent. In accordance with another embodiment of the present invention, it has been discovered that IGF-I is an effective agent for the treatment of renal dysplasias and/or renal hypoplasias in mammals. In accordance with yet another embodiment of the present invention, it has been discovered that IGF-I is an effective agent for enhancing glomerular development in mammals. In accordance with still another embodiment of the present invention, it has been discovered that IGF-I is an effective agent for enhancing kidney development in mammals suffering from chronic organ injury.

Polycystic kidney disease is a heterogenous group of disorders characterized by large kidneys with epithelial lined cysts along the nephron collecting ducts of the affected kidneys. In all types of cystic kidney disease, the enlargement of the cyst wall is associated with hyperplasia of renal epithelium. There are several examples of genetic predisposition to cystic disease, with the most common forms of human polycystic kidney disease (PKD) being genetically transmitted as either an autosomal dominant trait or an autosomal recessive trait. There are also several forms of acquired polycystic kidney disease. Acquired lesions are caused by broad categories of agents, such as teratogens (e.g., diphenylamine and phthalates), agents affecting metanephric development (e.g., steroid hormones such as glucocorticoids), and as a consequence of loss of renal mass (as seen in end-stage renal disease). Even in kindreds with a defined genetic mutation, there is broad expression of the clinical phenotype. An example of this is a family with autosomal recessive PKD in several siblings, where the onset of renal failure was variable in the child and adolescent years. It is also well established that autosomal dominant PKD is asymptomatic in half of the kindred who are genetically affected, while approximately 1/6 go to renal failure. Moreover, the genetic trait does not discriminate the phenotypic variation of gender. The observation that the genetics are only one part of the clinical phenotype of PKD has created interest in looking at the pathophysiology of cystic disease and progression in the hope of finding modifying agents.
Currently, however, there is no effective treatment for Polycystic Kidney Disease (PKD), one of the three leading causes of end stage renal failure in humans (Canadian Organ Replacement Register; p. 95 [1990]). Although PKD simulates Mendelian inheritance, there is evidence that phenotypic expression of PKD involves genetic heterogeneity and multifactorial inheritance, including nongenetic factors.
The ready availability of non-invasive imaging techniques of ultrasound, computerized axial tomography and nuclear magnetic resonance imaging has confirmed that PKD is a common human ailment (Ogborn et al., Pediatr. Res., 2: 123-146 [1988])). One in 1100 fetuses are affected and adult prevalence may be as high as 1 in 220. (Danovitch, In Cystic Diseases of the Kidney, Gardner, K D (ed), John Wiley & Sons Inc., Toronto, p. 125-150, (1975)); (Campbell, Clin. Pediatr. Urol., Chapter 3: 181-186 (1951)). The probability of developing symptomatic renal insufficiency varies with age and pattern of presentation. It is known that both the number and size of cysts increase throughout life in this form of PKD, often starting in childhood. In the most common "adult" or dominantly inherited PKD (ADPKD), end-stage renal failure has been described in patients ranging from infancy (Taitz et al. Arch. Dis. Child., 62: 45-49 [1987]) to the ninth decade (Churchill et al., Kid. Int., 26: 190-193 [1984]). In this situation the cysts appear in the kidney in such large numbers that the renal parenchyma is destroyed thus contributing to end-stage renal failure.
The other major form of PKD is "infantile" or recessive PKD (ARPKD), which also has a wide range of clinical presentation (Zerres, Pediatr. Nephrol. 1: 397-404 (1987)). ARPKD can first be detected during the second trimester of pregnancy. Unfortunately, therapeutic abortion is the only prenatal intervention currently available.
The broad clinical spectrum of PKD suggests a complex interaction of genetic and other factors. Schimke has speculated that all forms of PKD may represent variable expression of common genes under different environmental influences (Schimke, Problems in Diagnosis and Management of Polycystic Kidney Disease, Grantham J J and Gardner K D (eds.) PKR Foundation, Kansas City, 49-69, (1985)). This concept is supported by much of the available experimental evidence. Wirth et al., (in Hum. Genet, 77: 221-222 (1987)), although not excluding such a concept, consider that family pedigrees and linkage studies confirm that ARPKD and ADPKD are mutations at distinct genetic loci, rather than being allelic mutations at the same locus.
Indeed, the locus of one gene marker of PKD, i.e., PKD1, has been mapped to chromosome 16 by Reeders et al. (Nature, 317:542-544 (1985)) and linked with biochemical polymorphisms and anonymous restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) markers, thus permitting detection of asymptomatic individuals in the family (see also Reeders, Pediatr. Nephrol., 1:405-410 (1987)). However, the gene(s) responsible for ADPKD in some families is/are not linked to the chromosome 16 locus (Kimberling et al., NEJM, 319(14):913-918 (1988)). This genetic heterogeneity suggests that genetic screening must be approached with caution (Germino et al., Am. J. Hum. Genet., 46:925-933 (1990)); Parfrey et al., NEJM, 323:1085-1090 (1990)).
In addition to the genetic heterogeneity of PKD, these traits show variable expressivity. The pathological features of the various forms of PKD exhibit overlaps, such as hepatic fibrosis, and distinguishing features, such as liver cysts in ADPKD. In addition, liver cystic disease may occur on its own without kidney cysts (Grunfeld et al., Advances in Nephrology, 14:1-20 (1985)). There is currently an inability to diagnose this disease either early in its progression or even at all. This situation is supported by the greater incidence of PKD seen at autopsy rather than in clinical practice.
The ethical and practical difficulties of studying induction of renal cysts in humans have encouraged the study of animal models. These models are well characterized in recent reviews (see, for example, Ogborn et al., Pediatr. Res., supra; Brenner, J. Am. Soc. Nephrol., 1:127-139 (1990); Avner et al., in: The Cystic Kidney. Eds. Gardner K D, Bernstein J, 55-98 (1990)). Reproducible models of PKD include those induced by organic chemicals--specifically diphenylamine, diphenylthiazole and nordihydroguaiaretic acid and those induced by the administration of glucocorticoids (Avner et al., supra) and (Perey et al., Science, 158: 494-496 (1967)).
Accordingly, there is still a need in the art for effective methods for the diagnosis and treatment of each of the various forms of polycystic kidney disease.

Use of IGF-I for the treatment of kidney disorders


A method and apparatus for determining a node's proper duty cycle is provided herein. All nodes (500) within a network (100) will interactively switch duty-cycles based on a number of hops a device is from a personal area network coordinator PNC. Changing duty cycles based on a number of hops from a PNC assures that spatial patterns of duty-cycles form in a network to maximize data throughput and minimize network wide power consumptions.

Low power consumption, and thus long battery life, is critical to the success of next-generation ad-hoc wireless devices. With this in mind, many ad-hoc networks allow nodes to periodically sleep, or power down, in order to conserve battery life. The period of activity and inactivity is usually referred to as a nodes duty cycle (DC). Amounts of data traffic a node experiences will require a certain duty-cycle in order to properly transmit the data within a reasonable time period (i.e., to have a reasonable data delivery rate). Heavy load demands a full duty-cycle while a light load will allow for a low duty-cycle. A technique to determine a node's proper duty cycle is essential to efficient operation. Therefore, a need exists for a method and apparatus for a node to determine a proper duty cycle within an ad-hoc network.

Method and apparatus for a node to determine a proper duty cycle within an ad-hoc network


A signal processor performs a signal transform of a signal, and comprises a signal demodulator for demodulating said signal by a first chirp signal having a first chirp rate to obtain a reduced bandwidth chirped signal, a filter for filtering the reduced bandwidth chirped signal and delaying the reduced bandwidth chirped signal by an interval proportional to a reciprocal of said first chirp rate, a signal modulator for modulating said filtered signal by a second chirp signal having a second chirp rate to obtain an increased bandwidth chirped signal and to provide a time domain output spectrum of said signal, and wherein each of said first chirp signal and said second chirp signal is a complex signal representing a linear frequency modulated chirp.

Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) has been an important tool for remote sensing. The SAR is essentially an active imaging device capable of gathering information relating to phases of reflected signals of a radar beam to form images. The phase of the reflected signals vary approximately quadratically such that the received signal comprises the sum of a number of, approximately linear, chirped signals. The instantaneous bandwidth of a signal is much less than the total bandwidth of the signal.
In spotlight SAR, a radar (mostly airborne) travels along a trajectory while the radar antenna is directed at a fixed region on the ground, forming a "synthetic aperture"—the spatial interval over which data is collected.
Generally, SAR algorithms can be divided into two classes, namely SAR algorithms that remove the quadratic component of the phase variation and SAR algorithms that retain it. Algorithms that remove (dechirp) the quadratic component utilise focusing approximation which would limit the maximum size scene that can be imaged at high resolutions. Algorithms that do not dechirp the data are required to sample the signal fully to avoid aliasing. The higher sampling rate required vastly increases the amount of data to be processed resulting in a corresponding increase in the processing requirements.
Range Migration Algorithm (RMA) is representative of a class of SAR algorithms that uses the actual spherical wave to increase the image quality. The RMA is known as having low processing per pixel and using approximations that are accurate for large high-resolution images. The RMA can perform large-area imaging without breaking a scene into smaller sub-images, and produces well-focused, fine resolution images over a wider area scene.
A feature of RMA is that data are processed using an along-track Fourier transform. As the size of the aperture increases, the bandwidth of the signal to be transformed increases while the instantaneous bandwidth of the signal remains approximately constant.
It is noted that one of the requirements of the conventional along-track Fourier transform is that the data needs to be fully sampled, i.e. the sampling frequency being higher than the signal bandwidth. In order to achieve this, up-sampling of the data is required in cases where the signal bandwidth exceeds the PRF, or down-sampling is limited in cases where the signal bandwidth is significantly larger than the instantaneous bandwidth.
Still other objects and advantages of the present invention will become readily apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description, wherein the preferred embodiments of the invention are shown and described, simply by way of illustration of the best mode contemplated of carrying out the invention. As will be realized, the invention is capable of other and different embodiments, and its several details are capable of modifications in various obvious aspects, all without departing from the invention. Accordingly, the drawings and description thereof are to be regarded as illustrative in nature, and not as restrictive.


A collision-avoidance method for cooperating carriers consists of:. transmitting, from each carrier, monochromatic pulsed light waves, coming from at least two wide-field optical transmission devices to cover the space around the carrier and thus define a zone of proximity, the power of the optical transmission defining, under given weather conditions, the range of the transmission and hence the zone covered; PA1 and receiving, at each carrier, the monochromatic, pulsed light waves radiated into space by other cooperating carriers, on at least two wide-field reception devices covering the space around the carrier. Each intrusion of a carrier into the proximity zone of another carrier prompts the detection of light radiation and the triggering of an alarm on either carrier. Applications are to air anti-collision systems.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to the field of air traffic and, more particularly, its object is a collision-avoidance method for cooperating carriers and the device designed to be taken on board cooperating carriers in order to implement it.
The need for aircraft to be able to maneuver in conditions of low visibility or in dense traffic zones necessitates the use of systems enabling the avoidance of collisions.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Anti-collision systems using transmission by radio or by radar waves have been developed.
Systems known as TCAS (Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance Systems) use interrogators on the ground and transponders carried by aircraft, capable of responding as interrogated, if necessary by the addition, to their response code, of information elements relating for example to their altitude. These systems, of the secondary surveillance radar type, are complicated systems that are very costly.
Other types of systems have been developed, using methods of communication by radio waves and therefore requiring radio dialog for the localization of danger. These systems, apart from their complexity, cannot be used to obtain very fast (almost instantaneous) responses, which are indispensable in the event of a risk of collision, and some of them are subject to the hazards of transmission in certain particular conditions, for example fading, echos, etc.
An object of the invention is a method of collision avoidance for cooperating carriers that is simple and gives an almost instantaneous response, i.e. one that gives information elements to each of the carriers using transmissions of monochromatic light waves made by all the carriers, these light waves being detected by the carriers entering a zone of risk around the corresponding transmitting carrier.

Collision-avoidance method for cooperating carriers and onboard optical assembly designed for its implementation


A tamper-evident product and related methods of production. A container includes a neck, and a tamper-evidencing component separate from the container and carried by the neck of the container in direct contact with a corresponding portion of the container neck. The component is composed of material that has higher thermal conductivity than that of a material of the container so as to concentrate heat in the corresponding portion of the container neck. The neck is thermally responsive to application of heat pursuant to tampering with the product by at least one of the following responses: an irreversible change in visual appearance of the corresponding portion of the container neck, or fracture of the container neck at the corresponding portion of the container neck.

A container for carrying a liquid product can include a fitment that renders the container non-refillable so as to impede or prevent efforts to refill the container with inferior products. U.S. Pat. No. 3,399,811 illustrates a container of this type.
A general object of the present disclosure, in accordance with one aspect of the disclosure, is to provide a container including a tamper-evidencing component that is non-removably secured to the container and that evidences efforts to tamper with the package via breakage and/or discoloration of the container.
The present disclosure embodies a number of aspects that can be implemented separately from or in combination with each other.
A product in accordance with one aspect of the disclosure includes a glass container including a neck, and an anti-refill fitment carried in the neck to deter refill of the container and at least partially composed of plastic. The product also includes a metal ring carried in at least one of the neck of the container or the fitment and in direct contact with a corresponding portion of the container neck, such that heating of the product pursuant to tampering results in at least one of discoloration of the container neck or fracture of the container neck.
In accordance with another aspect of the disclosure, there is provided a product that includes a container including a neck, and a tamper-evidencing component separate from the container and carried by the neck of the container in direct contact with a corresponding portion of the container neck and composed of material that has higher thermal conductivity than that of a material of the container so as to concentrate heat in the corresponding portion of the container neck. The container neck is thermally responsive to application of heat pursuant to efforts to tamper with the product by at least one of the following responses: an irreversible change in visual appearance of the corresponding portion of the container neck, or fracture of the container neck at the corresponding portion of the container neck.
In accordance with a further aspect of the disclosure, there is provided a method of producing a product that includes (a) flowing liquid into a container having a neck, (b) non-removably coupling an anti-refill fitment into the neck of the container to render the product non-refillable, and (c) coupling a tamper-evidencing component to at least one of the fitment or the container neck so that the component is in direct contact with a corresponding portion of the container, such that heating of the product pursuant to tampering concentrates heat in the component and in the corresponding portion of the container to result in at least one of discoloration of the container neck or fracture of the container neck.
In accordance with an additional aspect of the disclosure, there is provided a method of producing a product that includes (a) forming a glass container including a neck having an outer surface and an annular groove in the outer surface, and (b) embedding a metal ring in the annular groove of the container neck.

Container having a tamper-indicating component


A computational halftoning process determines a halftoned image having halftoned pixel values by processing an array of input pixels. For each input pixel, an array of high-resolution printer coordinates is defined at a higher spatial resolution than the printer resolution, and a coordinate transformation is applied to determine a corresponding array of high-resolution dot coordinates. An array of high-resolution halftoned pixel values is then determined responsive to the code value of the input pixel by addressing a halftone dot function using the array of high-resolution dot coordinates. A halftoned pixel value is then determined by averaging the high-resolution halftoned pixel values.

Electrophotography is a useful process for printing images on a receiver (or "imaging substrate"), such as a piece or sheet of paper or another planar medium (e.g., glass, fabric, metal, or other objects) as will be described below. In this process, an electrostatic latent image is formed on a photoreceptor by uniformly charging the photoreceptor and then discharging selected areas of the uniform charge to yield an electrostatic charge pattern corresponding to the desired image (i.e., a "latent image").
After the latent image is formed, charged toner particles are brought into the vicinity of the photoreceptor and are attracted to the latent image to develop the latent image into a toner image. Note that the toner image may not be visible to the naked eye depending on the composition of the toner particles (e.g., clear toner).
After the latent image is developed into a toner image on the photoreceptor, a suitable receiver is brought into juxtaposition with the toner image. A suitable electric field is applied to transfer the toner particles of the toner image to the receiver to form the desired print image on the receiver. The imaging process is typically repeated many times with reusable photoreceptors.
The receiver is then removed from its operative association with the photoreceptor and subjected to heat or pressure to permanently fix (i.e., "fuse") the print image to the receiver. Plural print images (e.g., separation images of different colors) can be overlaid on the receiver before fusing to form a multicolor print image on the receiver.
Halftoning operations are typically applied using look-up tables defining the halftone dot shape as a function of position for a tile of pixels. Such operations are not conducive to being performed in a print engine since they are memory intensive. They also are typically limited to a particular screen angle and screen frequency. There remains a need for a halftoning operation that can be applied in real time by a print engine having limited memory.

Computing array of high-resolution halftone pixel values by addressing halftone dot function and averaging values to determine value at printer resolution


A cognitive radio (CR) device (208 and/or 218) avoids interference with an incumbent (207) receiver by determining maximum allowed transmit power levels of the CR device based on estimates of the incumbent signal level and transmit splatter levels of the CR device. The CR device (208 and/or 218) avoids interference with the incumbent receiver while transmitting with maximum transmit power levels.

Cognitive radios (CR) utilize a variety of co-existence techniques in order to attempt to operate successfully along with existing wireless communication networks or architectures. The CR concept is generally intended to enable frequency band sharing and reuse with incumbent users and/or other CR devices. The manner by which CR performance can be increased or extended, via the use of advanced cognitive techniques, is of current interest in the communications arena.
Wireless systems utilizing cognitive radio techniques are intended to allow a network or a wireless node to change its transmission or reception parameters to communicate efficiently and utilize spectrum on a secondary basis without interfering with incumbent users or other CR devices operating in the same frequency band. However, due to the wide variety of incumbent receiver equipment providers on the market and different field operating conditions, controlling the operating parameters of CR systems becomes a very challenging task. The mobility of many CR devices, such as portable radios, exacerbates the problem.
The unlicensed use of locally unused television white space (TVWS) spectrum is particularly challenging and comes under the regulation of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the U.S. Currently the FCC is developing regulations including the use of geo-location database enabled CR TVWS devices and sensing-only CR TVWS devices.
Geo-location database enabled CR devices determine their own location, and from the geo-location database, determine the maximum allowed transmit power level that avoids causing interference to licensed incumbent (for example, TV) receivers. These CR power level computations are, as the FCC has currently proposed, based on receiver co-channel and adjacent channel interference protection ratios only. However, these co-channel and adjacent channel protection ratios do not adequately ensure avoiding interference to incumbent TV receivers.
For sensing-only based CRs that have no geo-location information or connection to a database, the radios must operate based on sensed signal information alone. A large class of TVWS devices will utilize only spectral sensing techniques to determine open spectrum. A need thus exists to ensure these sensing-only radios do not interfere with licensed incumbents.
Accordingly, there is a need for a technique to ensure that licensed incumbent receivers are adequately protected from all forms of unwanted CR interference, particularly in the arena using TVWS devices.
Skilled artisans will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of embodiments of the present invention.

Method and apparatus for controlling transmit power and incumbent protection in a cognitive radio system


Data context techniques are described. In an implementation, a method includes determining, by each of a plurality of nodes, whether an item of data contained in a respective node matches one or more items referenced by a context that is broadcast to the plurality of nodes. When the determining results in a match, an indication is emitted by the respective node that identifies a particular one of the items reference by the context.

Vast amounts of data are communicated over networks at any one time. For example, billions of web pages are communicated over the Internet in a given day, television programs are communicated to millions of users over the air, via cable and satellite connections, and so on. Because of the vast amounts of data that may be involved, traditional techniques which are employed to process this data may be insufficient.
For example, traditional techniques used to analyze a traditional amount of data may be insufficient when confronted with a vast amount of data. A service, for instance, may be provided which analyzes data that describes consumption by users of different content over the Internet. Because even a single user may navigate to hundreds of web pages and so on during a single browsing session, for example, a vast amount of data may be obtained when collected from a plurality of users. Traditional techniques that were used to analyze this data, however, may be hardware and software intensive such that these traditional techniques are not able to "keep up" with the pace that the data may be obtained.
In another example, communication of data over a network may be limited to a particular amount of bandwidth. This bandwidth, however, may not be sufficient to provide for the ever increasing amounts of data that are desired by users, which may lead to a reduction in functionality availability to users of the network and consequently user frustration.

Data processing through use of a context


A tilt adjustable type steering apparatus for a vehicle according to the present invention has a failsafe mechanism that makes the vehicle unable to travel by locking, e.g., a speed-change shift at a parking range (P) when a steering wheel is tilted up through a large angle, and prevents the steering wheel from being tilted up when other than parking of the vehicle, e.g., during the traveling. The present tilt adjustable type steering apparatus for the vehicle is provided with a large angle tilt-up sensor 24 for detecting that a front side end support seat portion (a tilt-up stopper) 21 of a rear column member 5 abuts on a rear side end support seat portion (a tilt-up stopper) 21 of a front column member 4. When detecting a vehicle travelable state such as a release from a parking brake, a shift-down or shift-up of the change gear, etc. after the rear column member 5 has returned to within a normal on-driving tilt adjustable range (approximately ±10 degrees), a pin 25a of a solenoid 25 provided on the rear column member 5 enters a lock hole 12b of a tilt adjusting lever 12, thereby locking the tilt adjusting lever 12.

A tilt adjusting type steering apparatus capable of adjusting a tilt angle of a steering wheel, corresponding to a physique, a driving posture, etc. of a driver is, as disclosed in, e.g., Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 11-198821, constructed such that a rear column member is so connected in a swayable manner to a rear side end of a front column member fixed to a car body (which is a so-called swing tilt).
When fastening the rear column member to a tilt adjusted position, a movable gear of the rear column member is biased to engage with a fixed gear of the front column member on one hand, and, when releasing the rear column member from being fixed by fastening to the tilt adjusted position, the engagement of the two gears is canceled by swaying the movable gear resisting a biasing force on the other hand.
Further, when making a tilt adjustment, a swayable range of the rear column member falls within the on-driving tilt adjustable range suited to the driving of a vehicle, and is generally approximately ±10 degrees.
By the way, there has been recently an increase in demands for RVs (Recreational Vehicles), and the utilization of the vehicles has also been diversified. For example, a family has a meal in a car room, the RV substitutes for a tent in camping, and so forth.
On this occasion, the steering wheel is raised upwards through a large angle and thus retreated, and then a driver's seat is rotated and directed backwards, thus forming a comparatively large effective utility space.


An optical encoder. The optical encoder includes a coding element, an emitter, and a detector. The coding element has a track with a track pattern. The track pattern includes a plurality of optically distinguishable sections. The plurality of optically distinguishable sections includes a limit switch section. The emitter generates a light signal incident on the track of the coding element. The detector includes a limit switch photodetector positioned to detect the light signal from the emitter. The detector generates a limit switch output signal in response to the detected light signal above a limit switch threshold at the limit switch photodetector. Embodiments of this type of optical encoder implement limit switches into a single track on the coding element.

Optical encoders are used to monitor the motion of, for example, a shaft such as a crank shaft. Optical encoders can monitor the motion of a shaft in terms of position and/or number of revolutions of the shaft. Optical encoders typically use a code wheel attached to the shaft to modulate light as the shaft and the code wheel rotate. In a transmissive code wheel, the light is modulated as it passes through transmissive sections of a track on the code wheel. The transmissive sections are separated by non-transmissive sections. In a reflective code wheel, the light is modulated as it is reflected off of reflective sections of the track on the code wheel. The reflective sections are separated by non-reflective sections. As the light is modulated in response to the rotation of the code wheel, a stream of electrical signals is generated from a photodetector array that receives the modulated light. The electrical signals are used to determine the position and/or number of revolutions of the shaft.
In order to control the range of motion of the code wheel, some encoders use photointerruptors to detect when a part of the controlled device rotates to a predetermined boundary condition. The use of separate photodetectors typically requires additional hardware, and increases the size and cost of the encoder and control system.
Some conventional code wheels include multiple tracks such as separate position and index tracks. These separate tracks on the code wheel are used to determine the rotational position of the shaft, relative to a fixed rotational position, and to determine the number of revolutions of the shaft. In some implementations, it may be useful to limit the rotational movement of the shaft, depending on the type of device controlled by the motor. For example, it may be useful to control how far a mechanical door opens or to determine when the door is closed, so that the motor can be stopped at the right time.
One disadvantage to using separate position and index tracks is that the size of the code wheel may be larger than it would otherwise be if fewer tracks were implemented. The larger size of the code wheel can affect the type of devices in which the code wheel may be used, or the cost of the code wheel, or both. Additionally, the layout of the separate tracks on the code wheel and photodetectors can limit the resolution of the code wheel. Moreover, the task of precisely aligning the separate tracks with the corresponding photodetector arrays becomes more difficult as the number of tracks increases.

Coding element with integrated limit switch


An object of the present invention is to enhance the reliability of an autonomous driving system. The autonomous driving system includes: a higher-level control device 1 that outputs a control target value of an actuator group based on an action plan of a vehicle; and a lower-level control device 2 that controls the actuator group of the vehicle based on a command from the higher-level control device 1. The lower-level control device 2 holds the control target value of the vehicle provided by the higher-level control device 1 over a specific period. When the higher-level control device 1 does not satisfy a desired function, the lower-level control device 2 is configured to be controlled based on the held control target value. The action plan is followed by determining and correcting a difference between an actual action value and the control target value of the vehicle.

For achievement of an advanced autonomous driving system, a higher-level control device (electronic control device) that controls the autonomous driving is required to continue the operation for a specific period until passing the operation to the driver even if a failure occurs in the device itself, for example.
In order to realize the continuance of operation for a predetermined period, redundancy using system multiplexing and operation monitoring can be considered.
On the other hand, generally, a higher-level control device has a high calculation load.
To address this issue, PTL 1 suggests a method for continuing control over a plurality of multiplexed actuator driving devices (lower-level control device group) for a specific period by accumulating control command values in advance in a higher-level control device (electronic control device) without providing the electronic control device with redundancy.


A write shield layer that forms a part of a thin-film magnetic head is set with respect to the widthwise full length W thereof lying substantially on an air bearing surface that is opposite to the recording medium such that when the full length W is trisected, the maximum thickness H1/3side thereof in a range of widthwise ⅓W size positioned at both ends thereof is larger than the average thickness Hm of the whole write shield layer from the air bearing surface up to the rear (H1/3side>Hm), so that the so-called external magnetic field resistance is improved, and inadvertent erasure of the information already recorded in the recording medium is avoided as much as possible. Besides, the PTP (pole tip protrusion) phenomenon arising from the generation of heat from coils, and external temperature changes can be held back.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates primarily to a thin-film magnetic head comprising an induction type magnetic transducer device for recording purposes, and a thin-film magnetic recording head comprising a magneto-resistive effect device adapted to read the magnetic field intensity of a magnetic recording medium or the like in the form of signals.
2. Explanation of the Prior Art
In recent years, for instance, magnetic recording mediums such as hard disks (hereinafter called simply the "recording medium or mediums") have grown in surface recording densities and, with this, there is a growing demand for improvements in the performance of a thin-film magnetic recording head mounted on a magnetic recording system such as a hard disk drive.
As well known in the art, for instance, such a thin-film magnetic recording head operates in two recording modes: a longitudinal recording mode where the direction of a signal magnetic field is set in the planar (longitudinal) direction of a recording medium, and a perpendicular recording mode where the direction of a signal magnetic field is set perpendicularly to the surface of the magnetic recording medium.
Although the longitudinal recording mode is now used in common, yet the perpendicular recording mode is promisingly expected to supercede the longitudinal recording mode, in consideration of future market trends in association with improvements in the surface recording densities of recording mediums. The perpendicular recording mode has the advantages of just only ensuring high recording densities but also making the recording medium with information already recorded in it less vulnerable to thermal fluctuations.
A thin-film recording head of the perpendicular recording mode is constructed typically of a thin-film coil adapted to generate a recording magnetic flux, and a main magnetic pole layer that extends from an air bearing surface toward the rear and is adapted to generate a magnetic field (perpendicular magnetic field) for magnetizing a recording medium on the basis of the recording magnetic flux generated at the thin-film coil. With such a thin-film head of the perpendicular recording mode, the recording medium is magnetized on the basis of the perpendicular magnetic field generated at the main magnetic pole layer, so that information can be magnetically recorded in that recording medium.
For such a thin-film magnetic head of the perpendicular recording mode, for instance, a thin-film magnetic head comprising a main magnetic pole layer located in such a way as to extend in a direction orthogonal to an air bearing surface is known. Such a type of thin-film magnetic head of the perpendicular recording mode is generally called a "single-pole type thin film magnetic head".
Referring here to a specific structure of that single-pole type thin-film magnetic head known so far in the art, for instance, an auxiliar magnetic pole layer for seizure of an auxiliar magnetic flux is joined to the main magnetic pole layer to enhance the intensity of a perpendicular magnetic field, thereby improving on overwrite capability (see, for instance, JP(A)'s 02-066710, 2002-197615 and 2001-250204, and EU(A)0360978).
As far as the improvement in overwrite capability is concerned, however, there would appear to be some limit to the single-pole type thin-film magnetic head.
In a thin-film magnetic head of the perpendicular recording mode recently proposed in the art, a main magnetic pole layer that extends in a direction orthogonal to an air bearing surface as described above is combined with a write shield layer adapted to hold back the spread of a magnetic flux emitted out of that main magnetic pole layer, so that the recording track width is prevented from becoming wide thereby increasing the recording density of a recording medium.
Such a thin-film magnetic head of the perpendicular recording mode is generally called a "shield type thin-film magnetic head". The write shield layer is spaced from the main magnetic pole with a gap of up to 0.2 μm between them, and extends from the air bearing surface toward the rear, whereby it is isolated by a gap layer from the main magnetic pole layer on a side near to the air bearing surface and joined through a back gap to the main magnetic pole layer on a side far away from the air bearing surface.
With the write shield type thin-film magnetic head comprising such a write shield layer, the recording density of the recording medium is improved, because there is a sharp gradient to the perpendicular magnetic field by virtue of restrictions on the spread of a magnetic flux emitted out of the main magnetic pole layer.
Here, to better the reliability of the thin-film magnetic head of the perpendicular recording mode, regardless of whether it is of the type having the so-called shield (the shield type thin-film magnetic head) or of the type having an auxiliar magnetic pole, it is necessary to get stable hold of magnetic operation performance. Problems with the prior art thin-film magnetic head are, however, that as unwanted magnetic fields (floating external magnetic fields) arise from an external magnetic field source such as a voice coil motor, it causes unintended write (overwrite) during non-recording, that is, during no supply of recording currents to a thin-film coil, although depending on the influences of such floating external magnetic fields, and this often results in inadvertent erasure of information recorded in a recording medium. To get stable hold of the magnetic operation performance of the thin-film magnetic head of the perpendicular recording mode, there is thus now a growing demand for the technique of holding back inadvertent erasure of information as much as possible at the time of non-recording.
With the prior art shield type thin-film magnetic head, besides, there is a PTP (pole tip protrusion) phenomenon stemming from the generation of heat from coils or external temperature changes, i.e., a phenomenon wherein the pole tip protrudes from the ABS surface, because the shield member itself is a large magnetic material. Reducing the thickness of the shield member itself may work for prevention of the PTP; however, the thickness reduction conversely gives rise to the tendency of the above external magnetic field resistance to become worse. Thus, both have tradeoff relations.
Such being the prior art situation, an object of the invention is to provide a thin-film magnetic head structure that is improved in terms of the so-called external magnetic field resistance, and is capable of just only preventing inadvertent erasure of information recorded in a recording medium as much as possible, but also holding back the PTP (pole tip protrusion) phenomenon arising from the generation of heat from coils or external temperature changes.
For a combination of upper and lower magnetic shield layers located above and below a read-only magneto-resistive effect device with it held between them so as to have a magnetic shield action on it, too, there is the same demand, because there are often similar problems with the above write-only thin-film magnetic head.

Thin-film magnetic head having a width-thickness configured shield layer positioned by spacer pieces for use in a head gimbal assembly of a hard disk system


To provide a data compression method that can achieve a high data compression ratio and does not require a buffer circuit or only requires a buffer circuit having a small storage capacity at a receiving side. A data compressor device has an adjustment and compression tool operable to switch a plurality of code words having different code lengths and compress input data at a rate that does not exceed a predetermined receiving speed.

Reconfigurable devices represented by an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) require a very long period of time to read configuration information. As a result, for example, if configuration information is updated many times in order to conduct a test of a reconfigurable device, then the time of reading the configuration information becomes predominant in the test time. Therefore, in order to reduce the time of reading the configuration information, it has been desired to supply compressed data of the configuration information to a reconfigurable device and to expand the compressed data within the reconfigurable device for thereby obtaining the configuration information.
Meanwhile, technology of compressing data for transmission has heretofore been known in the field of data communication (see, e.g., Patent Literature 1).
Furthermore, there has also been known a technique of converting a compression level of data into a level that can be expanded at a receiving side (see, e.g., Patent Literature 2).
Moreover, there has heretofore been known technology of performing a compression depending upon the type of the data (see, e.g., Patent Literature 3).
FIG. 14 is a diagram schematically showing a compression process of data at a transmitting side. A compression tool 141 is operable to compress data (input data) 142 to be transmitted and outputs them as compressed data 143.
FIG. 15 is a diagram schematically showing a related buffer type receiver 150. The buffer type receiver 150 has an expansion circuit 151 and a receiver circuit 152. Furthermore, the buffer type receiver 150 also has a buffer circuit 153 between the expansion circuit 151 and the receiver circuit 152. The compressed data 143 transmitted from the transmitting side are supplied to the expansion circuit 151 and expanded therein. The expanded data are temporarily stored in the buffer circuit 153 and then read by the receiver circuit 152.
FIG. 16 is a graph showing a time-varying expansion speed (output data rate) of the expansion circuit 151. The expansion speed of the expansion circuit 151 is not necessarily constant and varies with passage of time. When the expansion speed of the expansion circuit 151 exceeds a receiving speed (the speed limit or the maximum receiving speed) of the receiver circuit 152, the buffer circuit 153 temporarily stores data that have not been received by the receiver circuit 152 to prevent an overflow of data.
FIG. 17 is a diagram schematically showing a related compressed data conversion device. A conversion circuit 171 temporarily expands high-rate compressed data 173 and converts the expanded data into low-rate compressed data 174 so that an expansion process can be performed in a low-performance expansion circuit 172. With this configuration, an average expansion speed of the low-performance expansion circuit 172 can be improved as shown in FIG. 18.    Patent Literature 1: JP-A 11-154951    Patent Literature 2: JP-A 2000-299664    Patent Literature 3: JP-A 2001-148858

Compressed data transceiver apparatus, data compressor device, compressed data receiver device and data compression method


An image pickup apparatus includes a solid-state image pickup device sharing a circuit necessary for a pixel structure between multiple pixels composing each set including a certain number of pixels having the same arrangement pattern; a pixel mixture correcting unit correcting leakage of light that should be incident on each pixel of the solid-state image pickup device from the pixel into adjacent pixels and/or leakage of light that should be incident on the adjacent pixels into the pixel in accordance with a correction parameter; a correction parameter generating unit generating multiple correction parameters corresponding to the multiple pixels composing the set; and a correction parameter selecting unit selecting the correction parameter from the multiple correction parameters in accordance with which pixel in the multiple pixels composing the set a pixel to be corrected corresponds to and supplying the selected correction parameter to the pixel mixture correcting unit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image pickup apparatus provided with a solid-state image pickup device, such as a complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) image sensor, a method of correcting image data captured by the image pickup apparatus, and a program executing the method.
2. Description of the Related Art
Solid-state image pickup devices, such as charge coupled devices (CCD) image sensors and CMOS image sensors, are configured such that microlenses for condensing light are layered on color filters under which pixel cells including photoelectric transducers are provided.
A problem called "pixel mixture" is unable to be disregarded in such an image pickup device as the pixels are increasingly reduced in size with the increasing density of the pixels in recent years. The pixel mixture is caused because the pitch of the pixels is decreased and light that is condensed by the microlenses on the image pickup devices and that passes through the color filters not only is incident on a pixel on which the light is to be condensed but also tends to leak into adjacent pixels.
FIGS. 18A and 18B illustrate how the pixel mixture occurs. In the examples shown in FIGS. 18A and 18B, the image pickup device is a CMOS image sensor 101 in which condenser lenses 104 composed of microlenses are layered on color filters 103 under which pixel cells 102 are provided. An aperture 105 is provided above the image sensor 101.
When the aperture 105 is not sufficiently narrow as in the example shown in FIG. 18A, light incident on the image sensor 101 through the opening of the aperture 105 is incident on not only one target pixel cell 102 but also adjacent pixel cells 102. Accordingly, the light passing through the color filters 103 other than the color filter 103 for the own pixel cell 102 is incident on each pixel cell 102. From the viewpoint of one pixel, part of the light that should be incident on the pixel leaks from the pixel into pixels around the pixel and part of the light that should be incident on the pixels around the pixel leaks into the pixel. Such a phenomenon is called the pixel mixture.
In contrast, when the aperture 105 is sufficiently narrow and the light incident in the image sensor 101 is incident on only one pixel cell 102 as in the example shown in FIG. 18B, the pixel mixture does not occur.
Since an occurrence of the pixel mixture degrades the separation between the adjacent pixels, an output image is reduced in resolution. In addition, in the case of a single-plate image pickup apparatus (camera system) having one solid-state image pickup device, since light passing through the color filters of different colors leaks into the pixels, the color of an image can become lighter and/or a geometrical pattern depending on the amount of color mixture can be produced in an even area of the image (an area where the content of the image is not varied or is slightly varied). In general, these problems suddenly cause adverse effects on the quality of output images as the pitch of the pixels is made narrower.
The leakage of light from a pixel into adjacent pixels around the pixel and the leakage of light from the adjacent pixels into the pixel are called the pixel mixture in this specification not only when the color of the color filter for the own pixel cell is different from the colors of the color filters for the adjacent pixel cells but also when the colors of the color filters for the adjacent pixel cells are the same as the color of the color filter for the own pixel cell.
Accordingly, in addition to the case where the color filters of different colors are layered on the pixel cells as in the single-plate color image pickup apparatus, also when the color filters for each image pickup device have the same color as in a three-plate color image pickup apparatus having one solid-state image pickup device for the color filter of each color, the state in which light incident on the image pickup apparatus is incident on not only one pixel cell but also adjacent pixel cells is called the pixel mixture.
In the above case, the pixel mixture can cause the resolution to be reduced and the pixels that should have the same color and brightness can be varied in contrast.
Technologies for correcting the pixel mixture in order to resolve the above problems include a technology disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2007-142697. In a basic process of the correction technology disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2007-142697, a value given by multiplying the difference between the value of a target pixel to be corrected, supplied from the solid-state image pickup device in an image pickup apparatus, and the value of an adjacent pixel by an appropriate correction factor (correction parameter) is added to the value of the target pixel. Provision of directionality (the difference in the direction and position between the target pixel and the adjacent pixel) to the correction factor and control by using an F-number are described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2007-142697.
In recent years, there is an increasing need for solid-state image pickup devices, such as the CCD image sensors and the CMOS image sensors, used in video cameras and digital still cameras to increase the number of pixels and to reduce in size. The increase in the number of pixels with the reduction in size causes the area of each pixel to be decreased, thus possibly lowering the pixel sensitivity.
In order to resolve such a problem, the proportion of photodiodes in the pixel structures of the solid-state image pickup devices has been increased as much as possible by devising the circuitry and the wiring layout and/or developing the manufacturing process to achieve both the increase in the number of pixels and the reduction in size. Each pixel structure is composed of the photodiode and a peripheral circuit including amplifier transistors and reset transistors.
However, the recent demand for the solid-state image pickup devices to increase the number of the pixels and to reduce in size is increasing and an improvement in the image quality at lower illumination also attracts attention. Accordingly, it may not be possible to provide the solid-state image pickup devices capable of achieving the pixel sensitivity that ensures a desirable image quality only by the above actions.
In such a situation, pixel sharing technologies receive widespread attention in order to overcome the above drawbacks of the solid-state image pickup devices. In the pixel sharing technologies, part of the circuit necessary for the pixel structure, for example, the amplifier transistors and/or the reset transistors, are shared between multiple pixels that are horizontally and/or vertically adjacent or close to each other to reduce the area of the circuit (including the wiring) per pixel and to increase the area of the photodiode by the amount corresponding to the reduction in the area of the circuit per pixel, thereby improving the pixel sensitivity.
For example, Japanese Patent Application No. 3838665 discloses a pixel sharing technology for sharing the amplifier transistors and the reset transistors necessary to read out pixel data from each pixel between two adjacent pixels. In this technology, the pixel data is read out from each pixel while the two adjacent pixels connected to the amplifier transistors and the reset transistors are sequentially selected at slightly different times to decrease the number of transistors per pixel and to increase the area of the photodiode by the amount corresponding to the decrease in the number of transistors per pixel in order to realize the improvement of the pixel sensitivity.
All the pixels are normally structured evenly in general solid-state image pickup devices that do not adopt the pixel sharing technology. In other words, the pixel structure of the general solid-state image pickup devices is common to the pixels at any positions on the screen. Accordingly, the photodiodes for all the pixels have the same peripheral environment in the semiconductor structure in such general solid-state image pickup devices. Consequently, the optical characteristics are basically common to all the pixels if the factor of any variation in the manufacturing is excluded.
In contrast, in a typical solid-state image pickup device adopting the "pixel sharing technology" disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application No. 3838665, all the units have the same structure when the multiple pixels that share the circuit and that are adjacent or close to each other are considered as one unit while the pixels arranged at different positions in each unit have different peripheral environments in the semiconductor structure. Accordingly, the arrangement pattern of the multiple pixels sharing the circuit is repeated to produce the circuit layout in the solid-state image pickup device adopting the pixel sharing technology.
Specifically, when the multiple pixels sharing the circuit are considered as one unit, the multiple units are repetitively arranged horizontally and vertically in the solid-state image pickup devices adopting the pixel sharing technology. Since the photodiodes for the pixels arranged at the same position in the arrangement pattern of the multiple pixels in the multiple units have the same peripheral environment in the semiconductor structure, the pixels have the same optical characteristics.
However, the pixels arranged at different positions in the arrangement pattern of the multiple pixels sharing the circuit in the multiple units, that is, the pixels that are adjacent or close to each other in each of the multiple units have different circuitries and/or layouts. Accordingly, the photodiodes for the pixels have different peripheral environments in the semiconductor structure, thus providing different pixel characteristics.
Consequently, even if an image of a fully even subject is captured by the solid-state image pickup device adopting the "pixel sharing technology", different pixel values are output from adjacent pixels in each unit and, thus, there is a problem in that the quality of the final output image may be greatly lowered.
In related art, in order to resolve the above problems involved in the pixel sharing, many technologies for devising the pixel structure of the solid-state image pickup device are disclosed in, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2004-172950, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2005-110104, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2006-73733, and Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2006-157953. In such technologies, for example, (A) the pixel layout is devised to reduce the optical unevenness as much as possible or (B) the pixel sharing is performed so as not to adversely affect the output images if the optical unevenness occurs.

Image pickup apparatus provided with a solid-state image pickup device


Disclosed is a parent material for wooden patterns which is made free of direction due to grain unlike in natural timber, stickiness caused by heat during cutting process unlike thermoplastic resin foam and micro-vibration due to foam, and which can prevent occurrence of distortion in the pattern made thereof, can afford so thick mold as more than 50 millimeter in spite of using wood flour as a base material and can be plated, and to provide a method of producing such a parent material. As base materials 50 to 70% by weight of 80 to 200 mesh wood flour and 30 to 50% by weight of a self-hardening resin constituted of a main resin, a hardening agent and an accelerator are used for kneading together and the mixture is subjected to molding under pressure at ordinary temperature so as to regulate water absorption to 3% or lower for every 24 hours for obtaining a product in specified size and in high density.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a parent material for wooden patterns to be used for the production of cast parts in car, machine and other parts and to a method of manufacturing it.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Previously the wooden model or pattern for making a sand cast mold for the production of cast parts has been made by using such natural timbers as Japanese white pine, red pine and magnolia after desiccating for a long years, and wax and other materials have been applied for moisture-proofing over the surface. In the case of mass production of cast mold a model (original pattern of cast mold) made of aluminium, brass or other metal or resin has been used in place of wooden pattern. In view of mechanical processibility and economy ABS foam, polyethylene foam, polypropylene foam and other synthestic resin foams made of thermosetting, synthetic resins have been utilized extensively as the parent material for making such wooden patterns, and such thermosetting, synthetic resin foams as of epoxy, phenol and polyurethane resins have also been used.
When natural timbers are used as the parent material for wooden patterns, they are required to be desiccated for a long period (longer than 10 years), and still the produced pattern shows distortion by swelling, contraction and others due to moisture absorption after some 6 months. Since natural timbers show direction of grain, which is the causative factor of the distortion, wood plates are layered alternately in regard to the direction of grain for preventing the distortion, but it has not been able to prevent it so far. It is also noted that the presence of grain and knot makes natural wood material heterogeneous, and it is a cause of such a shortcoming of difficulty in cutting during processing. Natural timbers also show limitation in the surface hardness being lower in comparison with metals, and they show relatively low contraction resistance and subsequently defectively inferior durability.
When aluminium, brass and other metals are used for making parent material for wooden patterns, processibility is satisfactory and excellent pattern (model) in regard to distortion and durability can be produced, but it is defective in being expensive.
Such above-stated synthetic resins as of ABS. polyethylene, polypropylene, epoxy, phenol and urethane are used in the foamed state for making the parent material for wooden patterns. The reason of using resin foams is that in processing of synthetic resins thermoplastic resins become sticky due to their melting by frictional heat of cutting blade during cutting, while thermosetting resins are so hard and fragile that cutting is difficult to do, and foamed resins have been employed for easier cutting. However, said synthetic resin foams often vibrate finely during cutting posing a problem of difficulty in high speed cutting. In addition the foamed thermoplastic resins are molded for making the parent material after melting similarly as with unfoamed ones, and they are molten by heating, extruded to fill forming mold and solidified by cooling, and during these processes the resins show internal stress that remains and works to move in the backward direction to the flowing direction. Accordingly the internal stress is liable to lose balancing during cutting the parent material for making pattern, and it causes occurrence of distortion.
On the other hand, when a wood-derived material consisting of wood flour and a binder of a thermosetting resin is used by the procedure with heating under pressure, there evolves the following problems. Thus, as the first problem, the presence of wood flour lowers heat conductivity so that hardening of the resin takes place only to 25 millimeter deep from the surface at the best. Therefore, the limit of the thickness of mold to be produced is 50 millimeter and when it is thicker than this limit the internal part deeper than 25 millimeter from the surface is not hardened remaining in a powdery state. (This is due to that containing more than 30% of wood flour lowers heat conductivity and that heat required by hardening does not reach the internal part.) Additional heating of the material in a dielectric heat dryer for hardening of this internal part should cause evaporation of moisture from this part, but the outer resin that has already been hardened does not pass the moisture with the result of swelling and distortion of whole material. The second problem is that due to elevation of temperature from the outer part during heating causing gathering of resin to the surface, the resin density at the contacting surface between the material and forming die becomes higher and subsequently the homogeneity of the outer and internal parts of the material is damaged. From these 2 reasons the wood-derived materials using thermosetting reins as binder are not homogeneous and inadequate for use as the parent material for wooden patterns.

Method of manufacturing a parent material for wooden patterns

Industrial Technical R&D Laboratory Inc.


In a single facer, the premoistened medium web is dried on both surfaces to a shallow depth immediately prior to passage through the corrugating nip. The dried shallow surface layers substantially decrease friction between the flutes of the corrugating rolls and the paper while the interior of the web is maintained in a moist condition necessary for formability.

The present invention pertains to the treatment of a paper web which is subsequently corrugated to form the fluted medium in the manufacture of corrugated paperboard. More particularly, the present invention pertains to an apparatus and method for drying a shallow surface layer of the premoistened web immediately prior to entry into the corrugating nip.
In the manufacture of corrugated paperboard, the corrugated medium is formed by passing the paper web through the nip formed by a pair of counterrotating fluted corrugating rolls. Upstream of the corrugating nip, the medium web is heated and premoistened to enhance the formability of the flutes by the corrugating rolls. In a typical preheater, the web is heated by passing it around a heated roll with moisture applied either by a water spray or the application of steam. The premoistened web is transferred directly into the corrugating nip and the fully moistened web permits the flutes to be formed therein without rupturing the web. However, the moisture in the web surface layers significantly increases the coefficient of friction of the web surface. This in turn directly affects the corrugating process because increased friction between the paper and the flutes of the corrugating rolls results in a significant tension increase in the medium web as it moves through the labyrinth of the fluting process.

Surface heating for a corrugated medium web