A native content handler in a user device, such as a smart phone, determines whether requested content may by delivered using special handling, such as prioritized or sponsored access. A listener of the content handler determines whether special handling may possibly be applicable to the content, and the listener modifies a universal resource locator (URL) associated with the content to mark the URL. An agent portion of the content handler exchanges data with a validation device to determine whether the user device is actually eligible to receive the content with the special handling. If the user device is eligible, the agent uses data provided by the validation device to obtain the content using the special handling.

A user device, such as a computer, tablet, or smart phone, may access various content (e.g., web pages, multimedia content, programs, services, etc.) via a service network. For example, the user device may correspond to a mobile device that communicates via a wireless data and communications network, such as a wireless wide-area network (WWAN). In certain instances, the service network may use conventional handling procedures when providing certain content to the user device at certain times, and the service network may use different, special handling procedures when delivering the content at other times or when delivering other content. In one example, the service network may transmit certain content using a specialized network path that provides certain performance attributes (e.g., desired levels of bandwidth, delay, jitter, packet losses, etc.). In another example, the service network may transmit content using a different protocol, priority (e.g., quality of service priority) and/or access fees. User access to wireless communication networks and data services typically involves some form of payment made to a service network provider, but in some instances, a third party (e.g., a content provider) may sponsor a user's data consumption in order to entice user engagement.


An orthodontic bracket and ligature are provided in which the bracket, in the preferred embodiment, includes a cylindrical post, spaced from a bracket base to extend horizontally parallel thereto, and having an archwire slot therein. A spring material ligature band, naturally coiled and secured to a plastic installation strip, is pulled around the post of the bracket until a hooked trailing terminal end of the band catches on the bracket, pulling it loose from the strip, and allowing it to snap around the post to hold and confine the archwire in the slot. Different width ligatures seat to different positions on the post to allow the wire to be held to selected tightnesses in the slot by selection of the ligature.

For decades, orthodontic appliances for use in the straightening of a patient's teeth have, for a given dental arch, been formed of an elastic metal orthodontic archwire and a plurality of orthodontic brackets, each secured to one of the patient's teeth and to which the archwire is connected. Typically, an orthodontic bracket standard in the field has included a base, or pad, that is secured to the tooth and an archwire support, fixed to the pad and containing an archwire slot, of rectangular cross-section, into which the archwire is fit.
Prior to the 1960s, orthodontic archwires had been literally ligated or tied to the brackets, usually with a strong though plastically bendable wire. The ligating of the wire to the brackets involved the meticulous manipulation of the fine wire by the orthodontist using a pliers, and then the cutting of the ligature wire, and the tieing of the ends of the wire so as to securely attach the archwire to the bracket and so as to prevent the sharp wire ends from injuring the patient. Because of the unpleasantness to the orthodontist and the patient of the ligating process, orthodontists have, for many years, desired a "ligatureless bracket" that would replace the ligating process.
True ligatureless brackets have been envisioned as brackets with reusable, non-removable spring clips of one sort or another to fix the archwire to the brackets. In their implementation, true ligatureless brackets have not been successful in performance or in the marketplace for several reasons, most relating to unsatisfactory clinical function, reliability and technique modifications that these brackets require.
Since the 1960s, a urethane doughnut or O-ring like ligature has had widespread acceptance. Such a ligature is radially expanded with a plier tool and snapped around four hooked ends of the tie wings of a double winged bracket and over an archwire set in the slot of the bracket, thereby tightly urging the archwire into the bracket slot and ligating the archwire to the bracket. While not totally eliminating the ligature, the urethane doughnut performed the function of the former ligature without requiring the twisting, cutting or tucking-in of the sharp ends of the ligating wire.
Nonetheless, the current urethane doughnut ligature and double tie-wing bracket is less than totally ideal in several respects. First, in many applications the tie-wings of the brackets interfere with occlusion. Further, they have a limited latitude of placement on the teeth, leave a great deal of room for improvement in aesthetic appearance, and present moderate difficulty in maintaining hygiene. Additionally, differences in designs of the tie-wing brackets for different teeth of a patient can require the orthodontist to stock and match ligatures of different sizes and properties to respective individual brackets. Therefore, there is a need for improvement in the art of ligating orthodontic archwires to brackets and in the overall design of the brackets and the archwire securing structure.

Orthodontic bracket and ligature and method of ligating archwire to bracket


An organic light emitting display includes a base substrate, a driving transistor arranged on the base substrate, a first electrode electrically connected to the driving transistor, an organic light emitting layer arranged on the first electrode to generate a light, a second electrode arranged on the organic light emitting layer, an opposite substrate facing the base substrate and including micro-lenses to disperse the light generated by the organic light emitting layer, and a sub-electrode arranged on at least one of the micro-lenses, the sub-electrode making contact with the second electrode to be electrically connected to the second electrode.

1. Technical Field
Embodiments of the present invention relate to an organic light emitting display having an improved display quality and a method of manufacturing the organic light emitting display.
2. Discussion of Related Art
An organic light emitting display may include an organic light emitting layer, an upper electrode arranged on the organic light emitting display, and a lower electrode arranged under the organic light emitting display. The organic light emitting layer emits light using a current provided through the upper electrode and the lower electrode, and displays an image using the light.
However, the display quality of the organic light emitting display may be reduced when less than an optimum amount of light exits the display after passing through the upper electrode. One conventional method of improving display quality makes use of a thinner upper electrode. For example, in a top emission type organic light emitting display, the upper electrode may be formed to be thin enough to maximize the amount of light exiting to an exterior after passing through the upper electrode. However, the electrical conductivity of the upper electrode may deteriorate because the thinner upper electrode causes an increased electrical resistance, thereby decreasing the quality of the display.
Thus, there is a need for organic light emitting displays and methods of manufacturing such, which can make use of a thinner upper electrode while preventing or reducing the associated deterioration in display quality.

Organic light emitting display with micro-lenses and method of manufacturing the same


The invention relates to digital signal processing and specifically to level control of a pulse density modulated (PDM) signal generated by a sigma-delta modulator. A single-bit pulse density modulated PDM signal is generated by a first sigma-delta modulator being an analog modulator, for instance. Level control is performed by multiplying the single-bit pulse density modulated PDM signal by a multibit multiplier to obtain a multibit number stream, which is reconverted into a single-bit PDM signal by a second digital sigma-delta modulator, as to the signal-to-noise ratio. Thus the most significant factor in the total signal-to-noise is the noise level of the first sigma-delta modulator, by which the PDM signal was originally generated. In the subsequent second sigma-delta modulator, the PDM signal can then be attenuated as much as is the difference between SNR performance of the modulators without any decrease in the total signal-to-noise ratio. A relative amplification of the PDM signal is provided in this manner.

The invention relates to digital signal processing and specifically to controlling the level of a pulse density modulation (PDM) signal generated by a sigma-delta modulator.
The basic operations of signal processing, multiplication and addition, can be implemented in a known manner by analog signal processing blocks, or an analog signal can be converted into a digital one by using an A/D converter and the desired signal processing operations can be performed digitally. The results can be reconverted into analog signals by using a D/A converter. The A/D and D/A conversions are performed at predetermined sample frequency and at a predetermined resolution.
A/D and D/A convertors based on sigma-delta modulators have become very common recently. In a sigma-delta A/D convertor, a conversion of an analog signal into a baseband digital signal occurs at two stages. At the first stage, an input signal is converted by a sigma-delta modulator into an oversampled single-bit or multibit signal. At the second stage, this oversampled single-bit or multibit signal is decimated to the baseband by using digital filtering. Sigma-delta technique and converters are described for instance in the following articles:
[1] xe2x80x9cAn Overview of Sigma-Delta Convertersxe2x80x9d, P. M. Aziz et al, IEEE Signal Processing Magazine, January 1996, pages 61 to 84.
[2] xe2x80x9cOversampling Delta-sigma Data Converters: Theory, Design and Simulationxe2x80x9d, J. C. Candy et al, IEEE Press NJ 1992, pages 1 to 25.
[3] xe2x80x9cDesign Methodology for Sigma-Delta Modulationxe2x80x9d. B. P. Agrawal et al, IEEE Transactions on Communications, Vol. COM-31, March 1983, pages 360 to 370.
An oversampled output signal of a sigma-delta modulator is a pulse density modulated (PDM) representation of an input signal. In sigma-delta A/D converters, the modulator converts an analog signal into a pulse density modulated (PDM) format. The PDM signal consists of an oversampled single-bit or multibit (e.g. 2 to 4 bits) signal. The relative pulse density of the PDM signal determine represents the amplitude of the input signal. In a frequency domain, the baseband part of the spectrum of the PDM signal is the useful signal band, and at higher frequencies of the spectrum, there is quantization noise produced by a noise processing function of the sigma-delta modulator. It has thus been possible to change the resolution at signal frequencies for over-sampling rate. As known, the noise processing performance of the sigma-delta modulator depends on the order of the modulator, and higher-order modulators remove quantization noise more efficiently from the signal band. By increasing the oversample ratio, the signal band can also be made narrower, in proportion, and the amount of the noise falling on the signal band smaller. Moreover, the amount of noise in the signal band in a sigma-delta modulator can be controlled by the transfer function of the modulator, e.g. by inserting zeroes at suitable frequencies in the transfer function of the modulator.
Solutions for implementing a limited number of signal processing operations by using PDM signals have been presented in the literature lately. The known advantages of digital signal processing are then achieved, such as accuracy, repeatability, unsensitivity to interference, and so on. When a signal is processed directly in an oversampled PDM format, it needs not be converted into a pulse code modulated (PCM) signal at the Nyquist frequency for signal processing. Decimation and interpolation filters generating a baseband PCM signal from a PDM signal can then be omitted in signal processing points. This is a remarkable advantage, because a circuit implementation of a sigma-delta modulator generating the PDM signal is usually small in size and simple, while the decimation and interpolation filter often is a big and complex circuit structure requiring much circuit surface in an integrated circuit implementation and therefore causing additional costs. For instance, the article [4], xe2x80x9cDesign and Analysis of Delta-Sigma Based IIR Filtersxe2x80x9d, D. A. John et al, IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems-II: Analog and Digital Signal Processing. Vol. 40, NO. 4, pages 233 to 240, describes an A/D converter having many inputs, each input being filtered separately and summed together before a common decimation filter. An audio mixing board, for instance, can be implemented in this way.
An important form of signal processing is control of signal level: amplification and/or attenuation. This property is very usable especially for audio applications, such as the above-mentioned audio mixing board. Accordingly, it would be preferable, if a PDM signal level also could be controlled. FIG. 1 of the above article [4] shows a sigma-delta attenuator, in which an oversampled 1-bit signal (PDM) is multiplied by a multibit coefficient al and the resulting multibit signal is applied to a digital sigma-delta modulator outputting a 1-bit PDM signal. The multiplier of the 1-bit PDM signal is implemented as a 2-input multiplexor (selector) selecting al or xe2x88x92a1 as an output according to the state of the incoming PDM signal. The article also describes a digital sigma-delta filter suitable for this purpose. The attenuator is possible to implement when said multibit coefficient is lower than one. The feedback value of the sigma-delta modulator being b and said coefficient being a, an attenuation ratio a/b is obtained.
A problem with this known solution is that only an attenuation of a PDM signal has been possible, and therefore, it has been necessary to perform all multiplications by coefficients lower than one. An amplification of a PDM signal has not been considered possible, because the input value of the modulator cannot exceed or even come near the feedback value of the modulator due to the structure of the sigma-delta modulator. The sigma-delta modulator is a conditionally stable structure and the output signals of integrators escape upon the input exceeding a predetermined value. In an analog sigma-delta modulator, the input value is allowed to be normally, depending on the order and the structure of the modulator, approximately 0.3 to 0.7 times the feedback value, cf. article [3]. An amplification of the PDM signal in such a circuit would require an ingoing signal to be multiplied by a number higher than the feedback value. Even if the input level of an A/D modulator were very low and it could, in principle, be amplified quite much by setting the input signal values (a) higher than the feedback value (b), the resulting PDM signal would have only +1 and xe2x88x921 values (single-bit case). By multiplying, the modulator would momentarily obtain too high values. The density and energy of the PDM signal would still be low on an average, but instantaneous values would make the modulator quickly unstable.
An object of the invention is a signal processing method and device, enabling also a relative amplification of a PDM signal, without the noise level increasing remarkably.
The objects of the invention are achieved by a signal processing method comprising the steps of generating an N-bit pulse density modulated signal by a first sigma-delta modulator, where N=1, 2, . . . ; controlling the level of the pulse density modulated signal a) by multiplying the N-bit pulse density modulated signal by a multibit multiplier, the output of which is an M-bit signal, where M greater than N, b) by converting the M-bit signal into an N-but pulse density modulated signal by a digital sigma-delta modulator. The method is according to the invention characterized in that the M-bit signal is converted into the N-bit pulse density modulated signal by the digital sigma-delta modulator having a better signal-to-noise ratio performance than said first sigma-delta modulator.
Another object of the invention is a signal processing system comprising a first sigma-delta modulator generating an N-bit pulse density modulated signal, where N=1, 2, . . . ; means for controlling the level of the pulse density modulated signal, the means comprising a) a multibit multiplier, the input of which is the N-bit pulse density modulated signal and the output an M-bit signal, where M greater than N, b) a digital sigma-delta modulator converting the M-bit signal into the N-bit pulse density modulated signal. The system is according to the invention characterized in that said digital sigma-delta modulator has a better signal-to-noise ratio performance than said first sigma-delta modulator.
A single-bit pulse density modulated PDM signal is generated by the first sigma-delta modulator being an analog modulator, for instance. The level control is performed by multiplying the single-bit PDM signal by a multibit coefficient, so that a multibit stream of numbers is obtained. The number stream is reconverted into a single-bit PDM signal by a second sigma-delta modulator, preferably being a digital modulator.
In accordance with the basic idea of the invention, the signal-to-noise ratio performance of said second sigma-delta modulator, by which the multibit stream of numbers is reconverted into a PDM signal, is better than that of said first sigma-delta modulator. Accordingly, the most significant factor of the total signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) is the noise level of the first sigma-delta modulator, by which the PDM signal originally was generated. In said subsequent second sigma-delta modulator, the PDM signal can be attenuated within a range which is equal to the difference between the SNR performances of the modulators, without any decrease in the total signal-to-noise ratio. For instance, if the SNR of the first sigma-delta modulator is 90 dB at maximum excitation and the SNR of the second sigma-delta modulator is 110 dB, the PDM signal can be attenuated in the second modulator by nearly 20 dB without any decrease in the signal-to-noise ratio. This is possible, because, in the latter modulator, besides the signal, naturally also the noise of the first modulator on the signal band is attenuated and approaches the noise floor set by the second modulator structure.
The PDM signal has thus been scaled to a slightly lower level without any decrease in the performance. Though the second sigma-delta modulator also attenuates the signal, the attenuation may be less than said difference between the performances (20 dB in the above example), whereby a relative amplification is achieved. When the PDM signal is attenuated less than said difference between the SNR performances of the two modulators, the same total signal-to-noise ratio is obtained as by the preceding analog modulator. In the example case, the nominal level of the signal can be fixed to a point where the first modulator gives an unattenuated signal and the second modulator attenuates the signal by 20 dB. The second-order attenuation may be C. In the example case, the total signal-to-noise ratio will then be 90 dB, the signal being between +20-0 dB and 90+20xe2x88x92(c), c being between 20 and 110 dB, and the attenuation of the system thus between 0 and 90 dB.


The problems to be solved by the invention are to provide a fiber reinforced cement composition for obtaining a fiber reinforced cement product which is excellent in bending strength, dimensional stability and installing property such as handling property, flexibility performance and nail performance, as well as a process for manufacturing the product.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a fiber reinforced cement composition using a hydraulic inorganic material such as cement, products thereof and a manufacturing process thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
The following description sets forth the inventor's knowledge of related art and problems therein and should not be construed as an admission of knowledge in the prior art.
Hitherto, for manufacturing process of fiber reinforced cement product using a hydraulic inorganic material such as cement, when the specific gravity of fiber reinforced cement product is high by adding a lot of powder, freezing and fusion resistance and bending strength improve basically.
But, if the product is hard by high specific gravity thereof, there is a problem in installing property such as nail performance.
And, for reason to improve of physical properties, about powder material, addition of various lightweight aggregates is examined.
For example, in Japanese Patent No. 3374515, it is disclosed that the amount of not less than 5% by mass and not more than 30% by mass of vermiculite adds in cementitious molding composition.
In Japanese unexamined laid open patent publication No. 2000-264701, it is disclosed that wood fiber which specified average fiber length and average width of fiber adds in matrix, furthermore, the amount of not less than 18% by mass and not more than 60% by mass of expanded inorganic material such as expanded perlite adds in matrix.
And, in Japanese patent Publication No. H08-32603, it is disclosed that lightweight cementitious molding composition for extrusion comprising cement, lightweight aggregate, inorganic aggregate, organic fiber, additive of cellulose type, in which lightweight aggregate is fly ash which has average particle size of not more than 2 mm, has a bulk specific gravity of not less than 0.1 and not more than 0.4, and inorganic aggregate comprising (A) and (B), in which inorganic aggregate (A) is spherical aggregate which has a particle size of not less than 1 μm and not more than 100 μm selected out of fly ash and spherical calcium silicate hydrates, in which inorganic aggregate (B) is a ultra-fine particle aggregate which has a particle size of not less than 0.01 μm and not more than 0.5 μm selected out of micro-silica, silica fume, natural pozzolan, diatomaceous earth, silica flower, aerosol.
Here, a lightweight cementitious composition is for extrusion, and lightweight aggregate and inorganic aggregate are quite spherical, because it is to get reduction of extrusion pressure of an extrusion and fluency of an extrusion.
However, in not extrusion that is wet forming such as Hatschek process and flow on process, it mixes raw materials with water, and it makes a slurry of raw materials flow down on a felt, and it is aspirated from under the felt and it dehydrates, there is danger that lightweight aggregate, particularly, hollow lightweight aggregate rise from the slurry in forming process and gather in the surface side, and there is danger that unevenness occurs to specific gravity of products, and there is danger that delamination occurs when a green sheet is rolled up around a making roll.
The description herein of advantages and disadvantages of various features, embodiments, methods, and apparatus disclosed in other publications is in no way intended to limit the present invention. For example, certain features of the preferred embodiments of the invention may be capable of overcoming certain disadvantages and/or providing certain advantages, such as, e.g., disadvantages and/or advantages discussed herein, while retaining some or all of the features, embodiments, methods, and apparatus disclosed therein.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Fiber reinforced cement composition and products and manufacturing process

Abstract: Namely, the fiber reinforced cement composition comprises the following raw materials: a hydraulic inorganic material, a siliceous material and a woody reinforcement, wherein the siliceous material is an inorganic hollow material and/or an inorganic spherical material and a finely dividing inorganic hollow material and/or a finely dividing inorganic spherical material.

Abstract: The effects of the present invention, it is possible to obtain a fiber reinforced cement product having good bending strength, dimensional stability and installing property such as handling property, flexibility performance and nail performance.


A system for demodulating piecewise coherent, combined frequency and phase-shift-keyed signals that are modulateed by orthogonal or biorthogonal code words. Rather than maintain local reference signals in phase-lock with the received signal, the system mixes the received signal with both sine and cosine signals at both the mark and the space frequencies to obtain multiple outputs which are correlated with each of the code words utilized by the system to determine the particular code words that have been received.

1. Field of the Invention
The system of this invention relates to the demodulation of piecewise coherent, combined frequency and phase-shift-keyed signals. More particularly, this system applies to the demodulation of such signals that are modulated by orthogonal or bi-orthogonal codes. Examples of orthogonal codes used to modulate such signals are described in "Codes with Special Correlation" by Leonard Baumert which appears as Chapter 4 in "Digital Communication with Space Applications" edited by Soloman Golomb, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, N.J. (1964).
2. Description of the Prior Art
Prior art systems exist for the demodulation of coherent, phase-shift-keyed signals. However, in some applications, such as in "frequency-hopping" communication systems, the received signals do not exhibit phase coherence over long intervals. In frequency-hopping systems, the transmission frequency is changed abruptly a number of times during transmission. Typically, the changes in frequency are a great many times greater than that normally associated with frequency shift keying. Because of the large changes in frequency, and the variations of propagation conditions with frequency, phase-coherence between the different transmission frequencies, typically does not obtain. However, the received signal normally still exhibits phase-coherence during the interval of transmission on a single frequency. The period of transmission at a single frequency, normally is sufficiently long to include the transmission of one, and typically a number, of code words. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 4,485, filed Jan. 8, 1979, for the invention "IN-PHASE QUADRATURE DEMODULATOR FOR CPSK SIGNALS" describes a system for demodulating such frequency-hopped signals where phase coherence is maintained only for the short intervals containing one or more code words of transmitted data. A system also has been developed for the modulation and demodulation of signals by a combination of frequency and phase-shift-keying. Such a combined system is described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 880,631, filed Feb. 23, 1978, now abandoned and replaced by continuation-in-part Ser. No. 50,795, filed June 21, 1979. The system of the invention described in the present application is an adaptation of the "in-phase quadrature" demodulation technique for use in the demodulation of combined, frequency and phase-shift-keyed signals which exhibit piecewise phase coherence over the intervals occupied by one or more code words, but which may lack phase coherence between the portions of the signal received at different frequencies because of frequency hopping.

Piecewise coherent, combined frequency and phase-shift-keyed signal demodulator


A vehicle splash guard includes a base portion, a mounting structure, and a first non-fastener locating projection. The base portion is configured to extend into a wheel well defined by a vehicle body structure. The mounting structure is defined on an inner surface of the base portion and is configured to fixedly couple the vehicle splash guard to the vehicle body structure. The first non-fastener locating projection extends away from an inner surface of the base portion and is spaced apart from the mounting structure. The first non-fastener locating projection is configured to contact a laterally extending edge of the vehicle body structure that is located on an underside of the vehicle body structure to restrict movement of the base portion relative to the vehicle body structure in a longitudinal direction of the vehicle body structure when the vehicle splash guard is installed to the vehicle body structure.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a vehicle splash guard. More specifically, the present invention relates to a vehicle splash guard having at least one projection that is configured to contact an inboard surface of a vehicle body structure to restrict movement of the vehicle splash guard in relation to the vehicle body structure.
2. Background Information
Vehicles are often equipped with splash guards that are positioned behind the tires to block water and other debris that is projected backward by the tires when the vehicle is travelling in a forward direction. Typically, the splash guards are removably coupled to the vehicle structure by fasteners such as screws, and extend into the wheel wells behind the tires. However, due to vibration of the vehicle, contact with objects and typical wear and tear, splash guards can become loose or misaligned from their original positions. Such issues can lead to increased warranty and repair costs, which is especially problematic when the splash guards are otherwise structurally free of defects.
In view of the above, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art from this disclosure that there exists a need for an improved vehicle splash guard. This invention addresses this need in the art as well as other needs, which will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this disclosure.


According to one embodiment, an imprinting apparatus is provided. The imprinting apparatus includes a controller that controls a resist drop position on a wafer to be imprinted with a pattern, using a first resist drop recipe corresponding to a first topography of the wafer.

An imprinting technique is a pattern forming technique which transfers a template having an uneven transfer pattern formed therein to a resist on a wafer at the same magnification. In an imprinting process, in some cases, an overlay error occurs due to shearing force applied to the template and the wafer.
Therefore, in the imprinting process, it is desirable to reduce the shearing force applied to the template and the wafer to reduce the overlay error.

Imprinting apparatus, recording medium, and imprinting method


An apparatus and a combined process for carbon dioxide gas separation, combining the hydrate-based process with the chemical absorption process, which reduces secondary pollution and allows the efficient continuous separation of carbon dioxide gas without increasing the pressure and thereby the operating cost is reduced significantly. The apparatus and combined process can be applied in the separation of carbon dioxide in IGCC synthetic gas, natural gas and biogas, and address the issues of the existing processes such as high energy consumption, low throughput, and secondary pollution.

Excessive emission of carbon dioxide caused by the combustion of fossil fuels has been considered as the primary cause of global warming, about ⅓ of which is from power plants emission. Thus the separation and capture of the carbon dioxide from power plants has become a priority in emission reduction all over the world. At present, there are three leading approaches for separating carbon dioxide, i.e., pre-combustion capture, post-combustion capture, and oxygen-rich combustion capture. The pre-combustion capture has been considered to be a promising approach for decarbonization, and IGCC (Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle) process is considered to be an effective approach for pre-combustion capture.
The synthetic gas produced by IGCC process is a mixture of carbon dioxide and hydrogen wherein the carbon dioxide accounts for 20%-40% of the mixture, and has an outlet pressure of 2-5 MPa. By removing the carbon dioxide within it, the IGCC synthetic gas only produces water as combustion product which does no harm to the environment, making it a clean energy. Thus, the separation and capture of carbon dioxide has become the key of the technology.
At present, methods for separating and capturing carbon dioxide in IGCC synthetic gas mainly include cryogenic separation process, chemical absorption process, membrane absorption process, and combined physical and chemical absorption process. Chen has made a research on the chemical absorption process and presented a systematic evaluation (Study on CO2 Capture Technology Based on IGCC Power Generation Systems, 2014). Zhang has presented a systematic review on the current carbon dioxide capture processes, focusing on the influence of the adsorbent on the adsorption of carbon dioxide (Adsorptive Separation of Carbon Dioxide, 2012). The above mention methods have been proofed to be efficient in practice, but problems exist, such as high operating cost, secondary pollution, and the underdevelopment of supporting technologies. Li et al has disclosed a hydrate-based process for separating carbon dioxide which is considered to be low-cost and non-pollution (Chinese patent publication No. CN103638800A). Song et al has disclosed an apparatus for the hydrate-based separation (Chinese patent publication No. CN103961989A). Compared with the traditional methods, apparatuses for separating and capturing carbon dioxide using hydrate-based method present advantages, but challenges in commercialization exist such as low hydrate formation rate, and incapability of continuous production; furthermore, while the efficiency of primary separation is low, multi-stage separation has a challenge in commercialization that, as the concentration of the carbon dioxide is reduced in each stage, the required pressure for hydrate formation will rise dramatically in the subsequent stage.

Apparatus and combined process for carbon dioxide gas separation

GUANGZHOU INSTITUTE OF ENERGY CONVERSION, CHINESE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES


A braided solder wire rope includes a first alloy including Bi—Ag, Bi—Cu, Bi—Ag—Cu, or Bi—Sb; and the second alloy including Sn, In Sn—Ag, Sn—Cu, Sn—Ag—Cu, Sn—Zn, Bi—Sn, Sn—In, Sn—Sb or Bi—In, such that the second alloy controls an interface reaction chemistry with various metallization surface finish materials without interfering with a high temperature performance of the first alloy. The first alloy may have a solidus temperature around 258° C. and at least the first alloy of the first wire and the second alloy of the second wire may be braided together.

High lead solders are high temperature solders that are often used to keep the internal connections of an electrical device properly positioned and stationed on a printing wire board (PWB). However, when the electronic devices containing lead solders are disposed, the lead from the lead solders still remains, which is considered to be hazardous to the environment and human health. As a result, stricter regulations increasingly prohibit the use of Pb-bearing solders in the electronic interconnection and the electronic packaging industries. Thus, Pb-free solders are widely being investigated as an alternative substitute to replace the traditional eutectic Pb—Sn solders. For example, SnAg, SnCu, SnAgCu and SnZn solders are now becoming the mainstream Pb—Sn alternatives for use within the semiconductor and electronics industries. However, the development of high temperature Pb-free solders that are appropriate for substituting conventional lead-rich (or the so-called high lead) ones, such as Pb-5Sn & Pb-5Sn-2.5Ag, are still in its infancy.
A common application of high temperature solders is often utilized to achieve die-attach, which is also known as die-bonding. In an exemplary process, an assembly is formed by soldering a silicon die onto a lead-frame using the high temperature solder. Then, the silicon die/lead-frame assembly, which may or may not be encapsulated, is attached onto the PWB by soldering or mechanical fastening. The PWB may then be further exposed to a few more reflow processes for surface mounting with other electronic devices. During the entire process, the internal connections between the silicon die and the lead-frame should be well maintained. To do so, this requires that the high temperature solder resist the multiple reflows without any functional failure. As such, the major requirements for high temperature solders include: (i) a sufficiently high melting temperature around 260° C. and above (in accordance with typical solder reflow profiles), (ii) the ability to achieve sufficient thermal fatigue resistance, (iii) high thermal/electric conductivity, and (iv) low manufacturing costs.
Currently, there are no drop-in lead-free solder alternatives that are available for high temperature solder use. While Bi—Ag alloys have a solidus temperature of 262° C. and thus satisfies the high melting temperature requirement for die-attach solders, there are a few major concerns with the use of such Bi—Ag alloys. For example, Bi—Ag alloys characteristically experience poor wetting on various surface finishes due to its weak bonding interface. As a result, Bi—Ag alloys are a poor choice for solder joint applications.
Additionally, while Sn-based alloys have good reaction chemistry with commonly used surface finish materials such as Cu/Ag/Ni/Au, alloying Sn into Bi—Ag is not ideal because it often leads to poor results. For example, alloying Sn into Bi—Ag will either result in poor wetting when insufficient amounts of Sn are alloyed, or result in a low melting point temperature of the Bi—Sn alloys when excess amounts of Sn are alloyed. This is largely due to the fact that Sn in the Bi—Ag alloy will form Ag3Sn in the intermetallic phases. During reflow, Ag3Sn will then have to dissolve back to the molten Bi matrix to release the free Sn. Thus, the free Sn will diffuse to the interface and react with surface finish materials for wetting. However, in most cases, the de-wetting of the molten Bi matrix occurs earlier than the occurrence of the free Sn being released, which leads to poor wetting capabilities. On the other hand, if there are too many Sn being alloyed, the excess Sn will form the low melting Bi—Sn phases, which again, also leads to an undesirable result since the low melting Bi—Sn will cause the material to lose its high temperature performance capabilities.


A viewfinder includes an objective lens, an eyepiece lens, and an indication frame which can be observed through the eyepiece together with an image of an object formed by the objective lens. An optical member is provided having a light incident surface and a light emergent surface. The indication frame can be located to extend between the incident and emergent surfaces. According to one embodiment of the present invention, the thickness of the optical member is greater than the image forming range of the viewfinder. According to another embodiment of the present invention, the indication frame is contained within a bright frame plate made of plain parallel plates of transparent material.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a viewfinder which has an indicating frame in a field of view, for example a viewfinder which is provided in a camera, separately from a photographic optical system of the camera.
2. Discussion of the Background Information
One example of a conventional viewfinder has been used is referred to as a real image type finder. In a real image finder an observer observes a real image of an object formed by the objective optical system of the finder through the eyepiece optical system.
In such a real image type viewfinder, generally, either an indicating frame, such as a field frame representing an area to be photographed through a photographing optical system of a camera, or a focusing frame (i.e., an objective distance measuring frame) representing an area for measuring the distance of the object from the camera by an object distance measuring device, is drawn on one surface of an indicating plate (or a finder screen). The indicating frame is disposed at the same position as an image, formed by the optical image system, of an object which is located a predetermined distance away from the camera. The predetermined distance will be referred to as a reference objective distance hereinafter. The indicating screen comprises a plane-parallel transparent plate made of glass, plastic, or similar material, i.e., a substantially flat plate having parallel planar surfaces. Thus, this type of viewfinder is arranged so that an observer is able to observe the image of the indicating frame with substantially the same visibility as the objective image is seen through the eyepiece lens of the viewfinder.
Another example of a conventional viewfinder which is used is an inverted Galilean type Albada finder. The optical system of this type of finder comprises an objective lens, which has a negative refractive power so as to form a virtual image of an object, and an eyepiece lens, which has positive refractive power so as to magnify the virtual image
In this type of viewfinder, an indicating plate which comprises a plane-parallel transparent plate is disposed between the objective lens and the eyepiece lens. The object side surface of the plate, i.e., the surface of the plate closest to the object, has an indicating frame drawn thereon. This frame is a bright frame formed by vapor deposition of metal. The surface of the objective lens which is adjacent to the eyepiece is formed with a negative curvature and is coated with metal so as to function as half-mirror.
The position of the indicating frame is arranged so that the position of the image, which is formed by a reflection of the indicating frame on the surface of the objective lens, coincides with the position of the virtual image of the object at said reference objective distance, which image is formed by the objective lens.
In such conventional viewfinder optical systems, however, because the indicating frame is drawn on the surface of a plane-parallel transparent plate, and because the surface of the indicating frame plate which is drawn on the indicating frame is exposed to air, it is possible that foreign matter, such as dust, cut chips produced during the manufacturing process of the finder, or drips of water, will stick to the surface of the plate. In this case, the indicating frame and the surface on which the frame is drawn are located at the same optical axial position, so that once even small foreign matter sticks to the surface having the indicating frame thereon, the foreign matter and the indicating frame will be observed in the same condition of visibility through the eyepiece lens Further, foreign matter on the plate is magnified by the eyepiece, even if it is small. Therefore, one problem which arises in these viewfinders is that foreign matter is conspicuously seen in the field of the viewfinder. Further, because it is difficult to remove such foreign matter during camera assembly, to do so would unduly slow the production process and reduce the rate of camera production
Further, in such conventional viewfinder optical systems, the indicating frame plate is thin and the indicating frame is merely drawn on, or attached to, the object side surface of the plate. However, the imaging position of an image of an object, which is formed by the objective lens, axially varies according to the objective distance of the object, so that when an observer observes the image of the object formed by the objective lens with the eyepiece lens, the observer observes the image by varying the focus of the eye of the observer according to the axial position of the image, which varies as described above. In other words, the observer observes the virtual image which is formed by the eyepiece lens and which is based upon the image of the object which is formed by the objective lens. This circumstance is discussed hereinafter as well. Therefore, when the observed object is at the objective distance where the position of the image of the object formed by the objective lens coincides with the position of the indicating frame or its image, i.e., the reference objective distance, the observer can observe the object and the indicating frame clearly at the same time. However, usually the image of the object formed by the objective lens does not coincide with the position of the indicating frame or its image, and an observer will therefore not be able to observe them clearly at the same time, so that the observer must alternately move and adjust the focus of the eye of the observer for the object image and for the indication frame or the image of the frame. As a result, another problem arises in that the observer will find it difficult to observe both the object image and the indication frame or the frame image, and will accordingly tend to become fatigued.

Viewfinder with field of view indicating frame


There is provided mechanisms for receiving transmission resources using beams. A method is performed by a wireless radio transceiver device. The method comprises receiving, using a first beam, a current transmission resource from an access node using a first transmission format. The method comprises transmitting an indicator to the access node to use a second transmission format for a later transmission resource to be transmitted to the wireless radio transceiver device. The method comprises receiving the later transmission resource at least partly using a candidate beam, where the candidate beam is different from the first beam.

In communications networks, there may be a challenge to obtain good performance and capacity for a given communications protocol, its parameters and the physical environment in which the communications network is deployed.
For example, for future generations of mobile communications systems frequency bands at many different carrier frequencies could be needed. For example, low such frequency bands could be needed to achieve sufficient network coverage for wireless radio transceiver devices and higher frequency bands (e.g. at millimeter wavelengths (mmW), i.e. near and above 30 GHz) could be needed to reach required network capacity. In general terms, at high frequencies the propagation properties of the radio channel are more challenging and beamforming both at the access node of the network and at the wireless radio transceiver devices might be required to reach a sufficient link budget.
The wireless radio transceiver devices could implement beamforming by means of analog beamforming, digital beamforming, or hybrid beamforming. Each implementation has its advantages and disadvantages. A digital beamforming implementation is the most flexible implementation of the three but also the costliest due to the large number of required radio chains and baseband chains. An analog beamforming implementation is the least flexible but cheaper to manufacture due to a reduced number of radio chains and baseband chains compared to the digital beamforming implementation. A hybrid beamforming implementation is a compromise between the analog and the digital beamforming implementations. As the skilled person understands, depending on cost and performance requirements of different wireless radio transceiver devices, different implementations will be needed.
When the wireless radio transceiver devices uses analog beamforming it could be challenging for the wireless radio transceiver devices to determine if a currently used beam produced by using the analog beamforming is a good beam in terms of a given signal quality criterion or if there exist other beams that if generated by the analog beamforming would perform significantly better in terms of the given signal quality criterion. In order to evaluate if any other such beam is better a beam finding procedures, for example using beam reference signals (BRS), could be used. However, performing such a procedure typically requires comparatively much overhead signaling between the access node and the wireless radio transceiver device which, thus, will temporarily degrade the performance in the network.
Hence, there is a need for an improved beam finding procedure.


A display device and controlling method thereof are disclosed. The present invention includes displaying object on display unit, detecting contact with region of displayed object on display unit, detecting first touch input of dragging displayed object in top-bottom or right-left direction by maintaining contact, controlling object in direction of one-way control in response to first touch input, and generating tactile feedback on first touch input, wherein direction of one-way control is set up by initial drag direction of first touch input, wherein object is controlled to correspond to direction component of one-way control included in first touch input, and wherein when first touch input includes first drag performed in direction of one-way control and second drag performed in direction opposite to one-way control direction, tactile feedback on either first drag or second drag is generated.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a display device, and more particularly, to a mobile terminal and controlling method thereof. Although the present invention is suitable for a wide scope of applications, it is particularly suitable for controlling a user interface displayed by a user's touch input.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Generally, a user is able to acquire various kinds of informations through a display device owing to the increasing rate in supplying display devices and a variety of digital contents. Since a display device provides a user with various digital contents through its screen, the user is able to use the provided contents without being bound by times or places.
A display device provides a scroll function to enable a lot of contents to be provided via a limited screen region. In particular, a user can be provided with a whole digital content through a limited screen region in a manner of scrolling or controlling a displayed content in top-to-bottom and/or right-to-left direction.
However, since a touch sensitive region for detecting a scroll or control action of a user in a display device is limited to a screen region, several touch inputs should be performed to check a digital content in large size. To this end, it is inconvenient for the user to perform many contacts/releases on the touch sensitive region repeatedly. Moreover, in case of a portable display device, if a contact with a touch sensitive region is released to perform a touch input several times, it is difficult for a user to stably grip the portable display device. Hence, the demand for a method of continuing to scroll or control a digital content with continuous touch inputs while stably gripping a display is rising.

Apparatus and method for controlling displayed object and tactile feedback


Systems and methods for removing elemental sulfur from a hydrocarbon fluid using an adsorbent.

Many natural gas and crude oils contain sulfur, as elemental sulfur and as sulfides, polysulfides, mercaptans and other organic and inorganic species. When elemental sulfur deposits as a solid, it can accumulate and result in flow constriction and can reduce the capacity in separation equipment. It can plug instrumentation connections, cause poor process control, and necessitates additional maintenance costs. When elemental sulfur is produced in conjunction with water, the elemental sulfur can be highly corrosive to the carbon steel piping and separation equipment typically used in oil and gas production, transportation and refining operations. The elemental sulfur can also combine with or react with production treating chemicals to form tars and other undesirable solids.
The solubility of elemental sulfur in natural gas is dependent on many factors including the hydrocarbon fluid composition, pressure and temperature of the fluid in the formation, at pressure reduction and cooling systems in the production piping. The solubility of elemental sulfur is strongly dependent on the concentration of other sulfur species such as H2S, and the amount of liquid hydrocarbon associated with gas production. Additionally, solubility may be affected by the volume and salinity of any water produced and the concentration of carbon dioxide in the gas. Solubility of the sulfur may be reduced with reductions in pressure and temperature of the natural gas during movement from the formation into the production, transportation and processing equipment. Air contamination and interaction of sulfide species with oxidized forms of iron may be associated with production of elemental sulfur and thereafter precipitation.
Attempts have been made to use filters to remove the elemental sulfur as if it were a solid particle, but, since it is actually dissolved in the hydrocarbon fluid a filter will not remove the sulfur. However, the pressure drop associated with most solid particulate filters can cause some of the elemental sulfur to deposit on the downstream surface of the filter due to the reduction in solubility caused by the pressure drop of the filter, similar to the pressure drop of a pressure control valve. This does remove a small amount of the elemental sulfur that has dropped out of the solution, but there is still significant soluble and insoluble elemental sulfur remaining in the hydrocarbon fluid.
The prevention of precipitation of elemental sulfur has been the goal of various attempts in the art. These attempts having included actions to prevent oxygen ingress into production and handling operations with the goal of reducing formation of the elemental sulfur from other sulfur species, to designing production equipment with staged pressure drops with the goal of minimizing the potential deposition of elemental sulfur, and to heat the hydrocarbon fluid with the goal of maintaining any elemental sulfur as a dissolved vapor or as liquid elemental sulfur.
Additionally, in order to reduce conduit and equipment plugging in operations, it is typical to provide for the periodic or continuous injection of solvents to remove elemental sulfur deposits or prevent the elemental sulfur from depositing in the system. Solvents used in these operations may be physical solvents (e.g. hydrocarbons or hydrocarbon mixtures, coker gas oil, kerosene/diesel, mineral oil and aromatic solvents such as benzene and toluene) or chemical solvents (e.g. amine based chemicals including aqueous ethylamine and alkyl amines in aromatic solvents, and disulfide based solvents (e.g. dimethyl disulfide)).
The method of application and the amount of solvent are specifically designed or selected for each system. The application of these solvents is not without challenges. In gas production operations the solvents are produced with the gas to the gas plant. For some of the solvents the specific gravity of the solvent loaded with elemental sulfur can be equal to or higher than the specific gravity of the water produced, resulting in separation and handling problems at the gas plant. Some of the solvents can also cause operational problems with the downstream processes. In addition, not adding enough solvent can result in the downstream precipitation of elemental sulfur as the production cools. Each of the solvents has specific handling challenges. The disulfide based solvents have a noxious odor and are very difficult to handle. Coker gas oil has a bad odor and other solvents are linked to environmental, health and/or safety issues. The application of solvents is typically once through. This can result in a large expense associated with sulfur management.
The problem with the deposition of elemental sulfur in the various natural gas and crude oil production facilities and downstream processing equipment and conduits has been observed since at least the 1960's and research has been done to define the levels of elemental sulfur that might be present in hydrocarbon fluids and to help determine where in the system the elemental sulfur might be deposited. As a result, elemental sulfur deposits can become a major problem—especially as coal seam gas and oil shale gas production became a major hydrocarbon resource. Current methods for addressing this problem therefore, appear limited to washing out the elemental sulfur after it has deposited or preventing the elemental sulfur from depositing by tying it up with special solvents.
Other conventional methods do not actually use an adsorbent to remove elemental sulfur, which includes elemental sulfur, polymeric sulfur or zero-valent polymeric sulfur, from hydrocarbon fluids but do propose using an adsorbent to remove non elemental sulfur from hydrocarbon fluids. U.S. Pat. No. 5,686,056, for example, proposes, using a filter media to adsorb and/or break down a hydrogen sulfide—sulfur polymer (H2Sx) to hydrogen sulfide and sulfur, which is collected by the filter media. The hydrogen sulfide-sulfur polymer may be formed during the manufacture of a hydrogen sulfide product from hydrogen and elemental sulfur. As a result, the hydrogen sulfide product stream that was produced (manufactured) is cleaner after the sulfur and H2Sx is removed. The filter media described in the '056 patent, therefore, does not remove sulfur from naturally occurring or processed hydrocarbon fluids but is removing it from a manufactured hydrogen sulfide product stream.

Bechtel Hydrocarbon Technology Solutions, Inc.


An improved bed enclosure is provided with an unique supporting structure which increases the vertical stability of the bed enclosure. The bed enclosure includes a frame having at least four upright side posts, each including an upper portion and a lower portion. The frame further includes upper frame support members interconnecting the upper portions of the side posts together, and lower frame support members interconnecting the lower portions of the side posts together. The frame defines a pair of generally vertical side walls of a predetermined length and a pair of opposed end walls of a predetermined width, the predetermined length being greater than the predetermined width. In accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, at least one support leg is associated with each of the side walls and is secured to the lower portions of the side posts and is engageable with the floor at a point spaced outwardly from the respective side wall. In accordance with another embodiment of the present invention, at least one support leg is associated with each of the side walls and is secured to the lower frame support members and is engageable with the floor at a point spaced outwardly from the respective side wall.

This invention relates to a bed enclosure for restraining a patient.
In some medical treatment situations, it is sometimes necessary (or preferred) to restrain certain patients in order to provide protection for themselves and/or others. For example, adults and children having dementia, psychiatric or mental disorders, or other kinds of mental and/or physical problems may need to be restrained. In the past, these people have been physically restrained by using ties, straps, or vests. However, the use of these kinds of restraints can cause physical and psychological harm, can cause severe discomfort and can impede emergency treatment. In addition, these kinds of restraints must frequently be removed during the day for a variety of reasons, such as to allow the person to exercise his or her muscles, or to clean or feed the person.
One highly preferred alternative to using physical restraints involves using a bed enclosure. One kind of bed enclosure is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,641,387 to Bondy et al. As shown in this patent, the bed enclosure includes a supporting framework and a netted covering which is fitted over the sides and top of the framework. The netted covering is provided with zippered areas which can be readily opened and closed in order to provide access to the interior of the enclosure. Thus, the bed enclosure provides a more humane, safe, and less restrictive environment for the person.


A semiconductor transducer or actuator is disclosed. The transducer and actuator each include a deflecting member with corrugations producing increased vertical travel which is a linear function of applied force. An accurate and easily controlled method that is insensitive to front-to-back alignment is also disclosed for forming uniform corrugations of precise thickness; independent of the thickness of the deflecting member. The cross-sectional shape of the corrugations is not limited by the etching technique, so that any configuration thereof is enabled.

Typical diaphragm-type transducers and actuators employ a thin diaphragm of a circular, square or rectangular plan configuration. When this diaphragm is subjected to a force, the deflection of the diaphragm reflects the magnitude of this force. It is well known that the deflection of such a diaphragm is linear with applied force or pressure so long as the deflection is a small fraction of the thickness of the diaphragm. As the force or pressure is increased beyond this point, the deflection becomes a non-linear function of the applied force or pressure due to the stretching of the diaphragm. In many applications this non-linear travel limits the useful range of the device. Flat deflecting beams that stretch when subjected to an applied force or pressure have a similar problem. These diaphragms or beams are typically used as the movable element in pressure transducers and actuators, but can also be used in accelerometers, force transducers, or displacement transducers.
As diaphragms are made thinner, the above-mentioned non-linear deflection characteristic of the diaphragm is exacerbated. Hence, typically, to provide a low pressure transducer or actuator having a satisfactory linear operating range requires that the diaphragm be larger. This is unacceptable for many applications where there are size constraints. For example, it is important that pressure transducers formed using semiconductor materials be as small as possible.
An other problem arises when a flat diaphragm which is clamped at its edges, is subjected to a differential pressure. The central region of the diaphragm is bent into a curved shape rather than moving up and down in a piston-like manner. If, as typically is the case, the measurement of the deflection of the diaphragm is done by capacitor plates attached with one plate on the diaphragm and a second plate on a surface opposite the diaphragm, the measurement will be complicated because the shape of the diaphragm plate changes with applied force or pressure. Further, it is known that a relatively large movement of the diaphragm is advantageous when measuring the deflection by capacitive means since the change in capacitance is related to the reciprocal of the gap between the plates of the capacitor. For very sensitive flat diaphragms, the linear deflection is only a small fraction of the thickness of the diaphragm. This requires that the capacitor plates be positioned with a gap having a width which is also a fraction of the diaphragm thickness. Achieving such a small capacitor gap can greatly complicate the assembly of such a structure. If the small gap cannot be realized, the change in capacitance for a given applied force or pressure will be severely limited.
It is known that corrugated diaphragms provide certain advantages over flat diaphragms when utilized in a pressure transducer. For purposes of this specification, what is meant by a corrugation is a structure having one or more grooves separated by a thin section that allows compliant movement. For corrugated diaphragms, the compliance in the grooves substitutes for the stretching that would occur in flat diaphragms. The primary advantage of a corrugated diaphragm is that there is a more linear vertical travel per unit of applied force. For example, it is taught in Flat and Corrugated Diaphragm Design Handbook by Marco Di Giovanni (published by Marcel Dekker, Inc.) that a diaphragm of similar sensitivity and diameter will have more linear range and stiffness if it has a corrugated support rather than a flat support. Hence, corrugated diaphragms are utilized advantageously to increase the range of linear travel of the transducer as a function of applied force.
Therefore, in order to alleviate diaphragm non-linearity due to stretching, metallic structures have been used wherein the diaphragm is formed with corrugations. Corrugated diaphragms of this type have been found to exhibit a larger range of linear deflection to applied pressure, thereby minimizing the stretching effect. Typically, such diaphragms are used in conjunction with a push rod and beam to form a relatively complex pressure responsive mechanism. A problem with such diaphragms is that they must be machined or formed from suitable metals and are difficult to manufacture. Furthermore, the strain sensors located thereon need to be separately positioned and mounted on these corrugated structures, resulting in additional problems which affect performance within the linear range.
The above-described manufacturing and performance problems of corrugated diaphragm sensors are minimized if semiconductor processing techniques can be used. U.S. Pat. No. 4,467,656 to Mallon, et al. teaches that a convoluted diaphragm can be formed in silicon. Piezoresistive devices are diffused into the convolutions using integrated circuit methods. The result is a pressure transducer that can be fabricated from the silicon substrate by etching concentric recesses or corrugations on both sides of the substrate. The corrugations are surrounded by a rigid peripheral area.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,236,137 to Kurtz et al. discloses a pressure transducer having a semiconductor diaphragm with a central boss area of trapezoidal cross-section surrounded by a continuous groove. A plurality of piezoresistive sensors are formed on the diaphragm with a first sensor adjacent to the outer edge of the groove and a second sensor parallel to the first sensor and being adjacent to the inner edge of the groove. The groove is operative as a stress concentrating area for the sensors. It is known, however, that a single groove does not substantially improve the linearity of diaphragm travel over that of a flat diaphragm structure. Therefore, although this structure is useful in some applications for edge stress measurment, it would not be effective in many applications for the same reasons that flat diaphragms are not effective.
In many transducer applications, such as in accelerometers, it si necessary to measure the force perpendicular to the plane of the diaphragm. The accelerometer typically has a centrally positioned deflecting member that deflects in response to an applied force, the vertical travel of the deflecting member being a measure of the applied force.
A key problem with previous transducers utilizing corrugations is that there are stress points located within the corrugations that can adversely affect the operation of the transducer. It is know that corrugations formed by anisotropic etch techniques are trapezoidal in shape and that the trapezoidal corrugations will have stress concentrated in the corners of the corrugations. Hence if an excessive amount of pressure is applied to the transducer, the corrugations may crack at those corners, rendering the transducer inoperative.
Mallon, et al., notes that isotropic etching could be used to provide a rounded configuration, but does not disclose how to achieve such a structure. In fact, Mallon, et al. teaches that the anisotropic etch is preferred and the stress problem caused by these types of corrugations is not addressed. It is well known that conventional isotropic etch techniques are difficult to control and the corrugations produced utilizing isotropic etch techniques may not be uniform, thereby causing stress to be still concentrated therewithin.
It is also know that producing corrugations utilizing know processing methods can be very difficult when the diaphragms are formed for low pressure measurements. In a typical process, each side of a silicon material is masked utilizing typical photolithography techniques and then each side is etched into the desired pattern. This process typically requires precision alignment instruments to ensure that front and back surfaces match. It the surfaces do not match, then the resultant corrugations will not be properly formed, which seriously affects the performance of the transducers. In particular, when thin structures are formed (on the order to 0.5 .mu.m to 10 .mu.m), then misalignment becomes very significant, often to the point of rendering the transducer inoperative.
A final related problem with corrugated diaphragm structures is that the depth of the corrugations and the thickness of the deflecting member each affect the deflection characteristics of the structure. When the corrugated diaphragm structure is produced via the above procedure, then the deflecting member must be masked with the corrugations. In the resultant structure the corrugations can only be the same thickness as the deflecting member. Therefore, since the corrugation and deflecting member thicknesses are related, the dimensions of the transducer formed by these processes are limited by that dependence.
Accordingly, it is a principal object of the present invention to provide a semiconductor transducer or a semiconductor actuator that has increased linearity of travel per unit of applied force or pressure.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a method for producing a corrugated structure to be utilized with a transducer or actuator that overcomes some of the fabrication problems associated with known semiconductor processing techniques.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a semiconductor transducer or a semiconductor actuator which overcomes some of the problems associated with previous diaphragm transducer or actuator assemblies.
It is a further object of the present invention to enable corrugation formation to be less dependent on front-to-back alignment of the semiconductor starting material.
It is still a further object of the present invention to provide a transducer or an actuator which maximizes the deflection for a given applied force or pressure.
It is yet a further object of the present invention to provide an improved method for forming a semiconductor transducer or a semiconductor actuator which allows the predetermined thickness of the deflecting member to be independent of the predetermined thickness of the corrugations.

Semiconductor transducer or actuator utilizing corrugated supports


There is provided a urea synthesis method having excellent reliability and productivity with the amount of oxygen used as a corrosion-resistant agent minimized without using special duplex stainless steel. In a urea synthesis apparatus having a synthesis tower, a stripper, and a condenser, general-purpose austenitic-ferritic duplex stainless steel with Cr content: 21 to 26 wt %, Ni content: 4.5 to 7.5 wt %, Mo content: 2.5 to 3.5 wt %, N content: 0.08 to 0.30 wt %, C content: 0.03 wt % or less, Si content: 1.0 wt % or less, Mn content: 2.0 wt % or less, P content: 0.04 wt % or less, and S content: 0.03 wt % is used as a urea synthesis apparatus material in at least some of parts where the urea synthesis apparatus comes into contact with a fluid having corrosiveness, and oxygen feed concentration with respect to carbon dioxide is 100 to 2,000 ppm.

Urea is an important raw material for a nitrogen-based fertilizer, one of three major elements essential for the growth of plants, and has supported food production in the world from old times. Even now, increased fertilizer production corresponding to increased food production accompanying population increase in the emerging countries of the world is required, and the construction of a urea synthesis apparatus based on a urea synthesis method having excellent reliability and productivity is an important problem.
Here, the reliability mainly refers to the property of protecting the metal surface inside this apparatus from ammonium carbamate produced as a reaction intermediate when urea is synthesized from ammonia and carbon dioxide, having strong corrosiveness to metal. On the other hand, the productivity refers to not only increasing the yield of the reaction of ammonia and carbon dioxide but a reduction in total urea production cost including a reduction in apparatus construction cost and a reduction in running cost with improved operating conditions.
Technical development for increasing such reliability and productivity has been mainly addressed from three viewpoints. The first is a chemical viewpoint that a passivation film is formed on the metal surface of the apparatus to increase corrosion resistance. The second is a material viewpoint that corrosion resistance to ammonium carbamate is enhanced by an improvement in the apparatus material itself. The third is a process viewpoint that improvements in corrosion resistance and reaction yield by improvements in the production process and the apparatus are promoted. But, these are in a conflicting relationship with each other, and a balanced urea synthesis method is required even now.
First, various techniques for forming a passivation film on a metal surface have been studied such as methods using oxidants such as oxygen, nitric acid, hydrogen fluoride, hydrogen peroxide, ammonium nitride, and ozone as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,680,766, 2,727,069, 3,137,724, British Patent No. 1,153,107, European Patent No. 0096151, and the like, all of which are hereby incorporated by reference. As a result, a method using oxygen as an oxidant is adopted, that is, a method of mixing oxygen with carbon dioxide and ammonia, starting raw materials, to form about 1 to 3 nm of a passivation film comprising hydroxides of Fe and Cr and an oxide of Cr at high temperature and high pressure.
But, when the amount of oxygen fed as an oxidant is too large, inert gases increase, and the H/C (H2O/CO2) ratio described later increases, and the reaction yield decreases. On the other hand, an energy-consuming scrubber for finally separating and removing oxygen from unconverted raw materials and other volatile components, and a hydrogen combustion removal apparatus for preventing a risk that a trace amount of hydrogen contained in the urea product and oxygen are mixed are also required. In this manner, a problem of oxygen is that with an increase in feed, the corrosion resistance is increased, and on the other hand, the running cost is adversely affected.
Therefore, formerly, as noted in austenitic stainless steel S31603 series described in U.S. Pat. No. 2,680,766, development has been advanced in the direction of increasing the corrosion resistance of stainless steel itself. With this, improvements in workability required for apparatus production have also been made. As disclosed in British Patent No. 1,192,044, European Patent No. 0096151, International Publication No. WO 95/00674, British Patent No. 775,933,International Publication No. WO 03/018861, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-301241, and the like, all of which are hereby incorporated by reference, improvements are made paying attention to the effects of Cr, Ni, Mo, and N. Particularly, International Publication No. Wo 03/018861 proposes austenite-ferrite duplex stainless steel having a Cr content of 28 to 35 wt %, a Ni content of 3 to 10 wt %, a Mo content of 1.0 to 4.0 wt %, and a N content of 2.0 to 0.6 wt %, suggesting that the construction of a urea synthesis plant that hardly requires corrosion prevention oxygen is possible.
But, a problem is that the material price of austenite-ferrite duplex stainless steel having excellent corrosion resistance and high Cr content in this manner is high and the construction cost of a urea plant increases, and the construction of a urea synthesis apparatus having both reliability and productivity is difficult.
Therefore, as disclosed in British Patent No. 1,341,497, British Patent No. 1,287,710, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 53-14993, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 56-131558, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 60-209555, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-182587, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-180942, and the like, all of which are hereby incorporated by reference, improvements in the production process and the apparatus have also been performed. Particularly, effectively recycling unreacted products by the introduction of a stripper, and providing to the condenser a urea synthesis function similar to that of the reactor increase the reaction yield, can make the production equipment small, and can contribute to the enhancement of productivity.
When the conventional art as described above is comprehensively considered, it is summarized into two types of urea synthesis methods. One uses expensive stainless steel having high Cr content and excellent corrosion resistance, and therefore, the apparatus can be operated at extremely low oxygen concentration, but a large burden is placed on the construction cost. For example, when austenite-ferrite duplex stainless steel having a Cr content of 28 to 35 wt %, a Ni content of 3 to 10 wt %, a Mo content of 1.0 to 4.0 wt %, and a N content of 0.2 to 0.6 wt % as disclosed in the above-described International Publication No. WO 03/018861 is used, the apparatus, including the stripper in which corrosion proceeds most easily, can be operated in a state in which oxygen is hardly required. But, the stainless steel is expensive, and a large burden is placed on the construction cost. The other uses general-purpose stainless steel such as S31603, and therefore, the burden of construction cost decreases, but the reaction yield is low, accessory equipment such as a scrubber for separating oxygen and a hydrogen combustion removal apparatus for removing hydrogen is required, and the construction cost and the running cost increase. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 2,727,069 discloses that in a urea synthesis plant using S31603 series general-purpose stainless steel, an oxygen concentration as much as about 1,000 to 30,000 ppm with respect to carbon dioxide is required. In addition, British Patent No. 1,341,497also discloses that in a similar urea synthesis plant using S31603 series stainless steel, an oxygen concentration of 1,000 to 25,000 ppm with respect to carbon dioxide is required in the stripper, and an oxygen concentration of 300 to 10,000 ppm with respect to carbon dioxide is also required in the condenser.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,137,724, it is described that a urea synthesis plant using S31603 series stainless steel can be operated at an oxygen concentration of 100 to 500 ppm with respect to carbon dioxide, and in British Patent No. 1,192,044, it is described that urea synthesis plant using S31260 series stainless steel can be operated at an oxygen concentration of 100 to 500 ppm with respect to carbon dioxide. But, the oxygen concentration is oxygen concentration in the urea synthesis tower in which the progress of corrosion is slower than in the stripper, and there is no description regarding a stripper.
In addition, European Patent No. 0096151 also proposes that S31260 series stainless steel is used, and the apparatus can be operated with feed at an oxygen concentration of 200 to 2,000ppm with respect to carbon dioxide from the lower portion of the stripper. But, hydrogen peroxide is mixed into the upper portion of the reactor R in the synthesis system, oxygen is mixed into the lower portion, and hydrogen peroxide is mixed into the synthesis gas from the reactor R in the stripper S1. Oxygen is introduced into the bottom of the stripper S2, but it is necessary to introduce hydrogen peroxide from the top in order to compensate for an increase in the amount of gas due to stripping and a relative decrease in oxygen partial pressure at the top. The gas exiting the stripper S2 is condensed in the condenser C, and only the liquid phase portion is fed to the reactor, and the gas phase portion is vented from the upper portion of the condenser C. The oxygen introduced from the bottom of the stripper S2 and the oxygen in the hydrogen peroxide introduced from the upper portion transition to the gas phase portion to be vented, produced in the condenser C. Therefore, the oxygen introduced in a stripper S2 is hardly introduced into the reactor R, and therefore, it is necessary to separately introduce oxygen for passivation the metal surface of the reactor. Therefore, in the process disclosed in European Patent No. 0096151, oxygen must be introduced in a plurality of parts.
As described above, in the conventional art, a urea synthesis method satisfying reliability and productivity having a balance of the oxygen concentration required for corrosion resistance, the material of stainless steel, and an efficient production process is not found.


The apparatus comprises two coaxial elements (1,2), a first element (4) provided between the said two elements (1,2) and arranged to combine them and to oppose the relative displacements of the elements along their common axis (3), when a stress along the axis is applied at the free end of one of these elements and directed towards the other element, and also to oppose the relative rotation of the elements, a probe (7) affixed to the free end (6) of one of the elements (2), a second element (8) provided at the free end (5) of the other element (1) to apply the aforementioned stress and a torque to the elements (1,2), a cursor (9) arranged to move along the element (2) bearing the probe (7), parallel to the axis (3), from the free end (10) of the probe (7) towards the other element (1), when the probe penetrates into the body or medium to be measured and a third element (11 ) arranged, in a first position, to enable the aforementioned stress along the axis (3) and the displacement of the cursor (7) on the element (2) to be measured simultaneously and, in a second position, for the simultaneous measurement of the stress along the axis and the aforementioned torque, the conversion from the first position to the second position being obtained by a locking appliance.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus measuring the mechanical characteristics of a body or medium, particularly the mechanical characteristics of the soil, enabling the following properties of the body or medium analysed to be measured and also, if desired, recorded: resistance to compression when subjected to a force, linear deformation resulting from the said force and also shear, cut or friction strength under the effect of a torque combined with a force exerted along an axis substantially perpendicular to the lever arm of the said torque and intersecting the latter approximately half way along it.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
Many apparatuses of this kind have already been devised which are of weight and over-all size such that it can be transported by a man.
They may be classified in two categories depending upon their function:
penetrometers for measuring the resistance of the soil or any other medium to the penetration of a probe as a function of the depth of penetration of said probe (U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,130,751 and 3,712,121; German Pat. No. 1,216,574 and British Pat. No. 187,159; Bulletin CNEEMA B1 No. 237 October 1977 47-50; J. agric. Engng Res. (1977), 22, 209-212);
torsiometers able to measure the resistance of the soil or many other coherent medium to a shear and/or friction torque as a function of the compressive force having a direction perpendicular to the plane of the torque and to the plane of shearing and/or of friction (U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,116,633 and 3,797,301; Engineering Vol 199, No. 5159, Mar. 5, 1965) "Soil Shearing Meter" p. 315).
These measures are obtained via a digital meter or, for more sophisticated versions via a recording device requiring mostly very complicated appliance.
There is presently no lightweight device which may be used and carried by a single operator and which allows a combination of the both functions of the above measures i.e. penetrometric and torsiometric measures.
Only very heavy equipments are available for performing both penetrometric and torsiometric measures which depend on electro-hydraulic and/or pneumatic appliances (such as the BEVAMETER) and thus make necessary the use of teams of specialized operators and specific motor vehicles.

Apparatus for measuring the mechanical characteristics of a body


Mobile device, method and computer program product for processing signals at the mobile device. The signals are received at a plurality of signal sensors of the mobile device. Motion of the mobile device is sensed and the received signals are processed using beamforming means at the mobile device, in dependence upon their direction of arrival at the plurality of signal sensors and in dependence upon the sensed motion of the mobile device.

A device may have input means that can be used to receive transmitted signals from the surrounding environment. For example, a device may have audio input means such as a microphone that can be used to receive audio signals from the surrounding environment. For example, a microphone of a user device may receive a primary audio signal (such as speech from a user) as well as other audio signals. The other audio signals may be interfering audio signals received at the microphone of the device, and may be received from an interfering source or may be ambient background noise or microphone self-noise. The interfering audio signals may disturb the primary audio signals received at the device. The device may use the received audio signals for many different purposes. For example, where the received audio signals are speech signals received from a user, the speech signals may be processed by the device for use in a communication event, e.g. by transmitting the speech signals over a network to another device which may be associated with another user of the communication event. Alternatively, or additionally, the received audio signals could be used for other purposes, as is known in the art.
In other examples, a device may have receiving means for receiving other types of transmitted signals, such as radar signals, sonar signals, antenna signals, radio waves, microwaves and general broadband signals or narrowband signals. The same situations can occur for these other types of transmitted signals whereby a primary signal is received as well as interfering signals at the receiving means. The description below is provided mainly in relation to the receipt of audio signals at a device, but the same principles will apply for the receipt of other types of transmitted signals at a device, such as general broadband signals, general narrowband signals, radar signals, sonar signals, antenna signals, radio waves and microwaves as described above.
In order to improve the quality of the received audio signals, (e.g. the speech signals received from a user for use in a call), it is desirable to suppress interfering audio signals (e.g. background noise and interfering audio signals received from interfering audio sources) that are received at the microphone of the user device.
The use of stereo microphones and other microphone arrays in which a plurality of microphones operate as a single audio input means is becoming more common. The use of a plurality of microphones at a device enables the use of extracted spatial information from the received audio signals in addition to information that can be extracted from an audio signal received by a single microphone. When using such devices one approach for suppressing interfering audio signals is to apply a beamformer to the audio signals received by the plurality of microphones. Beamforming is a process of focusing the audio signals received by a microphone array by applying signal processing to enhance particular audio signals received at the microphone array from one or more desired directions. For simplicity we will describe the case with only a single desired direction herein, but the same method will apply when there are more directions of interest. The beamforming is achieved by first estimating the angle from which the desired audio signal is received at the microphone, so-called Direction of Arrival ("DOA") information. Adaptive beamformers use the DOA information to process the audio signals received by the plurality of microphones to form a "beam" whereby a high gain is applied in a direction from which the desired audio signal is received by the microphones and a low gain is applied in other directions.
While the beamformer will attempt to suppress the unwanted audio signals coming from unwanted directions, the number of microphones as well as the shape and the size of the microphone array will limit the effect of the beamformer, and as a result the unwanted audio signals are suppressed, but may remain audible. The output of the beamformer can be further processed in the device in the same way as a received audio signal from a single microphone may be processed, e.g. for transmission to another device as part of a communication event. For example, the output of the beamformer may be supplied as an input signal to at least one of an echo cancellation stage, an Automatic Gain Control (AGC) processing stage and a single channel noise reduction stage in the device.
The beamformer can be steered to focus on particular directions from which the primary audio signals are expected to be received. For example, the microphone array may be placed on a desk in a particular position and a user may often sit in a particular position at the desk such that speech signals from the user tend to arrive at the microphone array with approximately the same direction of arrival (the "principal direction of arrival"). The beamformer can be steered towards this principal direction of arrival to thereby focus on the speech signals received at the microphone array from the user and to apply greater levels of attenuation to audio signals received at the microphone array from other directions. The beamformer can adaptively alter its direction of focus to better match the direction of arrival of the primary audio signals during use, but this can be a computationally complex process and takes time for the adaptation to take place. It can therefore be beneficial to pre-steer the beamformer correctly to the principal direction of arrival prior to use.


An annular fire ring comprises an alloy of beryllium copper. Before the alloy is subject to precipitation hardening at elevated temperatures, the ring is placed at an inner periphery of a high temperature opening of a gasket body, wherein the diameter of the ring is greater than a thickness of the gasket body. The resulting gasket is then disposed between cooperating mechanical components. The mechanical components are clamped together, plastically deforming the fire ring. Then the ring is heated, causing precipitation hardening of the alloy.

High temperature resistant gaskets are used to provide a seal against combustion gases at elevated temperatures. Such gaskets include cylinder head gaskets, exhaust manifold gaskets and turbocharger gaskets. In particular, cylinder head gaskets typically extend around cylinder bores to provide a combustion seal, maintaining the high temperature gases of combustion within the cylinder bore. The gasket bears the load from a bolted connection of the engine block and cylinder head components and relies upon that load to provide a seal.
It is known to provide cylinder head gaskets with a single flange positioned adjacent a cylinder bore opening formed in a body of the gasket. The flange is generally U-shaped in cross-section, having a central web portion separating upper and lower legs that extend continuously around the inner peripheral boundary of the cylinder bore opening and engage upper and lower surfaces of the gasket body.
Typically, an annular sealing element, such as a steel fire ring, having a generally circular cross-section is disposed within a trough defined by the U-shaped cross-section of the flange. The fire ring forms a seal that helps protect the gasket body from the deleterious effects of the combustion environment. Metals used in a fire ring include 1008 low carbon steel and 304 stainless steel.
A portion of the clamping force resulting from the bolting of the mating components is applied to the fire ring. The force is concentrated at the point of contact, plastically deforming the ring's circumference to effectively seal out combustion gases. However, because of the plastic deformation, existing fire rings have low elastic recovery which affects the gasket in the area adjacent to the rings. Fire rings made from soft metals such as copper typically have even less elastic recovery than those rings made from steel because they are readily plastically deformed. However, soft metal fire rings do have excellent initial conformity. Further, known fire rings are subject to thermal crushing which produces additional plastic deformation that occurs at high temperature operation during the life of the fire rings. Thus, the limited elastic recovery of the fire rings is further reduced over time.
The disadvantages of known fire rings also affect the performance of the U-shaped flanges that often retain them. The flanges are made from malleable metals. The use of malleable metals promotes flange thinning at the interface of the flange element and the sealing element. The flanges are particularly susceptible to cracking in the central web portion between the upper and lower legs of the flange. The likelihood of flange failure is increased as the elastic recovery of the disposed fire ring is decreased.
A goal of the present invention is to provide an annular sealing member that is readily deformable during installation to conform to a desired shape. However, the same sealing member also includes excellent strength characteristics to avoid undesirable thermal crushing once installed.


A mixing module includes two inlets, an integrator, and a valve member. The integrator has two chambers each having a near end and a far end, and the valve member is movable between two positions. One of the inlets is connected to the near end of one of the chambers and the other inlet is connected to the near end of the other chamber when the valve is in one position. When the valve is in the other position, one of the inlets is disconnected from the chambers and the near ends of the chambers are connected.

The present invention relates to plural component dispensing systems, and more particularly to a mixing module for a plural component dispensing system.
Typically, a plural component dispensing system uses a resin component which is chemically inert in its isolated form, and an isocyanate catalyst material which is also chemically inert in its isolated form. When the catalyst and the resin are combined, an immediate chemical reaction begins taking place that results in the cross-linking, curing, and solidification of the mixture. As the chemical reaction takes place, but before it has progressed too far, the mixed material can be dispensed or sprayed into its intended form and/or position. Such a plural component dispensing system can be used to spray paint onto an article.
Due to the chemical reaction between the resin and the catalyst, the two components are stored separately and mixed in specific proportions immediately in time prior to use. The mixing traditionally has occurred adjacent to where the components are stored, which can be a substantial distance from where the mixture is dispensed. This is especially true in the case of a spray paint booth where the components are stored outside of the booth and the paint application occurs inside the booth. In such an arrangement, the mixed paint may have to travel 50 feet prior to being sprayed.
When dispensing of the mixture is suspended or completed or when the mixture must be changed (e.g., to create a different paint color), the material that is already mixed must be flushed from the dispensing system using a solvent. The flushed mixture is generally discarded, creating waste, and the solvent is generally not reused, creating more waste. Also, the flushing process takes time to complete, which occupies the dispensing system and prevents it from being used productively.