For applying ferroelectrics to electronic devices, the poling treatment of the ferroelectrics has been necessary in order to uniform directions of spontaneous polarizations, Ps, in each ferroelectric. This treatment brings about (1) low yields of the devices, (2) difficulties in the fabrication of array devices, and (3) difficulties in the formation of ferroelectric films on semiconductor devices. Now it has been found that a self-polarized film in which spontaneous polarizations, Ps, are unidirectional can be formed by sputtering a ferroelectric materials containing lead under such conditions that the orientation of Ps will be controlled without poling treatment and a high-performance ferroelectric device can be obtained in a high yield by using this film, and thus a process for producing such devices has been found.

In the electronics field, ferroelectrics are applied to a variety of devices including IR detecting devices, piezoelectric devices, optical modulators, optical memories, etc. In recent years, ferroelectric devices in film form have been increasing with increasing demands for miniaturized electronic components due to the progress of semiconductor technology.
In the case of ferroelectric devices such as pyroelectric IR detecting devices and piezoelectric devices, from which changes in the spontaneous polarizations, Ps, of ferroelectrics are taken out as output, a largest value of the output can be obtained when the Ps's of each ferroelectric material are unidirectional. However, ferroelectric porcelains used today in IR detecting devices, piezoelectric devices, and the like are polycrystalline materials, in which the crystals are oriented in various directions, and hence the individual spontaneous polarizations, Ps, of each crystal are oriented at random. In each of epitaxial ferroelectric films and oriented ferroelectric films, the polarization axes of the crystals are uniform in direction but electrical spontaneous polarizations, Ps, form 180.degree. domains that are oriented alternately in opposite directions. Therefore, when these materials are used in such electronic devices as mentioned above, the poling treatment of applying a high electric field (.about.100 KV/cm) to make each material is necessary in order to uniform the directions of spontaneous polarizations, Ps.
This poling treatment method raises the following problems:
(1) The poling treatment may cause the dielectric breakdown of materials treated, hence lowering the yield.
(2) It is difficult to pole uniformly a great number of fine ferroelectric elements arranged in a high density as in high-resolution array devices.
(3) The poling treatment itself is impossible in certain cases of integrated devices comprising ferroelectric films formed on semiconductor devices.
There are a number of reports on the formation of films of PbTiO.sub.3, PLZT, and the like. With respect to these films, however, none of these reports reveal the process for producing a film in which c-axes that are polarization axes are oriented unidirectionally. Moreover, the process for producing a material in which also spontaneous polarizations are oriented unidirectionally is not clarified at all.

Process for producing a ferroelectric film device

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


A locking apparatus is configured to lock a first panel and a second panel to a computer device. The locking apparatus includes a lock rotatable between a first position and a second position, a mounting panel, a driving lever pivotably attached on the mounting panel, a blocking member attached to the mounting panel, and a latch member. When moved to the first position, the rotatable post rotates the driving lever, the driving lever pushes the latch member to unlatch from the second panel, and the rotatable post is disengaged from the blocking member to unlock the first panel. When moved to the second position, the rotatable post is blocked by the blocking member for locking the first panel, the driving lever is rotated to its original position, and the latch member latches the second panel.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a locking apparatus for panels of a computer device.
2. Description of Related Art
A computer device includes a frame, a front panel attached to a front side of the frame, and a rear panel attached to a rear side of the frame. The installation of the front panel and the rear panel to the frame usually involves the use of screws, which is inconvenient.
Therefore, there is room for improvement within the art.

Locking apparatus for panels of computer device

ShenZhen Goldsun Network Intelligence Technology Co., Ltd.


A self aligned contact to the substrate in the region between two gate electrodes is formed by depositing a conformal dielectric layer and patterning to form a contact window. The conductive elements of the gate electrode are not contacted because of etch rate differentials between the conformal dielectric and the insulating elements of the gate structure.

Most devices in present integrated circuits must be electrically contacted. For example, field effect transistors have source/drain regions and gate electrodes which are electrically contacted. As integrated circuits increase in complexity and the number and size of the devices increase and decrease, respectively, making such electrical contacts continues to become more difficult. The surface area available for the contacts becomes smaller and the necessity to avoid misalignment errors, which might inadvertently result in contacting the wrong portion of the surface, also dictates that small contacts be used. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,844,776 issued on Jul. 4, 1989 to K-H Lee, C-Y Lu and David Yaney for description of source/drain contacts above the source/drain regions.
Early lithographic patterning deposited a resist on a surface and selectively exposed portions of the resist to radiation, thereby altering the solubility of the resist when exposed to a suitable etching or developing agent. After the resist had been patterned to expose selected portions of the underlying material, the exposed portion of the material was removed by etching. In this format, etching is terminated after a predetermined time has elapsed or when another event, such as exposure of an underlying material, has occurred. The area of the contact so formed is identical to the area of the resist initially removed.
However, fabrication of contacts smaller than those defined in resist is frequently desirable and, to meet this desire, self-aligned contacts have been developed. In making such contacts, the size of the contact is smaller than the opening initially exposed in the resist because the etch ultimately exposes a material, covering a portion of the opening, which is relatively impervious to the etch. Only the remaining portion of the opening is etched.
One contact that is difficult to form at small dimensions, half micrometer and smaller, is the contact to the substrate between two gate electrodes or runners. The contact area is small and the contact must be formed without too much etching into the substrate or overetching of the gate electrode. The former might degrade the source/drain region and the latter might lead to electrical short circuits to the gate electrode if a conducting layer of the gate electrode is exposed by the etching process.


Platinum carboxylate anticancer compounds, pharmaceutical compositions that include the platinum carboxylate compounds, and methods for treating cellular proliferative diseases by administering the platinum carboxylate compounds.

Cisplatin, cis-[PtCl2(NH3)2], is one of the most widely used anti-tumor drugs. Cisplatin is a square-planar Pt (II) complex featuring two inert Pt—N bonds and two relatively labile Pt—Cl bonds. The electrophilic character of the central platinum atom allows cis-[PtCl2(NH3)2] to enter a cell to react with nucleophilic groups of the cellular components. A number of observations indicate that the anti-tumor activity of cisplatin is related to its ability to bind to DNA through sequential replacements of the chloride ligands by the N7 atoms of the guanine or the adenine bases.
The Physicians' Desk Reference reports that cisplatin (commercial name, Platinol) can be used to treat testicular, ovarian, and bladder cancers. Methods of treating cancer using cisplatin and cisplatin analogs are described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,177,263, among other publications. Cisplatin is administered intravenously and is transported throughout the body by the blood stream. Cisplatin reaches cancer cells mainly as a neutral molecule and is believed to enter the cell mainly through passive diffusion. Inside the cell, hydrolysis replaces one or both chlorines with water molecules (aquation). The intermediate monoaquated species, [PtCl(H2O)(NH3)2]+, is the most active/reactive species responsible for the cytotoxic action of cisplatin. The final product of cisplatin hydrolysis is [Pt(OH)2(NH3)2], which is inactive.
Cisplatin, although a very potent and successful antineoplastic, is very toxic. Nephrotoxicity and ototoxicity are dose-limiting factors, and other toxic manifestations include severe nausea and vomiting. The severe toxicity of cisplatin coupled with the development over time of cisplatin-resistant tumors has led to the search for, and development of, improved platinum-based drugs. Desired properties of new and improved platinum drugs include a broader spectrum of activity, particularly against cisplatin-resistant tumors (e.g., lung, breast and colon cancers); an improved therapeutic index, either through greater efficacy or reduced toxicity; and/or modified pharmacological properties to improve drug delivery.
Several second generation platinum anti-cancer compounds, for example, carboplatin(cis-diamine[1,1-cyclobutanedicarboxylato(2-)]—O,O′-platinum (II)), oxaliplatin, iproplatin, and tetraplatin, have been developed. Carboplatin was the second platinum anticancer drug to be approved for clinical use and is less toxic than cisplatin. However, carboplatin is also less active against tumors, requiring higher dosing, and is affected by the same resistance mechanism. Iproplatin and tetraplatin are as active as carboplatin, but are more toxic. Oxaliplatin is more toxic than carboplatin, but has shown promising activity in gastrointestinal tumors, in patients with ovarian cancer who have previously received cisplatin, and in advanced, cisplatin-resistant non-small cell lung patients.
Limitations in second generation platinum drugs have led to the development of third generation compounds, including chelates containing 1,2-diaminocyclohexane (DACH), and promising non-classic (trans- and multinuclear) platinum complexes.
Multinuclear platinum compounds represent innovative structures designed and investigated with the aim of discovering new platinum compounds that are structurally dissimilar to cisplatin and possibly characterized by innovative mechanisms of DNA interaction. Various polynuclear platinum complexes with anti-cancer activity have been described and are currently in clinical trials. One example of a multinuclear platinum compound is BBR3464 (see U.S. Pat. No.6,011,166; Manzotti et al., Cancer Res. 6:2626, 2000). In preclinical studies, BBR3464 exhibited a very high biological activity against cisplatin-resistant tumor cell lines, but toxic side effects were dose limiting. Fewer than 1% of the platinum complexes tested for pre-clinical anti-cancer activity have entered clinical trials in the past 20 years (Perez et al., Curr. Med. Chem.-Anti-Cancer Agents 2 (4): 539:551, 2002).
Accordingly, despite the advances that have been made in the development of alternative platinum compounds, there exists a need in the art for platinum compounds that are as active as cisplatin, have lower toxicity than cisplatin, and that are effective against cisplatin resistant tumors.


A test pattern including an aperture image and a line image including a plurality of parallel lines, forming a measurement graticule, overlapping the aperture image, permits determination of dimensions for correction of alignment of image centerlines by inspection rather than complex measurement with stationary optical instruments. Since the line pattern preferably includes a plurality of parallel lines of predetermined width and separated by a predetermined spacing, the line image can be made to overlie the aperture image without obscuring features of the aperture image which are significant to determination of the alignment correction dimension.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to photoplotters and, more particularly, to alignment of exposure apertures in Gerber vector photoplotters.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Many modern manufacturing processes, particularly processes for fabricating electrical circuits, involve the production of intricate patterns of high accuracy. In particular, the production of masks for electronic and integrated circuits requires very accurate and complex patterns to be formed for the purpose of exposing photosensitive resists and the like.
For the creation of these patterns, the so-called Gerber vector photoplotter, manufactured by the Gerber Scientific Instrument Co. of South Windsor, Conn., has become widely used in the industry. Gerber vector photoplotters typically have an exposure head, an exposure table and a mechanism for causing an exposure head to move relative to the table with high speed and accuracy in two orthogonal directions. In more recent designs of such photoplotters, it is more usual to provide for movement of the table while holding the exposure head stationary to prevent the delicate optics of the head from being subjected to large acceleration loads. Thus, under computer control 30, the photoplotter can expose selected areas of a photosensitive medium at any location on the exposure table. Additional details of Gerber vector photoplotters may be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,330,182 to Gerber et al, 3,724,347 to Gerber, 4,249,807 to Webster and 4,416,522 to Webster.
As particularly disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,724,347 to Gerber, the exposure head of the photoplotter is typically divided into two sections. These two divisions are each optimized to produce the exposure of areas by either scanning the head over the area to be exposed, such as in line drawing, or by illuminating the entire area of a shape defined by a mask while the head is held stationary. This latter mode of operation is commonly referred to as flashing. Accordingly, these divisions are commonly referred to as a "line side" 32 and an "aperture 34 side" 34, respectively.
Since the pattern to be exposed will consist of geometric shapes, typically to form connection pads and lines to connect the pads, this division is for the purpose of producing the two types of images with greatest efficiency and accuracy. The pads can then be shaped in accordance with the shape of an aperture to avoid the need for movement of the head or table to develop the desired shape. Lines can be more efficiently exposed when the head or table is moved. As is known in the art, exposure profile across the width of a line can be affected by aperture shape; the dimension of the aperture in the direction of line drawing determining the effective exposure time (a circular aperture, for example, would produce reduced exposure at the edges of the line). Annular apertures for correction of the exposure across the width of lines are disclosed in greater detail in U.S. Pat. No. 3,548,713 to R. B. Webster. However, it is now common to use blade apertures in the line side of the photoplotter since the presently available photosensitive materials may easily be saturated during exposure, rendering the exposure profile relatively less important. Further, blade apertures allow for high speed adjustment of line widths under computer control as well as the capability of producing very fine lines.
Since these two portions of the exposure system in the exposure head must be used to form respective features of the same image, the geometrical relationship between the two must be accurately maintained. An offset must be developed to allow control of the positioning of the exposure head or table to exactly superimpose images formed by the two portions of the exposure head. For reasons of convenience, due to the structure of the aperture side, the aperture side is usually aligned to the line side of the photoplotter. The position (d) of the aperture on an aperture wheel which allows rapid changing of apertures will also affect the location of the aperture image and a correction (d) must be obtained for each aperture on the aperture wheel.
Apertures are typically positioned on the exposure wheel with an initial accuracy of about 1 mil, which is far less than the accuracy of which the Gerber vector photoplotter is capable. Since the aperture wheel extends into the optical system of the aperture side of the head, access is difficult for fine adjustment of aperture position on the aperture wheel. Therefore, it is customary to produce fine positional correction by adding or subtracting (e.g. at 36 of FIG. 3) orthogonal correction distances to a base compensation dimension 38 corresponding to the distance between the two sides of the exposure head. An arrangement for association of dimensional corrections as well as exposure controls with each aperture is disclosed in detail in U.S. Pat. No. 4,343,540 to Berdat.
In the past, these correction distances were determined by making a test exposure including a base line feature and an aperture image. Such a test exposure is made by exposing areas of a photosensitive medium, such as sheet film and developing the film to yield images for analysis. These images must be spaced by a small distance so that the centerline of each image can be optically determined by inspection of the image produced. For example, if the aperture image falls within or overlaps the base line image to any substantial degree, the centerline of the aperture image cannot be readily determined. The separation of the aperture and the base line images was typically on the order of 0.0001 inches to insure that no overlap occurred.
However, to exploit the accuracy available from the Gerber vector photoplotter, this separation of the centerlines of the images must be measured to a very high accuracy, on the order of 0.00002 inches, or about 1 part in 5 of the separation distance. While this ratio is as small as is considered practical, the separation distance itself introduces some uncertainty into the measurement. Further, such accuracy requires the use of large, stationary optical equipment and requires substantial time for the measurement to be made. When this time must be expended for two orthogonal directions for each of the many apertures of the photoplotter, the cost of operation of the photoplotter is greatly increased both in "down time" when apertures must be substituted and in labor costs of highly trained personnel to perform the measurement and enter the correction in the computer which controls the photoplotter. More importantly, perhaps, the measurement process is subject to error and an erroneous result may result in a defective pattern or even a run of defective manufactured parts.

Visual measurement technique and test pattern for aperture offsets in photoplotters

International Business Machines Corporation


The present invention is a system and method for coverage analysis in a wireless network. The invention seeks to evaluate the location and characteristics of a proposed base station in a wireless communication network, prior to the base station being erected. Data is collected from both: a test transmitter of known characteristics, erected at the proposed location for the proposed base station; and from a plurality of wireless channels of the existing network. The data may be collected at a plurality of measurement locations. The collected data is used to model and subsequently evaluate the behaviour of the network in the presence of channels that would be introduced into the network if the new base station were erected. Modeled data may include estimates of signal to noise ratios for various wireless channels for both existing base stations and the proposed base station, at the measurement location. The model data may be displayed on a GUI, depicting modeled signal characteristics in a geographical area surrounding the proposed base station, to estimate overall acceptability of a proposed base station at a proposed location before incurring the cost of installing the base station.

The use of cell phones has become ubiquitous in today's society, with the use of such devices growing exponentially worldwide with each passing year. Consequently, planning of such networks has become more challenging as each base station, which receives and transmits cell-phone data, can process only a limited amount of such data on a particular range of frequencies or range of channels.
Several methods currently exist to address this increasing volume of data. A first method is to add a new network to the existing network by adding new radios to existing base stations, the new network operating at a different range of frequencies from the existing network. However this has the disadvantage of having to deploy the radios and associated equipment uniformly across the network, with each existing base station being outfitted with the new equipment to maintain consistent quality of service. The associated cost of this deployment is very high, and additionally over-utilizes precious spectrum resources. Non-uniform addition of radios leads to conditions where a cell-phone moving within the coverage area may have to switch networks as it moves from an area equipped with new radios to an area lacking new radios, a process known as a hard hand-off. Hard hand-offs are not reliable, leading to an increased number of dropped calls and thus degraded quality of service.
A second method of addressing increased volume is to add more base station sites in the network, operating at the existing range of frequencies. However it is important to carefully plan the location of these new sites as the cost of erecting a base station is high, including the equipment and cost of a long-term lease of a site. Introducing a new base station can be problematic in areas where several base station signals are detectable by a cell-phone located in these areas. Indeed signals from existing base station sites, even some distance from the location of a cell-phone, may also be detected by the cell-phone. The disadvantage of having more than three strong base station signals in an area is that interference between possible hand-off states will occur, again leading to an increased numbers of dropped calls and degraded quality of service. Current network planning methods do not adequately address this situation.
Hence, evaluating the location and characteristics of a proposed base station can be a challenging process as it is important to ensure both acceptable coverage of an area as well as limiting the number of possible hand-off states, a balance between too few available signals and too many. However, current techniques for optimizing base station locations are concerned mainly with the impact of land-cover and terrain on the coverage of an area, and ignore problems associated with accurately ensuring a limited number of hand-off states. If the base station, when built, improves network coverage in one area, but results in a detrimental number of hand-off states in areas which overlap with adjacent base stations, the result can be decreased quality of service or suboptimal capacity in these overlap areas and a need to either move the base station or build additional base stations to solve the problem, both unfavourably expensive options.
Currently, planning of base station locations is carried out in a two step method. In a first step, areas which are not being adequately covered by the existing network are identified. This is accomplished by measuring existing network signal strength along a grid in a given area. In spread spectrum systems such as CDMA networks, for example, a motorized vehicle equipped with a PN scanner and an antenna collects signal data from base stations located in an area thought to have poor coverage, or an increasing volume of cellphone calls. A PN scanner is a commercially available device which measures identifying signals, Ec, from individual base stations, known as pilot channels in a CDMA network, as well as total network signal activity or power spectrum density, Io, while concurrently recording the time and location of each measurement, location being measured using a Global Positioning System (GPS). Signal to noise ratio, Ec/Io, can than be generated for each measured channel and combined with the location data to obtain a map of existing network activity over a given area. Ec/Io is mapped instead of channel strength as the channel strength must be greater than the noise to be detectable by a cellphone. In this manner the degree of coverage of a network can be determined and areas which are receiving inadequate coverage or quality can be identified.
In a second separate step possible base stations sites are identified. This is currently carried out using one of a number of commercial software modeling programs, such as Marconi's PlanetEV. These software packages attempt to predict coverage of base stations in a network, including a proposed base station, by using existing digital terrain and land-cover maps of a given geographic area, usually taken from a geographic database, and subsequently modeling the signal strength of each channel at various points in the area using propagation models such as the Okumura-Hata model to predict the impact of land-cover on the signal, and the Longley-Rice model to predict the impact of terrain on the signal. Land-cover, defined as non-geographic features which affect signal strength, such as buildings or foliage, are important to these models as the location of these features have a major impact on the behaviour of a signal. Once the model predicts the best location of a new site, a lease may be negotiated with a landlord and the site is built. These software modeling programs may also be used to identify areas which are not being adequately covered. However a disadvantage of these methods is that the simulations are often inaccurate as the land-cover models they are based on assume unrealistic uniformity of buildings and foliage.
Another disadvantage to these methods is that they cannot directly take into account the effect of the new base station on the existing network except through the limited simulation models described above. Though some empirical techniques exist to improve the land-cover model, the simulation still has no accurate picture of existing network coverage. In any event, the result is that the program predicts the effect of a model base-station on a simulated network.
There remains therefore a need for an improved method of evaluating the proposed location of a proposed base station which more accurately takes into account the activity of the existing network.

System and method for coverage analysis in a wireless network


Disclosed is a liquid thermosetting epoxy resin composition including a base resin, a curing agent (D), and curing accelerator (E) or including a base resin and a curing catalyst (D′), each base resin including an alicyclic epoxy compound (A) having at least one alicyclic skeleton and two or more epoxy groups per molecule; a polyester polyol and/or a polycarbonate polyol (B), each polyol having two or more terminal hydroxyl groups; and a phosphorous ester (C). The liquid thermosetting epoxy resin composition exhibits excellent viscosity stability and can give a cured article which is homogeneous even when having a large thickness, does not crack under heat cycle conditions, and is highly thermally stable and satisfactorily optically transparent.

Epoxy resin compositions for the sealing of optical semiconductor elements often employ liquid epoxy compounds each having an alicyclic skeleton that is satisfactorily transparent and thermally stable. Such epoxy compounds are typified by CELLOXIDE 2021 [3,4-epoxycyclohexylmethyl(3,4-epoxy)cyclohexanecarboxylate], CELLOXIDE 2081 [an adduct of 3,4-epoxycyclohexylmethyl(3,4-epoxy)cyclohexanecarboxylate with ε-caprolactone dimer], and CELLOXIDE 3000 (1,2,8,9-diepoxylimonene) each supplied by Daicel Chemical Industries Ltd.
Alicyclic epoxy compounds having a 3,4-epoxycyclohexylmethyl(3,4-epoxy)cyclohexanecarboxylate structure, represented by CELLOXIDE 2021, can be cured to give cured articles having excellent thermal stability and satisfactory transparency, and are thereby used as resins for sealing or encapsulating optical semiconductors such as LEDs. However, the alicyclic epoxy compounds such as CELLOXIDE 2021, when used alone, may exhibit insufficient heat-cycle endurance to suffer from cracking, and thereby cause product electronic components to have insufficient reliability.
Exemplary customary proposals to improve properties of epoxy resins typically for improving impact strength or for suppressing the occurrence of cracking are as follows. Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication (JP-A) No. H09-255764 discloses an epoxy resin composition which includes a hydrogenated bisphenol-A diglycidyl ether and which is used for sealing an optical semiconductor. JP-A No. H10-156952 discloses a stereolithographic resin composition using an alicyclic epoxy compound. JP-A No. 2000-63485 discloses a curable composition for buildup, containing a specific alicyclic epoxy compound and a polyepoxy compound having a polyhydric phenol (polyphenol) skeleton. JP-A No. H09-71636 describes an active-energy-ray-curable composition using an alicyclic epoxy compound. PCT International Publication Number WO2006/064736 discloses a thermosetting resin composition including a polyol oligomer.

Thermosetting epoxy resin composition and uses thereof


A method is described that comprises sorting carbon nanotubes (CNTs) within a fluidic flow for a targeted subset of the CNTs. The sorting comprises attracting at least a portion of the CNTs within the fluidic flow in a direction of increasing intensity of an electric field component of a substantially stationary beam of light. The electric field component has a frequency that is less than one or more resonant frequencies of the CNTs within the portion.

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) can be viewed as a sheet of Carbon that has been rolled into the shape of a tube (end capped or non-end capped). CNTs having certain properties (e.g., a "conductive" CNT having electronic properties akin to a metal) may be appropriate for certain applications while CNTs having certain other properties (e.g., a "semiconducting" CNT having electronic properties akin to a semiconductor) may be appropriate for certain other applications. CNT properties tend to be a function of the CNT's "chirality" and diameter. The chirality of a CNT characterizes its arrangement of carbon atoms (e.g., arm chair, zigzag, helical/chiral). The diameter of a CNT is the span across a cross section of the tube.
Because the properties of a CNT can be a function of the CNT's chirality and diameter, the suitably of a particular CNT for a particular application is apt to depend on the chirality and diameter of the CNT. Unfortunately, current CNT manufacturing processes are only capable of manufacturing batches of CNTs whose tube diameters and chiralities are widely varied. The problem therefore arises of not being able to collect CNTs (e.g., for a particular application) whose diameter and chiralities reside only within a narrow range (or ranges of) those that have been manufactured.
United States Patent Application Publication U.S. 2004/0120880 by Zhang, Hannah and Woo (hereinafter "Zhang et al.") and entitled "Sorting of Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes Using Optical Dipole Traps" teaches that CNTs of specific chirality and diameter will posses electrical dipole moments that will cause the CNT to exhibit characteristic "attraction/repulsion" behavior under an applied time-varying electric field. As such, Zhang et al further teaches a technique that uses the characteristic "attraction/repulsion" behavior as a basis for collecting "targeted" CNTs of specific tube chirality and diameter.
With respect to a CNT's "attraction/repulsion" behavior, Zhang et al. teaches that the system energy of a CNT placed in a time-varying electric field is U=−½ε0χE2 where ε0 is the permitivity of free space, χ is the dielectric susceptibility of the CNT and E2 is the intensity of the time-varying electric field. The dielectric susceptibility χ describes the collective orientation and strength of the individual electric dipole moments of the CNT in response to the applied time-varying electric field. According to Zhang et al., the dielectric susceptibility χ is a function of the frequency of the applied electric field; and, more importantly, that the collective "direction" of the CNT's electric dipole moments change as a function of frequency.
Specifically, for applied electric field frequencies beneath a "resonant" frequency, the dipole moments collectively "point" in a direction that causes the CNT to move towards increasing electric field intensity (i.e., the CNT is attracted to regions of increasing electric field intensity because lower system energy results from higher electric field intensities); while, for applied electric field frequencies above the aforementioned resonant frequency, the dipole moments collectively "point" in a direction that causes the CNT to move away from increasing electric field intensity (i.e., the CNT is repelled from regions of increasing electric field intensity because higher system energy results from higher electric field intensities). If the frequency of the applied time-varying electric field is at the resonant frequency, the collective pointing direction and motion of the CNT is unstable.
Zhang et al also teaches that the specific resonant frequencies of a CNT are a function of its energy bandgaps, and that, the energy bandgaps of a CNT are a function of the CNT's chirality and diameter. Hence, the aforementioned characteristic attraction/repulsion behavior of a CNT in response to an applied time-varying electric field is a function of the CNT's chirality and diameter.
Zhang et al. further describes a technique for sorting CNTs based upon the above described attraction/repulsion behavior. In particular, if an electric field is applied to a group of CNTs having diverse chiralities and diameters (e.g., such as a batch of CNTs produced by a single manufacturing process run), a specific CNT can be collected through the application of a time-varying electric field whose frequency is tailored in light of the resonant frequency of the CNT sought to be collected. FIGS. 1a through 1c demonstrate the technique in more detail.
FIG. 1a shows a fluidic flow 103 containing manufactured CNTs. It is assumed that the manufactured CNTs have various combinations of diameter and chirality. For simplicity, FIG. 1a shows only two types of manufactured CNTs: 1) a first group 105, 107, 110, 111, 112, 114, 117, 119 having a first chirality and diameter combination; and, 2) a second group 106, 108, 109 113, 115, 116, 118, 120 having a second chirality and diameter combination. All of the CNTs 105 through 120 enter the apparatus as part of fluidic flow 1031. A second fluidic flow 104 flows along side fluidic flow 103.
The general idea is that a particular type of CNT, such as the CNTs associated with the first group defined above, is to be extracted from fluidic flow 103 and introduced to fluidic flow 104. Thus, CNTs of the first type will flow out of the apparatus as part of fluid flow 1042 and CNTs of the second type will flow out of the apparatus as part of fluid flow 1032.
The extraction process uses the electric field component of a laser beam to apply the time-varying electric field. A laser beam spot 101 is drawn as being impingent upon fluid flow 103. The laser beam is focused and thus converges to a source image 102 further along the x axis approximately within the center of fluid flow 103's cross section (FIG. 2, which is discussed in more detail ahead, provides a three dimensional perspective of a laser beam focused as just described).
A focused point 102 in the center of the fluid flow causes the electric field intensity of any region that is illuminated by the laser beam to increase in the direction toward the focused point 102. Therefore, by selecting a laser beam frequency that is beneath the resonant frequency of the first group of CNTs but above the resonant frequency of the second group of CNTs, CNTs from the first group will be attracted toward the focused point 102 while CNTs from the second group will be repelled from the focused point 102.
At the instant of time represented by FIG. 1a, sweeping the laser beam from fluid flow 103 to fluid flow 104 will cause CNTs 105 and 107 to be pulled, as a consequence of their attraction to focused point 102, into fluid flow 104; while, CNT 106, as a consequence of its repulsion from point 102, will remain in fluid flow 103. The situation after the sweeping of the laser beam is depicted in FIG. 1b.
It is clear from the situation of FIG. 1b that CNTs 105 and 107 will exit as part of exit flow 1042 and that CNT 106 will exit as part of exit flow 1032. FIG. 1c shows the situation if the laser beam is swept again from flow 103 to 104 so as to capture CNTs 110, 111 and 112 from flow 103 and introduce them to flow 104. It is also clear that repeating this sweeping motion will cause the CNTs of the first group to exit as part of exit flow 1042 and that CNTs of the second group will exit as part of exit flow 1032. Thus, the sorting of CNTs is accomplished.

Application of static light to a fluid of CNTs for purposes of sorting the CNTs


A capacitor microphone is constituted by a plate having a fixed electrode, a diaphragm including a center portion and at least one near-end portion that is fixed to the outer periphery, in which the center portion having a vibrating electrode, which is positioned relative to the fixed electrode and which vibrates in response to sound waves, is increased in rigidity in comparison with the near-end portion; and a spacer that is fixed to the plate and the near-end portion of the diaphragm and that has an air gap formed between the plate and the diaphragm. Alternatively, a diaphragm electrode is horizontally supported by extension arms extended from a circular plate thereof and is vertically held in a hanging state being apart from a fixed electrode with a controlled distance therebetween.

Conventionally, it is known that capacitor microphones can be manufactured in accordance with manufacturing processes used for semiconductor devices. Capacitor microphones are designed such that electrodes are attached to plates and diaphragms vibrating due to sound waves, wherein the plates and diaphragms are supported and distanced from each other by way of insulating spacers. Capacitor microphones convert capacitance variations due to displacements of diaphragms, included in capacitors constituted by plates and diaphragms, into electric signals. Sensitivities of capacitor microphones can be improved by increasing ratios of displacements of diaphragms in comparison with distances between electrodes, thus reducing leak currents of spacers and parasitic capacitances.                The document entitled MSS-01-34 published by the Institute of Electrical Engineers in Japan teaches a capacitor microphone in which both of a plate and a diaphragm vibrating due to sound waves are formed using conductive thin films. Due to the uniform rigidity of the diaphragm, even when the diaphragm propagates sound waves, only the center portion of the diaphragm vibrates with a maximum displacement, and the displacement due to the vibration of the diaphragm becomes small in a direction from the center portion to the outer periphery fixed to the spacer. That is, the other portions other than the center portion of the diaphragm having the uniform rigidity may reduce the sensitivity of the capacitor microphone. It may be possible to increase the sensitivity of the capacitor microphone by increasing the ratio of the maximum displacement of the diaphragm in comparison with the distance between the plate and the diaphragm. In this case, a bias occurs when the diaphragm approaches the plate so as to cause electrostatic absorption, by which the plate absorbs the diaphragm; in other words, there is a problem regarding the occurrence of a pull-in event.
Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2004-506394 (corresponding to WO2002/015636) teaches an example of a capacitor microphone (serving as an acoustic transducer) using a semiconductor substrate such as a silicon substrate. Herein, the outer periphery of a fixed electrode having a plate-like shape is fixed to an insulating layer formed on the semiconductor substrate so that the fixed electrode is supported by and bridged over the insulating layer, wherein a diaphragm electrode is supported in parallel with the fixed electrode with a relative distance therebetween, so that variations of the relative distance that occur when the diaphragm electrode vibrates due to sound waves are detected as variations of electrostatic capacitance.
In the aforementioned capacitor microphone, it is preferable that the fixed electrode be held in a fixed state with the insulating layer, and the diaphragm electrode be easily vibrated due to sound waves. Specifically, supports are extended inwardly from the insulating layer and are used to hang the diaphragm electrode at inner ends thereof so as to separate the diaphragm electrode from the insulating layer, thus realizing free deformation with respect to the diaphragm electrode.
In the manufacturing process of the capacitor microphone, tensile stress may remain in the diaphragm electrode, which is formed using a conductive film at a high temperature. Due to the tensile stress, the diaphragm electrode may be slightly bent or deformed, thus reducing the air gap between the diaphragm electrode and the fixed electrode. When these electrodes approach each other so as to be very close, these electrodes may come in contact with each other due to electrostatic attraction exerted therebetween, thus reducing a pull-in potential. In order to avoid the occurrence of a pull-in event, it is necessary to reduce the bias voltage applied to the capacitor microphone. Due to such a restriction, the manufacturer experiences difficulty in manufacturing high-sensitivity capacitor microphones.
Even though the diaphragm electrode is supported in a hanging state and is separated from the insulating layer, a terminal for applying voltage from an external device is extended from a part of the outer circumferential portion of the diaphragm electrode and is fixed to the insulating layer, whereby the diaphragm electrode is supported in an unbalanced manner such that it is hung downwardly by means of the support and it is also supported horizontally by way of the terminal fixed to the insulating layer. This makes the air gap (formed between the diaphragm electrode and the fixed electrode) become easily non-uniform, whereby the air gap may be reduced partially so as to cause a reduction of a pull-in potential. Such a problem causes another limitation in increasing the bias voltage applied to the capacitor microphone.
Furthermore, the non-uniform air gap and the fixation of the terminal interfere with vibration of the diaphragm electrode, which may cause asymmetrical deformation with respect to the center of the diaphragm. This produces dispersions of sensitivities and makes it difficult to predict the performance in designing.


An energy-absorbing support structure has an absorbing body including a fiber-reinforced plastics material. The latter is arranged between a support structure abutment component and a support structure impact-absorbing component. The absorbing body absorbs energy by deforming from a starting state into a deformed deformation state based on an impact-induced relative displacement of the support structure components, the energy being introduced into the support structure by an impact. The absorbing body is configured as a body which has already been predeformed in the starting state by energy absorption compared to an original state. During production of the support structure, the absorbing body is firstly produced in the original state, the latter is then predeformed into the starting state and finally the absorbing body is connected to the support structure components. The result is a support structure which absorbs energy in a predictable and defined manner upon an impact-induced introduction of energy.

Energy-absorbing support structures, in particular for the bumper or bumper bar area of a motor vehicle, are known from EP 1 464 547 A1, DE 38 39 059 A1, DE 603 00 496 T2, EP 1 607 272 B1, EP 1744 077 A1, EP 2 335 983 A2, WO 2011/058152 A1, DE-PS 1 933 149 and DE 10 2006 058 604 A1.

Energy-absorbing support structure and method for the production thereof


A method and device for speaker recognition are provided. In the present invention, identifiability re-estimation is performed on a first vector (namely, a weight vector) in a score function by adopting a support vector machine (SVM), so that a recognition result of a characteristic parameter of a test voice is more accurate, thereby improving identifiability of speaker recognition.

Voiceprint recognition technologies are also called speaker recognition technologies, and are technologies that distinguish speakers according to voices and are used for identifying identities of the speakers. Generally speaking, speaker recognition technologies mainly include target speaker model registration and score measurement, so as to obtain a recognition result according to an obtained score. For example, in a Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM)-Universal Background Model (UBM)-based system, first, a UBM and a GMM of a target speaker are used to obtain a score function of a characteristic parameter of a test voice based on a log-likelihood ratio; then, the characteristic parameter of the test voice is taken as an input of the score function to obtain a corresponding speaker score; if the score is higher than a preset threshold value, a recognition result is true; if the score is lower than the preset threshold value, the recognition result is false.
However, the method for speaker recognition in the prior art has low identifiability.

Method and device for speaker recognition


Disclosed is a diffuser plate supporter of a backlight unit. The diffuser plate supporter functions to support a diffuser plate and includes: a frame positioned on the lower side of the diffuser plate supporter; a supporting member which is formed by an injection molding process and a portion of which penetrates through the frame; and a cap damper which is formed by an injection molding process and a portion of which penetrates through the inside of the supporting member.

1. Field
The present invention relates to a supporter of a diffuser plate in a backlight unit, which is capable of maintain a predetermined interval between a light source and the diffuser plate.
2. Description of the Related Art
A liquid crystal display is a light receiving device which controls the amount of light incident from the outside and displays images. The liquid crystal display requires a separate backlight unit for irradiating light to the LCD panel of the liquid crystal display.
The type of the backlight unit is largely divided into an edge type and a direct type in accordance with the position of a light source to a display surface. Since the direct type backlight unit has a high utilization of light, is easy to handle and has no limit to the size of the display surface, the direct type backlight unit is being generally used for a large-scaled liquid crystal display having a size larger than 30 inches.
The direct type backlight unit does not require a light guide plate converting line light into surface light of a lamp. The direct type backlight unit includes a plurality of light sources, a reflective sheet and a diffuser plate. A plurality of the light sources are included in the lower part of the display surface. The reflective sheet reflects light irradiated from the light source to the display surface and prevents optical loss. The diffuser plate scatters light to the upper part of the light source and emits uniform light.
Here, since there exists a predetermined space between the light source and the diffuser plate, the diffuser plate sinks due to a self weight or a high temperature. In order to prevent the diffuser plate from sinking between the diffuser plate and the reflect sheet, a plurality of supporters are provided.
FIG. 1 is a partial cross sectional view of a supporting structure of a diffuser plate of a conventional direct type backlight unit.
Referring to FIG. 1, a supporter 6 is provided between a reflective sheet 4 and a diffuser plate 5. A prism sheet 8 is provided on the top surface of the diffuser plate 5. The prism sheet 8 collects the light diffused by the diffuser plate 5 and improves the luminance of an LCD panel 9 above the prism sheet 8. The LCD panel 9 displaying images is positioned above the prism sheet 8. Though not shown, a plurality of light sources are provided between the reflective sheet 4 and the diffuser plate 5 and between the supporters 6.
The supporter 6 is made of a solid material such as polycarbonate and the like so as to sufficiently prevent the diffuser plate 5 from sinking. An end of the supporter 6 contacting with the diffuser plate 5 is formed pointed such that the supporter's area viewed from the display surface is as small as possible.
However, since the end of the supporter 6 is pointed, the contact area with the diffuser plate 5 may be scratched. If a severe external impact is given to the supporting structure, the end of the supporter 6 is broken or transformed.
In order to solve the problem, FIG. 2 shows an end of the supporter contacting with the diffuser plate is made of a ductile material.
Referring to FIG. 2, a conventional supporter 10 includes a supporting member 11 and an elastic contacting member 12 contacting with the diffuser plate. An insertion hole is formed inside the contacting member 12. An end of the supporting member 11 is inserted into the inside of the contacting member 12. The contacting member 12 is made of a ductile material, reducing the possibility that the diffuser plate may be scratched when the contacting member 12 contacts with the diffuser plate.
However, in the supporter 10 having such a structure, the contacting member 12 is coupled to one end of the supporting member 11 by means of an interference fit. As a result, as shown in FIG. 3, there is a problem in that the contacting member 12 is separated from the supporting member 11 by an external impact or an external force.
When the contacting member 12 is separated from the supporting member 11, the diffuser plate is not satisfactorily supported. If the end of the supporting member 11 directly contacts with the diffuser plate, many scratches may be produced.

Supporter of diffuser plate in backlight unit


A dielectric substrate comprises a resin composition impregnated with non-woven fibrous mat material having a thickness of 5 mils (127 micrometers), wherein the fibrous mat material comprises fibers, having a diameter of 1 nm to 10 μm, that have been extruded through one or more openings to produce fibers that have been collected in the form of a fibrous non-woven mat, and wherein the fibers exhibit a multi-directional orientation in the non-woven mat material. The dielectric substrate is useful in circuit materials, circuits, and multi-layer circuits, economical to make, and has excellent electrical and mechanical properties.

This invention relates to dielectric substrates and, in particular, to thin dielectric substrates for use in circuit laminates and circuits, including multilayer circuits.
As used herein, a circuit material is an article used in the manufacture of circuits and multilayer circuits, and includes circuit laminates, bond plies, dielectric materials, conductive layers, resin coated conductive layers, and cover films.
Circuit laminates can have a conductive layer fixedly attached to a dielectric layer. When a second conductive layer is disposed on the other side of the dielectric layer, the material is often referred to as a double clad circuit laminate. Patterning a conductive layer of a circuit laminate, for example by etching, provides a circuit, or in the case of a double clad circuit laminate, a double clad circuit. One or both of the conductive layers of a double clad laminate can be processed to provide circuit layers.
The aforementioned circuit materials and circuits can be combined in various configurations to provide multilayer circuits. "Multilayer circuits" as used herein refers to materials having at least two dielectric layers and at least two conductive layers, wherein at least one of the conductive layers is circuitized, and is inclusive of both subassemblies used to form finished circuits and the finished circuits themselves.
In one simple form, a multilayer circuit includes a double clad circuit and a resin coated conductive layer, wherein the dielectric material of the resin coated conductive layer is disposed on a circuit layer of the double clad circuit. In another simple form, a multilayer circuit includes a first circuit and a second circuit joined by a bond ply, to provide adhesion, disposed between the circuit layer of the first circuit and the dielectric substrate of the second circuit. Typically, such multilayer circuits are formed by laminating the circuit(s) and/or circuit material(s) in proper alignment using heat and/or pressure. In place of a conductive layer bonded to a circuit with a bond ply, the multilayer circuit can include a resin coated conductive layer bonded directly to the outer layer of a circuit. In such multilayer structures, after lamination, known hole forming and plating technologies can be used to produce useful electrical pathways between conductive layers.
A dielectric layer (also referred to as a "substrate" for attachment to another layer, for example a conductive layer, or a "circuit substrate" for supporting a circuit) can comprise a fibrous mat or other form of reinforcement. Suitable fibrous mat reinforcement can be composed of glass fibers or, alternatively, of polymeric fibers having good dielectric properties, such as aromatic polyamides ("aramids").
A liquid crystalline polymer in the form of a non-woven fibrous mat is commercially available from Kuraray America Inc., New York, N.Y., under the trade name VECRUS. Liquid crystalline polymer mats are described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,229,096, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. The mats described therein comprise liquid crystalline fibers and a binder, wherein the fiber-binder combination is provided with sufficient porosity to allow infiltration of a resin composition. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 7,524,388 discloses a method of forming a reinforced dielectric substrate comprising contacting a liquid crystalline polymer fibrous mat, having a thickness of 5 mils (127 μm) or less, with a resin composition to form a dielectric composite layer, wherein the contacting is carried out under vacuum, followed by pressure. The method is referred to as vacuum pressure impregnation (VPI).
While there are a variety of reinforced substrate materials available today, for example FR4 epoxy glass laminates and the like, there is a growing demand for improved and thinner reinforced substrate materials for high performance (high frequency) applications, that is, applications operating at 1 gigahertz (GHz) or higher. As the complexity of multilayer circuits increases, there is an incentive to reduce the thickness of the dielectric layers of multilayer circuits. Thinner dielectric layers enable the addition of more layers of circuitry, enable the weight and dimensions of the circuit boards to be as low as possible, and allow addition of more interconnect circuitry to be incorporated into a single board. Thin ultra-low-loss materials are needed for digital applications in particular.
It is difficult, however, to achieve thinner dielectric layers and still maintain good mechanical and electrical properties. The thickness of a laminate comprising a glass fabric is determined by the glass fabric. As the thickness of the glass fabric goes down, the strength of the fabric is reduced, which can lead to distortion of the fabric during the impregnation process in which the reinforced substrate is produced. The properties of the fabric can also be inconsistent at the "knuckles," where fibers overlap or cross over, since there would be more glass at the knuckles than at other places. As the laminate becomes increasingly thinner, the dielectric properties at these knuckles can become increasingly worse than at other parts of the laminate.
Non-woven fibrous mats have been considered as one possible solution for this problem. Such non-woven fibrous mats comprising chopped fibers, however, tend to have insufficient or low strength. Furthermore, they can also exhibit a mismatched CTE (coefficient of thermal expansion) along the x- and y-axes. Thus, while non-woven fibers can have better electrical properties than glass fibers, the non-woven fibrous mats can be very anisotropic. In fact, the CTEs can be quite different in x- and y-directions, which can lead to warping of the substrates during lamination.
Furthermore, very thin fibrous mats, less than or equal to about 4 mils (100 μm), can be prone to dimensional distortion when placed under mechanical stresses, for example, the stresses associated with the manufacture of reinforced prepregs and circuit laminates. The process of impregnating the mat, curing, heating, pressing, rolling, laminating, cutting, and the like can result in dimensional distortion in the x-y plane, thinning (which results in non-uniform thickness), and even tearing. Non-woven fibrous mats comprised of chopped fibers can be especially prone to these defects.
What is needed, therefore, is a dielectric substrate having a thin non-woven fibrous mat material incorporated therein that has good mechanical and electrical properties, for example, low coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) in all directions and low dissipation factor.

Circuit materials, circuit laminates, and articles formed therefrom


A handgrip for colonoscope shaft is equipped with force, torque, and acceleration sensors allowing for a comprehensive characterization of colonoscope shaft motion, including recognition of obstacles and recording of forces and torques applied at various times during a colonoscopy procedure. An electronic unit is adapted to receive sensors data wirelessly and calculate a variety of motion parameters guiding a medical practitioner during the procedure and aimed at making colonoscopy safer and less painful.

The present invention relates generally to devices useful for insertion of steerable catheters and scopes. More particularly, the invention describes a handgrip to be positioned over the shaft of a scope such as a colonoscope allowing measuring and recording of insertion forces coupled with measurements of shaft linear acceleration, same handgrip adapted to measure torque and rotational acceleration about the shaft of the colonoscope, as well as a resulting motion of colonoscope.
In many cases, it has been desirable to examine internal organs, passages and the like of the human body for purposes of diagnosis, biopsy, and therapeutic interventions. One method of examining the internal organs of the patient without major surgery is to insert a remote sensing device such as an endoscope into the body through a natural body orifice such as colon or a specially-prepared surgical opening.
The primary area of application of the invention is for use with a colonoscope but other devices can also be used with the handgrip of the invention. Therefore, the word "colonoscope" is used throughout this description to broadly include various types of direct vision and fiberoptic endoscopes, fiberscopes, arthoscopes, enteroscopes, laparoscopes, and other types or steerable and deflectable catheters, guidewires, cannulaes, and tubes designed to be inserted into blood vessels, tight openings and curved passages.
The use of steerable scopes for internal examination is not limited to medicine. Remote sensing devices can be used to examine the interior of otherwise inaccessible mechanical structures without opening them; such as aircraft wings, the walls of buildings, and the enclosed areas of any structure. In these cases, an internal examination, without putting a major opening in the structure, can help to determine the reason for mechanical failure or the level of corrosion levels.
The preferred area of use for the device of the present invention is in medicine, and more particularly in colonoscopy. Colonoscopy is the preferred method to screen for colorectal cancer, a disease that afflicts 115,000 patients each year in the US. Several million screening, diagnostic and therapeutic colonoscopies are performed each year in the U.S. hospitals and ambulatory surgery centers. Colonoscopy requires a physician to inspect the colonic mucosal surface by applying force to a colonoscope and advancing this flexible tube through a series of stationary and movable colonic loops.
When using a colonoscope, a common problem is to be able to maneuver the inspection end (distal end) of the scope and position it in proximity to the area of interest. This maneuvering is performed by a trained operator who uses a combination of visual inspection of images and tactile coordination to maneuver through the twists and turns found in the colon. The operator subjectively senses the resistance to maneuvers by the "feel" of the instrument and anticipates the amount of force necessary to advance the endoscope shaft forward. The application of force to the colon and its anatomic attachments can be painful. Particularly undesirable is the frequent occurrence of excessive contact pressure on an internal tissue, which can result in pain and in rare cases in colon perforation. Sedation with analgesia is frequently required to make the procedure comfortable. Preliminary studies demonstrate that a significant variation between operators exists in the level of applied push/pull force during examination procedure and that these forces can be excessive. Operator training programs are designed to reduce the variation in technique. However, training metrics remain subjective and the characterization of effective, less forceful insertion methods is not yet available. The need therefore exists to provide a device allowing for an effective, low-cost method to define best practices and to implement these practices as part of medical record keeping, training, ongoing education and quality assurance.
There is an extensive array of surgical instruments, catheters and endoscopes that can be introduced and guided into and through both solid and hollow organ systems such as gastrointestinal tract, blood vessels and heart, urologic and gynecologic systems. These devices are designed to perform a variety of functions such as illumination, spot heating or cooling, introduction of radiographic contrast materials and other fluids, surgical therapies, dilation, etc.
Examples of such guiding or steering techniques and systems for catheters may be found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,983,165 to Loiterman entitled "Guidance System For Vascular Catheter Or The Like," U.S. Pat. No. 4,776,844 to Ueda entitled "Medical Tube," U.S. Pat. No. 4,934,340 to Ebling et al. entitled "Device For Guiding Medical Catheters and Scopes," U.S. Pat. No. 4,930,521 to Metzget et al. entitled"Variable Stiffness Esophageal Catheter," U.S. Pat. No. 3,470 to Barchilon entitled "Dirigible Catheter," U.S. Pat. No. 3,605,725 to Bentov entitled "Controlled Motion Devices," and the Patent Cooperation Treaty ("PCT") Patent Application No. PCT W088/00810 of Tenerz et. al. entitled "Guide For Mechanical Guiding Of A Catheter In Connection With Cardio And Vessel Examination." These catheters, however, fail to give the operator sufficient feedback and control of the distal end of the catheter and make it difficult to manipulate the distal end to achieve a specific isolation of particular desired sections of the body vessel or cavity.
Other steerable catheters or systems have been made to try to give the physician control of the use of the catheter during surgical procedures wherein fluids and the various tools are needed for the operation by providing a flexible tube for controlling the direction of movement of the distal end of the catheter. Examples of these other attempts may be seen in the PCT Patent Application No. W091/11213 of Lundquist et al. entitled "Catheter Steering Mechanism," European Patent Application No. 370,158 of Martin entitled "Catheter For Prolonged Access," and U.S. Pat. No. 4,737,142 to Heckele entitled "Instrument For Examination And Treatment Of Bodily Passages." These devices, however, still fail to provide quantitative characterization of manipulation and control over handling the catheter needed for use with the surgical tools and fluids required for an operation.
One useful design of a handgrip for colonoscope with force and torque measurement capability is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,981,945 by the same inventors incorporated herein in its entirety by reference. The disclosed handgrip is capable of measuring and presenting to the operator the radial and longitudinal forces applied by the operator during the manipulation with the colonoscope. The handgrip includes an internal sleeve releasably positioned over the shaft of the colonoscope so that it can be disengaged and repositioned by depressing a release button.
The colonoscope manipulations might be characterized not only by applied forces to overcome the tissue resistance but also by acceleration of the endoscope shaft resulting from the applied force. The U.S. Pat. No. 7,526,402 by Tanenhouse entitled "Miniaturized Inertial Measurement Unit and Associated Methods" presents an example of a self-contained, integrated compact measurement unit in which sensors provide measurements of acceleration, linear velocity and angular rate. Increased accuracy is achieved using a noise-reducing algorithm such as wavelet cascade denoising and an error correcting algorithm such as a Kalman filter embedded in a digital signal processor device. In a particular embodiment, two sets of three angle rate sensors are oriented triaxially in opposite directions. Each set is mounted on a different sector of a base oriented normally to the other two and comprising a set of gyroscope. Signals are sent from the angle rate sensors and accelerometer for calculating a change in attitude, position, angular rate, acceleration, and/or velocity of the unit.
Importantly, just measuring force or torque applied to the shaft of colonoscope does not provide a full picture of the procedure. For example, detecting a large force applied to the colonoscope shaft without knowing whether the shaft has moved sufficiently far as a result of such force is insufficient to conclude whether shaft manipulation is proper or not.
The need therefore exists for a colonoscope handgrip able to provide extended set of parameters characterizing colonoscope maneuvering during the examination. This set may include force and torque applied to the endoscope shaft, and resulting linear and rotational accelerations, as well as speed, orientation, and position tracking. The handgrip device of the invention is preferably designed to be easy to use, inexpensive to manufacture and result in less painful and safer colonoscopies.

Handgrip for assessment of colonoscope manipulation


A method of reducing heat generated in a fuel injector driver controlled by an engine control unit (ECU) of a vehicle engine, the injector coupled to the engine, the method comprising of varying a number of fuel injector injections in an engine cycle as a temperature of the ECU varies, where during a first ECU temperature condition said injector performs a first number of injections in an engine cycle, said first number being at least two injections, and during a second temperature condition higher than said first temperature condition said injector performs a second number of injections less than said first number of injection in an engine cycle, said second number being at least one injection.

Internal combustion engines of an automobile may utilize an engine control unit (ECU) for electronically controlling engine operation. For example, the ECU may control the engine ignition system the engine as well as other vehicle or engine components, and may also be coupled to a plurality of sensors. In one example, the ECU may be located near or in the engine compartment such that significant heat energy generated by the engine and related components may be transferred to the ECU. As such, it is possible that there may an undesirable temperature rise due to heat buildup in the ECU, which may in turn cause degradation of the ECU and thus engine or other vehicle operation. Further, this heat buildup may be exacerbated by conduction or other transfer of heat from the systems adjacent to an enclosed space in which the ECU is located, and by the heat generated from the ECU itself.
To control or reduce ECU temperature, various forms of heat management may be used. One approach aims at cooling the ECU, either passively or actively. Another approach aims at reducing the amount of heat generated by the ECU. In one example approach aimed at reducing heat generated by the ECU, fuel injection of a diesel engine using piezo-electric fuel injectors is utilized. Specifically, a diesel engine controller with an integrated piezo fuel injector (with a piezo stack) driver circuitry may generate considerable heat in the ECU and contribute approximately 50% to 60% of the total heat generated by a typical diesel ECU. The heat buildup may be reduced by turning off non-essential drivers that dissipate heat when they are energized. The drivers may control systems that are not essential for vehicle/system operation. Also, the drivers controlling the fuel supply to the engine cylinders may themselves be used to reduce heat generation by operating engine at part load with a reduced fuel supply to all of the cylinders or shutting off fuel supply to selected cylinders. Such an approach is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,655,326.
However, the inventors herein have recognized that reducing engine load, power, or torque, while useful under some conditions, may result in decreased drive feel under other conditions. For example, an operator's perception of drive performance may be significantly reduced if the vehicle is unable to substantially meet power demands under some conditions. Further, if fuel is shut off to selected cylinders, engine vibration may also increase to a more noticeable level, further decreasing customer drive feel.
The above issues may be at least partially addressed by varying (e.g., reducing or limiting) a number of injections per cylinder event during conditions of ECU over-temperature. For example, conditions of ECU over-temperature may include operation at a high engine speeds (which may produce more heat in the ECU), operation at high engine loads, (which may produce engine system heat that may be transferred to the ECU enclosure), operation at high ambient temperature (e.g., greater than 80 degrees F., for example), and/or operation at high measured temperatures in or near the ECU.
In one particular example, the adjustment in a number of injections may be managed in such a way as to continue to deliver the required total fuel amount at appropriate timing. In this case, engine operation may continue to produce a sufficient output torque or load by maintaining sufficient fuel injection with a reduced number of injections. For example, multiple pilot injections may be combined into a fewer number of injections or to a single injection, and/or a split main injection may be combined into a single injection. Further, pilot injection(s) may be foregone before the main injection (and the main injection increased), or post injections may be inhibited by deferring operations in which such post injections are utilized.
In this way, it may be possible to at least reduce heat generated in the ECU during selected conditions. If desired, additional actions may be taken such as increasing airflow in or around the ECU and/or its enclosure, or performing other actions.


The invention relates to a system for transmitting packet data in the air interface of a digital cellular system based on TDMA, Time Division Multiple Access. The mobile terminated logical channels comprise information channels designated for transmitting information and control channels, which can be a fast paging (FP) channel and an acknowledgement (A) channel. The mobile originated logical channels comprise information channels designated for transmitting information and a reservation (R) channel, whereon the mobile station requests the system to reserve a connection for transmitting packet data. According to the invention, for the TDMA frames there is allocated a variable number of time slots for packet transmission, taking into account the symmetricity/asymmetricity of the packet transmission, as well as the total packet transmission demand of the cell. For fast paging (FP), acknowledgement (A) and reservation (R), there can be employed any of the time slots in the frame allocated for packet transmission. It is advantageous that in each time slot, the subscriber's data is subjected to the same interleaving and forward error coding algorithm, so that the respective time slots of consecutive frames form independent logical sub-channels, which are then reserved for one subscriber according to the needs, and to which the subscriber's data is multiplexed at the beginning of the transmission, and wherefrom it is again demultiplexed after the transmission.

The present invention relates to the transmission of packet information in the air interface of a packet radio system. The general range of application is any digital cellular system based on TDMA, Time Division Multiple Access.
The majority of current cellular networks provide effective data and speech services based on circuit switched technology. However, the utilization or transmission resources in circuit switching is unoptimal, because the transmission connection is maintained throughout the contact irrespective of the fact whether information is transmitted or not at a given moment. Transmission resources are shared by multiple users, which means that the reservation of circuit switched connection for one subscriber only unnecessarily uses by transmission resources from other subscribers. The burstiness of data services also is a drawback in circuit switched systems. The utilization of the channel can actually be enhanced by applying packet switched information transmission. On the other hand, packet switching should be used only when an actual need arises, because the burstiness of data services is high and this may cause interference in circuit switching.
The future third generation cellular system UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) must be able to transmit both circuit switched and packet data transmission, such as ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network) and ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode) transmission. Now the key factor is the air interface, where an advanced multiple access technology is employed; by means of this, the channels supporting different types of services must be effectively multiplexed in the air interface both to and from the radio channel. The conference publication "Mobile and Personal Communications, 13-15 December 1993, Conference Publication No. 387, IEE 1993" includes the article "A Reservation Based Multiple Access Scheme for a Future Universal Mobile Telecommunications System" by J. M. DeVille, which describes the requirements to be set for the air interface of a UMTS system. For example, multiple access must be able to utilize the Inactivity of the Information source by granting a physical channel only when there is activity on the logical channel, and to support different bit rates so that time slots in the frame are allocated to the logical channel according to the needs of the situation.
In order to satisfy these and other requirements, there is suggested the multiple access control method PRMA++ (Packet Reservation Multiple Access), which is part of a design for third generation cellular systems related to the transmission of packetized speech and data. PRMA++ can thus be used as multiple access control bath In packet switched and circuit switched transmission. The PRMA++ method concentrates on using one time slot in the transmission of packet data.
On the radio channel, PRMA++ uses Time Division Multiple Access TDMA. This allows the subscriber to share the transmission resources of the radio channel. The TDMA frame is divided into time slots, where the transmitted burst carries the data as well as signals connected to channel coding, notifications etc. In the uplink direction, which is the direction from the mobile station to the network (base station:), there are two types of time slots: reservation or R-slots, where only channel request bursts are transmitted, and information transmission or I-slots, which are only used for transmitting information bursts. In the channel request burst, the mobile station uses an Air-Interface Channel Identifier containing the network address of the mobile station, which address identifies the logical channel, and where it requests one or more time slots from the frame, according to the needs of the moment. In the downlink direction, i.e. from the network (base station) to the mobile station, there are likewise two types of time slots: I-slots reserved from transmitting information, and acknowledgement or A-slots. When the mobile station requests access to the network, the base station acknowledges the request on A-slots by transmitting the address of the subscriber and the number of the I-slot. From this onward, the said I-slot is reserved for the use of the mobile station.
Let us suppose that the number N of the PRMA++ time slots in one TDMA frame is a system configuration parameter. On the uplink channel, one TDMA frame now contains one R-slot and N-1 numbers of I-slots. All mobile stations start transmission by transmitting a channel request on the R-slot, and if several mobile stations use the same R-slot for transmitting the request, collisions may occur. The downlink TDMA frame includes, in addition to the above mentioned A-slot for acknowledging channel requests transmitted on the R-slot and I-slots, also a fast FP (Fast Paging) slot constituting the fast paging channel, on which the mobile station is notified of incoming data transmission and of information transmission slots.
The mobile station starts transmission by channel request on the uplink channel on an R-slot, which is used for this purpose by all mobile stations of the same cell. The base station acknowledges the received channel request on the acknowledgement burst on the downlink A-slot. If no requests are transmitted on the R-slot, or if on the channel there are collisions, identified by the base station, the base station transmits an idle flag on the acknowledgement burst of the respective A-slot, so that the mobile station understands to repeat the channel request after some time. In case The channel request sent on the R-slot was correctly received, but there are no free time slots for the transmission, the mobile station is notified of this on the next downlink time slot. The mobile station queues for access until a free time slot is found.
The R-slot contains a training sequence, address of the mobile station, number of requested information slots and a circuit switched flag. The flag informs whether the reservation is valid for the duration of the packet or longer. The channel is reserved, until an order for cancelling the reservation arrives. The A-slot acknowledgement burst contains the address of the requesting mobile station as well as the channels that are granted for traffic. The mobile station receives the acknowledgement burst, whereafter it tunes the receiver and transmitter to the allocated channel. Traffic on this channel is started, and it continues as long as there is data or speech to be transmitted. In packet data transmission, the number of bursts—bursts here meaning packets that are transmitted after one channel request—can be constant.
The base station uses the fast paging slot, FP-slot, to notify the mobile station of an incoming packet. The mobile station listens to the FP-channel and decodes all received messages in order to notice its own identifier. The time slot on the fast paging channel contains a list of those I-slots that are allocated for the mobile station. The mobile station acknowledges its own paging by transmitting an acknowledgement in the FP-acknowledgement slot.
According to what was said above, it is characteristic of the suggested UMTS system both in the uplink and in the downlink directions that physical channels are not allocated for connections which are not active at a given moment, and hence they do not reserve capacity in vain. The channels are always reserved by the same protocol, both in the case of circuit switched and packet transmission. The allocation of the channels is not dynamic, wherefore the channels reserved for packet usage cannot easily be altered. Reservation, fast paging and acknowledgement slots are given slots, and the state of the art does not comment on altering these. Moreover, the known method does not pay particular attention to the symmetricity or asymmetricity of packet transmission when creating a transmission channel.

System for transmitting packet data in digital cellular time division multiple access (TDMA) air interface


In an RBAC system, a capability is defined as including an operation and an object on which the operation is to be performed. The capability is assigned to a role, which is in turn assigned to a user. Then the user will have the authorization to perform the operation on the object. Rather than specifying the object by predetermining the identity of the object, an expression (e.g., a regular expression, a query, etc.) may be specified in place of the predetermined object. In response to a request initiated by a user, the expression is then evaluated to determine the identity of the object(s) on which the operation may be performed.

Various forms of network storage systems are known today. These forms include network attached storage (NAS), storage area networks (SANs), and others. Network storage systems are commonly used for a variety of purposes, such as providing multiple users with access to shared data, backing up critical data (e.g., by data mirroring), etc.
A network storage system typically includes at least one storage server, which is a processing system configured to store and retrieve data on behalf of one or more client processing systems ("clients"). In the context of NAS, a storage server may be a file server, which is sometimes called a "filer". A filer operates on behalf of one or more clients to store and manage shared files in a set of mass storage devices, such as magnetic or optical disks or tapes. The mass storage devices may be organized into one or more volumes of a Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks (RAID). Filers are made by Network Appliance, Inc. of Sunnyvale, Calif.
In a SAN context, the storage server provides clients with block-level access to stored data, rather than file-level access. Some storage servers are capable of providing clients with both file-level access and block-level access, such as Filers made by Network Appliance, Inc.
A business enterprise or other organization that manages large volumes of data may operate one or more storage servers. These storage servers may be connected to each other through one or more networks. The storage servers and other network components may be managed by one or more network administrators (also called "administrative users" or simply "administrators"), who are responsible for configuring, provisioning and monitoring the storage servers, scheduling backups, troubleshooting problems with the storage servers, performing software upgrades, etc. These management tasks can be accomplished by the administrator using a separate management console on the network, which is a computer system that runs storage management application software specifically designed to manage a distributed storage infrastructure. An example of such a storage management application is DataFabric® Manager (DFM), made by Network Appliance, Inc. of Sunnyvale, Calif.
To prevent unauthorized users from accessing and controlling functions of the storage servers, there is a need for some form of access control. One form of access control is Role Based Access Control (RBAC). Within an organization, roles are created for various job functions. The permission to perform certain functions is assigned to specific roles. Members of staff (or other system users) are assigned particular roles, and through those role assignments acquire the permissions to perform particular system functions.
Since users are not assigned permissions directly, but only acquire them through their role (or roles), management of individual user rights becomes a matter of simply assigning the appropriate roles to the user, which simplifies common operations such as adding a user, or changing a user's department.
In an RBAC system, a role may be assigned the permission to perform an operation on an object. An object is an entity within a system. An object may be a composite object containing one or more other objects, or a simple object containing no other objects. Here, the phrase "perform an operation on an object" has the meaning of both performing the operation on the object and performing the operation within the object. The object may be a logical object or a physical object. Examples of logical object include a bank account in a banking system, a volume in a network storage system, or a role in an RBAC system. Examples of physical object include a harddrive, a network interface card, etc. When a permission to perform an operation on an object is assigned to a role, the object is statically specified. That is, the identity of the object is already determined at the time the permission is assigned to the role. The static mechanism, however, limits the flexibility of the RBAC system, especially when the system (such as a network storage system) that the RBAC system is controlling changes frequently.

Method and system for controlling access to dynamically specified resources


In general, in one aspect, the disclosure describes an apparatus for calibrating signals. The apparatus includes a unity gain detector to traverse a gain curve of an output buffer circuit to determine unity gain voltages associated with unity gain crossover points on an input voltage ramp. The apparatus further includes a pre-boost circuit to apply the unity gain voltages to at least one input/output buffer within the output buffer circuit.

Output buffers hold data awaiting transmission. The output buffers transmit the data upon receipt of an appropriate signal. The buffers may provide the data to terminals, pads, transmission lines, busses, traces, receiving circuits, etc. (referred to generally hereinafter as "receiving components").
One critical property of the output buffer is the non-linearity of its output response characteristic. When a linear input (e.g., voltage ramp) is applied to an input an output gain is not constant. The linear input may be provided by a transistor (e.g., pull up transistor). The non linear output gain often has one or more low gain regions separated by a high gain region. Crossovers between the low gain and high gain regions is where the gain is equal to one and is known as Unity Gain (UG). Pre-boosting and post-boosting take advantage of the non linear gain property by rapidly transitioning the input in the low gain region and exerting edge rate control in the high gain territory.
As pre-boosting and post-boosting are dependent on transitions between low and high gain regions a determination of the crossover between these regions is desired (e.g., determination of UG). However, UG may fluctuate, for a number of reasons, and is usually process, voltage and temperature (PVT) dependant. Pre-boosting to the correct UG results in balanced falling and rising transitions. Over pre-boosting speeds up the output transition because the high gain region is encroached before UG, while under pre-boosting slows down the output transition because it takes time for edge rate control to drive past the UG.
One method for pre-boosting includes use a self-timed circuit. When the input transitions, the pullup leg of the transistor is enabled for a time delay provided by an inverter chain. The preboosted level depends on the node capacitance C at the output, the strength of the pullup/pulldown legs and the time delay. None of these parameters are PVT compensated. As a result, under or over pre-boosting may occur as process, voltage and temperature vary. The under or over pre-boosting causes unbalanced falling and rising transition at the output.

Tracking unity gain for edge rate and timing control


A liquid surfactant composition includes at least one anionic surfactant and at least one cationic surfactant. The combination of surfactants is formulated to provide a liquid composition that swells in the presence of water or body fluids, becomes a moldable solid in the presence of an excess of water, and adheres to surfaces. In addition, the liquid surfactant composition may be incorporated into or onto a substrate, such as an absorbent substrate, a fabric or cloth substrate, a tissue substrate, or a protective garment substrate.

Surfactant compositions are used for a variety of purposes, including household chores, personal care, health care, and cosmetic application or removal.
For example, the benefits of proper hand washing are well known. This is particularly apt after using the restroom. However, despite the known benefits, not all people regularly and properly wash their hands. This is particularly true with children who may not appreciate the benefits of hand washing and may not be attended- to at wash times. As such, children may not wash their hands at all and/or may not wash their hands for an adequate amount of time and/or may not wash with an adequate cleanser. Parental supervision and coaching can improve the hand washing habits of children, but parents or caregivers are not always able to be with the child in the bathroom.
Several products have been introduced to encourage people to wash their hands for an appropriate length of time. For example, some proposed products include pads that apply a mark to the hand when soap is dispensed. The recipient of the soap and the mark are instructed to wash their hands until the mark is removed. In another example, some proposed products include a soap dispenser base designed to hold a soap dispenser. When pressure is applied to the soap dispenser, a timing means and a signal means in the base are activated. While these products may improve hand washing habits when used, they may also fail to interest children and therefore may not be used.
Additionally, many times surfactant compositions are incorporated into different substrates. For example, surfactants may be placed onto wipes, absorbent products, and tissue products. Several of these products, such as absorbent articles and protective garments, require prevention of liquid migration therethrough, especially from the sides of such products. For example, pant-like absorbent garments, such as diapers and training pants, typically include a pair of leg openings having an elastic portion around each leg opening, and a waist opening having an elastic portion as well. The elastic portions are intended to fit snugly around a wearer's legs to prevent leakage from the garment, yet leakage often persists. Protective garments such as face masks have also been constructed to prevent fluids from passing through.
A number of different approaches have been taken to reduce or eliminate fluid leaking from or through different substrates. For example, physical barriers, such as elasticized containment flaps, have been incorporated into such articles. The increased tension is often effective, but can result in an undesirable red marking on a wearer's skin due to increased pressure.
Thus, there remains a need for a surfactant composition that attracts and holds the attention of children and encourages them to wash their hands to ensure proper hand washing hygiene. There also exists a need to provide safe and effective ways to inhibit fluid migration within porous substrates.

Liquid surfactant compositions that adhere to surfaces and solidify and swell in the presence of water and articles using the same


A system and method is provided which allows users of an OSI mail handling system the advantage of communicating with users of other mail handling systems and utilizing the functionality associated with the OSI system. The functionality of a RFC-987 gateway is extended to provide, in addition to a straight conversion function, full OSI mail handling functions. A conventional mail handler is extended to allow for both OSI mail and conventional mail originating from a user of any mail system to be processed, thus providing a common interface for mail system users. Further, the sendmail component has now been enabled to recognize OSI addresses and route the associated messages to the appropriate destination. Mixed mode addressing has also been extended to include OSI type addresses in an address string that may contain components from several different networks, e.g. TCP/IP, UUCP.

This invention relates generally to mail handling capabilities utilized by interconnected computer systems. In particular, the present invention was implemented on a RISC System/6000 (RISC System/6000 is a trademark of IBM Corp.) workstation running the AIX (AIX is a trademark of IBM Corp.) operating system as described in detail by "IBM RISC System/6000 Technology", published 1990 by IBM Corp., hereby incorporated by reference. However, it should be noted that the present invention contemplates all multi-user systems interconnected into a network, e.g. Internet. That is, the present invention is in no way limited to a specific hardware platform, or software operating system, it is hardware and operating system independent.
The emergence of open system standards in a UNIX (UNIX is a registered trademark of AT&T) operating system environment has created a great need to provide an interface which will allow users of different communication protocols to communicate with one another. The open systems interconnect (OSI) standard utilizes a mail handling system known as X.400, while other mail handling systems utilize protocols such as simple mail transfer protocol (SMTP), and UNIX to UNIX copy protocol (UUCP). It is currently known to utilize an RFC-987 gateway which will convert an interpersonal message (IPM, which by definition is in the OSI, or X.400 mail format) from X.400 to communications protocols, such as Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), or the like. TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) can be considered a family of communications protocols, of which SMTP is a communications (mail handling) program application protocol. When a message is received by an SMTP user via the RFC-987 gateway certain message header fields present in the X.400 mail may not be displayed to the SMTP mail recipient. Thus, with conventional mail handling systems a user does not have the capability to manage, both X.400 and RFC-822 mail from a single mail queue.
Therefore, it would be extremely desirable to have a mail handling system which provides a user the capability to manage both the X.400 and SMTP mail systems from a single mail queue, or local system. Further, a system that provides communications between users of different systems without the requirement that each sender and recipient each have identical mail handling capability would be a significant advantage over conventional mail handling systems.

Open systems mail handling capability in a multi-user environment


Provided herein are methods of fabricating membranes using polymers with functionalized groups such as sulfone (e.g., PSf and PES), ether (e.g., PES), acrylonitrile (e.g., PAN), fluoride (e.g., pvdf and other fluoropolymers), and imide (e.g., extem) and ionic liquids. Also provided are membranes made by the provided methods.

The European Chemicals Agency (EACH), which is governed by EU public law, classified harmful or toxic solvents into a list regulated by the Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH). In this list, chemicals which are commonly used to fabricate membranes such as dimethylformamide (DMF), N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP), and dimethyl adipimidate (DMA), appeared as toxic compounds. This means that commonly used solvents may soon be withdrawn from the market and will not be able to be utilized in Europe due to their high toxicity and risk for human health and the environment.

Fabrication of green polymeric membranes

KING ABDULLAH UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY