A drive device of a vehicle includes a motor generator, a lubricant circulating mechanism lubricating and cooling the motor generator, a power control unit controlling the motor generator, arranged on a circulation path of a lubricating oil and being in contact with the lubricating oil for transferring and receiving a heat to and from the lubricating oil, and a casing accommodating the motor generator, the lubricating mechanism and the power control mechanism, and provided with the circulation path. Preferably, the power control unit includes a power control element and a board (120) having a first main surface on which the power control element is mounted. The board (120) is provided on its second main surface side with a radiator fin (390, 392 and 394) for contact with the lubricating oil in the circulation path.

Many of present hybrid cars have structures in which an inverter has a large box-like casing fixed to a chassis, and a motor casing (trans-axle) is arranged under the casing. Consideration may be given to the drive device of the hybrid vehicle that can be mounted in as many as types of hybrid vehicles. In this case, if the device employs two casings, an arrangement of such casings must be optimized for each of the vehicle types. Therefore, it is difficult to standardize parts.
In principle, it is desired that units combined with each other for the operation are integrated and accommodated in one casing. Japanese Patent Laying-Open Nos. 2004-343845, 2001-119961 and 2003-199293 have disclosed drive devices of hybrid vehicles each having a motor and an inverter integrated together.
However, in the drive devices of the hybrid vehicles disclosed in Japanese Patent Laying-Open Nos. 2004-343845 and 2001-119961, the inverter is merely arranged on the motor, and this structure is susceptible to improvement in connection with a vertical position of the center of mass of the vehicle equipped with the device. Further, consideration is not sufficiently given to reduction of a space required for mounting the drive device on the hybrid vehicle.
For allowing the mounting on many types of vehicles, it is desired that the inverter and the motor are arranged within substantially the same contours as an automatic transmission neighboring to an engine in an ordinary vehicle.
In Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2003-199293, a water-cooling system is employed as a cooling system of an inverter unit, and an oil-cooling system is employed as a cooling system of a motor unit so that the structure is complicated.


Multipurpose device for rolls of sections which are advantageously round bars in rolls for reinforced concrete, the device comprising a rotary turret winder (25) able to bear rolls (17) of sections produced with a hot cold process and including a rotary support (11) having its axis of rotation (12) substantially vertical and supporting along a circumference at least two roll-holder reels (13) with their axes of rotation substantially parallel to the axis of rotation (12) of the rotary support (11), each roll-holder reel (13) cooperating with a specific upright (20), at least one straightening assembly (21) being comprised in cooperation with each single upright (20) of each single reel (13) and being positioned substantially on the same axis as the axis of use of the machine downstream.

This invention concerns a multipurpose device for rolls of round bars for reinforced concrete.
To be more exact, the invention concerns a multipurpose device for rolls of round bars used for reinforced concrete, the device being located upstream of machines which process the round bars, such as straightening machines, shears for shearing to size, shaping machines, forming machines, etc.
These machines which process the round bars may carry out one or more of the operations of straightening, measuring, shearing and/or bending according to requirements.
This description speaks of sections as round bars, preferably round bars produced with a hot or cold process for use in reinforced concrete, but the invention is also applied properly to sections having different cross sections such as square, hexagonal, polygonal, etc. cross sections and used also for other purposes.
Document IT 83347 A/90 (EP-A-91102615.1) describes a rotary turret winder for rolls of round bars for reinforced concrete, the winder being located upstream of a user machine such as a straightening machine, shears and/or bending/shaping machine.
The above rotary winder comprises at least two roll-holder reels, and when the round bar being processed has to be replaced, for a change of size for instance, the rotary winder has to be rotated to bring the new roll-holder reel to the working position.
The rotary winder of the state of the art is associated with one single machine of the above described type or with one single assembly of machines positioned in series.
The work of replacing the round bar by means of the rotary winder of the state of the art entails a long non-productive time spent in changing the roll or changing the size since on each occasion it is necessary to withdraw/thread the round bar from/into the straightening assembly located outside the rotary winder.
Moreover, the above rotary winder of the state of the art cooperates downstream with a straightening assembly which has of necessity to be complex so as to be able to perform the straightening of coils which have a curvature, due to being wound up, on the plane on which they lie and also have a deformation by twisting due to their being unwound and drawn.
GB-A-1,075,789 of 1964 discloses a turntable device located in a rolling line producing coils. This device has the purpose of winding and unwinding coils in concentric spirals and may cause the coils to pass through a straightening assembly during winding and unwinding. This teaching dating back to 1964 has never met with acceptance in devices which unwind round bars for building work either because it belongs to an old technology or because people have never understood that pre-straightening or straightening of round bars for building work can be carried on during unwinding from a roll of coils in bulk, this too although there has been felt for a long time a need to supply to the working machines immediately downstream a round bar already straightened when it comes off a roll. Moreover, the uniform and expected winding and unwinding of the spirals of the coils cause no difficulty for the straightening assembly.
FR-A-2.182.594 of 1972 discloses a rotary winder bearing two or more rolls of wire, which is wound in coils substantially in bulk. This teaching was disclosed a good eight years later than GB-A-1,075,789 and a good twenty years earlier than the present application. The prestraightening system is the classic one which has been retained up to the present time with central extraction from above, which is not suitable to feed usage machines such as straightening machines, shears and/or bending/shaping machines. The content of FR-A-2.182.594 is unsuitable for installation of straightening assemblies, precisely because of the axial outlet system which is connected to the deviation wheel.
It should also be borne in mind that the devices disclosed in the state of the art documents can work, during unrolling, with one single downstream machine, a four-high rolling mill stand or a drawbench respectively. Furthermore, none of the teaching of the prior art teaches the overcoming of the typical problems of introduction into the machines downstream.
Furthermore, none of the devices of the state of the art provides the ability to process a wide range of different sizes or to supply different machines or machines performing different functions at one and the same time.

Multipurpose device for rolls of round bars of reinforced concrete

M.E.P. Macchine Elettroniche Piegatrici SpA


A method and system for predicting prospective behavior of a manufacturing process are described. Measured values of multiple variables, including at least one dependent variable, are received. A partial least squares (PLS) regression approach is used to estimate an unknown future value of the at least one dependent variable at a future point in time in a current batch run.

Massive data sets can be collected during manufacturing processes and in connection with research and development activities. Manufacturing processes are sometimes categorized as either "batch" manufacturing processes or "continuous" manufacturing processes. In a batch manufacturing process, a series of steps are performed on a set of raw and/or processed materials over a finite duration to produce a product with desired properties. In some batch processes, processing occurs at a single workstation (e.g., a chamber or container) involving one or more process tools (e.g., process tools within the chamber or container). Examples of batch manufacturing processes include semiconductor wafer processing (e.g., wafer processing resulting in a set of chips), pharmaceutical processing (e.g., the process results in an intermediate or final output set of chemicals, compounds or drugs), or biotechnology processing (e.g., the process results in a particular biological fermentation or cell culture process). In contrast, in continuous manufacturing processes, materials are manufactured, processed or produced substantially without interruption.
As an example, in the semiconductor device manufacturing industry, as device geometries shrink to the nanometer scale, complexity in manufacturing processes increases, and process and material specifications become more difficult to meet. For example, a typical process tool used in current semiconductor manufacturing can be described by a set of several thousand process variables. The variables are generally related to physical parameters of the manufacturing process and/or tools used in the manufacturing process. In some cases, of these several thousand variables, several hundred variables are dynamic (e.g., changing in time during the manufacturing process or between manufacturing processes). The dynamic variables (e.g., gas flow, gas pressure, delivered power, current, voltage, and temperature) can change, sometimes non-linearly, based on a variety of factors, including, for example, a specific processing recipe, the particular step or series of steps in the overall sequence of processing steps, errors and faults that occur during the manufacturing process or changes in parameters.
Generally, process variables associated with a manufacturing process can be divided into two different types, X-type variables (also known as X-variables or inputs) and Y-type variables (also known as Y-variables or outputs). X-type variables are indicative of factors, predictors, or indicators and are used to make projections or predictions about the manufacturing process or results of the manufacturing process. Y-type variables are indicative of yields or responses of the manufacturing processes. X-type variables and Y-type variables are generally related to each other. Often, the exact relationship between the X-type variables and Y-type variables is uncertain or difficult or impossible to determine. The relationship can, in some instances, be approximated or modeled by various techniques, such as linear approximation, quadratic approximation, polynomial fitting methods, exponential or power-series relationships, multivariate techniques (e.g., principal component analysis or partial least squares analysis), among others. In such cases, the relationship between X-type variables and Y-type variables can be inferred based on observing changes to one type of variables and observing responses on the other type of variables.
In a manufacturing process, it is important to be able to predict future behavior of process variables in real time or in near real time as the process progresses, but before the process is completed. Predicted process behavior can have many applications, one of which is to monitor the future trajectories of critical process parameters. For example, in biological manufacturing, early warnings of toxin production, nutrient levels, growth kinetics and other cell performance metrics can be used to make corrective decisions for steering the process to improve yield or provide consistent quality. Another application is to provide an estimate of the yield of the process before it is completed, which can be used to induce proactive modifications to the process or downstream operations. For example, in biological manufacturing, early detection of a low yield can be used as a basis for making adjustments to the process recipe to account for variations in cell performance (e.g., variations in growth rate). In general, based on estimated future behavior of process variables, an operator can have advanced warnings of potential deviations and faults and develop avoidance strategies accordingly during process execution.
There are several existing approaches for predicting the future behavior of a manufacturing process. For example, when a batch process is partially completed, imputation methods can be used to estimate the future trajectories of process variables. Using imputation, estimated future trajectory of a manufacturing process can be determined based on measured historical values of various process variables. However, existing imputation approaches are iterative in nature and often take many iterations before convergence to a fairly accurate prediction.

Multivariate prediction of a batch manufacturing process


The invention relates to a method for the virtualization of a hardware resource associated with a computer system by an executable piece of code adapted for being injected into a process belonging to an application that is executed on an operating system comprising at least one API that is executed on the computer system. The method comprises: intercepting a call from the process to an API service related with the management of the data flow produced between the process and the hardware resource; and managing the data flow produced between the process and the hardware resource by the piece of code on the basis of the interception of the call from the process to the API service related with the management of the data flow produced between the process and the hardware resource.

For some years now, basically since the cloud computing model has become consolidated, the concept of "virtualization" has been standing out within the world of computers.
Virtualization can basically be defined as the creation by means of software of a virtual version of a technological resource, such as a hardware platform, an operating system, a data storage device or other network resources, such that this resource can be divided into one or more execution environments. It is important to point out that the case in which this software is assisted by virtualization hardware technology, such as Intel-VT or AMD-V, is also possible (see Wikipedia in Spanish—http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtualizacion—for example).
One of the technological resources that is most frequently virtualized is a computer system (for example, a personal computer or a server), which allows this computer system to concurrently execute multiple instances of different operating systems. In this manner, the computer system is capable of executing different applications requiring different operating systems.
One type of virtualization is also known to allow emulating computer system hardware resources. To that end, it is necessary to install virtualization software in the computer system the objective of which is to make computer system hardware resources accessible for all installed operating systems. Another objective of this virtualization software is to coordinate access to virtualized hardware resources for the different operating systems installed in the computer system.
Despite the fact that the virtualization of hardware resources of a computer system (though applicable to any other type of virtualization) has some advantages (for example, as discussed above, it allows concurrently executing several operating systems on one and the same computer system), it also has a significant number of drawbacks.
Thus, for example, such virtualization can entail a decrease in computer system performance as a result of the overload entailed in executing the virtualization software on the computer system. Among others, the execution of the applications, which can run slower than in systems that are not virtual, can be affected.
In relation to the preceding drawback, in many cases such virtualization can virtualize resources which in no case are going to be used or in no case need to be virtualized. Thus, for example, if the keyboard of a computer system is to be virtualized so that each application being executed has a virtual keyboard, according to the state of the art it would be necessary to create as many virtual computer systems (virtual machine plus operating system) as virtual keyboards are required by the different applications being executed. This entails unnecessary system resource consumption that, as described above, affects system performance.

Method, system and an executable piece of code for the virtualization of a hardware resource associated with a computer system


Disclosed are a framework for managing an application's relationship to its run-time environment and an engine that accepts the framework as input and runs the application within the environment. Aspects of the framework and engine may be changed to suit a changing environment without changing the application itself. By managing details of the environment, the invention leaves developers free to focus on the specific tasks of the application. The framework also allows the engine to provide standardized services such as deadlock and leak detection, progress monitoring, and results logging. As an example, the application may be a software test suite. The invention allows the test suite to be run single- or multi-threaded and with individual tests within the suite running consecutively or concurrently. The invention can be parameterized to accommodate different testing goals, such as basic variation testing, regression testing, and stress testing, without changing the test suite itself.

The relationship of a typical software application to its run-time environment is growing more complex for at least four interrelated reasons. First, environments are themselves growing more complex. The rise of telecommunications often allows an application to take advantage of, or requires an application to be aware of, services and resources provided by remote computing devices located throughout the environment. Each remote device may present its own set of communications peculiarities, such as novel protocols or real-time response constraints. The number of possible interactions grows exponentially with the number of devices and applications involved in one computing task, and all of these interactions need to be managed efficiently. Second, environments may change their characteristics over time. For example, a given application may always need to secure a specific type of resource from a specific type of remote server, but the identities of the servers available to provide that type of resource may change moment by moment. At the same time, new services may be introduced and old services may disappear. Third, the application may need to run in multiple environments. The number of possible environments is proliferating as, for example, hardware and software platforms are optimized for particular uses. Even if an application's relationship to any one environment were to remain unchanged (unlikely for the reasons discussed above), the growth in number and diversity of possible environments leads to a demand for an increase in the flexibility, and thus the complexity, of the application's environmental interactions. Compounding the well known difficulties of developing an application to meet diverse requirements of diverse environments, a new environment may arise whose requirements were unforeseen when the application was developed. Fourth, applications themselves are becoming increasingly complex. For example, an application that formerly ran as one thread on a single, stand-alone computing device may now be reconstituted to run as multiple, interacting threads on multiple devices spread throughout the globe and connected by telecommunications links. One application may need to serve multiple purposes and must be able to present itself accordingly, for instance by providing a variable range of services dependent upon the sophistication of its current users. (In this situation, the requirements of the application's users are considered to be part of the application's environment.) As can be appreciated, these four reasons act in concert, the effects of each contributing, often in unpredictable ways, to the magnitude of the effects of the others.
As an especially pointed example of this situation, consider the case of an application designed to test other applications. (To differentiate between the application doing the testing and the application being tested, the former will be called the "test system" while the latter will be called the "application under test.") The four reasons given above for increased complexity apply here to a heightened extent because the reasons may apply both to the relationship of the application under test to its run-time environment (its run-time environment including the test system) and to the relationship of the test system to its own run-time environment. As one example, to thoroughly exercise the application under test, the test system should exercise all aspects of the application under test's environmental interactions, through a range of possible environments and as those environments change. For any given environment, the test system may need to call upon different aspects of the application under test for different types of testing, such as basic variation testing, regression testing, and stress testing. This may require that the test system run multiple copies of the application under test at the same time, and each copy may be performing multiple tasks simultaneously. While the test system is coordinating all of these activities of the application under test, the test system still needs to handle its own complex interactions with its own environment, such as reporting test results, trapping execution errors, and detecting other potentially harmful aspects of the application under test's environmental relationship (such as dead locks and memory leaks). It is clear from this example that developing an application in the face of multiple, changing environments can be very challenging, and that the challenges are heightened when developing a test system.
Developers often address complexity in their application's relationships by designing aspects of the application that can be configured to meet changing circumstances. An application's configuration parameters can then be set when the application is run (or when it is compiled). Different sets of configurable parameters are set to reflect different aspects of the application's relationship to its run-time environment. Of course, when building flexibility into an application by means of configurable parameters, the developer predicts the range of needs in the possible set of run-time environments so that the configurable parameters, and the application's response to them, can be set.
Useful as configurable parameters are, it can still be extremely difficult to correctly initialize all of these parameters in a complex application's configuration. Subtle errors may arise from mismatches between one part of an application and other parts of the same application, or between the application and other applications in its environment. Mismatches include unexpected events, unplanned for sequences of events, data values outside the range of normalcy, updated behavior of one application not matched by updates in its peers, etc. Difficult as configuration is for one application, it is exponentially more difficult to configure multiple applications (such as the combination of a test system and an application under test) so that they interact with their environments and with each other in a predictable fashion. Adding to the difficulty of creating correct configurations, a configuration may change with time. Applications may be used in an environment, such as a testing environment, in which their configurations may be changed every time they operate. An application may need to run in an environment whose parameters are beyond the range envisaged by the application's developer and so beyond the range of its configurable parameters. In addition to these considerations, it is not desirable for an application developer to devote too much time to configuration issues: they distract the developer from working on issues at the core of the application and they may require environmental expertise foreign to the developer. Indeed, the expertise needed to correctly develop an application's configurable relationships may exist in no one person.
Developing an application's flexibility so that the application can respond correctly regardless of the environments within which it must run and then managing that flexibility in the face of multiple, changing environments are becoming increasingly burdensome. There is a need to contain the burgeoning complexity of an application's relationship to its run-time environment and to separate relationship issues from core application issues.

Methods and systems for managing an application's relationship to its run-time environment


The specification describes a process and apparatus for monitoring and controlling the ellipticity of preform tubes during Modified Chemical Vapor Deposition. In response to computer generated signals from the monitoring device, the tube collapse rate is adjusted dynamically by locally changing the temperature of the glass tube, or by changing the physical force acting to collapse the tube.

The manufacture of optical fiber typically uses one of two fundamental approaches. Both use rotating lathes, and accumulate pure glass material on a rotating preform by chemical vapor deposition or a modification thereof. The earliest technique deposited material on the outside of a rotating preform, and the preform usually started as a hollow tube with a slowly increasing diameter as the vapor deposited glass material accumulated on the outside of the solid tube. A significant advance in this technology occurred with the introduction of the so-called Modified Chemical Vapor Deposition (MCVD) process of MacChesney et al in which the glass forming precursers were introduced into a rotating hollow tube and the glass material was deposited on the inside wall of the hollow tube. In this way exceptionally pure material could be produced at the critical core region. It also allowed better control over the reaction environment.
The MCVD technique has evolved to a highly sophisticated manufacturing technique and is widely used in commercial practice today.
However, a basic technological problem inherent with the use of a hollow tube, a problem that has persisted since the discovery of the MCVD technique, is that of ensuring the circularity of the tube throughout the deposition process. It is an inherent thermodynamic condition of the process that the temperatures used during consolidation and collapse of the glass tube exceed the softening temperature of the initial glass tube so that throughout the process the tube itself is vulnerable to deformation. Typically such deformation results in small changes in the circular cross section of the tube producing tube ovality, and the tube is most susceptible to such changes during the tube collapse operation.
It has also been a challenge to provide tubes initially with a consistent circular profile along the full length of the tube. A successful technique that is capable of eliminating departures in tube circularity during the collapse process could also be effective in eliminating ovality in starting tubes by a predeposition treatment in which the torch is passed at elevated temperatures down the lathe to adjust the circularity of the starting tube.
To attempt to avoid ovality problems developing during tube collapse it has been customary in the technology to collapse the tube slowly, using multiple passes of the torch. The objective is to shrink the diameter in small increments so that the surface tension of the glass, which tends to preserve circularity, can be close to equilibrium and can offset other forces, e.g. gravity, that tend to produce ovality. However, in current manufacture the collapse process is undesirably long, typically consuming nearly half the manufacturing time. Thus an important objective in the MCVD art is to reduce tube collapse time. Techniques that allow better control over the ovality problem also allow more aggressive tube collapse schedules, which in turn substantially reduce the costs of preform manufacture.
A known prior art technique for controlling or eliminating ovality problems during the MCVD process is to maintain a positive pressure of an inert gas, e.g. nitrogen or argon, in the tube especially during collapse of the tube. If the initial tube is circular a uniform hydrostatic pressure inside the tube theoretically will equalize the surface tension of the collapsing glass both along the length of the tube and around the circumference of the tube to maintain uniform collapsing forces throughout the tube. While this approach has been successful in addressing the ovality problem, the use of internal pressure in the tube actually reduces the collapse rate. Techniques for reducing the duration of the tube collapse step while preventing tube ovality continue is a major goal of MCVD process designers.

Method of making an optical fiber by blowing on a preform tube to enhance collapse


Where a tape is subject to lateral shift excursions from one side of a head to another, a coarse actuator is positioned laterally to enable a fine actuator to follow lateral motion of a longitudinal tape having at least one longitudinal defined servo track. A position error signal loop is configured to sense servo sensor(s) and to determine position error between the head and a desired position related to the defined servo track(s). A servo control senses the lateral shift excursion of the defined servo track(s); determines a maximum positive peak and a maximum negative peak of the lateral shift excursion; and positions the coarse actuator substantially at a midpoint of the maximum positive peak and the maximum negative peak of lateral shift excursion of the defined servo track(s). Thus, the fine actuator follows the lateral shift excursion, while the coarse actuator remains at the midpoint.

The function of a track following servo system for longitudinal tape, such as magnetic tape, is to move a head laterally of the longitudinal tape to accurately follow the lateral movement of the tape, for example, during read/write operations of the head. If done accurately, the data tracks are written and read in straight lines along the longitudinal tape as the tape is driven in the longitudinal direction. With respect to magnetic tape, the data comprises parallel stripes recorded in the longitudinal direction of the magnetic tape. Servo tracks are prerecorded in the magnetic tape parallel to, and offset from, the expected data stripes. Typically, the lateral movement of the magnetic tape is constrained by flanges present on tape guides at either side of the head, such that the servo system causes the head to follow the data stripes in the presence of disturbances mainly created from limited lateral motion of the tape, called LTM (Lateral Tape Motion).
Servo systems often employ compound actuators to move the head laterally both for track following, and to shift from one servo track (or set of servo tracks) to another and to follow a different set of data stripes. A compound actuator, which comprises a coarse actuator and a fine actuator mounted on the coarse actuator, provides both a large working dynamic range and high bandwidth. The high bandwidth fine actuator typically has a limited range of travel to attain the high bandwidth, and, in the typical track following arrangement, with the fine actuator as the master and the coarse actuator as a slave to the movement of the fine actuator, if the fine actuator drifts to one side as the tape moves laterally, the coarse actuator follows (at a slower rate) the centerline of the movement of the fine actuator.
The flanges of the tape guides, such as rollers, limit the lateral motion of the tape, but may tend to flex the tape and to introduce debris accumulation of the flanges that impact the lifetime of the tape and in addition create undesirable dynamic effects.
Flangeless tape guides tend to solve the problems of the flanged tape guides, but, without being constrained, the longitudinal tape tends to rapidly shift from one side of the path to the other, and may run at one side of the path for only a short period. Thus, in an attempt to follow the tape from one side to the other, the coarse actuator, in following the centerline of the movement of the fine actuator, is required to move at its highest rate from side to side as the tape rapidly shifts. This motion tends to wear and shorten the life of the coarse actuator, and is a use of power by the coarse actuator.
The incorporated '403 application centers the coarse actuator at the midpoint of the lateral shift excursions rather than attempting to follow the fine actuator. Thus, the fine actuator follows the lateral shift excursion, while the coarse actuator remains at the midpoint.

Positioning a coarse actuator of compound actuator tape servo system at midpoint of maximum peaks of lateral tape movement

International Business Machines Corporation


A method and apparatus for the computerized automatic analysis of lesions in ultrasound images, including the computerized analysis of lesions in the breast, using gradient, gray-level, and texture based measures. Echogenicity features are developed to assess the characteristics of the lesions and in some cases give an estimate of the likelihood of malignancy or of prognosis. The output from the computerized analysis is used in making a diagnosis and/or prognosis. For example, with the analysis of the ultrasound images of the breast, the features can be used to either distinguish between malignant and benign lesions, or distinguish between (i.e., diagnosis) the types of benign lesions such as benign solid lesions (e.g., fibroadenoma), simple cysts, complex cysts, and benign cysts. The ultrasound image features can be merged with those from mammographic and/or magnetic resonance images of the same lesion for classification by means of a common artificial neural network.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to a method and system for the computerized automatic analysis of lesions in ultrasound images. Specifically the system includes the computerized analysis of lesions in the breast using gradient, gray-level, and texture based measures. Techniques include novel developments and implementations of echogenicity features to assess the characteristics of the lesions and in some cases give an estimate of the likelihood of malignancy or of prognosis. Output from the computerized analysis can related to and used in the diagnostic decision making process.
The present invention generally relates to CAD techniques for automated detection of abnormalities in digital images, for example as disclosed in one or more of U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,839,807; 4,841,555; 4,851,984; 4,875,165; 4,907,156; 4,918,534; 5,072,384; 5,133,020; 5,150,292; 5,224,177; 5,289,374; 5,319,549; 5,343,390; 5,359,513; 5,452,367; 5,463,548; 5,491,627; 5,537,485; 5,598,481; 5,622,171; 5,638,458; 5,657,362; 5,666,434; 5,673,332; 5,668,888; and 5,740,268; as well as U.S. patent applications Ser. Nos. 08/158,388; 08/173,935; 08/220,917; 08/398,307; 08/428,867; 08/523,210; 08/536,149; 08/536,450; 08/515,798; 08/562,087; 08/757,611; 08/758,438; 08/900,191; 08/900,188; 08/900,189; and 08/900,192. The present invention includes use of technologies referenced and described therein, as well as described in the references identified in the appended APPENDIX and cross-referenced throughout the specification by reference to the number, in brackets, of the respective reference listed in the APPENDIX, the entire contents of which, including the related patents and applications listed above and references listed in the APPENDIX, are incorporated herein by reference.
2. Discussion of the Background
Breast cancer is a leading cause of death in women, causing an estimated 46,000 deaths per year [1]. Mammography is the most effective method for the early detection of breast cancer, and it has been shown that periodic screening of asymptomatic women does reduce mortality [2-4]. Various medical organizations have recommended the use of mammographic screening for the early detection of breast cancer. Thus, mammography is becoming one of the largest volume x-ray procedures routinely interpreted by radiologists. Many breast cancers are detected and referred for surgical biopsy on the basis of a radiographically detected mass lesion or cluster of microcalcifications. Although general rules for the differentiation between benign and malignant mammographically identified breast lesions exist [5, 6], considerable misclassification of lesions occurs with the current methods. On average, less than 30% of masses referred for surgical breast biopsy are actually malignant [7]. A computerized method capable of detecting and analyzing the characteristics of benign and malignant masses, in an objective manner, can aid radiologists by reducing the numbers of false-positive diagnoses of malignancies, thereby decreasing patient morbidity as well as the number of surgical biopsies performed and their associated complications [8].
Breast sonography is used as an important adjunct to diagnostic mammography and is typically performed to evaluate palpable and mammographically identified masses in order to determine their cystic vs. solid natures. The accuracy of ultrasound has been reported to be 96-100% in the diagnosis of simple benign cysts [9]. Masses so characterized do not require further evaluation; however, 75% of masses prove to be indeterminate or solid on sonography and are candidates for further intervention [10]. Ultrasound has not been used for screening purposes due to relatively high false-negative and false-positive rates [11]. Also, breast sonography has not been routinely used to distinguish benign from malignant solid masses because of the considerable overlap in their sonographic appearances [12]. With the advent of modem high-frequency transducers that have improved spatial and contrast resolution, a number of sonographic features have emerged as potential indicators of malignancy, while other features are typical for benign masses [13, 14]. Benign features include hyperechogenicity, ellipsoid shape, mild lobulation, and a thin, echogenic pseudocapsule. Malignant features include spiculation, angular margins, marked hypoechogenicity, posterior acoustic shadowing, and depth:width ratio greater than 0.8. Recently, Stavros, et al., used these and other features to characterize masses as benign, indeterminate, and malignant [15]. Their classification scheme had a sensitivity of 98.4% and a negative predictive value of 99.5%. However, the sonographic evaluation described by these investigators is much more extensive and complex than is usually performed at most breast imaging centers. Ultrasound examination is a notoriously operator-dependent modality, and until these encouraging results are corroborated through additional studies by other investigators, it is unclear how widely applicable this sonographic classification scheme will be.
An automated technique that can objectively and reliably classify lesions based upon reported sonographic characteristics of benign and malignant masses, especially if combined with their mammographic features, could significantly improve the specificity of breast imaging evaluation of breast masses. Computer-aided techniques have been applied to the color Doppler evaluation of breast masses with promising results [16]. However, color Doppler imaging is a technique which focuses only upon the vascularity of lesions. Since not all sonographically visible cancers have demonstrable neovascularity, this technique is inherently somewhat limited. On the other hand, computer-aided diagnosis techniques applied to gray-scale sonographic images has not yet been reported.

Method and system for the automated analysis of lesions in ultrasound images


A mobile mapping system is designed to generate a geometrically precise three-dimensional detailed model of an unknown indoor environment. There is no limit on the distance the mobile system may travel, nor on the type of details that can be mapped. The same design is used for environments ranging from simple office hallways to long winding underground mine tunnels. Surfaces and features can be mapped from images acquired by a unique configuration of different types of optical imaging sensors and positioning devices. This configuration ensures that all the information required to reconstruct the three-dimensional environment is included in the collected images. Provided a sufficient overlap between two-dimensional intensity images and combining such with three-dimensional range images, the method reconstructs an environment by adjusting a plurality of images simultaneously.

A key in navigation through virtual environments or designing autonomous vehicles (that can successfully navigate through and manipulate their environment) is the ability to effectively create, maintain, and use an accurate 3-D model of a desired world. A system which can rapidly, reliably, remotely and accurately perform measurements in three-dimensional space for the mapping of indoor environments is required for many applications.
The literature reports a spectrum of mobile mapping and navigation technologies and systems, the majority of which are either in a prototype stage or in a design/simulation stage. Among these systems, none is suitable for indoor mapping since they either do not meet the accuracy requirement or use sensors not suited for indoor applications.
Table 1 displays the properties of four mapping and three navigation systems. Mobile mapping systems combine absolute and relative positioning devices and imaging sensors to locate features in a global reference system. The absolute positioning sensors provide the framework for all other data collected by the relative positioning sensors. Global positioning systems (GPS) are used in all mobile mapping systems which claim high absolute accuracy. Other positioning sensors such as inertial navigation systems (INS) and/or dead-reckoning devices are also required for positioning and orientation to fill in the gaps when a GPS signal is interrupted or temporarily obstructed. When the data from these sensors are properly integrated, a continuous and accurate tracking of the absolute vehicle position becomes possible.
TABLE 1 __________________________________________________________________________ Typical mobile mapping and navigation systems Organization System Name Sensors Application __________________________________________________________________________ Ohio State U., USA GPSVan GPS, INS, wheel counter, Road Mapping CCD& color video cameras U. Armed Forces, KiSS GPS, INS, Odometer, Road Mapping Germany Altimeter, CCD& color video cameras. Tech. School Aachen, Surveying GPS, Wheel sensors, Road Mapping Germany Vehicle Barometer, stereo CCDs Geofit Inc., Canada VISAT GPS, INS, CCD & Road Mapping color video cameras. CMU, USA Ambler Laser radar scanner, dead Local mapping reckoning devices. for locomotion CMU, USA Navlab Stereo CCDs, laser radar Navigation scanner, Doppler, sonar. Lockheed-Martin & 10 UGV-RSTA Color, infrared stereo video Navigation other companies and cameras, laser radar, GPS, /recognition research labs. tilt meters, flux-compass (Military) __________________________________________________________________________
In order to determine the position of the features and details to be mapped, imaging sensors such as charge-coupled devices (CCD cameras) are used. These cameras will determine the feature position relative to the vehicle. Since the vehicle's absolute position in a global coordinate system is known from the absolute positioning sensors, any mapped feature relative to the vehicle can easily be transferred to this global system. The final accuracy is a function of the accuracy of each of the individual sensors, the calibration and registration of the sensor positions relative to each other, and the rigorous processing and integration of data. Currently the best achievable accuracy reported from existing systems, using state-of-the-art GPS/INS/digital CCD cameras, is 1-3 m (RMS) in the global framework and 0.5 m for relative position between features.
From table 1, it is obvious that the mapping systems which claim high accuracy are all designed for road mapping and not useful for indoor application since they all rely on GPS for positioning. They also use stereo vision alone to obtain the relative position of features, thus only an incomplete 3-D map can be constructed. Although the navigation systems do not use GPS and incorporate laser scanners for complete 3-D mapping, they do not construct a complete map and do not require absolute accuracy. The main application areas of these systems are highway or road mapping, structural clearance measurements along railways, and aerial topographic mapping. Since most of the existing prototypes for mobile mapping systems do not use laser scanners (those are used only in navigation systems) many surface details are not detected (using only passive CCD cameras).
For mapping applications, GPS provides accurate location information. In some locations, GPS signals may not be available and estimation of absolute location is made. Once a GPS signal is again acquired, absolute distance is established, thereby correcting any error which was introduced by the estimation. For use indoors, GPS is not available as it requires signal reception of satellite transmissions. Over a small distance, estimation of absolute location allows for relatively good modeling results. Unfortunately, errors propagate from each estimate to all subsequent estimates because each estimate of location is at best based on a previous estimate. In modeling a mine or a building, the cumulative errors result in unacceptable inaccuracies.
In many of the above noted systems, measurements are made relative to a mobile platform while a precise absolute position is not determined due to inaccuracy (error accumulation) of dead-reckoning devices (wheel odometers) or inertial navigation systems. Further, absolute locations are not determined because they are unnecessary. In navigation, a question to be answered is how a device is to move from where it is. It need not establish where it is. Thus, cumulative error in mapping is insignificant, and error correction solely for navigational purposes occurs as necessary. For navigation, differential comparisons between frames is performed to establish differences from where a device was to where it is now.

Mobile system for indoor 3-D mapping and creating virtual environments


This invention provides a fuel cell catalyst including a carbon support containing at least one first element selected from the group consisting of B, N, and P, and catalyst particles supported on the carbon support, wherein the catalyst particles include at least one of platinum particles and alloy particles containing Pt and an element A, and the element A contains at least one element selected from the group consisting of platinum group elements and period 4 to 6 transition metal elements.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a fuel cell catalyst, a membrane-electrode assembly including the fuel cell catalyst, and a fuel cell in which at least one of a cathode electrode and an anode electrode includes the fuel cell catalyst.
2. Description of the Related Art
A fuel cell electrochemically oxidizes fuel such as hydrogen or methanol in the cell, thereby directly converting the chemical energy of the fuel into electrical energy and extracting this electrical energy. Since neither NOX nor SOX is produced by combustion of fuel, unlike in a thermal power station, a fuel cell has attracted attention as a clean electrical energy supply source. In particular, a polymer electrolyte fuel cell can be made smaller and lighter than other fuel cells and hence has been developed as a spacecraft power feed. Recently, polymer electrolyte fuel cells are also extensively studied as power supplies for automobiles.
As the electrode structure of a fuel cell, a five-layered structure made up of cathode collector/cathode/proton conductive film/anode/anode collector is known. What is particularly important in the formation of the anode electrode and cathode electrode is to prevent toxication of the electrodes by carbon monoxide or the like and raise the activity per unit catalyst. To avoid toxication and raise the activity, it is conventionally attempted to select a catalyst metal to be supported, and carry this catalyst metal in the form of a metal or an alloy, to produce high-performance fuel cell catalysts and electrodes. The particle size of an alloy or the like is also studied, and a particle size of a few nm is regarded as appropriate.
In a fuel cell catalyst, carbon is generally used as support for supporting a catalyst support. This is because carbon is conductive, electrons generated on the carbon support surface can be extracted, and it is presumably effective to directly adhere the catalyst metal to the carbon support.
Unfortunately, a carbon supported catalyst obtained by supporting platinum or a platinum alloy on a carbon support is inferior in cell performance, such as the voltage characteristic.


A method for layer-by-layer manufacturing of a three-dimensional work piece, including: (a) delivering a metallic feed material into a feed region; (b) emitting an electron beam; (c) translating the electron beam through a first predetermined raster pattern frame that includes: (i) a plurality of points within the feed region; and (ii) a plurality of points in a substrate region that is outside of the feed region; (d) monitoring a condition of the feed region or the substrate region for the occurrence of any deviation from a predetermined condition; (e) upon detecting of any deviation, translating the electron beam through at least one second predetermined raster pattern frame that maintains the melting beam power density level substantially the same, but alters the substrate beam power density level; and (f) repeating steps (a) through (e) at one or more second locations for building up layer-by-layer.

Free form fabrication (FFF), direct manufacturing (DM), and additive manufacturing (AM) are names for a general class of layer manufacturing (LM), in which a three-dimensional (3-D) article is made by the sequential build-up of layers of material. One or more suitable LM techniques may be utilized for making articles, (e.g., such as by creating one or more device patterns directly on a substrate). The LM technique usually includes a step of selectively depositing material layer by layer, selectively removing material layer by layer, or a combination thereof. Many LM techniques are attractive in that they avoid the need for masks, for pre-existing three-dimensional patterns, and/or expensive tooling.
As it pertains to making metallic articles by LM, one approach that has gained momentum in recent years has been to employ electron beam energy to heat and melt an advancing supply of a feed material. Efforts to address some of the problems encountered in LM, particularly LM processing that employs electron beam energy and closed loop control methodologies, are described in U.S. Application No. 61/243,242 (incorporated by reference), which discloses various unique approaches to layer manufacturing. In general, these approaches address deposition condition monitoring by use of optical approaches, such as by monitoring with digital camera equipment. Notwithstanding the early success of such a system, there remains a need for other robust approaches to deposition condition monitoring. U.S. Application No. 61/261,090 (incorporated by reference) discloses another approach to monitoring conditions during an LM operation that includes monitoring a molten pool deposit for at least one preselected condition, such as width, by detecting electrons from an emitted beam.
Notwithstanding the success of the above efforts directed at monitoring, there remains a need for improved LM technologies, especially in connection with the ability to manage energy that is emitted (e.g., by an electron beam gun) during an LM operation, so that efficient melting and solidification is possible, with minimal interruption to manufacturing.
By way of background, it has been observed that for successful deposition of a material such as a metal onto a dynamically changing substrate during LM there are at least two competing heat conditions that must be considered. A first condition is the heat to which a feed material is subjected to melt it. A second condition is the heat to which a molten pool resulting from deposition of the feed material, and possibly at least some of the surrounding solidified material, is subjected. In theory, it may be possible to predict the first condition, as it will generally be dictated by factors such as feed rate, specific heat, and melting temperature of the feed material. The second condition, however, is not readily predictable, as it will depend upon the amount of material that is deposited; the amount of material that has solidified (in contrast with that which is in a liquid state); the geometry of the resulting workpiece (inasmuch as that will affect the heat transfer and/or thermal mass characteristics of the workpiece); and other considerations that are continually changing in the course of material deposition. One approach to manage these competing conditions may be to employ a first energy source that melts the feed material, and a second independent energy source that manages the heat delivered to the molten pool, the surrounding solidified material, or both. For example, the use of two or more separate electron beam guns may be employed, one for each purpose.
It has been proposed in U.S. Application No. 61/243,242 (incorporated by reference) and U.S. Application No. 61/261,090 (incorporated by reference) to monitor the molten pool and make adjustments to a processing condition based upon information from such monitoring. For example, it describes monitoring the size (e.g., width) of the molten pool, and based upon information obtained, changing one or more processing conditions in an effort to maintain the molten pool within a predetermined size range.
It would be quite attractive for a LM process, particularly one that employs a closed loop control system, to be able to operate while maintaining, generally constant, as many processing conditions as possible. It would also be attractive to achieve such operation in an LM process with minimal investment in equipment. For example, it would be attractive to have an LM system that only requires the employment of a single electron beam gun.
Examples of efforts to provide layer manufacturing of articles and processes include those disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,534,314; 5,669,433; 5,736,073; 5,871,805; 5,960,853; 6,401,001; 6,193,923; 6,405,095; 6,459,951; 6,680,456; 7,073,561; 7,168,935; and 7,326,377; and US Patent Application Nos. 20030075836; 20050173380; and 20050288813, all of which are incorporated by reference for all purposes. The possibility of closed loop controls for additive manufacturing of articles by electron beam fabrication processes is identified at col. 12, lines 8-15 in U.S. Pat. No. 7,168,935 (incorporated by reference). In Seufzer and Taminger, "Control of Space-based electron Beam Free Form Fabrication" (accessed at ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nase.gov/20070030308—2007030399.pdf) (incorporated by reference), the authors address a possible approach to a closed-loop control system. See also, Sharma, "On Electron Beam Additive Manufacturing Process for Titanium Alloys" (Abstract for Session on Apr. 27, 2009 Spring 2009 AIChE National Meeting) (incorporated by reference).
U.S. Pat. No. 6,091,444 (incorporated by reference) elaborates on some of the difficulties faced in imaging high temperature melts. The patent illustrates an example of a high temperature melt view camera that includes a water cooled enclosure with a pinhole in it, through which a gas is passed. An example of an electron image detector configuration is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 4,794,259 (incorporated by reference).
Until the present invention, notwithstanding efforts by others, the above-described needs for improvements in LM systems have remained unmet.

Raster methodology, apparatus and system for electron beam layer manufacturing using closed loop control


A shelf unit for a shelving system has a shelf and a support frame carrying the shelf. The support frame has a front frame part, a rear frame part and two lateral frame parts, which are connected to one another to form a through-opening. The shelf is formed by a plurality of elongated floor elements, each of which rests with its longitudinal ends on the front frame part and the rear frame part. The floor elements have an elongated base body with an upper side having a product support surface and with a lower side that, in the area of each longitudinal end of the base body, has a bar that extends in the longitudinal direction of the base body, and is inserted into an insertion receptacle of the support frame of the shelf unit. A shelving system has at least one such shelf unit.

A shelf unit for a shelving system with a shelf and a support frame supporting the shelf is known from WO 2016/008476 A1. The support frame there is formed by a front frame part, a rear frame part and two side frame parts, which are assembled to form an interior space. The front frame part and the rear frame part each have a number of slot-shaped openings, which serve as insertion receptacles for the ends of product separators.
The shelf, which is formed by a flat sheet metal part, rests on the front frame part and the rear frame part, and extends to the side frame parts, such that the interior space of the support frame is completely covered. The shelf is therefore relatively bulky and heavy, which is a hindrance when transporting the shelving system or its individual components and when assembling, converting or dismantling the shelving system.

Shelf unit for a shelving system and shelving system


Systems and methods for encapsulating a stack of semiconductor dice are described. A stack of semiconductor dice may be formed, for example by attaching die to flexible printed circuit supports attached to frames and stacking the supports, and then encapsulated by flowing a liquid encapsulant around the stack of dice and solidifying the liquid encapsulant. The die supports may contain encapsulant flow openings, such as rectangular slits, that allow the liquid encapsulant to flow around the stack of dice.

1. Field
An embodiment of the invention relates to a device having more than one semiconductor die. More particularly, the embodiment relates to a device having an encapsulated stack of semiconductor dice, and to a method for forming the device.
2. Background
Semiconductor based electronic components of many modern electrical systems are often provided as multiple die packages wherein two or more electrically connected semiconductor die are packaged together. FIG. 1 shows a prior art package 100 containing a stack of separately molded silicon die. The package contains a first substrate 110, a first silicon die 120, a first epoxy molding compound 130 globbed over the first die, a second substrate 150, a second silicon die 160, a second epoxy molding compound 170 globbed over the second die, and solder balls 140 to provide electrical connection between the first and the second silicon die. The second die is stacked over the first die after the molding compounds have been separately globbed over the dice.
Stacked die packages, such as the one shown, offer a number of advantages. One advantage is an ability to separate the functions on each semiconductor die. For example, the first die 120 may contain primarily logic and the second die 160 may contain primarily memory. This separation of functions may simplify fabrication and may improve fabrication yields, inasmuch as the yields of logic die are often less than those of memory die. A further advantage of such packages is that they are compact, have high circuit density, and have low footprint area. This makes these packages particularly useful for providing electronic components and functions for compact electrical systems, such as cellular phones and the like. For these and other reasons, stacked semiconductor dice packages are favored for many modern and commercially significant electronic devices.
Unfortunately, the prior art package 100 and the existing methods for fabricating such a package have a number of disadvantages. One significant disadvantage is that the fabrication method is generally inefficient and contains a number of unnecessary operations. In fabricating the prior art package, each of the die are molded separately to their respective substrates. That is, molding compound 130 is globbed over the first die 120 attached to the first substrate 110, and then, separately, molding compound 170 is globbed over the second die 160 attached to the second substrate 150. Performing these moldings separately often involves either the use of additional/replicate molding equipment, which may increase the manufacturing costs, or else a decrease in manufacturing throughput if the same equipment is used. Additionally, numerous handling operations may need to be performed by operators or machines in order to move the multiple attached die into and out of the molding equipment. Also as a consequence of the separate molding operations, the thickness and regularity of the thickness of the molding compounds 130 and 170 are generally insufficient to allow electrical connection through the solder balls. Accordingly, in the prior art fabrication methods, planarization operations are often used to planarize the top surface of the molding compounds at heights that are similar to the height of the solder balls. Another operation that is often performed in the prior art fabrication method is application of an adhesive to adhere the first molding compound 130 to the second support 150, since the molding compounds are hardened before contact and provide no mechanical connection. Each of these operations may add to the overall cost of packaging the device.
Additionally, even after planarization, the molding compounds often significantly increase the overall thickness of the package. Often, this will not be desired, particularly if the package is to be used in a cellular phone or other small device.

Encapsulated stack of dice and support therefor


Proteins that cannot be resolved by conventional HPLC techniques, including reversed-phase HPLC, can be distinguished, and the quantity of a protein of interest monitored in numerous types of in-process samples, including fermentation and down-stream processing samples, by covalently binding monobromobimane to a protein of interest bearing sulfhydryl groups and chromatographing these in-process samples using reversed-phase HPLC, fluorescence detection and UV absorbance detection.

Reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) is generally a highly useful technique for resolution of different proteins. A problem, however, exists in the chromatography art in that on occasion, HPLC cannot resolve proteins that one would ordinarily expect to resolve on the basis of different physicochemical properties. For example, TGF.alpha.PE.sub.40 ab and PE.sub.40 ab, which differ in length by approximately 50 amino acid residues, were unexpectedly found to resist resolution by reversed-phase HPLC. Numerous attempts were made using a number of different columns under a variety of mobile phase conditions. The types of columns tried included different silica-based columns with varying length hydrocarbonaceous ligates as well as wide-pore polystyrene divinylbenzene polymeric resins. Various mobile phases at pH 2, 4.5, 7, 8.5, and 10 were evaluated, as were a number of organic modifiers. In all cases, TGF.alpha.PE.sub.40 ab could not be resolved satisfactorily from PE.sub.40 ab.
Pseudomonas aeruginosa produces the exotoxin Pseudomonas exotoxin A. The exotoxin consists of four structural domains, namely Ia, II, Ib and III. When domain Ia is cleaved off the exotoxin, the resulting protein is known as PE.sub.40. Transforming growth factor alpha (TGF.alpha.) can be genetically fused to the amino terminus of PE.sub.40 to produce the chimeric protein TGF.alpha.PE.sub.40. When cysteine residues in domain II of PE.sub.40 are deleted or substituted by non-cysteinyl amino acids, the resulting protein is PE.sub.40 ab, which when genetically fused to TGF.alpha. produces TGF.alpha.PE.sub.40 ab. The TGF.alpha. portion of the hybrid will still contain cysteine residues. Thus, PE.sub.40 ab and TGF.alpha.PE.sub.40 ab can be differentiated on the basis of presence or absence of cysteine residues.
TGF.alpha.PE.sub.40 ab is useful in treatment of certain tumor cells. Its manufacture involves a fermentation process that requires a rapid assay that can monitor the product at each step of manufacturing from fermentation to the final product. TGF.alpha.PE.sub.40 ab is an intracellular product which, in the early stages of growth, represents only a small percentage of the total amount of cellular protein. Reversed-phase HPLC was able to resolve TGF.alpha.PE.sub.40 ab from the host cell proteins, but was not able to resolve it from PE.sub.40 ab. This caused inaccurate quantitation of expression levels of TGF.alpha.PE.sub.40 ab. This additionally caused the problem of being unable to estimate recovery and yield of each step in the purification process. Although, PE.sub.40 ab and TGF.alpha.PE.sub.40 ab can be resolved by western blot analysis, this technique is impractical for monitoring commercial scale batches. Therefore, a need exists in the art for a method of assaying proteins that differ in physicochemical properties, such as size, but are not resolved by reversed-phase HPLC. The present invention meets that need by exploiting the presence or absence of cysteinyl amino acid residues between two or more proteins.

HPLC assay for the selective resolution of recombinant proteins


Systems and methods for controlling one or more downhole tools. A vibratory signal is produced by interaction between an actuation profile and a contact profile. In response to the vibratory signal, a controller actuates one or more downhole tools.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to devices and methods for actuating or controlling one or more downhole tools or devices. In particular embodiments, the invention relates to actuation or control of a downhole device using a vibration-based trigger signal.
2. Description of the Related Art
During hydrocarbon production, a number of downhole devices are used which must be actuated or controlled from surface. In certain instances, it is impractical to run electrical, communications or even hydraulic fluid control lines to the downhole device. Another method is to transmit wireless signals such as vibrations, pressure pulses, flow pulses or electromagnetic waves along the casing or through well fluid down to the device in the wellbore. Vibrations generated at the surface can be practically transmitted along the metal casing lining the wellbore or through the annulus fluid and used as a signaling method to control downhole devices. However, fluid bubbles, discontinuities and other obstructions will dissipate surface-generated vibratory signals before they can reliably travel to deeper locations in a wellbore.

Downhole vibratory communication system and method


A method includes simulating an impact between a simulated wheel and a simulated vehicle assembly, the simulated vehicle assembly including a simulated vehicle component that is a computer-aided-design model of a vehicle component. The method includes determining, based on the simulated impact, an impact angle between the simulated wheel and the simulated vehicle assembly. The method includes impacting an impactor with the vehicle component at the impact angle.

A vehicle may be subjected to a crash test to that may indicate an integrity of one or more components of the vehicle. Example crash tests include frontal-impact tests, moderate overall, small overall tests, etc. Standards for crash tests may be specified by various organizations, such as the U.S.A. Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), the European New Car Assessment Programme (EuroNCAP), Australasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP), New Car Assessment Program for Southeast Asia (ASEAN NCAP), and the Global New Car Assessment Program (Global NCAP). Conducting a crash test typically involves the use of a fully assembled vehicle, which can be costly for determining integrity of a single vehicle component.


A disposable cutter which has a plurality of cutting edges. The cutter has perforations adjoining the cutting edges. The cutter defines an axis of rotation. The cutter is joined to a transparent bowl. The bowl is concentric with the axis of rotation. The bowl has a bottom tool driver opening concentric with the axis of rotation.

The present invention pertains to surgical cutters and more particularly pertains to disposable surgical cutters such as acetabular reamer cups and patella cutters.
Acetabular reamers are surgical tools, which are used to cut hemispherical cavities in pelvis bones for the insertion of artificial hip joints. An acetabular reamer is composed of an acetabular reamer cup mounted on a tool driver, which in turn is mounted in the chuck or collet of a portable drill or flexible powered shaft. Acetabular reamer cups have a complex arrangement of precisely shaped cutting surfaces extending outwardly from an essentially hemispherical shell. Acetabular reamer cups are separable from their tool drivers for changing cup size prior to or during surgery, cleaning, and/or sharpening.
Acetabular reamers must be capable of producing cavities with very close tolerances. Both acetabular reamers and patella cutters must also minimize any risk of causing contamination and be light in weight and fit on an appropriate tool driver with a minimum of free play quickly and easily without tools. Prior acetabular reamer cups and patella cutters must be cleaned after each use. Thus, the desirability of a disposable reamer cup and cutter.
Some previous acetabular reamers have used an openbottom acetabular reamer cup gripped by the tool driver by means of a flange and slot and an opposed springloaded ball catch, like that on a socket wrench or socket driver. This presents a problem in that the catch tends to trap dried blood, which is very difficult to remove during cleaning. An additional problem is that unless tolerances of cups and tool drivers are made very close, at great cost, there is considerable free play between a cup and its tool driver. This increases wear and decreases the precision of the tool.
An alternative acetabular reamer, described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,811,632, utilizes a convex-bottomed acetabular reamer cup having a large central opening complementary in shape to a flange on the tool driver. Since the tool driver also grips the cup with a clamping action, extremely close tolerances are not required to prevent free play between the cup and driver. The convex bottom of the cup eliminates any internal ninety degree angles which could catch contaminants and the large central opening permits easy cleaning. The acetabular reamer cup is, however, complex in shape and expensive and, like all acetabular reamer cups, difficult to resharpen and must be cleaned between uses.
Patella cutters are surgical tools, similar in some respects to acetabular reamer cups, which are used to cut or shaped the under side of the patella or knee cap as desired. A patella cutting system is generally composed of a cutter mounted on a tool driver, which in turn is mounted in the chuck or collet of a portable drill or flexible powered shaft. Cutters for patella have a complex arrangement of precisely shaped cutting edges extending outwardly from a flat planer surface. Cutters are separable from their tool drivers for changing cutter size prior to or during surgery, cleaning, and/or sharpening.
Unique to knee surgery and some hip operations is the utilization of milled bone, tissue and debris as filler to be placed between the artificial insert and the body to assist the healing process. Thus, prior patella cutting systems provide a hollow, opaque interior cavity for retaining bone debris, like that described in allowed U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/851,504 filed on Mar. 16, 1992, entitled Patella Cutting System. The cutters described therein, however, are suited for use only in conjunction with the accompanying tool driver also described therein and each is composed of high-grade steel. This presents a problem in that the cutting lids cannot be rotatably driven by a number of different tool drivers and the cost of manufacturing the matching tool drivers and cutting lids is unnecessarily excessive. Also, with the tool drivers disclosed, the operator cannot usually see the accumulation of bone debris through the back of the driver as is desired.
It is therefore highly desirable to provide an improved acetabular reamer cup and patella cutter.
It is also highly desirable to provide an improved acetabular reamer cup and patella cutter which are disposable and fit on a tool driver with a minimum of free play.
It is also highly desirable to provide an improved acetabular reamer cup and patella cutter which are disposable and precise in size, light in weight and inexpensive.
It is also highly desirable to provide an improved acetabular reamer cup and patella cutter which are disposable and quick and easy to install and remove from a tool driver without tools.
It is finally highly desirable to provide an improved acetabular reamer cup and patella cutter which meet all of the above desired features.


This invention relates to a process for the suppression of 3,3,3-trifluoropropyne during the manufacture of fluorocarbons, fluoroolefins, hydrochlorofluoroolefins. More particularly, this invention is directed to a process to suppress the formation of 3,3,3-trifluoropropyne during processes for the manufacture of HCFO-1233zd(E), HCFO-1233zd(Z), HFO-1234ze(E), and/or HFO-1234ze(Z).

This invention especially relates to improvements in the production of HCFO-1233zd(E), HCFO-1233zd(Z), HFO-1234ze(E), and HFO-1234ze (Z). As used herein, the designations 1233zd and 1234ze will be used when either the E or Z isomers, or a combination thereof, is being referred to.
These compounds have zero or low ozone depletion potential as well as low global warming potential such that they are useful and desirable as replacements for existing materials used in refrigeration, foam blowing, solvents, monomers and other applications where other fluorocarbons are currently utilized.
Methods to produce 1233zd are known in the art. See for example US Patent Publication Nos. 2012-0172636; 2012-0271069; and 2012-0271070, which describe both 1233zd and 1234ze production processes. These documents are hereby incorporated herein by reference.
A preferred embodiment for the manufacture of 1233zd is as follows:HCC-240fa+3HF→1233zd+4HClwhich takes place in a liquid or vapor phase reaction in the absence or presence of a catalyst with large excess of HF.
Methods to produce 1234ze have also been disclosed. See for example U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,485,760 and 7,638,660 where the manufacture of 1234ze is disclosed as follows:HFC-245fa→1234ze+HFwhich takes place in the liquid or vapor phase in the presence or absence of a dehydrofluorination catalyst. These patents are hereby incorporated herein by reference.
In the above processes to produce 1233zd and/or 1234ze, the crude product is usually a mixture of both the Z and E isomers (also known as the cis and trans isomers respectively). Typical processes employ one or more purification methods, such as distillation, extraction, decantation and absorption for purifying and recovering the desired fluorolefin product. Since the reaction products include the acids HCl and HF depending on the process, there is a need to remove these acid components during the product purification and recovery process. Although the bulk removal of the acids is done by one or more purification techniques such as distillation, extraction, and/or decantation; one additional unit operation that is often used for the removal of residual acidity is absorption via strong caustic solutions, such as KOH, NaOH, or the like, at a pH of about 11 or higher.
Methods to produce 3,3,3-trifluoropropyne are also known in the art. See for example U.S. Pat. No. 7,964,759, which is hereby incorporated herein by reference. Disclosed in this patent is a method to produce 3,3,3-trifluoropropyne by contacting (Z)-1-halogeno-3,3,3-trifluoropropene with a high concentration of an organic or inorganic strong base (pH>10). Both 1233zd and 1234ze are 1-halogeno-3,3,3-trifluoropropenes; 1233zd is 1-chloro-3,3,3-trifluoropropene and 1234ze is 1-fluoro-3,3,3-tetrafluoropropene.
As stated above, 3,3,3-trifluoropropyne can be formed when compounds such as 1233zd and 1234ze are allowed to react with strong bases. In processes where the desired product is one of those listed above, trifluoropropyne is usually considered to be an undesired impurity due to both potential toxicity and flammability concerns and accordingly, this compound is preferably removed if it is formed. The need for the removal of trifluoropropyne necessarily increases capital investment as well as operational costs associated with production of one or more of the above compounds. Therefore, it would be much more desirable to not form trifluoropropyne in the first place. Hence, there is a need for means by which the formation of trifluoropropyne can be avoided.
This invention provides a solution to this problem.

Process to suppress the formation of 3,3,3-trifluoropropyne in fluorocarbon manufacture


A process for using a build to order model to enable factory installation and user setup configuration of integrated mobile television devices for pre-selected mobile TV services. The process pre-configures a receiver (such as a DVB-H type receiver) to quickly tune to the desired DVB-H band/channel and to provide pre-selected application and service information to the customer. Such a process assists a customer to utilize more readily their new integrated mobile television device. In certain embodiments, the process focuses on the DVB-H standard.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to information handling systems and more particularly to build to order configuration for integrated mobile television applications in mobile computing platforms (i.e., integrated mobile television devices).
2. Description of the Related Art
As the value and use of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and store information. One option available to users is information handling systems. An information handling system generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes thereby allowing users to take advantage of the value of the information. Because technology and information handling needs and requirements vary between different users or applications, information handling systems may also vary regarding what information is handled, how the information is handled, how much information is processed, stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the information may be processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in information handling systems allow for information handling systems to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use such as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, or global communications. In addition, information handling systems may include a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems.
Mobile Digital Broadcast TV (DTV) combines two popular consumer products television and mobile phones/computing platforms. Similar to most new technologies, there are several different worldwide standards for mobile DTV. These standards include Digital Video Broadcasting-Handheld (DVB-H), Integrated Services Digital Broadcasting-Terrestrial (ISDB-T), MediaFLO, Digital Multimedia Broadcasting (DMB), Digital Audio Broadcasting-Internet Protocol (DAB-IP), and other regional variants.
The services and integrated devices are internet protocol (IP) based and often require user setup configuration based on the service model selected by the customer. This is further compounded by different technology and modulation architectures for North America, Europe, and Asia.

Build to order configuration for integrated mobile television applications in mobile computing platforms


Subject

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates mainly to a liquid crystal composition suitable for use in an AM (active matrix) device, and an AM device containing the composition. More specifically, the invention relates to a liquid crystal composition having a positive dielectric anisotropy, and a device that contains the composition, having a mode such as TN (twisted nematic), OCB (optically compensated bend), IPS (in-plane switching) or PSA (Polymer sustained alignment) mode.
2. Related Art
In a liquid crystal display device, a classification based on an operating mode for liquid crystals includes phase change (PC), twisted nematic (TN), super twisted nematic (STN), electrically controlled birefringence (ECB), optically compensated bend (OCB) in-plane switching (IPS), vertical alignment (VA) and polymer sustained alignment (PSA). A classification based on a driving mode in the device includes a passive matrix (PM) and an active matrix (AM). The PM is further classified into static, multiplex and so forth, and the AM is classified into a thin film transistor (TFT), a metal-insulator-metal (MIM) and so forth. The TFT is further classified into amorphous silicon and polycrystal silicon. The latter is classified into a high temperature type and a low temperature type according to the production process. A classification based on a light source includes a reflection type utilizing natural light, a transmission type utilizing a backlight and a semi-transmission type utilizing both natural light and a backlight.
These devices contain a liquid crystal composition having suitable characteristics. The liquid crystal composition has a nematic phase. General characteristics of the composition should be improved to give an AM device having good general characteristics. Table 1 below summarizes the relationship between the general characteristics of the two. The general characteristics of the composition will be further explained based on a commercially available AM device. The temperature range of the nematic phase relates to the temperature range in which the device can be used. A desirable maximum temperature of the nematic phase is approximately 70° C. or higher and a desirable minimum temperature of the nematic phase is approximately −10° C. or lower. The viscosity of the composition relates to the response time of the device. A short response time is desirable to display moving images on the device. Accordingly, a small viscosity of the composition is desirable. A small viscosity at a low temperature is more desirable.
TABLE 1General Characteristics of a LiquidCrystal Composition and an AM DeviceGeneral Characteristics of aGeneral Characteristics ofCompositionan AM DeviceTemperature range of a nematic phaseUsable temperature range isis widewideViscosity is small 1)Response time is shortOptical anisotropy is suitableContrast ratio is largeDielectric anisotropy is positively orThreshold voltage is low andnegatively largeelectric power consumption issmallContrast ratio is largeSpecific resistance is largeVoltage holding ratio is largeand a contrast ratio is largeStable to ultraviolet light and heatService life is long1) A liquid crystal composition can be injected into a liquid crystal cell in a shorter period of time.
The optical anisotropy of the composition relates to the contrast ratio of the device. The product (Δn×d) of the optical anisotropy (Δn) of the composition and the cell gap (d) of the device is designed so as to maximize the contrast ratio. A suitable value of the product depends on the kinds of operating modes. In a device having a mode such as TN, a suitable value is about 0.45 μm. In this case, a composition having a large optical anisotropy is desirable for a device having a small cell gap. A large dielectric anisotropy in the composition contributes to a low threshold voltage, a small electric power consumption and a large contrast ratio of the device. Accordingly, the large dielectric anisotropy is desirable. A large specific resistance of the composition contributes to a large voltage holding ratio and a large contrast ratio of the device. Accordingly, a composition having a large specific resistance is desirable at room temperature and also at a high temperature in the initial stage. A composition having a large specific resistance is desirable at room temperature and also at a high temperature after it has been used for a long time. The stability of the composition to ultraviolet light and heat relates to the service life of the liquid crystal display device. When the stability is high, the device has a long service life. These characteristics are desirable for an AM device used in a liquid crystal projector, a liquid crystal television and so forth.
A composition having a positive dielectric anisotropy is used for an AM device having a TN mode. On the other hand, a composition having a negative dielectric anisotropy is used for an AM device having a VA mode. A composition having a positive or negative dielectric anisotropy is used for an AM device having an IPS mode. A composition having a positive or negative dielectric anisotropy is used for an AM device having a PSA mode. Examples of the liquid crystal composition having a positive dielectric anisotropy are disclosed in the following patent documents. Although an example of a liquid crystal composition including an optically active compound was disclosed in patent document No. 3, the helical pitch was not sufficiently short.
Conventional compositions are disclosed in the following patent documents. No. 1: JP H2-67232 A (1990); No. 2: JP H5-229979 A (1993); and No. 3: JP H6-200251 A (1994).
A desirable AM device has characteristics such as a wide temperature range in which the device can be used, a short response time, a large contrast ratio, a low threshold voltage, a large voltage holding ratio, a long service life and little light-leak. A shorter response time even if it is only 1 millisecond is desirable. Thus, desirable characteristics of the composition are a high maximum temperature of the nematic phase, a low minimum temperature of the nematic phase, a small viscosity, a large optical anisotropy, a large dielectric anisotropy, a large specific resistance, a high stability to ultraviolet light, a high stability to heat, a short helical pitch and so forth.

Liquid crystal composition and liquid crystal display device

Abstract: Subject

Abstract: The subject is to provide a liquid crystal composition that satisfies at least one of characteristics such as a high maximum temperature of the nematic phase, a low minimum temperature of the nematic phase, a small viscosity, a large optical anisotropy, a large dielectric anisotropy, a large specific resistance, a high stability to ultraviolet light, a high stability to heat and a short helical pitch, or that is suitably balanced regarding at least two of the characteristics. The subject is also to provide an AM device that has a short response time, a large voltage holding ratio, a large contrast ratio, a long service life, a little light-leak and so forth.

Abstract: Means for Solving the Subject

Abstract: The invention provides a liquid crystal composition that has the nematic phase, including a specific optically active compound as a first component and a specific four-ring compound having a high maximum temperature of the nematic phase as a second component, and optionally including a specific compound having a high maximum temperature or small viscosity as a third component and a specific compound having a positively large dielectric anisotropy as a fourth component, and provides a liquid crystal display device including this composition.