A radar level gauge system, for determining a filling level of a product contained in a tank, the radar level gauge system comprising a transceiver including a signal generator for generating electromagnetic signals for transmission; a transmitter branch for transmitting the electromagnetic signals; and a receiver branch for receiving electromagnetic signals, the transmitter branch and the receiver branch each being connected to a transceiver input/output terminal. The radar level gauge system further comprises a propagation device for allowing transmitted electromagnetic signals to propagate towards a surface of the product inside the tank, where signals are reflected, and for returning reflected electromagnetic signals back from the surface of the product; processing circuitry connected to the transceiver and configured to determine the filling level based on the reflected electromagnetic signals; and power level adjusting circuitry connected between the transceiver input/output terminal and the propagation device, and configured to adjust a power level of the transmitted electromagnetic signals by a transmission gain factor, and to adjust a power level of the returned reflected electromagnetic signals by a reception gain factor, the transmission gain factor being smaller than the reception gain factor, wherein the power level adjusting circuitry comprises at least one active component.

Radar level gauge systems are today in use in a variety of fields of application for accurate level determination, as well as for determination of other product parameters, such as temperature, flow etc. For determining the level of a product by means of a radar level gauge system, electromagnetic signals are transmitted and propagated, usually by means of an antenna, towards a surface of the product, where signals are reflected. The reflected signals are received by the radar level gauge system, and the distance between a reference position and the surface of the product is determined by comparing the transmitted signals with the reflected signals. Based on this distance, the filling level can be determined.
Especially in open or semi-open applications, such as open tanks, floating-roof tanks, reservoirs, or even rivers or lakes, the operation of a radar level gauge system is typically subject to government regulations in respect of such parameters as the frequency and power of the transmitted signals.
According to such existing and/or anticipated regulations, the transmission power should be limited to a certain level. At the same time, the quality of measurement, such as the accuracy with respect to distance, of the radar level gauge system should not be sacrificed to obtain this transmission power level.
Such a limited transmission power in combination with high quality measurement is readily achievable in a radar level gauge system having a transceiver with separated transmitter output and receiver input, the output being connected to a transmission antenna, and the input to a receiver antenna, but considerably more difficult to achieve for a transceiver having a common transceiver input/output terminal.
In present solutions for achieving an low transmission power level in a radar level gauge having such a transceiver with a common input/output terminal, and a single antenna, it has proven to be very difficult, if at all possible, to at the same time achieve a sufficiently low output power, say −40 dBm (100 nW) or lower and a sufficiently accurate measurement of the filling level.
One such existing solution is schematically illustrated in FIG. 1. In FIG. 1, a transceiver 10 is shown, having a signal generator 11 connected to power dividing circuitry, here in the form of a Wilkinson Power Divider (WPD) 12. After the WPD 12, the line is divided into a transmitter branch 13 and a receiver branch 14. The transmitter branch 13 and the receiver branch 14 are connected to a transceiver input/output terminal 16 via a second WPD 19. In order to attenuate the transmitted electromagnetic signals, resistive damper circuits, or so-called pads, 15a-d are provided on the transmitter branch 13. Typically, using surface mounted components as damper circuits 15a-d, an attenuation of about 20 dB can be achieved.
After having been attenuated in the transmitter branch 13, the transmitted electromagnetic signals pass the second WPD 19 on their way towards the antenna 3.
As for reflected electromagnetic signals picked up by the antenna 3, these signals are divided by the second WPD 19, and the fraction of the reflected signals going into the receiver branch are amplified by an amplifier 17 and mixed with signals from the signal generator 11 in a mixer 18. The distance to the relevant surface can then be determined based on the output from the mixer 18.
In this solution, however, the desired combination of low transmission power and high quality of measurement is difficult to obtain.

Radar level gauge system having limited transmission power


This provides a terminal location obtaining method, device, and system. The method includes: a first terminal transmitting a location-obtaining request to a second terminal; the second terminal starting a positioning function to obtain the current location information of the second terminal, and transmitting the obtained location information of the second terminal to the first terminal; the first terminal using the location information of the second terminal as the location information of the first terminal, and performing a location-based application operation based on the location information. This can obtain relatively accurate location information of a terminal when the terminal is incapable of determining its own location when location determination is needed. This can also transmit the location information to a corresponding application server to avoid inaccuracy issues with determining a location based on the IP address of a terminal. This can facilitate an accurate location-based push message service.

With existing technologies, to obtain the location information of a terminal (e.g., a personal computer (PC)) with no or low-accuracy positioning capability, typically, the assigned IP address of the terminal, when connected to a network, is used to determine the location of the terminal.
However, the current IP repository defines multiple IP addresses in a relatively large area. In other words, the location of the terminal as determined by a corresponding server based on a particular IP address is a relatively large area. As a result, the locations that can be determined for these types of terminals with no or relatively low-accuracy positioning capability are not accurate enough, which can affect certain location-based application operations.

Terminal location obtaining method, device, and system

TENCENT TECHNOLOGY (SHENZHEN) COMPANY LIMITED


The present disclosure is directed to articles such as bladders comprising mechano-luminescent materials which emit light when the mechano-luminescent materials are placed under stress. The present disclosure is also directed to articles including these bladders, methods of forming these bladders, and methods of making articles including these bladders.

Safety is always a concern when walking or performing activities at night or in low light level conditions. Clothing, sporting equipment and footwear often include reflective regions to reflect light from automobile headlights, street lights, and the like. In other instances light emitting diodes (LEDs) can be used to produce light

Luminescent bladders, luminescent articles, methods of making luminescent bladders and methods of making luminescent articles


The invention provides compositions and kits comprising at least one nitric oxide enhancing prostaglandin compound or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, and, optionally, at least one nitric oxide enhancing compound and/or at least one therapeutic agent. The invention also provides methods for (a) treating ophthalmic disorders; (b) treating cerebrovascular disorders; (c) treating cardiovascular disorders; (d) treating benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH); (e) treating peptic ulcers; (e) treating sexual dysfunctions and (f) inducing abortions. The nitric oxide enhancing prostaglandin compounds comprise at least one heterocyclic nitric oxide donor group and/or at least one nitroxide group.

Most drugs conventionally used to treat ophthalmic disorders have potentially serious side effects such as blurring of vision and other visual side effects which may lead either to decreased patient compliance or to the termination of therapy. Occasionally systemically administered drugs can also cause serious side effects, such as nausea, dyspepsia, fatigue, and metabolic acidosis, which affect patient compliance and/or necessitate the termination of treatment. Additionally, some β-adrenergic antagonists have increasingly become associated with serious pulmonary side effects attributable to their effects on β-2 receptors in pulmonary tissue. Hence there is a need in the art for compounds that have improved efficacy, lower toxicity and/or fewer side effects and that can be used at low dosages. The invention is directed to these, as well as other, important ends.

Nitric oxide enhancing prostaglandin compounds, compositions and methods of use


A semiconductor device includes a body including a first junction region; a pillar positioned over the body, and including a vertical channel region and a second junction region over the vertical channel region; a gate trench exposing side surfaces of the pillar; a gate dielectric layer covering the gate trench; and a gate electrode embedded in the gate trench, with the gate dielectric layer interposed therebetween. The gate electrode includes a first work function liner overlapping with the vertical channel region, and including an aluminum-containing metal nitride; a second work function liner overlapping with the second junction region, and including a silicon-containing non-metal material; and an air gap positioned between the second work function liner and the second junction region.

1. Technical Field
Exemplary embodiments of the present invention relate to a semiconductor device, and more particularly, to a semiconductor device having a dual work function gate structure, a method for fabricating the same, a memory cell having the same, and an electronic device having the same.
2. Related Art
As a semiconductor device is highly integrated, a gate-induced drain leakage (GIDL) characteristic in a non-planar transistor exerts a substantial influence on the performance of the semiconductor device.

Method for fabricating semiconductor device having dual work function gate structure


A device for fixing soft tissue. A sleeve is detachably connected to a self-drilling tapping screw, moving and rotating the self-drilling tapping screw. A guide bar is detachably connected to the self-drilling tapping screw and fit in the sleeve. A fixing pin is fit in a washer and connected to the self-drilling tapping screw. The guide bar is detachably fit in the fixing pin. The fixing pin abuts the washer and the self-drilling tapping screw.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a device and method for fixing soft tissue, and more particularly to a device and method for affixing glenoidal labrum to a shoulder joint.
2. Description of the Related Art
A shoulder joint is mainly composed of a ball-like humeral head and a glenoidal cup of scapula, tightly covered by various fibered connective tissues and muscles, performing flexion, extension, adduction, abduction, rotation and circumduction. Moreover, a glenoidal labrum is formed on the edge of the glenoidal cup of the shoulder joint, increasing the surface area of the glenoidal cup, enhancing stability of the shoulder joint, and providing attachment for ligaments.
Operating frequently, the shoulder joint is easily injured or dislocated. Soft tissue, such as ligaments, tendons and cartilage, of the shoulder joint is easily separated therefrom due to sport injury, overuse, or improper posture. Injury to the shoulder joint often includes tearing of tendons of rotator cuff muscles, SLAP (Superior Lesion, Anterior to Posterior, wherein the upper part of the glenoidal labrum is pulled off the glenoidal cup by tendons of biceps of humerus), and Bankart lesion (the lower part of the glenoidal labrum is separated from the glenoidal cup by dislocation of the humerus and drag of the ligament).
The soft tissue of the shoulder joint requires surgical intervention when seriously separated therefrom, such intervention comprising open and arthroscopic techniques. In both cases, suturing directly or indirectly secures the torn or separated soft tissue to the bones of the shoulder joint. For example, torn rotator cuff tendons are attached to the humerus or separated glenoidal labrum to glenoidal cup of the shoulder joint by such suturing.
In a direct fixation method, the soft tissue is directly sutured to bones with drilled holes. Specifically, the soft tissue is fixed to the bones by seaming the sutures between the soft tissue and the holes. This direct fixation method, however, is very time consuming and requires a high degree of surgical precision. Moreover, the sutures are easily broken, adversely affecting reconstruction and regeneration of the soft tissue.
In an indirect fixation method, the soft tissue is fixed to bones by soft tissue anchors. Specifically, the soft tissue anchors are disposed in the bones and the soft tissue is then fixed to both the soft tissue anchors and bones by sutures. There are two types of conventional soft tissue anchor, push-in and turn-in. The push-in soft tissue anchor may comprise ridges, barbs, or extending wings or fingers. When employed, the push-in anchor is inserted into the bones and the ridges, barbs, or extending wings or fingers thereof engage the bones, as disclosed as a suture anchor with annular ridges in U.S. Pat. No. 5,100,417, a harpoon suture anchor with barbs in U.S. Pat. No. 5,141,520, an umbrella-shaped suture anchor device with outwardly extending wing members in U.S. Pat. No. 5,545,180, and a knotless suture anchor with extended fingers in U.S. Pat. No. 6,692,516. The turn-in soft tissue anchor may comprise a tip and threads. When employed, the tip and threads thereof are inserted into the bones, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,632,100, 5,156,616, 5,851,219, and 6,117,162.
Accordingly, conventional soft tissue anchors require sutures to pass through eyelets or apertures thereof and to be knotted to secure the soft tissue to bones, complicating surgery. Moreover, when conventional soft tissue anchors are employed in arthroscopic surgery, such for fixing SLAP, operation thereof is very difficult due to limited space. Thus, attaching the separated glenoidal labrum to the glenoidal cup of the shoulder joint by the conventional soft tissue anchors is difficult and time-consuming.

Device and method for fixing soft tissue

Industrial Technology Research Institute


An energy curable inkjet ink includes a nitroxy inhibitor, a compound having an ethylenic unsaturated bond, a photoinitiator, a coloring agent, and a stray light resistance index of at least 7. A method of preparing an energy curable inkjet ink with stray light resistance includes providing a nitroxy inhibitor; providing a mixture of a compound having an ethylenic unsaturated bond, and a photoinitiator, and a coloring agent; combining the nitroxy inhibitor and the mixture to obtain the energy curable inkjet ink and thereby to increase a stray light resistance index of the energy curable inkjet ink to at least 7.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an energy curable inkjet ink with a stray light resistance of at least 7, and a method to increase the stray light resistance of an energy curable inkjet ink to at least 7.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Inkjet technology can deposit materials with different chemical and physical properties. Inkjet finds applications in many graphics applications including point of purchase, vehicle wraps, wide format printing, and it has also been used in electronics including the manufacture of solar panels and PCBs.
Energy curable inkjet inks are susceptible to build up of cured material at the inkjet nozzle. Traditional stabilizers do not sufficiently address the susceptibility of energy curable inkjet inks to stray light, or if they do, cure is compromised. This can be a problem in LED UV cured inks as sensitivity to UV in the UVA region means they can be susceptible to stray light.
A typical drop-on-demand (DoD) inkjet printhead may include several ink channels in parallel. Each channel has a piezo-actuator, which on application of a standard actuation voltage pulse, generates pressure oscillations inside the ink channel. These pressure oscillations then push the ink drop out of the nozzle. The print quality delivered by an inkjet printhead depends on the properties of the jetted drop. The following drop properties are preferred to give acceptable image quality, reliability and printhead performance:
Drop Velocity
The drops preferably need to be ejected at a consistent velocity to reduce dot positioning errors. If the drop speed is too slow, the sensitivity to variation in printhead to substrate distances will be higher and result in a reduction in image quality. This sensitivity is reduced if the time of flight is reduced.
Drop Mass/Volume
Depending on the application, the drop volume requirements will vary considerably with some applications needing the drop volume to be varied during the application. For the coverage of larger areas, larger drops are needed. While for high resolution printing, smaller drops are required.
Drop Shape
The formation of tails or satellite drops will negatively influence the shape of a drop on a substrate. These are not desirable for image quality.
Jet Straightness
The drops preferably need to be ejected in a straight line towards the substrate. Typically within 10 mrad accuracy or a reduction in image quality will be seen.
FIG. 1 is a cross sectional view of an ink channel with no drop deviation. FIG. 2 is a cross sectional view of an ink channel with drop deviation due to a partially obstructed nozzle. FIG. 3 shows normal operation of a printhead with no nozzle deviation. FIG. 4 shows operation of a printhead with nozzle deviation. In FIG. 4, the main drop has merged with the adjacent drop with a small satellite drop thrown to one side.
The build-up of cured material at the nozzle affects jet straightness and thus printing quality. Furthermore, once jet deviation has occurred, if it can't be recovered by flushing, then the printhead will need to be replaced.
Thus there is a need to reduce the build up of cured ink caused by exposure to low levels of UV light from stray light sources and thereby to improve printing quality and extend the life of the printheads.

Stray light resistance of UV inkjet inks


A self-aligned protection diode is formed at the first polycrystalline silicon level, thereby enabling in-process charging damage protection while reducing the layout area. The self-aligned protection diode is formed by providing an etch stop layer having an arcuate portion with different etching characteristics than horizontal portions, isotropically etching the arcuate portion to form a through hole exposing a side surface of a polycrystalline silicon layer and the underlying semiconductor substrate, ion implanting impurities to form the protection diode, and filling the through hole with a metal interconnecting the side surface of the polycrystalline silicon layer with the vertically self-aligned protection diode.

During conventional semiconductor processing, plasma techniques are routinely employed, particularly in manufacturing Very Large Scale Integrated (VLSI) devices. Such conventional plasma techniques comprise etching various films, including polycrystalline silicon, oxides and metals. Plasma techniques are also conventionally employed for oxide deposition, sputter pre-clean prior to physical vapor deposition, and photoresist stripping during ion implantation. During such plasma processing, devices fabricated on silicon wafers are usually directly exposed to the plasma. Such plasma exposure is known to cause degradation of the gate oxides in MOS devices attributed to electrical charging during the plasma process.
In the plasma ambient, metal or polycrystalline silicon electrodes serve as antennas, thereby collecting ions and electrons during plasma processing. A steady state voltage appears on the electrode due to charge collection and the resulting electrical stress is capable of destroying the underlying gate electrode by oxide breakdown or weakening it by causing charge trapping in the oxide as well as interface trap generation at the silicon dioxide-silicon interface. Since the damaged oxide may cause IC yield loss or become more vulnerable to hot-carrier induced degradation and time-dependent dielectric breakdown, plasma-induced gate oxide degradation constitutes a serious problem in VLSI technology. See, for example, Zheng et al., "A Quick Experimental Technique In Estimating The Cumulative Plasma Charging Current with MOSFET and Determining The Reliability of The Protection Diode In The Plasma Ambient," 1996 1st International Symposium on Plasma Process-Induced Damage (IEEE Cat. No. 96TH8142), 1996, pp. 27-29; H. C. Shin et al., "Thin gate oxide damage due to plasma processing," Semiconductor Science and Technology, April 1996, Vol. 11, No. 4, pp. 463-473; H. Shin et al., "Impact of Plasma Charging Damage and Diode Protection on Scaled Thin Oxide," International Electron Devices Meeting 1993, IEEE Cat. No. 93CH3361-03, 1993, pp. 467-470; and M. C. Chang et al., "Degradation of MOS Transistor Characteristics by Gate Charging Damage During Plasma Processing," International Symposium on VLSI Technology, Systems, and Applications, IEEE Cat. No. 93TH0524-9, 1993, pp. 320-324.
As integration increases and feature size for devices decrease, the thickness of gate oxide layers decreases, thereby exacerbating the adverse impact of plasma charging damage. A conventional approach to the plasma charging damage problem comprises the formation of a protection diode to which the polycrystalline silicon layer, i.e., gate electrode/word line, is connected, thereby providing a discharge path for electrical charging during plasma processing. For example, adverting to FIG. 6, a conventional semiconductor device containing a protection diode comprises substrate 60, such as P-doped silicon, a field oxide shallow trench isolation insulating layer comprising sections 61, and polycrystalline silicon layer 62 formed thereon with a gate oxide layer 63 separating polycrystalline silicon layer 62 from semiconductor substrate 60. Insulating sidewall spacers 64 are formed along side surfaces of polycrystalline silicon layer 62, and a dielectric interlayer 65 is formed thereon. Metal interconnect line 66 electrically connects and, thereby, provides a discharge path between polycrystalline silicon layer 62 and protection diode 67 formed in the semiconductor substrate doped with an N-type impurity.
The conventional structure depicted in FIG. 6 is formed by methodology illustrated in FIGS. 7 and 8. As to FIGS. 6 through 8, similar elements bear similar reference numerals. Adverting to FIG. 7, N-type protection diode 67 is formed by ion implantation, typically during ion implantation to form source/drain regions. Subsequently, as shown in FIG. 8, dielectric interlayer 65 is deposited, and through holes 80A and 80B are formed therein, as by anisotropic etching. Through hole 80A exposes an upper surface of polycrystalline silicon layer 62, while through hole 80B exposes a portion of protection diode 67. Subsequently, a layer of metal, typically tungsten, is deposited and etched to form metal interconnect line 66, as shown in FIG. 6, electrically interconnecting polycrystalline silicon layer 62 and protection diode 67.
Conventional practices with respect to a protection diode, such as that illustrated in FIGS. 6 through 8, are attendant with numerous disadvantages, particularly in requiring extra layout area, thereby increasing the total die size and hindering miniaturization. As a result of the consequential increase in precious chip real estate, protection diodes are sparingly used, being reserved for only the most critical areas of the circuit, typically devices connected to bond pads. Accordingly, there exists a need to provide a semiconductor device with a protection diode with minimal or no adverse impact on layout area, thereby enabling the liberal use of protection diodes throughout an integrated circuit.

Semiconductor device with self-aligned protection diode


In an embodiment, a computer-implemented method comprises receiving, by at least one broker computing devices, identity awareness data from a plurality of directory services in a federation; posting, by the at least one broker computing device, the identity awareness data to a distributed data repository; establishing, at a networking hardware device having a first type, firewall rules using the identity awareness data from the distributed data repository; controlling, by the networking hardware device having the first type, network traffic based on the identity awareness data.

The approaches described in this section are approaches that could be pursued, but not necessarily approaches that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated, it should not be assumed that any of the approaches described in this section qualify as prior art merely by virtue of their inclusion in this section.
The development and deployment of internet of things (IoT) devices has proceeded with remarkable speed in the past several years. IoT devices are diverse, including everything from controllers of industrial equipment to smart watches and personal activity monitors. However, security infrastructure has not kept pace with the huge number and wide use of these devices. Some analysts estimate that billions of such devices will be operating and connected to internetworks within a few years, but there is presently no effective security architecture that can efficiently permit IoT devices to be secured effectively, yet readily usable. Key constraints in this technical field have included limited processing power, limited memory, and limited or absent user interface elements. All these characteristics of IoT devices make them difficult to integrate into existing client-server security systems. At the same time, misuse of IoT devices could be catastrophic by permitting an attacker or unauthorized user to gain control of industrial equipment or other systems that have embedded IoT devices.
In some security approaches, a firewall accesses mappings from different directory agents to control network access to devices by using users' identities. A directory agent includes IP-to-user mappings. This traditional approach requires that the firewall have connectivity to the directory agents for accessing the IP-to-user mappings. This traditional approach creates difficulties for distributed firewalls that continuously need the latest mappings, where connectivity to the directory agents may not be reliable enough to obtain the latest mappings or where responsiveness of one or more directory agents is not guaranteed. This traditional approach also creates difficulties for an enterprise with numerous firewalls, where each needs to be provided with the latest mappings or when new firewalls need to be deployed.
Thus, there is a need for an access control authority that securely enables network access based on users' identities even in the absence of a directory agent.

Centrally managing data for distributed identity-based firewalling


In the case of an arrangement for pneumatic false-twist spinning, it is provided that a sliver is divided in the area of the delivery roller pair of a drafting unit, is divided into two partial slivers. Edge fibers are spread away during and after the division. The divided slivers are then jointly or separately pneumatically false-twisted and are wound up as an individual yarn, as two separate yarns or as a double yarn.

The invention relates to an arrangement for pneumatic false-twist spinning having a drafting unit which comprises devices for dividing a sliver into two partial slivers and which is followed by a pneumatic false-twisting device.
In the case of a known arrangement of the initially mentioned type (German Patent Document DE-A 38 42 120 and corresponding U.S. Pat. No. 4,942,731 to Morihashi et al.), a drivable biconical wheel is arranged inside the drafting unit between the intake roller pair and the next roller pair, which, in the manner of a separating wedge, divides the entering sliver into two partial slivers. These slivers then travel separately through the apron guide and the delivery roller pair as well as through separate air nozzles of the false-twisting device. They are subsequently guided together in front of a common withdrawal device and, while they are disposed side-by-side, are wound onto a spool as a double yarn.
It is also known (German Patent Document DE-A 39 01 791) to divide the sliver fed by a drafting unit into two partial slivers which are each fed to a ring spindle. In the case of this construction, it is provided that the sliver is not divided into the two partial slivers until it has passed through the drafting unit, that is, at the pair of delivery rollers of the drafting unit. For this purpose, one of the two delivery rollers is constructed as a suction roller which is provided with two suction slots which diverge from the area of the nip line. These suction slots each taper in the yarn travelling direction in order to be provided with a certain bundling of the two partial slivers.
It is an object of the invention to improve an arrangement of the initially mentioned type in such a manner that a larger quantity of edge fibers are spread away which subsequently can be utilized as wind-around fibers and which provide the yarn with a more uniform appearance and/or an increased strength.
This object is achieved according to preferred embodiments of the invention in that a roller of the pair of delivery rollers of the drafting unit is constructed as a suction roller which forms two suction zones which divide the sliver behind the nip line into the partial slivers and spread edge fibers away from the partial slivers.
The invention is based on the recognition that, when the division into the two partial slivers does not start before the area of the nip line of the pair of delivery rollers, it is possible to spread away a larger quantity of edge fibers. However, for this purpose, care must be taken that the partial slivers are not bundled as in the case of the construction according to the German Patent Document DE-A 39 01 791 but that, on the contrary, edge fibers are intentionally spread away.
In order to carry out an intentional spreading-away of edge fibers, it is provided in a further development of the invention that the suction roller provided with a perforation has a suction insert which has two suction zones moving away from one another starting from the area of the nip line in the travelling direction of the yarn, the effective width of these suction zones increasing in the travelling direction of the yarn. It is particularly advantageous in this case for the two suction zones to each start as a suction slot which are in each case continued by two slots extending in parallel to one another. The slots, which each extend in parallel to one another, will then be situated next to the partial sliver so that edge fibers are spread away toward both sides and are held in this spread-away position.
In a further development of the invention, it is provided that a pressure roller is assigned to the suction roller and is arranged in the area of the ends of the suction zones. As a result, it is achieved that the false twist, which originates from the false-twisting device, is stopped in the area of the pressure roller so that it does not impair the spreading-away of edge fibers.
In a further development of the invention, it is provided that the false-twisting device for each of the partial slivers has at least one air nozzle. In a first embodiment, it is then provided that the air nozzles are followed by separate wind-up devices for each of the partial slivers. The partial slivers are therefore spun into respective separate yarns which are wound onto separate spools.
In a modified embodiment, it is provided that the air nozzles are followed by devices for the guiding-together of the spun partial slivers and by a common wind-up device. The spun partial slivers are then wound onto a common spool as a double yarn. In this case, it is expediently provided that the two partial slivers are not spun completely but are only prestrengthened. The spool package, which receives the double yarn, will then be fed to a twisting machine so that the final strength of the yarn is obtained by means of a twisting. In the case of this embodiment, it is advantageous for the devices for the guiding-together to form travelling paths of a different length for the two spun partial slivers. As a result, it is achieved that the two partial slivers with respect to their length are guided together again in an offset manner so that a doubling effect is obtained which compensates possible inaccuracies as a result of the sliver division.
In another embodiment of the invention, a false-twisting device is provided which both partial slivers have in common and which comprises at least one air nozzle. In this embodiment, a common yarn is then again spun from the two partial slivers. In this case, the division of the slivers results in the advantage that a significantly higher number of edge fibers were spread so that an improved winding-around and therefore a particularly firm yarn is achieved.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the invention when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Arrangement for pneumatic false-twist spinning


A THz. spectrometer a includes an adjustable resonator situated between two parabolic mirrors at least one being movable with a stepper motor to create a resonance chamber. A terahertz source irradiated the chamber and a mixer which also receives a signal modulated by the sample in the resonance chamber.

This invention relates generally to the fields of molecular physics and material detection, and more specifically on the physical concept of molecular rotational frequencies in order to detect the presence of specific molecules of interest.
Current material detection solutions rely either upon what is known as "sniffers" or on optically-based technologies. Sniffers are systems that can detect the presence of specific materials. This is done by using a cantilever sensor (usually a MEMS cantilever) with a tip which only reacts to a specific type of material. An example of a sniffer is the gate at airports where an air current is blown at the person standing within the gate. Molecules dislodged as a result of the air current are blown through an air conductor with a cantilever inside of it. As stated, the cantilever only reacts to a specific type of material. Once a molecule (or molecules) of the material touch the tip of the cantilever they change the resonance frequency of that cantilever. The difference between the original resonance frequency and the current resonance frequency allows one to "know" that the specific material has been detected and to act upon this knowledge.
Sniffer systems suffer from the following disadvantages:                Accuracy of detection—the ability of the system to detect the presence of a material is highly dependent upon its concentration in the sampled area. Since such a system relies upon the existence of residual amounts of the illicit material; the farther it is from the source the less accurate it is.        Limited in types of materials it can detect—the system relies upon the concept of the cantilever sensor, where the tip is treated to react to a specific material. This limits the range of materials that can be recognized.
Optical systems rely upon the "rotational frequency" effect in molecules. A beam of light at a specific wavelength (frequency) is transmitted to a specific target area. When the light at that specific wavelength excites the material of interest, the reflected light will be at a different wavelength (usually double that of the original transmitted wavelength). By knowing when the original light was transmitted and knowing that only this transmission is what has caused the detection of a new wavelength, one can ascertain that the material of interest is present. An example of the way this system is used is when a swab is passed over baggage and inserted in a sealed box. Within this box the light at a specific wavelength is directed at the sample and the existence of illicit materials is thus confirmed if a specific shift in wavelength is detected.
The main limitations of the systems that rely upon the "rotational frequency" effect are that they require some sort of physical contact with the sample. An additional drawback is that the amount of energy required to correctly trigger the "rotational frequency" effect must be quite precise; using too little or too much energy will not provide the necessary result for the analysis.
It is therefore a first object of the present invention to provide an improved means for spectral analysis of unknown materials that overcomes the aforementioned and other disadvantages of the prior art.
Embodiments of the present invention alleviating some of these disadvantages will now be described. Embodiments of the present invention can use a terahertz (THz) signal generator for the analysis of molecules in a sample. The analysis can use a chamber that can be made very small relative to current systems, however, it should be clear to a person skilled in the art that the chamber can be made whatever size suits the needs of the specific application. The present system does not require any physical contact with the molecules it analyzes, and can detect minute concentrations of a material of interest.
Additional features and advantages of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon consideration of the following detailed description of illustrated embodiments.

Apparatus and method for the detection of molecules


A method for IC design is provided. Firstly, an IC design layout having a main feature with an original margin is received. Then, a first modified margin of the main feature is generated; and a first photolithography simulation procedure of the main feature with the first modified margin is performed to generate a first contour having a plurality of curves. Next, an equation of each of the curves is obtained; each equation of the curves is manipulated to obtain a vertex of each of the curves. After that, a first group of target points are assigned to the original margin. Each of the first group of target points respectively corresponds to one of the vertices. Finally, an optical proximity correction (OPC) procedure is performed by using the first group of target points to generate a second modified margin. An apparatus for IC design is also provided.

In the semiconductor integrated circuit (IC) industry, photolithography is the process to use light to transfer circuit patterns to a semiconductor wafer, such as, a silicon or GaAs wafer. However, the photolithography process becomes more challenging when the desired pattern size on wafer becomes smaller and smaller and the features of the pattern become closer and closer to each other.
Besides, duo to the limitations of light, these transferred patterns appear with errors or irregularities such as line widths that are narrower or wider than designed. If these distortions are not corrected, the electrical properties of what was being fabricated may be altered significantly. Therefore, it is desirable to find a method for IC design to compensate for image errors.

Method and apparatus for integrated circuit design


An output torque control system for a multiple cylinder engine limits fuel supply to one or more selected cylinder(s) of the engine according to a predetermined fuel limiting pattern when the engine output torque reduction is to be performed. Fuel supply to the cylinder which first comes to the fuel injection timing after it is determined that the engine output torque reduction is to be performed is limited at least in the fuel injection timing immediately after the determination independently from the predetermined fuel limiting pattern.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an output torque control system for a multiple cylinder engine.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As disclosed, for instance, in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 58(1983)-8436, there has been known a traction control system in which fuel supply to an engine is limited on the basis of a torque reduction requirement which is determined according to slip of the driving wheels so that the engine output torque is reduced and the slip of the driving wheels is suppressed.
In the conventional traction control system or the conventional engine output torque control system, the fuel supply is limited on a predetermined particular cylinder or predetermined particular cylinders when slip of the driving wheels is detected, which gives rise to the following problem. For example, supposing that an engine has cylinder-A, cylinder-B, cylinder-C and cylinder-D and fuel is injected into the cylinder in sequence in this order and fuel supply to the cylinder-A is limited upon detection of slip of the driving wheels, fuel supply to the engine is not limited until the fuel injection timing to the cylinder-A even if slip of the driving wheels is detected at the injection timing to the cylinder-B. As a result, the engine output torque sometimes can be left as it is for a long time, and slip of the driving wheels cannot be quickly suppressed in response to detection of slip of the driving wheels.


A surface covering material for use with a vehicle sun visor includes a non-woven fabric layer and a synthetic resin layer overlaid onto a back surface of the non-woven fabric layer. The density of the non-woven fabric layer is between 120 g/m and 250 g/m. The non-woven fabric layer preferably includes a binder resin. The thickness of the synthetic resin layer is between 30 μm and 50 μm. A vehicle sun visor may be covered with such a surface covering material.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to surface covering materials of vehicle sun visors and vehicle sun visors having such surface covering materials.
2. Description of the Related Art
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 6-255044 teaches a surface covering material that covers an outer surface of a vehicle sun visor. The surface covering material disclosed in this publication is manufactured by laminating a poly vinyl chloride film having a thickness of 250-500 μm onto a non-woven fabric entirely impregnated with resin. According to this publication, when the sheets of the surface covering material thus manufactured have been bonded together along the outer circumference of the sun visor by a high-frequency welding process, a sufficient bonding strength can be obtained at the bonded region inasmuch as the sheets are not readily peeled off from each other at the bonded region.
In order to cover the surface of the sun visor with a surface covering material in such a manner that the surface covering material has a tension across the surface of the sun visor, the sheets of the surface covering material are cut to have a size slightly smaller than the size of the sun visor. The outer surface of the sun visor is covered with the sheets while stretching the sheets. As a result, the surface covering material of the above publication may be tensioned due to the restoring force of the resin film that has been laminated onto the back surface of the non-woven fabric layer.
However, during a long time period of use of the sun visor, the resin film laminated onto the back surface of the non-fabric layer may acquire a permanent set. As a result, the surface covering material may sag or may cause bunching along the outer surface of the sun visor.

Surface covering materials of vehicle sun visors and vehicle sun visors having the surface covering materials


Apparatus is provided for electro-mechanically fluctuating the position of a ball valve/ball valve stem. The said apparatus can electronically turn the ball valve smoothly and effectively to any position in response to the input signal provided by a microcontroller interfacing with a motor driver controller. The apparatus control inputs will range from: voice command, push buttons, motion sensor, android, and/or touchscreen. An input means to send signals to the microcontroller, which send a signal to the stepper motor driver circuit, which send a signal to control the Stepper motor, which will maneuver a machined made driveshaft to operate the momentum of the ball valve/ball valve shaft for accurate and precise liquescent output.

Ball Valve's has been the most successful and outlasting valves compared to any other valve in the world. A ball valve is a quarter turn valve that uses a perforated pivoting ball to control the flow through it. Over time, ball valves have been utilized for air, water, gas, and oil. Other valves failed to last because of the wear and tear of the diaphragm, needle, springs or poor construction. This mostly occurs from a particular valves repetitious use. Ball valves are preferred because of the excellent seal it provides and its increased resistance to wear. Also, ball valves are utilized because the "valves not made to extend vertical and are smaller in diameter compared to other rotary valves.
The Stepper Motor is a brushless and DC operated electromagnetic apparatus that converts digital pulses into a mechanical shaft rotation. Stepper motors divide a full rotation into a certain number of steps and can range from micro stepping to full stepping procedures. Stepper motors also allow precise positioning control without the need of a feedback system as well as being capable of continuous rotation.

Stepper valve with stepper valve motor controller


In a starter, a planetary gear reduction mechanism has pins supporting planetary gears and directly fitted into an outer member of a one-way clutch. The outer member rotates with the revolution of the planetary gear. An internal gear engaged with the planetary gears is connected with a rotary disk of a shock absorbing device disposed on the outer periphery of the one-way clutch through a connecting member and an elastic member. The connecting member has engaging projections engaged with the elastic member within the connecting recess of the internal gear. The engagement projections are housed within the connecting recess with some clearance provided in the radial direction. The internal gear is thus held radially movably with respect to the rotary disk via the connecting member.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a starter for cranking an engine.
2. Related Art
A conventional starter is disclosed in Japanese Examined Utility Model Publication No. Sho 57-55970.
The starter is comprised of a planetary gear reduction mechanism for reducing the speed of starting motor rotation, and a one-way clutch for transmitting to an output shaft the motor rotation reduced by the planetary gear reduction mechanism. Planetary gears of the planetary gear reduction mechanism are rotatably mounted to the outer member of the one-way clutch by press-fitting or like mounting method. That is, the one-way clutch is unmovably arranged with respect to the output shaft so that only a pinion is fitted on the output shaft so as to be axially movable via a helical spline. Thus it becomes possible to decrease a force required to move the pinion as compared with the structure in which the one-way clutch and the pinion will move together on the output shaft, thereby enabling miniaturizing a magnet switch which is operated when the pinion moving force is required.
The center of the outer member will be determined by a relation of gears constituting the planetary gear reduction mechanism by directly securing, to the outer member, the pin supporting the corresponding planetary gear. However, since the outer member is a component part of the one-way clutch, the center of the outer member is determined by a relation between an inner member and a roller. It is, therefore, necessary that the center of the outer member determined on the reduction mechanism side corresponds to the center of the outer member determined on the clutch side; the function of the clutch and the life of the reduction mechanism largely depend upon the centering accuracy. Consequently, parts making up the reduction mechanism and the clutch are required to have a high dimensional accuracy, resulting in a high cost. Especially when miniaturization is pursued, further enhancement of the dimensional accuracy will be needed.


The present invention relates to active compound combinations, in particular within a fungicide composition, which comprises (A) a dithiino-tetracarboximide of formula (I) and a further fungicidally active compound (B). Moreover, the invention relates to a method for curatively or preventively controlling the phytopathogenic fungi of plants or crops, to the use of a combination according to the invention for the treatment of seed, to a method for protecting a seed and not at least to the treated seed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to active compound combinations, in particular within a fungicide composition, which comprises (A) a dithiino-tetracarboximide of formula (I) and a further fungicidally active compound (B). Moreover, the invention relates to a method for curatively or preventively controlling the phytopathogenic fungi of plants or crops, to the use of a combination according to the invention for the treatment of seed, to a method for protecting a seed and not at least to the treated seed.
2. Description of Related Art
Dithiino-tetracarboximides as such are already known. It is also known, that these compounds can be used as anthel-mintics and insecticides (cf. U.S. Pat. No. 3,364,229). Furthermore the fungicidal use of such dithiino-tetracarboximides is known (WO 2010/043319).
Since the environmental and economic requirements imposed on modern-day crop protection compositions are continually increasing, with regard, for example, to the spectrum of action, toxicity, selectivity, application rate, formation of residues, and favourable preparation ability, and since, furthermore, there may be problems, for example, with resistances, a constant task is to develop new compositions, in particular fungicidal agents, which in some areas at least help to fulfil the abovementioned requirements.

Fungicidal combinations comprising a dithiino-tetracarboxamide fungicide


A method for reducing parasites in aquatic animals is provided. The method includes reducing a plurality of parasites infecting an aquatic animal by administrating to the aquatic animal a compound comprising propyl propane thiosulfonate (PTSO) having the formula R—SOa-S—R, where R represents n-propyl group (—CH2—CH2—CH3) and a is 2. In yet a different embodiment, a method for reducing a plurality of parasites infecting an aquatic animal includes administrating to the aquatic animal a compound comprising and propyl propane thiosulfinate (PTS) having the formula R—SOa-S—R, where R represents n-propyl group (—CH2—CH2—CH3) and a is 1. In even yet another embodiment, a method for preventing a plurality of parasites in aquatic animals is provided and includes administrating to an aquatic animal a compound including PTS. In a different embodiment, a method for preventing a plurality of parasites in aquatic animals is provided and includes administrating to an aquatic animal a compound including PTSO.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to aquaculture and, more particularly, to the prevention and reduction of parasites in aquatic animals.
2. Description of the Related Art
Aquaculture, also known as fish or shellfish farming, refers to the breeding, rearing, and harvesting of plants and animals in all types of water environments, including ponds, rivers, lakes, and oceans. Issues associated with aquaculture can include the propagation of invasive species, waste handling, side-effects of antibiotics, and competition between farmed and wild animals. In addition, the welfare of the animals in aquaculture can be impacted by stocking densities, behavioral interactions, diseases, and parasitosis.
Fish may be infected with numerous parasites belonging to various zoological groups. The most common types of infestation are caused by protozoans, like dinoflagellates ectoparasites, ciliates, and zooflagellates. Another species of interest in aquaculture is represented by helminth parasites, such as monogeneans, trematodes, cestodes and nematodes. In addition, parasites affecting aquaculture also include ectoparasites, such as mollusks, crustaceans, and sea lice.
The conventional strategies for controlling parasites and the resulting infections are expensive since they are based on chemoprophylaxis. Furthermore, the hardening of the regulations and the banning of the use of certain drugs, such as malachite green and gentian violet, against parasites in farms requires new approaches and strategies for parasite disease control.

Use of propyl propane thiosulfinate and propyl propane thiosulfonate for the prevention and reduction of parasites in aquatic animals


An apparatus and method of electrically coupling a previously implanted stimulation lead with a replacement neurostimulator device. The apparatus and method configured to operably couple a proximal portion of a neuromodulation adaptor including a plurality of electrical conductors spaced apart at a first pitch spacing to a corresponding plurality of electrical terminals of a replacement neurostimulator device, and operably couple a distal end of the neuromodulation adaptor including a plurality of conductor elements and an electrically active set screw spaced part of a second pitch spacing to a corresponding plurality of electrical connectors of a previously implanted stimulation lead.

A number of human bodily functions are affected by the nervous system. For example, bodily disorders, such as urinary incontinence, urinary urge/frequency, urinary retention, pelvic pain, bowel dysfunction (constipation, diarrhea, etc.), erectile dysfunction, etc. are all bodily functions influenced by the sacral nerves. One technique to treat such bodily disorders is sacral nerve stimulation therapy. Sacral nerve stimulation therapy is a treatment that uses a small device to send mild electrical impulses to nerves located in the lower region of the spine (just above the tailbone). These nerves, referred to as sacral nerves (specifically S2, S3 and S4), influence the behavior of structures such as the bladder, sphincter and pelvic floor muscles. In some cases, electrical stimulation of the sacral nerves can successfully eliminate or reduce the above mentioned bodily disorders.
Generally, implantation of a sacral neuromodulation system involves surgically implanting a stimulation lead near the sacral nerves. The stimulation lead is a small, insulated, electrical conductor with stimulation electrodes on the distal end for implementation near the sacral nerves, and an electrical connector on the proximal end of the lead. The proximal end electrical connector is typically connected to an implantable neurostimulator device that operates in a fashion broadly similar to that of a cardiac pacemaker by delivering occasional mild electrical pulses to the sacral nerve of the patient.
The power used to generate the mild electrical pulses typically originates from a primary cell or battery located in the implantable neurostimulator device. Over an extended period of use, the battery can become depleted. For example, some currently available implantable neurostimulator devices may have a battery lifetime about ten years or less. Once the battery is depleted, it is common for patients to have the neurostimulator device replaced.
The emergence of implantable neurostimulator devices with rechargeable batteries has reduced the form factor of such devices. A rechargeable battery may be configured to last only a period of weeks between charges, and thus may be physically smaller in size than a battery intended to last years. As a result of this reduced size, the design of the stimulation leads compatible with newer devices has also changed. In particular, the size or configuration of the electrical connector on the proximal end of the lead has been reduced in size for improved mating with the smaller neurostimulator devices. As a result, some legacy and current stimulation leads may not be compatible with emerging and/or next-generation neuromodulation devices.
By contrast to the neurostimulator device, the stimulation leads typically have a much longer usable lifetime than the neurostimulator device. Further, replacement of the stimulation lead is typically considered a more invasive procedure, as unlike the neurostimulator device which is generally located just beneath the skin of the patient, the stimulation leads extend much further into the patient and are considered to be more challenging to place correctly. Additionally, many leads include one or more tines or barbs positioned on the distal end of the lead, which serve to anchor the lead in place within the patient as tissue fills in around the lead over time. Accordingly, it is generally considered preferable to leave the stimulation lead in place when the neurostimulator device is replaced. Unfortunately, not all stimulation leads are compatible with all neurostimulator devices. The present disclosure addresses this concern.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A continuously variable transmission (CVT) of the variable belt (CVU) type provides a variable drive range. A simple planetary gearset disposed between a power source and the CVU provides a forward direct ratio and a reverse underdrive ratio. The CVT is controlled at a lower overall ratio determined by the diameter of the input sheave being controlled during the forward drive condition at a dimension M. During the reverse drive condition, the diameter of the input sheave is maintained at a larger diameter (M*R) where R is the reverse underdrive ratio of the planetary.

Continuously variable transmissions (CVT) of the variable ratio belt type (CVU) include a planetary gearset which provides reversing operation. The planetary gearset is positioned upstream, in a power flow direction, of the friction belt. This reduces the torque capacity requirement of the planetary gearset which reduces the weight and size thereof.
There is, however, a disadvantage to placing the reversing operation upstream of the CVU. A negative one (-1) ratio cannot be attained with a simple planetary gearset. If the planetary ratio during reversing operation is greater than unity, the belt tension in the CVU can exceed maximum design criteria or the input torque must be reduced (i.e., the engine output and/or torque converter ratio is limited). Thus, a compound (double pinion) planetary gearset is used to establish the reverse operation. This increases the complexity and cost of the planetary gearset.
In most current automatic shifting transmissions, the reverse torque, by design, is approximately 70% of the low forward ratio, while in CVTs, the reverse torque is approximately 80% of the low forward ratio. During reverse operation, the CVU is usually maintained at a fixed underdrive ratio in most CVT mechanisms.


A game machine capable of causing a player to pay attention to a game title image. The game machine comprises a default game title image storing section (52), an optional game title image storing section (54), an operation input section (60), a selection section (62), and a display section (64). When no game operation input is made within a predetermined time after a predetermined timing, the selection section (62) selects a default game title image so that the default game title image is displayed by the display section (62). When any game operation input is made within a predetermined time, on the other hand, either a default or optional game title image is displayed by the display section (62) depending on whether the content of the game operation input satisfies a predetermined condition.

The present invention relates to a game machine, a game title display control method, and a program.
Most game programs and machines display a game title image which contains a game title and so forth when turning on the power or ending the game. The game title image may often change to other images when a start button is pressed, or a coin is inserted with business-use game machines, while displaying such a game title image, which may additionally contain copyright notices and so.
Although a game title image may be displayed frequently, as its content is very simple, a player having once seen the game title image may thereafter press a start button or insert a coin to change the screen images without paying much attention to the title image.

Game machine, game title display control method and program


Method for performing a feedback process between a network access node and a user terminal, comprising collecting supporting information and suspending a transmission of a transport block until the supporting information is collected and/or a decision is taken as to whether request either a new transmission or a retransmission. The method may be performed in a serving network node cooperating with supporting network nodes, receivers or antennas, wherein a first part of the information of the transport block is gathered from a receiver or antenna within the serving network node and a second part of the information of the transport block is gathered from one of the supporting network nodes, receivers or antennas.

The uplink transmission of a user terminal can be received in general at several base-stations (multi-point reception), although typically a single base station controls the uplink transmission of that terminal. Traditionally, the intended receiver for that transmission is this controlling base station.
For example in UMTS a technique denoted as macro-diversity is employed. Inter-NodeB macro-diversity (soft handover) means that the signal is received and detected at more than one base station and the related information from all involved base stations is exploited at a central node (in the case of UMTS, at the radio network controller (RNC)). With intra-NodeB macro-diversity (softer handover) information received in different cells, which are all served by the same base station, is combined and exploited internally at that particular base station.
An emerging technique is to utilize received signals from different base stations (cooperative base stations). Similar to inter-NodeB macro-diversity this decreases the block error rate and increases the spectral efficiency of transmissions. However, the inter-NodeB macro-diversity requires UE involvement whereas cooperative base stations are transparent to the terminal. In 3GPP LTE-Advanced BS cooperation is being discussed as inter-eNB coordinated multi-point transmission and reception (CoMP), as e.g. specified in 3GPP TR 36.814, 3rd Generation Partnership Project; Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; Further Advancements for E-UTRA Physical Layer Aspects, V0.3.1, January 2009.
According to this document, intra-eNB CoMP is also being discussed for LTE-Advanced. There, cooperation is based on multiple antennas, which logically belong to the same eNB or even the same cell. These antennas may be geographically separated. With intra-eNB CoMP the signals from different antennas do not need to be exchanged between base stations. However, the exchange of information between the antennas and the base station introduces delays, too.
Since base stations or the cell controllers of multiple cells within a base station are typically physically separated, the information exchange between them introduces a certain delay. Depending on the deployment and the connectivity among cell-controllers the delay may be e.g. in an order of a few μs to several ms.
State-of-the-art wireless access systems typically employ an Automatic Repeat Request mechanism, e.g. a Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) mechanism, at the link layer to increase the spectral efficiency of the system. Such a mechanism uses feedback messages sent from the data receiver to the data sender in order to trigger retransmissions if the previous transmission failed. Incremental Redundancy and Chase Combining are two typical strategies to combat such transmission errors.
In order to minimize the transmission cost and the delays of the ARQ respectively HARQ feedback, state-of-the-art ARQ/HARQ mechanisms employ a fixed timing relation between the transmission of the signal (from the sender to the receiver) and the transmission of the ARQ/HARQ feedback (from the receiver to the sender). The fixed timing replaces other references between the transmitted signal and the corresponding feedback such as a sequence number, which require significantly more transmission resource.
As explained above, state-of-the-art radio ARQ/HARQ protocols typically assume a fixed and constant round trip time (RTT) of the ARQ/HARQ protocol. An example for this is the HARQ protocol in LTE as defined in the MAC protocol specification (3GPP TS E-UTRA MAC Specification 36.321). For LTE FDD the HARQ RTT is 8 ms, see the time between the 1st transport block and the redundancy version in FIG. 1. For LTE TDD the HARQ RTT varies depending on TDD configurations and on other timing aspects, but is also predetermined.
It is also specified for LTE that the HARQ feedback needs to be sent after a certain number of TTIs (or equivalently subframes). For example for LTE FDD the feedback needs to be sent 4 TTIs after the transmission, see FIG. 1. This means there are tight timing constraints for the uplink HARQ protocol operation.
If the concept of cooperative base stations shall be realized in the LTE, HARQ timing puts very tight delay requirements on the transmission and processing delays between physically separated receivers (base stations or geographically separated antennas/cells). Connections with very low delay (e.g. dedicated optical fiber) is typically very costly while inexpensive solutions do not fulfill the HARQ timing requirements.
FIGS. 2 and 3 show examples of a message sequence chart of cooperating BSs in the context of LTE FDD.
In FIG. 2, the serving base station (BS) sends a request for support to the supporting base station (BS), subsequent to which reception (Rx) of the transmission takes place in both the serving BS and the supporting BS. After having received the transmission, the supporting BS processes the signal and responds to the serving BS. Especially the transfer of the response message (information resp. IQ data transfer) is expected to be time consuming. Having received the response (information transfer), the serving BS needs to combine its own reception and the reception of the supporting BS (processing step). HARQ feedback is then transmitted by the serving BS after 4TTIs. Depending on the actual implementation, a potentially late request and additional processing prior to the request (shown in dashed lines) consumes time as well.
According to FIG. 3, a main receiver (main RX) and a cooperating receiver (comp RX) cooperate in decoding transmitted data. After uplink (UL) scheduling in TTI n−1, transmission is granted and the request for cooperation is sent to the cooperating receiver in TTI n. In TTI n+4, data transmission takes place, subsequent to which processing of the received signal (e.g. A/D conversion, FFT etc.) has to take place in both receivers (TTI n+5). Then, the IQ data is transferred according to the cooperation procedure, and processing, decoding etc. takes place. In TTI n+8 (i.e. 4 TTIs after data transmission as specified according to the HARQ protocol), the feedback, namely acknowledgement (ACK) or negative acknowledgement (NACK) is sent.
Therefore, it is in most cases not possible to use the concept of cooperating base stations, since the delay constraints can not be met with the typically employed transmission infrastructure between base stations, e.g. microwave links, Ethernet, DSL, E1/T1, etc. Note that, regardless of the number of TTIs mentioned in the examples herein, which may be different for different transmission systems, in any case time constraints are introduced by the mentioned feedback process.

Uplink hybrid-ARQ mechanism for cooperative base stations


The invention is directed to isomeric mixtures of cyclosporine analogues that are structurally similar to cyclosporine A. The mixtures possess enhanced efficacy and reduced toxicity over the individual isomers and over naturally occurring and other presently known cyclosporines and cyclosporine derivatives. Embodiments of the present invention are directed toward cis and trans-isomers of cyclosporin A analogs referred to as ISATX247, and derivatives thereof. ISATX247 isomers and alkylated, arylated, and deuterated derivatives are synthesized by stereoselective pathways where the particular conditions of a reaction determine the degree of stereoselectivity. Stereoselective pathways may utilize a Wittig reaction, or an organometallic reagent comprising inorganic elements such as boron, silicon, titanium, and lithium. The ratio of isomers in a mixture may range from about 10 to 90 percent by weight of the (E)-isomer to about 90 to 10 percent by weight of the (Z)-isomer, based on the total weight of the mixture.

Cyclosporine derivatives compose a class of cyclic polypeptides, consisting of eleven amino acids, that are produced as secondary metabolites by the fungus species Tolypocladium inflatum Gams. They have been observed to reversibly inhibit immunocompetent lymphocytes, particularly T-lymphocytes, in the G0 or G1 phase of the cell cycle. Cyclosporine derivatives have also been observed to reversibly inhibit the production and release of lymphokines (Granelli-Piperno et al., 1986). Although a number of cyclosporine derivatives are known, cyclosporine A is the most widely used. The suppressive effects of cyclosporine A are related to the inhibition of T-cell mediated activation events. This suppression is accomplished by the binding of cyclosporine to the ubiquitous intracellular protein, cyclophilin. This complex, in turn, inhibits the calcium- and calmodulin-dependent serine-threonine phosphatase activity of the enzyme calcineurin. Inhibition of calcineurin prevents the activation of transcription factors such as NFATp/c and NF-κB, which are necessary for the induction of the cytokine genes (IL-2, IFN-γ, IL-4, and GM-CSF) during T-cell activation. Cyclosporine also inhibits lymphokine production by T-helper cells in vitro and arrests the development of mature CD8 and CD4 cells in the thymus (Granelli-Piperno et al., 1986). Other in vitro properties of cyclosporine include the inhibition of IL-2 producing T-lymphocytes and cytotoxic T-lymphocytes, inhibition of IL-2 released by activated T-cells, inhibition of resting T-lymphocytes in response to alloantigen and exogenous lymphokine, inhibition of IL-1 production, and inhibition of mitogen activation of IL-2 producing T-lymphocytes (Granelli-Piperno et al., 1986).
Cyclosporine is a potent immunosuppressive agent that has been demonstrated to suppress humoral immunity and cell-mediated immune reactions such as allograft rejection, delayed hypersensitivity, experimental allergic encephalomyelitis , Freund's adjuvant arthritis and graft vs. host disease. It is used for the prophylaxis of organ rejection subsequent to organ transplantation; for treatment of rheumatoid arthritis; for the treatment of psoriasis; and for the treatment of other autoimmune diseases, including type I diabetes, Crohn's disease, lupus, and the like.
Since the original discovery of cyclosporin, a wide variety of naturally occurring cyclosporins have been isolated and identified and many further non-natural cyclosporins have been prepared by total- or semi-synthetic means or by the application of modified culture techniques. The class comprised by the cyclosporins is thus now substantial and includes, for example, the naturally occurring cyclosporins A through Z [c.f. Traber et al. (1977); Traber et al. (1982); Kobel et al. (1982); and von Wartburg et al. (1986)], as well as various non-natural cyclosporin derivatives and artificial or synthetic cyclosporins including the dihydro- and iso-cyclosporins; derivatized cyclosporins (e.g., in which the 3′-O-atom of the -MeBmt-residue is acylated or a further substituent is introduced at the α-carbon atom of the sarcosyl residue at the 3-position); cyclosporins in which the -MeBmt-residue is present in isomeric form (e.g., in which the configuration across positions 6′ and 7′ of the -MeBmt-residue is cis rather than trans); and cyclosporins wherein variant amino acids are incorporated at specific positions within the peptide sequence employing, e.g., the total synthetic method for the production of cyclosporins developed by R. Wenger—see e.g. Traber et al. (1977), Traber et al. (1982) and Kobel et al. (1982); U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,108,985, 4,210,581, 4,220,641, 4,288,431, 4,554,351 and 4,396,542; European Patent Publications Nos. 0 034 567 and 0 056 782; International Patent Publication No. WO 86/02080; Wenger (1983); Wenger (1985); and Wenger (1986). Cyclosporin A analogues containing modified amino acids in the 1-position are reported by Rich et al. (1986). Immunosuppressive, anti-inflammatory, and anti-parasitic cyclosporin A analogues are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,384,996; 4,771,122; 5,284,826; and 5,525,590, all assigned to Sandoz. Additional cyclosporin analogues are disclosed in WO 99/18120, assigned to Isotechnika. The terms Ciclosporin, ciclosporin, cyclosporine, and Cyclosporine are interchangeable and refer to cyclosporin.
There are numerous adverse effects associated with cyclosporine A therapy, including nephrotoxicity, hepatotoxicity, cataractogenesis, hirsutism, parathesis, and gingival hyperplasia to name a few (Sketris et al., 1995). Of these, nephrotoxicity is one of the more serious, dose-related adverse effects resulting from cyclosporine A administration. Immediate-release cyclosporine A drug products (e.g., Neoral® and Sandimmune®) can cause nephrotoxicities and other toxic side effects due to their rapid release and the absorption of high blood concentrations of the drug. It is postulated that the peak concentrations of the drug are associated with the side effects (Bennett, 1998). The exact mechanism by which cyclosporine A causes renal injury is not known; however, it is proposed that an increase in the levels of vasoconstrictive substances in the kidney leads to the vasoconstriction of the afferent glomerular arterioles. This can result in renal ischemia, a decrease in glomerular filtration rate and, over the long term, interstitial fibrosis. When the dose is reduced or another immunosuppressive agent is substituted, renal function improves (Valantine and Schroeder, 1995).
Accordingly, there is a need for immunosuppressive agents which are effective and have reduced toxicity.
Cyclosporin analogs containing modified amino acids in the 1-position are disclosed in WO 99/18120, which is assigned to the assignee of the present application, and incorporated herein in its entirety. Also assigned to the present assignee is U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/346,201, in which applicants disclosed a particularly preferred cyclosporin A analog referred to as "ISATX247." This analog is structurally identical to cyclosporin A except for modification at the 1-amino acid residue. Applicants discovered that certain mixtures of cis and trans isomers of ISATX247 exhibited a combination of enhanced potency, and/or reduced toxicity over the naturally occurring and presently known cyclosporins. Certain alkylated, arylated, and deuterated derivatives of ISATX247 were also disclosed.
Typically, the disclosed mixtures in U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/346,201 range from about 10 to 90 percent by weight of the trans-isomer and about 90 to 10 percent by weight of the cis-isomer; in another embodiment, the mixture contains about 15 to 85 percent by weight of the trans-isomer and about 85 to 15 percent of the cis-isomer; in another embodiment, the mixture contains about 25 to 75 percent by weight of the trans-isomer and about 75 to 25 percent by weight of the cis-isomer; in another embodiment, the mixture contains about 35 to 65 percent by weight of the trans-isomer and about 65 to 35 percent by weight of the cis-isomer; in another embodiment, the mixture contains about 45 to 55 percent by weight of the trans-isomer and about 55 to 45 percent of the cis-isomer. In another embodiment, the isomeric mixture is an ISATX247 mixture which comprises about 45 to 50 percent by weight of the trans-isomer and about 50 to 55 percent by weight of the cis-isomer. These percentages by weight are based on the total weight of the composition. In other words, a mixture might contain 65 percent by weight of the (E)-isomer and 35 percent by weight of the (Z)-isomer, or vice versa. In an alternate nomenclature, the cis-isomer may also be described as a (Z)-isomer, and the trans-isomer could also be called an (E)-isomer.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for methods of preparation of cyclosporin analogs, including isomers of ISATX247. Synthetic pathways are needed that produce enriched compositions of the individual isomers, as well mixtures of the isomers having a desired ratio of the two isomers. Methods of preparation of derivatives of ISATX247 are needed as well.


A method of providing user access history for a collaborative document includes receiving, by a server, a request for the collaborative document from a user device of a user of a plurality of users that have permission to access the collaborative document, providing, by the server, the collaborative document to the user device for presentation to the user in a user interface on the user device, receiving, from the user device, a request for the user access history for the collaborative document presented in the user interface on the user device, creating, by the server, the user access history for the collaborative document based on accesses of the collaborative document by one or more of the plurality of users, and providing, by the server, the user access history for the collaborative document to the user device for display in the user interface presenting the collaborative document.

During development of an electronic document, it is often desirable to have multiple reviewers read, comment, and/or edit a draft of the electronic document. For example, an author may create an initial draft of an electronic document and send a copy of the electronic document to multiple reviewers. In some instances, the author and/or the reviewers may not be aware of which of the reviewers have already accessed the electronic document. As such, a first reviewer may be waiting on a second reviewer to access the electronic document when the second reviewer has already accessed the electronic document. Further, without such access information, there may not be a straight-forward and/or efficient way to contact the reviewers that have accessed or have not accessed the electronic document.

Collaborative document access recording and management


A system and method for conflict-free two-way synchronization between a primary repository and a secondary repository, which may be a mirror of the primary repository, are disclosed. An example method includes receiving a child revision associated with a parent revision in a secondary repository. The parent revision may be pointed to by a second user-visible reference in the secondary repository. The hidden reference to the child revision may be stored in a temporary storage area in the secondary repository that is hidden from view of user operations. A first user-visible reference in the primary repository that corresponds to the second user-visible reference in the secondary repository may be identified. This first-user-visible reference may point to a revision in the primary repository. Then, the revision to which the first user-visible reference in the primary repository points may be compared with the revision to which the second user-visible reference in the secondary repository points. If the revision to which the second user-visible reference points in the secondary repository is a copy of the revision to which the first user-visible reference points in the primary repository, the child revision may be pushed from the secondary repository to the primary repository so that the primary repository includes a copy of the child revision from the secondary repository. The first user-visible reference in the primary repository may be updated to point to the copy of the child revision in the primary repository.

In distributed version control systems, such as Git or Mercurial, a source code repository may exist on multiple client or server devices. Each device may contain a different form of the code repository, containing different versions of source code files than other client repositories. One repository may be a subset, a superset, or a mixture of both a subset and a superset, of another repository depending on the revisions that were made in the specific repository.
Repositories may diverge in many ways. New revisions may be added to one repository and not others, conflicting revisions may be added to separate repositories, and/or files may be deleted from repositories. The revisions in a repository can be viewed as a graph containing nodes (each node reflecting an entire file tree), linked by parent relationships, as well as a set of named references that each point to some node in the graph.
At some points in time, it may be necessary to synchronize the repositories. In some cases, synchronization may be simple. For example, a repository A may contain several revisions and a second repository B may contain no revisions. To synchronize these repositories, the revisions in repository A may be copied to repository B. After the synchronization operation, repositories A and B are identical.
However, it is often difficult to synchronize changes among repositories because there may be complicated and conflicting differences between the revisions in repository A and repository B. In order to handle these differences, a merging strategy may be defined as to how to synchronize the repositories. For example, a clobber strategy may be used that resolves any conflicts between A and B in favor of A. Another strategy may be to ask the user, requiring human intervention to resolve any conflicts interactively. A third strategy may be the "timid strategy" which aborts any synchronization operation that might cause a conflict.
One strategy that works without human-operator intervention is to perform only one-way synchronization. If all intentional user modifications happen in repository A, then it is trivial to set up repository B as a one-way mirror of repository A using repeated invocations of the clobber strategy discussed above. However, there are times when it is desirable to add a new revision to repository B and then push the revision to repository A, while retaining the ability to perform future one-way synchronizations from repository A to repository B without observing conflicts. When synchronizing repository A and B if both repositories have changed, there may be several potential conflicts that arise. One user may add a new revision, revision R, to repository B, necessitating updating a reference Ref to point to the revision R, and then synchronizing the revision R to repository A. However, during this process, another user may add revision R′ to repository A and update reference Ref to point to R′ before the synchronization from repository B to repository A can occur. Therefore, when synchronization occurs there may be a conflict between the references that requires human-operator intervention.

Conflict-free two-way synchronization for distributed version control


File formats systems and methods are disclosed that provide a framework that integrates concepts, such as objects based audio-visual representation, meta-data and object oriented programming, to achieve a flexible and generic representation of the audiovisual information and the associated methods to operate on the audiovisual information. A system and method are disclosed for storing data processed from presentation data. The data is stored according to a method comprising coding input presentation data by identifying objects from within the presentation data, coding each object individually and organizing the coded data into access layer data units. The access layer data units are stored throughout a plurality of segments, each segment comprising a segment table in a header portion thereof and those access layer data units that are members of the respective segment, there being one entry in the segment table for each access layer data unit therein. A plurality of extended segments are also stored, each of the extended segments further comprising one or more of the access layer data units that include protocol specific data, the extended segments each represented by a extended segment header. The data of an accessible object is also stored, including an accessible object header and identifiers of the plurality of extended segments, each of the extended segments being a member of the same object.

1. Field of Invention
The invention relates to information processing, and more particularly to advanced storage and retrieval of audiovisual data objects according to the MPEG-4 standard, including utilization of an expanded physical object table including a list of local object identifiers.
2. Description of Related Art
In the wake of rapidly increasing demand for network, multimedia, database and other digital capacity, many multimedia coding and storage schemes have evolved. Graphics files have long been encoded and stored in commonly available file formats such as TIF, GIF, JPG and others, as has motion video in Cinepak, Indeo, MPEG-1 and MPEG-2, and other file formats. Audio files have been encoded and stored in RealAudio, WAV, MIDI and other file formats. These standard technologies have advantages for certain applications, but with the advent of large networks including the Internet the requirements for efficient coding, storage and transmission of audiovisual (AV) information have only increased.
Motion video in particular often taxes available Internet and other system bandwidth when running under conventional coding techniques, yielding choppy video output having frame drops and other artifacts. This is in part because those techniques rely upon the frame-by-frame encoding of entire monolithic scenes, which results in many megabits-per-second data streams representing those frames. This makes it harder to reach the goal of delivering video or audio content in real-time or streaming form, and to allow editing of the resulting audiovisual scenes.
In contrast with data streams communicated across a network, content made available in random access mass storage facilities (such as AV files stored on local hard drives) provide additional functionality and sometimes increased speed, but still face increasing needs for capacity. In particular, taking advantage of the random access characteristics of the physical storage medium, it is possible to allow direct access to, and editing of, arbitrary points within a graphical scene description or other audiovisual object information. Besides random access for direct playback purposes, such functionality is useful in editing operations in which one wishes to extract, modify, reinsert or otherwise process a particular elementary stream from a file.
In conjunction with the development of MPEG-4 coding and storage techniques, it is desirable to provide an improved ability to perform random access of audiovisual objects within video sequences. The opportunity to streamline random access would highlight and strengthen the potential of advanced capabilities provided by MPEG-4, and relieve the demands that those capabilities may impose on resources.
Part of the approach underlying MPEG-4 formatting is that a video sequence consists of a sequence of related scenes separated in time. Each picture is comprised of a set of audiovisual objects that may undergo a series of changes such as translations, rotations, scaling, brightness in color variations, etc., from one scene to the next. New objects can enter a scene and existing objects can depart, leaving certain objects present only in certain pictures. When scene changes occur, the entire scene and all the objects comprising the picture may be reorganized or initialized.
One of the identified functionalities of MPEG-4 is improved temporal random access, with the ability to efficiently perform random access of data within an audiovisual sequence in a limited time, and with fine resolution parts (e.g., frames or objects). Improved temporal random access techniques compatible with MPEG-4 involve content-based interactivity requiring not only the ability to perform conventional random access, accessing individual pictures, but also the ability to access regions or objects within a scene.
While the MPEG-4 file format described in the incorporated application Ser. No. 09/055,933 realizes such advantages, that approach includes at least two disadvantages prompted in part on that file format's reliance on a standard physical object table (POT) and segment object table (SOT) structure.
A fundamental limitation in the exchange of audio-visual information today is that its representation is extremely low level. Conventionally, audio-visual information is currently composed of coded video or audio samples, often organized into blocks, arranged in a commercial format. In contrast, in the future, multimedia will require flexible formats to allow a quick adaptation of the audio-visual information to various requirements in terms of access, bandwidth scalability, streaming, as well as general data reorganization.

System and method of organizing data to facilitate access and streaming


A valve cover for an engine and a method is provided. The valve cover may include a cover body, and a sparkplug tube formed integrally with the cover body. In this way, any distortion of the bottom end of the sparkplug tubes due to, for example removal and reinstallation may not provide a leakage path.

The spark plugs of an internal combustion engine may be located in a sparkplug well at, or near, the top of a cylinder head. A valve cover may be attached to the cylinder head, and may be configured to house engine components such as cam rods, and an oil separator. The components under the valve cover may be kept well oiled. Elongate passages referred to as a spark plug tubes may used in order to keep the oil in the valve cover from contacting the sparkplugs. Electrical connectivity from the electrical system of the vehicle to each spark plug may be made via a corresponding number of Coils On Plug (COPs) positioned in each spark plug tube, and accessible from a top surface of the valve cover. First, or bottom, ends of respective sparkplug tubes may be press fitted into each sparkplug well. Ring shaped radial lip seals, or tube seals, may be used to seal the junction between the valve cover and a second, or top, end of each sparkplug tube.
The inventors herein have recognized three possible paths by which oil may travel from under the valve cover to one or more sparkplugs. The first is between the cylinder head and sparkplug tube; the second is between the radial lip seal and valve cover; and the third is between the radial lip seal and the spark plug tube.
One attempt to keep oil from contacting the sparkplugs is disclosed in US patent publication US 2008/0276918 to Skinner et al. The disclosed approach attempts to eliminate the use of the sparkplug tubes by providing an ignition apparatus with an oil seal integrated with a spark plug boot and configured to mate directly with the cylinder head. A first sealing arrangement is configured to seal the ignition apparatus to the valve cover. A second sealing arrangement includes a circular recessed ring cavity added to the cylinder head circumscribing the spark plug.
The inventors herein have recognized a number of issues with this approach. For example, the cylinder head is modified by adding the ring cavity to receive the annular sealing rib on the bottom end of the disclosed ignition apparatus to form the second sealing arrangement. In addition the ignition apparatus disclosed includes seams along its length that may create additional vulnerabilities to leakage.
The inventors herein have developed a valve cover for an engine that may include a cover body, and a sparkplug tube formed integrally with the cover body. In this way, possible leakage paths between the cylinder head and sparkplug tube or between the radial lip seal and valve cover may be reduced.
One embodiment may include a sealing arrangement on or adjacent a distal end of the sparkplug tube for sealing with a cylinder head. The sealing arrangement may be, for example, an O-ring groove and an O-ring configured for sealing engagement with an annular surface of the sparkplug well in the cylinder head. In this way, any distortion of the bottom end of the sparkplug tubes due to, for example removal and reinstallation may not provide a leakage path. Also in this way, conventional COPs may be used, and the cylinder head may not need modification.
The above advantages and other advantages, and features of the present description will be readily apparent from the following Detailed Description when taken alone or in connection with the accompanying drawings.
It should be understood that the summary above is provided to introduce in simplified form a selection of concepts that are further described in the detailed description. It is not meant to identify key or essential features of the claimed subject matter, the scope of which is defined uniquely by the claims that follow the detailed description. Furthermore, the claimed subject matter is not limited to implementations that solve any disadvantages noted above or in any part of this disclosure.

Valve cover with integrated sparkplug tube


A socket includes a hole having a hexagonal cross section and defining six abutting sides and an included angle between any of the two adjacent abutting sides. Any of the two opposite abutting sides spaced at a first distance. Any of the two opposite included angles spaced at a second distance. The socket has first, second, and third sections having first, second and third external diameters, respectively. The second external diameter is smaller than the first external diameter and the third external diameter is smaller than the second external diameter, respectively. A difference between the second and third external diameters is not less than a difference between the first and second distances. A drive bit is mounted to the second end of the socket.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a drive tool and, particularly to a reinforced drive tool.
2. Description of the Related Art
TW Patent No. M390203 shows a tool including at least one working head end and having a hexagonal body. A user can use the working head end to drive a screw. The body is engagable in a hexagonal hole defined in a socket. Additionally, it is appreciated that the tool is received in a smaller end of socket. Therefore, it is convenient for the user to insert the smaller end of the socket in a hole. Also, it is appreciated that the socket has a larger end, as it has a larger diametrical outer periphery than that of the smaller end, for reinforcing the structure of the socket. Additionally, the smaller end of the socket has a circular outer periphery. Therefore, the wall between the periphery of the hexagonal hole and the outer periphery of the socket has non-uniform thickness. However, the wall thickness that is thinner is susceptible to a stress concentration when the socket is subject to a torque, and the socket can have cracks in its wall.
The present invention is, therefore, intended to obviate or at least alleviate the problems encountered in the prior art.