This invention describes a link-by-link flow control method for packet-switched uniprocessor and multiprocessor computer systems that maximizes system resource utilization and throughput, and minimizes system latency. The computer system comprises one or more master interfaces, one or more slave interfaces, and an interconnect system controller which provides dedicated transaction request queues for each master interface and controls the forwarding of transactions to each slave interface. The master interface keeps track of the number of requests in the dedicated queue in the system controller, and the system controller keeps track of the number of requests in each slave interface queue. Both the master interface, and system controller know the maximum capacity of the queue immediately downstream from it, and does not issue more transaction requests than what the downstream queue can accommodate. An acknowledgment from the downstream queue indicates to the sender that there is space in it for another transaction. Thus no system resources are wasted trying to send a request to a queue that is already full.

The present invention relates to a new method and apparatus for flow control in a packet-switched microprocessor-based computer system (uniprocessor), a network of such computer systems, or a multiprocessor system.
Reliable and streamlined flow control of microprocessor transactions (including data and/or instructions) in a computer system is necessary to prevent wasted operations and assist the system to run efficiently. Typical packet-switched bus interfaces in computer systems use negative acknowledgments, or back pressure techniques, for flow control. This requires either the master issuing retried transactions due to negative acknowledgments by slaves, or complex handshake signals to modulate the back pressure as a function of dynamic changes in system resource availability.
Both of these methods are complex to implement and increase the bus latency by spending extra clock cycles performing handshakes, re-arbitrating for the bus, re-scheduling interconnect resources, etc.
Some systems avoid dynamic (negative) feedback (e.g. negative acknowledgments) altogether by making all the receive queues of a large enough size, so that they can contain the maximum number of transactions that can foreseeably be received by them. This has the disadvantage that is makes the slaves more expensive and inherently non-scalable, especially when there are several sources of requests with each making multiple requests. This approach can also aggravate the system latency, on account of the very deep receive queues.
As the rate of processor speed improvements continue to exceed that of memory speed improvements, reducing interconnect latencies becomes ever more important to achieving substantial gains in performance. It would be especially useful to arrive at a system that avoids the use of negative feedback, to avoid the inefficiencies associated with that approach, without paying in complexity, size and hardware costs by inflating the sizes of the transaction receive queues.
Various flow control techniques for packet-switched systems have been created, such as for telecommunication switch designs and data communication protocols. Most extant designs use some form of dynamic feedback signal to throttle the sender, on either (1) a link-by-link basis where each downstream node sends a feedback signal to the upstream node, or (2) an end-to-end basis, where only the two end points of the communication participate in flow control, and the presence or absence of feedback from the destination is used by the sender to control its flow. Another method that has been proposed is rate-based flow control, where the sender meters its rate of send at an agreed-upon rate, and modulates it based on dynamic feedback signals sent to it by any point downstream. Most packet-switched computer systems use link-by-link flow control protocol.
In link-by-link flow control, the downstream recipient asserts a feedback signal to the upstream sender, indicating a buffer-full or congestion condition at the recipient. The feedback signal can take one of several forms:
(a) a pulse signal causing the sender to back off for some time and retry again; PA1 (b) a level signal causing the sender to not send, while the signal remains asserted; or PA1 (c) a stop-start two-message feedback from the destination to throttle and restart the sender respectively. (Most existing packet-switched system buses use this method.)
Link-by-link flow control may also operate through credits issued by the downstream recipient to the upstream sender, where the sender only sends as many requests as the credits allow, and then stops until new credits are issued to it by the downstream recipient. The downstream recipient dynamically modulates the number and frequency of credits issued to the upstream sender, based on the recipient's receive queue capacity as well as any other congestion conditions detected by the recipient. For a description of such a system, see The FCVC Proposal for ATM Networks, Proc. 1993 International Conf. on Network Protocols, pp. 116-127, by H. T. Kung et. al.
Link-by-link flow control can also be accomplished by making the downstream queue large enough to accommodate the maximum number or items it is contemplated ever to have to receive. Hence there is no loss of items (requests), and no need to throttle the upstream sender. This is an expensive, nonscalable solution.
End-to-end flow control via absence or presence of feedback from the destination to the source is implemented in the TCP sliding window protocol for flow control and congestion management, as well as in BECN/FECN proposal for congestion control in ATM networks.
One approach to flow control is to use a master device to keep track of the number of transactions that it can issue with a predefined agreement of queue depths at its interface to the interconnect, and the interconnect issuing an ACK (acknowledgment) for each completed transactions as a means of flow control. In protocols that have used this approach (HDLC and SDLC), the sender has no information about the capabilities (notably, queue size) of the final recipient of the packet. In addition, such protocols require that the queue depths be determined in advance, and hence are not scalable. Also, this approach does not lend itself well to a multiprocessing environment, since each processor (or master) would have to keep track of all the transactions of all the other processors (or masters).
In a credits-based scheme, credits are issued by a downstream recipient to allow new packets to be sent. Such a scheme has the disadvantages that: (1) credits are issued as frequent and unsolicited feedback packets from one switch to another; and (2) credits are modulated based on dynamic congestion conditions.
Thus, a new apparatus and method are needed, which accommodate uniprocessor, multiprocessor and networked environments and provide for efficient, scalable and cost-effective packet-switched transaction flow control.

Method and apparatus for flow control in packet-switched computer system


A bearing lubricating structure for rotary machinery having a rotor rotatably supported by a bearing in a casing, an oil reservoir provided in a lower part of a bearing chamber accommodating the bearing, and an oil disk attached to an end of a rotating shaft of the rotor and immersed in lubricating oil in the oil reservoir so as to supply the bearing with lubricating oil splashed by the oil disk, wherein a guide groove is provided to collect lubricating oil flowing down an inner wall of a cover attached to an end of the casing; a suction nozzle is inserted into the guide groove to suck lubricating oil collected in the guide groove; a lubricant passage extends through the inside of the rotating shaft to supply the bearing with lubricating oil sucked through the suction nozzle; and an oiling nozzle is communicated with the lubricant passage and performs a pumping action induced by the rotation of the shaft, whereby a sufficiently large amount of lubricating oil is supplied to the bearing.

1. Field of the Art
The present invention relates to a bearing lubricating structure for rotary machinery. More particularly, the present invention relates to a bearing lubricating structure for rotary machinery which is suitable for built-in lubrication type positive-displacement compressors, turbocompressors, vacuum pumps or the like.
2. Prior Art
The following are conventional methods of supplying a lubricating oil to a bearing of a rotary machine:
(1) When the peripheral speed of the bearing part is relatively low:
A method wherein a lubricating oil that is splashed by an oil disk and flows down on the inner wall surface of a cover of a bearing housing is supplied to the bearing through an oil supply passage provided in the bearing housing.
(2) When the peripheral speed of the bearing part is relatively high:
A method wherein forced lubrication (jet lubrication) is carried out by a gear pump. For example, see Japanese Patent Application Public Disclosure (KOKAI) No. 58-193997 (1983).
However, the above-described conventional methods (1) and (2) suffer from the following problems.
With the method (1), although the lubricating structure is simple, it is impossible to obtain a sufficiently high feed rate of lubricating oil. Accordingly, this method cannot be adopted for the bearing lubricating structure of a high-speed rotary machine. Further, with the method (1), the rotor shaft and the casing are exposed to a compressed high-temperature gas.
Although the casing is generally provided with a cooling jacket so that it can be cooled, the rotor shaft cannot be cooled and hence heats up to a high temperature. Accordingly, while the outer ring of a rolling bearing attached to the casing does not heat up to a high temperature, the inner ring that is attached to the shaft is heated to a high temperature. Therefore, there is a likelihood that the required bearing clearance will not be ensured and the bearing will burn out. In addition, if the feed rate of lubricating oil is low, a sufficient cooling effect cannot be obtained. Therefore, it is impossible to reduce the temperature difference between the inner and outer rings.
With the method (2), although it is possible to obtain a sufficiently high feed rate of lubricating oil, a gear pump and oil supply piping are needed. Accordingly, this method invites a rise in costs and lacks compactness and ease of use.

Bearing lubricating structure for rotary machinery


Navigation among breast ultrasound volumes derived from different volumetric ultrasonic scans of a same breast is described. On a display of a breast ultrasound workstation, a first image derived from a first ultrasonic volume is displayed. A user selection of a source region of interest (ROI) in the first image is received. A destination ROI within a second ultrasonic volume is identified that at least roughly corresponds to a same locality of tissue in the breast as the source ROI. A second image derived from the second ultrasonic volume and including the destination ROI is displayed, the destination ROI being highlighted.

The subject matter of this patent specification relates to the processing and display of breast ultrasound information as described, for example, in the commonly assigned US 2003/0007598A1 and US 2003/0212327A1, each of which is incorporated by reference herein. The subject matter of this patent specification also relates to the processing and display of breast ultrasound information acquired according to the commonly assigned U.S. Prov. Ser. No. 60/629,007 filed Nov. 17, 2004, and U.S. Ser. No. 10/997,293 filed Nov. 23, 2005, each of which is incorporated by reference herein.
In one or more of the above-referenced disclosures, there are presented convenient schemes for viewer navigation between (a) thick-slice images generated from a breast volume and (b) planar ("single-slice") images for that breast volume, as well as navigation in the other direction from the planar images to the thick-slice images. Thus, for example, a viewer can click on a region of interest (ROI) in one of the thick-slice images, and the display will automatically show the appropriate corresponding planar images that pass through that ROI in the breast volume, and will also place markers thereon corresponding to that ROI. This is a valuable capability because the viewer is provided with multiple image presentations of the ROI without having to scan through the various images for corresponding ROIs, which can be a time-consuming and stamina-reducing task. Rather, the viewer simply clicks on the ROI on the image being examined, and that location is automatically "navigated to" and highlighted by the workstation display system in the other views. Generally speaking, such automated navigation between views is not problematic when there is a single ultrasound volume for each breast, because the absolute location of the ROI within the breast becomes known as soon as the viewer clicks on the selected point.
It has been found desirable in many instances to obtain multiple volumetric ultrasound scans of the same breast during the same session. With reference to FIGS. 28-32 infra, the multiple volumetric ultrasound scans can be head-on scans taken at differing positions or orientations, each of the scans being taken while a taut surface compresses the breast in a generally chestward direction and an ultrasound probe is swept thereacross. In other cases, there may be scans taken while the breast is compressed along differing mammographic planes such as the CC or MLO planes, as iconically represented, for example, by the body marker icons 1202, 1204, and 1206 of FIG. 12 infra.
The use of multiple volumetric scans can overcome certain disadvantages associated with of single-volumetric scan scenarios. In particular, for any particular volumetric ultrasound scan, there can be shadowing or other obfuscations of interesting tissue structures because of the presence of other tissue structures that are "in the way" during the scanning process. When there is only a single volumetric scan available, there is generally no way for the viewer to know what structures are behind or underneath the obfuscating structures. However, when there are multiple volumetric ultrasound scans available that were taken from different positions/directions, the viewer can consult a second ultrasound volume to better see the obfuscated structure.
It would be desirable to streamline the process of viewing additional ultrasonic volumes by providing for automated navigation between a first ultrasonic volume of a breast acquired during a first volumetric scan thereof and a second ultrasonic volume of the same breast taken during a second volumetric scan thereof, the first and second volumetric scans having been taken at differing positions and/or orientations.

Navigation among multiple breast ultrasound volumes


A sprinkler includes a stationary portion configured for connection to a fluid source and a head with an outlet for emitting fluid. A stem supports the head and is configured for translating along a longitudinal axis and for rotating about the longitudinal axis. At least one retainer is disposed between the stationary portion and the stem. The retainer is configured for permitting the stem to rotate about the longitudinal axis relative to the stationary portion when a rotational force applied to the stem exceeds a predetermined amount.

Pop-up irrigation sprinklers are typically buried in the ground and include a stationary housing and a riser assembly mounted within the housing and that shifts up and down in the housing. During an irrigation cycle, the riser assembly is propelled through an open upper end of the housing and projects above ground level, or "pops up," to distribute water to surrounding terrain. More specifically, pressurized water is supplied to the sprinkler through a water supply line attached to an inlet of the housing. The pressurized water causes the riser assembly to travel upwards against the bias of a spring to the elevated spraying position above the sprinkler housing to distribute water to surrounding terrain through one or more spray nozzles. When the irrigation cycle is completed, the pressurized water supply is shut off and the riser is spring-retracted back into the sprinkler housing so that the housing and riser assembly are again at and below ground level.
The riser assembly commonly includes a sprinkler head mounted at the upper end of a stem. The sprinkler head has one or more outlets or spray nozzles and may or may not be rotatable on the stem. Rotary type sprinklers have a sprinkler head that rotates on the stem, commonly referred to as a turret. The head rotates through an adjustable arcuate water distribution pattern called a spray arc. These rotary sprinklers may include a water-driven motor to transfer energy of the incoming water into a source of power to rotate the turret. One common mechanism uses a water-driven turbine and a gear reduction system to convert the high speed rotation of the turbine into relatively low speed turret rotation.
During normal operation, the turret rotates to distribute water outwardly over surrounding terrain within the spray arc which is set by setting the end limits of rotation of the turret relative to the stem. Rotary sprinklers commonly employ an arc adjustment mechanism, where one edge of the spray arc (the start angle, for example) is fixed relative to the stem that the turret sits upon and the other edge (the end angle, for example) of the spray arc is adjustable to set the arcuate length or included angle of the spray arc.
For known sprinklers with rotatable turrets, the stem does not rotate relative to the housing during operation, that is while the turret is rotating on the stem, so that the angular direction of the spray arc can be fixed to spray over a desired area around the sprinkler. Thus, the bottom of the stem typically has a ring of outwardly-extending teeth that engage ribs extending longitudinally along an inner surface of the housing to restrict rotation of the stem relative to the housing. With this configuration, in order to change the fixed edge of the spray arc, the sprinkler must be disassembled. More specifically, for example, the stem and turret are removed from the sprinkler housing, rotated to point the outlet or other mark on the turret that defines the fixed edge of the spray arc in a desired direction, and then placed back into the housing. Other non-rotating sprinklers without rotating turrets also require the same disassembly where the outlet on the sprinkler must be pointed in a desired direction before the stem is placed back into the housing.
Also, if the user or a vandal rotates the stem in the housing, the ring, gear teeth, and/or ribs on the housing can break, leaving the stem to rotate freely. When this occurs, the outlet may shift to a different rotational position every time pressurized water pops up the stem for watering, resulting in watering undesired areas, while missing the desired area. For rotary sprinklers, the rotation of the turret also can cause undesired rotation of the free, broken stem during operation that rotates the entire spray arc set for the sprinkler so that the sprinkler is not watering the desired area.
At least for non-rotary sprinklers that receive relatively low water pressure, one attempt at a solution is provided by securing a separate ratchet ring near the bottom of the stem. The ring has outwardly extending protrusions to engage the ribs of the housing so that the ring does not rotate. The ring also has inwardly extending teeth to mesh with teeth on the stem. So configured, applying a very large rotational force on the stem will rotate the stem relative to the housing without breaking the stem, housing or ratchet ring. Thus, the ring restricts rotation of the stem during operation of the sprinkler but permits the stem to rotate to set the position of the outlet or to prevent vandals from damaging the sprinkler.
Even with the ring, however, it is still difficult to rotate the stem because the known ring configuration requires the application of a relatively large rotational force on the stem to overcome the strong forces acting on the stem. This occurs because the teeth on the ring must shift or flex out of engagement with teeth on the stem in order to rotate the stem. Thus, the ring may shift or flex upward or downward off of the stem teeth or shift radially outward from the stem teeth to provide clearance for the stem to rotate. However, the ring and its teeth are sandwiched between an end of the spring and a ledge on the bottom end of the stem. The ring is typically in this position so that the ring can remain with the lower end of the stem while the stem moves up and down due to the biasing force from the spring and/or water pressure. This results in both the biasing force of the spring (from above the ring) and the forces from the water pressure (from the ledge below the ring) applying pressure against the ring making it extremely difficult for the ring to shift or flex away from the teeth on the stem. Additionally, the spring may also bind radially against the stem further increasing the rotational force needed to rotate the stem. It becomes practically impossible to apply such a strong rotational force to the stem when a person has difficulty grasping the stem due to its small diameter. The rotational force that is required is so strong that it can break the teeth on the stem or the ring. For these reasons, this configuration also would not work on rotary sprinklers that typically have higher water pressures than the non-rotary sprinklers.
Accordingly, there has been a need for an improved sprinkler with a stem that does not rotate during normal operation but will otherwise rotate easily when desired to control the watering range.

Stem rotation control for a sprinkler and methods therefor


A data storage caching architecture supports using native local memory such as host-based RAM, and if available, Solid State Disk (SSD) memory for storing pre-cache delta-compression based delta, reference, and independent data by exploiting content locality, temporal locality, and spatial locality of data accesses to primary (e.g. disk-based) storage. The architecture makes excellent use of the physical properties of the different types of memory available (fast r/w RAM, low cost fast read SSD, etc) by applying algorithms to determine what types of data to store in each type of memory. Algorithms include similarity detection, delta compression, least popularly used cache management, conservative insertion and promotion cache replacement, and the like.

Field
The present invention relates to data caching techniques, and more particularly to similarity-based delta compression caching techniques.
Description of the Related Art
While data storage capacity and central processing unit (CPU) processing power have experienced rapid growth in the past, improvement in data bandwidth and access times of disk input/output (I/O) systems have not kept pace. As a result, there is an ever-widening speed gap between CPU and disk I/O systems. Disk arrays can improve overall I/O throughput, but random access latency is still very high because of mechanical operations involved. Large buffers and deep cache hierarchy can improve latency but the resulting access time reduction is very limited.

Pre-cache similarity-based delta compression for use in a data storage system


In order to improve the adhesion of a circuit to a circuit forming board, a separation film including a base film and a coating layer formed on the base film is joined to both the sides of the board. When a laser beam is applied to form a throughhole in the board, a unified portion of the board and the separation film is formed around the throughhole. An energy beam is applied to the whole or a part of the surface of a circuit formed at a circuit forming step to transfer a part of the separation film. Thus, a high density board where the circuit strongly adheres to the board can be realized in the manufacturing process of the circuit forming board.

In recent years, as electronic equipment is seeing the ever-increasing level of size reduction and circuit density, a shift from conventional one surfaced substrates to two-surfaced substrates and multilayer substrates has been taking place in the area of circuitry forming substrates for mounting electronic components thereon, resulting in stepped up development of a high density circuitry forming substrate that enables the mounting of as many circuits as possible thereon.
With a high density circuitry forming substrate, in place of the conventional method of drilling to bore a hole (through hole) on a substrate, it is being considered to use energy beams such as a laser beam and the like, whereby machining at a higher speed and with a higher degree of definition is made possible. (cf. An article titled "Remarkable Recent Trend in Development of Build-up Multilayer PWB" authored by K. Takagi and appeared in "Surface Mounting Technology" published in January 1997 from Nikkan Kogyo Shinbun of Japan)
However, with a high density substrate, as the line width and land size of circuits are reduced, the adhesion strength between the substrate and the circuits or the lands is naturally reduced. On the other hand, a high density substrate is usually used in such electronic devices as note PC's, portable telephones, PDA's and the like, and is liable to suffering from such mechanical stresses as caused by dropping, bending, impacting and the like occurring on the part of the electronic devices. As a result, the aforementioned reduction in adhesion strength of the high density substrate has been making a serious problem.
As the substrate material for a high density substrate, most of the time, a resin material is used and a high grade thermosetting resin is usually used from the view points of enhancement in the mechanical strength or heat resistance of the substrate. Although the properties of the substrate itself may be improved, however, the adhesion strength between the substrate and the circuits or the lands is not necessarily intensified when such mechanical stresses as an impact and the like imposed on the substrate are taken into consideration.
Conversely, when a material design and a material selection are carried out for the whole purpose of increasing the adhesion strength, the substrate properties except for the adhesion strength are often degraded. Therefore, it is actually difficult for the substrate material development to be performed so as to satisfy all the requirements involved with a high density substrate.
In addition, with a high density circuitry forming substrate, such connecting means as a conductive paste, a metal plating and the like are used in electrically connecting between layers of the substrate and, on the other hand, a spacing between through holes or non-through holes, which are generally referred to as via holes and formed on the substrate for interlayer connections, and a spacing between the via hole and the adjoining wiring are made smaller and smaller, resulting sometimes in such a serious problem of reliability for the circuitry forming substrate as caused by diffusion of a conductive paste and a plating solution for metal plating to the vicinity of via holes.

Method of manufacturing circuit forming board to improve adhesion of a circuit to the circuit forming board

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


The present invention provides a system and method for recommending templates for electronic or online photo albums. In general, digital images are selected to form a photo album. The metadata associated with the digital images is analyzed to provide selection criteria. Using the selection criteria, one or more templates are selected from a template database as recommended templates. One of the recommended templates is selected and applied to the photo album.

Digital cameras have become commonplace over the past several years. Digital camera users often desire to share digital images with family and friends. Because it is impractical to print copies of the digital images for every family member and friend who may desire a copy of the images, the digital images are shared using various electronic means such as e-mail and online photosharing services. However, many e-mail servers impose limits on the size of attachments. Thus, a user must typically resize the digital images prior to sending them via e-mail. However, by resizing the digital images, the digital images may no longer be suitable for printing by the recipient.
To accommodate the need for sharing full resolution digital images, numerous online photosharing services have emerged and are becoming widely accepted by photo enthusiasts. As an example, QURIO® photosharing software is a peer-to-peer (P2P) photosharing and photediting software tool that allows a user to create and store photo albums on the user's computer. The user's computer then operates as a web server, and the user may invite any number of guests to view the photo albums. The guests may also be permitted to download full resolution images from the user's computer.
One issue with typical photosharing services is that the photo albums simply place the digital images in some standard template. Because user's desire to customize their photo albums, some photosharing services allow a user to manually customize features such as the background color and font used for the photo album. However, the user must spend a significant amount of time and possibly be required to have knowledge of HTML code to make these customizations. Thus, there remains a need for a system and method for creating an online photo album that allows a user to quickly and easily customize the photo album.

Real-time recommendation of album templates for online photosharing


A device may receive historical usage data associated with a portion of a wireless network, and may train a model with the historical usage data to generate a trained model. The device may process data identifying a future time period, with the trained model, to forecast a traffic demand during the future time period, and may compare the traffic demand and a traffic capacity of the portion of the wireless network to determine whether the traffic demand is within a threshold of or exceeds the traffic capacity. The device may identify an autonomous vehicle to deploy for the portion of the wireless network when the traffic demand is within the threshold of or exceeds the traffic capacity, and may cause the autonomous vehicle to be deployed for the portion of the wireless network, wherein the autonomous vehicle is to provide a temporary wireless network.

To provide coverage, especially between two (2) gigahertz (GHz) and thirty-nine (39) GHz and beyond, a fifth generation (5G) network requires a vast quantity of network antennas installed very close to one another. Such an installation is a time-consuming, costly, and complicated endeavor. Without this kind of antenna network, however, there will be gaps in 5G coverage.

Systems and methods for utilizing time series and neural network models to deploy autonomous vehicles for 5G network coverage gaps


An embodiment of a method for manufacturing a semiconductor wafer includes providing a monocrystalline silicon wafer, epitaxially growing a first layer of a first material on the silicon wafer, and epitaxially growing a second layer of a second material on the first layer. For example, said first material may be monocrystalline silicon carbide, and said second material may be monocrystalline silicon.

An Integrated Circuit (IC) is an electronic circuit whose components are directly manufactured into a substrate of semiconductor material. The substrates of the great majority of the presently available ICs are obtained from wafers of silicon (Si).
Silicon wafers are usually formed of highly pure, monocrystalline silicon. A well-known manufacturing process for generating wafers of this type is the so-called "Czochralski growth process". More in detail, a seed crystal of silicon is introduced into a mass of melted silicon. Then, the seed is gradually pulled out from the melted silicon, while being slowly rotated. In this way, the amount of melted silicon collected by the seed cools off, forming a cylindrical ingot. The crystalline orientation of the resulting ingot is determined by the seed crystal. The ingot is then sliced with a saw (e.g., a wire saw) and polished to form wafers. In this way, it is possible to obtain silicon wafers in a variety of sizes, e.g., having diameters ranging from 25.4 mm (1 inch) to 300 mm (11.8 inches). ICs for power applications are typically manufactured on wafers having diameters of 6-8 inches.
Silicon carbide (SiC) wafers have been recently developed. Compared to silicon, SiC has different physical properties, at least partly due to the fact that SiC is a semiconductor having a wider energy bandgap than Silicon. The following table shows the values of the energy bandgap (Eg), the breakdown electric field (Ec), and the electron mobility (μ) of Silicon and SiC, respectively:
Silicon (Si)Silicon Carbide (SiC)Eg1.1eV3eVEc30V/μm300V/μmμ[[M]]400cm2/Vsec40cm2/Vsec
From the above table it can be observed that SiC has a higher breakdown electric field Ec. Therefore, SiC is a material that may be advantageously used for manufacturing electronic circuits for power applications, since a wafer (and, thus, an IC substrate) made in SiC is able to sustain relatively high voltages even with a relatively small thickness.
SiC wafers cannot be generated using the manufacturing process employed for forming silicon wafers, i.e., the Czochralski growth process. Indeed, SiC is a material that directly passes (sublimates) from the solid phase to the vapor phase, without passing through any liquid phase, the latter phase being instead required in the Czochralski growth process for forming the melting wherein the seed crystal is introduced.
A SiC wafer is usually produced starting from an already formed silicon wafer, and then by forming on a surface thereof a layer of SiC. The currently known methods for forming SiC wafers of this type are quite expensive, and do not guarantee high degrees of quality, especially from the crystal lattice point of view. More particularly, since the crystal lattice of silicon is different from that of SiC, the resulting SiC wafer is unavoidably subjected to a relatively pronounced warping (in jargon, "wafer bow", or simply "bow"). If the bow exceeds a certain threshold, the SiC wafer should be discarded, since the subsequent steps for integrating electronic devices in the wafer typically require a sufficiently planar wafer. Moreover, the largest wafer diameter currently obtainable by the known processes is limited to about 4 inches, i.e., roughly half of the diameter typically required for power applications. Similar drawbacks occurs as well by considering wafers made in other semiconductor materials like Gallium Nitride (GaN).
The paper "Growth of Si/3C-SiC/Si(100) heterostructures by pulsed supersonic free jets" by Y. Ikoma, T. Endo, F. Watanabe, and T. Motooka, Applied Physics Letters, vol. 75, no. 25, 20 Dec. 1999, pages 3977-3979, which is incorporated by reference, discloses a method for the epitaxial growth of multilayer structures of Si/3C-SiC/Si(100) by pulsed supersonic free jets of methylsilane (CH3SiH3) for SiC growth and trisilane (Si3H8) for Si growth.
The paper "Ion beam synthesis of buried SiC layers in silicon: Basic physical processes" by Jörg K. N. Lindner, Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research, vol. 178, May 2001, pages 44-45, which is incorporated by reference, provides a review of the basic physical processes leading to a distribution of amorphous and crystalline phases during high-dose, high-temperature, carbon implantation into silicon.

Semiconductor wafer and method for manufacturing the same


To provide a rotary unit and a rotation support used for television, etc., with a simple structure, which can generate an adequate friction torque and has a strength enough to prevent an escape and fracture during its use, even if it is made of aluminum die-cast material or synthetic resin article, a lower interior cylindrical body and an upper interior cylindrical body are provided on an upper disc portion and a lower disc portion of a fixed cylindrical body and/or a rotary cylindrical body rotatably connected by a hinge shaft, and a reinforcing member is attached to the lower and the upper interior cylindrical bodies. The reinforcing member comprises an insertion hole in which the hinge shaft is inserted, wherein locking portions provided on a plurality of locking pieces (which are provided by folding the outer circumference portions) are locked by the lower and the upper interior cylindrical bodies.

As a rotary unit apparatus, which supports a flat-type television receiver (which is referred to as television in the following) on a mounting stand, so as to make the latter rotatable in a horizontally right and left direction, the one described in JP Laid-Open Patent Application Publication No. 2006-227390 (which is referred to as Patent Document 1 in the following).
A rotary unit apparatus of television according to Patent Document 1 as described above comprises a pole attached to a monitor mounting stand for supporting the television; an upper bush mounted in contact with a lower surface of the pole; an attaching base mounted in contact with a lower surface of the upper bush; a lower bush mounted in contact with a lower surface of the attaching base; a spring plate mounted in contact with a lower surface of the lower bush; a back plate mounted in contact with a lower surface of the spring plate; and a fixing bolt for mounting the upper bush, the attaching base, the lower bush, the spring plate and the back plate are to the pole, so as to bring all the components together.
In a rotary unit apparatus as described in Patent Document 1 as described above, a lower bush is merely in contact with a lower side of a top plate of an attaching base, as shown in particular in FIGS. 9 and 13. Therefore, in case that a television receives a pressure downward or upward from either right or left end portion, it is possible that the top plate escapes from the lower bush, or that the top plate is broken.

Rotary unit apparatus and rotation supporting apparatus


An exhaust system tuned during low RPM operation while the exhaust chamber retains its preset tuning for optimal high RPM operation. An exhaust controller according to an embodiment of the present invention receives an RPM signal from the engine and processes the signal to activate a solenoid which controls a valve that injects coolant water into the exhaust chamber. The injection of the water into the exhaust chamber has the effect of cooling the exhaust gases, thereby increasing the density of the exhaust charge in the chamber and slowing the exhaust pulse wave, thereby optimizing performance at relatively lower RPM levels.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to exhaust systems for internal combustion engines and, particularly, to an exhaust system having an exhaust chamber.
2. Description of the Related Art
Exhaust systems for engines, such as two stroke engines installed in vehicles such as personal watercraft, have exhaust chambers that are carefully tuned or shaped to a particular configuration so as to produce optimal engine performance. The purpose of this tuning is to cause exhaust pulse sound waves to reflect inside the exhaust chamber thereby creating local pressure variations. The pressure variations either help scavenge the remaining exhaust gases or plug the exhaust port to prevent the intake charge from exiting into the exhaust.
Exhaust chambers in typical systems are tuned for a particular RPM level. However, the more precisely the system is tuned for a particular RPM level, the more performance throughout the rest of the RPM range will suffer. The speed of the exhaust pulse wave changes according to the formula v=(xkT).sup.1/2, where x is the ratio of specific heat at constant pressure to specific heat of constant volume, k is the gas constant per unit mass and T is the temperature in Kelvins.
As RPM level increases, temperature increases. Since high speed performance is generally emphasized, the exhaust chamber is designed to be relatively short in order to reflect the high speed sound wave at the elevated exhaust temperatures of high RPM engine operation. Such a design, however, adversely affects performance at lower RPM levels, where the reflected exhaust pulse wave reaches the engine exhaust port too early to optimally seal the engine exhaust port during the compression stroke.
Accordingly, there is a need for an exhaust system which can be tuned to produce maximum power at a plurality of an engine's RPM levels. There is more particularly a need for a system which optimizes engine power at relatively lower RPM levels. There is a still further need for a system in which an exhaust pulse wave reaches the engine exhaust port at a time adequate to effectively seal the engine exhaust port during the compression stroke at lower RPM levels.

Electronically controlled water injection system


A method of testing software may include generating a symbolic value for a return value of a software function of a software program during mixed symbolic and abstraction execution (“mixed execution”) of the software program. Additionally, the mixed execution may maintain symbolic values, abstract values, and constraints of one or more variables of the software function. The method may also include deriving, during the mixed execution, an abstraction for the symbolic value. The abstraction may constrain the symbolic value and may be derived based on the return value of the paths that satisfy the abstraction. Further, the method may include exploring, during the mixed execution, the one or more paths of the software function that correspond to the return value based on the symbolic value, as constrained by the abstraction, such that a number of the one or more paths explored during the symbolic execution is constrained by the abstraction.

Testing software, such as validating or verifying software, is a common activity among information technology (IT) organizations. For example, whether the software is a desktop application for execution at one or more client computer systems or a web application for execution at one or more server computer systems, it is often important to verify the quality of the software. While some types of errors in software cause only annoyance or inconvenience to users, other types of errors have the potential to cause other problems, such as data and financial loss.
Symbolic execution may be used to test and verify software by generating test inputs for the software. However, symbolic execution may encounter a state explosion problem for some software, even relatively simple software. The state explosion problem may result in the symbolic execution being time consuming and/or resource intensive to generate corresponding test inputs. In some instances, the amount of processing required from a state explosion may be prohibitive in generating the test inputs.
The subject matter claimed herein is not limited to embodiments that solve any disadvantages or that operate only in environments such as those described above. Rather, this background is only provided to illustrate one example technology area where some embodiments described herein may be practiced.

Symbolic execution with automatic abstractions


In accordance with the present invention, a memory system capable of indefinite sequential access to a contiguous address space without stutter is provided. The memory system has a memory array divided into left and right halves, column and row decoders, memory output register banks A and B, and control logic. Upon initial access, the control logic determines whether, in the initial access data to be loaded in register banks A and B cross a row address boundary. If a row address boundary is crossed, data loaded into register bank A corresponds to data in one row in the right half of the memory array, and data in register bank B corresponds to data in the left half of the memory array in the next higher row. Thereafter, register banks A and B are interleaved for loading and output of memory data.

FIG. 1 shows a generalized organization of a memory system, comprising address input register 100, x-and Y-decoders 101 and 102 (also known as row and column decoders), a memory array 103, a sense amplifier circuit 104, a memory output register 105, and output buffers 106. In this organization, the address input register 100 receives a two-part address, which is decoded by the x- and y-decoders 101 and 102 to select the corresponding memory cell in memory array 103. The content of the selected memory cell is read by the sense amplifier circuit 104 and latched into the memory output register 105. Register 105 is typically a "see through" latch, such that a transition at the input of the latch is immediately reflected at the output of the latch. "Master-slave" latches are not used in this application because they require two clock edges to operate, therefore necessarily requiring a slower speed of operation. The output buffers 106, having greater current sourcing and sinking capabilities than the memory register 105, provide the output data at specified voltage levels to receiving devices external to the memory system.
In many applications, successive accesses to the memory system are often made to contiguous memory locations. This pattern of memory access, called "sequential access," may be exploited to implement a high performance memory system. One method of taking advantage of this access pattern is by latching into memory output register 105, in addition to the datum corresponding to the specified address, data corresponding to memory cells having addresses contiguous to the specified address. That is, "pre-fetching" data into the memory output register 105 in anticipation of contiguous accesses immediately following. Hence, by storing the additional data fetched in registers, subsequent data may be made available in the period of time required to read each register, which is a time period shorter than that required for the first or "initial" access. With prefetching, the total throughput time for completing a number of sequential accesses is significantly reduced when compared to the total time of individual accesses without prefetching.
FIG. 2 shows an example of a timing scheme in a system having an organization such as shown in FIG. 1. The first data output is provided after a total access time (tAA), as measured from the time address data is made available to the address input register 100, to the time when data output is made available at the memory output buffers 106. In this example, tAA has two components: (i) core access time (tASA), i.e., the period of time between when address data is ready at the address input register 100 to the time when data is ready to be latched at the input terminals of memory output register 105; and, (ii) output enable time (tRCO), i.e. the period of time between when the memory output register 105 is provided an enable signal ("clock") to gate the content of the register onto the output terminals of the register, to the time data output is ready at the output buffers 106. In the ideal case, i.e. data are latched as soon as they are made available to the memory output register 105, tAA is the sum of tASA and tRCO. In the ideal system, where maximum memory access overlap is exploited, the next data stored in next contiguous addresses are ready at the memory output buffers 106 every tRCO after the initial access, rather than every tAA, as required for the initial access. In this mode of access, called "burst" mode, only the initial address is specified, and data from contiguous addresses are provided sequentially thereafter until the burst mode is terminated, or when all the prefetched data are output.
In the prior art, such as the implementation shown in FIG. 3, the ideal speed-up is limited by the number of data prefetched, since an initial access must be made after the last datum is read from the registers in which the prefetched data are stored. FIG. 3 shows, for example, a memory system 30 similar to the memory system shown in FIG. 1 organized such that each bit is selected by the two-part address as discussed above; the row (x-) address part is stored in address counter 300, and the column (y-) address A0-A3 selects which register of the memory output registers R0-R7 is output. This memory system 30's output is 8-bit wide. In this organization, sixty four bit lines are activated simultaneously, so that the memory array 303 provides simultaneously to registers R0 through R7 sixty four bits (8 bytes) corresponding to eight 8-bit data from eight contiguous addresses. Each 8-bit datum can therefore be provided for output sequentially by selectively enabling the outputs of registers R0 and R7 in order of each datum's address. The necessary enabling signals, or clock signals, are provided by the control logic 307. The registers R0 through R7 are also provided output buffers.
However, the maximum number of bytes output in burst mode is limited to the width of the row, i.e. eight in this example. To receive the next eight bytes of data contiguously in the next row, or in the same row, the device requesting memory access must go into a wait state or "stutter", as it is known in the art, until another initial access is made to the required data. It is desirable to have a memory system in which all subsequent accesses are provided in burst mode after the initial access, regardless of whether row boundaries are crossed.

Scheme for eliminating page boundary limitation on initial access of a serial contiguous access memory


The present invention includes a padded substantially planar upper-body surface, having a first end and is pivotally coupled at a pivot point to a floor-base containing a padded substantially planar lower-body surface, and having a second end and is pivotally coupled at a pivot point to a padded substantially planar pelvic surface. The present invention also includes a method wherein hemorrhoidal pain is relieved when a user, face down, positions its abdominal/pelvic area on the substantially planar pelvic surface, its lower body extremities on the substantially planar lower-body surface, and its upper body extremities and head on the substantially planar upper-body surface.

It is believed that symptomatic hemorrhoids affect at least 50% of the U.S. population during their lives and around 5% of the population at any given time. Both sexes experience approximately the same incidence of the condition with rates peaking between 25 and 65 years of age. Symptomatic hemorrhoids are more common in Caucasians and those of higher socioeconomic status. The exact cause of symptomatic hemorrhoids is unknown. Several factors are believed to play a role in causing symptomatic hemorrhoids including: irregular bowel habits (constipation or diarrhea), a lack of exercise, nutritional factors (low-fiber diets), increased intra-abdominal pressure (prolonged straining, an intra-abdominal mass, or pregnancy), genetics, an absence of valves within the hemorrhoidal veins, and aging.
On one hand, hemorrhoids are a part of normal human anatomy and are complex vascular structures in the anal canal which help with stool control. In their physiological state, they act as a blood cushion composed of blood filled channels and connective tissue. On the other hand, hemorrhoids may become pathological when they become swollen or inflamed. There are two types of hemorrhoids, internal and external. Internal hemorrhoids are usually present with painless rectal bleeding while external hemorrhoids, if swollen, may produce significant pain and swelling in the area of the anus. When hemorrhoids become enlarged, they often cause issues with hygiene and may produce irritation of the surrounding skin and itchiness around the anus.
At the present time, there are no non-surgical advances in the treatment of swollen hemorrhoids or for the reduction of sinusoidal pressure in the hemorrhoidal plexus. Contrary to common perception, the consumption of vascular drugs and medications does not relieve the physical symptoms associated with an enlarged hemorrhoid. This is because the hemorrhoid cushions present in the anal canal are composed of blood vessels called sinusoids, connective tissue, and smooth muscle called the hemorrhoidal plexus. Unlike veins or arteries, sinusoids do not have muscle tissue in their walls, and therefore vascular medication does not help in the reduction of swelling of the hemorrhoidal plexus.
Therefore, a need exists to overcome the problems with the prior art as discussed above.

Hemorrhoid pain relieving apparatus and method


A blood testing tool is provided, which can recover blood plasma or blood serum with a high yield without causing hemolysis of blood cells. A recovery porous membrane 1 to be impregnated with blood serum or blood plasma contained in blood and retain it and a separation porous membrane 2 for separating blood cells from the blood are provided. The separation porous membrane 2 is laminated on the recovery porous membrane 1 while satisfying the condition that pores on an upper surface side of the recovery porous membrane have an average pore size that is in a range from 10 to 1000 μm and is larger than that of pores on a lower surface side of the separation porous membrane, thus providing a blood testing tool according to the present invention.

In a blood test, a blood testing tool having a porous material to be impregnated with blood conventionally has been used for various purposes.
According to such a blood testing tool, the test can be carried out, for example, by impregnating the porous material with blood so that a component in the blood reacts with a reagent that has been provided in the porous material beforehand and then measuring the result directly by an optical or electrochemical method. Alternatively, the blood may be extracted from the porous material and recovered, and the test may be carried out on this as a sample.
Such a blood testing tool has been used in general clinical tests or the like. In recent years, the suitability of such a blood testing tool has been studied for use in remote clinical testing systems. Indeed, it is actually used in certain remote clinical testing systems. In such a remote clinical testing system, a patient collects blood by himself at home, and the blood testing tool is impregnated with the blood. This then is dried, and the blood testing tool then is mailed to a test institute such as a hospital for testing. The system allows the patient who mailed the blood to be informed of the test result by mail or the like without visiting the hospital. In addition, because the patient can visit the hospital or the like for treatment after receiving the test result, the necessity of collecting blood at the hospital is eliminated, which reduces the labors of both the hospital stuff and the patient.
When the test item is a component contained in blood serum or blood plasma, such as blood glucose or the like, it is necessary to separate blood cells from blood in the blood testing tool. A conventional blood testing tool generally is a laminate in which a blood cell separator such as a glass filter or the like is laminated on a recovery porous material into which blood serum or blood plasma penetrates. In such a blood testing tool, when blood is supplied to the upper surface of the blood cell separator, the blood moves in the thickness direction inside the blood cell separator, during which blood cells in the blood are retained in the blood cell separator so that only blood serum or blood plasma passes through the blood cell separator. The blood serum or blood plasma having passed through the blood cell separator penetrates into the recovery porous material as the lower layer of the laminate and is retained therein (hereinafter, such blood cell separation is referred to as "vertical separation"). In such vertical separation, a surface area involved in the separation is greater than in transverse separation to be described later. Thus, the blood serum or blood plasma having passed through the separator penetrates, thereby allowing an excellent recovery rate to be achieved.
However, a laminate-type blood testing tool employing such vertical separation has a problem in that the blood cells retained in the blood cell separator may hemolyze at the interface between the blood cell separator and the recovery porous material. If such hemolysis occurs, components that flowed out from the blood cells due to the hemolysis penetrate into the recovery porous material as the lower layer of the laminate and interfere with the measurement.
In order to solve the problem caused in the vertical separation, a blood testing tool has been developed in which blood moves in a direction parallel to the surface (which is a transverse direction and hereinafter, referred to simply as a "surface direction") rather than in a thickness direction (a vertical direction) to separate blood cells (hereinafter, such blood cell separation is referred to as "transverse separation", which is disclosed in JP 2001-188066 A etc.). The transverse separation can be carried out, for example, in a blood testing tool including an asymmetric porous membrane with pores whose sizes vary in the surface direction. For example, when blood is supplied to the asymmetric porous membrane from the side having larger pores, the blood moves from the upstream with larger pores to the downstream with smaller pores along the surface direction by the capillary phenomenon. When the blood cells reach the portion with pores through which they cannot pass, they are retained therein so that only blood serum or blood plasma penetrates further downstream. Thus, in this blood testing tool, since blood cells are separated during the movement in the surface direction due to the variation in pore sizes, the above-described problem of the hemolysis of blood cells at the interface is not caused. Therefore, it is possible to recover only blood serum or blood plasma containing no components of blood cells.


The invention provides a specific polymeric solid electrolyte (ionically conductive polymer) having excellent physical properties, and a process therefor. The polymeric solid electrolyte can be obtained by reacting an alkali metal salt and/or ammonium salt, a non-aqueous organic solvent, a polyfunctional acrylate compound and a particular polyether macromonomer in the presence of a radical polymerization initiation accelerator and a radical polymerization initiator.. The polymeric solid electrolyte has high ionic conductivity so that it can be employed in useful lithium batteries, plastic batteries, large-capacity capacitors, electrochromic displays and it can also be used for the 100% solidification of other electronic devices.

a) Field of the Invention
This invention relates to ion-conductive polymers, in other words, to polymeric solid electrolytes and also to a process for the production thereof.
b) Description of the Related Art
Development of organic polymeric solid electrolytes is in progress in recent years, which compared to inorganic solid electrolytes, have such merits that (1) they have formability and can be easily formed into thin films of a large area and (2) they have flexibility and hence excellent contiguity with electrodes.
Mixtures of polyethylene oxide and alkali metal salts were proposed as polymeric solid electrolytes by M. B. Armand et al ["Fast Ion Transport in Solids" 131: North Holland Publishing Co., Ltd., 1979]
These solid electrolytes are each formed into a film by dissolving it in a solvent, casting the resulting solution on a forming surface and then drying off the solvent, namely, by the so-called casting process. Their forming process is therefore complex, and the films so obtained have an electrical conductivity as low as 10.sup.-6 S/cm or less at room temperature and fail to exhibit satisfactory contiguity with electrodes. There has accordingly been a desire for the improvements of these drawbacks.
Other production processes include the process disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 48716/1987 in which crosslinking is induced by a reaction between a trifunctional polyethylene glycol and a diisocyanate derivative; and the process disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 285954/1987 in which crosslinking is induced by a polymerization reaction of polyethylene glycol diacrylate. Each of these processes however uses a solvent so that an extra step is indispensable for drying off the solvent. Further improvements have also been considered necessary with respect to the balancing among the ionic conductivity, the contiguity with electrodes and so on.
In addition, the ionic conductivity of a polymeric solid electrolyte drops significantly in a low temperature range below room temperature. There has also been a strong demand for an improvement in this respect.
The present inventors have already proposed a process for the production of a polymeric solid electrolyte of the two-pack mixed hardening type, which process has overcome the above-described drawbacks (Japanese Patent Application No. 62685/1990).
Further improvements are however desired from the standpoint of the ionic conductivity of the polymeric solid electrolyte per se and the contiguity with electrodes. Described specifically, there has been a strong demand for a polymeric solid electrolyte whose ionic conductivity is 10.sup.-4 S/cm or higher at 0.degree. C.

Polymeric solid electrolytes and production process thereof


A conformal load-bearing antenna assembly comprises a pan shaped to fit within an aircraft window opening, an antenna element disposed within the pan, and a connection for coupling a signal to the antenna element.

Modern aircraft have a need to provide radio communication over a variety of frequency ranges and communication modes. For example, radio communication may be in the UHF band or the L band. In order to communicate effectively, the aircraft must include multiple antennas placed in various locations on the aircraft. Typically, the aircraft may include antennas mounted behind the radio transparent skin of the aircraft, and/or exterior blade antennas mounted on the skin of the aircraft. Blade antennas are small fins protruding from the skin of the aircraft that are used as the radiating element. The blade antennas are electrically matched through impedance matching networks to transmitting and receiving equipment.
Blade antennas are aerodynamically inefficient because they protrude from the skin of the aircraft. Typically, multiple blade antennas are used on the aircraft to accommodate multiple communications bands (i.e., UHF, VHF/FM, VHF/AM). Blade antennas are constructed to withstand the forces subjected to the antenna. However blade antennas are still susceptible to impact damage. In addition, blade antennas do not add any structural strength to the aircraft, and may interfere with the aerodynamic efficiency of the aircraft.
Antenna radiating elements may also be embedded within the skin of the aircraft. Such radiating elements provide an antenna structure for the aircraft that is structurally integrated within the skin thereof. However, these embedded antenna structures are typically difficult to manufacture and install. Additionally, embedded antenna structures may not exhibit ideal gain characteristics.
A significant problem facing some aircraft is a lack of space on the top and bottom surfaces of the fuselage to mount antennas. If it were possible to relocate existing blade antennas, additional surface area on the aircraft fuselage would be available for new antennas. In addition, cosite interference to existing blade antennas could be reduced.
The present invention addresses the above-mentioned deficiencies in prior aircraft antenna design by providing an antenna assembly that fits into existing openings in an aircraft at portions of the fuselage not previously used for mounting antennas.


Reigniting a flame in a volatile organic compound (VOC) detector in the event that the flame has gone out. In one implementation, a signal is received at a handheld personal computer indicating that a flame in the VOC detector has gone out. The flame in the VOC detector may then be reignited using the handheld personal computer and a Bluetooth enabled device facilitating communication between the handheld personal computer and the VOC detector.

1. Field of the Invention
Implementations of various technologies described herein are directed to volatile organic compound (VOC) detection and to various methods and/or systems for igniting a flame in a volatile organic compound (VOC) detector, e.g., reigniting a flame that has been extinguished in a volatile organic compound (VOC) detector.
2. Description of the Related Art
The following descriptions and examples do not constitute an admission as prior art by virtue of their inclusion within this section.
Industrial plants that handle volatile organic compounds (VOCs) sometimes experience unwanted emissions of those compounds into the atmosphere from point sources, such as smokestacks, and non-point sources, such as valves, pumps, and/or vessels containing the VOCs. Emissions from non-point sources typically occur due to leakage of the VOCs from joints and/or seals and may be referred to herein as "fugitive emissions". Fugitive emissions from control valves typically occur as leakage through the packing set around the valve stem. Control valves used in demanding service conditions involving large temperature fluctuations and frequent movements of the valve stem commonly suffer accelerated deterioration of the valve stem packing set.
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has promulgated regulations specifying maximum permitted leakage of certain hazardous air pollutants, such as benzene, toluene, 1,1,1-trichloroethane, from certain hardware or fixtures, e.g., control valves. The regulations require facility operators to perform periodic surveys of the emissions from all control valves and pump seals. The survey interval frequency may be monthly, quarterly, semiannual, or annual. If the facility operator can document that a certain percentage of valves and pumps with excessive leakage are below a prescribed minimum, the required surveys become less frequent. Thus, achieving a low percentage of leaking valves reduces the number of surveys required per year, which may result in large cost savings.
Fugitive emissions are typically monitored using a VOC detector, which may also be referred to as a vapor analyzer. Due to the location of the control valves and a tendency to jar the VOC detector during operation, the flame inside the VOC detector may often go out during detection. When this happens, the technician operating the VOC detector may need to reignite the flame, e.g., by manually reigniting the flame. Manual reignition has a number of disadvantages, including having to unstrap the VOC detector from the back of the technician. If the flame extinguishes while the technician is in the process of climbing up a ladder on a structure, e.g., en route to a location where detection will take place, then the entire detection process is disrupted and often, for safety reasons, the technician not only has to stop climbing the ladder, but changes direction and goes back down the ladder, so that the VOC detector can be safely unstrapped and the flame manually reignited. Accordingly, there is an ongoing need for the methods and systems disclosed below.

Reigniting flame in volatile organic compound device


The present subject matter provides an oven appliance. The oven appliance includes a pair of doors. A pair of sprockets or gears, a pair of chains, and a pair of connecting members couple the doors to each other such that the doors open and close simultaneously. The oven appliance also includes features for limiting or eliminating contact between the connecting members at a location where the connecting members cross each other.

Oven appliances generally include a cabinet that defines a cooking chamber for receipt of food articles for cooking. The cabinet can also define an opening for accessing the cooking chamber. Certain oven appliances include a pair of doors rotatably mounted to the cabinet at the opening to permit selective access to the cooking chamber through the opening. Oven appliances having such doors are generally referred to as French door style oven appliances.
Certain French door oven appliances include a linkage assembly that connects the oven appliance's pair of doors such that the doors open and close simultaneously. Such a configuration can be useful. For example, the pair of doors can each include a handle. By providing a linkage assembly that connects the pair of doors, a user can pull on either handle in order to open or close both of the doors simultaneously. Thus, a user holding food items in one hand can open or close both doors with the other free hand.
Certain linkage assemblies include rods or other connecting members that cross each other. During opening and closing of the doors, such rods or other connecting members can rub against each other. Over time, significant wear damage can develop due to such contact. Further, such contact can be noisy and/or generate debris that negatively affects performance of the oven appliance.
Accordingly, an oven appliance with features for improving performance of a linkage assembly that couples a pair of doors of the oven appliance would be useful. In particular, an oven appliance with features for limiting or eliminating contact between connecting members of the linkage assembly would be useful.


Embodiments of the present invention provide an array substrate, a manufacturing method thereof and a display device. The array substrate comprises a plurality of pixel units disposed on a substrate, each pixel unit including a thin-film transistor (TFT) structure and an organic light-emitting diode (OLED) driven by the TFT structure. The OLED includes a transparent first electrode, an emission layer and a second electrode for reflecting light in sequence in a direction away from the substrate. A color filter disposed between a layer provided with the OLED and a layer provided with the TFT structure. A transflective layer disposed between the OLED and the color filter. The second electrode of the OLED and the transflective layer constitute a microcavity structure.

Embodiments of the present invention relate to an array substrate, a manufacturing method thereof and a display device.
Organic light-emitting diode (OLED) is considered to be one of the most important display technology in the future due to the advantages of simple manufacturing process, low cost, free adjustment of emitting colors within visible regions, large scale, flexible bending and the like. More particularly, the power efficiency of a white OLED (WOLED) has exceeded 60 lm/W and the service life of the WOLED has reached 20,000 hours or more, greatly promoting the development of the WOLED.
As illustrated in FIG. 1(a), in one type of WOLED, an organic emission layer 102 is doped for three primitive colors RGB, so that it can emit white light. The organic emission layer 102 is disposed between a cathode 101 and an anode 103, and the white light emitted by the emission layer is reflected by the cathode 101 and emitted from the side of the anode 103. In order to improve the light transmittance and increase the brightness of a WOLED display device, a transflective layer 103′ is respectively disposed corresponding to color filters of each color on one side of the anode, so that a microcavity structure can be formed, as illustrated in FIG. 1(b). The light is enhanced in the microcavity structure due to resonance effect.

Array substrate including wavy transflective layer


Methods and apparatus are provided for remotely controlling the bending of an elongated member by implementing energy responsive control over a member that is configured from two plastic materials of differing coefficients of thermal expansion. The disclosed methods and apparatus are particularly applicable for use in applications such as surgical catheterization where control of the member from a position relatively remote from the member is desired.

The present invention relates to a remote steering system that is primarily intended for use with surgical catheters. However, the invention may also be employed in connection with medical implants, switchgear and certain industrial pipeline equipment.
Surgical catheterization provides a desirable and readily implementable procedure for accomplishing various diagnostic and therapeutic objectives in a manner which is relatively expedient and free of trauma to the patient. In typical catheterization procedures, a blood vessel adjacent to the surface of the skin of a patient is punctured to provide entry of the catheter into the blood vessel lumen. Once entry of the blood vessel has been accomplished, the catheter can be advanced through the patient's vascular system, typically with the aid of various radiographic imaging techniques, to a desired internal organ or tissue site. Advancement of the catheter in this manner typically requires traversing a variety of angled and curved paths. Since many conventional catheters have generally cylindrical, flexible tubular structures, passage of the catheter along the desired angled or curved paths is accomplished by sliding the catheter over a guidewire.
Depending on the particular catheterization procedure and the path along which the catheter is to be advanced, the catheter guidewire may need to be changed on a number of occasions during the course of the procedure. Such guidewire changeover can be both time consuming and inherently risky, as vasculature of various dimensions must be traversed, possibly giving rise to incidents of vascular trauma and even rupture. Blood vessel rupture can radically transform the medical procedure from one of relatively routine diagnostic study to an emergency invasive surgical procedure, thus jeopardizing the health and even the life of the patient. Due to the foregoing difficulties and risks, surgical catheterization has evolved into a surgical specialty in its own right.
Previous efforts to produce remotely steered catheters have focussed on the use of shape memory metal alloys in order to provide desired curvilinear configurations for the distal ends of the catheters, so as to avoid altogether the requirement for guidewires. Examples of catheters employing shape memory metal alloys are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,994,727 and 4,919,133. As explained in the background portion of the latter patent, shape memory alloys are capable of transforming from a first configuration to a second configuration upon reaching a predetermined threshold temperature. This transformability apparently arises as a result of the crystalline structure that is imposed on the metal as a result of the particular metal annealing regimen that is employed. However, because shape memory alloys are generally "dormant" with respect to transformability until their respective transformation temperatures have been attained, catheters formed from such materials are generally unsuited for all but the most simple catheterization procedures. These catheters are generally transformable only into predetermined specific configurations rather than the broad range of configurations that are typically required to advance the catheter to remote internal sites incident to the performance of more sophisticated diagnostic and therapeutic procedures. For at least the foregoing reasons, catheters formed from shape memory alloys have not gained widespread acceptance for surgical catheterization on human patients.

Remote steering system for medical catheter


A system and method for offering free goods or services over computer networks allows a merchant to choose a probability-based method of selecting how the free items are determined. The probability of obtaining a free item for any item desired can also be displayed to a potential purchaser.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to commerce conducted over the Internet and particularly to the offer of products or services for sale over the Internet.
2. Description of the Related Art
The purchase and sale of goods and services over the Internet by consumers has been growing at a rapid rate. Although there are many advantages to consumers in conducting such electronic commerce transactions, such as the low cost and speed of the transactions, the ease of employment of the Internet, the virtually unlimited range of products and services offered, the security of payments, and the anonymity of transactions, many consumers are still hesitant to purchase over the Internet due to privacy or security concerns, the novelty of the methods involved, or for many other unknown or not easily articulated reasons.
The subject invention offers an additional incentive to hesitant consumers to purchase over the Internet, besides the other advantages previously cited. The invention provides this incentive by allowing a consumer of goods or services to acquire those goods or services at no cost according to a random process, and the consumer can be notified, prior to an order, of the probability that he or she will receive the goods or services desired to be purchased at no cost.
Thus, for example, a consumer may be informed that if he wishes to purchase a particular book, every tenth book ordered will be delivered at no charge. Alternatively, the consumer may be informed that the number of books ordered before a free one is offered will be a random number. In addition, a consumer may be notified of the number of purchase orders placed for a particular good or service.

Method of offering free products or services over the internet


Novel hydroxy peroxides of the Structure A EQU HO--R.sub.11 --X--OO--R (A). [wherein R--, --R.sub.11 -- and --X-- are as defined in the Summary of the Invention Section], having 10 hour half-life temperatures of 85.degree.-100.degree. C., the processes for their preparation, and the use of these novel compositions in curing of unsaturated polyester resins and in initiating polymerization of ethylenically unsaturated monomers.

This invention relates to novel hydroxy-peroxides of the Structure A: EQU HO--R.sub.11 --X--OO--R (A)
[wherein R--, --R.sub.11 -- and --X-- are as defined in the Summary of the Invention Section] having 10 hour half-life temperatures of 85.degree.-110.degree. C., the processes for their preparation, and the use of these novel compositions in curing of unsaturated polyester resins and in initiating polymerization of ethylenically unsaturated monomers.

Hydroxy-peroxides useful as polymerization initiators


An apparatus for driving an objective lens of an optical disk system for recording/reproducing data to/from a data plane of an optical disk by using light which can simply correct a deviation from an adequate angle between an optical axis of the objective lens and the optical disk is provided by constructing such that the center of gravity of an objective lens movable part is located on the optical axis of the objective lens and a height for anchoring suspensions to the movable part coincides almost with the center of gravity of the movable part.

The present invention relates to an apparatus for driving an objective lens for use in recording/reproducing information to/from a data plane of an optical disk by using light in an optical disk system.
In general, an optical disk system is optically designed so as to minimize aberration at a convergent spot when laser light output from an optical pickup and converged by an objective lens enters vertically to a disk plane. However, a phenomenon of angular aberration between the input beam and the disk plane (hereinafter referred to as a skew) occurs in recording/reproducing signals in an actual optical disk system due to the deflection of a shaft of a turn table during its rotation, the warpage of the optical disk itself and the like.
The higher the density of the signals to be recorded on the optical disk, the greater the adverse effect of the commatic aberration caused by the skew brought about in reading/writing the signals is, so that it is necessary to reduce the disk skew or to correct optically by any means in densifying the optical disk.
For the optical disk system so far, e.g. an optical disk system using a disk having a large diameter such as a laser disk which causes much disk skew, a mechanism as shown in FIG. 26 has been proposed. It is a system of inputting laser light vertically to a disk plane 1000 by rotating an optical pickup 1113 by an angle .theta. centering on an axis of rotation 1016 on a base 1115 of the optical pickup provided slidably on a mechanical deck 1114 when a disk skew angle .theta. is brought about.
However, this system consumes a large power because it is necessary to tilt the large optical pickup 1113 and it has been difficult to correct an AC component of the skew (timewise fluctuation caused by the warpage of the optical disk per each turn) synchronized with the rotation of the laser disk because it is not easy to tilt it at high speed.
With regard to such a problem, there has been proposed a method of tilting only an objective lens 1002 and a prism/mirror group not shown so that an optical axis of the objective lens 1002 is always vertical to a disk plane as shown in FIG. 27 (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. Hei. 5-6555). This system requires less power in controlling the skew because a movable part 1190 comprises the objective lens 1002, a prism, a mirror and a case for holding them and allows the AC component of the disk skew to be corrected because it allows a fast operation.
However, in tilting the movable part 1190 to correct the skew, the movable part 1190 causes a momental force Mrs of rotational movement centering on an intersection of the optical axis 1117 and the anchoring height of a leaf spring 1118 as a center of rotation EZ as shown in FIG. 28A in a low frequency band (when lower than a primary resonance frequency ftr in the tracking direction).
In a high frequency band (when higher than the primary resonance frequency ftr in the tracking direction) on the other hand, it causes a momental force Mrs of rotational movement centering on of the center of gravity G of the movable part 1190 as shown in FIG. 28B. Therefore, when the movable part 1190 is tiled to correct a radial skew, the principal point O of the objective lens 1002 moves in the radial direction of the disk as indicated by an arrow AR in either cases of FIGS. 28A and 28B and the move of the principal point O turns out be disturbance to the tracking servo, so that it requires a tracking servo gain more than a normal case of using a biaxial actuator.
Further, because the movable part 1190 causes a momental force Mrs of rotational movement around the intersection EZ of the anchoring position of the leaf spring 1118 and the optical axis 1117 during a tracking operation in the low frequency band as shown in FIG. 29, it gives disturbance to the radial skew servo.
Accordingly, the radial skew servo and the tracking servo exert the disturbance on each other, causing the control to be unstable.
When the objective lens 1002 is tilted to correct the skew, the tilting operation for scrutinizing the skew may become disturbance to the focusing servo and tracking servo of the objective lens 1002 due to a reason of an assembly error in fabricating the apparatus for driving the objective lens or of size-wise requirement on the apparatus for driving the objective lens. FIGS. 35A through 35C show such disturbance for example.
Consider a case of starting an operation when the data recording plane of the optical disk D and the objective lens 1002 are far from an ideal relative angle in the prior art apparatus for driving the objective lens 1002 shown in FIG. 27, assuming that the principal point 1195 of the objective lens is located at the position higher than the center of gravity 1191 of the movable part 1190 as shown in FIGS. 35A through 35C. That is, when the objective lens 1002 is tilted in the radial skew direction RSD shown in FIGS. 27 and 35B with respect to the data recording plane of the optical disk D, a skew sensor mounted in the movable part 1190 detects an angle .theta. as a radial skew error signal Ers in many cases during the radial skew servo. FIGS. 35A and 35B show this angle .theta..
In such a state, the radial skew servo is started as shown in FIG. 35B in order to reduce the relative angle between the objective lens 1002 and the data recording plane of the optical disk D. That is, the movable part 1190 causes the momental force Frs by feeding a drive current Irs to the focusing coils 1130.
Thereby, a backward thrust is applied to the movable part 1190 and the objective lens 1002 and the position of the principal point 1195 of the objective lens 1002 moves by .DELTA.Xrs as shown in FIG. 35C when driven in a low frequency. Accordingly, because the position of the principal point 1195 of the objective lens 1002 moves suddenly, disturbance is given to the tracking servo in the tracking direction TRD (radial direction of the optical disk D), thus causing a problem that the tracking servo is undone.
When a current which generates a backward thrust is supplied to the focusing coils 1130 in operating the tangential skew servo along the tangential skew direction TSD in FIG. 27 as shown in FIG. 36, the center of gravity of the movable part 1190 tilts centering on the center of tilt DC which is located on the left from the principal point 1195 of the objective lens 1002 when driven in a low frequency. Thereby, the principal point 1195 of the objective lens 1002 moves along the focusing direction FCS by .DELTA.Xts, thus giving disturbance to the focusing servo.
While the radial skew servo and the tangential skew servo of the objective lens 1002 act slightly as the disturbance on the focusing servo and the tracking servo as described above, there has been a problem that the focusing servo and the tracking servo are undone because a large disturbance is applied suddenly to the focusing servo and the tracking servo when the above-mentioned radial skew servo and the tangential skew servo operation are started in the state when the skew servo error signal which is output by the skew sensor is remarkably large, i.e. when the optical axis of the objective lens 1002 and the data recording plane of the optical disk D are far from being vertical each other.
Further, because the apparatus of Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. Hei. 5-6555 is provided with the light source and optical system for detecting a skew, beside a laser system for reading/writing signals, it hampers in providing a small and low cost pickup. Still more, there has been a problem that the driving sensitivity of the actuator drops because the movable part 1190 shown in FIG. 27 is supported by one cylindrical leaf spring 1118.
Because the movable part 1190 is supported by the thin leaf spring 1118, the leaf spring part may cause plastic deformation, damaging the performance of the actuator, when a strong shock is added from the outside.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus for driving the objective lens of an optical disk system which allows the deviation of the optical axis of the objective lens and the optical disk from an adequate angle therebetween to be easily corrected.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an apparatus for driving the objective lens of an optical disk system which allows data to be recorded/reproduced reliably on/from a high density optical disk by leading in a skew servo stably even when the skew servo is started in a state when the optical axis of the objective lens and the optical disk plane are far from being vertical each other.


Techniques are described for receiving annotations in a fixed digital document on a first computing device and streaming them to multiple other computing devices that are connected to the first computing device using a peer-to-peer network. For example, a session may be established between the first computing device and a plurality of the other computing devices. Annotations may be received at the first computing device and streamed to the multiple other computing devices using the peer-to-peer network. For example, the annotations may include highlighting text in the fixed digital document, or electronic ink annotations made at a given location within the fixed digital document. These annotations may be streamed to the other computing devices in real-time, or at regular intervals, without requiring a cloud connection and without the need to save, close, and/or reopen the fixed digital document for the annotations to be received by the other computing devices.

Personal computing devices are increasingly being used in group environments, such as the classroom, to allow multiple users in the group to view the same digital document without having to use a screen and projector or other large-form multimedia device.
Additionally, a number of fixed digital document types, such as Portable Document Format documents ("PDFs"), permit users to add annotations to the document, using, e.g., text input, highlighting, electronic ink "pen" markings, etc. However, if a group leader (for example, a teacher) decides to annotate, for example, a PDF book with either highlighting, or other handwritten notes using electronic ink, the other members of the group (e.g., students) are not able to view it, because those changes are only made on the device of the person making the annotations.
Thus, allowing the other members of the group to see the annotations requires some sort of additional hardware to project these changes to a screen viewable by the others in the room, such as a video-camera projector that records the changes and projects them on, e.g., a white-board. However, this projection equipment can be costly, and also may not be as readily visible to those seated further from the screen as those sitting nearer the screen.
Additionally, even if the projection is visible to all in the room, if the other members of the group wish to replicate the leader's annotations in their own digital documents, they must physically replicate them while still trying to listen to what others in the room are saying, taking attention away from the discussion. Additionally, the process of members of the group transcribing digital document annotations made by the group leader involves duplication of effort, with the same annotations being made both by the person originally making the annotation, and the others in the room who are copying these annotations into their own digital documents. And, the possibility remains that the annotations will be replicated incorrectly, or that certain annotations will be missed as the discussion continues.
Therefore, there exists an opportunity to improve technologies for synchronizing annotations between fixed digital documents on multiple users' computing devices in real-time.

Synchronized annotations in fixed digital documents


The present invention relates to an in vitro method for creating a viable connective tissue and/or osseous tissue obtained by tribological solicitations of a biological culture. It further relates to a viable connective tissue and/or osseous tissue susceptible to be obtained by said method as well as to the use of said method or viable connective tissue and/or osseous tissue to prepare a biological implant.

Current treatment of cartilage lesions or damage can follow two following paths.
The first one is prosthetic treatment: prosthesis (total or hemi) provide a good solution for short or middle term. But for young patients, none of them provide a definitive solution and reoperation risks and bone/cartilage stock management are a concern.
The second one is reconstructive treatment of cartilage. It can be a debridment and abrasion arthroplasty which is not a real reparative procedure or a subcondral drilling and microfracture which results in poor integration of fibrocartilage with surrounding articular cartilage and is not satisfactory. Osteochondral allograft is also an option. It causes however cell viability and contamination issues. Mosaicplasty is also conducted but leads to morbidity of donor site and technical issues. Last one is autologous chondrocyte culture in a scaffold. This last option causes medial and long term viability concern but seems the more promising one. As of today, it still fails because of the degradation of the long term mechanical and biological properties and the poor clinical results.
There is thus a need to provide solutions overcoming all these issues and concerns.

In vitro method for creating a viable connective tissue and/or osseous tissue


An image processing apparatus includes a copying machine and a central processing apparatus provided with a facsimile function. When originals are distributed to a plurality of destinations, a destination list is stored in the central processing apparatus in advance. At this time, as to the destinations to which originals are transmitted through the facsimile, telephone numbers thereof are simultaneously stored. The central processing apparatus controls the copying machine and the facsimile function on the basis of the stored data, so that originals are sent by the facsimile to places to which they should be sent by the facsimile, and also copied originals are sent to places to which they should, respectively.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to image processing apparatus employed for widely distributing documents, and particularly to image processing apparatus capable of simultaneously performing copying operation and/or image transmitting operation.
2. Description of the Related Art
Image transmission has been conventionally performed using broadcast devices of facsimile apparatus. In this kind of broadcast devices of facsimile apparatus, destinations for distribution (hereinafter, referred to as destinations) of originals are stored in memories for sequential communication to particular destinations for transmission.
Broadcast apparatus of conventional facsimile apparatus are provided with functions as facsimile apparatus only and do not have functions for operating together with copying machines.
In consideration of practice in the office work, however, copied versions of originals are distributed, not facsimile transmission, to particular destinations. Accordingly, both of the copying process and the transmission process are performed. Therefore, an operator has to selectively perform a copying process or a transmission process depending on destinations. As a result, the operation is complicated, so that operational mistakes are not rare.