The present invention provides a method of displaying option market information including establishing a communication link between a member computer and a central computer, accessing option trading data from the central computer through the member computer, and inputting at least one signal to the member computer. The signal represents either an underlying asset symbol or an option class symbol of an underlying asset. The method further includes generating a display page listing option trading information for a plurality of option series relating to at least one of the entered underlying asset symbol and the entered option class symbol, and displaying the plurality of option series on the display page such that the option series having a strike price approximately equal to the current trading price of the underlying asset is centrally positioned on the display page. Additionally, a strike price and a first date indicator can be input and the display page can list trading information for the entered option and plurality of option series having at least a second expiration date, the plurality of option series extending over a range of strike prices, the range centrally positioned at the current trading price of the underlying stock, the plurality of option series relating to the at least one of the entered underlying asset symbol and the entered option symbol. A further method of the invention includes generating a display page listing option trading information for a month entered for an underlying asset. A still further method of the invention includes generating a display page listing option trading information for a strike price entered for an underlying asset.

An option represents a contract where one party offers another party the right to buy or sell one or more shares of an asset at an agreed-upon price during a certain period of time or on a specific date in the future in exchange for consideration (typically money). The asset is often a stock but the asset can also be a derivative, a commodity or a security of any kind, including, but not limited to, any note, bond, future or exchange-traded fund. The right to buy an asset (often referred to as the "underlying") such as a stock (often referred to as the "underlying stock") at a certain price within a specified period of time is typically referred to as a "call." The buyer will generally purchase a call with the expectation that the value of the underlying stock will increase before the option expires, thereby enabling the holder of the call to purchase shares of the underlying stock at a lower price than the then current trading price.
Conversely, the right to sell a stock at a certain price within a specific period of time is referred to as a "put." The buyer of a put typically does so with the expectation that the value of the underlying asset will fall before the option expires, thereby enabling the holder of the put to sell shares of the underlying stock at a price higher than the then current trading price of the underlying stock shares. A stock option also is known as a derivative instrument; this means that the option derives its value from an actual underlying asset, such as a stock, or any other kind of security, commodity or derivative. The following discussion uses the term underlying stock or stock in describing the preferred embodiments of the present invention. It is noted that an alternative asset such as any other type of security, commodity or derivative can also be used in place of the terms underlying stock or stock.
Each option is typically identified as a "series." A series includes an option class symbol relating to the underlying stock, a month and a strike price. A series also commonly includes a put or a call reference. For example, "IBM May 80 call" refers to a call option for International Business Machines, Inc. expiring in May of the current year at a strike price of $ 80 per share. In this example, the option class symbol matched the symbol of the underlying stock. Options are typically created for the short term with an expiration date of less than eight months in the future or as Long term Equity AnticiPation Securities™ ("LEAPS®")1. LEAPS® are options that expire more than nine months into the future and currently extend as long as two years into the future. A two character Options Price Reporting Authority ("OPRA") series indicator is typically assigned to each series. The first character indicates the option's expiration month and whether the option is a call or a put and the second character is a strike price indicator. OPRA is the governing authority for collecting, processing and disseminating options quotations and last sale information from all the U.S. national securities exchanges that trade options. OPRA is owned by of all the U.S. options exchanges. 1 Long term Equity AnticiPation Securities™ is a trademark of the Chicago Board Options Exchange, Incorporated ("CBOE") and LEAPS® is a federally registered trademark of the CBOE.
The strike price of an option refers to the price the underlying stock must fall above for calls, or fall below for puts, before the option can be exercised for consideration. A stock option whose strike price is equal to the current market value of shares of the underlying stock is said to be "at-the-money" or "ATM." A call option is classified as "in-the-money" if its strike price is less than the current market value of a share of the underlying stock. For example, a Microsoft June 50 call option would be in the money if Microsoft is trading above 50. Conversely, if the strike price of a call is greater than the market value of the underlying stock, it is considered "out-of-the-money." For example, a Microsoft Jun. 50 call option would be out of the money if Microsoft is trading below 50.
An option must be exercised before its maturity or expiration date in order to avoid a complete loss in value of the option. The holder of an option, depending on whether it's a call or put option, is given the right to either buy or sell shares of the underlying stock associated with the option. The holder has the right, but not the obligation, to exercise the option before its expiration date.
Options are traded publicly on many exchanges throughout the world. The potential loss to a buyer of an option (e.g., the right to buy or sell a stock) can be no greater than the initial premium paid for the contract, regardless of the performance of the underlying stock. Conversely, the seller of the option, in return for the premium received from the buyer, assumes the risk of being assigned the obligation to buy or sell the underlying stock if the option is exercised.
Market-makers establish a two-sided market by providing a bid quote and an offer quote for a number of option series of an underlying stock. In options trading, access to current trading information is critical to market-makers, traders and other users. Market-makers and traders require immediate access to the specific trading information of interest. The ability of a market-maker or trader to easily access required trading information allows such traders to act quickly and efficiently to protect or hedge their positions or to take advantage of immediate market fluctuations.
A number of products and systems currently exist for providing option trading information to exchanges, market-makers, traders and other users. Trading systems currently provide options data to traders at member firms on screens that are somewhat similar to those available on the trading floor of an exchange. Member firms are firms that are associated with or are members of an exchange.
One existing option display system displays option information produced by a specific exchange, for example, the Chicago Board Options Exchange. The system enables a user to view a class of options for an underlying stock in different formats. In one format, as illustrated in FIG. 9, a list of options for a specific underlying stock and a specific expiration month is displayed along with current trading information for calls and puts for each option listed from a single, specific exchange.
For example, the first column can list options for an underlying stock at a specific expiration month in ascending order by strike price, Apr. 65.00 IBM to Apr. 155.00 IBM. The call trading information for each option is then displayed in the next set of columns including the two character option series indicator, the last traded price for the series, the change in that price, the bid price and the ask price. The put trading information is then displayed in adjacent columns with the same data points as the just listed call information.
In another display format, illustrated in FIG. 10, a list of options for a single underlying stock and by the same expiration month from a single specific exchange is displayed in ascending or descending order by strike price. Each row includes a single option call series and includes data on the last price, the change in price, the bid price, the ask price, the high price for the day, the low price for the day, the open interest, the volume and the time of the last trade. In this format, each series occupies an entire row extending across the width of the display. Accordingly, each series must be displayed on a separate row. The system enables the user to show a list of call series, a list of put series or an alternating list of calls and puts for a single underlying stock for a specific expiration month in ascending or descending order by strike price.
In another display format, illustrated in FIG. 11, a list of options for a single underlying stock in ascending or descending order by strike price for up to three different expiration months is displayed. For example, the first group of columns can list the strike price, put or call, and the underlying stock symbol, the next group of columns would show the last price, the bid price and the ask price for a specific expiration month. One or two additional groups of columns can also be displayed with each group of columns covering the next expiration month. In this particular format, the option data from a specific exchange for a specific underlying stock with the strike price listed in ascending or descending order for up to three separate expiration months is displayed.
A different existing option information display system displays only the National Best Bid and Offer ("NBBO") trading price information. The NBBO refers to the best available bid and ask price data from all the exchanges currently trading the option. Market data from the U.S. options exchanges is processed through OPRA. Many exchanges calculate the NBBO data using OPRA data from other exchanges and their own trading data. Some financial products are traded only on a single exchange. In such instances, the trading information for such a financial product at the single exchange is also the NBBO trading information.
This existing NBBO data display system includes displays similar to the other product described above. As illustrated in FIG. 12, call and put options can be displayed on a single row for a class of a specific underlying stock, a specific expiration month and specific strike price with six columns of data on either side of the series listing. Alternatively, as illustrated in FIG. 13, a single option series can be listed on an individual row along with twelve columns of additional data relating to the displayed series.
Existing option market data display systems and products have a number of drawbacks. Existing option market data display systems are not user friendly and are typically difficult for a user to manipulate. Existing option market data display systems do not focus the users attention to the ATM option series (typically the most actively traded series). Moreover, existing options market display systems do not enable a user to view several series at or near the ATM strike price for one, two or three different underlying stocks. Additionally, no product or system enables a user to quickly and easily view the trading information for a specific underlying stock, at or near the ATM strike price for several expiration months into the future.
Thus, there is a continuing need for an option display method and system that is user-friendly, configurable and able to quickly and easily supply users with the exact option and underlying stock information they desire. This system should display NBBO option trading data and the option trading data of a specific exchange or other type of trading facility on a single, easy to view display. This system should enable a user to select a specific option exchange's trading data to be viewed separately or in conjunction with the NBBO data. This system should illustrate the data in a focused manner emphasizing the most actively traded options. This system should be able to display option trading information for an underlying stock including one or more classes, and several series at or near the ATM strike price over several future expiration dates. This system should provide an option trading display system that highlights the bid and ask amounts that indicate those specific exchange quotes that are inferior to the NBBO quotes and those quotes that are recent updates.

System and method for displaying option market information


According to one embodiment of the topical therapeutic composition of the present invention, the composition comprises a combination of sulfur and Vitamin E in a range of about three parts of Vitamin E to one part sulfur to about equal parts of sulfur and Vitamin E. Preferably, the sulfur is in powder form, for example, sublimed sulfur, prior to mixing with the Vitamin E. The Vitamin E comprises either natural vitamin E (d-alpha tocopherol) or synthetic vitamin E (dl-alpha tocopherol) or a blend of both natural vitamin E (d-alpha tocopherol) and synthetic vitamin E (dl-alpha tocopherol).

Psoriasis is a common disease that affect may people. Hereditary factors are important. If one parent has psoriasis, the risk for the child is about 25% and if both parents have psoriasis there is a risk of about 60-70%. Drugs thought to precipitate or Worsen psoriasis include alcohol and, in some patients, beta-blocker and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory agents.
Psoriasis is characterized by thickened, erythematous, well-demarcated areas of skin covered by silvery scales. The extent of involvement ranges from isolated, small lesions to the whole body surface. There are several clinical forms of psoriasis and it change qualitatively from stable plaque lesions to an unstable form typified by eruptive inflammatory lesions.
Psoriasis is not a static disease: seasonal fluctuations, spontaneous remission, and physical and emotional well-being all affect the disease and hence its management. Most patients with localized, plaque-type psoriasis are able manage their disease at home with topical therapy with corticosteroid creams and ointments, which sometimes have serious side effects do to the action of the steroids. For more widespread forms, some form of phototherapy, either alone or combined with topical therapy is usually need. In resistant psoriasis, photo chemotherapy or systemic therapy may be indicated.

Topical therapeutic composition for and method of treating psoriasis


A communication apparatus selectively uses plural telephone sets and a line. The communication apparatus includes a circuit for detecting a calling signal from a line, and a control circuit for allowing a specific telephone set to receive an incoming call and ring among plural telephone sets on receipt of an incoming call.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a communication apparatus and, more particularly to a communication apparatus which is connected with a line together with telephone sets.
2. Related Background Art
As a communication apparatus, which can be connected with a telephone set through a telephone terminal, a facsimile apparatus, for example, has been known so far.
In this type of apparatus, singular or plural telephone sets are connected, and the line is jointly used by a facsimile apparatus and telephone sets by utilizing an outgoing and incoming control unit, a network control unit, etc. of the facsimile apparatus. As patents or patent applications for such an apparatus, U.S. Pat. No. 4,825,461; U.S. patent application Ser. Nos. 453,364 (refiled on Dec. 20, 1989); 106,783 (filed on Feb. 15, 1988); 470,461 (refiled on Mar. 13, 1991); and 465,652 (refiled on Jan. 22, 1990) have been filed.
When, however, a plurality of telephone sets are connected with the facsimile apparatus, there has been a problem that all telephone sets always ring even if one of the telephone sets is determined which is answered by an operator on receipt of an incoming call, and it is troublesome.
Also some facsimile apparatuses having an automatic TEL/FAC switching function are known in which whether the partner station is a voice terminal or facsimile terminal is automatically identified on receipt of an incoming call and the line is switched to either the facsimile apparatus or the telephone set accordingly. As patents concerning such an automatic TEL/FAX switching, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,677,660; 4,815,121; 4,800,439; 4,932,048 and 4,916,607 have been issued.
Moreover, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 573,684 (filed on Aug. 28, 1990) has been filed for a new automatic TEL/FAX switching system, and this system is shown in FIG. 3.
In FIG. 3, a plurality of sub-telephone sets are connected with a facsimile (FAX) apparatus, which detects an incoming call. When the FAX apparatus detects a calling signal from the office exchange at time T1, the NCU of the FAX apparatus catches the line at time T2, and detects a received signal from the partner station while transmitting a ring back tone RBT during the consecutive period t1.
In the period t1, the FAX apparatus detects a procedure signal such as a voice signal or a FAX calling signal by frequency discrimination, etc. When a FAX procedure signal is detected, the FAX communication is started. When, on the other hand, a voice signal is detected or a FAX procedure signal cannot be detected within the period tl, all the connected telephone sets (1, 2) are called in a period t3 (for example, ball ringing B is executed).
A telephone line can be jointly used for both voice and data communications in the above system. But, in the case of the voice communication, it always takes a fixed time to switch to the telephone set, increasing the communication time and cost. Also when a plurality of telephone sets are connected, there is a problem in which all the telephone sets are called.

Data communication apparatus connectable with a plurality of telephone sets and a telephone line


The present invention relates to a charging device (1), in particular an exhaust-gas turbo charger for a motor vehicle, comprising a shaft (3) which is supported in a housing (2), and which carries a turbine wheel (6) on the turbine side, and a compressor wheel (8) on the compressor side, wherein the shaft (3) is supported by means of at least one bearing device (9) in the housing (2), wherein a lubricant supply channel (10) is provided through which the bearing device (9) is supplied with lubricant, wherein in the lubricant supply channel (10), a filter device (11) with at least one filter element (12) is arranged. For this, it is essential for the invention that the filter element (12) is pretensioned by means of a spring device (13) against a seal seat (14), wherein the spring device (13) and the filter element (12) is formed in a manner that at exceeding of a predefined lubricant threshold pressure, the filter element (12) disengages from the seal seat (14), and releases a bypass (15) which bypasses the filter element (12).

Exhaust-gas turbochargers serve in a known manner for increased performance of piston engines by increasing an air flow and fuel flow rate per combustion cycle. Such an exhaust-gas turbocharger causes this by increasing the pressure in the intake tract so that for the combustion, a larger amount of air and hence more oxygen is available for a correspondingly larger amount of fuel. In the exhaust-gas turbocharger itself, a rotatably supported shaft is arranged which carries in a known manner a compressor wheel on the one end, and a turbine wheel on the other end. Due to the shaft's high rotational speeds which can be achieved during the operation of the exhaust-gas turbocharger, the shaft has to be sufficiently lubricated to prevent a quick wear. To be able to ensure the lubricity on a long-term basis, the lubricant used for lubricating the shaft is filtered, wherein even in case of a clogging of the filter, a sufficient lubrication of the shaft has to be ensured to avoid damage.
From U.S. Pat. No. 7,040,874 B1, a charging device of the generic kind is known in which in a lubricant supply channel, a filter element for filtering the lubricant is arranged. Should the filter element be clogged during the operation thereby losing its filtering effect, a plunger-like safety valve is provided which opens and releases a bypass line bypassing the filter element. In this case, the lubricant flows indeed unfiltered to the bearing device, however, it can be avoided that the bearing device is only insufficiently lubricated.
From US 2006/0193734 A1, a further bearing device of the generic kind is known.


Provided is a device, a method that allow a remote terminal to perform a process on the basis of a local-terminal-side user utterance. There are a local terminal and a remote terminal. The local terminal performs a process of a semantic analysis of a user utterance input into the local terminal. On the basis of a result of the semantic analysis, the local terminal determines whether or not the user utterance is a request to the remote terminal for a process. Moreover, in a case where the user utterance is a request to the remote terminal for a process, the local terminal transmits the result of the semantic analysis by a semantic-analysis part to the remote terminal. The remote terminal receives the result of the semantic analysis of the local-terminal-side user utterance, and performs a process based on the received result of the semantic analysis of the local-terminal-side user utterance.

Use of voice recognition systems that perform voice recognition of user utterances, and perform various processes and responses based on results of the recognition has increased recently.
The voice recognition system recognizes and understands user utterances input through a microphone, and performs processes that accord with the user utterances.
For example, in a case where a user makes an utterance "Tell me tomorrow's weather", the voice recognition system obtains weather information from a weather-information providing server, generates a system response based on the obtained information, and outputs the generated response from a speaker. Specifically, for example,
a system utterance="It will be nice weather tomorrow. However, there is likely to be a thunderstorm in the evening"
such a system utterance is output.
Note that a conventional technique that discloses the voice recognition process is, for example, Patent Document 1 (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2008-146054).
Use of smart speakers or agent devices used as terminals that perform processes and responses based on results of voice recognition of user utterances has increased recently.
However, it is difficult for a user who is unfamiliar with operation of information processing devices, such as the aged and the like, to sufficiently use such a device.
For example, it is often difficult for the aged to perform setting and everyday maintenance and operation of an agent device although it is intended that the agent device is disposed in a remote home (parents' home) where aged relatives live.
In a case where an agent device disposed at a remote place where the aged lives is operated, processes, such as instructing the aged who lives at the remote place by telephone or the like in how to operate the agent device to have the aged directly operate the agent device, may be possible. However, it is highly likely that the aged cannot operate it well. The circumstances are similar to circumstances where the aged makes an inquiry regarding a PC or an information device, and the inquiry cannot be easily solved well even though a support desk staff member verbally explains to the aged how to operate the PC or the information device.

Information processing device, information processing system, and information processing method, and program


A pharmaceutical formulation contains the following components in part by weight: (a) 1 part of the compound represented by Formula (I),

Steatohepatitis is a chronic inflammatory disease, thus long term medication is preferred. In order to be efficacious in treating steatohepatitis, the dissolution of the drug in the gastrointestinal tract is a prerequisite for transmembrane transport and absorption into the human body.
The compound shown Formula (I) (molecular formula is C28H32ClO5P, molecular weight is 514.98, CAS registration number is 852948-13-1) is a new oral thyroid hormone beta agonist (THR-β agonist). This compound effectively promotes the decomposition of fatty acids and stimulates the biogenesis of mitochondria by selectively activating THR-β and regulating the expression of downstream genes such as CYP7A and SREBP-1c, thus reducing low-density lipoprotein and triglyceride levels, which in turn reduces lipotoxicity and improves liver function and reduces liver fat. The compound of Formula (I) is a highly effective and low toxic candidate drug for nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). Formula (I) is shown as follows:

The compound of Formula (I), however, is a lipophilic drug that is highly insoluble in water. Its solubility in hydrochloric acid solution, buffer, and water without surfactant at 37° C. and pH 1.0˜9.0 is less than 0.5 ng/ml. The very low solubility limits its use in research and development as a drug candidate.
For drugs with poor solubility, in vitro dissolution evaluation is a simple and effective method for predicting and comparing dissolution in vivo. In vitro dissolution evaluation is also an important criterion for screening prescription drugs for quality control. The solubility of the compound of Formula (I) in a medium containing no surfactant is less than 0.5 ng/ml. Therefore, in order to completely dissolve the compound in a conventional 900 ml medium for a 10 mg/unit dose formulation, it is necessary to increase the solubility of the compound to at least 11.11 μg/ml. It would be difficult to achieve such a target with conventional solubilization technology.
For example, the relatively low melting point (65° C.˜95° C., depending on the crystal type) and low thermostability (when heated at 80° C. for 3.5 hours, 10.2% of the drug will undergo highly undesirable degradation reactions) of the compound of Formula (I) limit the application of the hot-melt method of solubilization; especially those hot-melt methods that prepare solid dispersions at a glass transition temperature (Tg value) greater than 100° C.
A commonly used solubilization method is the solvent method. Drugs that are poorly soluble in water are usually first dissolved in an organic solvent with good solubility such as methanol, acetone, dichloromethane, etc. Suitable polymer carrier materials are then added to the organic solvent to allow the drug fully dissolved or dispersed in the solution. The organic solvent is then removed (e.g. by solvent volatilization or spray drying) to produce a solid dispersion in which the drug is uniformly dispersed in the carrier material. While this method is suitable for the preparation of thermally unstable solid dispersions, but has significant defects: (1) it needs to be produced in a strictly controlled explosion-proof workshop; (2) the use of large amount of organic solvents, (3) the removal of organic solvents is slow (requires repeated oven drying-vacuum oven drying to remove); and (4) the toxicity of residual organic solvent to human body.
In addition, the compound of Formula (I) is prone to form a solvate; so the solvent method also has the defect that the compound of Formula (I) is converted into a solvate during the preparation of the solid dispersion.
Therefore, the technical problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide a pharmaceutical composition comprising the compound of Formula (I) and a preparation method thereof, that will maximize the dissolution of the compound of Formula (I) without the many defects of conventional solubilization methods.

Pharmaceutical compositions comprising a thyroid hormone beta agonist, method of use and method making thereof

Abstract: (b) 16 to 600 parts of a meltable and dispersible carrier comprising poloxamer and polyethylene glycol in a poloxamer-to-polyethylene glycol weight ratio of 1-0.5 to 1:27, and (c) 0.2 to 100 parts of a non-volatile weak acid. The pharmaceutical formulation helps to improve the in vitro dissolution of the compound of Formula (I).


Propylene is copolymerized with ethylene in solventfree polymerization in two steps where a resinous polymer is produced in the first step and a rubbery polymer is produced in the second step over a Ziegler catalyst whose solid catalyst component comprises a sub-component which is a solid catalyst component for a Ziegler catalyst comprising Ti, Mg and a halogen and which has, in accordance with the present invention, undergone mechanical milling. The solid catalyst components is specified. Less Sticky polymer powder is obtainable.

1. Field of the Art
This invention relates to a process for producing propylene block copolymers under the conditions where substantially no solvent is used in an improved yield, which polymers have high rigidity and high impact strength with good powder flowability.
2. Related Art
Crystalline polypropylene, while having excellent characteristics of rigidity and heat resistance, had on the other hand the problem of low impact strength, particularly low impact strength at a low temperature.
As the method for improving this point, there have been already known a method of forming a block copolymer by polymerizing stepwise propylene and ethylene or another olefin (Japanese Patent Publications Nos. 11230/1968, 16668/1969, 20621/1969, 24593/1974, 30264/1974, Japanese Laid-open Patent Publications Nos. 25781/1973, 115296/1975, 35789/1978 and 110072/1979).
However, when propylene and ethylene are polymerized in two stages or multiple stages, although impact resistance may be improved, there ensues on the other hand the problem that polymers of low crystallinity are formed in a large amount, because the product contains copolymer portions.
Also, for improvement of impact strength of a block copolymer, it has been generally practiced to increase an amount of a rubbery copolymer formed in the block copolymerization. However, formation of by-products may be increased, and the polymer particles tend to have increased tackiness with the increase of rubbery copolymers, whereby sticking between polymer particles or sticking of the polymer particles onto an inner wall of a reactor may occur, whereby it becomes frequently difficult to perform stable running of a polymer production reactor for a long term.
More particularly, poor fluidity of the polymer particles due to sticking of polymer particles will present a serious problem to operation of a process wherein no solvent is used, such as, e.g. gas-phase polymerization.
Accordingly, it has been desired to develop technology by which sticking of polymer particles is prevented when the content of a rubbery polymer is increased thereby to increase process stability.

Process for producing propylene block copolymer

Mitsubishi Petrochemical Company Limited


The present invention is a network architecture or framework that supports hosting and content distribution on a truly global scale. The inventive framework allows a Content Provider to replicate and serve its most popular content at an unlimited number of points throughout the world. The inventive framework comprises a set of servers operating in a distributed manner. The actual content to be served is preferably supported on a set of hosting servers (sometimes referred to as ghost servers). This content comprises HTML page objects that, conventionally, are served from a Content Provider site. In accordance with the invention, however, a base HTML document portion of a Web page is served from the Content Provider's site while one or more embedded objects for the page are served from the hosting servers, preferably, those hosting servers near the client machine. By serving the base HTML document from the Content Provider's site, the Content Provider maintains control over the content.

1. Technical Field
This invention relates generally to information retrieval in a computer network. More particularly, the invention relates to a novel method of hosting and distributing content on the Internet that addresses the problems of Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and Internet Content Providers.
2. Description of the Related Art
The World Wide Web is the Internet's multimedia information retrieval system. In the Web environment, client machines effect transactions to Web servers using the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), which is a known application protocol providing users access to files (e.g., text, graphics, images, sound, video, etc.) using a standard page description language known as Hypertext Markup Language (HTML). HTML provides basic document formatting and allows the developer to specify "links" to other servers and files. In the Internet paradigm, a network path to a server is identified by a so-called Uniform Resource Locator (URL) having a special syntax for defining a network connection. Use of an HTML-compatible browser (e.g., Netscape Navigator or Microsoft Internet Explorer) at a client machine involves specification of a link via the URL. In response, the client makes a request to the server identified in the link and, in return, receives a document or other object formatted according to HTML. A collection of documents supported on a Web server is sometimes referred to as a Web site.
It is well known in the prior art for a Web site to mirror its content at another server. Indeed, at present, the only method for a Content Provider to place its content closer to its readers is to build copies of its Web site on machines that are located at Web hosting farms in different locations domestically and internationally. These copies of Web sites are known as minor sites. Unfortunately, minor sites place unnecessary economic and operational burdens on Content Providers, and they do not offer economies of scale. Economically, the overall cost to a Content Provider with one primary site and one mirror site is more than twice the cost of a single primary site. This additional cost is the result of two factors: (1) the Content Provider must contract with a separate hosting facility for each mirror site, and (2) the Content Provider must incur additional overhead expenses associated with keeping the minor sites synchronized.
In an effort to address problems associated with mirroring, companies such as Cisco, Resonate, Bright Tiger, F5 Labs and Alteon, are developing software and hardware that will help keep minor sites synchronized and load balanced. Although these mechanisms are helpful to the Content Provider, they fail to address the underlying problem of scalability. Even if a Content Provider is willing to incur the costs associated with mirroring, the technology itself will not scale beyond a few (i.e., less than 10) Web sites.
In addition to these economic and scalability issues, mirroring also entails operational difficulties. A Content Provider that uses a minor site must not only lease and manage physical space in distant locations, but it must also buy and maintain the software or hardware that synchronizes and load balances the sites. Current solutions require Content Providers to supply personnel, technology and other items necessary to maintain multiple Web sites. In summary, mirroring requires Content Providers to waste economic and other resources on functions that are not relevant to their core business of creating content.
Moreover, Content Providers also desire to retain control of their content. Today, some ISPs are installing caching hardware that interrupts the link between the Content Provider and the end-user. The effect of such caching can produce devastating results to the Content Provider, including (1) preventing the Content Provider from obtaining accurate hit counts on its Web pages (thereby decreasing revenue from advertisers), (2) preventing the Content Provider from tailoring content and advertising to specific audiences (which severely limits the effectiveness of the Content Provider's Web page), and (3) providing outdated information to its customers (which can lead to a frustrated and angry end user).
There remains a significant need in the art to provide a decentralized hosting solution that enables users to obtain Internet content on a more efficient basis (i.e., without burdening network resources unnecessarily) and that likewise enables the Content Provider to maintain control over its content.
The present invention solves these and other problems associated with the prior art.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


Heat-shrinkable two-layer tubing comprising (a) an outer layer comprising a crosslinked resin composition comprising a fluorine-containing resin containing a vinylidene fluoride unit as a base polymer and a polyfunctional monomer containing at least two unsaturated double bonds in the molecule thereof, and (b) an inner layer having provided on the inner wall of the outer layer comprising a fluorine-containing resin composition. The tubing is excellent in heat resistance and chemical resistance and exerts an excellent sealing effect on heating.

A resin composition comprising a fluorine-containing resin containing a vinylidene fluoride unit and a polyfunctional monomer is known to undergo electron radiation crosslinking to provide heat-shrinkable tubing as described, e.g., in JP-B-43-29665 (the term "JP-B" as used herein means an "examined published Japanese patent application").
It is also known to provide a hot-melt adhesive layer on the inner wall of heat-shrinkable tubing, which is melted by heating simultaneously with heat shrinkage of the tubing to thereby fill the gap between an adherend surface and the tubing and, at the same time, hold the tubing in place. Many products utilizing such a two-layer structure have been placed in the market.
Examples of hot-melt adhesives generally used as the inner layer of conventional two-layer heat-shrinkable tubing include polyolefin resins, polyamide resins, polyester resins, butyl rubbers, etc. However, these materials are poor in chemical resistance and heat resistance. Further, the inner layer comprising such an adhesive acts to reduce flame retardance of the tubing as a whole. Addition of a flame retardant to the hot-melt adhesive to restore flame retardance leads to reductions in physical properties as an adhesive.
The conventional adhesives have poor chemical resistance and undergo degradation or denaturation in an acidic or alkaline atmosphere, unavoidably resulting in a reduction of sealing effect. Furthermore, the conventional adhesives have poor heat resistance and easily suffer foaming or loss of softness and eventually fall off upon being heated in temperatures higher than necessary or when used for a long time even at temperatures below the melting point.

Heat-shrinkable tubing and process for producing the same


A software program is installed somewhere on a network and acts as a custom proxy service. The software is used to filter content returning from a source to a web browser. At an appropriate point in the returning data stream, non-selectable content, such as, for example a corporate logo, or selectable content, such as, for example, a linking to other document sources or a print function, is injected. If the selectable content requires support processing, the software program installed on the network will process the selectable content and provide an end user with the processed information without requiring the end user's downloading device to process the downloaded information.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to web page applications.
2. Description of Related Art
Currently, it is well known to access information including downloadable information on distributed networks, such as, for example, the Internet and, more particularly, the World Wide Web portion of the Internet, using an information retrieval system, such as, for example, a computer or personal digital assistant (PDA) equipped with a web browser. Downloadable information can include, for example, files, folders, documents, pictures, movies, sounds, or the like. Additionally, downloadable information can be a part of the body of an accessed web page. Alternatively, the downloadable information can be in the form of a photograph, icon, symbol, hypertext, or other link to another web page. To access the contents of a particular linked web page, the link must be separately selected to access and open the linked web page. Once the link is selected and the linked web page is opened, a separate window containing the contents of the linked web page is downloaded to the user's computer or PDA and displayed. In certain instances, the downloadable information may require opening a separate application program before the downloadable information can be displayed.
Generally, when a link or other downloadable information is selected, the link or other downloadable information is accessed and downloaded to a memory portion of the computer or PDA that is being used to access the link or other downloadable information.
If the user desires to print or output the downloaded information, a job containing the downloaded information must be built. Ordinarily, building jobs from web-based documents requires downloading to the local workstation all of the desired information from the particular web site containing the information. Software embedded in the user's computer or PDA is then used to assemble the information into a job. Once the job has been assembled, the job is sent to an appropriate output device.

Transparent injection of specific content into web pages viewed while browsing


An acoustical panel for use in sound reduction in connection with air compressors and similar equipment includes two oppositely disposed layers of synthetic film material which in the preferred embodiment is polyvinychloride and an intermediate layer of acoustical insulation material disposed between the two outer layers wherein the preferred material for the intermediate layer is fiberglass. The acoustical panel is made in one embodiment by adhesively bonding the first outer layer of synthetic film material to one side of the intermediate layer and then adhesively bonding the other outer layer of synthetic film material to the opposite side of the intermediate layer. Once the adhesive bonding is completed, the outer peripheral edges of each outer panel are placed in abutment and heat-sealed so as to encase the intermediate layer. The encasement in layers of synthetic film material prevents any moisture absorption by the intermediate layer and the encasement further prevents any reduction in the fibrous content of the intermediate layer due to air flow pressure.

The present invention relates generally to insulation concepts and in particular to insulation arrangements for machinery such as air compressors.
Many commercial and industrial air compressor devices are utilized in work areas where the maximum noise level allowable is regulated by the government or is controlled based upon the general desire of those controlling the work area to provide a comfortable working environment. One work environment where substantial levels of noise can and are generated involve work areas where machinery such as air compressors are present. Although a variety of mechanical devices of different designs are utilized to provide compressed air for the workplace, there are several common features used in the design of most industrial air compressors. Included in these common features are an outer enclosure of steel or other rigid material, the necessary mechanical and electrical components to produce compressed air, and acoustical insulation materials placed so that they are between the enclosure and the noise-generating mechanism that produces the compressed air.
In many cases the environment in which the air compressor device is used exposes the enclosure, insulation and mechanical components to extremes in temperature, saturation by water, dirt, dust, and chemicals as well as exposure to various airborne particulates, liquids and vapors. The compressor must be designed so that the mechanical and electrical components and the acoustical insulation will perform as designed under any of these extreme conditions.
Much time and effort has been put into the design of electric motors, mechanical pumps and other machinery components over the years in an attempt to insure that these devices will not only function under extreme environmental conditions, but will at the same time hopefully meet or exceed various governmental and environmental rules and regulations. On an ever-increasing basis, there have been concerns and additional governmental regulations addressing the varous noise levels in the work place and in view of these concerns and additional regulations, attention has been focused on the development of effective sound-insulating materials and designs which will not only meet the required regulations as to noise abatement, but will also perform under the environmental extremes.
Unfortunately, to date, efforts seem to have been focused on one or the other of these two objectives, but not on both. Certain efforts have been directed to very high-quality sound-absorbing or sound-deadening designs, but these have not been designed in a manner so as to meet or exceed all the constraints imposed by the environmental extremes. Acoustical insulation designs which have a greater likelihood of success under the extreme environmental conditions described above, have not proven to be as effective in the area of sound reduction.
To date, the more common insulating materials have been either a flexible urethane foam or a fiberglass insulation material. Usually a facing is put on the exposed surface of both materials in an attempt to make them more durable for use in the environment with its various extremes. However, both of these materials have critical drawbacks when used in this particular application.
Urethane foam can be produced so that its cell structure is comprised of a large percentage of "closed cells" that will not absorb moisture, oil or other liquids. However, there will be some percentage of open cells in this urethane foam structure that can absorb moisture, oil, or other liquids. Once this material begins any type of absorption of moisture, oil or other liquids, this will reduce the acoustical insulation qualities of the urethane foam. Urethane foam is also a fairly delicate material which is susceptible to tearing and other damage due to handling and assembly into machinery. While some of this susceptibility to damage can be reduced by covering the urethane foam with a suitable facing material, the urethane foam is substantially more expensive than is fiberglass, approximately three times more expensive for the same thickness and density. If a facing material must be added to this more expensive urethane foam as a protective covering, this results in making the overall package even more expensive. Further, urethane foam does not perform as well as fiberglass in noise-absorption tests when using the same thickness and density of material.
With regard to fiberglass insulation, it is a much better sound-absorbing material than is urethane foam in its manufactured form. Fiberglass insulation is also more cost-effective in that it costs approximately one-third of urethane foam. However, there are certain drawbacks to the use of fiberglass insulation material and these drawbacks include the open fibrous nature of the material. This openness makes fiberglass insulation more prone to moisture absorption. If a liquid saturates the material, its sound-absorbing or sound-deadening qualities are dramatically reduced. Consequently, if the air compressor in which this fiberglass insulation may be used comes in contact with water or oil or other liquids, the open fibrous nature of the material allows absorption and an effective elimination of any sound absorbing or sound deadening properties.
With regard to air compressor designs, those which are of the enclosed type typically rely on some type of air flow in order to cool the electric motor or piston engine which is located inside. The piston engine can also generate an extreme air flow condition for exhausting its engine exhaust from the enclosure. These air flow extremes when blowing up against the open fibrous fiberglass insulation can actually erode fibers from the batting and this also has a negative effect on the sound absorption performance of the fiberglass insulation. This situation makes some form of a covering a necessity with fiberglass insulation. However, facing on one or both sides of the fiberglass insulation alone will not eliminate all the negative conditions because cut-outs must still be made through the material in order to allow pipes, wires and other functional conduits to extend through the insulation.
While the present invention focuses primarily on the specific design concept of acoustical insulation for air compressors and similar machinery, there are certain designs and insulation concepts which are disclosed in prior patents which may be of interest with regard to a more complete understanding of the background of the present invention.
Mueller (Pat. No. 4,359,085 issued Nov. 16, 1982) discloses in its exemplary embodiment two machines which are arranged in a common cabinet-like housing which is insulated toward the interior from sound conducted through solids and airborne sound. In order for fresh air to be supplied to the machines within the housing, common fresh air channels are provided which are connected by way of an inlet port to the exterior air. In order to discharge the exhaust air, there is a separately arranged exhaust air series of chambers and/or exhaust air channels which discharge into the open air by way of an common outlet port. The sound-attenuating material which is used in this design consists of two Unshaped covering parts 14 and 15 which are lined with a sound-attenuating material which is intended to insulate the housing toward the exterior from sound conducted through solids and any airborne sound. This is believed to be a fairly typical approach followed and there are not really any specifics given as to the interior design details of these two Unshaped members.
Holdsworth (Pat. No. 4,347,042 issued Aug. 31, 1982) discloses a motor compressor unit and a method of reducing noise transmitted therefrom. The motor compressor unit comprises a compressor for compressing a vapor, a motor for driving the compressor, a shell encompassing the compressor motor, and a supply of lubricant disposed within the shell. The motor compressor unit further comprises a lubricant-absorbent fibrous material which is positioned against the interior surfaces of the shell for dampening sound waves which are generated within the motor compressor unit. The sound dampening materials referred to include lining 20 and cover 22 and as indicated, the lining is intended to be of a lubricant-absorbent fibrous material which would of course reduce its sound-dampening abilities over that of dry material due to the enhanced sound transmission results through liquid as opposed to through air.
Crago (Pat. No. 4,264,282 issued Apr. 28, 1981) discloses an air compressor apparatus which includes noise-reducing means arranged in the form of a noise-reducing enclosure. The air compressor is disposed within a cabinet wherein the inlet and outlet channels that conduct air into and out of the enclosure are lined with sound-absorbing material. This material is an acoustical foam and is provided on these inlet and outlet chambers in order to absorb sound waves originating with the air compressor and passing through these chambers.
Davis (Pat. No. 4,150,913 issued Apr. 24, 1979) discloses a blower for industrial vacuum machinery which is constructed using an impeller with backward curved plates for flow stability and high efficiency under varying conditions. A muffler for the discharge of the blower is provided and noise-deadening material 66 is used to line compartments 58 and 59 and the material selected is a polyurethane packing material of the type used for protection of parcels against breakage. In particular, this material includes a plurality of bubbles which are incorporated in the foam. Again, this particular design like that of Crago is believed to focus on fairly basic approaches where the sound-absorbing or acoustical insulation material is simply exposed foam or fiberglass of similar open material which would suffer from the moisture-absorption concerns and air velocity concerns previously mentioned. These particular prior devices although showing the use of insulation material in the design of air compressors and similar machinery do not focus to any degree on the specific construction, nor do these designs address the problems alluded to above. Other patents are believe to fit into this same general category as the foregoing devices of Mueller, Holdsworth, Crago and Davis. For example, Brink et al. (Pat. No. 4,022,550 issued May 10, 1977) and Van-Hee et al. (Patent No. 3,989,415 issued Nov. 2, 1976) are directed to the same types of concepts and sound-absorption or sound-deadening approaches as the first four patents mentioned.
There are further series of patent references which may be appropriately grouped as to one general type and these include panel designs where the noise-making component is insulated by some type of enclosing or surrounding insulation material disposed between that particular component and an outside enclosure or shell. Representative of this grouping of patents are the following:
______________________________________ Pat. No. Patentee Issue Date ______________________________________ 4,411,592 Traver et al. 10/25/1983 3,947,148 Holt 03/30/1976 3,778,184 Wood 12/11/1973 3,736,074 Kilbane et al. 05/29/1973 3,688,867 Antonetti et al. 09/05/1972 3,676,012 Brockie 07/11/1972 3,462,949 Anderson et al. 08/26/1969 3,360,193 Harris et al. 12/26/1967 2,296,702 Butler et al. 09/22/1942 1,773,909 Korb 08/26/1930 ______________________________________
In each of the foregoing listed patents, very little attention is given to the specific construction and material selection of the sound-absorbing insulation material. While some attention is given to different insulation concepts in the Antonetti patent, as referenced in FIGS. 4 and 5, the concerns addressed by the present invention are not the focus of any of these earlier inventions. For example, in Korb (Pat. No. 1,773,909), reference to the insulating material indicates that it is only a "suitable" insulating material such as asbestos. In any environment where moisture or liquid absorption was a risk, this material would not be suitable used in this manner in view of its ability to absorb moisture and as a result the loss of any acoustical insulating properties.
Hornady (Pat. No. 2,235,962 issued Mar. 25, 1941) discloses an insulation panel which is used in combination with a refrigerating apparatus. The particular baffle shown includes a frame member 54 which supports a pair of screen elements 56 which in turn hold asbestos fibers 57 in place. The patent indicates that the asbestos fibers very effectively silence the noises yet do not deteriorate when exposed to the flow of lubricant and refrigerant. This patent also points out that sponge rubber which may have been used previously in order to deaden compressor noises could not be used in the cylinder head. What is not addressed in this particular patent as might be expected from its date of issue are the problems with the use of asbestos. As the industry has gone away from the use of asbestos, it has run head-first into the problems of using such materials as sponge rubber and open-cell foam or fiberglass, the same problems which the present invention addresses.
Guess et al. (Pat. No. 3,821,999 issued Jul. 2, 1974) discloses an acoustical liner consisting of a perforated honeycomb sandwich panel wherein the axes of the honeycomb cells are tilted relative to the outer surface for more effective absorption of high amplitude sound and shock waves over a relatively narrow band of the frequency spectrum. While this particular patent focues more specifically on the design of an acoustic liner and an application to specific sound frequencies, it does not address the concerns of the present invention with regard to air compressor noises and the use of an acoustical insulation design in an environment where exposure to moisture and other liquids is possible.
The present invention provides an acoustical insulation system that eliminates the previously outlined drawbacks of using standard fiberglass or urethane foam materials. The present invention Contemplates an improvement to the specific prior designs discussed above in that it provides the superior acoustical properties of fiberglass (as compared to flexible urethane foam) and it solves the problem of moisture/liquid absorption. The present invention is cost-effective in that it is significantly lower in cost than commonly used flexibe urethane foam materials and it holds up and performs under a wide variety of temperature and other environmental conditions including extreme air velocities flowing through the air compressor.


A protecting cover detachably disposed at an electronic device is provided. The electronic device has an arc side and a first magnetic element disposed in the arc side. The protecting cover includes a covering part and a pivot part. The pivot part is connected to the covering part, and the pivot part includes an arc area and a second magnetic element disposed in the arc area. The outer line of the arc area corresponds to the arc side, and the first magnetic element is magnetically attracted with the second magnetic element to make the pivot part detachably connected to the arc side. The protecting cover uses the second magnetic element in the pivot part to attract the electronic device with the first magnetic element in the arc side, and thus the protecting cover can be fixed at the electronic device.

1. Field of the Invention
An invention relates to a protecting cover and, more particularly, to a protecting cover of an electronic device.
2. Description of the Related Art
As science technology develops, various portable electronic devices, such as a smartphone or a tablet computer, are produced. However, the portable electronic device is easily hit or crashed by accident since it is carried and used anywhere with users. Further, the casing of the portable electronic device is easily worn out and damaged with high usage frequency. Therefore, protecting covers are available for protecting the portable electronic devices. Some protecting covers can be folded to support the electronic device, and the user does not need to carry the protecting cover and a supporter at the same time.
Meanwhile, a virtual keyboard on the touchable screen of an electronic device is used for information input. However, the virtual keyboard is size limited by the touchable screen. When the user needs to input large amounts of text, an external physical keyboard is required to improve the input efficiency and have a better feeling for typing. However, the electronic device, the protecting cover and the physical keyboard cannot be carried at the same time with users who do not want to be burdened with multiple objects.


Methods and apparatus are provided for training a neural device having an artificial nervous system by modulating at least one training parameter during the training. One example method for training a neural device having an artificial nervous system generally includes observing the neural device in a training environment and modulating at least one training parameter based at least in part on the observing. For example, the training apparatus described herein may modify the neural device's internal learning mechanisms (e.g., spike rate, learning rate, neuromodulators, sensor sensitivity, etc.) and/or the training environment's stimuli (e.g., move a flame closer to the device, make the scene darker, etc.). In this manner, the speed with which the neural device is trained (i.e., the training rate) may be significantly increased compared to conventional neural device training systems.

Field
Certain aspects of the present disclosure generally relate to artificial nervous systems and, more particularly, to modulating the training of a neural device having such an artificial nervous system.
Background
An artificial neural network, which may comprise an interconnected group of artificial neurons (i.e., neuron models), is a computational device or represents a method to be performed by a computational device. Artificial neural networks may have corresponding structure and/or function in biological neural networks. However, artificial neural networks may provide innovative and useful computational techniques for certain applications in which traditional computational techniques are cumbersome, impractical, or inadequate. Because artificial neural networks can infer a function from observations, such networks are particularly useful in applications where the complexity of the task or data makes the design of the function by conventional techniques burdensome.
One type of artificial neural network is the spiking neural network, which incorporates the concept of time into its operating model, as well as neuronal and synaptic state, thereby providing a rich set of behaviors from which computational function can emerge in the neural network. Spiking neural networks are based on the concept that neurons fire or "spike" at a particular time or times based on the state of the neuron, and that the time is important to neuron function. When a neuron fires, it generates a spike that travels to other neurons, which, in turn, may adjust their states based on the time this spike is received. In other words, information may be encoded in the relative or absolute timing of spikes in the neural network.

Methods and apparatus for modulating the training of a neural device


Embodiments disclosed provide access to Traversal Using Relays around Network Address Translation (TURN) servers using trusted single-use credentials, and related methods, systems, and computer-readable media. In one embodiment, a method comprises receiving, by a TURN authentication agent, a request for a TURN server credential. Responsive to determining that the request is authorized, the agent generates a trusted single-use credential and transmits it to the requestor. Using this trusted single-use credential allows untrusted clients to access a TURN server without exposing a userid/password combination. In another embodiment, a method comprises receiving, by the TURN server, a request for a TURN service. The server challenges the request, and receives a userid and a password. Responsive to determining that the userid and the password constitute a trusted single-use credential and responsive to determining that the request is authorized, the server provides the TURN service for the requestor.

In some circumstances, it may be desirable for two computers to directly communicate with one another. As non-limiting examples, such direct communications may be for purposes of file sharing or communicating with text, voice, and/or video. Direct connections may increase connection speed, thus facilitating real-time communications. For example, Web Real-Time Communications (WebRTC) enables browser-to-browser applications that may employ direct connections for voice calling, video chat, and peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing.
In many cases, such direct communications are impeded by the use of a Network Address Translation (NAT) system or a firewall system between the two computers. These systems can prevent communications attempts into a network that they protect, such as an enterprise network. A solution to this problem is a Traversal Using Relays around NAT (TURN) server, which may allow for a client behind a NAT or firewall to receive incoming data. The TURN server may act as a relay node and may accept connections to the client. All incoming communications for the connection travel through the TURN server, which relays the communications to the client.
Although the TURN server can be used to traverse around NAT or firewall systems, the use of a TURN server may create its own problems. For instance, using a TURN server may yield a relatively high consumption of both network bandwidth and computing resources. As a result, it may be necessary to control access to the TURN server by, for example, requiring a TURN client to provide a userid/password combination. However, requiring a userid/password combination may limit usability of the TURN server by restricting access only to trusted TURN clients, and/or may expose userid/password combinations to non-trusted users in a manner that may be maliciously exploited.

Controlling access to traversal using relays around network address translation (TURN) servers using trusted single-use credentials


A split gate memory cell is fabricated with a fin structure between a memory gate stack and a select gate. Embodiments include a first channel region under the memory gate stack and a second channel region under the select gate.

Split-gate flash technology has been widely employed in medium-low density applications. Conventional split-gate flash memory structures are designed, however, to share the same channel for read, erase, and program (or write) operations, posing severe reliability issues such as data retention and cell endurance. Efforts have been made to enhance data retention and improve endurance characteristics. For example, the structure illustrated in FIG. 1A, including a source region 101, drain regions 103 and 105, trench dielectric 107, channel regions 109 and 111, a floating gate 113, and a control gate 115, utilizes separate channel regions 109 and 111 for reading and programming. As shown in FIGS. 1B and 1C, a read operation employs the left transistor, while a program operation employs the right transistor. Consequently, the structure is less prone to deterioration because no programming stress is applied to the tunneling oxide layer with respect to the channel region designated for reading and, hence, offers better data retention and endurance, as compared with conventional structures.
This approach has proven problematic in several respects. For example, as shown in FIG. 1D, erase operations employ both transistors. As a result, erase and read operations are performed on the same channel, subjecting the reading-designated channel region to erase-induced degradation. The write-designated channel may also experience gate disturbance during read operations, causing undesired data leakage due to stress-induced leakage current (SILC). Additionally, the structure illustrated in FIG. 1A produces a low gate coupling ratio (e.g., CFG/CTOT) during programming (e.g., due to dual channels resulting in a rise in CTOT), indicating decreased program efficiency.
A need therefore exists for flash memory devices exhibiting enhanced data retention and cell endurance, and for enabling methodology.


A new and distinct cultivar of Nepeta plant named ‘Balpurrlu’, characterized by its medium violet-blue colored flowers, dark green-colored foliage, and moderately vigorous, upright-mounded growth habit, is disclosed.

The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Nepeta plant botanically known as Nepeta x faassenii and hereinafter referred to by the cultivar name 'Balpurrlu'.
The new cultivar originated in a controlled breeding program in Hem, the Netherlands during August 2015. The objective of the breeding program was the development of Nepeta cultivars having a long flowering season, large inflorescences, and an upright-mounded growth habit.
The new Nepeta cultivar is the result of open-pollination. The female (seed) parent of the new cultivar is the proprietary Nepeta x faassenii breeding selection coded C052-3, not patented, characterized by its light violet-blue colored flowers, medium green-colored foliage, and vigorous, semi-upright growth habit. The male (pollen) parent of the new cultivar is unknown. The new cultivar was selected as a single flowering plant within the progeny of the above stated open-pollination during July 2016 in a controlled environment in Hem, the Netherlands.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar by terminal stem cuttings since July 2016 in Hem, the Netherlands and Elburn, Ill. has demonstrated that the new cultivar reproduces true to type with all of the characteristics, as herein described, firmly fixed and retained through successive generations of such asexual propagation.


A method of making a pressure sensor or acoustic transducer having high sensitivity and reduced size. A thin sensing diaphragm is produced by growing a single crystal, highly doped silicon layer on a substrate using a chemical vapor deposition process. The diaphragm is incorporated into a pressure sensor or acoustic transducer which detects pressure variations by a change in the capacitance of a capacitor which includes the diaphragm as a movable member. The thin diaphragm produces a highly sensitive device which can be fabricated in a smaller size than sensors or transducers having thicker diaphragms.

Pressure sensors are used to detect variations in the pressure exerted on a surface or to measure the absolute value of the pressure exerted, and to convert the measured quantity into an electrical signal. A common use of such sensors is in the form of an acoustic transducer. Acoustic transducers detect changes in the pressure applied by sound waves and convert such changes into a varying electrical signal. Acoustic transducers may also be used in a reverse sense to convert electrical signals to pressure waves. When connected to an amplifier which drives a second transducer which reproduces the applied sound wave, an acoustic transducer can be made to function as a microphone.
One common type of acoustic transducer utilizes a diaphragm which moves in response to an applied sound wave. The diaphragm forms one plate of a two-plate capacitor. The movement of the diaphragm changes the separation of the capacitor plates, causing a variation in the capacitance of the capacitor. When used in conjunction with the appropriate circuitry, the change in capacitance produces an electrical signal which is proportional to the applied pressure. It is well known that the sensitivity of such a pressure sensor increases with a decrease in the thickness of the diaphragm. This is because a thinner diaphragm has less inertia and can respond more rapidly to small pressure variations. In addition, because the size of the transducer scales with the thickness of the diaphragm, reducing the thickness of the diaphragm leads to both a more sensitive and a smaller device.
FIG. 1 is a side view of a prior art micro-machined pressure sensor or acoustic transducer 100 formed by processing techniques used in the semiconductor industry. As shown in the figure, transducer 100 is formed from a silicon substrate 102 into which is etched an aperture 104 for entrance of a pressure wave. The pressure wave impacts diaphragm 106, causing the diaphragm to move in response to variations in the pressure applied by the wave. Diaphragm 106 forms one plate of a two-plate capacitor. The second plate is formed by a perforated electrode (not shown) located above diaphragm 106. Movement of diaphragm 106 causes the capacitance of the two-plate capacitor to vary, producing a changing electrical signal.
There are two primary methods currently used in the semiconductor industry to fabricate diaphragm 106 for use in an acoustic transducer. The first method is based on the diffusion mechanisms which occur in boron gas phase doping processes. This method uses boron tri-chloride (BCl.sub.3) as the source gas to produce a highly doped p+ layer which serves as an etch stop. While this method is capable of producing diaphragm films of thickness greater than one micron (1 .mu.m), it has not proved useful in producing thinner films. This is because it has not been possible to reproducibly grow highly doped films of thickness less than one micron in this manner.
The second method used for producing diaphragms of the type shown in FIG. 1 is to implant Boron ions into a thin film. The use of such a method in fabricating a differential pressure sensor is discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,332,469, entitled "Capacitive Surface Micromachined Differential Pressure Sensor", issued Jul. 26, 1994. However, such a method of forming the diaphragm is not useful for fabricating very thin diaphragms because implantation of the Boron ions produces stress in the film which causes buckling and cracking of the diaphragm.
Thus, both of the currently used methods for making diaphragms for pressure sensors and acoustic transducers are incapable of reliably producing diaphragms having a thickness less than one micron. As a result, the methods cannot be used to produce pressure sensors or acoustic transducers which have increased sensitivity and reduced size compared to currently available devices. Another disadvantage of the two currently used methods for forming the sensor diaphragm is that they result in the formation of a parasitic reverse biased p+ n diode (element 108 of FIG. 1) which acts to electrically isolate diaphragm 106 from substrate 102. This increases the power required to operate the device and reduces the responsivity of the two-plate capacitor, making the sensor less sensitive.
What is desired is a method for producing pressure sensors and acoustic transducers having a high sensitivity and reduced size which overcomes the disadvantages of currently used techniques.

Method of making high sensitivity micro-machined pressure sensors and acoustic transducers


The present invention teaches a method for surface treating an engine valve made from titanium or titanium alloy in order to form a hardened coating having a high level of adhesion to the surface of the engine valve, and also having improved abrasion and impact resistances. The method includes a hardening treatment process for forming a hardened layer on the surface of the engine valve by providing oxygen dissolved into the surface of the engine valve as a solid solution; and a coating treatment process applied after the hardening treatment process. The coating treatment process forms a coating on the surface of the engine valve by physical vapor deposition.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to methods for surface treating an engine valve made from titanium or titanium alloy in order to improve abrasion and impact resistances, and also to engine valves treated by such methods.
2. Description of the Related Art
Engine valves, which are used for opening or closing intake and exhaust paths of an automobile or a motorcycle engine, are strongly required to have seizure resistance, abrasion resistance, impact resistance, and the like, because the engine valves are used in a harsh environment. Thus, various techniques have conventionally been proposed that apply several coating methods to a surface of an engine valve made from titanium or titanium alloy, so as to form a hardened coating for surface protection. For example, Japanese Laid-Open Publication No. 10-238320 discloses a titanium alloy engine valve coated with a CrN coating by a physical vapor deposition (PVD) process. Japanese Laid-Open Publication No. 1-96407 discloses a titanium alloy engine valve coated with a nickel alloy coating by an electroless plating process.
Forming such a coating on the surface of an engine valve may improve the abrasion resistance at a stem or a stem end portion of the engine valve. Especially in the case of a coating treatment by the PVD process, since the PVD process enables the coating to be extremely high in hardness, an engine valve coated by the PVD process may be drastically improved in abrasion resistance.
However, a coating formed by the PVD process is insufficient in impact resistance, although excellent in abrasion resistance. Thus, the extremely high hardness of the PVD coating on one hand results in drastically improving the abrasion resistance, but on the other hand results in poor adhesion between the coating and the substrate of the coating target. This is why an impact may cause the coating to be peeled off from the substrate.

Methods for surface treating engine valves and engine valves treated thereby


The present invention relates to a nitride semiconductor thin film and a method for growing the same. The present invention has an advantage in that a plurality of grooves are formed on a substrate by partially etching the substrate, and leg portions for preventing longitudinal growth of a nitride semiconductor are formed within the grooves so that the nitride semiconductor thin film is grown laterally to cover top portions of the leg portions, thereby ensuring growth of a high quality nitride semiconductor thin film.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a nitride semiconductor thin film and a method for growing the same. More particularly, the present invention relates to a nitride semiconductor thin film and a method for growing the same, wherein a plurality of grooves are formed on a substrate by partially etching the substrate, and leg portions for preventing longitudinal growth of a nitride semiconductor are formed within the grooves so that the nitride semiconductor thin film is grown laterally to cover top portions of the leg portions, thereby ensuring growth of a high quality nitride semiconductor thin film.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, nitride-based semiconductors are direct transition type semiconductors and have been applied to light emitting elements such as light emitting diodes (LEDs) and laser diodes (LDs). Further, studies on application of the semiconductors to high temperature, high frequency and high electric power electronic devices have actively been conducted. Recently, much more attention has been paid to such semiconductors according to increased demand on light emitting elements.
Such nitride semiconductor thin films are mainly grown on sapphire substrates that are stable in high temperature.
However, since nitride semiconductor thin films and sapphire substrates have large differences in the lattice constants and the coefficients of thermal expansion, there are disadvantages in that a large number of defects such as threading dislocation are produced due to such large differences.
Thus, these defects cause a problem of the degradation of device properties.
Recently, in order to reduce defects in a sapphire substrate and a nitride semiconductor thin film, AlxGayInl-x-yN (0≦x≦1, 0≦y≦1, 0≦x+y≦1), SiN, or a stacked film on which these materials are stacked is formed into a buffer layer on a top surface of a sapphire substrate, and a nitride semiconductor thin film is then grown.
In this way, if a nitride semiconductor thin film is grown on the top of a buffer layer, the grown nitride semiconductor thin film has a low threading-dislocation density of 108–109 cm−2, thereby reducing a defect density.
Methods for reducing such threading dislocation include the following: 1) a method in which longitudinal growth and lateral growth are controlled by forming patterns on a sapphire substrate; 2) a lateral epitaxial overgrowth (LEO) method in which a nitride semiconductor thin film is grown on a top surface of a sapphire substrate, a certain pattern of a dielectric film is formed on the top of the nitride semiconductor thin film, and the nitride semiconductor thin film is then grown again; and 3) a Pendeo growth method in which a nitride semiconductor thin film is grown on a top surface of a sapphire substrate, etched in a certain pattern and then grown again.
Meanwhile, in order to fabricate blue violet LDs, or high output, high efficiency and high reliability LEDs, it is required to more reduce a defect density and to develop a method for growing a high quality nitride semiconductor thin film with a remarkably low defect density.

Nitride semiconductor thin film and method for growing the same


An apparatus stores one or more document information of which access right is managed by an access right management apparatus, and generates an index of stored document information. The apparatus receives user identification information, and sends the user identification information, and information for identifying document information of which index has not been generated to the access right management apparatus. The apparatus receives access right information associated with the user from the access right management apparatus, and generates index of the identified document information based on the received access right information.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to document management processing of a document management apparatus which communicates with a server device controlling access right, and controls a document processing request requested from a client device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Document management systems which include storage devices storing document information, and perform document search and document registration processing from a client device via a network have been realized.
With a document management system, access right as to each of documents is set for each user, and when accessing a document, the access right of a user as to the document is determined, whereby operations of the user are allowed or denied based on the determination result. Examples of the access right mentioned here include a reference right, a reading right, a writing right, and a deletion right.
Also, a set of one or more combinations of a user and an access right is referred to as a policy, and there is a technique for reducing complications associated with setting an access right by applying a policy to a document.
Also, there is a technique for listing the documents of multiple document servers as well as the access rights thereof (e.g., Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-085113).
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-085113 discloses listing the search results crossing multiple document servers as well as the access rights thereof. Additionally, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-085113 refers to a search program for confirming the access right of a document included in the search results by inquiring of a document server managing the document thereof.
The access right management using a document management system is only valid as to the documents within the document management system, and a technique such as the following is employed regarding the documents outside the document management system.
That is to say, this is a technique wherein a document is encrypted, authentication is performed when accessing the document to confirm the access right thereof, following which the document is decoded.
Such authentication or authorization (access right management) is frequently performed as to a dedicated server outside of the document management system. The access right management at this dedicated server is frequently performed employing the above described policy, so such a dedicated server is referred to as a policy management server below.
The system realizing the access right management employing such a policy management server is referred to as a Rights Management System (RMS). A document of which the access right is managed with RMS can be stored in the document management system.
However, with existing document management systems (including a document management system made up of multiple servers described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-085113), the documents of which access rights are managed with the RMS are encrypted. Therefore, full-text search information has not been able to be obtained.
Also, regardless of full-text search or attribute search, the search results are presented to a user without determining the access right as to a document included in the search results.
Therefore, it is difficult for the user to readily confirm the documents that he/she can access, so it is necessary for the user to confirm his/her access right by accessing each of documents, and inquiring of a policy management server whether or not the user can access the document, which is poor in convenience.
Also, in the event of presenting the result of full-text search to the user, though only the key words employed for search, a user is informed about the contents of a document which should be kept in secret by access restriction to begin with, which causes a problem even from the perspective of security.

Document management apparatus and document management method


Systems, methods, and computer-readable media are provided for reusing execution environments and code of serverless functions while ensuring isolation in serverless computing environments. In some examples, a method can include, in response to a first request to run a serverless function, executing, at an execution environment on a network, computer-readable code configured to perform the serverless function; after the computer-readable code has executed, modifying a pointer to an area of memory used to store a first state of the serverless function to reference a different area of memory; in response to a second request to run the serverless function, reusing, at the execution environment, the computer-readable code to perform the serverless function; and based on the pointer referencing the different area of memory, using the different area of memory to store a second state of the serverless function.

Cloud computing aggregates physical and virtual compute, storage, and network resources in the "cloud", and allows users to utilize the aggregated resources. Typically, cloud providers manage the infrastructure and resources, thus relieving this burden from users. Developers can use cloud resources to deploy applications without the burden of managing the infrastructure and resources used by the applications. For example, serverless computing provides a computing execution model that allows developers to build applications and outsource infrastructure and resource allocation and management responsibilities to the cloud provider. The underlying infrastructure used to run the developers' applications is hosted and managed by the cloud provider.
In function-as-a-service (FaaS) implementations, serverless computing is provided as a service for running code for a client. The client can use cloud resources to run code and pay the cloud provider based on the compute time consumed by the code. FaaS can greatly simplify application deployment for developers. For example, a developer can upload the code to the cloud, and the cloud manages the resources for running the code. The cloud executes the code in response to any event configured to trigger the code. When an event configured to trigger the code occurs, the cloud provider can allocate resources for executing the code. To provide isolation and increase stability, the cloud provider can provision cloud resources for the code on demand. However, this on-demand approach comes with a performance penalty, as response times and latencies are negatively impacted by delays in provisioning and allocating resources for executing the code.

Reuse of execution environments while guaranteeing isolation in serverless computing


An optical member includes a base body, a plurality of light-concentrating lenses and a plurality of light-diffusing patterns. The base body has a first surface and a second surface which is opposite to the first surface and receives light from light sources. The light-concentrating lenses are formed on the first surface. The light-diffusing patterns are respectively formed at positions of the second surface respectively corresponding to the light sources to reduce an amount of light reflected by the light-concentrating lenses. Each of the light-diffusing patterns includes curved surfaces extending in a first direction and has a width which is in a predetermined range. The light-diffusing patterns are separated from one another in a second direction substantially perpendicular to the first direction.

1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present invention relate to an optical member, a method of manufacturing the optical member, and a backlight assembly having the optical member. More particularly, embodiments of the present invention relate to an optical member disposed on light sources, a method of manufacturing the optical member, and a backlight assembly having the optical member.
2. Description of the Related Art
A flat panel display device such as a liquid crystal display (LCD) device generally requires a backlight device providing a display panel of the flat panel display device with light. The backlight device is disposed under the display panel.
The backlight device is classified as either an edge-type backlight device or a direct-type backlight device according to the position of a light source, such as a lamp, employed in the backlight device. In the direct-type backlight device, a plurality of lamps is disposed directly under the display panel. Therefore, since a large amount of light is provided to the display panel by the direct-type backlight device, the direct-type backlight device is generally employed in a large display device.
Nowadays, flat panel display devices are required to be thin. In order to manufacture a thin flat panel display device, the thickness of a backlight device has to be small. However, the lamps and an optical member, such as a diffusing plate, may need to be separated from each other by more than a minimum distance to improve the brightness uniformity of light from the backlight device.
Techniques for reducing the distance between the light source and the optical member without reducing the brightness or the brightness uniformity have been developed. Examples include an optical member having improved light-diffusing capacity and light-concentrating capacity and an optical member having multiple functions.
When the distance between the lamps and the optical member decreases or when a distance between adjacent lamps employed in the backlight assembly increases, a brightness difference between positions of the optical member directly on the lamps and positions of the optical member between the lamps may be increased. That is, bright regions may be generated at the positions of the optical member directly on the lamps and dark regions may be generated at the positions of the optical member between the lamps. The bright and dark regions may be, for example, linear.
In order to prevent the bright regions and the dark regions from being generated, a prism sheet may be disposed on the optical member. However, although the prism sheet is disposed on the optical member, the bright regions and the dark regions may still be generated. In addition, prisms of the prism sheet for concentrating the light may reflect a portion of the light perpendicularly incident upon the prism sheet so that the light passing through the prism sheet may form dark lines directly on the lamps.

Optical member, method of manufacturing the optical member and backlight assembly having the optical member


A semiconductor device manufacturing apparatus which uses a thermal CVD reaction to deposit a film onto a substrate has a ring with an electrode terminal that makes contact with either the substrate or the deposited film thereon, a power supply that applies a current or a potential to this electrode terminal of the ring, and a piston cylinder mechanism for moving the ring up and down, so as to cause its electrode terminal to make and break contact with the substrate or deposited film thereon.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for manufacturing and a method for manufacturing a semiconductor device, and more particularly to a semiconductor device manufacturing apparatus and method for the purpose of forming, using a thermal CVD (chemical vapor deposition) method to form on a substrate a metallic film such as a film of copper or aluminum, a high dielectric coefficient layer such as a layer of titanium oxide strontium, and a ferroelectric film such as BST or TZT.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, in fabricating a wire (a so-called damascene copper wire) by burying copper in a trench of a wiring pattern, a thermal CVD apparatus is used to deposit copper onto the substrate. FIG. 6 shows a general view of a thermal CVD apparatus in the past.
As shown in FIG. 6, a thermal CVD apparatus in the past has a hollow vacuum chamber 60, a vacuum pump 61 such as a turbomolecular pump for the purpose of exhausting the inside of the vacuum chamber 60 to a vacuum condition, a substrate holder 62, provided within the vacuum chamber 60, which holds a substrate W, a vaporizer 63 which atomizes the copper to be deposited on the substrate W as the raw gas, and a feed port 64 for the purpose of supplying the raw gas from the vaporizer 63 to within the vacuum chamber 60.
The substrate holder 62 has a substrate heating mechanism which is capable of controlling the temperature of the substrate W to within the range from 100° C. to 400° C. When depositing copper, the temperature is controlled to approximately 200° C.
Next, the method of depositing a copper film for the purpose of forming a copper wire using a thermal CVD apparatus of the past will be described. First, a trench is formed in the region in which a wire is to be formed on the silicon oxide film of the semiconductor substrate W.
Next, the above-noted substrate W is supported on top of the substrate holder 62 of the thermal CVD apparatus. The inside of the vacuum chamber 60 is brought to a vacuum condition beforehand by the vacuum pump 61.
Next, the substrate heating mechanism of the substrate holder 62 is caused to operate, so as to heat the substrate to a prescribed temperature. Simultaneously with this action, the Cu(hfac) (tmvs) raw gas, which has been vaporized by the vaporizer 63 is supplied to the supply port 64, together with a hydrogen carrier gas, and a copper film of a prescribed thickness is deposited onto the substrate W.
Then, using a CMP (chemical mechanical polishing) method, the deposited copper film is polished, so that copper remains only within the trench, thereby forming the copper wire.
In the Japanese Examined Patent Publication(KOKOKU) No. 1-19467 and the Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (KOKAI)No. 2-119125 and in the Japanese Unexamined Patent Publications (KOKAI) Nos. 3-97871 and 3-257099, there is technology disclosed directed to the application of a voltage to a substrate holder that holds a substrate in a plasma CVD apparatus.
The major reaction of the above-described copper deposition reaction is chiefly the disproportionate reaction2Cu+1(hfac)(tmvs)→Cu0+Cu+2(hfac)2+2(tmvs).
The rate of this reaction is established by the absorption of the 2 Cu+1 (hfac) molecules at the deposition surface and the movement of charge and removal of reaction products.
The driving forces of these rate-determining reactions are such things as the thermal energy according to the temperature of the substrate surface, and the amount of raw gas that is supplied, and it is difficult to improve the rate of reaction by means of these quantities.
The above-noted disproportionate reaction is, in principle, a reversible reaction, and it is thought that there is a limit to the control of the direction of the reaction by means of isotropic heat.
In formation of a copper wire using a thermal CVD apparatus of the past, in order to improve coverage it was necessary to lower the substrate temperature, which causes the rate of copper deposition to become slow (for example, 20 nm/minute). As a result, the time for fabrication of the semiconductor device becomes long, this resulting in a drop in productivity.
In the method of the past, because it was not possible to control the crystal orientation in the film that was formed, it was difficult to deposit a film having good quality with polarity alignment.
Additionally, in order to improve the reliability of the copper wires, it is necessary to control the grain growth in the copper film. With the method of the past, however, it was difficult to control grain growth.
In the plasma CVD apparatus technology that was disclosed in the above-noted Japanese Patent Publications, a bias voltage is applied to the substrate, and ions such as argon are allowed to collide with the surface of the substrate, the purpose being to impure the film surface purity and step coverage, and improve the flatness of the film surface, this being intrinsically different from the technology of the present invention, which uses an electrostatic action or the action of an electrical current.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to solve the problems noted above, and to provide an apparatus and method for manufacturing a semiconductor device, whereby it is possible to promote the deposition of a film and to control the rate of film deposition, the crystal orientation, and the growth of grains.

Semiconductor device manufacturing apparatus and semiconductor device manufacturing method