It has been discovered that organoamine modified siloxane alkoxylates overcome the antagonism associated with nonionic trisiloxane alkoxylates on pesticide uptake in plants. The organoamine modified siloxane alkoxylates of the present invention have the average general formula: AMe.sub.2 SiO[(Me).sub.2 SiO].sub.x [MeSi(Z)O].sub.y SiMe.sub.2 A, wherein x=0 to 1, y=0 to 2, with the proviso than when y=0, A is Z, A=is Z or Me, Z=RO(R.sup.1).sub.n R.sup.2 N(R.sup.3).sub.2, R is a divalent organic group having from 2 to 4 carbon atoms, R.sup.1 is an alkyleneoxide group containing 2 to 4 carbon atoms, R.sup.2 is a divalent organic group containing 2 to 6 carbons, R.sup.3 may be hydrogen, an alkyl radical with 1 to 4 carbons, an amino alkyl of one to four carbons, or an alkyl of 2 to 4 carbon atoms which may have hydroxy substitutions thereon. Each R.sup.3 may be the same or different.. When R.sup.1 is oxyethylene, n is from 1 to 10, preferably 2 to 5. When R.sup.1 is oxypropylene, n is from 1 to 5, preferably from 2 to 4. When R.sup.1 is a mixture of oxyethylene and oxypropylene n is from 2 to 10, preferably from 2 to 6, providing that the molar ratio of oxyethylene to oxypropylene is from 0.11 to 9. When R.sup.1 is butylene oxide, there must also be sufficient ethylene oxide such that the siloxane is water dispersible or soluble.

Many pesticides require the addition of an adjuvant to the spray mixture to provide wetting and spreading on foliar surfaces. Often that adjuvant is a surfactant, which can perform a variety of functions, such as increasing spray droplet retention on difficult to wet leaf surfaces, or to provide penetration of the herbicide into the plant cuticle. These adjuvants are either provided as a component in an adjuvant formulation or used as an additive in herbicide formulations.
Gaskin, et al., (Pestic. Sci. 1993, 38, 185-192) demonstrated that some trisiloxane ethoxylates (TSE), such as Silwet L-77.RTM. surfactant (available from OSi Specialties, Inc. of Danbury, Conn.), can antagonize cuticular penetration of glyphosate herbicide into grasses, when compared to the herbicide alone. The term antagonism is used to indicate that the treatment of herbicide plus adjuvant is less effective than the comparative herbicide treatment.
This antagonism can be mitigated if the number of ethylene oxide (EO) units contained in the TSE is increased to 17 or more; however, superspreading of the TSE is dramatically reduced once the degree of ethoxylation exceeds about 12 EO and TSE's containing the higher EO adducts show spreading properties similar to conventional nonsilicone surfactants.
Sandbrink, et al., (Pest. Sci. 1993, 38, 272-273) published that a TSE antagonized glyphosate performance relative to glyphosate alone in the control of Panicum maximum Jacq.
Snow, S. A. et. al., Langmuir, 1993, 9, 424-30, discusses the physical properties and synthesis of novel cationic siloxane surfactants. These siloxanes are based on the reaction of a chloropropyl modified trisiloxane with an alkanolamine, such as N-methylethanolamine, which was further reacted with a halide to make a quaternary surfactant.
Petroff, et al., (EP 92116658) describes the use of cationic, quaternary trisiloxanes to enhance the efficacy of glyphosate on velvetleaf, a broadleaf weed. Henning, et al., (DE4318537) describes cationic siloxanyl modified polyhydroxy hydrocarbon or carbohydrate for use with plant protection agents. These compounds are derived from a saccharide containing 1 to 10 pentose and/or hexose units, modified with a quaternary ammonium group, and a siloxane moiety.

Organoamine siloxane alkoxylate surfactants


An interactive voice response method and system is described. A computerized IVR dialer signals to an IVR system that it is capable of high speed operations. The IVR system completes the high speed operations handshake with the IVR dialer. The two IVR components then continue processing of the IVR call at speeds higher than likely obtainable in a conventional IVR call, e.g., one in which the IVR dialer is performed by a human caller. The IVR system and the IVR dialer may employ a high speed IVR script that eliminates many of the instructional messages provided to human IVR callers and also eliminates or reduces the duration of pauses between the communication of information.

Interactive voice response ("IVR") systems allow computers to interact with humans by using input means such as voice and DTMF tones. IVR systems typically provide verbal information to the user, and the user typically provides a verbal and/or a DTMF response to queries from the IVR system, depending on the configuration of the IVR system.
IVR systems are used commonly as customer support tools. IVR systems allow customers to interact with a company's customer interaction computing system (e.g., for functions such as obtaining bank balances and finding flight arrival times) via a telephone keypad and/or by speech recognition which allows users to service their own inquiries by following the menu and/or script provided by the IVR system. IVR systems deployed in a network are typically sized to handle large call volumes, e.g., handling all the flight schedule queries for an international airline. IVR technology is also being introduced into automobile systems for hands-free operation. Current deployment in automobiles involves satellite navigation, audio and mobile phone systems.
IVR systems typically interact with users by employing prerecorded or dynamically generated audio scripts that instruct users how to proceed in completing the specific functional task(s) that the user is trying to accomplish. IVR systems can be used to provide most functions where the interface can be broken down into a series of relatively simple interactions for the user to follow. Conventional IVR systems tend to be customized for specific companies and applications while typically residing in a framework that is generally ubiquitous across all systems.
While IVR systems have roots going back to at least the 1970s, computerized IVR systems began seeing widespread commercial success in the 1980s. IVR systems proved to be cheaper and equally reliable, if not more reliable, than using human operators for handling many customer tasks. IVR systems provided great improvements over operator-driven systems from the past, but the new area of computerized mobile communications—both smartphones and softphones on operating computers—provides opportunities to make the legacy IVR systems function even more efficiently, as users have the potential for being able to complete functional tasks using IVR systems without having the necessity for spending any time themselves engaging in telephone conversation with the IVR—apart from the possibility of spending a minimal amount of time entering some very user-specific information or from speaking with an operator associated with the website regarding a task not yet scripted by the IVR system.
Since IVRs have been architected for a pre-mobile phone, pre-smartphone generation, they often fail while performing complicated tasks at high speeds. The lost industrial productivity from workers being placed on hold while trying to conduct operations on an IVR system is tremendous, and overall productivity would likely increase if the functional tasks performed using IVR systems could be automated still further. In addition, IVR systems that engage with a customer longer than necessary causes an unnecessary cost to the organization hosting the IVR. A simple and robust solution is called for that makes IVR systems and customized IVR systems more ubiquitous, easier to provide high speed operations, and easier to maintain.
Attempts to solve these problems in the prior art have tended to be either overly complicated, overly expensive, or both. To further complicate matters, many corporations outsource to third party vendors sizeable aspects of their IVR system operations which complicates the process of developing tailored high speed IVR systems for a given corporation since so many aspects of the IVR systems are unique to the specific IVR system and its customer.
IVR systems provide great improvements over operator-driven systems from the past, but the new area of computerized mobile communications—both smartphones and softphones operating on computers—provides opportunities to make legacy IVR systems function more efficiently, as users have the potential for being able to complete functional tasks using IVR systems without having the necessity for spending any time themselves engaging in telephone conversation with the IVR—apart from the possibility of spending a minimal amount of time entering some very user-specific information or speaking with an operator to complete unscripted tasks. Overall productivity would likely increase if the functional tasks performed using IVR systems could be automated still further. A simple and robust solution is called for that makes IVR systems and customized IVR systems more ubiquitous, easier to develop, and easier to maintain.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Interactive voice response (IVR) routing system


The present invention relates to a method for determining a maximum performance gear for an automobile when performing acceleration/deceleration maneuvers and a system for enhancing a motor vehicle""s gear indicator capabilities. More specifically, the present invention relates to a method for determining the optimal gear for operation of a manual transmission by obtaining vehicle speed and engine speed data and filtering such data through a mathematical filter implemented by a microprocessor. The application of the filter that may be adjusted throughout vehicle usage to optimize gear and transmission operability.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to a method for determining optimal gear engagement for a motor vehicle, and more particularly to an improved filter method for processing the ratio of engine speed to vehicle speed.
2. Discussion
The ability to determine which gear a transmission should be engaged in is one of the most crucial tasks to master in order for a vehicle to operate correctly. The design of a manual transmission relies on the operator of the motor vehicle to determine the correct operable gear based on the vehicle speed and rpm measurements provided. In many cases, it is up to the skill of the operator to determine how to obtain the most efficient transition from gear to gear. Throughout a variety of acceleration/deceleration maneuvers, a transmission experiences a large amount of strain on the system.
In a typical power train system with a manual transmission, an increase in air flow occurs due to the operator""s foot being on the throttle. The increase in air flow increases the torque output of the engine. This is a shock load on the dynamic vehicle system and causes the vehicle to oscillate back and forth or shake. Furthermore, if the throttle is opened too quickly it can be expected that the car will start to shake and ultimately stop on its own. It is because of these problems that it is necessary to develop a new type of technology for power trains that may reduce above-mentioned gear transition problems.
One approach to addressing gear transition problems is the use of an automatic transmission. Essentially, the automatic transmission takes the task of determining when a proper gear shift is necessary away from the vehicle operator. Instead, a computer controlled system is integrated with the transmission and upon obtaining vehicle feedback, the computer determines the appropriate time for gear changes. The smoothness of the gear transitions obtained by the automatic transmission results in an optimal environment for the operator of the vehicle while enhancing the operating conditions of the vehicle.
Therefore, it is desirable to develop a method and system for determining the optimal performance gear for a manual transmission that is similar to that of the automatic transmission. Currently, engine control software uses the ratio of engine speed to vehicle speed to determine the gear in which a manual transmission vehicle is operating. This approach does not result in a clean stable output when performing engine acceleration/deceleration maneuvers. Therefore, the usefulness of the engine speed to vehicle speed ratio as a gear indicator is compromised due to the xe2x80x9cnoisexe2x80x9d that occurs during the gear output. In order to obtain a more stable output for gear feedback, a method for determining a continuous gear indicator system must be developed. It is also desirable to obtain a relatively simple operating system for a manual transmission which provides a more enjoyable atmosphere for the operator of the vehicle while decreasing the strain placed on the transmission.
It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are merely exemplary of the invention, and are intended to provide an overview or framework for understanding the nature and character of the invention as it is claimed. The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the invention, and are incorporated in and constitute part of this specification. The drawings illustrate various features and embodiments of the invention, and together with the description serve to explain the principles and operation of the invention.
The present invention relates to a method for determining a maximum performance gear for an automobile when performing acceleration/deceleration maneuvers and a system for enhancing a motor vehicle""s gear indicator capabilities.
One object of the present invention is to reduce the amount of xe2x80x9cnoisexe2x80x9d present in the output which occurs during acceleration/deceleration maneuvers throughout transmission gear stages.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a filter for the engine speed over vehicle speed ratio which currently serves as the gear indicator system for a manual transmission.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a filter that may be adjusted throughout vehicle usage to optimize gear and transmission operability.
In general, the present invention relates to a method of determining the optimal gear for operation of a manual transmission by obtaining vehicle speed and engine speed data and filtering such data through a mathematical filter implemented by a microprocessor.
Although the present invention has been desired on the basis of application with a manual transmission, the present invention may be applied to any sort of transmission which is not electronically controlled. This may include any automatic transmissions that are not electronically controlled by a computer, such as three-speed hydraulic engines.
Further areas of applicability of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description provided hereinafter. It should be understood however that the detailed description and specific examples, while indicating preferred embodiments of the invention, are intended for purposes of illustration only, since various changes and modifications within the spirit and scope of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this detailed description.

Filter method for engine speed to vehicle speed ratios


Transparentized paper is prepared by impregnating a paper web with a solution of a sucrose acetate isobutyrate in a lower alcohol and removing the residual alcohol. The preferred paper is 100% cotton rag content, the preferred lower alcohol solvent contains up to 5 carbon atoms, particularly isopropanol. In production, the transparentizing solution is applied to one side of a travelling paper web, excess solution is removed by an air knife, wire wound rod or other means, and residual solvent is removed by impinging hot air on the travelling web. The sucrose acetate isobutyrate can also be applied when fluidized by heating and in the absence of a solvent. The preferred content of sucrose acetate isobutyrate residual in the paper web is from about 10% to about 50% of the paper content of the transparentized paper.

This invention relates to improvements and innovations in transparentized paper and methods of making the same. Transparentized paper, sometimes known as tracing paper of vellum, has long been used as a drafting medium by architects, engineers and draftsmen. More recently, with the advent of computer assisted drafting, it is used in xerographic copiers and in computer driven xerographic laser and pen plotters. For xerographic applications it is essential that the paper be free of traces of solvent used in the transparentizing process. Such solvents cause severe damage to the organic photoreceptors used on the drums in xerographic machines. Among other properties required, a high level of translucency is needed in order to facilitate rapid reproduction of the drawing by those repographic processes using transmitted light.
In current practice, the required level of translucency is achieved by impregnating the paper, usually a 100% cotton fiber sheet, with a resin whose refractive index is close to that of the cotton fibers. Thus the resin partially fills the interstices between the fibers in the sheet, reducing the number of interfacial refractions a light ray must undergo in traversing the paper. The impregnation is usually accomplished by dipping the paper in a solution of an appropriate resin in an organic solvent, rerolling the paper containing the resin and solvent, allowing it to remain in pack for from several hours to several days, then removing the solvent by drying with heat. Heretofore, the resins and resin blends used for transparentizing have involved at least some of the class of hydrocarbon resins requiring hydrocarbon solvents for their solution. These solvents are difficult or impossible to remove completely from the cellulose fibers or the hydrocarbon resin transparentizing agent. Besides creating an unpleasant odor which is objectionable to the user, the residual retained solvent damages the photoreceptor coating on the drum of the xerographic machine when the paper contacts it. In addition, hydrocarbon solvents are hazardous to handle and are detrimental to the environment.
We have found that it is possible to eliminate residual solvent in the transparentized product by the use of a lower alcohol as a solvent and a mixed acetate isobutyrate sucrose ester as the transparentizing agent. The lower alcohols containing up to 5 carbon atoms are readily released by the completely esterified sucrose at temperatures reached during the drying process. The finished vellum has no odor and has no effect on the photoconductive coating on the xerographic drum.
A further advantage of this combination of solvent and transparentizing agent is the very rapid penetration of the sucrose acetate isobutyrate/alcohol solution into the sheet and the rapid attainment of a uniform distribution within the sheet. The need for a "wet pack" conditioning step is eliminated. The web may thus be impregnated and the solvent removed in one pass, eliminating one time consuming step in the usual process. In addition, the viscosity of the transparentizing solution is sufficiently low that the application to the web may be to one side only and the excess removed by air knife, wire wound rod other doctoring device. The alcohol solvent is readily evaporated with relatively low air velocity and temperature.
The sucrose acetate isobutyrate (Eastman Chemical) which has been used is a completely substituted sucrose compound with between 2 and 3 acetate groups and 5 and 6 isobutyrate groups. It is in an amorphous state at all accessible temperatures. Although hard at normal temperatures, the viscosity drops rapidly at elevated temperatures. At 160.degree. C. the viscosity is approximately 20 centipoise. This property is responsible for the rapid attainment of uniform distribution within the sheet even after the alcohol has been completely evaporated. In fact, we have found that paper can be transparentized without the use of any solvent by applying the fluidized sucrose acetate isobutyrate at 160.degree. C. to one side of a sheet and subsequently maintaining the temperature at 160.degree. C. or above for approximately 2 minutes to achieve uniform distribution of the transparentizing agent.
It may be noted that the index of refraction of this sucrose acetate isobutyrate is close to that of cellulose (1.45 vs 1.55 for cellulose) which makes it a very efficient transparentizing agent.
It is believed that the above desirable characteristics of sucrose acetate isobutyrate may be explained on the basis of its molecular structure. The hydrophobic character of the compound may be attributed to the absence of any hydroxyl groups on the completely esterified molecule. On the other hand it is suggested that the strongly negative carboxyl groups on the sucrose ester molecule interact with the polar cellulose unit thus contributing to the rapid attainment of uniform distribution within the sheet and to firm bonding with the cellulose fibers.
The object of the invention, generally stated, is the provision of high quality, transparentized papers which are at least substantially free of residual solvents and compatible with the organic photoreceptors used on drums in xerographic machines, and improved methods of economically producing the same.
This object of the invention can be achieved by impregnating a paper web, preferably 100% cotton rag, with a solution of sucrose acetate isobutyrate in a lower alcohol containing up to 5 carbon atoms, preferably isopropanol. After impregnation, practically all of the solvent is removed from the paper so that it retains no appreciable content of the solvent and preferably retains from about 10% to about 50% by weight of sucrose acetate isobutyrate based on the paper content.

Association of Capital and Employees, Inc.


The multi-threaded database system manages access to a plurality of databases. A separate thread is assigned to each of the databases so as to encapsulate activities relative to the databases. Threads may be performing separate activities independently of each other. As a result, a first database may be modified, added, or deleted while a second database is being accessed. The database system is especially well-adapted for use with an interactive voice response platform.

The present invention relates generally to telecommunications systems and more particularly to a multi-threaded database system for an interactive voice response platform.
In telecommunications systems, specialized computers known as interactive voice response (IVR) platforms or voice response units (VRUs) provide IVR services. The IVR platforms typically use pre-recorded voice messages to convey information to callers and collects data entered by callers from remote touch tone key pads. In addition, the IVR platforms can communicate with switches and other devices to provide desired functionality. The IVR platforms run special IVR application programs to guide call processing (i.e., the handling of the call). The application programs as well as data used by the IVR platforms may be stored in a database. Given that the IVR platform performs call processing in real time, it is critical that database transactions are performed quickly. In addition, since a single IVR platform typically supports IVR services for thousands of customers, thousands of different databases may be required. Unfortunately, conventional systems have difficulty in providing quick database access and also do not support thousands of databases. Another drawback to conventional systems is that updates to a database often interrupt current call processing.
The present invention addresses the limitations of conventional IVR platforms by providing a multi-threaded database system for IVR platforms. The database system is able to support thousands of different databases simultaneously. Each database may be assigned a different thread that is responsible for interacting with the database. The database system is configured so as to permit updates to the databases and replacement of selected databases without affecting current call processing. Moreover, the database management system is configured so as to provide fast access to the databases to support real time call processing by the IVR platform.
In accordance with one aspect of the present invention a method is practiced in a telecommunications system that includes an interactive voice response (IVR) platform for providing IVR services. A database system is provided for use by the IVR platform. The database system includes multiple databases and a separate thread may be assigned to each of the databases to perform operations on the databases. The first of the threads is used to access the first of the databases to perform call processing. The second of the databases is modified or a new database is added to the database system without interrupting the processing of the call by the first thread.
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, the database system includes a plurality of databases that hold information for use by an IVR platform. The databases are logically grouped into subsets. The database system includes an interface to the IVR platform to facilitate communications between the database system and the IVR platform. A separate thread is associated with each of the databases to perform operations on the associated database. A separate thread is provided for each of the subsets of the databases for communicating with the thread and the IVR platform via the interface.
In accordance with a further aspect of the present invention, a telecommunications network includes an IVR platform for providing IVR services to callers. The telecommunications network also includes a database system for the IVR platform. The database system includes a plurality of databases holding application""s data for use by the IVR platform. The database system also includes a database management system for managing access to the databases. A separate thread is provided for each database to perform operations on the database.

Multi-threaded database system for an interactive voice response platform


A TFT device has an insulation substrate, a semiconductor layer formed on the insulation substrate, a pair of opposed electrodes formed on the semiconductor layer, and a gate electrode formed on the semiconductor layer with an insulation film interposed therebetween, wherein a region doped with at least one type of impurity selected from atoms belonging to the V group of the periodic table is formed in the semiconductor layer at the vicinity of the interface between the semiconductor layer and the insulation layer.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a TFT device, particularly to a TFT device of a photoelectric converter suitable for use as a photosensor and/or a driver for driving the photosensor.
2. Related Background Art
Photosensors have been used heretofore as a photoelectric converter of an image information processing apparatus such as facsimile apparatus, digital copying machines and image readers.
Specifically, amorphous silicon hydride (hereinafter denominated a-Si:H) thin film transistors have been used recently as photosensors of a high sensitivity image reader which is constructed of elongated line sensors made of one-dimensionally aligned photosensors. Photosensors using thin film transistors are mainly divided into photodiode type and photoconductive type.
In photodiode type photosensors, since a reverse bias voltage is applied across a junction between electrodes, pairs of light-induced electrons and holes are respectively driven to the corresponding electrodes. Thus, only a primary photocurrent flows without injecting carriers from the electrodes.
In contrast, with the above, a photoconductive type photosensor allows electrons or holes to be injected from an electrode so that the density of electrons or holes within a semiconductor region becomes sufficiently high to obtain considerably larger output current (secondary photocurrent) than that of a photodiode type, by applying a voltage between electrodes.
The following prior art is known and have been proposed with respect to a photoelectric converter having photoconductive type photosensors:
(1) A photosensor shown in FIG. 1 (Journal of the Institute of Image Electronics in Japan, Vol. 15, No. 1, 1986 is hereafter referred to as a Prior Art).
In the photosensor shown in FIG. 1, formed on an insulation substrate 1 such as glass or ceramics is a semiconductor layer 2 serving as a photoconductive layer such as CdS.Se or a-Si:H. There are also formed thereon a pair of main electrodes 4 and 4' on doped semiconductor layers 3 and 3' serving as ohmic contacts. In this case, the doped semiconductor layers 3 and 3' are n-type in case that carriers injected into the semiconductor layer 2 from the electrode are electrons, and p-type if carriers are holes.
With the construction as above, as light is applied to the semiconductor layer 2 from the insulation substrate 1 (provided that the insulation substrate 1 is transparent) side or from the main electrode 4, 4' side, electrons or holes contributing to conduction are light-induced within the semiconductor layer 2 between the main electrodes 4 and 4' and the density thereof becomes high.
Accordingly, as shown in the Figure, as a voltage is applied between the main electrodes 4 and 4', a light-induced large secondary current flows as a signal current to allow a large output to be developed across a load resistor (not shown).
(2) A prior art reference using a TFT device shown in FIG. 2 as a photosensor (Japanese Patent Application No. 142986/1986 is hereafter referred to as Prior Art 1).
This Prior Art 1 has been proposed by the present applicant wherein auxiliary electrodes are provided at a sensor portion to stabilize a photocurrent and improve the linearity of dependence of a photocurrent upon illumination.
FIG. 2 is an illustrative view of a basic structure showing a photoconductive type sensor and its drive element of an improved photoelectric converter already proposed by the present applicant. Similar elements to those shown in FIG. 1 are represented by using identical reference numbers.
Referring to FIG. 2, formed on a transparent or opaque insulation substrate 1 are a gate electrode 5 made of a patterned transparent or opaque conductive layer, and an insulation film 6 made of insulation material such as SiOx or SiNx by means of the sputter method or the glow discharge method. Formed on the insulation film 6 are a semiconductor layer 2 made of a-Si:H serving as a photoconductive layer as discussed before, doped semiconductor layers 3 and 3' made of a-Si:H, and main electrodes 4 and 4' (in this case, the main electrode 4 is a drain electrode and the main electrode 4' is a source electrode).
Assuming that electrons are injected carriers, the doped semiconductor layers 3 and 3' are made of n-type a-Si:H.
With the photoconductive type sensor as above, a DC source 7 is connected between the drain electrode 4 and the source electrode 4', and a variable DC source 8 is connected between the source electrode 4' and the gate electrode 5. The variable DC source 8 can also reverse the polarity.
In this example, the sensor portion operates at a gate negative potential (V.sub.G). As shown in FIG. 3A, according to the space charge distribution of the Poisson formula, the energy band in case of a non-doped i-type a-Si:H layer is usually provided with a depletion area by about 1 micron. Namely, the gate side of the i-type semiconductor layer 13 is strongly inverted to p-type.
(3) A Prior art using the TFT shown in FIG. 2 as a photosensor and as a drive element therefor (EP Laid-Open Publication No. 232,083. Hereinafter referred to as Prior Art 2.
The above-described Prior Arts, however, have the following problems and some points require improvement:
(1) Prior Art
The linearity (.gamma.:Ip.alpha.F) of dependence of a photocurrent upon strength of light is poor (i.e., .gamma. becomes less than 1), wherein F represents the illumination of light incident on the region between the main electrodes 4 and 4' from the main electrodes side of the sensor shown in FIG. 1, and Ip represents a photocurrent flowing through the main electrodes 4 and 4'.
(2) Prior Art 1 has also the following points which can undergo some improvements. First, an example of the linearity (.gamma.:Ip.alpha.F) of dependence of a photocurrent upon light amount is shown in FIG. 4, wherein F represents the illumination of light incident to the region between the main electrodes 4 and 4' from the main electrodes side of the sensor shown in FIG. 2, and Ip represents a photocurrent flowing through the main electrodes 4 and 4'.
In FIG. 4, a curve (a) indicates a photocurrent Ip flowing through the photosensor shown in FIG. 2, and a curve (b) indicates a .gamma. value.
As seen from FIG. 4, if the photosensor of Prior Art 1 operates at a negative potential of the gate electrode 5, the linearity of dependence of a photocurrent upon the light amount is improved but the amount of photocurrent is reduced. That feature should undergo some improvements.
It is considered that the reduction of photocurrent is caused by a low gain G=.mu..tau. E/L of a secondary photocurrent due to a short life of light-induced carriers (electrons in this case) on the gate side of the i-type semiconductor layer which has been strongly inverted to p-type. Symbols of the above equation are defined as:
.mu.: electron mobility PA0 .tau.: life of electron PA0 E: electric field PA0 L: distance between electrodes.
To obtain photocurrent sufficient for operating the line sensor, it is necessary to make a film thickness of the semiconductor layer large, generally thicker than 0.5 micron and in some cases 1 to 2 microns. Therefore, not only the time required for forming a film becomes long, but also the contact hole for the gate electrode must be formed deeper, thus leading to potential failure of contacts and inconvenience in the manufacture.
Further, since the energy band of the semiconductor layer is almost uniformly inclined, the surface of the gap portion between the main electrodes 4 and 4' is susceptible to the influence of ions and moisture, and carriers are likely to be trapped at a deep interfacial level present at the interface between the semiconductor layer and the gate insulation film. Accordingly, the conditions of forming a passivation or an interface have been restricted.
(3) Prior Art 2 has also the following points to be improved.
According to Prior art 2 utilizing the TFT device shown in FIG. 2 as a photosensor and as its drive element, there are occasionally a plurality of traps at the vicinity of the interface between the gate insulation film 12 and the semiconductor layer 13 of the TFT device (See FIGS. 3A-3D) so that carriers are trapped gradually. Therefore, there remain several points which require improvement, notably a threshold voltage V.sub.TH which fluctuates, a drain current which changes in time, the TFT device is susceptible to the effects (caused by traps generated by ions or moisture) of the interface, and the stability and reproductiveness of a semiconductor layer at the vicinity of the interface are poor.


A system is provided that manages a geographic space including a route on which a moving object moves, including a plurality of subsystems operable to respectively manage maps of a plurality of regions obtained by dividing the geographic space, and a region manager operable to adjust loads of the subsystems by dynamically changing a boundary of at least one region among the plurality of regions. Also provided is a method and computer program product.

The present invention relates to a system for managing geographic space and providing navigational support.
As Driving support systems, such as the system in U.S. Pat. No. 8,620,510, determine an optimum use of a plurality of vehicles in searching a predefined geographic area, such as determining an optimum path through a particular vehicle's assigned subregion to minimize the time needed for each specific vehicle to traverse its associated subregion. Other driving support systems, such as the system in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2014/0248899, manage positioning assistance data for large regions including retrieving positioning assistance data at a mobile device by identifying a master region in which the mobile device is located and sub-region definitions associated with the master region, where the sub-region definitions are indicative of area occupied by the sub-regions within the master region.
However, as the geographic space being handled by such systems expands, the amount of information being transmitted, received, and processed increases, and the corresponding load might exceed the processing power of a single server. Even if the geographic space is divided, and a plurality of servers are used to process the spaces resulting from the division, automobiles move at high speeds among the plurality of divided geographic spaces, and therefore further communication between the servers is necessary, such that the processing capability may be exceeded even when a plurality of servers are used. Furthermore, when the geographic space is divided, the density of roads, the number of moving automobiles, and the like is different in each geographic space resulting from the division, and therefore there is a difference in system resources and workloads among servers, such that an overall efficiency of the system may drop when a load is focused on a certain server.

International Business Machines Corporation


An improved solder is provided by imbedding solder with metallized fibers. he improved solder is then used to bridge a nonmetallic gap between two separated metallic surfaces by placing the improved solder on the gap and then applying heat to cause the improved solder to melt and flow and bridge the gap and connect the two separated metallic surfaces.

Currently, electrical solder connections are made with a lead/tin or other metal alloy. Problems exist with this method. That is, solder will only adhere to metallized surfaces as for example, copper. Moreover, solder exhibits cohesion effects that tend to make the solder form into globs. Then too, solder is typically "soft" (that is, malleable). The first two effects make it difficult to bridge nonmetallic gaps greater than 0.1 millimeter between metallic surfaces. The third effect makes the connection weak or of low tensile and shear strength.

Method of using an improved solder to bridge a nonmetallic gap between metallic surfaces, said improved solder, and an improved solder connection to bridge a nonmetallic gap between metallic surfaces

The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Army


A bus bar has a lead portion and a bus bar portion which are integrally shaped. The lead portion is provided in such a shape that branches from the bus bar portion. A part of the lead portion forms a connection part directly electrically connected with a transistor electrode and a diode electrode by a connecting material such as solder. The thickness of the lead portion including the connection part is made smaller than the thickness of the bus bar portion. Accordingly, such an interconnection structure can be provided in which the electrode of the semiconductor device and the bus bar are electrically directly connected with each other and thermal stress at the connection part therebetween can be relieved.

In a power conversion apparatus such as an inverter integrated into a motor, the electrodes of semiconductor devices included in the power conversion apparatus are electrically connected with other circuit components using a bus bar, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laying-Open Nos. 2006-262664, 2004-364427, 2004-040877, 2005-261035, and 2006-074918.
In particular, Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2006-262664 discloses a power conversion apparatus suitable for motor drive of a hybrid vehicle, in which the top and bottom surfaces of such a structure as an inverter including semiconductor devices and bus bars are laminated with insulating films so that a plurality of semiconductor devices and circuits are collectively insulated. In particular, in a structure disclosed in Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2006-262664, electrodes of semiconductor devices and bus bars are directly connected with each other without bonding wire. Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2004-364427 discloses that bus bars are connected to both surfaces of a semiconductor device in order to establish electrical connection.
However, in the structure in which an electrode of a semiconductor device and a bus bar are directly connected with each other as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laying-Open Nos. 2006-262664 and 2004-364427, the bus bar is thermally expanded due to a temperature rise resulting from current passing or heat from the semiconductor device, so that thermal stress acts on a connection portion. Considering that a temperature rise is relatively large in an inverter having a bus bar connected to a plurality of semiconductor devices and that size reduction is demanded for a high-power, power conversion apparatus typically applied to a vehicle, such an interconnection structure is requested that can stably secure electrical connection between an electrode of a semiconductor device and a bus bar even at a temperature rise.

Semiconductor power conversion apparatus and method of manufacturing the same


Novel, simple methods are presented directed to the synthesis of nanofibers of polyaniline and substituted derivatives. The production of these fibers is achieved via various methods by controlling the concentration of aniline monomer or substituted aniline derivatives or an oxidant in the reaction medium and maintaining said concentration at a level much lower than conventional polyaniline synthesis methods. Methods are disclosed relating to the use of a permeable membrane to control the release of a monomer and/or oxidant as well as a bulk polymerization method.

This application claims the priority benefit of U.S. application Ser. No. 60/583,570, filed Jun. 28, 2004, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
Electroconductive polymers have been subject to extensive research in recent years. Polymers which show electrical conductivity due to the structure of the polymeric chain may be used to replace metal conductors and semiconductor materials in many applications. Significant applications include providing a conductive pathway in circuits and devices, displays, lighting, chemical, biological, environmental and medical sensors, anticorrosive coatings, scaffolds for tissue growth, antistatic shielding (ESD) and electromagnetic shielding (EMI).
In the group of intrinsically electroconductive polymers, one technically promising polymer is polyaniline. Polyaniline has emerged as one of the most promising conducting polymers and can be used in a variety of applications, such as paint, antistatic protection, electromagnetic radiation protection, electro-optic devices such as liquid crystal devices (LCDs), light emissive displays, lighting and photocells, transducers, circuit boards, chemical, biological, environmental and medical sensors, anticorrosive coatings, scaffolds for tissue growth, etc.
Polyaniline is one of a class of conductive polymers, which can be synthesized through either chemical polymerization or electrochemical polymerization. Polyaniline is conventionally prepared by polymerizing an aniline monomer. The nitrogen atoms of monomer units are bonded to the para-carbon in the benzene ring of the next monomer unit. In chemical preparation, bulk polymerization is the most common method to make polyaniline. As has been previously reported, conventional bulk chemical synthesis produces granular polyaniline.
Polyaniline nanofibers have attracted much attention in the field of nanotechnology. There have been recent reports of a variety of chemical methods used in order to obtain polyaniline nanofibers. These approaches include use of templates or surfactants, electrospinning, coagulating media, interfacial polymerization, seeding, and oligomer-assisted polymerization.

Synthesis of nanofibers of polyaniline and substituted derivatives


A main compactor and a tail compactor are independently movable with respect to a tape laying head when compacting composite tape. A piston-driven linkage switches the two compactors alternately to a tape laydown point defined with respect to the tape head.

In the field of advanced composites, where a composite tape of fiber reinforced resin is laid on a tool to create laminated structures such as aircraft parts, it is necessary to lay progressive runs of tape at angles other than 90.degree. and 0.degree. with the tool. When laying cross plies, for example at 45.degree., it is often necessary to cut the end of the tape strip at some angle other than 90.degree. with the tape length, and a problem may arise when a primary compacting member spans adjacent pieces, which are carried on a backing.


A method for detecting and preventing the operation of a rogue access point (AP) by issuing deauthentication packets thereto includes receiving beacon packets of all wireless APs in a wireless network area, obtaining timestamps, and establishing a clock skew model for each wireless AP accordingly. Each clock skew model can be held abnormal according to a growth slope of the clock skew model, and the wireless AP corresponding to an abnormal clock offset model can be defined as a rogue AP. Position and distance range of the rogue AP can be established by RSSIs, and a specified authorized AP adjacent to the rogue AP can be selected and controlled to send deauthentication packets to the rogue AP. A device for detecting and restraining the rogue AP is also provided.

In a wireless network area, one or more wireless access points (APs) may join the wireless network area without permission. Such an AP without permission can be defined as a rogue AP. The rogue APs and wireless devices connected to the rogue APs occupy wireless channels of the wireless network area at the cost to authorized APs and innocent users of the wireless network area of low wireless throughput. An attacker may also steal user information by accessing the rogue AP.
Thus, there is a room for improvement.

Method for detecting and filtering out unauthorized wireless access point and device using the method

NANNING FUGUI PRECISION INDUSTRIAL CO., LTD.


A method for configuring a hydraulic actuator to provide energy dissipation capabilities during low energy collisions while controlling energy dissipation during high energy collisions comprises biasing a valve member towards a closed position with a resilient member having a rigidity of between 600 and 1500 lbs/in, applying a low preload to the resilient member, and restricting the flow of fluid by using a stop to limit movement of the valve member away from the closed position.

This invention relates to actuators and to energy dissipation devices therefor and, in particular, to energy dissipation valves for hydraulic actuators used for tiltable marine drive units.
Linear hydraulic actuators typically include a piston reciprocatingly received within a cylinder. A piston rod is connected to the piston and extends through one end of the cylinder at least. The piston is moved by supplying pressurized hydraulic fluid to the cylinder on one side of the piston, causing the piston to move in the opposite direction. These actuators may be used for many purposes including tilt actuators and/or trim actuators for tiltable marine drive units. Tilt actuators are used to tilt outboard motors or inboard/outboard drives located at the stern of the marine craft. Tilt actuators tilt the drive units downwardly to render the drive units operational and tilt the drive units upwardly when not in use. Trim cylinders are used to adjust the angle of the drive units for proper operation of the marine craft.
Such drive units have a leg which extends downwardly with a propeller located near the bottom thereof. The leg and propeller are located below the bottom of the marine craft and are susceptible to hitting underwater objects. Damage to the drive unit, the marine craft itself or both the drive unit and the marine craft may occur as a result of such collisions. Accordingly it is conventional to permit extension of the tilt actuators and trim actuators under shock loading as occurs during collisions was underwater objects. This is conventionally achieved by providing energy dissipation valves or impact valves for tilt actuators and/or trim actuators. These valves are typically located on the piston of such an actuator and may comprise a spring-loaded valve member located on the passageway through the piston. An impact event increases pressure in the hydraulic fluid sufficiently to move the valve member against the spring and allow hydraulic fluid to flow through the passageway from one side of the piston to the other. This allows the actuator to extend as a result of an impact event. The extension of the actuator allows the drive unit to dissipate energy by tilting upwardly and minimizes damage resulting from the impact.
However the configuration and specifications of such valves had to be tightly controlled in order to provide proper energy dissipation. Simply put, if the valves only release once the pressure is at too high a level, then the drive unit would encounter too much resistance to tilting in the event that the motor contacts an object, potentially resulting in damage to the motor or boat. On the other hand, if the valve releases at too low a pressure, the motor may swing upwardly too fast, again potentially damaging the motor or boat. The valve must dissipate sufficient energy with respect to the impact and the inertia of the drive to not cause significant damage to the marine craft or drive.
One of the critical factors with some earlier energy dissipation valves is the preload on the valve spring. The preload on the valve had to be tightly controlled in order for the valve to release at an appropriate pressure level and to dissipate the correct amount of energy during an impact event. In fact, prior art valves cope with high energy situations, for example when the motor encounters an object at high speed, by increasing the preload on the spring. However the effect of increasing preload is to lose low energy capability. In other words, the valve does not sufficiently open to dissipate energy during low speed collisions.
The invention is also applicable to other applications besides marine drives where it is desirable to dissipate energy by allowing movement of hydraulic actuators during shock or impact events. However the invention should be differentiated from standard shock absorbers, used on vehicles for example, which are active at all times and respond to hydraulic pressure fluctuations. The invention by contrast is adapted only to respond to extraordinary impact events. The valve does not responded to all impact events and resulting pressure increases below a certain threshold.

Energy dissipation valves for hydraulic cylinders


The present invention relates to a method and a system for collecting and providing reports of activities of medical service providers, while encrypting confidential information. Specifically, the present invention provides systems and methods for collecting and providing information from medical claim transactions without information for specifically identifying the particular medical service provider. The present invention also allows for correlation of medical claim transactions with providers' information without using information that can be used to specifically identify the particular medical service provider (provider identifier).

In the healthcare system, there are generally patients, providers, and payers. A patient is a person who comes to the provider for diagnoses or treatment of medical conditions. Providers include medical practitioners and professionals (such as dentists, nurse practitioners, physicians, and therapists) as well as medical service facilities (such as private offices, hospitals, and outpatient centers), medical service providers (such as pharmacies and laboratories) and other individuals or companies which provide medical diagnosis and treatment services. Payers are payment organizations which assist patients in paying for the diagnosis and treatment fees, and include privately owned health insurance companies, as well as publicly funded programs including Medicare, and Medicaid.
When a patient visits a provider for a diagnosis or treatment, the patient incurs a service fee. Depending on the patient's health insurance plan, the patient may have to pay a portion of the service fee to the provider, also known as a co-payment. The patient or the provider then fills out a medical insurance claim form and submits it to one or more payers to collect the rest of the service fee.
The payers and other organizations have standardized medical claim forms to help the payers and providers communicate with each other in a uniform manner. An exemplary standardized claim form is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 7,386,526, which is incorporated herein by reference. The sample claim form includes 85 fields for entry of information and codes. For instance, field 1 is used for entry of the provider name, address, and telephone number. Fields 12-16 are used for entry of the patient's personal information, such as name, address, birth date, and gender. Fields 67-81 are used for entry of codes corresponding to the diagnosis and procedure performed by the provider. Field 82 is used for entry of an identification code of the attending physician. Each doctor is identified by a physician identification code, rather than by their name, on the medical claim form. Typically, a third party or a manually created conversion table is used to convert between the identification code and the physician's name because identification codes for physicians are publicly available.
Instead of writing down on the claim form the complete diagnoses or procedures that were performed, the provider can utilize a code corresponding to the respective diagnosis and procedure. Diagnosis and procedure codes are standardized and established by healthcare industry standards groups, such as the National Uniform Billing Committee (NUBC), State Uniform Billing Committee (SUBC), American Medical Association (AMA), and Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).
There are various diagnosis and procedure coding systems for different fields of medicine, services, and treatments. Each coding system contains thousands of unique diagnosis or procedure codes for providers to use in filling out the medical claim forms. One diagnosis coding system is the International Classification of Disease with Clinical Modifications, 9th Revision (ICD-9 CM, hereinafter "ICD-9"), developed by the World Health Organization. Payers and providers commonly use the ICD-9; codes on medical claim forms to describe diagnoses of symptoms, injuries, diseases, and medical conditions. For example, the ICD-9 code 414.0 would be typically recorded for patients who were diagnosed with the condition of Coronary Atherosclerosis. One procedure coding system is the Current Procedure Terminology (CPT) developed by the AMA. Payers and providers commonly use CPT codes to describe procedures or services that providers may perform on patients. These procedures and services are then subsequently reimbursed by the payer, such as an insurer. For example, on a medical claim form, CPT 31255 code indicates that a provider has performed a surgical nasal or sinus endoscopy on the patient. The DEA also developed a Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System (HCPCS) which is a set of procedure codes based on the CPT codes.
In addition, field 82 requires a physician identification code (rather than the physician's name), and fields 12-20 require patient name, gender and age, and date of service. There can also be fields for hospital affiliation, group practice, and other information. Thus, each medical claim form provides a wide range of information related to the provider's activities.
As the healthcare industry grows, the number of medical claims being submitted has increased tremendously. Because of the voluminous amount of medical claims being submitted daily from a large number of providers, many providers and payers have a difficult time managing the medical claims. As a result, clearinghouses have developed to assist payers and providers in dealing with the claim submission process. The clearinghouses receive medical claim forms from the providers, ensure that the forms are properly completed, and distribute the claim forms to the payers. The clearinghouses also distribute the status of submitted claim forms, such as rejected or accepted, from the payers to the providers. Recently, the processing of claim forms has been enhanced by electronic processing of these claim forms. Approximately 90% of all medical claim forms are processed electronically for payment. Electronic processing is further enhanced by use of standard format medical claim forms, such as those in the ANSI ASC X12N 837 Health Care Claims standard and the National Council for Prescription Drug Programs' Prescription Claim Transaction standard Version 5.1.
An exemplary system for providers to submit medical insurance claims to payers is illustrated in co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/481,321, filed Jun. 9, 2009. The system includes providers, medical claim forms, clearinghouses, and payers. The providers submit the claim forms to the clearinghouses by paper or electronically as a file or other suitable format. The clearinghouses collect the claim forms from the providers, and distribute them to the payers. The providers can be physicians who provide diagnoses and treatment procedures for patients. The providers can be affiliated with private physician offices, hospitals, and other types of medical service facilities.
Many companies, such as pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers and organizations related to medical service, have a great interest in promoting their products and services to specific groups of providers. To promote their products and services effectively, those companies want to target their products not to all providers, but to the most relevant group of providers in a specialized field. Thus, before promotion, a company would want a list of providers, such as physicians who performed particular diagnoses and procedures in the field of medicine that would most need the company's products. The providers on the list would be more likely than others to use or introduce the company's products to their patients. For instance, a manufacturer of a device for measuring blood sugar level may want a list of the top 100 physicians in the country that performed the highest number of diabetes diagnoses and treatments in the previous year. Those physicians are more likely than others to diagnose and treat diabetic patients in the near future and introduce the company's blood-level measuring device to their patients. Moreover, the manufacturer may want the list of the top 100 physicians to be sorted by the total number of diagnoses performed, or by gender and age range of the patients. Such a reporting list of physician activities would help the manufacturer to strategize business planning and maximize return on promotions.
Companies that offer reporting lists of provider activities generally obtain their information from the providers. However, the information from many providers is often summary data of the total number of diagnoses and treatments that the providers have performed. For instance, a hospital provides a summary for its many physicians. Those summaries typically do not provide breakdowns of how many diagnoses and treatments each physician affiliated with the hospital has performed. Thus, to estimate how many diagnoses or procedures each physician performed, the total number of services provided by the hospital is divided by the number of physicians. As a result of this crude apportioning approach, summary reports of physician activities do not accurately reflect the actual number of diagnoses and procedures that each physician actually performed.
However, with privacy concerns and laws limiting the ability of pharmaceutical companies to directly target service providers and patients, there is a need for a system and methods to generate reports of provider activities, derived from a database that includes information obtained from standardized and electronically processed medical claim data linked to each individual provider who performed the diagnoses and procedures, but with the information specifically identifying the individual provider or patient information encrypted to assure privacy and assure compliance with, e.g., HIPAA and all other applicable Federal and State laws and regulations.

System and method for encrypting provider identifiers on medical service claim transactions


The present disclosure provides detection devices and methods using a diffraction wavefront of a pinhole stitching measurement of surface shape. The light emitted from the laser passes through a filter hole, a first condenser lens, a spatial filter, a beam expander, a half wave plate, a λ/4 wave plate, an attention plate and then is transmitted through a beam splitter, reflected by a reflecting mirror and is irradiated onto an pinhole through a first optical adjustable shelf and a second set of condenser lens. A part of diffraction light generated by the pinhole is irradiated to the mirror to be measured; the light reflected by the mirror to be measured is reflected by a frame of the pinhole and generate a diffraction fringe along with another part of the diffraction wavefront of the pinhole. The interference fringe is focused by the third set of condenser lens on the third optical adjustable shelf and is collected by the CCD detector. The mirror to be measured is positioned on the second optical adjustable shelf and may be moved along a normal direction of the mirror to be measured to implement an annular aperture stitching measurement. Meanwhile, the first optical adjustable shelf may be rotated and moved in translation to measure the mirror by a scanning sub apertures stitching measurement.

A point diffraction interferometer (PDI) utilizes a standard reference spherical wave generated by a diffraction of a pinhole to implement an interference measurement. The measuring method by joining sub-apertures pinhole divides the measured surface to be a plurality of sub-apertures pinhole to be tested and then stitched, which may improve the lateral resolution of detection.
The proposal of the point diffraction interferometer solves a problem of machining the reference surface in a measurement with a high precision. Its primary feature is not to utilize a conventional reference surface, from the point of view of wave optics, which eliminates the limitation of the machining level of the reference surface on the measuring precision by utilizing a diffraction of a pinhole to generate an ideal reference spherical wave and makes it possible for a measurement with a high precision in scale of sub-nanometer.
In 1933, W. Linnk firstly propose to utilize an ideal spherical wave generated by a diffraction of a pinhole as a reference wavefront of the interferometer to provide a preform of a point diffraction interferometer. However, due to technical limitation at that time, it is not actually applied to measurement. In 1975, R. N. Smartt and W. H. Steel formally set forth a principle and application of a point diffraction interferometer in their publications and establish a basis for the development of a modern point diffraction interferometer. Their proposed point diffraction interferometer has a main portion of a thin film with a transmissivity of about 1% on which there is a very small pinhole. The lower transmissivity is to make light intensities of the two light beams to be close to each other. When the focused measured light passes through a plate of the thin film, a surface shape of the transmitted light wave is kept to be not changed except for the decrease of energy. In dispersion spot region with a aberration, a diffraction occurs at the pinhole nearby the focus to generate an ideal standard spherical wave as a reference light wave in the measurement, which forms an interference fringe along with the transmitted measured light. Information about the measured wave front may be obtained by analyzing a shape of the interference fringe. Such an interferometer has a simple structure and a basic principle. Since a common light path arrangement is utilized, the influence from the environment is small. Its disadvantage is a lower usage of the light energy and a measurement of phase shift can't be done at the same which, so that it is difficult to improve the precision.
In 1996, H. Medecki, E. Tejnil, et. al. of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory of USA propose a concept of phase-shifting point-diffraction interferometer (PS-PDI). That is to say, on the basis of the point diffraction interferometer, a diffraction grating is introduced to function as a dispersing element and a translucent mask of an imaging plane is replaced with an opaque mask, so that the property of the point diffraction interferometer is greatly improved. For a basic structure of such a point diffraction interferometer, when an irradiation spherical wave is incidence on a phase shift grating to form different orders of diffraction; they passes through the measured system and are focused onto different positions of the image plane. A spatial filter is positioned on the image plane so that the light of the zeroth diffraction order carrying information about the measured system directly passes through the spatial filter via a square hole, the light of the first diffraction order is diffracted and filtered by the pinhole to generate an ideal reference spherical wave; and the light of the remaining other diffraction orders are absorbed. Thus, the interference fringe of the two light beams is obtained on the detector (CCD). When the grating is moved along an up-down direction, a phase change is occurred between the two light beams so that a phase shift and interference measurement can be implemented.
In order to meet the requirement of measurement for an extreme ultraviolet (EUV) photolithography system, since 1996, the researchers from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory employ a synchrotron radiation light source of 13.4 nm to successfully develop an EUV phase-shift point-diffraction interferometer, which improves the measuring precision of the EUV system to an order of sub-nanometer and eliminates barrier for the development of the EUV photolithography.
Since the end of the last century, researchers in Japanese started to research a point diffraction interferometer. In order to detect an EUV photolithography system, association of super-advanced electronics technology (ASET), Nikon Co. and the like research the point diffraction interferometer. One type of the employed point diffraction interferometer utilizes a reflecting plate with an pinhole. One part of the diffraction spherical wave of the pinhole functions as a reference light wave, and the other part of the diffraction spherical wave is reflected by the measured plane and the reflecting plane, and then interference with the reference light. Since such an arrangement is not a system with a common light path, the requirements on the coherence of the light source and the stability of the environment are higher, and all of the measurements should be done at an anti-vibration and nitrogen-filled environment.
With a continued development of science and technique, an optical system with a large-diameter aperture are widely applied to a high technique filed such as astro optics, space optics, detection and identification of spatial object, inertial confinement fusion and so on. Thus, the manufacturing of the optical element with a large-diameter aperture needs detection methods and equipments which adapts such an optical elements.
At present, an optical element with a large-diameter aperture usually employs a phase shift interferometer, and its quality of the machined surface is determined by the phase shift interferometer. Thus, it is desired to have a standard surface shape, the size of which is identical to or larger than that of the measured element. However, for such a standard surface with a high precision, it is difficult to manufacture for a long period of manufacturing and at a high cost, which virtually increases cost and difficulty of detection. In order to find a detection means at a low cost, a technical solution of stitching sub-aperture is developed in 1980s overseas. That is to say, an interferometer with a small-diameter aperture, a high precision and a high resolution is used to recovery a wave front phase data for an optical element with a large-diameter aperture by a corresponding stitching technique. Such a technique is a novel detection means with a high precision and a large-diameter aperture, which reserves a high precision of interference measurement and avoids use of a standard wave surface, the size of which is identical that of a full aperture of an pinhole so as to greatly reduce the cost and to obtain a high frequency information cut off by the interferometer with a large-diameter aperture.
The concept of measurement of sub-aperture is proposed in 1982 by C. J. Kim in Arizona optical center, USA, which utilizes an array of reflecting mirrors with a small-diameter aperture to replace the reflecting mirror with a large-diameter aperture so as to implement a self-collimated inspection of a parabolic mirror. At early days of 1990s, such a technique is gradually applied to a stage of application and research with the continued developments of computer control and data processing technique. S. T. Theodore applies the measurement of sub-aperture to an improved Ritchey-common configuration which has a shorter light path than a conventional Ritchey-common configuration and may effectively reduce influence of atmospheric disturbance. The diameter of light beam returned to the optical element is smaller than that of the measured light beam.
The stitching algorithm developed during such a period minimize mismatch of the overlapped regions of the plurality of sub-apertures to obtain a reconstruction of the surface shape for a full pinhole with a high spatial resolution. In addition, an introduction of averaging of error greatly improves the precision of the stitching algorithm. These relevant techniques are mainly applied to an inspection of a surface shape with a large-diameter aperture so as to extend a lateral dynamic range.
In 1997, M. Bray manufactured a practical sub-aperture stitching interferometer for detection of an optical plane element with a large-diameter aperture. In several subsequent years, M. Bray introduced a concept of power spectral density to analyze the characteristic of a stitching interferometer. It indicates that it may accurately describe a stitching "noise" caused by an pinhole edge effect.
In 2003, the QED Technology Co. of USA successfully developed a SSI automatically stitching interferometer which is capable of detecting a plane surface, a spherical surface and an aspheric surface having an appropriate deviation and an aperture within 200 mm under a high precision. Such a stitching algorithm inherits an advantage of the forepart algorithm and further compensates a system error besides the relative adjustment error corrected by the conventional algorithm, which further improves the precision of stitching.
In China, a research on a measurement of sub-apertures starts at beginning of 1990s and is mainly used for detection of an optical plane element having a large-diameter aperture. Researchers in Nanjing University of Science and Technology apply the measuring technique of a sub-apertures to a phase shift plane interferometer, thereby to extend the measuring range of the pinhole from about 250 mm to about 500 mm.
During the last a few years in 1990s, researchers in State key laboratory on modern optical instruments in Zhejiang University utilized an sub-aperture detection method to verifies a RC optical system for some earth resources satellite and proposes a method of analyzing the stitched object by a function to reduce the error accumulation and error transfer caused by pair wise stitching between the sub-apertures.
As can be seen from the development and principle of the point diffraction interferometer, the point diffraction interferometer utilizes an ideal spherical wave generated by an pinhole to measure. Since the resolution of a detector is limited, the resolution of measurements is decreases as the detection aperture is increased. It is desired a higher lateral resolution for more and more complex surface shapes.

Detection devices and methods using diffraction wavefront of a pinhole stitching measurement of surface shape

Institute of Optics and Electronics, Chinese Academy of Science


A method is disclosed which produces acrylic acid in a high yield as maintaining the conditions for purifying acrylic acid in constant ranges and preventing the acrylic acid from polymerization. By using single a single reactor, propylene concentration adjusting in the range of 7–15 vol. % and water concentration adjusting in the range of 0–10 vol. % are introduced thereinto thereby obtaining an acrylic acid-containing gas. Then the gas is introduced to an acrylic acid absorption column to adjust water concentration in the range of 1–45 wt. %, thereby preventing from polymerization.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method for producing acrylic acid comprising introducing propylene as a raw material in high concentration into a reactor which has a first reaction zone and a second reaction zone formed by dividing with at least one perforated tube plate, and improving water concentration in an acrylic acid-containing solution in an acrylic acid absorption column to a level in the range of 1–45 wt. %, thereby preventing the solution from polymerization at the subsequent steps in the process of the production.
2. Description of the Related Art
Acrylic acid is used in coating material, fiber processing, leather processing, and building material besides being used for acrylic fiber copolymer or as an emulsion for adhesive agents. The demand for this compound is now increasing. Thus, it is generally produced by the reaction of catalytic gas phase oxidation of propylene, for example, with a view to realizing the principle of mass production using an inexpensive raw material. The raw material gas is generally supplied at a concentration in the range of about 4–7 vol. % because the reaction of catalytic gas phase oxidation has the possibility of belonging to the range of explosion, depending on the proportion of molecular oxygen to be used in the reaction of oxidation. Since the raw material gas is preferred to be used at a high concentration for the purpose of improving the efficiency of production, various modifications have been proposed for the supply of the raw material gas at a high concentration.
The official gazette of JP-A-2000-103761, for example, discloses a method for producing acrylic acid from propylene by supplying a reaction composition comprising more than 7 vol. % of propylene, molecular oxygen, steam, and the balance of inert gas to a reactor furnished with two reaction zones packed with a catalyst and having a multiplicity of reaction tubes duly distributed therein. When the mixed product gas obtained by the reaction of catalytic gas phase oxidation is introduced into an absorber to obtain an aqueous acrylic acid solution, the exhaust gas of the absorber contains unreacted propylene, unreacted acrolein, and acrylic acid as residues. When this exhaust gas is put to cyclic use, the coefficient of absorption is depressed and the yield of acrylic acid is degraded because the volume of the inert gas flowing through the absorber is increased thereby being generated a load in the top of the absorber. Conversely, when the exhaust gas is not put to cyclic use, the water content in the gas flowing through the absorber is varied because the selectivity, the ratio of addition, and the catalytic activity in the reaction of oxidation are affected by the water content owing to the use of steam as a diluting gas. The method disclosed in the official gazette mentioned above contemplates reducing the load exerted on the absorber by using propylene of higher concentration than usual heretofore in the system of a single reactor and decreasing the exhaust gas of the absorber held as necessary for the sake of dilution.
Incidentally, after the absorption of the acrylic acid-containing gas, such purification steps as the dehydration of the acrylic acid-containing solution and the separation of low boiling substance and high boiling substance contained therein are carried out.
Acrylic acid, however, is an easily polymerizing compound. When the raw material gas of high concentration is used with a view to heightening the productivity of the method, this method is liable to generate an acrylic acid polymer at the step for absorbing acrylic acid and the subsequent step for purification of the absorbed acrylic acid. Since various columns for purificating continue production of acrylic acid while preventing occurrence of polymerization by adjusting such factors as the pressure of distillation, temperature, and amount of feed, the control of these factors is not easy because changes in these conditions affect other conditions. When the concentration of acrylic acid is depressed by a variation in the composition of the bottom liquid of an absorption column, for example, the maintenance of distillation conditions in a high acrylic acid concentration entails generation of an acrylic acid polymer in a distilling column. Though it is not to the extent of requiring forced suspension of the operation due to blockage, but possibly results in degrading the quality of acrylic acid produced due to the inclusion of the polymer and consequently depressing the yield of the product.
The purification step of acrylic acid is accomplished more often than not by adopting distilling columns called a dehydrating column, a light ends cut column, and a heavy ends cut column, concatenating the plurality of distilling columns endowed with different functions, and operating them jointly thereby performing a series of purification. Thus, the control of this purification step is rendered further difficult by the fact that a variation in the composition of the bottom liquid of any one of such distilling columns necessitates a due change in the purification conditions of the subsequent steps.
The solution, the exhaust gas, and the like which are discharged from the step for producing acrylic acid at times contain the raw material compound, the product, and other useful compounds. The cyclic use of such discharged substances in the process of production, therefore, can improve the yield of production. The composition of the exhaust gas, for example, is varied as with the distillation conditions and the generation of the polymer proceeds like a chain reaction. In the method for the production of acrylic acid particularly included a step for recycling the exhaust gas, therefore, it is extremely difficult to control the distillation conditions constant.


An airbag assembly includes an airbag, an inflator for inflating the airbag, a cover and a base plate. The base plate attaches to the cover such that the base plate is secured on each edge of the base plate and is prevented from detaching. The base plate and cover do not require fasteners or removable pieces. The base plate comprises a bendable tab. The bendable tab is configured to bend over an edge of the cover and secure to the cover by a lip on an end of the bendable tab.

The present invention relates generally to the field of airbag modules and base plate attachments.
A conventional module for housing an airbag module in a vehicle has a cover or deployment door which attaches to a housing or base plate in which an air bag and inflator are housed. Commonly, a plurality of threaded studs extend from the base plate about its mouth and the cover has corresponding complementary holes which mate with the studs.
Conventional attachment designs may include rivets, rings, or rigid hooks to connect the base plate and cover. Other conventional airbag systems require the use of two separate base plates, which increase the costs associated with manufacturing the airbag system.
One drawback of such conventional designs is that the requirement of extra fasteners, rigid hooks or additional base plates increases the overall weight of the airbag module, cost and the difficulty in assembling the module.
Another drawback of using threaded studs to retain a cover to a base plate is that the studs can be inadvertently cross-threaded during assembly. The studs often require checking in order to verify proper assembly. Furthermore, the deployment of an airbag can be modified when the cover separates from the base plate during deployment, which varies the restraint performance from a designed and expected performance.
Additional drawbacks exist when utilizing fasteners to secure an air bag cover. For example, threaded fasteners are susceptible of loosening from vibration as a vehicle travels over a bumpy road and therefore require use of a thread binding agent or a lock washer to prevent loosening. This further increases the number of parts, complicates the assembly, and adds to cost and time required for assembly. As a result, such systems for attaching a cover to a base plate tend to be less feasible when constructing air bag modules for use in high volume and low cost applications.


A communication system includes a data sampling rate converter that uses a closed-loop control arrangement to convert an input signal at a first sampling rate to a second, asynchronous, sampling rate without requiring extensive output buffering. A small number of data registers in a first-in-first-out output buffer is used to receive and store computed data samples at a controlled rate and to pass these data samples to the output at a second rate. The output buffer indicates, the current capacity of the output buffer for use by a frequency ratio estimator, which is arranged to respond by providing an estimate of the actual ratio between the first rate and the second rate. A controller responds to the frequency ratio estimator by generating the controlled rate at which the computed data samples are to be passed to the output buffer. In this manner, the processed data samples are passed to the output buffer at the controlled rate and are output at the second rate. The processed data use the input samples received at a first rate and the ratio value.

In many communication systems, digital signals are presented to communication equipment using one communication protocol and are then generated from the equipment using another communication protocol. For a number of applications in communication environments of this type, the communication protocols involve converting an input stream of the digital signals arriving at a first sampling data rate and permitting another equipment type to receive the signals at a second data sampling rate. Where these data rates are not equal, as in asynchronous data transfer schemes, maintaining accurate communication can be difficult.
The degree of difficulty typically depends on the type of system being used. Typical systems are designed with the expectations that the input and output sampling rates will have known nominal values and that the actual values will not depart significantly from the nominal values. The actual values, however, depend upon the characteristics of various circuits, such as crystal oscillators, which have a range of tolerances. These tolerances cause the actual values of the sampling rates to change over time. Depending on the application and the degree of signal integrity required, these changes can be highly problematic.
Consider, for example, a conventional sampling rate conversion system in which the converter operation is designed according to the known nominal values of the input and output sampling rates. Should the ratio of the input and output sampling rates significantly change from the nominal or expected value, the quality and efficiency of the communication can be severely degraded. For example, if the input sampling rate fs1 is higher than its nominal value, samples will arrive more often than they are processed by the sampling rate conversion system. This discrepancy will typically result in the sampling rate conversion system losing or failing to process some of the input samples.
One previously known technique for addressing this problem involves using a large buffer. A buffer of this type receives input samples at a rate fs1 defined by an input clock. The sampling rate conversion system processes the readily available data input samples stored in the buffer at an output sampling rate fs2. Where the output sampling rate is appreciably less than the rate at which input data are processed, the large buffer is used as an overflow for processed input samples so as to permit output processing at a lower sampling rate. While large buffers mitigate these problems, such buffers are costly and do not eliminate the problems.
Known sampling rate conversion systems also deal with a problem sometimes referred to as frequency offset. Frequency offset is evidenced when the reproduced signal at the output has a frequency that is different from the specified frequency. Frequency offset is a common problem that has been addressed in a variety of ways depending on the design of the sampling rate conversion system. Many of these designs require labor-intensive recalibration of the circuits. Other such designs require retransmission of the data whenever the frequency offset exceeds a certain specified threshold.

Arrangement for asynchronous decimation using a frequency ratio estimator and method thereof


This control device has: a user information acquisition unit which acquires first user posture information that indicates the posture of a first user operating a robot; a pre-change robot information acquisition unit which, on the basis of the first user posture information, acquires pre-change posture information, which indicates the posture of the robot before the posture of the robot is changed; and a determination unit which determines, as the posture of the robot, a target posture, which is different from the posture of the first user, on the basis of the pre-change posture information and the first user posture information that is acquired by the user information acquisition unit at the time when the robot took the pre-change posture indicated by the pre-change posture information.

The present invention relates to a control apparatus, a robot control method, and a robot control system for controlling a robot.
Techniques for detecting a posture of a user and changing a posture of a robot to a posture corresponding to the detected posture have been researched and developed.
In this regard, a robot system, in which (i) the posture of the user is detected by a user apparatus worn by the user and the posture of the robot is changed to the posture corresponding to the detected posture, (ii) a process corresponding to detection information detected by various sensors provided in the robot is performed by the user apparatus, and (iii) information corresponding to the detection information is provided to the user, is known. The relevant technology is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Examined Patent Application Publication No. S62-29196 and Charith Lasantha Fernando, Masahiro Furukawa, Tadatoshi Kurogi, Sho Katnuro, Katsunari. Sato, Kouta Minamizawa and Susumu Tachi, "Design of TELESAR V for Transferring Bodily Consciousness in Telexistence", 2012 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems(Portugal), Oct. 7-12, 2012.
In such a robot system, the user can operate the robot by changing their own posture (i.e., by moving) while wearing the user apparatus. However, when the robot is caused to execute a certain task, in the conventional robot system, it is sometimes difficult for a user who is not familiar with operating the robot to cause the robot to execute the task with a high accuracy that a user who is familiar with operating the robot can achieve.

Control device, robot control method, and robot control system


A tire-pressure monitoring system (TPMS) sensor module comprises a pressure sensor, which is configured to measure an internal air pressure of a tire and to generate tire pressure information, an additional, optional sensor, a transmitting/receiving device, a microcontroller unit which is configured to operate the TPMS sensor module in one of three or more different operating modes, wherein a first operating mode includes an inactive standby state, a second operating mode includes a measurement of a physical parameter using the pressure sensor and/or the additional sensor and reading the pressure sensor and/or the additional sensor using the microcontroller unit, and a third operating mode, and wherein in the second operating mode the microcontroller unit is configured to initiate a changeover from the second operating mode to the third operating mode when reading out a specified measurement event.

Nowadays, motor vehicles are increasingly equipped with TPMS modules of this kind. The primary function of a TPMS module is to measure the individual air pressure of each tire to warn the driver of sudden or gradual pressure loss. For this purpose, in so-called direct systems a TPMS module is located in each tire, which can have, in addition to the actual pressure sensor, other sensors such as an acceleration sensor and a temperature sensor, an RF transmitter and a power supply unit such as a battery.

Method for adjusting a TPMS sensor module, and TPMS sensor module


A luggage case has a bottom wall supported on four swivel wheels that permit the luggage case to be turned in any direction about a vertical axis. Two of the swivel wheels are part of a leading wheel assembly, and two of the swivel wheels are part of a trailing wheel assembly. Each wheel assembly has a one-piece molded plastic base including an elongated plate extending transversely of the bottom wall of the luggage case and attached thereto, and a pair of downwardly open protective cups surrounding respective swivel wheels. A retractable handle system includes a fixed portion mounted on the top wall of the case, and a movable portion having a handle that may be extended and tilted upwardly for pulling the case along the ground.

The popularity of wheeled luggage cases has spawned a multitude of wheel systems, such as, for example, a wheel system consisting of a pair of swivel wheels and a pair of non-swivel wheels at leading and trailing ends, respectively, of the bottom wall of a luggage case, so that the case may be moved along the ground by a pulling strap, and a wheel system consisting of a pair of non-swivel wheels at the trailing end of the bottom wall of a luggage case, so that the case may be pulled along the ground when the leading end of the bottom wall is lifted off of the ground by means of a rigid or semi-rigid pulling handle. Recently, a wheel system has been proposed that consists of a pair of major (larger) non-swivel wheels at opposite sides of the bottom wall of a luggage case centered between leading and trailing end walls, and a single minor (smaller) swivel wheel mounted at each end of the bottom wall centered between the side walls. With such a wheel system, a luggage case may be turned freely about a central vertical axis when the case is pulled by means of a handle at one end of the case.
All of the conventional wheel systems have disadvantages. For example, a wheel system constituted by two swivel wheels and two non-swivel wheels provides limited freedom of movement, and luggage cases employing such wheel systems tend to be unstable when pulled. A wheel system constituted by two non-swivel wheels requires that a user support part of the weight of the luggage case when the case is pulled. A wheel system constituted by two major non-swivel wheels disposed at opposite sides of the bottom wall centered between the end walls and two minor swivel wheels at opposite ends of the bottom wall supports a luggage case on only three wheels (the major wheels and one minor wheel) at any given time, an arrangement that is less stable in certain respects than wheel systems employing four wheels adjacent to respective corners of the bottom wall. Also, the rather large major wheels require a special case construction to accommodate them.


In an example diagnostic fracture injection test (DFIT), or a “minifrac,” a fracturing fluid is pumped at a relatively constant rate and high pressure to achieve a fracture pressure of a subterranean formation. Sometime after achieving formation fracture pressure, the pump is shut off and the well is shut in, such that the pressure within the sealed portion of the well equilibrates with the pressure of the subterranean formation. As the pressure declines, the pressure of the injection fluid is monitored. This collected pressure data is then used to determine information regarding the permeability of the subterranean formation. In some implementations, a model for before closure analysis (BCA) can be used to estimate the permeability of a formation based on before closure pressure data (i.e., data collected before the fracture closure pressure is reached) based on a solution to the rigorous flow equation of fracturing fluid, which is leaking off into the formation during fracture closure.

Unconventional subterranean formations (e.g., unconventional reservoirs) play an important role in hydrocarbon production. Unconventional reservoirs are continuous-type reservoirs containing large-scale reserves, including shale gas and shale oil reserves, coalbed methane (CBM), and tight gas reservoirs. Unlike conventional reservoirs, unconventional reservoirs require specialized production technology, such as massive fracturing treatments for shale reservoirs or dewatering CBM.
Extracting hydrocarbon from an unconventional reservoir can involve significant expenditures in several operational aspects. For example, for an extraction operation in a shale formation, notable costs are incurred relating to pressure pumping, contract drilling, line pipes, and drilling fluids. Before proceeding with these potentially massive and costly operations, production testing can be used to help operators better understand, analyze, and forecast production. Further, by better understanding the formation properties, operators can optimize simulated treatments, and design and implement more efficient and cost-effective treatments.
Understanding formation properties can be achieved by performing a variety of different types of tests. In addition to conventional well testing, other tests can be used to understand the mechanical properties of the rock, predict formation behavior, and to optimize hydraulic fracturing treatments. For example, fracture closure pressure, instantaneous shut-in pressure, fracture breakdown pressure, and the formation fracturing fluid leakoff coefficient can be determined using specialized tests before or after fracturing treatments. In another example, "minifrac" or diagnostic fracture injection tests (DFITs) can be used to estimate the permeability of a formation and the initial reservoir pressure.
Like reference symbols in the various drawings indicate like elements.

Estimating permeability in unconventional subterranean reservoirs using diagnostic fracture injection tests