Fiber additives for addition to proportioned concrete comprise a plurality of thermoplastic fibers having a profile geometry defined by the equation, ##EQU1## wherein the amplitude a.sub.0 falls within a range of from about 0.1 d.sub.f to 2.0 d.sub.f and the period .lambda. falls within a range of from about 2 d.sub.f to 15 d.sub.f for fibers having a diameter d.sub.f of from about 0.5 to about 1 mm; the peak pull-out stress .sigma..sub.peak and the specific pull-out energy absorbed to a maximal displacement of 7.5 mm .psi..sub.peak, both increase linearly with a deformity factor defined by the equation, ##EQU2## where .alpha.=0.8 and .beta.=-1, such that the peak pull-out stress is defined by the equation, ##EQU3## and the specific pull-out energy is defined by the equation, ##EQU4## the fiber additives having an optimimum deformity, EQU D.sub.optimum .apprxeq.(0.5 to 1)D.sub.critical,. D.sub.critical being that deformity where the ultimate tensile strength of the fiber equals k.sub.1 D.sub.critical +C, and where loads are measured in N; energy in N-mm; length dimensions are in mm, and the values of k.sub.1, k.sub.2, C and C.sub.1 are determined based upon the ultimate tensile strength of the fiber and by plotting deformation versus pull-out stress to obtain the value for D.sub.critical. The present invention also provides concrete having improved crack resistance and a method for improving the bond slip performance of fibers in concrete utilizing the sinusoidally configured fibers of the present invention.

Concrete is a material which exhibits a low tensile strength and low fracture toughness. The ease with which cracks can nucleate and propagate in concrete under tension makes is imperative that concrete not be loaded in tension to the extent possible, and if unavoidable, some form of traditional reinforcement such as rebar be provided to take the tensile stresses. The latter is generally known as reinforced concrete and has been used for decades.
An alternate method of reinforcement is by incorporating short, randomly distributed fibers in concrete such that reinforcement throughout the volume is provided, and entirely new composite material is obtained. Fiber reinforced concrete is found to have significantly improved energy absorption capability (often called toughness), impact resistance and fatigue endurance, and its greater resistance to cracking also imparts it better durability and aesthetics.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,565,840 provides fiber reinforced concrete comprising from one to six percent by volume of a mixture of short steel fibers.
The addition of fibrillated plastic filaments to cement mortar is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,414,030. Such fibrillated filaments comprise ribbons having a length of up to 50 millimeters long and are said to be split apart during mixing with the mortar components to provide a random distribution of separate reinforcing plastic filaments throughout the mortar.
The use of discrete fibers in the reinforcement of concrete is set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 3,645,961. The patent discloses the use of nylon, polyvinyl chloride and simple polyolefins in lengths ranging between one-quarter to three inches (0.6 to 7.5 cm) to form a blast resistant concrete.
The use of fibrous materials made from nylon, polypropylene, poly-vinylidene chloride and polyethylene is set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 3,645,961. Less than 3 percent of these fibers in lengths from 1/4 to 3 inches (0.6 to 7.5 cm) can be mixed into concrete to make blast-resistant structures.
The use of fibrillated polypropylene fibers from 0.05 to 2 percent by weight of the total wet mixture of water-hardenable inorganic materials is presented in U.S. Pat. No. 3,591,395.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,456,752 and 5,628,822, owned by the Assignee of record, teach the use of graded synthetic fibers for the reinforcement of concrete. Gradation provides a plurality of different fiber types, i.e., lengths, deniers, widths, thicknesses, aspect ratios, cross-sections and fibrillations, in a controlled mixture adapted to accommodate the mortar factions in proportioned concrete.
According to the present invention, it is now understood that for a proper bond with the cementitious matrix around it, the fibers destined for concrete reinforcement must be deformed in geometry. However, most deformations put on commercial fibers are "ad-hoc" and little knowledge of what exactly constitutes an optimal deformation exists. The first attempt to rationally deform fibers was described is U.S. Pat. No. 5,443,918, which discloses metal fibers e.g., steel, having an elongated, substantially straight central portion and sinusoidally shaped end portions for addition to and reinforcement of cement-based material.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,585,487 discloses filiform or thread-like elements (fibers) of steel wire having uniform corrugations along their entire length for the reinforcement of concrete.
Bond-slip characteristics of fibers determined using a pull-out test (Banthia et al, "Concrete Reinforced with Deformed Steel Fibers, Part 1: Bond-slip Mechanisms" ACU Materials Journal, V. 91, No. 5, September-October 1994) are a wellaccepted way of assessing the performance of fibers in the composite.
The use of polymeric fibers (especially polypropylene) has to date remained limited to control of plastic shrinkage cracking in freshly placed concrete resulting from loss of mix and bleed water through evaporation. Given their non-structural purpose, the volume fractions of fibers used in these applications have also remained low (approximately 0.1%). The load carrying capacity of plain concrete without fiber reinforcement or that of concrete carrying a minimal amount of polypropylene fiber reinforcement (approximately 0.1% by volume) beyond matrix cracking is essentially zero. Lately though there have been some attempts to introduce greater volume fractions (about 1%) of larger diameter polypropylene fiber into concrete. These fibers have brought polymeric materials into the category of "structural" fibers where the purpose is not so much to control plastic shrinkage cracking, but also to improve the toughness, energy absorption capability and the load carrying capacity of concrete beyond first matrix cracking.
These new generation of "structural" polypropylene fibers are, however, straight and undeformed. As a result, they develop a poor bond with the surrounding matrix and are not very efficient. What is not known to-date, however, is what constitutes an optimal deformation for a low modulus material as polypropylene. Such an optimal deformation is the subject of the present invention.

Fibers having improved sinusoidal configuration, concrete reinforced therewith and related method


A method or system or apparatus provides improved digital communication. In one aspect, destination scheduling is performed by scheduling polling rather than scheduling data emissions. In particular aspects, a loop port scheduler assigns a weight and sequence number to each destination and scheduling polling of ports using these parameters.

In a DSLAM system and other data transfer systems, data may be sent from a higher-speed or higher-capacity data source to a large number (potentially thousands) of lower-capacity destinations. In some systems, a traffic management device is responsible for distributing this data to destinations across a shared communication channel, such as a shared data bus. In some types of systems, each destination can have wide ranging data rates (such as ranging from 23 Kbps to 52 Mbps) and data rates for some destinations can change in real time. A large number and varying data rates of destinations can make scheduling data efficiently and fairly challenging without greatly increasing hardware size and power.
In DSLAMs and similar systems, some architectures require per port transmission FIFO's, which can be costly to implement in terms of power and size.
Another proposed solution in ATM and other systems is to shape the downstream traffic on a per destination (or per port) basis. This per port shaping function shapes the aggregate traffic to each loop port's actual data rate, thus eliminating the need for any further scheduling. However, solutions using per port traffic shaping often must adjust the shaping rate in real time each time the loop port changes rates. Due to the latency between the loop port data rate changing and the traffic shaper rate changing, there must be a mechanism to ensure the PHY buffer in the loop port is not overflowed. To do this the shaper rate must be less then the actual loop port rate since the two rates are not synchronized. The rate difference represents a loss in throughput bandwidth.
Another solution in ATM-type systems is to extend the UTOPIA Level 2 (UL2) standard to support a large number of ports. This involves polling all ports, collecting and prioritizing their responses, and then sending data to the selected loop port. Solutions that try to extend the current UTOPIA Level 2 standard suffer from the UL2 limitations of: (1) There is no inherent mechanism for port weighting. All ports would have to be polled at a rate to satisfy the fastest loop port. (2) UL2 is not intended to support aggregate port bandwidth greater then the UL2 bus bandwidth. (3) The UTOPIA Level 2 standard supports 31 ports; to scale UL2 to a large number of ports would require more polling bandwidth and additional pins. For example, scaling linearly for 2 k loop ports results in 64 poll status pins carrying very little useful information.
Prior Patents and Publications or other Relevant Materials
The following patents and publications may be related to the invention or provide background information. Listing of these references here should not be taken to indicate that any formal search has been completed or that any of these references constitute prior art. References include:
Transwitch Cubit based DSLAM design
Motorola 860SAR based DSLAM design
IgT WA C-185/186/187/188 based DSLAM design
PMC-980448, ATM Traffic Manager Device Telecom Standard Product Engineering Document
PMC-980929, APEX Loop Port Scheduler

Method and apparatus for managing data traffic between a high capacity source and multiple destinations


The invention relates to a spin-on filter for filtering a flowing substance, especially to a filter for hydraulic liquid or lubricating oil in combustion motors. The filter comprises a casing, which is openable at one end, a substantially cylindrical replaceable filter means fitted inside the casing, the flow to be filtered having been arranged to pass through the filter means mantle, and a collar for connecting the filter with a device assembly, which includes inlet and outlet ducts for flow to be filtered. In accordance with the invention, the filter comprises a support member forming a solid extension of the collar, consisting of an axial spindle inside the filter means and of an end flange at its end opposite to the collar, the periphery of the end flange being tightly sealed against the inner wall of the casing such that the support member will receive a positive internal pressure within the casing axially. The joints between the support member and the collar, and the collar and the device assembly, respectively, may consist of threaded joints. As the flow to be filtered passes from the outside to the inside of the filter means, the means may bear against a perforated support pipe extending inside the means from the collar to the end flange of the support member.

This invention relates to a filter for filtering a flowing substance, such as oil, comprising a casing which is openable at one end, a substantially cylindrical, replaceable filter means fitted within the casing, the flow to be filtered being arranged to pass through the mantle of the filter means, and a collar for connecting the filter to the device assembly, which includes inlet and outlet ducts for the flow to be filtered.
One of the applications of encased cylindrical filters is filtering lubricating oil in combustion motors so as to keep the oil free of impurities in operation. A second typical field of application for filters of this type is filtering hydraulic liquid in hydraulic systems. Since the filter is fouled in operation and has to be replaced at intervals, the filter casing must be removable from the device assembly to which it is attached.
There are previously known oil filters, in which the filter means and the surrounding casing have been constructed as a solid unit, replaceable as such. However, such a design is a waste of material and also produces waste in abundance. From an ecological viewpoint, it is preferable to devise a casing that can be opened, so that the clogged filtering means alone is replaceable and the casing including a replacement means is put back in position in the device assembly. Patent application No. FI 955127 is cited as an example of such a design, in which the assembled oil filter described comprises a cylindrical, replaceable filter means, a perforated support pipe within the means, a collar as an extension of this pipe, a casing surrounding the means and a joint ring at the casing mouth. The collar has a thread, which connects the assembled filter with the device assembly, simultaneously providing a sealing between the joint ring and the device assembly.
In conventional filters of the type above, the casing must resist axial stress caused by the high pressure of the substance to be filtered, such as oil or hydraulic liquid, and for this reason the casing must be made of a rigid sheet material. The perforated support pipe must also be stiff enough to withstand the internal axial stress within the casing. However, the manufacture of such perforated pipes is awkward in terms of production techniques.
The purpose of this invention is to provide a filter with adequate resistance to the pressure within the filter casing caused by the substance to be filtered, and with the lower production costs than conventional filters. The filter in accordance with the invention is characterized by the fact that it includes a support member forming a solid extension of the collar, and consisting of an axial spindle inside the filter means and of an end flange at the end opposite to the collar, the periphery of the end flange being tightly sealed to the inner wall of the casing such that the support member will receive the internal pressure within the casing axially.
In a filter in accordance with the invention, the axial traction force caused by the pressure is not at all exerted on the casing, but merely on the spindle of the support member and on the end flange, thus allowing a thinner material thickness in the casing wall. If the filter is equipped with a perforated support pipe placed against the filter means, this may also be made thinner than before, which is a significant benefit in terms of manufacture techniques. Since the end flange sealed against the casing seals the pressurized casing interior to be filled with the substance to be filtered, the casing end does not have to be sealed as in conventional filters, but instead, the casing may be formed of a sleeve-like tubular piece which is open at either end.
In the filter in accordance with the invention, the support member including the spindle and the collar connecting the filter with the device assembly may be discrete components connected with each other by a threaded joint. In this manner, these components are joined by a joint with high mechanical strength and resistance to the traction force, which also is easy to open with a view to replace the collar, for instance. By a simple replacement of the collar, the filter is adaptable to threads of various sizes provided for the filter in the device assembly.
The filter in accordance with the invention preferably includes a joint ring between the openable casing end and the device assembly, the joint ring including one or more flow openings, through which the casing interior communicates with one or more inlet ducts for the flow to be filtered in the device assembly. In this case, the flow is steered into the casing outside the mantle of the cylindrical filter means, from where the flow is filtered inside the mantle, and eventually is removed via the inside of the collar into the outlet duct for filtered flow in the device assembly. In this case, the inner surface of the filter means may bear against the perforated support pipe, which can be advantageously manufactured of a thinner material than before, as indicated above.
The invention will be described in greater detail below by means of examples and with reference to the accompanying drawings, of which.


The specification describes methods for making T-shaped metal gates for Schottky gate devices such as MESFETs and HEMTs. The method uses a bi-level photoresist technique to create a T-shaped feature for the gate structure. The metal gate is evaporated into the photoresist T-shaped feature and a lift-off process is used to remove unwanted metal. The photoresist is the dissolved away leaving the T-shaped gate. An important aspect of the process is the use of a plasma treatment of the first patterned resist level to harden it so that it is unaffected by the subsequent deposition and patterning of the second level resist.

As the feature size in integrated circuits continues to shrink the gate size for transistors must be correspondingly reduced. In state of the art III-V transistor devices the gate size has reached the point where gate resistance due to the small gate dimensions is a performance limiting factor. To overcome this limitation T-shaped gates and Y-shaped gates have been proposed. See e.g. M. H. Somerville et al "A model for Tunneling-Limited Breakdown in High Power HEMTs", IEEE IEDM, pp. 35-38 (1996); F. Ren et aL, "Y-gate submicron gate length GaAs metal-semiconductor field effect transistors", J. Vac. Sci. Technol. B 11(5), September/October 1993; A. Mahajan et al, "Monolithic Integration of InAlAs/InGaAs/InP Enhancement- and Depletion-Mode High Electron Mobility Transistors, IEEE IEDM, pp. 51-53, (1996). The T-shaped electrodes for these devices are produced by exposing T-shaped patterns in the resist at the gate location, developing the resist to form T-shaped openings, and evaporating metal into the T-shaped openings. A lift-off process is used to remove excess metal on the resist surface between T-shaped features. The e-beam approach has been successful but the e-beam writing step to form the T-shaped features is slow due to that characteristic raster scan of e-beam lithography, and very expensive. A better approach from the standpoint of throughput would be to use the blanket exposure characteristic of photolithographic processes but to date a photolithographic process for forming a vertically oriented T-shaped feature has not been available in the context of this technology.


A drive carrier includes a first computing device with light source control capacity and a light source proximate to a front plate of the drive carrier. The first computing device receives a signal from a second computing device (external to the drive carrier) and controls the light source proximate to the front plate of the drive carrier based on the signal.

Today's data storage demands have created a need for systems that can store large amounts of data. To this end, chassis have keen developed to accommodate a plurality of drives such as hard disk drives (HDD). Each of these drives is typically deposed within a drive carrier. Among other things, the drive carrier may serve to lock and hold the drive in a particular position within the chassis, and to protect the drive from electromagnetic energy interference (EMI) which may be caused by neighboring drives.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP


In a computer telecommunications network, firewalls protect a machine or network from undesired message transmissions. In the case of a firewall employed on a user side of the wireless link, a message rejected by the firewall has already consumed the wireless resources required to transmit. A system for protecting a mobile wireless user via a firewall employed at the wired line, or ISP side, of the wireless link in a wireless network allows a specific user profile to be provided for each user that is indicative of a desired firewall configuration corresponding to the mobile user. A firewall configuration is established at a firewall application in a wireless transceiver corresponding to the current location of the mobile user, and the same firewall configuration is established, via a wireless handoff, at a second wireless transceiver when the user is located in the area corresponding to the second wireless transceiver, thereby protecting a plurality of wireless users prior to wasteful wireless transmission of undesired messages.

In a computer telecommunications network, firewalls are known which are used to protect a machine or network from undesired message transmissions. Undesired messages can burden resources such as processing and storage, can affect timely processing of other tasks, and may also be the result of malicious activity by hackers, causing more serious effects such as those caused by viruses, Trojan horses, and worms.
A firewall is typically located at a point of entry into a computer system or network, such as a port or TCP/IP network interface, and scans incoming message traffic by comparing the message traffic to a predetermined criteria. Message traffic matching not matching the predetermined criteria is discarded as undesired.
The criteria employed by a firewall to match and determine whether to accept or reject message traffic typically include parameters such as port numbers, application IDs, source, destination, content filters, IP address, machine names, and TCP/IP flags, and can potentially include many others depending on the complexity to be tolerated and the degree of protection desired. The number of parameters to be matched in determining whether to accept or reject message traffic determines a granularity of protection. Therefore, a firewall having a low granularity of criteria may inadvertently block desired incoming message traffic as undesired, and may not be adequate to protect against some undesired traffic.
Further, telecommunications networks may comprise wired and wireless links. A wireless link is typically provided between a base station processor and a subscriber access unit which exchange messages according to a wireless protocol such as IS—95 or other proprietary wireless protocol. The subscriber access unit is connected to the user computer system or network, and the base station processor is connected to a public access network such as the Internet. In a typical wireless link, a firewall is employed in the subscriber access unit, or in a subsequent gateway into the machine or network to be protected. Alternatively, the firewall may be employed in the computer system defining the access point to the network on the user side of the wireless link.
The wireless link, however, is supported by RF channels, which are a scarce resource that is allocated among many connections supported over the wireless link. Since the firewall is employed on the user side of the wireless link, a message rejected by the firewall has already consumed the wireless resources required to transmit. Accordingly, messages rejected by the firewall tend to waste bandwidth which could be allocated to other connections, can drive up user cost by increasing message transmissions, and tend to slow overall throughput because of the resources required to transmit them over the wireless link.
In other systems, the firewall may be employed on the wired network side of the wireless link, thereby detecting undesired transmissions prior to transmission from the base station processor or other wireless transceiver in communication with the subscriber access unit. However, a typical base station processor typically supports many subscriber access units corresponding to many different users. Therefore, locating the firewall on the base station processor side of the firewall removes wireless burden, but forces all users to conform to the same firewall.
However, different users may wish to protect a network or system according to varying degrees of granularity. One user may wish to reject all transmissions from a particular TCP/IP network address, and another may not. Or a particular user may wish to accept traffic only from a particular subnet address of a network, while another user may wish to accept all transmissions from the network address. Still other users may wish to accept message traffic only destined for a particular port, or application, while others may wish to block incoming connections altogether, and allow only outgoing connections. Various permutations of user granularity may be desired by different users.
Accordingly, it would be beneficial to provide a system and method for protecting a mobile wireless user via a firewall in a wireless network to allows a specific user profile to be provided for each user indicative of a desired firewall configuration corresponding to the mobile user.


A system for customized document portfolio management. Corresponding methods and user interfaces are provided accordingly for allowing customized document portfolio management. In an preferred embodiment the system includes a document metadata database storing a plurality of documents and meta information thereof, a management server programmed to rule engine, search, security engine and notification engines, and a web server providing an interactive website for displaying documents and allowing creation of a customized portfolio. The customized portfolio management system preferably provides notification on the website, apprising users of changes in the status of their documents. Unique technical identification codes may be used to establish relationships among document.

The design of an integrated circuit (IC) typically includes the production of a schematic representation showing the circuit elements (often termed "cells") for each functional unit of the IC and the interconnections between the elements. The schematic is typically translated into a physical layout that is a geometric representation of the circuit, composed of polygons and interconnecting paths. The layout specifies the position and relative dimensions of the layers of materials deposited on a silicon wafer to form the circuit elements and interconnections, for example.
In addition to the correspondence between a schematic and the physical layout, it is also necessary that the integrated circuit design be consistent with the fabrication process, e.g., technology, equipment, and capability. The IC fabrication process at a given foundry may differ from that at other foundries. For example, a more advanced fabrication facility may fabricate an IC with interconnections having narrower line widths and smaller spaces between adjacent features than a less advanced facility. Depending on the foundry's fabrication technologies and techniques, and the materials used, different physical geometric configuration constraints apply. These constraints are commonly referred to as "design rules." Design rules may include, for example, dimensional specifications for the layout of a design, such as minimum spacing between transistors, minimum separation between conductors to prevent shorting, minimum metal width, contact size and spacing between the contacts, and minimum transistor length and width. Hence in the process' early stages, IC designers often need to access technology documents regarding foundry fabrication and design rules.
Presently, IC fabrication is highly developed and a semiconductor foundry may provide their customers with various technology choices and process options. Foundries usually provide numerous technology documents with respect to several geometries (e.g., 0.35 μm, 0.25 μm, 0.22 μm, 0.18 μm, 0.15 μm, 0.13 μm, etc.) and various products (e.g., logic products, MS/RF, embedded flash, etc.). One feature of the technology documents is that some may subordinate others. Thus, when a document is amended, its related documents often must also be updated correspondingly, to prevent version conflicts.
Technology documents may be delivered in several ways. One way is to assign customer service representatives to monitor the status of documents for customers and manually forward documents to customers upon request. This way is often very labor intensive, slow, and/or subject to human errors and oversight.
As a second way, some foundries may provide all technology documents for customers at an FTP site, but without linking the documents together based on their relationships to each other. Often a single document may be related to numerous other documents, and may be applicable to numerous geometry sizes and/or product types. Also, some foundries may not sort documents by the geometry size or by product type. In such cases a customer may be left to sort through, gather, and organize the documents they need in quite an inefficient manner.
A third possible way entails a foundry providing the latest set, i.e., synchronized version, of all design related documents online for customer access. A disadvantage of this approach is that design customers have to spend time determining which documents related to their design have been changed. Also, there is often no further information provided for the customers to conduct an evaluation of the impact on the original or subsequent design when technology documents have been updated.
Using a fourth way, a foundry may provide the latest technology documents online without version synchronization. The same disadvantages exist as the previous method, in that customers spend time determining which documents relating to their design have been updated. Moreover, because the versions of the documents are not synchronized, the customers have to evaluate the compatibility of the related documents between versions. Conflicting versions can cost a lot of time and money to fix, and even worse, delay new product availability on the market. Therefore, a need exists for an improved way to manage documents provided by a foundry to its customers.

System, method, and user interface providing customized document portfolio management

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd.


A catalyst purifies an exhaust gas exhaled from an internal combustion engine by catalysis thereof as a result of the exhaust gas passing therethrough. A heating unit heats the catalyst so as to cause the catalyst to perform the desired catalysis. A temperature detector detects the temperature of the catalyst. A deriving unit derives a required heat energy quantity to be applied to the catalyst, by which the temperature of the catalyst reaches an activating temperature so as to perform the desired catalysis, according to the temperature of the catalyst detected through the temperature detector before the internal combustion engine starts. A heat control unit causes the heating unit to stop the heating of the catalyst after the required heat energy has been applied to the catalyst.

(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to exhaust emission control system and method, particularly relating to an exhaust emission control system for an internal combustion engine which facilitates warming a catalyst up by causing a heater to function, which catalyst has the heater attached thereto.
(2) Description of the Related Art
Generally speaking, a catalyst used for controlling exhaust emission cannot be activated and thus the necessary purifying function cannot be obtained unless the temperature thereof reaches a predetermined value. The catalysis used for the internal combustion engine is heated by exhaust gas provided therefrom. However, in a case where the internal combustion engine is started when the ambient temperature is not high enough, the temperature of the exhaust gas is thus not high enough, further the engine has not been warmed up yet and combustion efficiency is thus not yet high. Therefore, purifying the exhaust gas by the catalyst is difficult in that case.
The Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open Application No. 49-124412 discloses an exhaust emission control system of a related art, which system has a heater for heating a catalyst, the heater heating the catalyst, a temperature sensor then detecting when the temperature of the catalyst reaches a temperature in an activating temperature range, that is, a range in which the catalyst is activated, the heater then stopping the heating of the catalyst in response to an output from the temperature sensor.
Such a system of the related art is needed to heat a catalyst appropriately so as to reach a temperature in the activating temperature range in any condition, a high detecting accuracy and a very fast response being thus required for a temperature sensor to be used for detecting the temperature of the catalyst in the exhaust emission control system in the related art.
For the purpose of the high detecting accuracy and very fast response in the temperature sensor, the temperature sensor is located on the back of the catalyst, the temperature on the back of the catalyst reaching an extremely high temperature, so as to expose the sensor directly to the exhaust gas, in the system of the related art. Further, a thermocouple is employed for the temperature sensor, such a thermocouple having an excellent response time in the system. However, such a thermocouple, although it has an excellent response time, is inferior in view of durability thereof, in comparison to another temperature sensor such as a thermistor. Particularly in the above-mentioned extreme circumstances, a problem such as the snapping of a wire may occur in the thermocouple accordingly.
A problem occurring in the temperature sensor results in continuous heating of the catalyst by the heater, causing further problems such as the catalyst being excessively heated, or damaged. Another problems in which the catalyst is not heated so as to be activated sufficiently and the sufficient purifying of the exhaust gas cannot be achieved may occur as a result of the temperature sensor failure.

Exhaust emission control system and method having improved heating control function for catalyst


An intervertebral cage of the present invention includes main body defined by an upper surface, a lower surface, and a pair of side surfaces. A withdrawal prevention portion is provided on the upper and/or the lower surfaces of the main body and asymmetrically with respect to the side surfaces in a top or bottom plan view. The withdrawal prevention portion regulates an insertion direction of the intervertebral cage.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an intervertebral cage that can be inserted between upper and lower vertebrae in longitudinal and slating directions after an intervertebral disk is removed.
2. Description of the Related Art
There have been known intervertebral cages inserted between the vertebrae the intervertebral disk of which is removed.
FIGS. 1 and 2 show an intervertebral cage of a related art of this invention (Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 9-503416). In the related art, an intervertebral cage 50 is comprised of a pair of left and right semicircular lateral spacers 51A, 51B; front and rear central spacers 53A, 53B are integrally fixed to each other by left and right fixing screws 55. This intervertebral cage 50 is inserted between upper and lower vertebrae 59U, 59L after an intervertebral disk is removed. The central spacers 53A, 53B and lateral spacers 51A, 51B define a cavity 70.
The related art has a problem that 1) since the intervertebral cage 50 is comprised of a large number of components and has a complex structure, and 2) does not have protrusions for preventing itself from coming off, it can not sufficiently be fixed between the vertebrae after it is inserted between the vertebrae.
Further, in the related art, it is premised that the intervertebral cage 50 is inserted between the upper and lower vertebrae from an anterior side but is not inserted from longitudinal and slanting anterior sides. Thus, an improved intervertebral cage has been desired.


A starting circuit for an electrodeless HID lamp includes a visible light radiator for illuminating a gas probe starter during lamp starting. In one embodiment, a light emitting diode (LED) illuminates the gas probe starter via a quartz tube. Excitation is provided to the LED by the same source used to excite the gas probe starter.

To enhance the ignition probability of electrical discharges in gases, it is common practice to illuminate the gases with ultraviolet radiation. Lamp starting is enhanced in this manner because the energy equivalent of the ultraviolet radiation exceeds the ionization potential of many gases. The ultraviolet radiation thus causes a small amount of the gases to ionize. The resulting free electrons can be accelerated by an applied electric field to have sufficient kinetic energy to produce successive, multiplicative ionization events, resulting in a discharge avalanche and breakdown of gases needed to start a lamp.
Generally, a breakdown avalanche requires at least one free electron to begin the process. Although normal background cosmic radiation can serve the purpose of generating the required free electron, the electron production rate is too low to be of practical use in applications where available ignition voltage is limited and/or where ignition time must be less than a specified interval, resulting in long time intervals, i.e., statistical time lags. The use of ultraviolet light substantially shortens these time intervals for a given applied voltage. Alternatives to ultraviolet radiation are other types of high energy radiation such as might be obtained from a variety of radioactive materials. Such alternative approaches, however, are generally costly or pose questions of safety.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a starting circuit for an electrodeless HID lamp which enhances ignition of an arc discharge, without requiring the use of an ultraviolet radiator or higher-energy radiators which are costly or potentially unsafe.

Starting circuit for an electrodeless high intensity discharge lamp employing a visible light radiator


A hinge includes a hinge arm, a hinge cup, a spring, a retainer, a damper, and an adjusting member. When the hinge cup, which is pivotally connected to the hinge arm, is being closed relative thereto, the spring provides a resilient closing force to complete the closing action. The retainer is mounted in the hinge cup and has a channel. The damper is mounted in the channel and corresponds to the hinge arm to provide a damping force adjustable via the adjusting member, which is movably mounted to the retainer, includes a surface and at least two contact portions differently spaced from the surface, and can be adjusted relative to the retainer so that one of the contact portions corresponds to the damper.

U.S. Pat. No. 8,561,262 B1 discloses a damping device for a hinge assembly. According to its specification, the damping hinge assembly includes a housing (10), an arm (12), at least one spring (14), a maintaining member (16), a damper (18), and an adjustment member (20). The arm (12) is pivotally connected to the housing (10). The housing (10) includes a chamber (36). The spring (14) is mounted in the chamber (36) of the housing (10) and serves to provide a resilient closing force when the housing (10) is pivoted with respect to the arm (12) and is thereby being closed with respect thereto.
The maintaining member (16) is fixedly mounted in the chamber (36) of the housing (10) and has a path (72) for receiving the damper (18). The damper (18) is mounted in the path (72) of the maintaining member (16) and corresponds to the arm (12). The damper (18) has a piston rod (76). The adjustment member (20) is movably mounted to the maintaining member (16) and has a protruded portion (92) to correspond to the piston rod (76) of the damper (18). When the adjustment member (20) has been displaced with respect to the maintaining member (16) to a first position, the protruded portion (92) of the adjustment member (20) is aligned with the piston rod (76) of the damper (18). Therefore, when the housing (10) is being closed with respect to the arm (12) in this state, the damper (18) is pushed and displaced by the arm (12). As a result, the piston rod (76) of the damper (18) is pressed against the protruded portion (92) of the adjustment member (20) and is thereby retracted to produce a damping effect. If the adjustment member (20) has been displaced with respect to the maintaining member (16) to a second position instead, the protruded portion (92) of the adjustment member (20) will not correspond in position to the piston rod (76) of the damper (18), and if the housing (10) is subsequently closed with respect to the arm (12), the piston rod (76) of the damper (18) will not be pressed against the protruded portion (92) of the adjustment member (20) and hence will not produce any damping effect.
In short, the piston rod (76) of the damping device can produce a damping effect when the adjustment member (20) has been displaced with respect to the maintaining member (16) to the first position, but if the adjustment member (20) has been displaced with respect to the maintaining member (16) to the second position, the piston rod (76) of the damping device cannot be pressed against the protruded portion of the adjustment member to produce the damping effect. In other words, the damping function of the damping device only has an ON state and an OFF state. Lacking a damping function adjusting mechanism, the damping device of the aforesaid US Patent still leaves room for improvement.


An apparatus and method for compensating images in a display device is disclosed. Distortion ratios of image blocks are calculated based on a gray value difference between each of a plurality of pairs of pixels in the image blocks that face each other at a boundary between the image blocks. Compensation parameters are set based on the calculated block distortion ratios. Distortion compensation values of the image blocks are calculated based on the gray value difference and the set compensation parameters. The image blocks are then compensated according to the calculated distortion compensation values.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a display device, and more particularly, to an apparatus and method for compensating images in a display device to reduce blocking artifacts that appear in the images.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
A variety of compression techniques have been used to increase image transfer rates and storage efficiencies. Recent transform techniques widely used for image compression include Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) and wavelet transform. The DCT technique has been used for JPEG, MPEG, and H.26X, and the wavelet transform technique has been used for JPEG2000.
In block-based image coding techniques such as JPEG and MPEG, an image is divided into blocks of a specific size and each block is individually encoded, and the image is then compressed via a quantization process and variable length coding. Image compression is performed in the quantization process in which information loss occurs. Thus, an image obtained through inverse quantization differs from the original image. At more than a certain compression rate, the block-based image coding causes blocking artifacts in the decoded image due to discontinuous luminance of blocks of the image at the boundaries between the blocks. Images compressed at a high compression rate have serious blocking artifacts, and smooth areas in the images look as if they are composed of blocks of a specific size. Blocking artifacts reduce the image quality more significantly than a loss of details in the image caused by the compression. A number of methods have been suggested to remove such blocking artifacts.
A variety of studies have been conducted to reduce blocking artifacts in the block-based transform coding. Methods for reducing blocking artifacts can be mainly divided into preprocessing and post-processing methods. The preprocessing method essentially removes blocking artifacts by removing the causes of blocking artifacts in the encoding process, and the post-processing method removes blocking artifacts from decoded images. The preprocessing method cannot be applied to coding formats such as JPEG and MPEG whose encoding and decoding procedures have been standardized. Post-processing methods can be mainly divided into filtering methods and transform coding methods. The filtering method applies low pass filtering to the block boundaries on the assumption that discontinuous portions along the block boundaries have high frequency components. Although it can reduce blocking artifacts in real time, the filtering method has a problem in that it damages edge information of the original image. In the transform coding method, transform coding is performed on an image, signal processing is performed on transform coding coefficients to remove blocking artifacts, and inverse transform coding is performed to reconstruct the image. However, it is difficult for the transform coding method to reduce blocking artifacts in real time since it requires a great deal of calculation.

Apparatus and method for compensating compression blocking artifacts based on gray value comparisons of adjacent blocks


The invention relates to the protection of glasses and glassware in the hospitality and bar industry. Specifically, the device provides for a rubberized or plastic nesting device sized to fit on the outside of glassware, such as for example, a pint glass, whereby the plastic nesting device permits multiple glasses to nest and save space during cleaning and storage and preventing the direct contact of the sides of the glassware that might lead to breaking.

Glassware such as that used in a bar, restaurant, or any other establishment engaged in the service of cocktails, beer, or wine, must be stored in sufficient quantities to meet the needs of the establishment over the course of a day or evening. Typically, this glassware is stored on crowded tables, in cupboards, or on shelves, where there is a need to minimize the amount of space consumed by the glassware. In order to conserve space, glassware is commonly "nested," i.e., stacked so that the bottom of one glass is placed inside of a second glass, and where the bottom of the second glass is placed inside of a third glass, and so on. Nesting arrangements such as this exist with as few as two glasses and may include upwards of a dozen, and sometimes more, in a single, contiguous, nested arrangement.
When glassware is stored in a nested arrangement, it is relatively common for the glasses to become stuck together, where the bottom of one glass is not easily removed from the inside of the second glass. Sometimes stacks of nested glassware become stuck in this way; where considerable force is required to remove the glasses from the nested arrangement. Where considerable force is required to dislodge glassware from a nested arrangement, an increased risk exists such that one or more glasses will break during the dislodging process. Over the course of a year, a restaurant, bar, or other establishment will spend thousands of dollars, sometimes tens of thousands of dollars, replacing broken glassware that has broken after becoming stuck in a nested arrangement or configuration. Additionally, bar keeps, bar tenders, and any other workers trying to dislodge stuck glassware from a nested arrangement may accidentally injure themselves or others with shards of broken glass. Still more danger is created from the shards of broken glass which accidentally find their way into ice chests, coolers, and sometimes into the icy drinks of unsuspecting customers.
In addition to creating a risk of injury from glassware breakage during the dislodging of stuck glassware stored in a nested arrangement, the act of nesting glassware i.e., physically placing the bottom of one glass into the opening of a second glass, can cause the bottom of the first glass to strike the rim of the second glass, causing the rim of the second glass to chip or break. This problem of breaking or chipping the rims of glassware exists because the bottoms of most glasses are made from heavy, thick layers of glass, where the rims of those same glasses are typically thin, and relatively prone to chipping and breaking. Where the rim of one glass is chipped or contains some other imperfection, the chip may cause injury to a customer and the imperfection or chip can also lessen or diminish the presentation of the contents of the glass when served to the customer. For example, a pint glass used to serve beer with thick foam will fail to hold adequate foam (or "head") where the rim of the pint glass has imperfections or chips.
Accordingly, there is a need for a device or method permitting or providing for the efficient, space-conserving storage of large inventories of glassware in a nested arrangement or configuration while at the same time avoiding or minimizing the attendant risks associated with such a practice, including the risk of glassware breaking after the same has become stuck, or the risk of glassware becoming broken, chipped, or impaired during the nesting process.


The embodiments disclosed relate to determination of an item of interest in a sample. In one method, a process path comprising a process lane including a process step performance lane where a process step is performed, and a process step avoidance lane where the process step is avoided is provided. A container holding the sample is moved along the process path. The sample is introduced to the container. A reagent is introduced to the container. The sample and the reagent are mixed in the container. The container is selectively positioned in a selected one of the process step performance lane and the process step avoidance lane. The item of interest in the sample is determined based upon a reaction between the sample and the reagent.

Embodiments described herein relate generally to methods and structures which determine an item of interest in a sample.
To provide information about a patient's health, a number of tests can be performed on a patient sample, such as the patient's bodily fluids. These bodily fluids may include blood, urine, etc. The tests performed on the patient's bodily fluids can determine an item of interest in the bodily fluids. Based on the determination of the item of interest in the patient's bodily fluids, information about the patient's health status can be obtained.

Method for determination of item of interest in a sample


A heavy ion generator is used with a plasma desorption mass spectrometer to provide an appropriate neutron flux in the direction of a fissionable material in order to desorb and ionize large molecules from the material for mass analysis.. The heavy ion generator comprises a fissionable material having a high n,f reaction cross section. The heavy ion generator also comprises a pulsed neutron generator that is used to bombard the fissionable material with pulses of neutrons, thereby causing heavy ions to be emitted from the fissionable material. These heavy ions impinge on a material, thereby causing ions to desorb off that material. The ions desorbed off the material pass through a time-of-flight mass analyzer, wherein ions can be measured with masses greater than 25,000 amu.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a plasma desorption mass spectrometer source. In particular, the invention relates to a plasma desorption mass spectrometer source which contains a pulsed neutron generator to provide an appropriate neutron flux in the direction of a fissionable material producing a pulsed source of heavy ions in order to desorb and ionize large molecules from a material for mass analysis.
2. Description of the Related Art
Accurate determination of molecular weights of biomolecules, such as proteins, is very important in biochemistry and industrial polymer applications as an analytical tool for molecular characterization. The molecular weight is a useful parameter, since it is indicative of the size of a biomolecule and gives an approximation of the number and type of subunits constituting the biomolecule. Of particular importance is the analysis of special proteins used in recombinant DNA research, where the paramount criteria of identity from one protein to another protein is the molecular weight of each protein.
The molecular weight of proteins ranges from 10,000 atomic mass units (amu) to over 500,000 amu. Mass spectrometry is one method used for providing an accurate determination of weights of biomolecules involving large masses. However, conventional mass spectrometers are only useful for measuring molecular weights up to about 25,000 amu.
Mass spectrometry involves three distinct functions: sample ionization, mass analysis and ion detection. FIG. 1 illustrates the high-level structural features of a mass spectrometer, whereby an ion beam 10-1 is provided by an ion source 20-1. The ion beam then passes through a mass analyzer 30-1, which separates the ions based on their charge-to-mass ratios. Such a mass analyzer 30-1 may be of the quadrupole type, magnetic sector type, or time of flight (TOF) type. Both the quadrupole and magnetic sector mass analyzer systems have inherent limitations, however, due to the requirements of larger mass analyzer size for measuring larger ion masses. TOF mass analyzers allow for high molecular mass range, high ion transmission, and have the ability to record ions of different mass simultaneously. Therefore, TOF mass analyzers are preferred devices for analyzing large mass biomolecules. After passing through the TOF mass analyzer 30-1, the ion beam 10-1 arrives at the ion detector 40-1. For TOF spectrometers, the time that an ion arrives at the detector ion 40-1 serves as an indication of the mass of the ion.
Based on improvements in each of the three distinct functions of a mass spectrometer, accurate results can be achieved for measurements of biomolecules of masses below 10,000 amu, and reasonably effective measurements have been performed using Plasma Desorption Mass Spectrometry (PDMS), Matrix Assisted Laser Desorption Mass Spectrometry (MALDI), and Electro-Spray Mass Spectrometry (ESMS), for proteins as large as 25,000 amu. However, at present, both MALDI and ESMS are experiencing technical evolutions to allow for the detection of ions in the mass range of 25,000-500,000 amu.
The original method used in mass spectrometry for detecting heavy molecules utilized primary ions from a radioactive source that traveled at high velocities and which subsequently impacted on a thin film of a sample of interest. This impact then caused a subsequent ejection, or desorption, of secondary ions from that thin film. The term "desorption" means the removal of ions from a surface. These secondary ions were subsequently mass differentiated and detected. PDMS is the original large molecule detecting mass spectrometry technique. A general background of this technology is given by Robert Cotter, in Plasma Desorption Mass Spectrometry: Coming of Age, in Analytical Chemistry, Vol. 60, No. 13, Jul. 1, 1988. A block diagram of a plasma desorption mass spectrometer is shown in FIG. 2. The typical ionization source that is utilized is a 10-.mu.Ci sample of .sup.252 Cf (californium), which is held between two thin sheets of nickel foil. The ionization source is held at the same electrical potential (around 20 kV) as the sample to be analyzed. .sup.252 Cf is used as the source since it has a high probability for spontaneous fission.
.sup.252 Cf decays with a half-life of 2.65 years, of which 97% is decayed as alpha particles and 3% is decayed by spontaneous fission. That is, 3% is decayed as two charged fragments simultaneously emitted in opposite directions, 180 degrees apart from each other. Typically, such a decay involves .sup.106 Tc and .sup.142 Ba, with a total energy of about 200 million electron volts (MeV) and with a total mass of about 200 amu.
At the start of each timing cycle, one of the fission fragments hits a start detector 10-2, which is constructed as a grounded foil that emits secondary electrons collected by a dual channel plate detector 20-2. The output pulse from the detector 20-2 is amplified by amplifier 30-2, passed through a constant fraction discriminator 40-2, and recorded as the start pulse by a time-to-digital converter 50-2. The detector foil 10-2 and the discriminator 40-2 are designed to distinguish fission fragments from lower energy alpha particles, which emit about 6.1 MeV of energy per alpha particle. Discriminator 40-2 only provides an output for energies above the alpha particle energy and is thus responsive selectively to the fission fragments.
At the same time that the first fission fragment impinges the detector foil 10-2, the second fission fragment penetrates sample stage 60-2 (typically made of aluminum) on which sample 70-2 has been deposited on the reverse side thereof.
As a result of their masses and high velocities, the fission fragments emitted from the .sup.252 Cf source are able to deposit large amounts of energy as they impinge on the sample 70-2 on the foil 60-2, allowing for the desorption of high molecular weight species from the sample 70-2. Typically, from 1 to 10 high molecular weight secondary ions are desorbed from the sample 70-2 and accelerated toward a grid 80-2 held at ground potential, where the secondary ions enter a long (15 cm to 3 m) drift region 90-2 with velocities inversely proportional to the square root of their masses. The amount of time needed to travel through the drift region 90-2 is a function of the mass of each particle desorbed from the sample 70-2. These particles are then detected by a detector 100-2; the detector output signals are amplified by an amplifier 110-2, and passed through a constant fraction discriminator 120-2. The output signal from the discriminator is fed to the time-to-digital converter 50-2. The data from the first and second fission fragments are then sent to a processor, such as a computer 130-2, which determines a mass spectrum based on this data.
As noted above, a californium source produces heavy ions, but it does so in a not-very-predictable manner. Another limitation of using the californium source is the low yield of molecular ions. Still another problem with using the californium source is that, since the alpha particles that are emitted are of much lower momentum than the particles emitted by spontaneous fission, the alpha particles greatly increase the number of fragmented ions, and since there is no time correlation for the alpha particle-initiated events, the signal-to-noise ratio levels are markedly decreased. All of these problems contribute to long acquisition times and decreased molecular ion sensitivity.
Therefore, it is desired to find a better source for use in a plasma desorption mass spectrometer, and especially a source useful in measuring molecular weights greater than 25,000 amu.

Method for studying a sample of material using a heavy ion induced mass spectrometer source

The United States of America as represented by the United States Department of Energy


Some embodiments provide a non-transitory machine-readable medium that stores a program. The program receives a set of sensor data from a set of sensors. Each sensor in the set of sensors is configured to sense a physical quantity. Based on the set of sensor data, the program further determines that a particular event has occurred. Based on the determination that the particular event has occurred, the program also sends a set of notifications to a set of subscribers.

Smart devices are electronic devices that can be configured to connect to other devices or networks through a variety of communication protocols (e.g., Bluetooth, NFC, Wi-Fi, 4G, etc.). Such devices may operate interactively and autonomously. Examples of smart devices include smartphones, smart cars, smart thermostats, smart doorbells, smart locks, smart refrigerators, phablets and tablets, smartwatches, smart glasses, smart bands, smart key chains, smart speakers, etc. In some cases, a smart device is an electronic device that has the following properties: (1) the device is networked, distributed and transparently accessible; (2) the device hides human-computer interactions from users; and (3) the device has context awareness of an environment.

Data processing system for detecting events and providing notifications


There is disclosed a system and process for diagnosing or determining a condition of a user. In particular the system and process can be used to provide a series of questions based upon personalized information of the user. This personalized information can be uploaded to a database. A series of questions can be automatically generated or a user can be assisted in creating a series of questions for a patient based upon this uploaded media. In addition, the system and process can use this personalized media to treat the patient and to assist the patient in their daily tasks.

At least one embodiment of the invention relates to a system and a process for providing assistance and cognitive stimulation to a user/patient to assess the abilities of the patient and to assist the patient with treatment as well as daily tasks. This system and process can include uploading personalized information about a user into a computer system and then presenting a series of questions to a user to assess the abilities of that user and to provide rehabilitative care to that user. This system and process can be used to help a medical professional diagnose a plurality of different medical conditions. For example, one medical condition is anomie aphasia which is also known as dysnomia which equates with a persona having a severe problem with recalling words or names. Another condition can include Wernicke's aphasia which is a language disorder that impacts language comprehension and production of meaningful language. The disorder is associated with the damage to the Wernicke's area. Individuals with Wernicke's aphasia have difficulty understanding spoken language but are able to produce sounds phrases and word sequences. These sentences/word sequences are grammatically correct but nonsensical thereby limiting the ability of patients to communicate. Transcortial aphasia (TMA) is similar to Wernicke's aphasia but the repetition is intact. This condition can be caused by a stroke. People who suffer from TMA have severely impaired writing ability. Global Aphasia is one where the person has a near complete loss of ability to formulate verbal communication. In this case, speech is reduced to a few words. Brocas aphasia is one of the most common or recognized type of aphasia wherein the patient has good comprehension but has difficulty speaking. Aside from assisting patients with strokes, memory deficits from Alzheimer's Disease, or other brain injuries such as traumatic brain injury or encephalitis, this invention can be useful in the field of Psychiatry as well. Patients with Chronic Schizophrenia often suffer from lingering cognitive deficits after their psychotic symptoms have been successfully treated. They often have difficulty with motivation, relating to others, and may be lacking the skills of executive functioning as well.
There have been systems created to test and train cognitive abilities. Some of these systems can include U.S. Patent Application publication No. 2009/0118588 to Robinson et al published on May 7, 2009 and U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2009/0234181 to Kim published on Sep. 17, 2009, wherein the disclosures and teachings of both of these publications are hereby incorporated herein by reference. It has been determined that there is a need for a customizable computerized system and process for providing personalized therapy to a patient to diagnose or determine a condition of a patient and to treat a patient.

System and process for assessing a user and for assisting a user in rehabilitation


Techniques for lens-free imaging using optical resonance, including providing a series of standing waves indexed by a wave vector to an optical resonator having a predetermined dispersion relation. The intensity of the wavelengths corresponding to the standing waves can be measured with a photodetector. A magnitude and shift of the wave vector corresponding to each of the standing waves can be determined, and spatial information in k-space can be determined from the magnitude and shift of the wave vector corresponding to each of the standing waves using an inversion relationship. A transform can be applied to the spatial information to generate an image.

The disclosed subject matter relates generally to techniques for lens-free super-resolution imaging.
The field of optical microscopy includes systems with imaging optics, e.g., series of lenses that project an object plane onto an imaging-plane which, in turn, is typically recorded by an imaging array such as a CCD camera or the retina. However, in some applications, it can desirable to acquire an image without the use of lenses. For example, limited-space applications such as endoscopy can benefit from small, lens-free imaging systems.
Electromagnetic waves, including those in the infrared, visual, and ultraviolet spectrum, propagating through a medium can undergo frequency-dependent effects known as dispersion. For example, light traveling through a prism can undergo phase velocity dispersion, wherein different frequencies of light are refracted differently (i.e., different wavelengths have different propagation velocities). The "dispersion relation" can describe the relation of wave properties, such as for example wavelength, frequency, velocity, and refractive index of a medium. Dispersion relations can depend on material composition of a medium through which an electromagnetic wave travels, the geometry of the medium, and other factors.
Photonic crystals (PCs) can have peculiar optical properties, which can allow for the modification and engineering of the dispersion relation of the crystal for photons at optical frequencies. Photonic crystals can be fabricated to affect the motion of photons. For example, nanoscale waveguides can be created by introducing defects in a periodic structure. Optical cavities can be created by removing one or more holes in a PC lattice. Such cavities can be high-Q and can have desirable modal volume. Additionally, optical cavities can be designed to include more than one mode localized in the cavity area. Such modes can be referred to as standing wave modes, which can be composed of superpositions of forward and backward traveling Bloch modes. Each standing wave can have a unique spatial distribution, which can correspond to a different resonant frequency for each mode.

Lens-free planar imager using an optical resonator

THE TRUSTEES OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK


To reduce the peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR) of a complex-valued digital baseband signal, the signal is mixed to an intermediate frequency and its real components extracted, to generate an intermediate-frequency real-valued digital signal. The intermediate frequency is one-quarter of a sampling rate of the complex-valued digital baseband signal. The intermediate-frequency real-valued digital signal is clipped and down-converted by one-quarter of the sampling rate.

The peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR) of a signal is defined as the ratio of the signal's peak power to its average power. PAPR is the square of the crest factor, which is defined as the signal's peak amplitude divided by its average value (i.e., its root-mean-squared, or RMS, value). A high PAPR and corresponding high crest factor reduce power-amplifier (PA) efficiency and increase the dynamic range for transmit-signal-processing stages, thus complicating the design of those stages. Dynamic range refers to the ratio of the maximum signal magnitude to the minimum signal magnitude. High PAPR is a known challenge in orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM).
Accordingly, it is desirable to reduce the PAPR of digital baseband transmit signals, such as digital baseband OFDM transmit signals. The PAPR may be reduced by reducing the dynamic range.
One approach to dynamic range reduction, and thus to PAPR reduction, is clipping and filtering. FIG. 1 is a block diagram of PAPR reduction circuitry 100 that clips and filters a digital baseband signal provided as input. The digital baseband signal is a quadrature-amplitude-modulation (QAM) baseband signal with in-phase (Iin) and quadrature (Qin) components. This input signal is provided to an absolute-value module 102 and a multiplier 106. The absolute-value module 102 determines the magnitude |in| of the input signal and provides the magnitude |in| to a lookup table (LUT) 104. A clipping level A is also provided to the LUT 104. The LUT 104 uses the magnitude |in| and the clipping level A to perform a lookup that returns a clipping factor c. The clipping factor c may be determined using the formula:
                    c        =                  {                                                                                1                    ,                                                                                                                              i                                                                                n                                                                                    ≤                    A                                                                                A                      /                                                                                                i                                                                                n                                                                                                              ,                                                                                                                              i                                                                                n                                                                                    >                    A                                                                        .                                              (        1        )
The multiplier 106 multiplies the input signal by the clipping factor c, thereby clipping the input signal. A low-pass filter (LPF) 108 filters the clipped input signal, resulting in an output signal of the PAPR reduction circuitry 100. The output signal is a QAM baseband signal with in-phase (Iout) and quadrature (Qout) components.
The clipping-and-filtering technique performed by the PAPR reduction circuitry 100 involves a large number of multiplications, because the QAM baseband signal is complex-valued. Accordingly, there is a need for clipping-and-filtering techniques that are computationally simple.

Dynamic-range reduction of complex-valued baseband signals


As and B are implanted to side surfaces of trenches 3 by a rotation ion implanting method, and by using a difference between these impurities in diffusion coefficient, the structure in which an n−-type epitaxial Si layer is interposed between trenches 3 is converted into a semiconductor structure consisting of n-type pillar layer 5/p-type pillar layer 4/n-type pillar layer 5 lining up. The structure can function substantially the same role as that of a super junction structure.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device and a method of manufacturing the semiconductor device, and more specifically, to an improvement of a semiconductor device comprising a power MOSFET and a method of manufacturing such a device.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 21 is a diagram showing a cross section of a typical conventional power MOSFET. In this figure, reference numeral 81 denotes an n+-type Si substrate having a high impurity concentration, which serves as an n+-type drain layer. An n−-type epitaxial Si layer 82 having a low impurity concentration is formed on the n+-type Si substrate 81.
A p-type base layer 83 is formed selectively on a surface of the n−-type epitaxial Si layer 82, and further an n+-type source diffusion layer 84 having a high impurity concentration is formed selectively on a surface of the p-type base layer 83.
A gate electrode 86 is provided via a gate insulating film 85 on the p-type base layer 83 interposed between the n+-type source diffusion layer 84 and the n+-type epitaxial Si layer 82.
In a power MOSFET of the above-described type, that is, a planar type power MOSFET, a current path to the MOS device is taken from a rear surface of the n+-type Si layer 81 via the n−-type epitaxial Si layer 82. With this structure, the resistance during the device is on (ON resistance) depends on the thickness of the n−-type epitaxial Si layer 82.
Meanwhile, a depletion layer extends within the n−-type epitaxial Si layer 82, and therefore the maintenance of the withstand voltage is determined by the thickness of the epitaxial layer. Typical values of the ON resistance and withstand voltage are 1.52 (Ω) and 746 (V), respectively.
As described above, in the conventional power MOSFET shown in FIG. 21, the current path and the region where the withstand voltage is maintained are located at the same place. With this structure, if the thickness of the epitaxial layer is increased to raise the withstand voltage, the ON resistance is increased as well. On the other hand, if the thickness of the epitaxial layer is decreased to lower the ON resistance, the withstand voltage is decreased as well. Thus, there is a conflicting relationship between these points, and it had been difficult to satisfy these points at the same time.
Especially, in the case where a drain-source reverse directional withstand voltage should be maintained at 200V or higher, the resistance of the n−-type epitaxial Si layer 82 needs to be increased. However, if the resistance REpi of the n−-type epitaxial Si layer 82 is increased, the lowering of the ON resistance is inevitably limited with the conventional structure. Note that the terms, resistance Rch and resistance RJFET indicate the channel resistance and junction FET resistance, respectively.
However, recently, a power MOSFET with a new structure called super junction structure, which can satisfy the above-described points at the same, has been proposed. FIG. 22 shows a cross section of a power MOSFET with the new structure. Note that the sections of this figure that correspond to those shown in FIG. 21 are designated by the same reference numerals and the detailed descriptions therefor will be omitted.
This power MOSFET is of a planar type; however, it has the following structure. That is, n-type epitaxial Si layers 87 (871 to 876) that have an impurity concentration higher than that of the n−-type epitaxial Si layer 82 are located at the center of the MOS, and p-type pillar layers 88 are located on both sides thereof. The p-type pillar layers 88 are formed to communicate to the p-type base layers 83, respectively. According to this structure, the current path and the region where the withstand voltage is maintained are separated from each other.
With this structure, the main current flows through the n-type epitaxial Si layer 87, and therefore the ON resistance depends on the impurity concentration of the n-type epitaxial Si layer 87. On the other  hand, the maintenance of the withstand voltage, since the depletion layer is extended in a lateral direction, is determined by the impurity concentration and width of each of the n-type epitaxial Si layer 87 and the p-type pillar layers 88. Thus, it is possible to satisfy both of the decrease in the ON resistance and the increase in the withstand voltage. Note that in the case of, for example, the 600V class, the ON resistance can be decreased to ⅓ or less of that of the planar type element shown in FIG. 21.
However, the power MOSFET with the conventional super junction structure entails the following drawbacks.
That is, in order to form the new structure shown in FIG. 22, a series of steps that include growing a thin n-type epitaxial Si layer 82, ion implantation of arsenic (As) as an n-type impurity, forming of a mask 90 for implantation of a p-type impurity, and ion implantation of boron (B) as a p-type impurity, must be repeated.
Specifically, in the case of a 600V-class element, the thickness of the n-type epitaxial Si layer 87 is about 50 μm whereas the thickness of the n-type epitaxial Si layer 82 is about 8.3 μm. Therefore, the above-described series of steps must be repeated 5 or 6 times.
In this case, 5 or 6 times of the epitaxial growth step, 10 or 12 times of the mask formation step and 10 or 12 times of the ion implantation step are required. After that, annealing is carried out to activate the n-type and p-type impurities that have been ion-implanted, and thus the n-type epitaxial Si layer 87 and the p-type pillar layers 88 are completed.
As described above, the manufacture of the power MOSFET having the conventional super junction structure requires a significantly greater number of processing steps as compared to the case of the planar type power MOSFET. Thus, the production cost is increased. More specifically, the production cost for the chip of the conventional power MOSFET would be almost the same as that of the planar-type large-area chip (of a low ON resistance type).
Further, in order to form a p-type pillar layer 88 such as to connect the p-type layers located above and below (, which are layers formed by ion implantation of B shown in FIG. 23D), it is necessary that B ions that are implanted should be diffused in a vertical direction (thickness direction) by at least the thickness of the n−-type epitaxial Si layer 82.
During this process, B ions diffuse in a lateral direction. Therefore, there is a drawback in which the reduction in measurement of the element in the lateral direction of the unit cell (measurement in its channel length direction) is hindered by the diffusion of B in the lateral direction.
Specifically, in the case of an element of the 600V class, the thickness of the n-type epitaxial Si layer 87 is about 5 to 8 μm. Therefore, taking the diffusion in the lateral direction into consideration, the width of the unit cell of the element would be about 30 μm.
FIG. 24 shows a termination structure used in the power MOSFET having the conventional super junction structure. In this figure, reference numeral 91 denotes the source electrode and numeral 92 denotes an insulating film.
The termination structure is formed of repetitions of the n-type epitaxial Si layer 87 and the p-type pillar layers 88. In order to relax the electrical field within the n−-type epitaxial Si layer 82, it is necessary to increase the potential gradually from the source to drain.
Specifically, in the case of an element of the 600V class and the width of a unit cell is about 30 μm, 10 to 20 unit cells are required in terms of the unit number. Therefore, a termination structure having a length of 300 μm to 600 μm is required. Such a long termination structure hinders the reduction in measurements of the entire device.
As described above, the power MOSFET with the conventional super junction structure is different from the planar type power MOSFET in that the lowering of the ON resistance and the increase in the withstand voltage can be achieved at the same time. However, the power MOSFET with the conventional super junction structure entails the problem of involving a far greater number of processing steps in the manufacture thereof as compared to that of the planar type power MOSFET.

Vertical type semiconductor device and method of manufacturing the same


A monoclonal antibody against a procollagenase with a molecular weight of 52000 whose corresponding collagenase cleaves Type I, Type II and Type III collagens, the monoclonal antibody being characterized in, (a) that it belongs to the immunoglobulin class and subclass of G.sub.1 and its L-chain isotype is kappa, and, (b) that it has an inhibitory activity on the collagenase that cleaves Type I, Type II and Type III collagens, and a method for the assay of procollagenase by enzymeimmunoassay utilizing thereof.

Collagenase, the enzyme which cleaves collagens, is widely distributed in organisms.
Since an elevated collagenase activity is noted in pathological tissues such as synovialis in rheumatoid arthritis, ulcerated cornea and osteoma tissues, it is beneficial to determine collagenase activity in pathological tissues and in body fluids for diagnosis of such disorders.
Collagenase is produced in a latent (inactive) form, procollagenase, and both of collagenase and procollagenase occur in tissues. Therefore, for the assay of collagenase activity, procollagenase has to be activated by a pretreatment with a protease such as trypsin or with a mercurial compound, etc. Moreover, as a large quantity of inhibitors of collagenase activity is present in tissues, a very complicated procedure is required in order to eliminate these inhibitors.
Several types of collagenases are known according to the types of their collagen substrates, and they are classified into the collagenase that cleaves type I, type II and type III collagens (interstitial collagens) (hereinafter referred to as interstitial collagenase), the collagenase that cleaves type IV collagen and type V collagen, and the like.
With regard to the monoclonal antibodies against the procollagenase of the interstitial collagenase (hereinafter referred to as "interstitial procollagenase"), 11 monoclonal antibodies have been disclosed, which were prepared by using as antigens a mixture of the interstitial procollagenases having a molecular weight of 52000 and 57000 [see Biochemistry, 27, 6751 (1988)]. However, the monoclonal antibodies of the present invention, which belong to the immunoglobulin in class and subclass G.sub.1, whose L-chain isotype is kappa and which have a collagenase inhibiting activity, have never been disclosed before.

Anti-procollagenase monoclonal antibodies and a method for the assay of procollagenase utilizing thereof


A compounded fitness trainer, including a base, on which a loading device is pivoted; a pair of first driving bars pivoted on the base for swinging; a pair of second driving bars pivoted on the base for swinging; a pair of first linkages respectively pivoted on the second driving bars and opposite sides of the loading device; and a pair of second linkages respectively pivoted on the first driving bars and the first linkages wherein the first driving bars are moved by the second driving bars when the second driving bars are moved, and the second driving bars are moved by the first driving bars when the first driving bars are moved whereby moving the first driving bars and/or the second driving bars may train different muscles.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to a training machine, and more particularly to a compounded fitness trainer.
2. Description of Related Art
In modern life, lack of physical exercise causes musculoskeletal and cardiovascular problems. Prolonged, daily sitting on a chair causes people to become obese and may even cause scoliosis.
There are many training machines commercially available enabling people to exercise and train the muscles in their leisure time. Exercise enhances metabolism which promotes good health.
Conventional training machines are designed to simulate natural exercises, such as steppers, which are provided with two pedals to simulate stair stepping, and elliptical machines, which are provided with a flywheel and two pedals linked to the flywheel to simulate walking or two pedals moving on fixed rails (in a direction of forward and rearward or in a direction of inward and outward). Conventional training machine provides a single repeated exercise only, and users have to buy different kinds of training machines for different kinds of physical exercises. This is expensive and, furthermore, the training machines typically require a large space at home.
Conventional training machines are designed to train limited muscles, such as specific leg muscles or arm muscles. There is a lack of a training machine which could train the muscles of different body portions at the same time.


A dipping and pouring apparatus includes a molten metal holder which received a molten metal, a duct which is provided at the bottom of the molten metal holder and which opens into the air, and a valve member provided in the duct. The valve member is provided with a main axial passage opening into the air and at least one branch passage connected to the main passage. The valve member selectively connects the interior of the molten metal holder to the axial main passage.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a dipping and pouring apparatus of molten metal, such as molten aluminium.
2. Description of Related Art
A ladle 50 as shown in FIG. 13 has been used to dip and transfer molten metal into a mold.
When the ladle 50 is directly plunged into, for example, molten aluminium contained in a furnace to scoop the molten metal, oxide produced in an upper surface portion of the molten metal in the furnace can be contained in the molten aluminium ladled in and by the ladle 50.
Furthermore, when the ladle 50 is inclined to transfer the ladled molten metal therefrom into a molding cavity through an outlet port 51 of the ladle 50, as shown in FIG. 13, the pour (quantity) and direction of a flow of the molten metal depend on the inclination angle of the ladle 50. Namely, as can be seen in FIG. 13, the flows "a" and "c" are farthest from and closest to the outlet port 51, respectively, and the flow "b" is intermediate therebetween. The quantity of molten metal decreases from the flow "a" towards the flow "c", and the pouring points of the flows "a", "b" and "c" are different from each other.
To eliminate the drawbacks mentioned above, the applicant of the present application has proposed an improved container for molten metal, including a movable refractory container body which is provided on the bottom thereof with a connecting passage opening into the air, and a valve stem which is reciprocally moved in the connecting passage to selectively establish the fluid connection of the connecting passage to the air (e.g., Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 3-258455).
In the improved container, as disclosed in JPP '455, a constant quantity of molten metal can be poured from the container at the same pouring point thereof in the same direction. Furthermore, the molten metal is discharged from the bottom of the container, and accordingly, no oxide produced in the upper surface portion of the molten metal is poured in the molding cavity together with the molten metal.
Nevertheless, in the container disclosed in JPP '455, there are plurality of flows of molten metal produced when the molten metal flows through a plurality of connecting grooves formed in the valve stem, thus resulting in an occurrence of turbulence.
Upon pouring, the molten metal may be scattered due to the turbulent flows, so that the molding dies or surroundings thereof can be soiled with the scattered molten metal, or air bubbles can be contained in the molten metal.
The primary object of the present invention is to eliminate the drawbacks mentioned above by providing a dipping and pouring apparatus in which a constant quantity of molten metal can be poured in the same direction at a constant pouring point, without occurring a turbulence flow.

Dipping and pouring apparatus for molten metal


A method, device and computer system for creating a smooth, continuous height (scalar or vector) field are described. The described techniques permit arbitrary closed regions to be smoothly shaded without producing unnatural smoothness at the region's edges or boundaries.

The invention relates generally to computer graphics and more particularly to the generation of spatially varying effects applied to an arbitrary graphic region (e.g., highlighting, blurring, vertical rise, shading, lighting effects and the like).
Graphic artists often spend a significant amount of time generating spatially varying effects for a specified region such as a character, a string of characters or a graphic object or image. In one approach graphic artists apply a shading via an airbrush and then mask the resulting image so as to conform it to the prescribed region—repeating as needed to obtain the desired visual effect. While such techniques can be used to generate visually stunning effects, they typically require large amounts of time and/or a large degree of artistic ability. Thus, it would be beneficial to provide a mechanism to rapidly and, to a large degree automatically, generate spatially varying effects for arbitrarily defined regions.

Manipulating text and graphic appearance


A thermal analysis apparatus possesses a temperature sensor measuring a temperature of a heating furnace inside, a temperature program setter which can set a temperature program and outputs a temperature program signal, a temperature control section adjusting a supply electric power to a heater in compliance with a difference between the temperature program signal and a detection signal of the temperature sensor, a processor section calculating an air flow rate corresponding to a program temperature, and a mass flow controller which adjusts an air flow rate supplied to the heating furnace inside in compliance with a signal of the air flow rate calculated by the processor section. In the processor section, operation expressions calculating the air flow rate are set so as to differ respectively in a higher temperature side and a lower temperature side than a predetermined boundary temperature.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a thermal analysis apparatus in which a heating furnace is cooled by a supply of a cooling gas.
2. Description of the Related Arts
Hitherto, in the thermal analysis apparatus such as differential scanning calorimeter, an analysis is performed by possessing the heating furnace, accommodating in its inside a sample (specimen), and measuring an egress-and-ingress of a heat of the sample with its heat quantity by changing a temperature of the sample by raising or lowering it using heating and cooling apparatuses. In the thermal analysis apparatus like this, there is one in which the heating furnace is temperature-controlled, e.g., by cooling the heating furnace by supplying a gas, which is cooled by a liquefied refrigerant, to the heating furnace, and heating the heating furnace by a heater provided in the heating furnace, or the like. In a case performing the cooling, there is one in which a control for flowing the cooling gas is performed by opening/closing, in compliance with a necessity, an electromagnetic valve provided between a liquefied refrigerant supply device and the heating furnace (e.g., refer to Japanese Patent No. 3066687 Gazette and JP-B-7-122619 Gazette).
Japanese Patent No. 3066687 is one in which the cooling of the heating furnace after a measurement finish in the thermal analysis apparatus is automated to thereby contrive a labor saving in a measurement and an improvement in an efficiency, and is one in which there is made such that, if a measurement finishes, the cooling of the heating furnace is automatically started by making the electromagnetic valve ON to thereby flow the cooling gas of a constant quantity, the cooling is automatically stopped if the heating furnace is cooled to a cooling stop temperature previously set and, in a case where a temperature of the heating furnace rises again by a thermal inertia or the like, it is cooled to or below a set temperature in a short time by automatically performing a re-cooling.
JP-B-7-122619 Gazette is one in which there is disclosed about a constitution of a full automatic gas cooling by liquefied nitrogen, one in which there is made such that there is previously set a temperature program in which a temperature change in regard to an elapse of time is programmed, there are performed, so as to follow that temperature program, a cooling control of a sample chamber (heating furnace) by a supply electric power regulator together with the elapse of time, and a temperature control of the sample chamber by a heating of the heater, and one in which a temperature of the sample chamber is precisely controlled from a temperature lower than a chamber temperature, which reaches to a liquefied refrigerant temperature, to a high temperature of about 700° C.
However, in the thermal analysis apparatus used in the Patent Documents 1 and 2, there are issues like the below.
In Japanese Patent No. 3066687 Gazette and JP-B-7-122619 Gazette, if cooled by flowing the cooling gas to the heating furnace becoming such a high temperature as to exceed 700° C. for instance, there is an issue that the heating furnace comprising ceramic is cracked and damaged by a thermal influence exerted on the heating furnace. Therefore, generally, it is lowered by a natural cooling to about 700° C. deemed to be a temperature, at which the heating furnace is not cracked, from such a high temperature as to exceed the above 700° C. and, after the heating furnace becomes 700° C. or below, the cooling gas is supplied to the heating furnace. However, depending on the measurement, there is such a demand that it is desired to measure by lowering the temperature faster than the natural cooling in a higher temperature region than the above 700° C., so that a suitable cooling method is requested.
Further, in a case controlled only by ON/OFF of the electromagnetic valve like Japanese Patent No. 3066687 Gazette and JP-B-7-122619 Gazette, as mentioned above if cooled by opening the electromagnetic valve at a time point becoming 700° C. or below, it follows that the temperature of the heating furnace rapidly lowers, and there is a defect that a quick change in the temperature makes a feedback control of the heater difficult, so that there is a drawback that a precise temperature control of the heating furnace is impossible. Therefore, there is an issue that an accurate measurement result is not obtained.
The present invention is one made in view of the issues mentioned above, and its object is to provide a thermal analysis apparatus made so as to cool the temperature of the heating furnace without damaging the heating furnace by supplying the cooling gas of a suitable flow rate.