The invention relates to nucleic acid molecules encoding (poly)peptides having chemotaxis inhibiting (poly)peptides CHIPS activity, to recombinant vectors harboring such molecules, and the host cells carrying the vectors. The invention further relates to methods for preparing recombinant (poly)peptides having CHIPS activity and to the use of such recombinant (poly)peptides having CHIPS activity for diagnosis, prophylaxis and treatment, such as the treatment of inflammation reactions and HIV. In addition, the invention provides therapeutic and diagnostic compositions comprising as the active ingredient the (poly)peptide having CHIPS activity.

The present invention relates to a nucleic acid molecule encoding a (poly)peptide having chemotaxis inhibitory protein (CHIPS) activity. The invention further relates to the use of the information contained in the nucleic acid for the preparation of the corresponding (poly)peptide and to vectors and hosts for use therein. The invention in addition relates to non-(poly)peptide molecules having a similar structure and function as the (poly)peptides. The (poly)peptide having CHIPS activity that is encoded by the nucleic acid molecule of the invention can be used in the treatment of inflammation reactions. The (poly)peptides and non-(poly)peptides can in addition be used for inhibiting activation of leukocytes and endothelial cells.
Leukocytes are mainly involved in protecting the body against foreign invaders (e.g. bacteria, viruses, fungi, and cancer cells). The most important cells are lymphocytes, monocytes and neutrophils. Lymphocytes form the specific immune system and cause immune reactions against invaders. Their most important task is to build up specific memory against the invader, so that the next time the invader enters the body it is recognized, killed, and removed rapidly. Sometimes these lymphocytes not only attack invaders, but also react against certain structures and/or molecules ( )so-called auto-antigens) of the own body, causing auto-immune diseases (e.g. rheumatoid arthritis). Killing and removal of invaders is mostly done by monocytes and neutrophils, cells of the innate immune system, by direct recognition of the invaders or with the help of specific lymphocytes.
In contrast to the delicate network of the fine-tuned and controlled reactions of lymphocytes, cells of the innate system react in a relatively non-specific and aggressive way. Since they are part of the body's first line of defense, their most important task is to kill and remove the invading agent as quickly as possible. This is accomplished through very aggressive substances (e.g. free radicals and enzymes) that are not only lethal to the invader, but also cause damage to host cells in the vicinity. Substances from these damaged cells and the locally activated cells from the innate system itself will further attract increasing numbers of neutrophils and monocytes, causing local inflammation. In most cases, such an aggressive and damaging inflammatory reaction, caused by over activated neutrophils, is unnecessary. In some cases this inflammatory response is responsible for serious, sometimes lethal disorders and includes conditions like Adult Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS), severe tissue damage following thrombotic events such as heart attacks and stroke, inflammatory bowel diseases and rheumatoid arthritis. The inflammation will subside once all the invaders have been killed and removed, together with the various cells killed in the process. Healing of the wound, caused by the inflammatory response, can then begin. Although there is some overlap in function, the main task of neutrophils is to attack the invaders and the main task of monocytes is to remove the debris resulting from this attack. In addition, neutrophils have another peaceful task in assisting the wound healing process.
When bacteria have invaded the body and, for example, infected the central nervous system (as in meningitis) they start to produce microbial substances, including the formylated polypeptides, such as, for example, the formyl-methionyl-leucyl-phenylalanine (fMLP) peptide. Other substances of microbial origin activate the complement factor 5 (C5) convertase enzyme-complex, that converts C5 of the complement system into its activated C5a form. Both C5a and fMLP are chemo-attractants: substances that can activate and attract cells from the blood vessels (the migration process). Neutrophils are responsive to these two substances and also to interleukin-8 (IL-8). This "chemokine" (the name given to chemo-attractants that are produced by cells of the immune system) is produced mainly by activated monocytes (but also in minute amounts by the activated neutrophils themselves). Neutrophils interact with these substances, because they have receptors for these substances on the outside of their cell membrane.
Activated neutrophils can easily migrate from blood vessels. This is because the chemo-attractants, microbial products and substances from activated monocytes will have increased the permeability of the vessels and stimulated the endothelial cells of the vessel walls to express certain adhesion molecules. Neutrophils express selectins and integrins (e.g. CD11b/CD18) that bind to these adhesion molecules. Once the neutrophil has adhered to the endothelial cells, it is able to migrate through the cells, under the guidance of chemo-attractants/chemokines, towards the site of infection, where the concentration of these substances is at its highest. These substances also activate neutrophils to produce a range of other molecules, some of which attract more neutrophils (and subsequently monocytes), but mostly, they are responsible for destroying the invading bacteria. Some of these substances (e.g. free radicals, enzymes that break down proteins (proteases) and cell membranes (lipase) are so reactive and non-specific that cells from the surrounding tissue (and the neutrophils themselves) are destroyed, causing tissue damage. This damage is exacerbated by the presence of blood derived fluid which has transgressed the leaky vessel wall and is responsible for the swelling that always accompanies inflammation (called oedema). The pressure build up caused by this excess fluid results in further cell damage and death.
Later in the inflammatory process, monocytes migrate to the scene and become activated. Besides their role in removing bacteria and cell debris, they also produce substances such as tumour necrosis factor (TNF) and IL-8, which in turn attract more activated eutrophils, causing further local damage. TNF also has a direct stimulatory effect on neutrophils. Once all the invaders have been removed, the inflammatory response will subside and the area will be cleared of the remaining 'casualties'. Then the process of wound healing starts. Although it is known that neutrophils play a pivotal role in wound healing, it is not clear which neutrophil-derived substances are involved and how the neutrophils are active in healing without being aggressive to the surrounding tissue. In general, damaged tissue will be replaced by scar tissue formed mainly of fibroblasts and collagen. When inflammation occurs in areas of the body with an important function, like tissues formed from heart muscle cells, brain cells or lung alveolar cells, normal function will be compromised by the resulting scar formation, causing serious conditions like heart failure, paralysis and emphysema. To minimise the debilitating consequences of these conditions, it is important to 'dampen' the inflammatory reaction as quickly as possible.
Intervention to control the acute early phase inflammatory response presents an opportunity to improve the prognosis for a wide range of patients whose symptoms can be traced back to such an event. Such an approach has been advocated for many acute and chronic inflammation-based diseases and shown to have potential based on findings from relevant disease models. Classical anti-inflammatory drugs such as steroids and Non Steroid Anti-Inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDS) do not have the ideal profile of action, either in terms of efficacy or safety. Steroids affect the 'wrong' cell type (monocytes) and their dampening effects are easily bypassed. NSAIDS generally show a relatively mild effect partly because they intervene at a late stage in the inflammatory process. Both classes of drugs produce a range of undesirable side effects resulting from other aspects of their pharmacological activity. Drugs acting directly and specifically to prevent migration and activation of neutrophils may have a number of advantages. Several drugs under early development only interfere with one individual aspect of neutrophil activation (e.g. C5 convertase inhibitors, antibodies against C5a, C5a-receptor blocking drugs) and migration (antibodies against integrins (like CD11b/CD18) and L-selectin on neutrophils and antibodies against adhesion molecules (like ICAM-1 and E-selectin) on endothelial cells). Antibodies against TNF and IL-8 have effects in chronic inflammation, but only marginal effects in acute inflammation, because of the minimal role monocytes (which are mainly responsible for these substances' production) play in the acute phase.
Sometimes, the cause of the acute inflammation cannot be removed and the inflammation becomes chronic. With the exception of tuberculosis, chronic hepatitis and certain other conditions, this is seldom the case with infections. However, chronic inflammation can also be caused by stimuli other than bacteria, such as auto-immune reactions. Research has shown that in chronic inflammation the role of monocytes is much more prominent, and that neutrophil migration and activation, monocyte migration and activation, tissue damage, removal of dead cells and wound healing are all going on at the same time. This complex cascade of interactions between cells and many different cytokines and chemokines has been the subject of intensive research for many years. It was believed that monocytes and their products were the most important elements that needed to be inhibited to dampen chronic inflammation. This explains why steroids, which specifically interact with monocytes, are generally more effective in chronic as opposed to acute inflammation. Long-term treatment with steroids however, is not a desirable option, because severe and unacceptable side effects can occur at the doses required to produce a clinical effect. Newer treatments using antibodies against TNF or IL-8 have shown good results, and were initially seen as proof of the major role monocytes were thought to play in chronic inflammation. Recent research casts doubts on an exclusive role for monocytes in inflammation and points to a critical role for neutrophils, which are now seen to represent better targets for therapeutic intervention.
The underlying cause of a chronic inflammatory condition is not always clear, and the original cause may not always be responsible for future recurrence. Some scientists believe that in certain chronic inflammatory diseases there is a continuous cycle of events. Their idea is that existing activated neutrophils and monocytes continuously attract and activate new groups of cells, thus perpetuating the inflammatory response even when the initial stimulus is no longer present. This would suggest that an acute or periodic treatment with an effective inhibitor of the neutrophil and monocyte activation would stop the cycle of new cell recruitment, leading in due course to modification of disease progression, or even a complete cure, and not just symptomatic relief.
In the research that led to the present invention a new agent with inflammation-inhibiting properties was found in the extracellular medium of growing Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus). This agent is the subject of co-pending application PCT/NL99/00442. The agent was found to be capable of directly or indirectly blocking different chemokine receptors. Incubation of different cells with the medium resulted in a greatly reduced expression of a number of the chemokine receptors, both of the expression of receptors of classical chemotactic agents such as fMLP and C5a on granulocytes and of the expression of CXCR4 and CCR5 receptors on lymphocytes, monocytes and macrophages. The reduced receptor expression was related to greatly reduced chemotaxis relative to the chemokines, as well as a reduced infection with HIV.
The activity of the protein is already manifest in the culture supernatant of the growing S. aureus. The active protein could be further purified, for example by means of a number of Ligand Dye columns. A pre-purification was first performed on a so-called "yellow columm" ("Reactive Yellow 86" ligand dye cross-linked 4% beaded agarose column (Sigma)), followed by an absorption chromatography column (the so-called "green column" ("Reactive Green 19" ligand dye cross-linked 4% beaded agarose column (Sigma)) and a DNA column (DNA Cellulose (Pharmacia)). Both latter columns can be interchanged. The DNA column removes a contaminant with the same molecular weight as the protein. The absorption chromatography column concentrates the protein and is selective for the protein. Finally, a post-purification also takes place by means of gel filtration and anion exchange chromatography (MonoQ, Pharmacia). In the gel filtration the protein with the molecular weight of about 17 kDa is selected. This is the protein that was found to have chemotaxis inhibitory properties. Because this protein is isolated from the supernatant of the Staphylococcus aureus and gives inhibition of chemotaxis, this protein was named "CHIPS": CHemotaxis Inhibitory Protein from Staphylococcus aureus (herein also referred to as the "original CHIPS").
Isolation of the CHIPS protein out of the supernatant of S. aureus is not very cost-effective. In addition, it is desirable for the practical use of CHIPS in therapy that the active part of the protein is isolated. Smaller protein or peptide molecules have a reduced risk of inducing an immunological response in a subject receiving the protein or peptide for therapy. Furthermore, it is desirable to be able to modify the protein or peptide to further increase the biological activity and/or lower the immunogenicity thereof.
It is therefore the object of the present invention to provide the means for producing the original CHIPS protein or other corresponding (poly)peptides that have CHIPS activity, as well as functional fragments, derivatives or analogues thereof other than by isolation from the natural producing host cell.

Nucleic acids encoding polypeptides having chips activity


An abrasive slurry tool, the tool being attachable to a running string, the tool including a high-pressure assembly, the assembly including a nozzle assembly; and a low-pressure assembly in abrasive fluid communication with the high-pressure assembly, the low-pressure assembly comprising a low pressure holding tank configured to carry recharge abrasive fluid with the tool and method.

In the hydrocarbon industry, many different types of tools are introduced to the downhole environment for a variety of different purposes. Some of these tools are meant to be further modified in the downhole environment at selected times relative to other installations or for independent reasons. For example, production tubes are often used in the downhole environment and are post-installation modified by creating openings therein vernacularly termed "windows" that are used to allow access to other downhole structures such as lateral boreholes. Commonly, such windows are milled in the casing or production tubing using standard milling equipment. While this method has been used for years and certainly results in the creation of an opening, that opening is often of inconsistent shape and is often quite rough at the edge. This makes it difficult to seal a junction, for example, therein as both the shapes of the opening and the roughness are not accurately known.
The art has attempted to use abrasive slurries to cut openings in the downhole environment but has not met with great success due to the settling of abrasive material, wear on machinery, very high operating pressure, etc. With increasing use of multilateral wellbore systems and other constructions using openings that require, or at least are benefited by, sealing or baffling thereat, the art is always receptive to new apparatus and methods for improving openings such as windows.

Tool and method for abrasive formation of openings in downhole structures


In a mirror with a heater, a reflective heating resistor film, or a reflection film and a heating resistor film, are formed on a mirror base plate. The heating resistor film is provided with at least one pair of electrodes to apply electricity to and heat the film. The reflective heating resistor film, reflection film and/or heating resistor film are so arranged as to form a clear visible image and to be heated. The temperature of the mirror surface can be controlled, and the electrodes are formed so as to heat the entire surface of the mirror uniformly.

When a vehicle is traveling in rainy or snowy weather, the outside mirrors are clouded with water droplets or ice, degrading the rearward view and therefore lowering the safety of driving. To prevent this, various types of mirrors have been proposed; which can be heated to remove water droplets and ice adhering to the mirror surface.
For example, Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 58-28937/1983 discloses a mirror for a vehicle, in which a heat distribution plate with high heat conductivity is attached to the back of a mirror base plate and has a heating body bonded to the back of the heat.
Further, Japan Utility Model Publication No. 62-33648/1987 discloses a mirror with heater, in which a flat heater is fixed to the back of a mirror body and the pattern of the heater is made more dense in the peripheral portion of the mirror than in the center.
Further, Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 102599/1992 discloses a flat heating body for a mirror, in which a heating region is divided into sections by electrodes.
The above-mentioned mirror and flat heating body for a mirror adopts a structure in which an electric heating plate which has a complex heating resistor pattern or a complex electrode pattern is fixed to the back of the mirror base plate in order to heat the entire mirror surface evenly to provide a good view. By the method using the electric heating plate, which is provided separately from the mirror base plate, it is necessary to design and manufacture a complex heating resistor pattern and electrode pattern, which increases the cost. Another drawback of this method is that because the mirror base plate is heated through the conduction of heat from the separate electric heating plate, the heat efficiency is low and it takes a long time to remove water droplets.
To solve the above problems, Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 5-13872/1993 proposes a mirror with a heater, in which chromium or NICHROME is deposited on the surface of the mirror base plate by vacuum vapor deposition or sputtering to form a reflective heating resistor film whose surface is coated with an insulating overcoat layer.
Ordinary mirror reflection films are made of such materials as aluminum and chromium deposited by vacuum vapor deposition and sputtering.
It is, however, difficult to use an aluminum or chromium film as the reflective film-cum-heating resistor (reflective heating resistor film) of the mirror with a heater. The reason for this is that the electrical resistivity of aluminum and chromium is low. That is, a film made of aluminum or chromium has a low resistance, which allows a large current to flow, increasing the power consumption and making the temperature control difficult.
One possible method of solving this problem is to raise the resistance of the film made of aluminum or chromium, that is, to reduce the thickness of the aluminum or chromium film formed as the reflective heating resistor film as much as possible.
When a mirror with a heater is used for a vehicle, the current applied to the mirror is preferably in a range of 1 to 5 A. If the current is under this range, the mirror may lack the ability to melt ice in the cold season, especially when exposed to wind; and if the applied current is over this range, the current application by temperature control function may result in overheat due to overshoot, burning of peripheral components and even a human. Considering the fact that in the case of vehicles a voltage of DC 12 V is applied to a mirror with a heater, the sheet resistance of the reflective heating resistor film of the mirror is preferably in the range of 4-20 .OMEGA./.quadrature. to enable uniform heating of the mirror irrespective of its shape.
Considering the above, it is therefore possible to use aluminum or chromium for the heating resistor of the mirror with a heater for vehicles if the film thickness is set below 0.01 .mu.m when aluminum is used for the reflective heating resistor film and If the film thickness is set below 0.03 .mu.m when chromium is used. With such a thin film, even though the film is made of metal, transmission of light through the film cannot be ignored and the mirror works as a half-mirror rather than as a reflective mirror, raising a problem that depending on how light falls on to the mirror, the back side may be seen through the film thereby, degrading the view of vision of the mirror. Further, though electrodes for applying current and heating the reflective heating resistor film are attached to the film, the adhesion of the chromium film to the electrodes is poor.
Another method of solving the above problem may be to use a material for the film which has a higher electrical resistivity than aluminum and chromium.
Materials with high electrical resistivity include silicides such as NICHROME, chrome silicide and titanium silicide.
NICHROME, however, has a poor adhesion to electrode materials and consequently it is hard to achieve a stable performance. The chromium silicide film needs to be at least about 1 .mu.m thick to conduct a desired heating current but the film itself easily cracks due to stresses and the mirror base plate such as of glass may break during heating. This phenomenon is particularly noticeable in a concave mirror in which residual bending stress remains in the glass plate. Moreover, silicides generally have a low reflectivity (reflection factor) of around 30%, and at such a low level of reflectivity the function as a reflection film of the mirror cannot be fulfilled.
Further, the heating resistor is restricted by its temperature coefficient of resistance. When the temperature coefficient of resistance is too large, the heater resistance increases with an increasing temperature and reduces the current, it takes a long time for the mirror to be heated to a desired temperature, making it impossible to completely remove water droplets and ice. When, on the contrary, the temperature coefficient of resistance is too small, the current application by temperature control function may result in overheat due to current overshoot, burning peripheral components and even humans.
When a reflective heating resistor film is formed on the surface of the mirror base plate, only the central part of the mirror is easy to heat. For uniform heating of the entire mirror surface, conventionally the electrodes are provided near the peripheral portion of the mirror base plate. This method is often not effective. Mirrors for cars generally have a mirror base plate of a figure, not a circle nor rectangle, but generally parallelogram, trapezoid, oval and diamond having a narrow angle portion whose interior angle defined by the edges of the mirror base plate is small and a wide angle portion whose interior angle is large. When such a mirror base plate is used, the wide angle portion is more likely to be heated. To quickly remove water droplets in the narrow angle portion that is difficult to heat, a large amount of electricity is required. Not only is this inefficient but it may also overheat the wide angle portion, burning and deforming peripheral components such as resin holders and even burning a human when he or she touches the mirror.
As described above, the mirror with a heater disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 13872/1993 does not meet the expectations in quality.


Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media, for a scan-to-pay method are provided. One of the methods includes: receiving a payment request from an operator of a mobile device; and generating a payment code based on the payment request, wherein the payment code comprises first information and second information, with the first information associated with an payment account, and the second information associated with at least one recent behavioral biometric signature of the operator and at least one historical behavioral biometric signature recorded in the mobile device. This scan-to-pay method provides robust risk control with substantially reduced cost, therefore it provides a more friendly user experience on a scan-to-pay application over its conventional counterparts.

Offline scan-to-pay has gradually become a mainstream payment method. A conventional offline scan-to-pay method typically comprises the following steps: first, upon a payment request, a payment code is generated on a client; second, a merchant reads the payment code on the client using a scanning device to obtain transaction information; third, the transaction information is uploaded to a server via the merchant's network; fourth, the server performs risk control; and fifth, depending on an outcome of the risk control, the server either requests further online identity verification, or approves the payment request.
To ensure satisfying user experiences, an offline payment method should possess the following three characteristics: first, the transaction speed should be fast. Consequently, a typical goal in developing an offline payment method is to ensure a short transaction time. Second, the amount of data to be transmitted should be kept at a minimum, since an offline payment will frequently happen in an environment with limited network connection, which is capable of transmitting only a small amount of data. For example, in an offline payment process, a mobile device may transmit a payment code generated by a client to a merchant scanning device. However, doing so would generate substantial network traffic and would post a challenge to a subsequent risk control process due to limited network capability. Third, each payment needs to go through a real-time risk control process to ensure its security.
In a conventional offline payment method, a tradeoff needs to be made between enhancing payment security (which prolongs the transaction time) and enhancing user experience (which demands a short transaction time). Since each individual risk control process typically requires a large amount of computing and networking resource, user experience of the offline payment will be adversely affected.

Scan and pay method and device utilized in mobile apparatus


A method is provided for fabricating transistors. The method includes providing a substrate; and forming at least one dummy gate structure having a dummy gate dielectric layer and a dummy gate electrode layer on the substrate. The method also includes forming a dielectric film on the substrate and the dummy gate structure; and performing a thermal annealing process onto the dielectric film to increase the density of the interlayer dielectric film. Further, the method includes planarizing the dielectric film having the increased density until the top surface of the dummy gate structure is exposed; and forming a dense layer having an increased density on the dielectric film having the increased density. Further, the method also includes removing the dummy gate dielectric layer and the dummy gate electrode layer to form an opening; and forming a gate dielectric layer and a gate electrode layer sequentially in the opening.

With the rapid development of integrated circuit (IC) technology, the size of the semiconductor devices of ICs, especially the metal oxide semiconductor (MOS) devices, has become smaller and smaller to match the requirements of device miniaturization and integration. When the size of the MOS transistor is continually shrunk, the process using the gate dielectric layer made of silicon oxide or silicon nitride meets certain challenges. For example, the transistors having the gate dielectric layer made of silicon oxide and silicon nitride face certain problems, such as the increase of leakage current, and/or the diffusion of the impurities, etc. Such problems may affect the threshold voltage of the transistors; and the performance of the semiconductor devices may be significantly affected.
In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a high-K metal gate (HKMG) structure) has been introduced into the MOS transistors. The HKMG structure utilizes a high dielectric constant (high-K) material to substitute the conventionally used gate dielectric material, such as silicon oxide and silicon nitride, etc. The HKMG structure may reduce the leakage current of the transistor when the size of the transistor is reduced; and the performance of the transistor may be improved as well.
FIG. 1 illustrates an existing transistor having a high-K metal gate (HKMG) structure. As shown in FIG. 1, the transistor includes a semiconductor substrate 100 having a dielectric layer 105 and a gate structure 110. The top surface of the gate structure 110 levels with the top surface of the dielectric layer 105. The gate structure 105 includes a high-K dielectric layer 101 formed on the surface of the semiconductor substrate 100, a metal gate 103 formed on the surface of the high-K dielectric layer 101; and a sidewall spacer 104 formed on the side surface of the high-K dielectric layer 101 and the metal gate 103; and source/drain regions 106 formed in the semiconductor substrate 100 at both sides of the gate structure 110.
The HKMG structure 110 may be formed by a gate-last process. FIGS. 2-4 illustrate semiconductor structures corresponding to certain stages of an existing fabrication process of the transistor illustrated in FIG. 1. As shown in FIG. 2, the process includes providing a semiconductor substrate 100 and forming a dummy gate 120 on the surface of the semiconductor substrate 100. The dummy gate 120 includes a dummy gate dielectric layer 121 formed on the surface of the semiconductor substrate 100; a dummy gate layer 122 formed on the surface of the dummy gate dielectric layer 122, and the sidewall spacer 123 formed on the surface of the semiconductor substrate 100 at both sides of the dummy gate dielectric layer 121 and the dummy gate layer 122. A dielectric layer 105 may be formed on the surface of the semiconductor substrate 100; and the surface of the dielectric layer 105 levels with the surface of the dummy gate layer 122. Further, as shown in FIG. 3, after forming the dummy gate 120, the dummy gate layer 122 is removed; and an opening 124 is formed in the dielectric layer 105. Further, as shown in FIG. 4, after forming the opening 124, the dummy gate dielectric layer 122 on the bottom of the opening 124 may be removed.
The dummy gate layer 122 is usually made of poly silicon, and the semiconductor substrate 100 is usually made of silicon, thus the etching selectivity between the dummy gate layer 122 and the semiconductor substrate 100 may be very poor. In order to prevent the surface of the semiconductor substrate 100 from being damaged by a process for removing the dummy gate layer 122, the dummy gate dielectric layer 121 is formed between the semiconductor substrate 100 and the dummy gate layer 122. The dummy gate dielectric layer 121 is made of silicon oxide; and is formed by a thermal oxidation process. The silicon oxide layer formed by the thermal oxidation process may have a significantly high adhesion with the semiconductor substrate 100, thus it may aid the subsequent processes. However, the equivalent oxide thickness (EOT) of the silicon oxide layer formed by the thermal oxidation process may be relatively large, with the continuously shrinking of the size of the semiconductor devices; the dummy gate dielectric layer 121 on the bottom of the opening 124 may have adverse effect onto the subsequently formed transistors. Further, it may be difficult to control the thickness of the dummy gate dielectric layer 121 after removing the dummy gate layer 122. Therefore, after removing the dummy gate layer 122, the dummy gate dielectric layer 121 may need to be removed to expose the surface of the semiconductor substrate 100 so as to subsequently form an pad oxide layer, a gate dielectric layer and a gate electrode layer on the surface of the substrate 100 on the bottom of the opening 124.
However, the dielectric layer 105 is also usually made of silicon oxide, thus when the dummy gate dielectric layer 121 is removed, the dielectric layer 105 is also be thinned; and the sidewall spacer 123 is also etched with a certain thickness. Therefore, the surfaces of the dielectric layer 105 and the sidewall spacer 123 are not smooth and even. After subsequently forming high-K dielectric material and metal material in the opening 124, a polishing process may need to remove the dielectric material and the metal material on the dielectric layer 105. Because the surface of the dielectric layer 105 is not smooth and even, metal residues may be formed on the surface the dielectric layer 105 and the top surface of the sidewall spacer 123. Such residues may promote to form leakage current on the top of the metal gate 120; and the performance of the transistors may be significantly affected.
The disclosed device structures and methods are directed to solve one or more problems set forth above and other problems.

Transistors and fabrication methods thereof

SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING INTERNATIONAL (SHANGHAI) CORPORATION


A computer implemented method, apparatus, and computer program product for generating olfactory cohorts. Olfactory data is received from a set of chemical sensors. The olfactory data describes a set of olfactory patterns for an air sample. The olfactory data is processed to identify attributes of particles in the air sample and generate digital olfactory data. The digital olfactory data comprises metadata describing the attributes of the particles in the air sample to form digital olfactory data. A set of olfactory cohorts is generated using the attributes in the digital olfactory data.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an improved data processing system and in particular to a method and apparatus for generating cohorts. More particularly, the present invention is directed to a computer implemented method, apparatus, and computer usable program code for processing olfactory sensory input to generate olfactory cohorts.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is sometimes useful to be able to distinguish different aromas and identify sources of particular aromas. For example, it may be important to distinguish the smell of a particular gas and the origin of the smell to identify a location of a gas leak in a pipe. Aroma identification may be performed by a human using the human sense of smell and personal experience to identify different scents. In addition, dogs, which typically have a more sensitive sense of smell, may sometimes be trained to identify a particular source of an aroma far more effectively than a human. For example, cadaver dogs may be used to locate bodies in a disaster area, drug sniffing dogs can be trained to react to the scent of certain illegal drugs, and some dogs have even been trained to smell cancer. However, these methods are limited by the natural limitations of human and animal senses and ability to distinguish a particular scent from the multitude of aromas in the environment.
Currently, electronic sensing technologies are being used to artificially reproduce the sense of smell. An electronic nose is an example of an electronic sensing device that detects aromas by using an array of sensors that are capable of conducting electricity. When the sensors are exposed to a particular aroma, the electricity conducting capabilities of the sensors are altered in a "pattern" that may be used to distinguish and identify different aromas.

Identifying and generating olfactory cohorts based on olfactory sensor input

International Business Machines Corporation


The present disclosure is related to a virtual register file. Source code can be compiled to include references to a virtual register file for data subject to a logical operation. The references can be dereferenced at runtime to obtain physical addresses of memory device elements according to the virtual register file. The logical operation can be performed in the memory device on data stored in the memory device elements.

Memory devices are typically provided as internal, semiconductor, integrated circuits in computing devices or other electronic devices. There are many different types of memory including volatile and non-volatile memory. Volatile memory can require power to maintain its data (e.g., user data, error data, etc.) and includes random-access memory (RAM), dynamic random access memory (DRAM), and synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM), among others. Non-volatile memory can provide persistent data by retaining stored data when not powered and can include NAND flash memory, NOR flash memory, read only memory (ROM), Electrically Erasable Programmable ROM (EEPROM), Erasable Programmable ROM (EPROM), and resistance variable memory such as phase change random access memory (PCRAM), resistive random access memory (RRAM), and magnetoresistive random access memory (MRAM), such as spin torque transfer random access memory (STT RAM), among others.
Computing systems often include a number of processing resources (e.g., one or more processors), which may retrieve and execute instructions and store the results of the executed instructions to a suitable location. A processor can comprise a number of functional units (e.g., herein referred to as functional unit circuitry (FUC)) such as arithmetic logic unit (ALU) circuitry, floating point unit (FPU) circuitry, and/or a combinatorial logic block, for example, which can execute instructions to perform logical operations such as AND, OR, NOT, NAND, NOR, and XOR logical operations on data (e.g., one or more operands).
A number of components in a computing system may be involved in providing instructions to the functional unit circuitry for execution. The instructions may be generated, for instance, by a processing resource such as a controller and/or host processor. Data (e.g., the operands on which the instructions will be executed to perform the logical operations) may be stored in a memory array that is accessible by the FUC. The instructions and/or data may be retrieved from the memory array and sequenced and/or buffered before the FUC begins to execute instructions on the data. Furthermore, as different types of operations may be executed in one or multiple clock cycles through the FUC, intermediate results of the operations and/or data may also be sequenced and/or buffered. In many instances, the processing resources (e.g., processor and/or associated FUC) may be external to the memory array, and data can be accessed (e.g., via a bus between the processing resources and the memory array) to execute instructions. Data can be moved from the memory array to registers external to the memory array via a bus.
A register file is an array of processor registers in a central processing unit (CPU). Integrated circuit-based register files may be implemented, for example, by static random access memory (SRAM). The instruction set architecture of a CPU may define a set of registers used to stage data between memory and the FUC. The register file may be visible to the programmer, as opposed to the cache, which may not be visible to the programmer.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


Method and apparatus reproduce a stereophonic sound. The method includes obtaining sound depth information which denotes a distance between at least one object within a sound signal and a reference position, and providing sound perspective to the sound object output from a speaker, based on the sound depth information.

1. Field
Apparatuses and methods consistent with exemplary embodiments relate to reproducing a stereophonic sound, and more particularly, to reproducing a stereophonic sound, in which perspective is given to a sound object.
2. Description of the Related Art
With the development of video technology, users can now view three-dimensional (3D) stereoscopic images. By using various methods such as, for example, a binocular parallax method, a 3D stereoscopic image exposes left-viewpoint image data to a left eye, and right-viewpoint image data to a right eye. The user may thus realize an object that advances out of a screen or an object returning into the screen realistically using 3D video technology.
On the other hand, stereophonic sound technology may enable the user to sense localization and presence of sounds by disposing a plurality of speakers around the user. However, with the related art stereophonic sound technology, a sound associated with an image object approaching the user or moving away from the user cannot be effectively expressed, and thus, sound effects that correspond to a stereoscopic image cannot be provided.

Method and apparatus for reproducing stereophonic sound


A computer method for providing optimal dynamic techniques for custom-fit eye optics. The method includes steps of mounting pressure and motion sensors in a eye-enclosing device, transmitting data produced by said sensors during actual operation of said eye-enclosing device worn by a specific individual, receiving said sensor signals for subsequent analysis by a computer, creating a stress-and-motion map based on said sensor-based data, and creating a virtual optic (model) for optimal support and comfort based on step iv stress-and-motion map.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to methodology for utilizing continual sensor-based data to design and adjust optics to fit an individual, in a given dynamic environment, in an optimal manner.
2. Introduction to the Invention
Static fitting techniques to design and construct optics for specific people are known. A vision test is taken and the optics is produced based on that test. However, no attention is given to the dynamic workings of the eye in the changing real environment. Specifically, the stresses and accelerations experienced by the eye during normal operation are not taken into account, nor is the optimum balance, between near and far vision, taken into account.

Optimal dynamic techniques for custom-fit eye optics


A program sample introduction method includes a first step for reproducing the program sample, when a control instruction for the program sample introducing function control instruction is input in a playback mode, concurrently setting, as the program sample introduction beginning point, the point where the control instruction for the program sample introduction function is input; a second step for ending the reproduction of the current program after a predetermined time period has elapsed from the start of the program sample introduction function begun in the 1st step; and a third step for checking whether the program introduced in the 2nd step is the final program recorded on the recording medium, and if the introduced program is the final program, ending the reproduction of the program, and otherwise searching and reproducing the program introduction point of a succeeding program, so as to repeatedly perform the 2nd step.

The present invention relates to a program sample introduction method for a digital audio signal processor, and more particularly, to a program sample introduction method for sampling various prerecorded programs by reproducing the significant parts of each program for a predetermined time.
Generally, digital audio signal processors are used to digitally process an audio signal and includes such devices as a digital audio tape recorder (DAT), laser disk player (LDP), compact disk player (CDP), digital compact cassette player (DCCP) and mini-disk player (MDP). Since these digital audio signal processors can record time information in addition to the audio signal on the recording medium, the beginning time or playing time of a program is picked up along with the audio signal. Here, the audio signal is reproduced-signal-processed and reproduced to be output, while the time information is displayed for user-recognition through such means as a digitron.
A program sample introduction function is to reproduce a small part of the contents of a program recorded on a recording medium so as to allow the user to quickly recognize a particular program. In a conventional method, program sample introduction is performed by reproducing a given program starting from its beginning point of playback and continuing for a predetermined time using the above-mentioned time information. Here, the predetermined time is about 10-15 seconds, which, in terms of duration, is sufficient for recognition. However, in most cases, the beginning of a program is purely introductory and often includes several seconds of little or no information, and is thus unfit as a sample for program recognition.


A digital data delivery system which uses satellite broadcasting to deliver digital data along with audio and video signals. Digital data files are divided into packets and combined with audio and video packets in a time-division-multiplexed format. The time-division-multiplexed data is digitally modulated and then uplinked to a satellite transponder. The satellite transponder broadcasts the data to a multiplicity of user stations. The data which are broadcast by the satellite transponder are received by a satellite dish at each user station. Each satellite dish then relays the data to a receiver. The receiver identifies and separates the digital data file packets from the audio and video packets and outputs the digital data file packets to a data output port. A data bridge receives the packets from the data output port, buffers the packets, and converts the packets into a format that can be read by standard commercial I/O cards.

The invention relates to a digital data delivery system, and more particularly to a method and apparatus for delivering packetized bursts of data to a computer.
As the popularity of point-to-point, land-based, digital data delivery systems such as the internet increases, the speed of these systems decreases due to the greater traffic. The bandwidth of the data being transferred across land-based digital data delivery systems is also increasing, which further reduces the speed of delivery. In addition, it can be very costly to use standard point-to-point delivery systems to deliver data serially to many points. Thus, it is desirable to provide an alternate means for point-to-multi-point delivery of high bandwidth digital data. It is also desirable to deliver the data using commercial off the shelf communication technologies such as direct broadcast satellite (DBS) technologies in order to reduce the cost of data delivery.
DBS technologies allow reception of audio and video signals via satellite with small satellite dishes having diameters of about 18 inches (45.7 cm). The audio and video signals originate from content providers who submit the signals to an uplink station. The uplink station transmits the signals to a satellite transponder which then broadcasts the signals across a wide region. Each DBS satellite dish receives the broadcasted signals and transfers them to an attached Digital Satellite System (DSS.TM. receiver. The receiver identifies which signals it is authorized to output, and outputs these signals to a television set. Thus, the DBS system acts much like a broadcast cable television network.
Commercial DSS receivers have a high speed data port called a Wide Band Data Port (WBDP). The WBDP was originally intended for the output of signals for high definition television (HDTV). However, there are currently two drawbacks to the use of HDTV. First, the transmission of HDTV signals requires approximately four times the bandwidth of regular television signals. With its higher quality comes a higher price for the reception of the programming. Second, HDTV receivers cost much more than standard television sets. Moreover, as the picture quality of standard sets becomes increasingly better due to the use of digital technology and other techniques, it is likely that the standard sets will exhibit quality almost as high as HDTV without the higher cost. Therefore, given the initial and recurring cost barriers to the use of HDTV, its future is in doubt.
Since HDTV has not become commercially successful to date, alternate uses for the WBDP are desirable. One such use is for the delivery of digital data to a computer. The WBDP provides a cost effective means for delivering digital data to a computer because it is a standard port on DSS receivers and, therefore, no additional hardware must be added.
A problem arises, however, with using the WBDP for delivering data to a computer, because the output from the WBDP is not in a format that commercial computer I/O cards can understand. The present invention solves this problem by buffering the WBDP output and converting it into a format which can be read by commercial off-the-shelf computer I/O cards. Thus, by adding a data bridge according to the present invention, a DBS system can receive not only audio and video signals, but also digital data such as electronic mail, graphics, multi-media programs, and other digital data streams.

General Dynamics Information Systems, Inc.


A computer implemented method includes determining, by at least one processor executing code segments stored on a non-transitory computer readable medium, if an application is de-activated; and one of killing, by the at least one processor, a socket associated with the application or pausing, by the at least one processor, the socket based on a flag set by the application.

Sockets or data sockets enable network-capable applications (e.g., Internet and intranet) to communicate application data (e.g., between applications) across wired and/or wireless communication channels, independent of the network protocol being used. Generally, sockets are implemented through use of an application programming interface (API) configured to allow interaction between an operating system (OS) and an application operating on a computing device. For example, the API may be used to send and receive data over a network using Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and User Datagram Protocol (UDP) connections.
The API may be, for example, Winsock, Websock or Chrome.socket. Typically, sockets remain open over the lifetime of an application. However, in some cases a socket may be closed, have brief lifetimes and/or be intermittently active regardless of the lifetime of the application. For example, in Websock an idle time setting may be 10 seconds. This idle time setting may be a default setting or be dynamically set. If the application does not use the socket (e.g., send or receive data) the socket may be closed. In other cases, the socket may be closed if an application is minimized and/or if a tab (e.g., in a tabbed browser) the application is operating in is not selected.
Typically the socket is closed to conserve resources. However, closing the socket may degrade a user experience. For example, the user experience may be degraded because a new socket may need to be opened resulting in perceived delays and/or data may not be received or received in a timely manner. As another example of conserving while there is no activity on a socket, an application waiting for connections on a TCP port (e.g. a FTP server, an HTTP server, etc.) using the "listen/accept" socket primitive (also referred to as server socket). In this example, the application, after issuing a "listen/accept" on a given TCP port, could be "unloaded" at any time by the runtime, and "re-loaded" when a client application makes a connection to the port (e.g., to the server socket").
As a result, there is a need to maintain a socket connectivity while also conserving system resources when a socket (being used by an application) is inactive.


In this invention, relay processing is executed for multimedia data input from a server without using any storage device. A plurality of processing units that execute the same processing are prepared at each stage, and a unit that has ended processing is caused to execute the relay processing, thereby quickening the relay processing. Processing on each processing unit is executed in a working area on a memory without using any storage device.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a multimedia data relay system, multimedia data relay apparatus, and multimedia data relay method.
2. Description of the Related Art
When multimedia data such as music data on a web server is to be written to a recording medium such as a memory card attached to a personal computer, the multimedia data on the web server is temporarily downloaded and relayed by the portable information device (relay apparatus) such as the personal computer and then written in the relay target, i.e., the recording medium through a terminal apparatus such as a PDA.
More specifically, multimedia data received through a network such as the Internet is temporarily stored in the storage device of a relay apparatus, and the stored multimedia data is transmitted in accordance with a transmission request from a terminal apparatus such as a PDA.
When the data format need be converted, a temporary memory in the relay apparatus is used. The multimedia data is gradually loaded from the server to the temporary memory, converted, and then written in the storage device.
However, according to the conventional multimedia data relay system, multimedia data is temporarily written in a storage device such as a hard disk. In this case, if a multimedia data transmission request is issued from a terminal apparatus such as a PDA, and the data is not present in the storage device, the data must be received from the server and written to the storage device again. For this reason, the multimedia data transmission rate decreases.
Additionally, for encrypted data, since the data is written to the storage device, the data is readily read and decrypted.

Multimedia data relay system, multimedia data relay apparatus, and multimedia data relay method


An exhaust after-treatment system for treating an exhaust stream from an internal combustion engine of an automotive vehicle includes first and second exhaust treatment devices in a parallel path, continuous flow, flow rate sensitive exhaust temperature modification circuit for conducting exhaust gases from the first treatment device to the second exhaust treatment device.

Automotive designers are directing considerable effort toward the development of NO.sub.x trap technology for lean burn automotive engines. A major engineering obstacle associated with the application of a NO.sub.x trap resides in the trap's rather limited temperature operating window. High NO.sub.x absorption efficiencies are achieved (greater than 80%) only when operation occurs within a very narrow temperature range, between 250-450.degree. C. As a result, if an NO.sub.x trap is positioned so as to provide good NO.sub.x absorption efficiency during periods of light engine speed/load conditions, the NO.sub.x trap temperature during heavier engine speeds and loads will be too high (i.e., greater than 450.degree. C.) for good NO.sub.x trap performance. If, on the other hand, the NO.sub.x trap is positioned farther away from the engine's exhaust manifold in order to provide for NO.sub.x trap operation within the desired range of 250-450.degree. C. during high speed/load conditions, the NO.sub.x trap temperature could be considerably less than 250.degree. C. during lighter engine speeds and loads.
The present invention provides a solution to the problem of NO.sub.x trap temperature control. Although it is known in the art to provide multiple flow passes for the exhaust gas so as to control the temperature of gases reaching an NO.sub.x trap, such systems, such as that disclosed in Japanese patent application 05-216603, utilize multiple valves to control the flow through the system. This is undesirable because cost and complexity are increased, while reliability is decreased. The present system permits governing of the temperature of exhaust flow reaching an NO.sub.x trap with a passive flow network, and without the need for externally controlled valves or other devices.

Exhaust after-treatment system for automotive vehicle


Systems and methods for reducing latency in transactions are described herein. In an embodiment, an application edge acts as a system of record for an application. When a client computing device sends a request to perform a transaction to the application, the application edge receives the request and, without forwarding the request to a backend computing network, searches a transaction datastore stored at the application edge for the account balance and responds to the client computing device with the account balance. The client computing device then determines that a transaction can be performed and sends a request to perform the transaction to the application. The application edge passes this request to the backend computing network which performs the requested transaction. The application edge then uses a webhook infrastructure to update each transaction datastore stored at the application edge.

The approaches described in this section are approaches that could be pursued, but not necessarily approaches that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated, it should not be assumed that any of the approaches described in this section qualify as prior art merely by virtue of their inclusion in this section. Further, it should not be assumed that any of the approaches described in this section are well-understood, routine, or conventional merely by virtue of their inclusion in this section.
In modern digital transactions, transaction speed can be extremely important. With high-speed trading, massive numbers of online consumer transactions, and the rise of user to user transfer applications, keeping transaction speed down becomes more important and more difficult.
Some systems operate under an assumption that a transaction will be completed and provide the results of the transaction while it is still in progress. Yet even these systems usually first ensure that the transaction can and will be completed in the background. For instance, when a stock-selling application receives a request to purchase stock, the application may check the balance of the purchaser and, if sufficient, transfer the stock immediately while the funds transfer is still pending.
Even with inferring the performance of a transaction, the speed of transactions is still limited by the initial step of checking an account balance. To check the account balance through an application, there are usually a number of hops through which a message must travel. For instance, when a request is sent to an application, the request reaches an edge content delivery network (CDN), passes through a transport layer security (TLS) proxy server, regenerates from the edge of the CDN to the edge of a cloud server, regenerates to a load balancer, and is sent to a stateless containerized application which fulfills the output from the database.
While some applications cache subsets of information used, thereby allowing quicker access, the cache is not treated as a system of record. Thus, the cache must be checked to determine if the data is stored there. Additionally, data stored in a cache in one location may differ from data stored in a cache in a second location. Thus, while cached data is often used for faster retrieval, it easily becomes outdated and a backend central datastore must be accessed as the system of record. Additionally, cached data rarely has the functionality of a database, as most cached data only includes data retrieved in response to queries and not the actual records underlying a database.
Thus, there is a need for a system which speeds up transactions by reducing a number of hops to be performed to access a system of record.

Distributed database stored at an edge application


The present invention is directed to a method for assessing the reliability of DNA sizing measurements performed on DNA samples. DNA sizing control standards are disclosed wherein each standard contains a unique set of DNA restriction fragments composed of coding fragments and measuring fragments of known sizes. Methods for constructing the fragments which can be used in making the DNA sizing control standards are disclosed. Kits comprising the DNA sizing control standards of the present invention are also disclosed.

Gel electrophoresis is a technique that is commonly employed in molecular biology for determining the size distribution of restriction enzyme digests of DNA. This technique has found widespread use in research, as well as in practical applications. It has been found that certain DNA banding patterns detectable by electrophoresis are often associated with specific disease states. Thus, the electrophoretic analysis of samples obtained from a patient may allow physicians to make or confirm a particular diagnosis.
Other applications have resulted from the fact that DNA samples obtained from a particular individual can be digested with restriction enzymes, the fragments separated by electrophoresis and the resulting pattern of bands used to unambiguously identify that particular individual (except in the case of identical twins). Consequently, the electrophoretic analysis of DNA is finding application in the area of law enforcement. A person convicted of a crime may have a sample taken for DNA analysis. The results of this "DNA fingerprint" are compared to evidentiary material found at the scene of a crime or are kept on record and used for future comparison in much the same way as conventional fingerprints.
However, because the resulting data will be used in courts of law, the identification of individuals by DNA fingerprinting is technically demanding and must be done by laboratories with specialized equipment and personnel. This creates a problem of quality control. Specifically, when the electrophoretic positions of DNA bands is critical data and samples are being analyzed on an industrial scale (tens of thousands of samples per year) by independent testing laboratories, it is important to know whether the data reported can be relied upon, i.e., do the results reported accurately represent the banding pattern as it should appear if all of the steps in the analysis had been correctly performed. The present invention is specifically aimed at addressing this problem.

DNA sizing control standards for electrophoretic analyses


An image capturing device includes: at least two field limiting parts which limit a field of view to a dot-like section to define a passage of light; a light sensor which detects light passing through the field limiting parts; a scanning device which moves a scanning spot defined by the dot-like section in two-dimensional directions within a scanning area of an image to be captured; and a control device which controls movements of the scanning spot by the scanning device while receiving detection signals from the light sensor.

As disclosed in Japanese Laid-open Patent Application No. 2006-295949, generally, when taking a picture with a digital camera, a scene is focused through a lens on two-dimensional image sensors such as CCD image sensors or CMOS image sensors, where an image of the scene is obtained as electronic data.
However, an optical lens inevitably causes optical aberration or distortion, and insufficient light intensity at peripheral vision. In order to obtain a better image, it is necessary to combine a plurality of lenses, which will result in a large-sized device.
Further, in order to achieve a zoom function using optical system, it is necessary to combine a plurality of lenses and to mechanically move the lenses along the optical axis, which will also result in a large-sized device.
In view of the above, the present invention seeks to provide a high-performance image capturing device and a method of capturing an image, which can realize simple and high-performance image capture.

Image capturing device with field limiting parts and method of capturing an image using field limiting parts


A monitoring device has a first flame detector, to receive a first batch of radiation, which is emitted by the first flame, a second flame detector, to receive a second batch of radiation, which is emitted by the second flame, a voltage supplying device to apply an alternating voltage with a first half wave and a second half wave to the two flame detectors and an evaluation circuit that is connected to the two flame detectors via a signal input. A first measurement signal that is present at the common signal input during the first half wave is indicative of the intensity of the first batch of radiation. A second measurement signal that is present at the common signal input during the second half wave is indicative of the intensity of the second batch of radiation. The evaluation circuit independently evaluates the first measurement signal and the second measurement signal.

The present invention relates to a monitoring device and a method for the independent monitoring of the presence of a first flame and of a second flame in such a fuel combustion device.
Fuel combustion devices are used in, among other things, heating and/or hot water engineering and in industrial thermoprocessing equipment employed, for example, in the smelting of metals or the firing of ceramics. Fuel combustion devices which are used in heating and/or hot water engineering and are contained in boilers or continuous flow water heaters do not normally only operate with a main flame, for actual heat generation, but also have a second, so-called pilot flame, which is also called an ignition flame. In this document, fuel burning devices which are also described as burner automats, fuel burners or simply burners can, for example, be gas burners or oil burners.
In many types of burner, the pilot flame does not go out even when no heat output is required. The purpose of the pilot flame is thus only to assure rapid ignition of the main flame when a fuel valve assigned to the main flame is opened. In other types of burner the pilot flame is extinguished in the interim and is only reignited shortly before the main flame ignites, for example by an electric ignition. When the main flame is activated, the burning pilot flame ensures that the main flame ignition process can take place in a controlled and ordered manner.
For reasons of operational reliability, relevant standards state that it must be possible to detect the presence of the main and/or the pilot flame independently of one another.
The use of a UV detector for monitoring the presence of both a pilot flame and a main flame is known from technical research documentation such as "Flammenüberwachung an Öl-und Gasbrennern", Siemens Building Technologies, CC1Z7302de, HVAC Products, 16.02.2005. A UV detector of this kind, which is also called a UV flame sensor, is formed of a series circuit made up of ohmic resistance, a UV cell and a diode.
The UV cell of the UV detector has a glass flask made of UV-permeable quartz glass and filled with noble gas. In the glass flask are two electrodes. If voltage is applied between the two electrodes and this voltage is increased, then when a critical voltage is reached, glow discharge (ignition) takes place. Electrons are emitted from the negative electrode, are accelerated toward the positive electrode and ionize the noble gas. This results in a flow of current through the UV cell. The UV cells used for flame monitoring typically exhibit this behavior of self-ignition only at voltages of more than 700 V. UV cells behave differently if they are irradiated by the flame being monitored with UV light of which the wavelength is approx. 190 to 260 nm: in such cases, occurrence of the ignition effect depends on the intensity of the UV radiation at effective voltages as low as approx. 200 V.
The diode of the UV detector assures half-wave rectification, so that if the UV detector is operating with an alternating voltage when a flame is present a pulsed direct voltage is generated. In the event of a short circuit in the connection cables of the UV detector it, and thus also the diode, is bypassed, with the result that when the UV detector is operating with an alternating voltage, alternating voltage is generated instead of the pulsed direct voltage, including at the input of an amplifier circuit downstream from the UV detector. In this way, the presence of a flame is indicated by a pulsed direct voltage and a cable short circuit is indicated by an alternating voltage.
Monitoring the main flame and the pilot flame independently of one another using a UV detector in each case has the disadvantage that (a) a connection cable (with two connection wires) and (b) an amplifier circuit are needed for each of the two UV detectors. Monitoring the main flame and the pilot flame using a UV detector in each case is thus relatively apparatus-intensive.

Monitoring of the presence of two flames in a fuel combustion device


An apparatus for mitigating fouling within a heat exchanger device includes an internal combustion engine and an external exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) circuit. The internal combustion engine is fluidly coupled to an intake gas manifold upstream of the engine and an exhaust gas manifold downstream of the engine. The EGR circuit is fluidly coupled to the exhaust gas manifold at a first end and is configured to selectively route back exhaust gas flow as EGR flow into the intake gas manifold at a second end. The EGR circuit includes the heat exchanger device for cooling the EGR flow prior to entering the intake manifold and a surface deposit removing device configured to remove surface deposit build-up from within the heat exchanger device when the surface deposit removing device is activated.

The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure. Accordingly, such statements are not intended to constitute an admission of prior art.
Exhaust systems transport combustion by-products in the form of exhaust gas flow from the engine through various after treatment devices. Exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) circuits channel a portion of exhaust gas flow back to an intake gas flow to reenter the combustion chambers within cylinders of the engine. The effects associated with the use of EGR, for example the reduction of NOx emissions, are known in the art. EGR circuits are known for use in many different engine types and configurations, for instance in both diesel and gasoline engines.
The exhaust gas flow tapped from the exhaust system for the purpose of controlling combustion within the combustion chamber contain by-products of combustion. Particulate matter (PM) and other combustion by-products travel through the exhaust system with the exhaust gas flow. The recirculated gas flow tapped from the exhaust system is exposed to these by-products. A heat exchanger, such as an EGR cooler device, can include narrow and subdivided exhaust gas flow passages for maximizing heat transfer from the hot gas to a cooling liquid. These narrow exhaust gas flow passages with large surface areas can act as filters to the combustion by-products, collecting particulate deposits on the surfaces within the passages. Such surface deposits within the heat exchanger can have a number of adverse effects upon the heat exchanger, including but not limited to corrosion, increased flow resistance, flow blockage, reduction of heat transfer capacity and noise, vibration, and harshness (NVH). It is therefore desirable to remove surface deposits within the heat exchanger.

Method and apparatus to recover exhaust gas recirculation coolers


Patterned fibrous structures, more particularly to fibrous structures that comprise a pattern that conveys to a user a characteristic of the fibrous structure and/or single- or multi-ply sanitary tissue product comprising such a patterned fibrous structure and methods for making same are provided.

Some consumers of fibrous structures and/or sanitary tissue products comprising fibrous structures, such as toilet tissue, paper towels and/or facial tissue, desire for their fibrous structures and/or sanitary tissue products to convey characteristics of the fibrous structures and/or sanitary tissue products by a visually recognizable pattern. For example, some consumers desire to have both visually recognizable softness and strength characteristics conveyed to them via their fibrous structures and/or sanitary tissue products.
Conventionally, such softness and strength characteristics have been perceived as being diametrically opposed. For example, the softer a fibrous structure was, the less strong it should be and vice versa. Accordingly, fibrous structure and/or sanitary tissue product manufacturers tried to convey either softness characteristics or strength characteristics, but not both in the same fibrous structure and/or sanitary tissue product.
Accordingly, a long felt need existed to identify a fibrous structure and/or sanitary tissue product that conveyed both visually recognizable softness and strength characteristics.


A binary power plant system, comprising: a vaporizer for vaporizing an organic motive fluid circulating in a closed Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) by a heat source fluid in heat exchange relation therewith and producing wet organic motive fluid vapor having a quality of at least approximately 80 percent; and a single organic vapor, turbine of said ORC: having an inlet for receiving the wet organic motive fluid vapor, wherein organic motive fluid vapor is expanded in said single organic vapor turbine without causing turbine blades of the turbine to be subjected to erosion.

Due to the dwindling worldwide energy resources, energy-professionals have been challenged to utilize relatively low temperature heat resources, such as geothermal steam and industrial waste heat, for power production.
An Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) is well suited to exploit the energy content of a low temperature heat resource due to the relatively low boiling point of organic motive fluid. Organic fluid flowing in a closed cycle vaporizes alter extracting heat from the low temperature heat resource. The vapor is expanded in an organic vapor turbine that converts some of the heat in the vapor to work and electricity and thereby producing heat-depleted organic vapor that is condensed in a condenser. The condensed organic fluid is returned to the vaporizer, and the cycle is repeated.
The condenser rejects the remaining heat in the heat-depleted vapor into ambient air, if an air-cooled condenser is involved, or into cooling water, if a water-cooled condenser is used. Typically, the vaporizer is operated at a pressure that produces saturated or only slightly superheated vapor due to the pressures involved being relatively low and the design of the heat exchanger that constitutes the vaporizer, the piping for conveying the vapor, and the turbine. In order to maximize power output of a power plant of the type described, the temperature drop of the heat resource fluid across the vaporizer as well as the vaporization temperature in the vaporizer must be optimized.
One technique for increasing the power is to extract more heat from, the heat resource by increasing its temperature drop. However, increasing the amount of heat, extracted from the heat resource by increasing its temperature drop across the vaporizer, or airy other heat exchanger system, has the effect of decreasing efficiency of the power plant. This results in a reduction of the vaporization temperature of the operating fluid in the heat exchanger, thus reducing the Carnot efficiency of the power plant.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,631,073 discloses a Rankine cycle power plant having first and second multi-staged turbine modules, a vaporizer for supplying vaporized working fluid to the first module, a preheater for supplying heated working fluid to the vaporizer, and a mixer interposed between the first and second modules through which, superheated, heat depleted working fluid from the first module is desuperheated and transferred to the inlet of the second module. However, this power plant is dependent upon two turbine modules for increasing power output, unduly adding expenses to the power plant.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a system and method for increasing the power output from the single organic vapor turbine of a power plant.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a cost effective system and method for increasing the power output from an organic vapor turbine of a power plant.
It is an additional object of the present invention to provide a system and method for increasing the power output from an organic vapor turbine of a power plant whose motive fluid extracts heat from a low-temperature heat source.
Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent as the description proceeds.

System and method for increasing power output from an organic vapor turbine


The invention discloses a communication system for assisting a user for retrieving geography-associated multimedia information, and the communication system comprises a data processing device and several mobile communication devices. The data processing device receives a first request information including a location term and a time term from a terminal device of the user, and broadcasting a second request information, based on the time term, to the mobile communication devices located within a region relative to the location term. The data processing device receives responding messages and captured audio and/or video data from the mobile communication devices accepting the second request information, and transmitting a location-related information to the terminal device based on the responding messages. The user transmits responding information responsive to the location-related information to the data processing device via the terminal device. The data processing device transmits the captured audio and/or video data (representative of the retrieved geography-associated multimedia information) relative to the responding information to the terminal device.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention generally relates to a communication system and a communication method, and more particularly, relates to a communication system and a communication method for assisting a user in retrieving geography-associated multimedia information.
2. Description of the Prior Art
With the rapid development of wireless network and wire network, broadband network is popular and a broadband network with wider bandwidth (for example, 3G network applying High Speed UP link Packet Access mobile protocol) is also popular with the public. Thus, web video applications require wider bandwidth, for example, a video sharing website "You Tube", can be developed rapidly.
Currently, users upload multimedia data such as video clips, images, and music to the video sharing websites and the multimedia data is stored in the database of the websites' providers. Other users can filter the data stored in the websites to retrieve the required data by searching, though the users could not retrieve instant data. For example, shop information, road and geographic information, and images shown on the map website are provided by map data providers or uploaded by users. If the required data is not stored in the map websites, what the users can do is just waiting for the map websites to update stored data.
Additionally, webcasting is an interactive application among multimedia web applications and it also provides the newest information. Generally, a broadcaster sets a web camera and a computer connected with the camera. The computer can communicate with other computers through a communication network. Then, the computer executes the webcasting-related application, and the data captured by the web camera can be instantly transmitted to other computers used by other viewers. By doing so, other viewers can transmit text message to the computer through the communication network, and the broadcaster can adjust the shooting angle of the web camera in response to the received text message. Webcasting is an interactive application, but the viewers still passively wait for the video data being transmitted from the broadcaster, and then the viewers interact with the broadcaster.
Thereby, the invention provides a communication system and a communication method for assisting a user in retrieving geography-associated multimedia information comprising audio data, video data, text data, and image information relative to a specific region. In other words, by means of the communication system and the communication method, the user can actively observe events happened in the specific region and retrieves information relative to the specific region rather than passively waits for information provided by other users or the web content provider.

Communication system and communication method for assisting user retrieving geography-associated multimedia information


The present invention concerns a method for purifying/separating a 2-fluoro-3-oxoalkylcarboxylic acid ester from a reaction mixture resulting from the fluorination of a 3-oxoalkylcarboxylic acid ester. The method involves depleting the reaction mixture of a hydrogen fluoride byproduct; and subsequently, separating the 2-fluoro-3-oxoalkylcarboxylic acid ester by distillation. The 2-fluoro-3-oxoalkylcarboxylic acid ester obtained by the method of the invention is highly pure and is thus suitable for use as an intermediate for the production of pharmacological products or agricultural chemicals.

Fluorine-containing dicarbonyl compounds, such as 2-fluoro-3-oxoalkylcarboxylic acid esters, are compounds of significant usefulness suitable for use as an intermediate for the production of pharmaceutical products and agricultural chemicals.
One way to produce these compounds is by directly fluorinating corresponding dicarbonyl compounds with fluorine gas. Examples of such techniques are described, for example, in J. Org. Chem. 57(1992): 2196, International Patent Publication Nos. WO 94/10120 and WO 95/14646, and Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. Hei 09-255611. In each of these techniques, the goal is to selectively obtain a desired fluorine-containing dicarbonyl compound, such as the 2-fluoro-3-oxoalkylcarboxylic acid ester, and each technique involves directly fluorinating corresponding dicarbonyl compounds with fluorine gas.
However, the direct fluorination of a dicarbonyl compound with fluorine gas is a process involving free radicals and it is therefore difficult to selectively obtain only desired fluorine-containing dicarbonyl compound, such as the 2-fluoro-3-oxoalkylcarboxylic acid ester. For instance, the fluorination reaction described in the cited articles results in the generation of mono-fluoro forms, di-fluoro forms, and compounds containing more fluorine atoms.
In each of the techniques described in the cited articles, water is added to the reaction mixture after the fluorination reaction and the mixture is then extracted with dichloromethane. Nevertheless, none of the cited articles specifically describe any technique for purifying/separating a desired fluorine-containing dicarbonyl compound, such as the 2-fluoro-3-oxoalkylcarboxylic acid ester.
Using a known distillation technique, the present inventors have previously made attempts to separate the desired product from the reaction mixture, only to learn that the purification was difficult since the 3-oxoalkylcarboxylic acid esters, once fluorinated, readily degrade. Thus, there has been no choice other than to directly use the fluorinated 3-oxoalkylcarboxylic acid esters in the subsequent processes without distilling/purifying the reaction mixture. In a technique disclosed in European Patent No. 0440372A1, for example, a 2-fluoro-3-oxoalkylcarboxylic acid ester is reacted with amidine to produce a triazole derivative, a known fungicide. When this 2-fluoro-3-oxoalkylcarboxylic acid ester contains significant amounts of impurities, the purity of the reaction product is lowered and the generation of compounds of unknown structure is likely to result. Also, the low purity material significantly limits the reaction conditions and thus makes the production process difficult.

Method of purifying and separating 2-fluoro-3-oxoalkylcarboxylic acid ester


A TWA measuring electrocardiograph includes: a transformation coefficient storing section configured to store a transformation coefficient for deriving a Frank's vector electrocardiogram; an electrocardiograph controlling section configured to produce a scalar electrocardiogram from electrocardiographic signals of measurement electrodes adapted to be attached to a subject, and configured to derive the Frank's vector electrocardiogram from the scalar electrocardiogram by using the transformation coefficient; and a TWA measuring section configured to measure a presence of TWA based on the derived Frank's vector electrocardiogram.

The present invention relates to a TWA measuring electrocardiograph, TWA measuring method, and TWA measurement system which can measure the presence of TWA (T-wave alternans), and more particularly to a TWA measuring electrocardiograph, TWA measuring method, and TWA measurement system which can derive a Frank's vector electrocardiogram from a scalar electrocardiogram, and measure the presence of TWA from the Frank's vector electrocardiogram.
TWA appears at onset of illness such as QT prolongation syndrome, variant angina, acute myocardial ischemia, electrolyte abnormality, paroxysmal tachycardia, bradycardia, or pericardial fluid accumulation. TWA is a phenomenon in which the amplitude and polarity of the T wave appearing in an electrocardiogram are alternately changed, and an index effective to predict sudden cardiac death. TWA is not a phenomenon which can be always observed with the naked eye, and therefore its application in clinics is limited.
From the 1980s, consequently, techniques for enabling minute TWA (Microvolt TWA: MTWA) to be measured by a computer have been developed.
Examples of currently proposed techniques for measuring TWA are a measurement technique based on the MMA (Modified Moving Average) method of General Electric (GE) Company, and that based on the periodogram of Cambridge Heart (CH), Inc. which are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,668,189 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,935,082, respectively.
The measurement technique of GE Company is directed to a method of analyzing a time waveform in a time region, and is said to have resistance to noises. However, the technique does not have a long history as a measurement technique, and it is required to watch its clinical effect.
By contrast, the measurement technique of CH Inc. which is a technique in a frequency region has been used from the 1980s, and hence its effectiveness in clinics has been proved. Today, therefore, it is considered that the measurement technique based on the periodogram of CH Inc. is clinically more useful than that based on the MMA method of GE Company.
With respect to the measurement technique based on the periodogram of CH Inc., after its announcement, various techniques for performing new processes, such as a technique of measurement electrodes are added, and still now the added latest techniques have been used.
However, the measurement technique based on the periodogram of CH Inc. has several problems. For example, special measurement electrodes for eliminating noises must be used, and a Frank's vector electrocardiogram which is not necessarily commonly used must be acquired.
The use of special measurement electrodes, or the acquisition of a Frank's vector electrocardiogram imposes a burden on a measuring person because the placement of measurement electrodes and the like are different from those in the case where a usual 12-lead electrocardiogram is to be acquired. In the Frank's lead method, moreover, electrodes must be placed also on the back. Therefore, a burden is imposed also on the subject. When a usual measuring person uses the unaccustomed Frank's lead method, it is seemed that a larger measurement error caused by displacement of the attachment positions of electrodes may be produced as compared with standard lead which is prevalently employed.


A polarizer component has an optical film to receive excitation light, a light re-emitting layer and a polarizing layer. The light re-emitting layer has quantum dots that re-emit red light and quantum dots that re-emit green light in response to the excitation light. The re-emitted red light is provided to a red sub-pixel to be filtered by a red color filter, and the re-emitting green light is provided to a green sub-pixel to be filtered by a green color filter. The excitation light can be blue or ultra violet and part of the excitation light is provided to a blue sub-pixel. The polarizing layer can be a reflective polarizing layer and the optical film can be a wavelength selecting layer. The light re-emitting layer may contain scattering particles to diffuse the excitation light provided to a blue sub-pixel.

Liquid crystal displays (LCD) are widely used in electronic devices, such as laptops, smart phones, digital cameras, billboard-type displays, and high-definition televisions. LCD panels may be configured as disclosed, for example, in Wu et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,956,631, which is assigned to AU Optronics Corp., the parent company of the assignee of the current application, and hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. As disclosed in Wu et al. FIG. 1, the LCD panel may comprise a top polarizer, a lower polarizer, a liquid crystal cell, and a backlight. Light from the backlight passes through the lower polarizer, through the liquid crystal cell, and then through the top polarizer. As further disclosed in Wu et al. FIG. 1, the liquid crystal cell may comprise a lower glass substrate and an upper substrate containing color filters. A plurality of pixels comprising thin film transistor (TFT) devices may be formed in an array on the lower glass substrate, and a liquid crystal compound may be filled into the space between the lower glass substrate and the color filter forming a layer of liquid crystal material. A hardening protective layer may be placed on the top polarizer and it may be advantageous to apply the anti-glaring treatment to the lower polarizer.
The LCD backlight unit may be configured as a direct-type backlight, as disclosed for example in Yu et al., U.S. Pat. No. 7,101,069, which is assigned to AU Optronics Corp., the parent company of the assignee of the current application, and hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. As disclosed in Yu et al. FIG. 3, the backlight unit may comprise a diffuser, with one or more diffusing plates and/or prisms disposed on the diffuser. A reflecting plate may be disposed under the diffuser, with one or more illumination tubes as the light source disposed between the diffuser and the reflecting plate.
The LCD backlight unit may also be configured as an edge-type backlight, as disclosed for example in Chu et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,976,781, which is assigned to AU Optronics Corp., the parent company of the assignee of the current application, and hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. As disclosed in Chu et al., FIG. 4, the backlight unit may comprise a tubular lamp and a light guide plate as the light sources and also a bezel which may have a rectangular board. Reflector sheet, the light guide panel and one or more optical films may be disposed in sequence on the rectangular board. A frame may be mounted on the bezel to contain these components.
In general, each pixel has at least three color sub-pixels. Red, green and blue color filters are used in the respective color sub-pixels to form a color image on the display screen. The red, green and blue color filters separate the white light provided by the backlight unit into red, green and blue light components. Each of the red, green and blue color filters transmits only light of a narrow wavelength range and absorbs the rest of the visible spectrum. As such, the optical loss is significant. In most cases, the optical loss can be 70 percent.
Reducing the optical loss is, therefore, an important issue in the color display technology.

Quantum-dot embedded polarizer component and display device using same


A method and product to replace asbestos in brake pads and other molded friction materials. Conductive fibers and non-conductive fibers, both of small diameter and an average length less than two inches (5 cm), are mixed together in predetermined ratio to facilitate uniform suspension of friction materials in a moldable mixture. Steel, copper, or brass are preferred for the conductive fibers; aramid and acrylic resins are preferred for the non-conductive fibers.

In the production of molded brake pads and other similar friction materials it was long customary to utilize granular or fibrous asbestos together with a combination of many different friction ingredients. Different combinations of ingredients in different ratios were employed to produce desired characteristics of heat resistance, friction, wear, and strength. However, asbestos is no longer favored as a component in brake pads due to its carcinogenic properties.
In the manufacture of molded brake pads that do not include asbestos, it is usually necessary to provide a combination of many more ingredients in order to obtain necessary properties in the finished product. That is, the mixtures of ingredients containing asbestos were generally simpler with respect to the number of different ingredients required. The ability of asbestos to assist in formation of a homogenous mix for ease of processing into molded brake pads was substantial.
To aid in the preparation of a mixture of raw materials having different densities, particle size and particle shape, for an asbestos-free brake pad, some manufacturers of different friction materials have used aramid fibers in pulp form. Such fibers have included the KEVLAR product of E. I. DuPont de Nemours & Co. and the TWARON product of a Netherlands company, Akzo Nobel. These aramid fiber pulps have been used in various friction materials. The pulp acts much like asbestos fiber in maintaining uniformity of the mix during processing of a molded brake pad. Other manufacturers of asbestos-free molded brake pads have employed acrylic resin pulp or mineral wool to assist in holding the mix together for processing. Reclaimed or reprocessed aramid materials have frequently been used.
The use of aramid or acrylic resin fibers, however, presents a major problem with respect to holding the complex ingredients of a brake pad together in a homogenous mixture prior to final molding of the brake pad. The aramid and acrylic fibers tend to acquire a static charge that causes them to cling to the walls of a mixer. This presents a substantial difficulty in obtaining and maintaining a homogenous final mix for the brake pad. Further, if a volatile solvent is employed, as in some liquid or semi-liquid mixtures, the static charge on the aramid or acrylic resin fibers may present a potential explosion hazard.