During traveling a vehicle, an on-vehicle unit control circuit 22 transmits regularly a mobile unit verification encryption code stored in a storage part 23 of an on-vehicle unit 2 to a mobile unit 1; a transmission circuit 10 of the mobile unit 1 replies a response signal to the on-vehicle unit 2 every time the verification code is received; and the control circuit 22 of the on-vehicle unit 2 updates and stores vehicle environmental information in the storage part 23 upon receiving the response signal, and if the on-vehicle unit 2 cannot receive any response signal from the mobile unit 1, a driver is notified with display lamp 53, hazard lamp 54, or alarm buzzer 55 that the response signal has not been received.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an antitheft system of vehicles propelled by an internal combustion engine such as motorcycles and, more specifically, to an electronic key system (in other words, a vehicle antitheft system) in which verification of ID codes is made between a transmitter-receiver that a user carries and a control device mounted on a vehicle, whereby the internal combustion engine is allowed to start only in the case of being the start request from an allowable user.
2. Description of the Related Art
For example, in one of the conventional vehicle antitheft systems, verification of respective stored ID codes is made between a transmitter-receiver (mobile unit) that a driver carries and a transmitter-receiver on the vehicle side; and as a result of verification, in case of coincidence of both ID codes, an engine of the vehicle is allowed to start.
Furthermore, in the case of two-wheel vehicles as compared with four-wheel vehicles, there is a high possibility that a mobile unit is missed during traveling due to any accident. In the case where the mobile unit is missed, it is necessary to notify a driver of being missed.
As a system of warning when a driver drops a mobile unit, there is a vehicle electronic key system as disclosed in, for example, the Japanese Patent Publication (unexamined) No. 114860/2004.
This Japanese Patent Publication (unexamined) No. 114860/2004 discloses "a vehicle electronic key system having a control device mounted on an actual vehicle and a mobile transmitter-receiver transmitting a response signal based on receiving a request signal from this control device, the control device including first means for outputting the request signal with respect to a mobile transmitter-receiver based on ON operation of a start switch of the actual vehicle, second means for detecting a response signal from the mobile transmitter-receiver based on the request signal, and third means for making a warning output in the case where no response signal is detected at the second means irrespective of output of the request signal from the first means".
Further, according to this vehicle electronic key system, it is described that "first, in the case where a user makes a start switch ON without noticing that he carries no mobile transmitter-receiver, or has dropped it, since no response signal is detected at the second means irrespective of output of the request signal from the first means, an alert warning will be outputted through the third means, and thus the user will notice that he carries no mobile transmitter-receiver.
In this manner, the Japanese Patent Publication (unexamined) No. 114860/2004 discloses an electronic key system in which in the case where a user drops a mobile unit during the vehicle being stopped as well as during traveling, this fact can be outputted as an alert warning, thus enabling to make it less frequent to the utmost for a user to miss a mobile unit.
In the above-mentioned vehicle antitheft system (vehicle electronic key system), there may be advantages of vehicle antitheft of four-wheel vehicles driven in a room (driver's cab) of the vehicles that is separated from outside.
However, in the case of two-wheel special vehicles ("two-wheel vehicles" are referred to as auto-bikes, and "special vehicles" are referred to as outboard marine engines, buggy cars, snowmobiles, water-bikes and the like) in which a driver is directly provided with sounds of vehicles themselves (engine sounds), whistles during traveling, extraneous sounds or the like, since they are not vehicles driven in a room separated from outside as are four-wheel vehicles, there are some cases where a driver does not notice that a key is dropped even when his vehicle begins to move.
In addition, even if notification is made with, e.g., lamps, there is the possibility that such warning is missed to notice due to reflection from a meter panel under sunlight.
A further problem exits in that when a driver once stops an engine, moves away without noticing loss of an electronic key, and then returns to his vehicle again and tries to restart the engine, he notices the loss of an electronic key for the first time, and thus cannot make the engine ON.

Vehicle antitheft system and vehicle antitheft method


A microfluidic device includes an input port for inputting a particle-containing liquidic samples into the device, a retention member, and a pressure actuator. The retention member is in communication with the input port and is configured to spatially separate particles of the particle-containing liquidic sample from a first portion of the liquid of the particle containing fluidic sample. The pressure actuator recombines at least some of the separated particles with a subset of the first portion of the liquid separated from the particles. The device can also include a lysing chamber that receives the particles and liquid from the retention member. The lysing chamber thermally lyses the particles to release contents thereof.

Microfluidic devices include devices with features having dimensions on the order of nanometers to 100 s of microns that cooperate to perform various desired functions. In particular, microfluidic devices perform material analysis and manipulation functions, such as performing chemical or physical analyses.
One type of microfluidic device allows the manipulation of discrete amounts of materials, such as samples and reagents, in addition to or as an alternative to continuous, flowing streams of material. Actuators can move discrete amounts of materials within the microfluidic devices.


A transportation device such as an elevator installation, an escalator, or a moving walkway may comprise a person conveying unit and an electromagnetic linear drive for driving the person conveying unit. The electromagnetic linear drive may include a stator segment and a runner element. The runner element can be driven by the force of an electromagnetic field of the stator segment in a first drive direction or in an opposite second drive direction. The runner element is movably mounted on the person conveying unit such that a magnetic resistance in an air gap between the stator segment and the runner element is adjustable depending on a drive force acting between the stator segment and the runner element.

Transportation devices, especially elevator installations, escalators and moving walkways without cables and chain drives occasionally employ electromagnetic linear drives making it possible to move elevator cars individually along vertical as well as horizontal travel path sections and to transport moving walkway platforms or escalator platforms individually without chain links along the travel path. Electromagnetic linear drives comprise in this case at least one fixed linear stator, which is mounted in several parallel or sequential stator segments with separate stator windings along the travel path, for example in an elevator shaft, and at least one linear runner, corresponding in the context of the present invention to an elevator car or a platform.
Instead of the elevator car or the platform, we shall therefore consider the runner. The runner stands in a noncontact, yet exceedingly close magnetic coupling with the stator, in order to generate the largest possible action of the force of the traveling wave generated by the stator and the strongest and most concentrated magnetic flux in the core of the stator and in the runner. Typically, permanent magnet runners are used, so that no transmission of electrical power to the runner is required and it is possible to realize static magnetic holding forces. This is a so-called synchronous drive system.
A short circuit in a stator segment of a linear drive, due to strong eddy currents induced in the stator winding, similar to the principle of action of an eddy current brake, may lead to excessive undesirable decelerations of the runner and thus of the elevator car as it passes over that segment. If the decelerations are so strong as to exceed the acceleration of gravity, for example, a substantial risk of an accident will exist for the persons and loads being transported, especially during upward travel. Besides a winding short circuit, mechanical faults such as jams and collisions between stator and runner may also lead to serious decelerations with risk of an accident.
Risks of an accident also exist for escalators and moving walkways when platforms are stopped abruptly due to electrical or mechanical faults. These risks are even greater for individually driven platforms than for chain-linked escalators and moving walkways, since higher speeds can be achieved. Moreover, the permissible forces of deceleration are much less for horizontally moving transportation systems as compared to vertical elevator installations.
Automatic safety brakes are known from elevator engineering with linear drive, which close automatically upon unwanted downward movement and open automatically during an upward movement. Corresponding safety brake systems are shown by the documents U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,234,079A and 6,425,462B1.
Thus a need exists for electromagnetic linear drives with a safety device for limiting deceleration and for transportation devices with such linear drives, wherein the safety device is automatically engaged upon an electrical or mechanical fault of the linear drive and requires no independent power supply or activation in order to carry out the safety function.

Transportation device comprising a safety device for limiting deceleration

TK Elevator Innovation and Operations GmbH


A method including a bend angle calculation step of calculating a bend angle θ at each connecting point of a broken line which is obtained by successively connecting a predetermined plurality of machining points P1 to P3 by line segments, an approximation curve derivation step of deriving an approximation curve L5 closer to the connecting point the larger the bend angle θ calculated by the bend angle calculation step, and a tool path generation step of generating a tool path PA7 along the approximation curve L5 derived by the approximation curve derivation step.

As this type of a tool path generation method, in general, smoothing treatment which approximates a broken line obtained by connecting a plurality of machining points by a curve so as to generate a smooth tool path is known. If such smoothing treatment is carried out across-the-board at all of the machining path including parts with shapes of large bend angles, the error in shape from the desired machined shape increases and thus, the machined shape may be conversely degraded. Considering this point, for example, Patent Literature 1 describes a method of comparing a bend angle of a broken line with a predetermined threshold value and validating (turning on) or invalidating (turning off) the smoothing treatment in accordance with their relative magnitudes.
In this regard, machining point data is generally prepared by utilizing a CAD/CAM system etc. For this reason, even if a curvature of a machined surface is constant, the lengths of the broken line segments (block lengths) vary and the bend angles also vary. Therefore, if the method, like the one described in the above Patent Literature 1, of turning the smoothing treatment on and off at a specific bend angle is used, there will be portions where the smoothing treatment is turned on and portions where it is turned off regardless of the curvature of the machined surface being constant and therefore, it is difficult to obtain a smooth machined surface.

Tool path generation method and apparatus


The inventive method cleans residual titanium accumulations and other undesirable materials from a planarized surface of a wafer to produce a planarized surface with less than about fifty defects per wafer. After a metallic layer of material has been planarized using a CMP process, loose residual particles of undesirable material are removed from the planarized surface. The residual titanium accumulations remaining on the planarized surface are then detached from the planarized surface, which produces additional, new particles on the surface of the wafer. The additional particles produced by the detaching step are then scrubbed from the planarized surface until the planarized surface has less than approximately 50 defects per wafer.

Chemical-mechanical planarization ("CMP") processes are frequently used to planarize the surface layers of a wafer in the production of ultra-high density integrated circuits. In typical CMP processes, a wafer is pressed against a slurry on a polishing pad under controlled chemical, pressure, velocity, and temperature conditions. Slurry solutions generally contain small, abrasive particles that mechanically remove the surface layer of the wafer, and chemicals that chemically remove the surface layer. The polishing pad is generally a planar pad made from a relatively soft, porous material, such as blown polyurethane. After the wafer is planarized, it is cleaned to remove residual particles on the surface of the wafer that were introduced to the CMP process by the slurry, polishing pad, or wafer.
CMP processing is particularly useful for planarizing a metallic surface layer to form conductive features, such as interlayer connectors and/or conducting lines. Interlayer connectors are fabricated by forming holes through a dielectric layer, depositing a very thin titanium liner over the dielectric layer and in the holes, depositing a layer of metallic material over the titanium liner and in the holes, and then planarizing the metallic layer to an end-point just below the upper surface of the dielectric layer. Conducting lines are created by forming parallel channels in a substrate, depositing a very thin titanium liner over the substrate and in the channels, depositing a layer of metallic material over the titanium liner and in the channels, and then planarizing the metallic layer to an end-point below the top of the substrate. The metallic layers of material are desirably planarized using slurries that contain abrasive particles made from aluminum oxide (Al.sub.2 O.sub.3). After the metallic layers are planarized, residual materials from the slurry, polishing pad, or wafer remain on the planarized surface of the wafer. The residual materials are commonly aluminum oxide particles from the slurry and titanium accumulations from the titanium liner, both of which cause defects in the wafer. Thus, it is necessary to clean such residual materials from the planarized surface of the wafer.
One problem with current post-CMP cleaning processes is that they still allow a significant number of defects to remain on each wafer. In a typical post-CMP cleaning process, the wafer is placed in a bath of deionized water that is vibrated with sonic energy. The sonic deionization bath removes the loose residual particles of aluminum oxide from the surface layer of the wafer, but it does not remove the residual titanium accumulations. The sonic deionization bath produces a wafer surface that has approximately 20 to 30 defects per wafer. To remove the residual titanium accumulations from the planarized surface, the wafer is dipped in hydrogen fluoride solution ("HF solution") that etches the residual titanium accumulations and some of the oxide from the surface of the wafer. Although the HF solution removes the residual titanium accumulations, it also produces new defects in the wafer so that the resulting wafer surface has 300 to 400 defects per wafer. Accordingly, it would be desirable to develop a method that removes both the residual titanium accumulations and other residual materials from a planarized wafer to produce a wafer surface that has less than fifty defects per wafer.

Method for post chemical-mechanical planarization cleaning of semiconductor wafers


Valve timing is held to a position close to a target value as much as possible while suppressing control errors of valve timing even though a crankshaft rotates in reverse. In an internal combustion engine which controls the valve timing by a variable valve timing mechanism (an electric VTC) driven by an electric motor, an intake valve timing is controlled after an output of an engine stop command such that: when the engine rotates in a forward direction, a real valve timing (a VTC real angle θr) detected by a sensor is converged to a target valve timing (a VTC target angle θtrg) advanced for the time of start; and when the engine rotates in a reverse direction, a manipulated variable of the electric VTC is set so that the VTC real angle θr is held to the VTC real angle θr detected just before the detection of the reverse rotation.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a control device and a method for controlling a variable valve timing mechanism which varies valve timing of an engine valve (an intake valve or an exhaust value) of an internal combustion engine.
2. Description of Related Art
A control device of this type of variable valve timing mechanism controls a valve timing by detecting the rotation phase of a camshaft with respect to a crankshaft and bringing the rotation phase close to a target rotation phase by using the variable valve timing mechanism.
However, the crankshaft may rotate in a reverse direction to a forward rotation direction (reverse rotation) at a time of extremely low rotation of an engine just before a stopping, such as when operation of the engine is stopped. In a technique disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication 2000-303865, since the rotation phase of a camshaft cannot be correctly detected when reverse rotation is detected, feedback control to the target phase is stopped and an intake camshaft is driven to rotate to a reference rotation angle position (a default position) where an intake camshaft impacts a stopper in the retard angle direction by a variable valve timing mechanism until the engine is stopped.
However, since the closing timing of the intake valve (IVC) moves away from the dead center of the intake bottom, the effective stroke decreases, the intake air amount decreases and thereby the startability during the next startup decreases at the reference rotation angle position retarded in angle as described above.

Control device and method for controlling variable valve timing mechanism in internal combustion engine


Embodiments of the present invention provide a system for autopartitioning and processing electronic resources. The system is configured for receiving one or more electronic resources from one or more third party systems, determining that the one or more electronic resources match one or more predetermined characteristics, moving the one or more electronic resources that match the one or more predetermined characteristics into a first pipeline and processing the one or more electronic resources.

Conventional architectures within an entity do not have the ability to adapt to new changes associated with electronic resources that are consumed by multiple systems within the architecture. Modifying the architecture to adapt to the new changes is not efficient as it increases the downtime of the multiple systems within the architecture. As such, there exists a need for a system for processing new changes associated with electronic resources without modifying the existing architecture.

System and method for autopartitioning and processing electronic resources


Techniques for determining whether a patient will respond to cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) include identifying a plurality of consecutive cardiac beats within a cardiac electrogram of the patient and, for each of the consecutive cardiac beats, measuring a repolarization interval. The techniques also include determining a variability of the measured repolarization intervals. The variability of the measured repolarization intervals indicates whether the patient will respond to CRT. For example, a variability lower than a predetermined threshold may indicate that the patient is a CRT responder, while a variability greater than the predetermined threshold may indicate that the patient is a CRT non-responder.

Cardiac pacing is delivered to patients to treat a wide variety of cardiac dysfunctions. Cardiac pacing is often delivered by an implantable medical device (IMD), which may also provide cardioversion or defibrillation in response to detected cardiac tachyarrhythmias, if needed. The IMD delivers such stimulation to the heart via electrodes located on one or more leads, which are typically intracardiac leads.
Patients with heart failure may be treated with cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT). CRT is a form of cardiac pacing. The ventricles of some heart failure patients contract in an uncoordinated, or asynchronous, manner, which greatly reduces the pumping efficiency of the ventricles. CRT delivers pacing pulses at particular times, e.g., atrio-ventricular (A-V) intervals and/or intra-ventricular (V-V) intervals, and particular locations, e.g., to one or both of the right and left ventricles, to re-coordinate the contraction of the ventricles. In some examples, CRT involves delivery of pacing pulses to both ventricles to synchronize their contraction. In other examples, CRT involves delivery of pacing pulses to one ventricle, such as the left ventricle, to synchronize its contraction with that of the right.
Numerous trials have shown the benefit of CRT over other, e.g., pharmacological, therapies. However, some patients that meet the guidelines for implantation of an IMD to provide CRT, ultimately do not respond to the provided CRT, e.g., do not show significant improvement of cardiac function when CRT is delivered.

Prediction of cardiac resynchronization therapy response based on variability of repolarization


A method and arrangement in a terminal evaluation unit for detecting a malfunctioning terminal in a cellular network is provided. Connection data is received from at least one network node in the cellular network, wherein the connection data is referring to connections of terminals when present in cells of the cellular network. A mean connection drop rate is calculated based on the connection data for the terminals when present at least in a first cell during a preset time period. An individual connection drop rate which is associated with the first terminal is determined from the connection data. Deciding, based on a ratio between the individual connection drop rate and the mean drop rate, whether or not the first terminal is malfunctioning and providing the result from the deciding action to a cellular network operator for further evaluation.

The overall quality of service has become increasingly important when providing telecommunication services. Therefore, cellular network operators need to manage their quality issues proactively in order to avoid or at least reduce the amount of customer complaints. Network operators whom have lower quality of service compared to their market peers may in some cases experience a loss of subscribers also known as churn rate. One reason may be that subscribers to a greater extent consider changing service provider if the perceived quality is below expectations. High churn rate is naturally having a negative effect on the profitability of the network operator due to the loss of revenue and costs associated with attracting new subscribers to replace the lost ones.
One way to measure perceived quality in a network is to measure the quality of connection establishments in a cell which is associated to a network node. As schematically illustrated in FIG. 1, terminals 110,111,112 may be present and establishing connections in one or more cells associated with one or more network nodes 100a, 100b. The network nodes 100a, 100b are normally arranged in connection to a radio network 100 and core network 101. If a terminal 110,111 or 112 experiences a lost connection the event may be reported and registered to the core network 101.
Parameters which are commonly measured to indicate the perceived quality of network operators' service, is the connection quality in terms of accessibility and retainability. Accessibility is normally the capability to establish the connection between a terminal and a network node while retainability normally means the capability to retain the connection once it is initiated. If a network node 100a, 100b is indicated to be malfunctioning, the network operator maintenance may, by using performance management, allocate resources to adjust and repair the network node in order to increase the perceived quality in the cells. A post processing system 105 may, according to one example, run tests on the network nodes 100a, 100b and the core network 101 in order to determine whether or not the terminals in the cells associated with the network node 100a, 100b are experiencing quality deficiencies. For example, the post processing system may identify certain network nodes having a higher occurrence of unsuccessful connection establishment and dropped connections than other network nodes.
A more reactive way to identify, for example, areas, cells or nodes having poor quality is to measure and monitor customer support feedback and complaints. The initiative then needs to be taken by the subscriber. This reactive indication may in some cases have a poor effect in decreasing churn rate.
It is, however, not possible to measure perceived quality per user when applying the above mentioned techniques for quality measurement. Although the network operators and service providers continuously monitor their network to detect inferior or malfunctioning network nodes, quality problems still exit due to reasons which are not necessarily related to the malfunction of nodes and components of cellular network.

Method and arrangement for detecting a malfunctioning terminal


In the present invention an image-forming production system includes a marking engine. The marking engine outputs a plurality of printed sheets at a first speed. An inserter is connected to receive the plurality of printed sheets from the marking engine and insert an insert sheet fed at a second speed. The inserter control board transmits synch pulse signals to an inserter speed adjust unit controller when a plurality of sheets approach the inserter speed adjust unit. The inserter speed adjust unit transmits a signal to the inserter speed adjust unit controller indicating an arrival of each of the plurality of sheets. The inserter speed adjust unit controller compares the measured arrival time with the synch pulse signal to adjust a speed of the plurality of sheets and the insert sheet to a third output speed.

Image-forming production systems, such as electrophotographic printers, are used to transfer images onto a plurality of sheets of paper or other medium. In a typical image-forming job, the image-forming production system transfers or prints one or more images onto one or more sheets. When multiple images are transferred, the image-forming process usually transfers the images to arrange the output sheets according to the image-forming job. The output sheet sequence typically corresponds to the image input sequence into the image-forming production system. This ordered input and corresponding output-avoids the need to reassemble or otherwise compile the sheets.
Many image-forming production systems, such as electrophotographic printers, have a marking engine, an inserter, and a finisher device. The marking engine transfers images onto the sheets. If required by the image-forming job, the inserter inserts a preprinted or blank sheet into the sheet output from the marking engine. The finisher device collects the output sheets to complete the image-forming job or prepare it for subsequent processing operations. In some image-forming jobs there may be a need to combine or merge imprinted sheets from the marking engine with plain sheets or sheets that do not require imaging. For such printing jobs, an insert supply or an inserted sheet may be placed downstream of the marking engine, between the marking engine and other output accessories from an inserter. There are image-production systems that are capable of combining the plain sheets from the inserter with the imprinted sheets. For the reasons which follow, the speed of sheets exiting from the marking engine may not match the output speed of the inserter. Additionally, the speed at which sheets are supplied to the inserter may be faster than the speed at which output devices can accept sheets. In more detail, in an electrophotographic marking engine, it is desirable to minimize the speed at which an image is processed and fused for a given throughput rate. The speed is minimized by positioning the sheets relatively close to each other in the feed direction on the image loop. However, for high speed inserters, vacuum feeding from supply trays to the inserter is generally preferred due to its superior reliability and performance. For maximum performance, the vacuum devices feeding the inserter require a significant time between sheets in order to safely acquire a sheet with vacuum prior to feeding. To maximize the time between sheets, the sheets are fed to the inserter at a high speed, leaving more time between feeds to acquire the next sheet. Since the sheets being fed to the inserter will be merged, in appropriate places, between sheets from the marking engine, the lower speed requirements of the marking engine are at conflict with the higher speed requirement of the inserter vacuum feed system. Merging sheets traveling at two different speeds present obvious problems.
Additionally, the high feeding speed for the inserter may be problematic for output accessories. Some output accessories or devices, such as devices that perform stacking, stapling or folding require a relatively large amount of time to accomplish these functions. Therefore, the input speed to these devices conflicts with the high speed vacuum feed speed of the inserter.
Further, some output devices such as hole punchers require as much uniformity between sheets as possible. For these devices, it is important to make the leading edge timing of sheets exiting the inserter as uniform as possible.
Accordingly, there is a need for an image-production system that is able to combine sheets from different parts of the image-production systems for a high-speed image forming job, where the merging of sheets occur at a time that is coordinated with the timing of the marking engine. There is also a need to have output devices receive sheets with uniform timing.

Post processor inserter speed and timing adjust unit


An implantable medical device is directed to techniques for applying overdrive pacing to one or both atria following termination of an AF episode, to prevent a recurrent AF episode. The implantable medical device such as a pacemaker applies overdrive pacing according to overdrive pacing parameters, and sets the parameters as a function of the response of the patient to overdrive pacing. The parameters may be adjusted upward or downward, so that overdrive pacing may be applied effectively but not over-applied.

Some heart patients experience episodes of atrial tachyarrhythmia, including atrial fibrillation (AF). Although AF episodes may not be immediately life-threatening, AF episodes may be associated with extreme symptoms, a reduced quality of life, and a reduced cardiac output.
For heart patients having a multi-chamber pacemaker, AF episodes present an additional problem, in that the pacemaker may coordinate ventricular pacing with atrial activity. When an AF episode begins, it is undesirable for ventricular pacing to be timed according to atrial activity. Accordingly, some pacemakers are equipped with "mode switching" capability. The principal purpose of mode switching is to prevent the pacing system from delivering ventricular paces that track atrial activity when the atrium experiences an episode of atrial tachycardia. When the atrial rate is normal, the pacemaker assumes a tracking mode, such as DDD/DDDR, in which ventricular pacing tracks atrial activity. When an AF episode occurs, however, the pacemaker switches to a non-tracking mode, such as DDIR, and paces the ventricle independently of atrial activity.
When an AF episode occurs, the pacemaker or another medical device may apply therapy to terminate the AF episode. Therapy may comprise application of a shock or a drug. Another therapy for atrial tachycardia is overdrive pacing, in which the pacemaker paces one or both atria at a rate faster than their intrinsic rhythm. Overdrive pacing is often effective in disrupting circus arrhythmia and terminating an AF episode. An AF episode may also terminate spontaneously.
It has been observed that a second AF episode may occur within seconds or minutes after the termination of the first AF episode. Although a recurrent AF episode does not always follow the termination of a preceding AF episode, it has been demonstrated clinically that a patient may have an increased risk of a recurrent AF episode shortly after an AF episode has terminated. The phenomenon is called recurrent atrial fibrillation.

Addressing recurrent atrial fibrillation


The invention includes a system and method for delivery and storage of an absorbent for solidification of liquid waste. The system includes a plurality of nestable containers configured to receive aqueous liquid to be solidified and forming a packet safe space when nested one within another. The system also includes a plurality of packets at least partially soluble in the aqueous liquid to be solidified. The containers include at least one packet and each packet contains a solidifier for use as an absorbent composition for the aqueous liquid to be solidified. A packet may be housed within the containers inside a packet safe space. The invention also includes an improved system and method for packaging a solidifier for solidification of liquid medical wastes.

Liquid medical waste, typically from a surgical procedure, is flowed into medical waste containers. The liquid medical waste is deposited under the influence of a suction, which directs the liquid through a conduit. The waste is usually an aqueous fluid mixture of saline, blood, urine, and/or other bodily fluids. Regulations require that the liquid be converted to a solidified form prior to transport in order to minimize the possibility of hazardous waste being spilled.
Solidifiers in various forms have been used in attempts to meet regulations, solidify hazardous wastes and to prevent spillage upon disposal of the waste filled containers. Previously, absorbents have been provided to hospital and surgical center personnel as a solidifier to be measured and dispensed into the waste container and/or in packaged pre-filled solidifier packets and bottles to be added to the container with instructions to add the solidifier after all of the expected waste fluid has entered the container.
Solidifiers have attempted to reach firm solidification, where no fluids will spill when the container is turned on its side; however, a problem with "gel block" has persisted. Development of "gel block" prohibits firm solidification. "Gel block" occurs when the inflowing aqueous mixture becomes solidified and sections off portions of the fluid so that it cannot reach available solidifier. When gel block occurs, the aqueous fluid does not firmly and completely solidify and spillage during transport is problematic.
Previously, the problem of "gel block" has been addressed in a variety of ways. Various solidifiers with different densities have been combined so that the solidifier will migrate to specific levels or zones of the fluid. However, weighted solidifiers take some time to reach their separated levels, and the use of swifter solidifiers with this system still presents problems with "gel block." Additionally, the speed with which the fluid is introduced and the timing of the release of weighted solidifier is extremely important if the weighted solidifier is to inhibit "gel block."
Superabsorbants are known in the art as water-swellable, water-insoluble, organic or inorganic material capable of absorbing at least about 100 times its weight and up to about 300 times its weight in an aqueous solution. Superabsorbent polymers are cross-linked, neutralized polymers which are capable of absorbing large amounts of aqueous liquids and body fluids, such as urine or blood, with swelling and the formation of hydrogels, and of retaining them under a certain pressure in accordance with the general definition of superabsorbent. The main use for internally cross-linked superabsorbent polymers has been in sanitary articles.
A trend in sanitary articles, for comfort and sanitation reasons, has been to make them smaller and reduce their size. To do this, much of the fluff fiber in these articles has been removed and more superabsorbent polymer has been added. With less structure provided, more superabsorbent polymer is needed in sanitary articles along with a higher gel strength. However, increasing gel strength in cross-linked superabsorbent polymers often results in less polymer swellability, permeability and retention capacity. U.S. Pat. No. 7,291,674 to Kang, herein incorporated by reference in its entirety, addresses surface cross-linking, superabsorbent polymers in order to retain liquid retention, permeability, and gel bed strength when superabsorbent polymer is increased in percent by weight based on the absorbent structure.
Additionally, it is known in some fields to add non-polymeric particles to internally cross-linked superabsorbent polymers in order to increase the swellability of the superabsorbent polymers. In fiber optic applications, the cables are coated with a mixture of superabsorbent polymer and non-polymeric silica particles. If the cable covering is breached and fluid seeps inside, the mixture leads to "gel block" and acts as a gelling agent where the suberabsorbent polymers have enhanced swellability so that they water block. In such an application, gel block is desired and the particle mixture is designed to achieve gel block as a desired end result.
While advancements in the solidifiers that absorb the hazardous wastes have increased absorbency and decreased the chance of spillage, the challenges associated with the most effective and efficient delivery and storage of the absorbents remains. When solidifier is provided in bottles, the bottles are bulky to ship and require a large amount of storage space on site. Bottled solidifier is typically measured and dispensed into the container after the introduction of liquid wastes, so that personnel are exposed to extensive handling of the container, solidifier and container covers. In addition, some solidifiers are believed to have carcinogenic properties, so exposure of the solidifier to the hospital personnel may be hazardous. After being emptied, the solidifier bottles add to the large amounts of waste that must be disposed of or recycled in hospital or medical facilities.
Even when packets prefilled with solidifier are used, they still take up excess storage space. Typically, prefilled packets must be placed into the container by personnel in sufficient solidifier quantities to accomplish complete solidification. If solidifier packets are added prior to the introduction of waste fluid, the amount of solidifier to completely solidify the volume of fluids able to be held within the waste container is used. Many times, the amount of waste fluids gathered during a procedure may be significantly less than that amount capable of being accumulated within the container. Thus, more solidifier is used than is necessary to completely solidify the contents of the container.
In some instances, medical personnel wish to quantify the amount of waste fluid gathered in a waste container during a procedure. Use of prefilled packets prior to measuring the waste contents may displace the fluid and skew the resulting fluid measurement. As such, there remains a need in the art for providing an improved delivery system for solidification of medical container wastes. It is to some of these or additional problems that the present disclosure is directed.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

System and method for packaging an absorbent for solidification of liquid medical waste


A tubular bushing co-moldable with tubs of washing machines is provided. The tubular bushing is suitable to be engaged by a drive shaft of the washing machine extending along a central axis (A) and being provided with two rolling bearings (20), arranged at a given distance from each other along the axis (A) to allow rotation of the drive shaft with respect to the tub, and a containing sleeve, made of plastic and by means of co-molding around the two bearings; a current dispersion means being incorporated in the containing sleeve and suitable to be electrically connected both to the drive shaft and to earth so as to prevent an accumulation of static electricity in the washing machine and prevent electrostatic discharges.

Known tubular bushings, co-moldable with tubs of washing machines, are suitable to be engaged by a drive shaft of the washing machine, in order to support, by means of the drive shaft, the rotatable drum inside the tub. Known tubular bushings comprise two rolling bearings, to allow a rotation of the drive shaft, and a containing sleeve, which is made of plastic and by means of co-molding around the two bearings.
Such known tubular bushings are suitable to be co-molded with the tubs of the washing machines, to simplify the production process of said washing machines. In particular, the bushing containing sleeve is co-molded together with tubs of washing machines, so as to realize one piece with the said tubs, allowing remarkable savings in process time, handling time and components number.
Before this simplification, tubular bushings were made of metal materials, so as drums and tubs of washing machines, and any accumulation of static electricity, due to drum rotation or to fabrics friction inside the drum, was almost prevented. The arrival of new co-molded tubular bushings, having the majority of their components made of plastic material and being electrically insulated, if on one hand has simplified a lot the production of current washing machines, on the other hand has caused the insurgence of electrostatic problems for the same washing machines.

Tubular bushing co-moldable with tubs of washing machines


A determining unit selects one storage device each from storage devices of an external storage apparatus and storage devices of a storage apparatus to which the determining unit belongs. At this point, based on a copy request, the determining unit preferentially selects, within each of the external storage apparatus and the storage apparatus, a storage device including a larger number of logical volumes (LVs) which belong to copy unexecuted LV pairs compared to other storage devices therein. Further, the determining unit determines, as a copy execution target, a copy unexecuted LV pair in which a LV provided in one of the selected two storage devices is a copy source and a LV provided in the other storage device is a copy destination. A copy unit copies data stored in the copy source LV, which belongs to the determined LV pair, to the copy destination LV of the LV pair.

There are cases where data stored in a storage apparatus needs to be transferred to another storage apparatus. For example, in the case where an existing storage apparatus is replaced with a higher-performance storage apparatus, data transfer is carried out from the existing storage apparatus to the higher-performance storage apparatus. Such data transfer between storage apparatuses is referred to as data migration. In the case of carrying out data migration, for example, one of logical volumes in the storage apparatuses is specified as each of a transfer source and a transfer determination. The logical volumes are those logically provided in disk devices of the storage apparatuses.
In data migration, large quantities of data are transferred between storage apparatuses. Therefore, along with capacity enlargement of storage apparatuses, data migration tends to require a prolonged period of time. In view of such a problem, for example, a technique to reduce competition for physical resources at the time of parallel transfer between volumes has been proposed as data migration technology.
Japanese Laid-open Patent Application Publication No. 2008-108020
However, it is sometimes the case that the conventional technique for reducing competition for physical resources is not sufficient to promote processing efficiency for the entire data migration processing. For example, assume that there are variations in the number of logical volumes of individual disk devices, which logical volumes are data transfer units. In such a case, in only particular disk devices, multiple logical volumes may be left without being subjected to data transfer at the final stage of the data transfer. In this case, at the final stage of the data transfer, access concentration to the particular disk devices occurs, which reduces efficiency in data copy processing for the data transfer.

Storage apparatus, control apparatus, and data copying method


An apparatus and method for detecting anomalous traffic are provided. More particularly, an apparatus and method for detecting anomalous traffic based on entropy of network traffic are provided. The apparatus of detecting anomalous traffic includes: an entropy extraction module for extracting entropy from network traffic; a visualization module for generating an entropy graph based on the entropy; a graph model experience module for updating a graph model for each network attack based on the entropy graph; and an anomalous traffic detection module for detecting anomalous traffic based on the entropy graph and the graph model for each network attack and outputting the detection results to a user. In the apparatus and method, anomalous traffic is detected based on network entropy rather than simple statistics based on the amount of traffic, so that a false alarm rate of the apparatus for detecting anomalous traffic can be reduced.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for detecting anomalous traffic, and more particularly, to an apparatus and method for detecting anomalous traffic based on entropy of network traffic.
2. Discussion of Related Art
The development of network technology has also brought attacks targeting large scale networks such as distributed denial-of-service attacks or worm viruses, which can cause serious social problems. A method, in which a change in the number of packets or the amount of bytes is observed using a traffic characteristics analysis technique to detect anomalous traffic, is suggested as a method for detecting a network attack targeting a large scale network.
However, the conventional method for detecting anomalous traffic, which depends merely on the change in the amount, has a high false alarm rate. For example, it does not detect network attacks causing an insignificant change in the amount, or determines an excessive data flow in normal traffic as anomalous traffic.

Apparatus and method for detecting anomalous traffic

Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute


Device for implementing a method of granulating slag fines including a conveyable removable platform (1) on which there are arranged at least one device for the selective obtaining of fines (10) upstream of a feed hopper (5), a granulator (2) fed with the fines by the feed hopper (5), a storage reservoir (9) for a granulation aqueous phase feeding of the granulator (2) with the aqueous phase, a power source (4) and a monitor and controller (3) for producing granules from the fines.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a device for implementing a method of granulating slag fines, in particular steelworks fines and especially with a view to recycling them.
2. Description of Prior Art
One of the final steps in steel production is its processing in a ladle in liquid form so as to purify it, in particular from the sulphurous or oxidised phases that are concentrated in the slag. For this purpose, lime, dolomite or fluidising agents (such as fluorspar—CaF2, alumina, calcium aluminates, etc) are added to the ladle. This processing step in a ladle is referred to as "secondary metallurgy".
Waste results from this secondary metallurgy, referred to as class 2 waste, which does not constitute a major nuisance for the environment; this waste comprises for example CaO, MgO, SiO2, Al2O3, etc. Nevertheless this waste requires to be dumped or recycled. At the present time dumping is becoming less and less possible given the more and more strict regulatory constraints with regard to the environment. It is particularly the fines, particles with a size less than 10 mm, in particular with a size less than 5 mm, whose solution poses a problem.
During recycling in an electric furnace, a large part of the slag fines (<5 to 10 mm) is sucked into the flue gas discharge system and mixed with the furnace dust. The slag fines then take on heavy metals and other class 1 elements. This dust with a high heavy metal content must then be sent for dumping as class 1, which represents an additional cost of approximately 50% compared with class 2 dumping. This recycling option is all the more prohibitive as the difference in costs between class 1 and class 2 is tending to increase.
In the case of recycling by means of agglomeration belts well known to person skilled in the art, the presence of this dust may serve as seeds for the appearance of dioxins downstream, which often makes this method of eliminating fines impossible.
Moreover, the discharge of dust during the loading of furnaces, due to the ascending thermal current, constitutes a source of nuisance for the environment and a real danger to the operators.
An alternative solution to dumping these slag fines, respectful of the environment and the safety of the operators, consists of agglomerating this dust so as to make it possible to recycle it in the steelmaking process and to prevent its being given off at the time of charging of the furnace since the agglomerates formed are heavier than the dust. The most simple method and the least expensive is granulation, for example in a rotary dish or a drum.
Adding to the dust an aqueous suspension based on calco-magnesian products, with any optional additives, promotes the cohesion of the granules, which then have sufficient mechanical strength to prevent any subsequent emission of dust.
A steelworks with a capacity of 1,000,000 tonnes/year of steel may generate approximately 6,000 tonnes/year of secondary metallurgy slag dust, which represents an hourly production of less than one tonne of fines. Here fines or slag dust means the granulometric fraction of this slag with a size of less than 10 mm.
In order to process this small output of dust, it is possible to have recourse to a granulation unit with a size adapted to this small output, but this would consequently be not very productive and also expensive in terms of labour.
In order to reduce this labour cost, it would also be possible to provide a large installation, but it would be used sporadically. This solution is also not acceptable since the installation would often function transiently, starting up and stopping, the stoppage periods also being prejudicial to the correct functioning of the equipment. The investment cost would also be disproportionate compared with the requirements.
Since neither a large installation functioning sporadically nor a small one functioning in an unproductive and expensive fashion can be envisaged, the main problem to be resolved for the device according to the invention is therefore to procure an installation where the labour costs are low, like those of a large installation, whilst operating relatively continuously in order to reduce the operating downtime, and which is adapted to the small outputs of fines to be recycled in the steelmaking industry.

Mobile device for granulating slag fines


Apparatus and methods for estimating a geographical position corresponding to an event associated with operation of a wireless device communicating in a wireless communications network. The time and distance between the occurrence of the event and the related time and speed of the wireless device of at least one of a first and second geographical position, respectively measured before and after the event, are analyzed. These analyses includes comparing those metrics to predetermined time and distance thresholds to associate and/or estimate a geographic position of the wireless device with the event.

The disclosed embodiments relate to wireless devices and wireless communication networks, and more particularly, to apparatus and methods for determining an estimated geographical position of wireless devices corresponding to events associated with wireless devices on a wireless network.
Many wireless communications devices, such as mobile phones, pagers, handheld computers, etc., have the ability to determine the location parameters associated with the geographical position of a wireless device on the surface of the earth. The location parameters may include the position and speed coordinates for the wireless device. The wireless device may include a geographical position location system in the form of hardware, software and/or firmware and other associated parameters.
One exemplary wireless device geographical position location system receives and analyzes location parameters derived from the Global Positioning System (GPS), a radio-navigation system, developed and operated by the U.S. Defense Department, that includes a series of 24 constellation satellites orbiting the earth at a distance of approximately 20,000 kilometers. The GPS position location parameters permit wireless device processors to determine their respective three dimensional positions and velocities using very precise location parameters and timing signals received from the satellites.
Determination of wireless device geographical position location is not limited to GPS. For example, wireless devices may employ a type of Assisted GPS, where the GPS position location parameters are combined with additional information related to the wireless network, such as position information from wireless network base stations, to increase the accuracy of the position location information. The additional information is particularly important in urban areas, where there may be attenuation, blocking and multipath fading of the GPS signal.
Unfortunately, there are other problems associated with the use of GPS and other position location information by the wireless device that have not been addressed. Each time a wireless device requests and retrieves position location information, the request and retrieval processing consumes a relatively large amount of wireless device power. Further, if the wireless device does not support simultaneous voice and data calls, then the device will not be able to get a location position during a voice call, or make a voice call during retrieval of a location position. Also, the period of time from when the wireless device makes a requests for position location information to when the wireless device receives the position location information may be significant, depending on such factors as the relative position of the wireless device to the location of the satellite, the speed at which the wireless device is traveling, the performance of the position location processing system of the wireless device, the type of position location system employed (for example, GPS, Assisted GPS, or other position location system), and the performance characteristics of the wireless device antenna. Such parameters may exacerbate the ability of the wireless device to accurately determine the geographical position location of the wireless device without draining wireless device power sources. The foregoing is particularly troubling when it is important to determine the position of the wireless device upon the occurrence of wireless device operational events, such as a call drop event on a cellular telephone.

Apparatus and methods for associating a geographical position with an event occurring on a wireless device


A relay is disclosed. In an embodiment a relay includes a first contact, a second contact, a movable element arrangeable in a closed position and in an open position; and at least one bimetallic strip, wherein the movable element electrically connects the first contact to the second contact in the closed position, wherein the first contact and the second contact are electrically isolated from each other when the movable element is arranged in the open position, and wherein the at least one bimetallic strip is configured to be deformed upon an increase in temperature such that it presses the movable element against the first and second contacts after deformation.

If the relay is in a closed switch position, an electrical circuit is closed between fixed contacts and a movable element and a current can flow. At the contact points between the fixed contacts and the movable element, the contact resistance is increased compared to the other conductors. Accordingly, high losses occur at the contact points and, as a result, heat loss and considerable heat can form. Particularly when using a relay in a closed housing or at high ambient temperatures, such heat loss can have a disturbing effect, as expensive cooling can become necessary under certain circumstances.


A modular case handle positioning device including:                the handles are able to angular rotate about the respective shaft pins as axis, and a force is applied to protruding portions of slots on two sides when the handles are rotated through an angle, thereby enabling the modular case to be withdrawn from the slots using a first stage displacement action. In order to prevent the entire modular case from falling to the ground because of an overexertion of force when the modular case is being inserted into the slots, the present invention includes a second stage displacement action that acts as a force buffer and final directional displacement control, thereby enabling the modular case to be solidly positioned within the slots.

(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a modular case handle positioning device that uses rotational displacement of handles to control the moment of force and displacement direction of a modular case when being inserted into or withdrawn from an outer case slot, thereby preventing the modular case from falling to the ground when withdrawing from the slot and increasing position fixing accuracy and stability when inserting into the slot.
(b) Description of the Prior Art
The range of functions of computers is increasing with each passing day, for instance, various new functional devices are continually being developed in the area of industrial computers, such as remote controls, supervisory systems, loading of working data, updating, and so on, which all need the installation of new hardware, and the outer cases of these hardware components are all modularized as rectangular cases. However, these rectangular cases have a plurality of different sizes, and when the modular case is inserted into or withdrawn from holding slots, the modular case often falls to the ground because of an overexertion in the initial application of force by an operator (such as a pulling force) or overexertion of pressure when inserting the modular case into the holding slots results in an excessive vibration force between the modular case and the holding slots, finally resulting in an extremely large vigorous force being needed to re-withdraw the modular case from the tight fitting formed in the holding slots. The shortcomings of prior art are as described above.
Furthermore, screw connection methods are generally used to fix position of the modular case within the holding slots, which are extremely inconvenient to assemble and disassemble.


The present disclosure is related to geographic maps including a plurality of map tiles having various geometric shapes. A determination is made for each map tile as to whether road segment geometry for a road corresponding to the geometric shape is available. The geometric shape is positioned using an actual road width when it is determined that the road segment geometry is available. The geometric shape is positioned using a default road width when it is determined that the road segment geometry is unavailable.

Geographic mapping applications represent some of the most frequently used computer based applications. The underlying geographic maps often include various features, such as buildings, properties and landmarks in addition to roadways. The buildings, properties, landmarks and other features are represented within the geographic maps using geometric shapes.
Geometric shapes are placed within a corresponding geographic map proximate a corresponding road or roads. It is desirable to consistently position geometric shapes relative to a specific (x, y) coordinate location within a geographic map irrespective of whether the corresponding road segment geometry is available.

Computing devices and methods for deterministically placing geometric shapes within geographic maps


An apparatus for the detection of unlicensed user equipment may include a processor and memory storing executable computer program code that cause the apparatus to at least perform operations including receiving user equipment capabilities from a user equipment and comparing the received user equipment capabilities with the expected user equipment capabilities. The expected user equipment capabilities may be obtained based on a user equipment identifier received from the user equipment. The processor and memory storing computer program code may further cause the apparatus to send a notification if the compared user equipment capabilities are different. Corresponding methods and computer program products are also provided.

The modern communications era has brought about a tremendous expansion of wireline and wireless networks. Wireless and mobile networking technologies have addressed related consumer demands, while providing more flexibility and immediacy of information transfer. Concurrent with the expansion of networking technologies, an expansion in computing power has resulted in development of affordable computing devices capable of taking advantage of services made possible by modern networking technologies. This expansion in computing power has led to a reduction in the size of computing devices and given rise to a new generation of user equipment that are capable of performing functionality that only a few years ago required processing power that could be provided only by the most advanced desktop computers. Consequently, mobile computing devices having a small form factor have become ubiquitous and are used to access network applications and services by consumers of all socioeconomic backgrounds.
A growing concern is the availability of unlicensed user equipment, which may have design flaws, manufacturing defects, and may be produced using substandard components. Such products may undergo little or no testing for compliance with safety standards and/or networking standards. It has been reported that some unlicensed user equipment may adversely affect network performance. It has also been reported that some unlicensed user equipment have posed a risk of injury and/or other health risks to persons who use such products.

Method and apparatus for the detection of unlicensed user equipment


A transceiver that transmits and receives data used in a communication system, in which the data is encoded by a transmission line code and a signal level of the transmission code changes at a predetermined transition timing in a bit-duration. The transceiver includes: a clock generator that generates an internal clock used for internal circuits; a timing generator that generates, by using the internal clock generated by the clock generator, a timing signal synchronized to a reference clock supplied externally; an encoding circuit that encodes, by using the timing signal generated by the timing generator, a transmission data which is synchronized to the reference clock to be the transmission line code; and a waveform shaping unit that performs a waveform shaping of a waveform at the predetermined transition timing of the transmission data to be based on the reference clock.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a communication system, and more particularly to a transceiver and a communication apparatus used for a communication system wherein data encoded by a transmission line code of which signal level changes at a bit boundary is transmitted/received.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, as an on-vehicle communication system, transmission line using bus-line such as CAN (control area network), LIN (Local Interconnect Network) have been employed. For example, a technical document, 'On-vehicle Network System Detailed Explanation' written by Michio Sato, CQ Publishing Co., Ltd, published on Dec. 1, 2005 discloses the configuration of the above-described communication system using the bus-line in detail. In the communication system, generally, a node that constitutes the communication system includes a transceiver that transmits/receives data via the transmission line and a controller that performs communication with other node via the transceiver.
In this type of communication system, to perform efficient communication, operations of transceivers disposed at the respective nodes for transmitting and receiving signals via a communication bus are desired to be synchronized with each other. As a method to synchronize the operations of the transceivers disposed at the nodes, any one of nodes transmits a signal encoded by the transmission line code including a clock component, to the transmission line, and the other node extracts the clock component from the signal on the transmission line. Then, the other node processes the free-running dock generated at the own node (e.g., divides frequency), thereby generating a bus clock that synchronizes to the extracted clock component. Hence, the transceiver can be operated based on the bus clock.
As a configuration for such a high performance transceivers, an internal clock generated by an individual clock source which is integrated therein may be employed. In this case, in order to process the signal supplied by the controller, the internal clock should be synchronized to a reference clock used for a transmission data supplied by the controller and for generating the transmission data.
However, when the encoding is performed with the internal clock that is synchronized to the reference clock, an error of the clock component included in the encoded signal is substantially the same as an error of the internal clock being superimposed to the reference clock.
As a clock source used for the controller, generally, a crystal oscillator that generates a clock signal having a precise frequency is employed. However, as a clock source used for transceivers, to reduce manufacturing cost, an oscillator circuit having less frequency-accuracy compared to that of the crystal oscillator is used.
Accordingly, at a node that operates with the clock component extracted from the signal received via the transmission line, the accuracy of the clock regenerated from the clock component degrades so that the encoded transmission data received via the transmission line cannot be sampled at an appropriate timing. Therefore, according to the above-described communication system, the following problems arise. That is, accuracy of decoding process may degrade, and higher communication speed cannot be accomplished when the accuracy of the decoding process is secured.

Transceiver and communication apparatus transmitting and receiving data encoded by transmission code


A cleaning nozzle includes an outer housing having a central axis and an inner surface that defines an outer housing interior. An inner housing resides within the outer housing interior along the central axis and has an inner surface that defines an inner flow channel. The inner flow channel supports flow of the cleaning fluid and has a converging taper and a flow disrupter element. The nozzle assembly may include an adapter that receives a front end of the nozzle and that also holds a ferrule that supports an optical fiber having an end face. The nozzle assembly allows the nozzle to direct a jet stream of cleaning fluid to the ferrule end face and the fiber end face. The flow disrupter causes the jet stream to have a time-varying direction that enhances the cleaning of the ferrule end face and the optical fiber end face.

Optical fiber connectors are used to optically couple at least two lengths of optical fibers. To this end, an optical fiber connector includes a ferrule that supports an end portion of at least one optical fiber. The end portion of each optical fiber has a polished end face that resides substantially at the front end of the ferrule. When two optical fiber connectors are operably engaged, the end faces of the corresponding optical fibers are placed in close proximity and in a confronting orientation to facilitate the communication of light from one fiber to the other through the fiber end faces.
The end faces of the optical fibers need to be kept clean to ensure optimum optical transmission and to avoid damage to the optical fibers when they are placed into close proximity using optical connectors. Methods for fiber optic cleaning include both dry cleaning and wet cleaning. There are also contact and non-contact cleaning methods. One of the non-contact cleaning methods uses an impingement jet to deliver high speed air mixed with a solvent to clean the front end of the ferrule. The shear force generated from the impingement jet, combined with the optional chemicals in the solvent, removes particles adhered to the front end of the ferrule.
For an axisymmetric, normally impinging jet, the shear force at the center of the front end of the ferrule where the fiber end face is located is relatively low due to the existence of a stagnation zone. For a non-axisymmetric, off-center aligned or tilted impingement jet, the stagnation zone still exists somewhere on the ferrule front end.

Cleaning nozzle and nozzle assembly and cleaning methods for optical fiber connectors


An operating lever device for manual transmissions of motor vehicles includes a shift lever and a select lever connectable to a manual transmission through a shift cable and a select cable. Each lever is swingably supported to a support casing, and each cable has an end with a mounting member connected. The mounting member is slid on a slope of the casing to engage with each lever.

The present invention relates to an operating lever device of manual transmissions for motor vehicles.
Generally, a manual transmission is disposed in an engine room located in a front portion of a motor vehicle, whereas an operating lever comprising a shift lever and a select lever is disposed in the interior of the motor vehicle for receiving a driver. The manual transmission and the operating lever are connected to each other with a shift cable or rod and a select cable or rod to transmit movement of the shift lever to the manual transmission, obtaining shift operation.
For coupling of the operating lever with the shift cable and the select cable, the shift lever and a cross lever perpendicularly mounted thereto have an end formed with a spherical protrusion. On the other hand, the shift cable and the select cable have an end to which a mounting member with a spherical recess, which is engaged with the spherical protrusion, is connected.
However, in view of possible disengagement of the spherical protrusion of each of the shift lever and the cross lever from the spherical recess of each of the shift cable and the select cable, the spherical recess has a depth that enables engagement of substantially half or more of the spherical protrusion, which needs a time-consuming work with special tools, resulting in lowered working efficiency.
On the other hand, coupling of the operating lever with the shift cable and the select cable can be carried out by pins arranged through ring-shaped mounting members connected to the shift cable and the select cable. However, each pin needs an anti-loosening member for preventing disengagement of the pin, resulting in troublesome work and increasing the manufacturing cost due to increased number of parts.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide an operating lever device for manual transmissions of motor vehicles that can be mounted without any time-consuming work and with improved working efficiency.

Operating lever device for manual transmissions for motor vehicles


A prediction model for exposure dose is indicated by the following formula, E=E0+EC, wherein E represents an optimized exposure dose, E0 represents a preset exposure dose of a process control system, and EC represents an exposure dose compensation value, andEC=[(MTTdiff/X)/(CDmask/X)]×(ES/A′)×(Wlast+Wavg),wherein MTTdiff represents the differences between the MTT value of a previous lot and the MTT value of a next lot, CDmask represents the actual critical dimension of the mask, X represents the magnification of the mask, ES represents the actual exposure dose of a previous lot, A′ represents an experimental value obtained from the results of different lots, Wlast represents the last batch of weights and Wavg represents an average weight, and CDmask, ES, A′, Wlast and Wavg are set parameters built into the process control system.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a photolithographic process, and more particularly, to a prediction model and a prediction method for exposure dose.
2. Description of Related Art
In general, the basic parameter that affects the critical dimension (CD) of a photolithographic process is mainly the exposure dose. Conventionally, the control of the critical dimension of a photolithographic process is carried out after the exposure process. According to the result of the last measured critical dimension, compensation to the exposure dose is provided. Moreover, a preset exposure dose is given out through the dose setting system of the exposure machine so that the critical dimension value for the next lot of wafer is closer to the target value. The exposure dose can be measured by using a measuring machine to measure the photoresist pattern on a production wafer and using the measured result to provide an automatic feedback to the exposure machine. For example, an advanced process control (APC) method can be used such that the exposure machine operates under the control of ideal parameters.
However, the conventional method cannot and does not take into consideration the difference of the critical dimension of the mask and the deviation of critical dimension of line product from a baseline. Therefore, the critical dimension of the final exposure pattern often deviates from a target value or even exceeds the tolerable deviation so that the exposure conditions of the product must be modified anew. In other words, a reworking step of the exposure process must be executed. The so-called 'difference in the critical dimension of the mask' refers to the difference between the critical dimension of the initial design (that is, the target value) and the critical dimension actually fabricated on the mask.
Accordingly, when the semiconductor device is manufactured in the deep sub-micron dimensional range, dimension of the device is so small that the acceptable tolerance of the dimension of the designed device is also smaller. Under such circumstances, the photolithographic process is challenged. For example, considering the effect of the difference of the critical dimension of the mask on the pattern dimension that needs to be transfer and accurately finding the most appropriate exposure dose for manufacturing a device with acceptable tolerance is one of the targets of development for most manufacturers.

Prediction model and prediction method for exposure dose


A method of producing fibrous carbon nanostructures uses a fluidized bed process, and comprises supplying a source gas to a reaction site in which a supported catalyst having a particulate carrier and a catalyst supported on a surface of the carrier is fluidizing, to form fibrous carbon nanostructures on the catalyst of the supported catalyst, wherein the source gas contains a double bond-containing hydrocarbon and carbon dioxide, and a content of the carbon dioxide is 0.3 vol % or more with respect to a total volume of the source gas.

Fibrous carbon nanostructures such as carbon nanotubes (hereafter also referred to as "CNTs"; for example, see S. Iijima, Nature 354, 56 (1991) (NPL 1)) are excellent in various characteristics such as mechanical strength, sliding characteristics, flexibility, semiconductor and metallic conductivity, and thermal conductivity and also have high chemical stability, and therefore have been increasingly used in a wide variety of applications.
Methods of producing such fibrous carbon nanostructures having excellent characteristics efficiently at low cost have thus been studied in recent years.
Carbon nanotube production methods which have been reported include an arc discharge method, a laser vaporization method, and a chemical vapor deposition method (CVD method). In particular, CVD is a production method greatly studied as a method suitable for large-scale synthesis, continuous synthesis, and high-purity synthesis of single-walled carbon nanotubes excellent in the above-mentioned characteristics (for example, see Riichiro Saito and Hisanori Shinohara, Basics and Applications of Carbon Nanotubes, BAIFUKAN, 2004 (NPL 2)).
For example, WO 2012/057229 A1 (PTL 1) discloses a technique of causing, on a support substrate surface supporting a catalyst composed of Fe and Al, source gas composed of acetylene, carbon dioxide, and inactive gas to flow at a predetermined partial pressure, thus synthesizing carbon nanotubes on the support. Specifically, according to PTL 1, single-walled carbon nanotubes with a length of 1.0 mm or more are obtained by adjusting the partial pressure ratio of acetylene/carbon dioxide to 0.7 or less within a range in which the partial pressure of acetylene is 1.2 Torr to 20 Torr and the partial pressure of carbon dioxide is 7.6 Torr to 30.4 Torr in the source gas at normal pressure.

Method of producing fibrous carbon nanostructures


An object, such as a sensor for an immersion lithographic apparatus, has an outer layer which comes in contact with immersion liquid and wherein the outer layer has a composition including a rare earth element. There is also provided an immersion lithographic apparatus having such an object and a method for manufacturing such an object.

A lithographic apparatus is a machine constructed to apply a desired pattern onto a substrate. A lithographic apparatus can be used, for example, in the manufacture of integrated circuits (ICs). A lithographic apparatus may, for example, project a pattern (also often referred to as "design layout" or "design") of a patterning device (e.g., a mask) onto a layer of radiation-sensitive material (resist) provided on a substrate (e.g., a wafer).
To project a pattern on the substrate the lithographic apparatus may use electromagnetic radiation. The wavelength of this radiation determines the minimum size of features which are patterned on the substrate. Typical wavelengths currently in use are 365 nm (i-line), 248 nm, 193 nm and 13.5 nm. A lithographic apparatus, which uses extreme ultraviolet (EUV) radiation, having a wavelength within a range of 4 nm to 20 nm, for example 6.7 nm or 13.5 nm, may be used to form smaller features on the substrate than a lithographic apparatus which uses, for example, radiation with a wavelength of 193 nm.
In an immersion lithography apparatus, a liquid is confined to an immersion space by a liquid confinement structure. The immersion space is between a final optical element of a projection system through which the pattern is imaged and the substrate onto which the pattern is transferred or a substrate table on which the substrate is held. The liquid may be confined to the immersion space by a fluid seal. The liquid confinement structure may create or use a flow of gas, for example to help in controlling the flow and/or the position of the liquid in the immersion space. The flow of gas may help form the seal to confine the liquid to the immersion space. At least part of the substrate support table is coated with a coating with limited hydrophilicity to reduce liquid loss due to motion of the substrate support table with respect to the final optical element. At least part of sensors that are integrated into substrate support table is coated with a coating with limited hydrophilicity to reduce liquid loss and to reduce heat load by remaining liquid evaporation.
Immersion lithograph apparatus rely on several sensors integrated into the support table which supports the substrate. These sensors are used for:                substrate/support table alignment with respect to a reference frame;        lens (re)adjustment, setup, heating compensation; and        reticle (mask) heating compensation.            Sensors' marks are integrated into a stack of thin film layers which is deposited on a transparent (quartz) plate built into the support table and act as:            spatial transmission filters for DUV (Integrated Lens Interferometry At Scanner "ILIAS" sensor, Parallel ILIAS sensor (PARIS), Transmission Image Sensor "TIS" sensor functionality).        spatial reflective filters for Visible Radiation "VIS", Near Infra Red "NIR", Mid-Infra Red "MIR" (Smart Alignment Sensor Hybrid "SMASH" sensor functionality).
The reflection from the top surface of the stack (mark-free region) is used for the level sensor.
Upper hydrophobic layers (e.g. a layer with limited hydrophilicity) suffer from degradation, for example due to exposure to deep ultra violet radiation.
Hydrophobic layers (e.g. layers with limited hydrophilicity) are applied to other objects in a lithographic apparatus. Indeed many objects in a lithographic apparatus have a coating or layer applied thereon. It can be difficult to prevent a coating or layer from degrading.
Degrading of a coating or layer is undesirable for many reasons including the undesirable generation of particles which can introduce imaging errors if they find their way into a beam path for imaging the substrate or a sensor as well as the fact that the property desired by the presence of the coating or layer (e.g. hydrophobic) is no longer present once the coating or layer has degraded.


In one aspect, a hybrid airship including an outer shell, a plurality of helium filled gas envelopes, and an all-electric propulsion system may have the shape of a delta-wing. In some embodiments, the hybrid airship may be launched using buoyancy lift alone and aerodynamic lift may be provided by the all-electric propulsion system. In one aspect, a photovoltaic array and a high energy density power storage system may be combined to power the propulsion system making the propulsion system regenerative. The delta-wing shape can provide a surface area large enough to accommodate very large circular or elliptical transmission devices. By continuously recharging the power storage system, the hybrid airship in accordance with some embodiments can stay aloft at an operational altitude of at least about 85,000 ft for months or even years. The hybrid airship may function as an airborne military communications relay platform.

The present invention generally relates to unmanned aerial vehicles and airships and, more particularly, to a hybrid airship having the shape of delta-wing and to a method for using the delta-winged hybrid airship as an unmanned airborne communications relay platform.
To enhance intelligence-gathering, surveillance, reconnaissance, and communications relay it would be useful to have unmanned aerial vehicles available that can operate at very high altitudes and that have a high endurance. The capability to operate at very high altitudes is desirable to make the platform survivable against anti-aircraft threats, to maximize the line-of-sight radius for sensors and communications equipment, and to place the aircraft above the effects of atmospheric weather system. One of the challenges of designing a fixed wing aircraft to cruise at high altitudes is the achievement of a low structural weight. Such aircraft require large wing areas due to the very low density of air at high altitudes, so that the wing weight becomes a key design driver. A possible alternative to fixed wing aircraft is to carry the payload in a lighter-than-air vehicle, such as an airship, but very large volume gas envelopes are needed to achieve neutral buoyancy at high altitudes. Therefore, these lighter-than-air vehicles are large and heavy, which limits the altitude at which the vehicles can operate.
Furthermore, there is a need for airborne platforms that are able to carry high power directed energy devices as a payload and that can operate as communications relay platforms. It is further desirable, to operate such airborne platform at high altitudes out of reach for anti-aircraft threats and above the effects of atmospheric weather systems. In order to be effective, it is still further desirable that such airborne platforms have a high endurance. High power directed energy devices, such as large area electromagnetic antennas, usually have a very large circular or elliptical shape. Therefore, aerial vehicles carrying such devices need to provide a large wing area in which the devices can be integrated which may limit the operational altitude as well as the endurance of the aerial vehicle.
Prior art unmanned aerial vehicles include, for example, the Global Hawk, a high altitude, long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicle used by the US Air Force as a surveillance aircraft. The Global Hawk air vehicle is to provide high resolution synthetic aperture radar that can penetrate cloud-cover and sandstorms and electro-optical/infrared imagery at long range with long loiter times over target areas. The Global Hawk is capable of both wideband satellite and line-of-sight data link communications. The capabilities of the Global Hawk allow more precise targeting of weapons and better protection of forces through superior surveillance capabilities. However, while being a unmanned aircraft, the Global Hawk still is a reusable heavier-than-air craft using fossil fuels. The power output of conventional combustion engines and turbines decreases drastically at high altitudes because of the corresponding decrease in density of air, which is necessary to maintain the combustion of fossil fuels. A runway is needed for launching the Global Hawk and for the landing. The Global Hawk has an operating range of up to 3000 nautical miles from its launch area, with its loiter capability over the target area limited to about 24 to 36 hours at altitudes of about 60,000 to 66,000 feet. The operating range, the loiter time over a target area, and the altitude of the global hawk are limited since the Global Hawk still is an conventional heavier-than-air aircraft using fossil fuels. For future reconnaissance missions, unmanned aerial vehicles with even longer loiter capabilities over a target area at even higher altitudes are desired.
Concepts have been disclosed for futuristic unmanned aircraft missions that reach beyond the standard intelligence-gathering mission to very long-range strike, vertical operations, and ultra-long-endurance surveillance. One advanced concept was reported, for example, by David A. Fulghum in Aviation Week & Space Technology, Oct. 20, 2003, page 70. This article describes an unmanned aerial vehicle disclosed by the Northrop-Grumman Unmanned Systems group in Rancho Bernardo, Calif. To optimize the benefit of flying without a crew, a four-engine Ultra-Hale (high-altitude, long-endurance) unmanned aerial vehicle is disclosed that is designed to stay aloft for three months with a surveillance sensor payload. Designed as a wing filled with a combination of hydrogen and helium to achieve zero buoyancy, the aircraft can be launched without a conventional runway. By using the explosive gas hydrogen, the disclosed aerial vehicle may not be safe to operate and prone to accidents. Once aloft, the aircraft takes about half a day using its combination powerplants (involving solar energy and fuel cells) to climb to an operating altitude of 80,000–120,000 ft. However, the endurance of the described flying wing aircraft and therefore of reconnaissance missions would be limited by the reliability and lifetime of the fuel cells, even if the fuel cells are supplemented by solar panels. Furthermore, endurance longer than the three months said to be reached by described flying wing aircraft is desirable.
The article by David A. Fulghum also discloses a delta-winged unmanned aircraft for strike/reconnaissance missions that can be launched from small-deck ships without catapults and arresting gear. While being able to takeoff and land vertically, the disclosed delta-winged unmanned aircraft is still an conventional aircraft depending an fossil fuels as an energy source. Consequently, the endurance of the delta-winged aircraft is limited by the amount of fuel that can be carried.
As can be seen, there is a need for an unmanned aerial vehicle that has a large enough wing area to carry high power directed energy devices as a payload, that has a high endurance, and that can be operated at very high altitudes. Furthermore, there is a need for an unmanned aerial vehicle that does not depend on conventional runways for launching and landing. Also, there is a need for an airborne platform that can be used for intelligence-gathering, surveillance, reconnaissance, and communications relay missions over an extended period of time and at altitudes high enough to make the aerial vehicle survivable against anti-aircraft threats, to maximize the line-of-sight radius for sensors and communications equipment, and to place the aerial vehicle above the effects of atmospheric weather system. There has also arisen a need to provide an unmanned aerial vehicle that is capable of carrying high power directed energy devices and of operating at very high altitudes for flights of long durations. There has further arisen a need to provide an unmanned aerial vehicle that uses a propulsion system that is independent from fossil fuels and fuel cells and, therefore, does not limit the flight endurance of the aerial vehicle. There has also arisen a need to provide an aerial vehicle, such as a hybrid airship, that combines the advantages of heavier-than-air technology and lighter-than-air technology.


A method for detecting a liquid discharge event in an absorbent article including a sensor adapted to generate an electrical output signal representative of a degree of wetness of the absorbent article, wherein the electrical output signal is received by a processing unit. The method including the steps of providing reference data over time representative of a liquid discharge; acquiring liquid discharge data over time in form of the electrical output signal; analyzing the liquid discharge data over time in relation to the reference data over time by the processing unit; and detecting a liquid discharge event based on the analysis. Also disclosed is a system for detecting liquid discharge event in an absorbent article including an absorbent article including a sensor being arranged to generate an output signal representative of an electrical property, and a processing unit adapted to process the output signal generated by the sensor of the absorbent article.

Generally, methods for detecting wetness events or liquid discharge to an absorbent article are known in the art. In a conventional system, a sensor monitors a resistance between two conductors arranged in a diaper and compares resistance values to a predetermined and fixed threshold resistance value. If the resistance value is less than the threshold resistance value, then the sensor sends a signal to an alarm device, which informs a caregiver and/or the wearer that the wearer has urinated.
A problem with such a system is that they may be prone to giving false positives, that is informing the caregiver and/or the user that there is urination present in the undergarment when there is not because there is only one "check" or "test" for the presence of micturition (i.e. whether the resistance of the undergarment falls below a fixed threshold value). Such false positives can depend on loose wiring, noise, or disturbances from unknown sources. Further, in certain situations, such as when the person wearing the diaper sits or if other pressure is applied to an undergarment that has been previously wetted, the resistance of the undergarment may fall below the threshold value, thus indicating a new micturition, when in fact a subsequent liquid discharge event has not occurred. Consequently, a false-positive will be detected.
Conventionally, the number of false positive detections is decreased by choosing a higher threshold value. However, a relatively high threshold value increases the risk of non-detection of small amounts of liquid discharge. Accordingly, conventional devices may be ill-suited for accurately detecting multiple micturitions and/or preventing the detection of false-positives. Moreover, sweat may at least somewhat saturate the undergarment, typically over a relatively lengthy period of time, and may trigger the sensor. Still moreover, after a first micturition by the wearer, the resistance value of the undergarment is substantially less than when the product was dry. However, the threshold value has not changed, and therefore, the resistance may be lower than the threshold, thus triggering an alarm, even though a subsequent liquid discharge event has not occurred.
For instance, WO 2008/075227 discloses a method of detecting the presence of a liquid discharge in an absorbent article. In general, a method according to one embodiment of WO 2008/075227 for detecting the presence of a liquid discharge within an absorbent article comprises: monitoring an electrical property of the article as the article is being worn by a wearer, wherein the electrical property changes in response to a liquid discharge; determining a slope in a parameter of the electrical property over time; and comparing the slope to a threshold value to determine the presence of liquid discharge. According to other embodiments of WO 2008/075227 the following can also be determined for detecting a liquid discharge: a comparison of the electrical property over a period of time to a threshold value; and/or a comparison of the electrical property to a determined threshold value.
However, there is still a need of improved methods that at least alleviates the problems of detection of false positives of prior art, allows for reliable detection of multiple micturitions, and is less sensitive for disorders, such as a short circuit of the conductors.

Method for detecting a liquid discharge to an absorbent article


A cascade converter station and a multi-end cascade high-voltage direct current (HVDC) power transmission system. The converter station includes a low-voltage end converter station (11) and a high-voltage end converter station (12). The high-voltage end converter station (12) is connected in series with the low-voltage end converter station (11) through a medium-voltage direct current (DC) power transmission line (13) and connected to a HVDC power transmission line (14). With the cascade converter station and the multi-end cascade HVDC power transmission system, HVDC power transmission can be achieved in a flexible, reliable and economical manner.

With the development of the power and electrical techniques, especially, the development of high-power silicon controlled rectifier (SCR) manufacturing, DC power transmission has gain wider and wider applications in electric power systems. A cascaded multi-terminal HVDC power transmission system is composed of three or above converter stations and a DC power transmission line, wherein more than one converter stations operate as a rectifier station or an inverter station. As compared with a two-terminal HVDC power transmission system, in the following situations, for example, a cascaded multi-terminal HVDC power transmission system may operate in a more economical and flexible manner: collecting electric power from multiple electric power bases (for example, wind farms) located in a large area for outward transmission; transmitting a large amount of electricity from an energy base to several remote load centers; providing access to power supplies or loads on mid-branches of a DC line; realizing asynchronous networking of several independent AC systems through a DC line; for the power transmission of metropolis areas or industrial centers, transmitting power energy to several converter stations through DC power transmission, where cables must be used due to limits on overhead power line corridors, or AC power transmission is unsuitable due to limits on short-circuit capacity.
In a cascaded multi-terminal HVDC power transmission system, it is inevitable for high voltage devices, such as converters, smoothing reactors, DC filters, etc. suffering from the impacts of high voltage, large current, the natural environment and connected AC systems to have failures. In the case of faulty part of the system (such as, a converter on a certain stage), it is desired to cut such part off from the system reliably while keeping other parts of the system operating normally, so as to ensure the safety of the HVDC power transmission system and improve its energy availability.

Cascaded converter station and cascaded multi-terminal HVDC power transmission system