A process for making polymer pellets comprising unreacted free radical generator which can be degraded upon thermal treatment to form an ultra low melt viscosity polyolefin, which process comprises the steps of adding polyolefin and free radical generator required for the degradation in the extruder to the first half section of an extruder and injecting, optionally through a side-arm extruder, another portion of free radical generator near the exit of the extruder to provide a sufficient amount of unreacted free radical generator in the pellets produced, and followed by pelletizing the resulting molten mixture to form uniform non-sticky pellets.

It is known that ultra low melt viscosity polymers are useful for the production of a variety of products such as adhesives, sealants, coatings, non-woven fabrics by melt blown fiber processes, injection-molded components made at a high rate, etc. An ultra low melt viscosity polymer has a melt viscosity of about 300,000 centipoise (hereinafter "cps") or lower. The melt viscosity of an ultra low melt viscosity polymer can be as low as 500 cps or smaller.
However, it is difficult to use a polymerization process to obtain directly polymers of a very low melt viscosity because, due to their particular nature, such polymers can require complex and costly operations during their preparation primarily in relation to the use of solvents, especially operations of separating the polymers from the solvents in which they are prepared. Thus, it has been proposed to prepare olefinic polymers with a relatively high melt viscosity according to the usual polymerization processes and then to subject these polymers to a thermomechanical degradation treatment in the presence of a free radical generator, under such conditions that the melt viscosity of these polymers decreases to the desired value. In theory, during this treatment, the thermal decomposition of the free radical generator, such as a peroxide, can cause the macromolecular chains of the olefinic polymer to break and thus the melt viscosity of the polymer to decrease.
As used herein, a high melt viscosity polymer is a polymer having a melt viscosity 1,000,000 cps or more; and an ultra low melt viscosity polymer is a polymer having a melt viscosity of about 300,000 cps or lower. A polymer with a melt viscosity of about 300,000 cps will have a melt index of approximately 100 dg/min, and is generally regarded as an ultra high melt flow rate polymer with an ultra high melt index. As used herein, the melt viscosity is measured by Brookfield Viscometer using ASTM D2556 at 350 degrees Farenheit (.degree.F.), unless otherwise specified e.g. as measured at 275.degree. F. As used herein, the melt flow rates or melt indices are measured by ASTM 1238 condition E at 190.degree. C. and 2.16 g wt.
The pelletization of thermoplastic materials is of considerable importance for many applications. Pellets, unlike ingots or bars, readily flow in measuring and dispensing apparatuses and the size of pellet charges can be readily controlled to small tolerances. Moreover, unlike powders, they do not form dust and are not ingested by persons working with them. Thus, they provide a highly convenient form for the packaging, storage and use of many thermoplastic polymers.
It is known to carry out the thermomechanical degradation treatment in the presence of a free radical generator in an extruder, either during pelletization of the polymer or during the conversion of the pellets into finished articles. However, when the intention is to produce finished articles from, but not limited to, butylene and/or propylene polymer with very low melt viscosity, i.e. very high melt index, it can be difficult to carry out this degradation treatment effectively. When the degradation treatment is carried out in a pelletizing extruder, the polymer leaving the extruder becomes so fluid and so soft that it is difficult or even impossible to cut into pellet form. Moreover, the pellets consisting of these polymers of very high melt index can be sticky and can tend to agglomerate, making handling very difficult.
Attempts to pelletize ultra low melt viscosity polyolefins cracked by the conventional processes result in an excess amount of non-uniform or malformed pellets which may be described by terms such as tailed pellets, long-string pellets, pellet marriages, elbows, dog bones, and pellet trash. Malformed and non-uniform pellets are undesirable since they tend to bridge in pellet feed hoppers and to block pellet conveying systems. Further, significant amounts of malformed pellets alter the bulk density of the pellet stock which causes feeding problems in the extrusion line and which may result in voids in the final product. In addition to malformed pellets, trashouts occur frequently during production of ultra low melt viscosity polyolefins. Trashouts are extruder shutdowns resulting from polymer buildup on the rotating knives.
The user of the pellets, i.e. the converter, is generally someone other than the manufacturer of the polymers and of the pellets. When the converter employs this degradation treatment during the conversion of the pellets into finished articles, he must modify and adapt the extruders or other converting devices and the conditions of their use, in order to effectively process each type of pellet. In particular, he must equip the extruders or other converting equipment with a device for introducing and metering the free radical generator, while satisfying safety constraints due to the thermal instability of these materials. It has been observed that when this degradation treatment is carried out with a polymer which is not in the form of a powder but in the form of pellets, the dispersion of the free radical generator in the polymer may be relatively more difficult and the lack of homogeneity of the mixture may locally result in excessive degradation of the polymer.
The users of the pellets usually mix the pellets in an appropriate equipment at a selected temperature with additional ingredients such as additives, other polymers, and antioxidants to form a blend in its molten state before converting the mixture containing the pellets into finished articles. Thus, the viscosity of the pellets must be sufficiently low so that the blending or mixing operation can be successfully conducted without causing mechanical breakdown of the mixing stirrer because of the high shear resistance from the molten mixture.
It is therefore desirable to crack the polymer during the extrusion pelletization stage as much as possible to meet the melt viscosity specification required by the end users, while at the same time stay within the melt viscosity range which cracked polymer can easily be mechanically cut into non-sticky uniform pellets by the pelletizer.
It is also desirable to control the consistency of the degree of degradation in the extruder to have a narrow molecular weight distribution of the polymer in the pellets to prepare pellets of a quality which is as constant as possible. It is further desirable to control the constancy of the concentration of the live or intact, i.e. unreacted, free radical generators in the pellets. Such reproductability in the manufacture of the pellets advantageously reduces the need for the end users, the converters, to constantly change the settings of the converting equipment intended to convert the pellets into finished articles.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,451,589, assigned to Kimberly-Clark proposes a degradation process wherein greater than about 50% added peroxide remains available for further degradation after pelletizing. The peroxide can be added either prior to or during the extrusion process. No mention was made to multiple additions of peroxide during the extrusion process. The single point addition of large amount of peroxide as proposed by this reference often end up with lack of control of the consistency of the degree of degradation and thus a large percentage of recoverable and unrecoverable products which do not meet the blending and/or shipping specifications.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,897,452, assigned to BP Chemicals, proposes a degradation process involving adding to the polymer two free radical generators, G1 and G2, the half-life of G2 being at least 20 times longer than that of G1 at the pelletizing temperature. This process requires the use of G2 with relatively long half life. The process has the disadvantage of requiring high temperature and/or prolonged heating during the conversion of the pellets into finished articles by the converters or end users in order to completely decompose the G2 free radical generators.
Thus, a need has been demonstrated for a process of degrading a polyolefin, producing polymer pellets of a constant quality, including constancy in viscosity, in a reproducible manner, while minimizing the viscosity of the polymer to meet the viscosity specification required by the customer, at the same time being easily cut into non-sticky pellets without excessive free radical prodegradant, and when heated undergoes further degradation producing a ultra low melt viscosity polymer without excessive heating.

Process for improving processability of ultra low melt viscosity polymer


A downhole tool apparatus and methods of drilling the apparatus. The apparatus may include, but is not limited to, packers and bridge plugs utilizing non-metallic components. The non-metallic components may include but are not limited to the center mandrel having an unmachined, molded central opening therethrough. In a preferred embodiment, a sliding valve is disposed on an outer surface of the center mandrel for opening and closing a valve port. An overshot is used to selectively actuate the sliding valve. Methods of installation and drilling out of the apparatus are also disclosed.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to downhole tools for use in wellbores, and more particularly, to such tools having a sliding valve for controlling fluid flow therethrough at the upper end thereof. These tools, such as packers, may have drillable components, such as the valve, therein made at least partially of non-metallic materials, such as engineering grade plastics.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the drilling or reworking of oil wells, a great variety of downhole tools are used. For example, but not by way of limitation, it is often desirable to seal tubing or other pipe in the casing of the well, such as when it is desired to pump cement or other slurry down tubing and force the slurry out into a formation. It then becomes necessary to seal the tubing with respect to the well casing and to prevent the fluid pressure of the slurry from lifting the tubing out of the well. Packers designed for these general purposes are well known in the art, and valves for controlling fluid flow through the packers once the packers are set are also known.
When it is desired to remove many of these downhole tools from a well bore, it is frequently simpler and less expensive to mill or drill them out rather than to implement a complex retrieving operation. In milling, a milling cutter is used to grind the tool, or at least the outer components thereof, out of the well bore. Milling is a relatively slow process, but it can be used on tools having relatively hard components such as erosion-resistant hard steel. One such tool is the packer disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,151,875 to Sullaway, assigned to the assignee of the present invention and sold under the trademark EZ Disposal packer.
In drilling, a drill bit is used to cut and grind up the components of the downhole tool to remove it from the well bore. This is a much faster operation than milling, but requires the tool to be made out of materials which can be accommodated by the drill bit. Typically, soft and medium hardness cast iron are used on the pressure bearing components, along with some brass and aluminum items. Tools of this type include the Halliburton EZ Drill.RTM. and EZ Drill SV.RTM. squeeze packers.
The EZ Drill SV.RTM. squeeze packer, for example, includes a lock ring housing, upper slip wedge, lower slip wedge, and lower slip support made of soft cast iron. These components are mounted on a mandrel made of medium hardness cast iron. The EZ Drill.RTM. squeeze packer is similarly constructed. The Halliburton EZ Drill.RTM. bridge plug is also similar, except that it does not provide for fluid flow therethrough.
Such drillable devices have worked well and provide improved operating performance at relatively high temperatures and pressures. Tools such as the packers and plug mentioned above are designed to withstand pressures of about 10,000 psi and temperatures of about 425.degree. F. after being set in the well bore. Such pressures and temperatures require the cast iron components previously discussed.
However, drilling out iron components requires certain techniques. Ideally, the operator employs variations in rotary speed and bit weight to help break up the metal parts and reestablish bit penetration should bit penetration cease while drilling. A phenomenon known as "bit tracking" can occur, wherein the drill bit stays on one path and no longer cuts into the downhole tool. When this happens, it is necessary to pick up the bit above the drilling surface and rapidly recontact the bit with the packer or plug and apply weight while continuing rotation. This aids in breaking up the established bit pattern and helps to reestablish bit penetration. If this procedure is used, there are rarely problems. However, operators may not apply these techniques or even recognize when bit tracking has occurred. The result is that drilling times are greatly increased because the bit merely wears against the surface of the downhole tool rather than cutting into it to break it up.
While cast iron components may be necessary for the high pressures and temperatures for which they are designed, it has been determined that many wells experience pressures less than 10,000 psi and temperatures less than 425.degree. F. This includes most wells cemented. In fact, in the majority of wells, the pressure is less than about 5,000 psi, and the temperature is less than about 250.degree. F. Thus, the heavy duty metal construction of the previous downhole tools, such as the packers and bridge plugs described above, is not necessary for many applications, and if cast iron components can be eliminated or minimized, the potential drilling problems resulting from bit tracking might be avoided as well.
Some embodiments of the downhole tool of the present invention solve this problem by providing an apparatus wherein at least some of the components, including pressure bearing components, are made of non-metallic materials, such as engineering grade plastics. Such plastic components are much more easily drilled than cast iron, and new drilling methods may be employed which use alternative drill bits such as polycrystalline diamond compact bits, or the like, rather than standard tri-cone bits.
The Halliburton EZ Drill SV.RTM. squeeze packer has a pressure balance sliding valve for control of fluid movement in the well. The valve is disposed in a center mandrel of the packer. The valve is operated by reciprocation of the tubing, and may be opened and closed, as desired, before and after squeeze cementing. Some of the embodiments of the present invention also utilize a sliding valve within the mandrel, but differ in the use of non-metallic components.
Although the EZ Drill SV.RTM. configuration with the valve disposed in the mandrel has worked well, it does require machine work on the inside of the mandrel. This would also be true on the non-metallic embodiments disclosed herein. Of course, any machining adds to the cost of the components. Also, the valve itself which slides inside the mandrel reduces the flow area through the packer, thus causing at least some restriction to the inside of the packer mandrel. Thus, there is a need for a downhole tool, such as a packer, with less flow restriction therethrough and one in which the inner surface of the mandrel requires no machining. Further, in order to operate a packer of the EZ Drill SV.RTM. configuration, it is necessary to run a stinger into the tool to actuate the valve. In some wells, proper insertion of the stinger may be difficult, and therefore elimination of the need for a stinger is desirable in these cases.
A preferred embodiment of the present invention solves these problems by utilizing a valve disposed on the outside of the mandrel so that there is no need for machining the inside surface of the mandrel. Because the valve is on the outside of the mandrel, there is no necessity for a stinger. Rather, a simpler-to-operate overshot is used to actuate the valve. This particular embodiment of the invention may be utilized for downhole tools with metallic components as well as non-metallic components. The elimination of machining in the mandrel is particularly important in tools wherein the mandrels are made of non-metallic materials, because the mandrel may be fabricated by molding the inside diameter to size. Such a molding process would create a sufficiently smooth finished internal diameter when there is no sliding valve disposed therein.
Another problem with packers having the valve below the packer element is that this results in pressure being held at the bottom of the packer. When drilling out the packer, the upper slips which keep the packer from moving upwardly are drilled first and released from engagement with the well bore before the pressure is relieved therebelow. This can result in the packer being forced upwardly by pressure acting thereon which can cause jamming of the drill bit or can cause the entire tool string to move up the well bore. To avoid this, it is necessary to open the valve before the drilling process which may not always be desirable.
The preferred embodiment using the valve on the outside of the mandrel also preferably positions the valve above the packer elements. In this way, as the packer is drilled out, the valve is drilled before the slips and packer elements. Thus, pressure is relieved while the packer is still held in the well bore by the slips. Thus, no pressure surge can result in a portion of the tool being forced upwardly.


An improved memory system and memory controller which permits simplified memory upgrades in the field. The system includes a memory board with multiple card sockets. As additional cards are added the data cables are distributed among the cards and the memory controller is programmed to coordinate the sequencing of the memory in the cards. Data is transferred between the cards and memory controller via distributively coupled cables. Control and address signals are provided to cards via wires embedded in the memory board from the memory controller. A repowering circuit on each card makes copies of the control and address signals which are sent to other cards through the embedded wires in the board. Data received by a card is stored in memory through steering logic and buffers.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to computer memory subsystems and in particular to expandable memory subsystems which permit different size systems or offerings.
2. Description of Related Art
Prior art memory subsystems are implemented with one or more boards populated with memory array cards. In general, they provide different memory size (mega-byte) offerings. Three primary memory upgrade strategies have been used in prior-art systems. A "memory upgrade" increases the number of mega-bytes of memory in a customer's machine. The three memory upgrade strategies are different card sizes, flexible bus structure and multidrop design.
In the different card size approach, a fixed number of cards comprises each memory bank. A "memory bank" is an independently addressable set of memory cards which act in accordance during memory fetches and stores. Depopulated cards are used to construct the smaller memory offerings. A "depopulated card" is a memory card containing 1/2, 1/4, etc. of the allowable DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory) chips. This approach of using depopulated cards has some disadvantages of increased memory card part numbers, handling of card returns, and scrapping of depopulated memory cards or reworking of depopulated cards to increase the number of DRAMs on the card.
In a flexible bus structure a variable number of cards comprise each memory bank. The system to memory data bus width increases as more cards are plugged. The disadvantages include: reduced memory subsystem bandwidth and performance for the smaller memory offerings. Also the configurable memory data bus is difficult to implement on the system side.
In the multidrop design approach a variable number of cards comprises each memory bank. Each bit of the system to memory data bus is wired to each memory card. This approach is used in personal computers and most workstations. In high-performance systems that have high system clock rates this strategy severely limits the memory bandwidth. The increased memory data bus loading capacitance and the increased signal reflections on the data bus nets restrict the maximum rate at which data can be transferred between the system and memory cards. A "multidrop net" is a net which is wired to two or more receivers.

Expandable memory having plural memory cards for distributively storing system data

International Business Machines Corporation


A method for fabricating a capacitor arrangement which includes at least three electrodes is described. The capacitor arrangement is fabricated using a number of lithography methods that is smaller than the number of electrodes. A capacitor arrangement extending over more than two or more interlayers between metallization layers has a high capacitance per unit area and can be fabricated in a simple way is also described. The circuit arrangement has a high capacitance per unit area and can be fabricated in a simple way. An electrode layer is first patterned using a dry-etching process and residues of the electrode layer are removed using a wet-chemical process, making it possible to fabricate capacitors with excellent electrical properties.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of the integrated capacitor assemblies and fabrication thereof. In particular, the present invention relates to a capacitor arrangement having a layer stack.
2. Description of the Related Art
Integrated circuit arrangements having capacitors, known as MIM (metal insulator metal) capacitors, may be used in integrated circuit arrangements. Electrode layers, or the electrodes, in these capacitors are not necessarily produced from a metal or a metal alloy. For example, there are electrodes made from doped polysilicon. The electrodes usually have a resistivity of less than 10-3 Ωcm. A dielectric, which usually has an electrical resistivity of greater than 10-12 Ωcm, is arranged between the electrodes.
For many applications, there may be a demand relating to the linearity and quality of the capacitors in the integrated circuits. Also, the integrated capacitor should be as simple as possible to fabricate and the capacitance per unit of chip area should be as high as possible.


A injection plug assembly for insertion internally into a walled structure to permit safe access to and wide distribution of a fluid, liquid or powder spray into that walled structure. The assembly comprises an elongated outer sleeve arranged to pinch any thickness wall structure and an elongated delivery bolt arranged to be received through the outer sleeve. The elongated bolt has a radially directed fluid distribution channel therein.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to arrangements which permit the safe and controlled introduction of a liquid, a foam or a powder spray into the interior spaces of a building, such as its walls, columns or posts, for bug extermination purposes or for the introduction of preservatives into that interior space.
2. Prior Art
Insect infestation in buildings is common all around the world. Such buildings may be homes, commercial buildings, or industrial buildings. The problem is more acute, in certain areas where the climate is warm and humid.
Typical methods of exterminating such insect infestation typically comprise of spraying the perimeters of a room or of the building, inside or outside, with an insecticide, or using a fogging apparatus, all of which methods are only temporary and have limited effectiveness.
Application of those insecticides are preferable when they are introduced into the spaces within the walls themselves so as to get at the hives and colonies where those insects reside. A number of attempts at such fumigation may be seen in the prior art, which however, all appear to have certain drawbacks. U.S. Pat. No. 4,823,505 to Jackson shows a fumigation system for a building in which a tunnel device is inserted through a wall. This tunnel device, however, has barbs which engage the wall to secure the device in place. Such barbs, however, often will work loose within the wall or enlarge the opening so as to make the tunnel device loose and improper.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,058,312 to Jackson shows a further extermination system utilizing a plug which is inserted into a wall. Such plug system again includes some tapered barbs which may work loose from the wall or wear the wall out where it should not. The same is true in a further patent to Jackson, U.S. Pat. No. 5,309,669 showing another extermination system which is left open after the insecticide has been installed in the wall, and which plug utilizes those barbs which typically loosen or disarrange the wall.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,542,207 to Morris, Senior, shows a process for controlling insect infestations in a building. Such process is a rather complicated arrangement of multi tubular nozzles arranged to insert an insecticide into a plurality of holes simultaneously onto a building wall. There is no arrangement for covering those holes after the process has been completed.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,361,533 to Pepper shows a device for injecting a pesticide into a wall area. The device, however, is attached to an opening in that wall, merely by double-sided tape. Fixtures like that don't typically last very long or work very well. Such tape could become loosened by the application of the insecticide itself.
It is an object of the present invention to overcome the disadvantages of the prior art.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an insecticide assembly for a walled structure which may be securely set therewithin, and reusable.
It is still yet a further object of the present invention to provide an insecticide introduction assembly for a wall structure which may be sealed to prevent insecticide escape and to minimize the likelihood of anyone misusing such an assembly, particularly young children.
It is still yet a further object of the present invention to provide an insecticide introducible assembly for a wall structure which will adapt itself to any wall thickness during the introduction of that assembly into the wall.


An air-fuel mixture supplying device for internal combustion engines, in which sonic nozzles are disposed facing each other in such a manner that their center lines lie in the same horizontal and vertical planes so that the fuel ejected from the nozzle is pulverized and mixed with bleed air ejected from the opposing nozzle in optimum condition. During intermittent ejection of fuel, two injector valves inject fuel alternately so that the fuel particles ejected from the opposing nozzles do not collide with each other but only strike against and mix with the bleed air. This eliminates the possibility of fuel particles becoming agglomerated and produces desirable air-fuel mixtures.

This invention relates generally to an air-fuel mixture supplying device for internal combustion engines and more specifically relates to improvements in pulverization of fuel and fuel distribution among cylinders of the engine.
In conventional air-fuel mixture supplying devices as shown in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3, injector valves 200 and 200' have fuel ejection ports 102 and 102' which open to a venturi portion 103 downstream of the throttle valve 101 and deviate by .epsilon. from each other as best illustrated in FIG. 1. The fuel is introduced into the fuel chamber 301 from the passage 303, and the return fuel is also introduced to the fuel chamber 301 through the passage 304. The fuel in the chamber 301 is then led to the inlets of the injector valves 200 and 200' through a passage 305. When the coils 204 and 204' of the injector valves 200 and 200' are energized, plungers 201 and 201' are retracted against the force of springs 205 and 205' thereby opening the delivery ports 202 and 202' from which a required amount of fuel corresponding to the quantity of air drawn into the engine is ejected.
Ejected fuel is pulverized by bleed air in the atomizing chamber and further pulverized while passing through sonic nozzles 203 and 203' before being ejected from the ejection ports 102 and 102'.
Since in the conventional method the ejection speed of fuel from ejection ports 102 and 102' is large, the ejected fuel does not easily mix with the air coming through the throttle valve 101. Further, since the ejection ports face each other in such a way that their center lines deviate from each other, the pulverized fuel particles strike the internal surface of the venturi portion 103 and adhere to it so that the diameters of the atomized fuel particles become large before they reach the combustion chamber of the engine. This will adversely affect the fuel distribution among the cylinders of the engine.

Air-fuel mixture supplying device for internal combustion engines


A grid for a nuclear reactor fuel assembly which includes intersecting straps arranged to form a structure of egg crate configuration. The cells defined by the intersecting straps are adapted to contain axially extending fuel rods, each of which occupy one cell, while each control rod guide tube or thimble occupies the space of four cells. To effect attachment of each guide thimble to the grid, a short intermediate sleeve is brazed to the strap walls and the guide thimble is then inserted therein and mechanically secured to the sleeve walls. Each sleeve preferably, although not necessarily, is equipped with circumferentially spaced openings useful in adjusting dimples and springs in adjacent cells. To accurately orient each sleeve in position in the grid, the ends of straps extending in one direction project through transversely extending straps and terminate in the wall of the guide sleeve. Other straps positioned at right angles thereto terminate in that portion of the wall of a strap which lies next to a wall of the sleeve.

The invention described herein relates to grids for nuclear reactor fuel assemblies and more particularly to an improved grid structure which helps assure precise attachment and alignment of control rod guide thimble sleeves in grid straps while still making springs and dimples accessible excessable for adjustment.
Conventional designs of grids for nuclear reactor fuel assemblies include a multiplicity of interleaved straps of egg crate configuration designed to form cells which accept fuel rods and control rod guide thimbles. A peripheral strap having the same width as the interleaved straps encloses the interleaved straps to impart strength and rigidity to the fuel assembly. In order to minimize the lateral displacement of fuel rods and to improve the flow characteristics of an assembly, a number of grids are spaced along the fuel assembly length. These grids are held in place by brazing or otherwise affixing control rod guide thimble sleeves to the grid, and guide thimbles are then axially inserted therethrough and subsequently secured to the sleeves. Each sleeve is short and projects only a few inches beyond the grid upper and lower surfaces. Control rod guide thimbles extend through the axially aligned sleeves in each of the grids along the fuel assembly length, and are secured thereto by bulging the guide thimble walls outwardly at a point immediately above and below the guide thimble sleeves. The control rods then axially reciprocate in the sleeves during reactor operation. When assembled, the fuel assembly includes great strength and rigidity and the fuel rods are effectively held against lateral displacement because of the cooperative effect provided by the grids.
Different methods are utilized for attaching the guide thimble sleeves to the straps in the grids. In one well known design, the sleeve is brazed directly to the exposed surface of the interleaved straps which comprise the grid. In still another design, the sleeve is provided with openings such that the sleeve is permitted to straddle the straps but nevertheless effectively anchor it in position. The disadvantages inherent in these designs are that the sleeves may not be precisely aligned so that the axes of a number of sleeves in vertically aligned grids are not the same, and as a result, the center line of control rod guide thimbles which are secured in the sleeves may not fall on the sleeve axes. As a result binding of control rods which are adapted to move vertically in the guide thimbles during reactor operation, may occur in the guide thimbles during operation. Also, there is no convenient way to adjust the springs and dimples within grid cells immediately adjacent to the cell which contains the control rod guide thimble. Further, known designs do not provide accurate methods for locating sleeves in the grid to achieve true alignment with sleeves in other grids.


A method of network-based query formulation on a plurality of computers networked together, the method comprising: obtaining a request from an end user, the request requiring predetermined information for fulfillment; obtaining seed information regarding said request in a primary search from an information source associated with said end user; using said seed information to build at least one query for said predetermined information; applying said at least one query to at least one additional information source to obtain secondary information relating to said request; and amalgamating said seed and secondary information to fulfill said request.

The present invention, in some embodiments thereof, relates to a network-based gathering of background information and, more particularly, but not exclusively, to such a method where the network is the Internet.
The Internet offers unprecedented access to information. When thinking of querying the Internet one generally thinks of a model in which a query is input by a user and leads to one or more answers provided at different locations, one or two of which are most relevant.
Another model of querying the Internet is to start with a query leading to a first site and then follow links from the first site to subsequent sites. Such a model is known as surfing and is very intuitively supported by the World Wide Web.
A third model does not assume a localized answer. A query may lead to different locations on the Internet, the locations having different information that needs to be compiled together in order to answer the query.
A common feature of all of these models is the initial query, generally provided by a user. The query is used as the basis of a search which is carried out over the Internet using considerable computing power.
The search itself is carried out using databases gathered automatically from the Internet, generally in a non-query-based general search trawling information from all over the Internet.
The need for a query makes Internet searching something of an art form, and makes it difficult to provide fully automated Internet Information gathering, yet in order to provide automated information gathering, automatic query generation is required, and for such automatic query generation some level of a semantic understanding of the data is necessary. One of the problems with trying to semantically understand data on the Internet is that web sites are independently constructed and have different ways of presenting information so that a computerized system has difficulty finding even the same information from different websites.
Projects, such as the EU-funded Okkam project use semantics to people and machines to find, share and integrate information more easily. With Okkam, the main objects being scanned are no longer documents that just happen to contain certain keywords, but entities, such as people, locations, organizations or events.
The core Okkam infrastructure stores and makes available for reuse so-called global identifiers which can be applied to and used by anyone or anything across formats and applications. The project is concerned with distributed information and knowledge management.
A goal recognized by some of the stakeholders in the Okkam project is to allow a searcher to integrate Web 2.0 type information that a user may have placed on different social media sites. Okkam envisages achieving such integration by providing users with their own global identifiers. If the global identifiers are not used for any reason then integrating the information is not possible using the Okkam methodology.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,584,139, to Ari Katz et al, filed May 22, 2007 teaches apparatus and a method for connecting incompatible computer systems. Specifically, a proxy is located on a network between one or more client applications and a server application, comprises an input unit for receiving input data from a first client application and from a server application; a modifying unit for modifying server data by insertion of client data; and a handling unit for submitting the modified content data to the client to allow the client to review and further modify the client data within the server data and submit the modified data back to the proxy for subsequent submission to the server. The proxy thus uses client data to prefill web forms, using mapping and the like, which the client can then review and modify before submission to the server, thus avoiding substantial rekeying.
The above cited document teaches compatibility between closed sets of computer systems but fails to discuss searching and query formulation.

Network-based gathering of background information


A pharmaceutical composition includes a core of an NSAID selected from ibuprofen and ibuprofen salts, which core is surrounded by an intermediate coating impermeable to the passage of ibuprofen and a mantle coating which includes a prostaglandin surrounding the coated ibuprofen core.

The invention herein is directed to a new pharmaceutical composition which consists of a generally trilayer tablet having an inner core, an intermediate barrier coating and an outer mantle coating surrounding the inner core. The inner core includes the NSAID ibuprofen or a salt of ibuprofen. The mantle coating includes a prostaglandin, described hereinafter in more detail.
Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) comprise a class of drugs which have long been recognized as having high therapeutic value especially for the treatment of inflammatory conditions such as exhibited in inflammatory diseases like osteoarthritis (OA) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA). While the NSAIDs present a beneficial therapeutic value they also exhibit undesirable side effects. An especially undesirable side effect of the administration of NSAIDs is the ulcerogenic effects generally associated with chronic use. The chronic use of NSAIDs, the use of high dosages of NSAIDs and the use of NSAIDs by the elderly can lead to NSAID induced ulcers. NSAID induced ulcers in the stomach can be dangerous. Such ulcers generally exhibit little or few symptoms and may cause dangerous bleeding when undetected. In some instances, bleeding ulcers can prove fatal. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration requires a class warning for all NSAIDs, which states: Serious gastrointestinal toxicity such as bleeding, ulceration, and perforation can occur at any time, with or without warning symptoms, in patients treated chronically with NSAID therapy.
Certain prostaglandins have been shown to prevent NSAID induced ulcers. Acceptable prostaglandin compounds for the invention herein and their preparation are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,965,143, 4,060,691, 4,271,314, and 4,683,328. The prostaglandin compound commercially available under the USAN (United States Adopted Name) name misoprostol is a pharmaceutically acceptable prostaglandin which has been accepted for use in the treatment of NSAID induced ulcers in many countries, including the United States. Misoprostol is commercially available as a stabilized formulation by prescription in such countries. The stabilized formulation is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,301,146.
While prostaglandins are beneficial compounds and have found therapeutic usage, prostaglandins are generally considered highly unstable. Therefore, it is desirable to find prostaglandins with the desired anti-ulcerogenic properties and which can be stabilized or provided in stabilized formulations especially with respect to contemplated oral methods of delivery.
It would be desirable to provide a pharmaceutical composition which would exhibit the beneficial properties of an NSAID and which composition would exhibit the beneficial properties of a prostaglandin for countering (by inhibiting, reducing or preventing) the ulcerogenic side effects attendant to NSAID administration.

Pharmaceutical composition containing ibuprofen and a prostaglandin


Disclosed herein are system, method, and computer program product embodiments for minimizing table lock duration during lost change resynchronization between a source table and a replica table. An embodiment operates by detecting a restart at a source node or a replica node. A source table at the source node is then locked based on the detection. A database transaction is then created for a lost change resynchronization operation and the source table is unlocked. The database transaction is then compared to another database transaction based on its timestamp. Based on the comparison, either the database transaction for the lost change resynchronization operation or the other database transaction is executed.

Database management systems often need to be able to handle a large number of database transactions. This is often the case where database management systems are used by insurance companies, financial services companies, or e-commerce websites. In order to handle a large number of database transactions, database management systems often distribute read transactions to replica tables at a replica node. Database management systems maintain the replica tables by replicating changes from the source tables at a source node to the corresponding replica tables at the replica node. But when a restart operation is performed at the source node or the replica node due a crash or node failure, the database management system must be able to detect lost replication changes and resynchronize the source tables with the replica tables. But when performing lost change detection and resynchronization, the database management system is often unavailable for updating because the database management system cannot determine the difference between incoming changes to the database and existing lost replication changes.
In the drawings, like reference numbers generally indicate identical or similar elements. Additionally, generally, the left-most digit(s) of a reference number identifies the drawing in which the reference number first appears.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Data synchronization with minimal table lock duration in asynchronous table replication


An information processing apparatus includes a control unit that, in a case where it is determined that proxy response processing should be performed, performs control such that an inputted job is processed without causing the information processing apparatus to transition from a second power mode to a first power mode, and, in a case where it is determined that proxy response processing should not be performed, performs control such that inputted job is processed after causing the information processing apparatus to transition from the second power mode to the first power mode.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus, a method for controlling an information processing apparatus, and a program.
2. Description of the Related Art
Some information processing apparatuses have a normal mode and a power saving mode as a power mode, and operate in either power mode according to a situation. For such information processing apparatuses, it is important to increase the time period for which the information processing apparatus can operate in the power saving mode as much as possible to keep power consumption low.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2006-270538 discusses an invention relating to an information processing apparatus constituted by an apparatus main body and a network interface card (NIC), and configured in such a manner that power is supplied to the apparatus main body and the NIC in the normal mode, while power is supplied only to the NIC but is not supplied to the apparatus main body in the power saving mode. In this information processing apparatus, when a job is input during the power saving mode, the NIC performs proxy response processing, thereby maintaining the power saving mode of the information processing apparatus as long as possible.
The proxy response processing here means that, when a job is input during the power saving mode and this job is not required to be directly processed by the apparatus main body, the NIC processes this job on behalf of the apparatus main body while maintaining the power saving mode of the information processing apparatus. When a job is input during the power saving mode and this job is required to be directly processed by the apparatus main body, the information processing apparatus is transitioned from the power saving mode to the normal mode, thereby allowing the apparatus main body to directly process that job.
In recent years, it has become common to encrypt a job when the job is transmitted or received between a plurality of apparatuses for security reasons. If an encrypted job is input into and is processed by the information processing apparatus discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2006-270538, the following problem arises.
To apply proxy response processing to the encrypted job, the NIC side should decrypt the job first, and then perform proxy response processing. In this case, it can take a long time to decrypt the entire job, which inevitably leads to a delay in execution of proxy response processing. This problem becomes more noticeable when the decrypting capability of the NIC side is lower than the decrypting capability of the apparatus main body side.

Information processing apparatus, method for controlling information processing apparatus, and program


An electronic device caddy includes a first tray portion with at least two spaced lengthwise channels and an end cage and a second tray portion also including an end cage and at least two lengthwise rails slideable in the spaced channels of the first tray portion to load and accommodate different size electronic devices between the end cages. A locking mechanism releasably locks at least one rail in its channel. A mounting bracket is attached rearward of one tray portion.

There are a variety of electronic device (e.g., cell phone) caddies. Such caddies may mount to the handle bars of a bicycle. See for example, published US Patent Applications Nos. 2002/0113185 and 2005/0045681.
Various means are used to retain the electronic device in the caddy, some complex. In the applicant's prior caddy, a bungee cord biases two caddy tray portions about the electronic device securing the electronic device in the caddy. See the Delta Cycle Corp. "Smartphone Mount for Bikes" product. Sometimes, however, the cell phone was still ejected from the caddy during rough riding conditions.


Electrical fuses/antifuses in a semiconductor memory configuration, such as in particular a DRAM, are read, instead of with the previously conventional internal voltage, with the voltage that defines the high potential of the bit lines of a memory cell array in the semiconductor memory. The high potential of the bit lines is defined by a voltage that is reduced relative to the internal voltage of the semiconductor memory.

The invention lies in the semiconductor technology field. More specifically, the present invention relates to a method of reading electrical fuses/antifuses (fuses are electrical breakdown paths or fusible links) in a semiconductor memory configuration, in which the state of a fuse/antifuse is read by applying a voltage to the fuse/antifuse. In the semiconductor memory configuration the high potential of bit lines of a memory cell array is defined by a voltage Vblh which is reduced with respect to an internal voltage Vint of the semiconductor memory configuration.
In integrated circuits, such as in particular in semiconductor memory configurations, electrically burnable fuses/antifuses are being used to an increasing extent. These are capable in each case either of being switched on (antifuse) or switched off (fuse) by burning. A fuse that can be switched off by burning is severed by the burning operation and is also referred to as a normal xe2x80x9cEfusexe2x80x9d. On the other hand, a fuse that can be switched on by burning is switched on by the burning operation and is referred to as an xe2x80x9cantifusexe2x80x9d. Such an antifuse is also rendered conductive by the burning. In the following text, xe2x80x9cfusexe2x80x9d is to be understood to mean both an xe2x80x9cEfusexe2x80x9d and an xe2x80x9cantifusexe2x80x9d (given appropriate reversal of the result of the burning operation).
Referring now to FIGS. 2 and 3, there is shown a fuse configuration 1 having different fuses 2 which are located between terminals 3, 4. If, then, such fuses, xe2x80x9cEfusesxe2x80x9d in the present case, are burned, then the electrical connection between the terminals 3 and 4 is interrupted, as indicated schematically for two of the fuses 2 in FIG. 3. This burning can be carried out by applying appropriately high electrical voltages between respective terminals 3, 4 or as a result of the action of a laser beam.
At present, fuses are mainly read with the aid of the so-called internal chip voltage Vint, which is available in the chip of each semiconductor memory configuration and is about 2 V, or with the aid of the external supply voltage Vdd. FIG. 4 shows a circuit configuration suitable for this purpose, with which the individual terminals 3 of the fuse configuration 1 can be supplied with the internal chip voltage Vint via switches. If a fuse is nonconductive, that is to say burned, then this can be assessed as a logic state xe2x80x9c1xe2x80x9d (or xe2x80x9c0xe2x80x9d). If, on the other hand, a fuse is conductive, that is to say not burned, this is then determined as a xe2x80x9c0xe2x80x9d state (or xe2x80x9c1xe2x80x9d.
We have now for the first time discovered that reading fuses by means of the internal chip voltage Vint, which is of the order of magnitude of 2 V, can lead to problems: this is because the application of such a high voltage has the effect of a relatively rapid aging process and in this way can ultimately even bring about inadvertent burning of previously unburned fuses.
The object of the present invention is to provide a method of reading electrical fuses and/or antifuses which overcomes the It above-noted deficiencies and disadvantages of the prior art devices and methods of this general kind, and in which rapid aging processes and inadvertent burning of previously unburned fuses/antifuses are reliably avoided.
With the above and other objects in view there is provided, in accordance with the invention, a method of reading electrical fuses/antifuses in a semiconductor memory configuration, which comprises:
providing a semiconductor memory configuration with fuses/antifuses and with a memory cell array having bit lines, the semiconductor memory having a given internal voltage and a high potential of the bit lines defined by a reduced voltage having a level below the given internal voltage; and
reading a state of a fuse/antifuse by applying the reduced voltage defining the high potential of the bit lines of the memory cell array.
In other words, the object of the invention is achieved in that the fuses/antifuses are read by applying the reduced voltage Vblh.
The terms fuses/antifuses and fuse/antifuse are to be understood as inclusive alternatives. The novel method is thus defined for reading fuses and/or antifuses and for semiconductor memory devices which are provided exclusively with fuses or antifuses.
In accordance with an added feature of the invention, the reduced voltage is reduced by approximately 20 to 30% with respect to the internal voltage.
In accordance with a concomitant feature of the invention, the internal voltage is set to about 2 V and the reduced voltage is set to about 1.6 V.
In semiconductor memory configurations, such as DRAMs, the high potential of the bit lines, as is known, is defined by the voltage Vblh. This voltage Vblh is about 1.6 V and is therefore reduced by 20 to 30% with respect to the internal chip voltage Vint. If, then, instead of the previously conventional internal chip voltage Vint, the reduced voltage Vblh that defines the high potential of the bit lines is used to read the fuses/antifuses, then because of the voltage reduction from about 2 V to about 1.6 V that is effected as a result, the average lifetime of the fuses (Efuses and antifuses) can be increased by about 1.6 decades, that is to say by a factor 16, as trials by the inventors have shown.
This considerable increase in the lifetime as a result of a relatively slight reduction in the read voltage of the fuses/antifuses is completely surprising and could not be foreseen; this is because the relatively slight reduction in the reading voltage by 20 to 30% allows an increase in the lifetime by 1.6 decades, that is to say 1600%, to be achieved. With reference to this increase in the lifetime, the invention has proven to be even more advantageous for antifuses than for Efuses.
Other features which are considered as characteristic for the invention are set forth in the appended claims.
Although the invention is illustrated and described herein as embodied in a method of reading electrical fuses/antifuses, it is nevertheless not intended to be limited to the details shown, since various modifications and structural changes may be made therein without departing from the spirit of the invention and within the scope and range of equivalents of the claims.

Method of reading electrical fuses/antifuses


The present disclosure relates to a magnetic resonance imaging device and shimming methods on the magnetic resonance imaging device. The magnetic resonance imaging device includes a main magnet, gradient coils, a vacuum enclosure, and a shimming conduit. The vacuum enclosure is configured to house at least part of the shimming conduit. The vacuum enclosure and at least part of the shimming conduit defines a hermetically sealed space configured to house the gradient coils. The shimming conduit has at least one opening configured to allow for access to an interior of the shimming conduit. The interior of the shimming conduit is hermetically insulated from the hermetically sealed space.

In a traditional MRI device, gradient coils are located within the main magnetic field. Due to the existence of the alternating current in the gradient coils, electrified wires in the gradient coils are subject to the Lorentz force according to the left-hand law of electromagnetism. Due to the existence of the alternating current, the force of the electrified wires in the gradient coils alter correspondingly. That may lead to violent vibrations which in turn may cause noise during a gradient switch. The transmission of the noise can be achieved through two means: air and structural components. In the airborne transmission, air surrounding the gradient coils can propagate the vibrations to adjacent components, for example, the shell of the MRI device. In the structure-borne transmission, vibrations generated in the gradient coils are sent to other nearby components through structural components. The structural components used herein may include different kinds of components contacting the gradient coils including, for example, a magnet, body coils, a shell, etc.
In a traditional MRI system, vibration sources (for example, gradient coils) are sealed in a vacuum environment, in order to decrease the noise transmission from within the MRI system. However, the conventional shimming cannot be performed while the gradient coils are sealed in the vacuum environment. Therefore, vacuum operations of the gradient coils are usually performed after shimming in a non-vacuum environment. Equipment for vacuum operations and operators may be needed for the initial installation of the MRI device. Additionally, vacuum operations are needed after every shimming maintenance, which takes extra time and resources.

Magnetic resonance imaging device and shimming method thereof

SHANGHAI UNITED IMAGING HEALTHCARE CO., LTD.


The present invention relates to elastomeric copolymers and block copolymers, e.g., based upon styrene/isoprene, having a novel condensed phase structure wherein polymer branches occur along the polymer backbone, either at a predetermined location or at random locations. The polymers are made by a method which comprises the step of reacting, under polymerization conditions, hydrocarbyl lithium initiator, at least one anionically polymerizable compound, and an organometallic- substituted styrene condensing agent. The reactants may be added simultaneously to produce a copolymer with polymer branch segments randomly located along the polymer backbone or sequentially to produce a copolymer with branches located at the same predetermined location along the polymer backbone. The resultant polymers may be further reacted with a linking agent to form multi-arm copolymers.

According to Odian, Principles of Polymerization, 2nd Ed., Wiley-Interscience, p. 18, (1981) polymers fall into three structural groups: linear, branched and crosslinked. Branched polymer molecules are those in which there are side branches of linked monomer protruding from various central branch points along the main polymer chain and that have several idealized configurations. Branched polymers are known in at least three configurations. They may be "comb-like" where each branch is of equal length, "dendritic" where branches occur on branches (series branching), or "star-like" where all branches radiate from a single point.
Branching often imparts various desirable properties, for example, branched polymers have been made that have improved melt flow and processability. Additionally, appropriate branching disrupts long linear polymer backbones to thereby reduce crystallinity. In free radical and cationic polymerization processes, for example in the production of polyethylene, branching is largely uncontrolled and its extent is dependent on polymerization variables. In some cases branching can be as high as 15-30 branches per 500 monomer units. In contrast, anionic polymerization processes yield very narrow molecular weight distributions and a unique structure. Branched polymer structures produced by anionic polymerization are generally star shaped (arrayed about a central point or nucleus) although the structure can be varied by coupling together individually prepared arms of different structure.
Such polymers are described by St. Clair in U.S. Pat. No. 4,391,949 where "asymmetric" star block copolymers are prepared by mutually linking together individually prepared living polymers, which may be represented by (AB)Li and (C)Li, with polyalkenylaromatic linking reagents. The structural formula describing the resulting polymer is given as (A--B).sub.x --Y--(C).sub.z, where x plus z is greater than six. A statistical distribution of polymer products would be obtained from this process, where the average structure is equal to the mole ratio of the respective charges. Further chain growth would only be possible through the linking nucleus Y.
Crossland, U.S. Pat. No. 4,010,226, has also recognized the problem of preparing block polymers with an asymmetric configuration and, to avoid the statistical distribution of polymers obtained by St. Clair, first coupled a set of polymer arms with divinylbenzene, then continued the polymerization, utilizing the anionic centers that remain on the divinylbenzene residue, to produce a different set of arms bound to the same nucleus. The number of new arms grown would thus equal the number of arms coupled together, since linking with divinylbenzene (DVB) is a non-terminating process and each newly grown arm would have an anionic terminus. Fahrbach, U.S. Pat. No. 4,086,298, discloses star-block copolymers having a mixture of arms where some arms are formed by first polymerizing styrene with alkyllithium to form living polymer blocks, represented by (A)Li, and then adding a mixture of styrene and butadiene to form a graded copolymer represented by A-B.fwdarw.A' where the arrow represents a graded segment. Other arms are made up of only the butadiene-styrene graded copolymer segment. These arms are then linked together with a polyfunctional coupling agent, such as DVB, to give star-branched polymers. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,221,884, 4,248,980, 4,248,982, 4,248,983, and 4,248,984, Bi and Milkovich, describe a similar series of polymers in which more complex polymer arm segments are linked together using a polyalkenyl aromatic, such as divinylbenzene, to form an asymmetric star molecule.
Prudence (U.S. Pat. No. 3,949,020) prepares branched block polymers by a method wherein divinylbenzene is added with the diolefin monomer to a polystyryllithium initiator. However, according to Bi and Fetters (Macromolecules 9, 732-742 [1976]), such a method leads to gelatin when the divinylbenzene/initiator ratio is three or greater.
Martin, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,080,400, 4,143,089, 4,148,838, and 4,273,896, describes a composition obtained from the linking together of anionically active polymers (from, e.g., styrene) with silanes of the formula, X.sub.4-a-b Si(R).sub.b (C.dbd.CH.sub.2).sub.a, where X is a displaceable group, R is alkyl, a is 1 to 4 and b is 1 to 3. One of the stated objects of these patents is to couple polymeric carbanions with silanes and then form new carbanions which can be used to initiate the polymerization of cyclic silicones or "other unsaturated monomers". No disclosure is provided directed towards the step of using other unsaturated monomers except for certain unspecified hydrocarbon/siloxane block polymers.
It has been established [Nametkin, Chemical Abstract Nos 85:47314a (1976), 87:185046g (1977), and 89:110569n (1978)] that vinylsilanes of the type described by Martin will copolymerize in an anionic fashion, for example with butadiene; however, reactivity is very low, with up to 300 hours required for good conversion. Furthermore, copolymers of vinyl silanes with dienes initiated by butyl lithium are unimodal but exhibit peak broadening due to the occurrence of chain termination reactions caused by spontaneous cleavage reactions producing lithium hydride (Nametkin, Chemical Abstract No. 93:168679x, 1980). Loss of LiH during anionic homopolymerization of vinyltrimethylsilane has also been observed and has been used to explain the poor conversion and spread in molecular weight distribution observed in these polymers [Nametkin, Dokl. Nauk SSSR, 215, 861 (1974)]. Chaumont [Eur. Poly. J. 15, 537 (1979)] prepared vinylsilyl terminated polystyrenes via anionic polymerization; however, it was necessary to cap the polymer anion with diphenylethylene in order to reduce side reactions.
Chlorosilane-substituted styrenes are well-known compounds and have been used, for example, to prepare polysiloxane macromolecular monomers [Kawakami, Polymer J., 14, 913 (1982)]. Chromatography gels have been described based on poly-.alpha.-methylstyrene dianions and chlorodimethyl-silylstyrene [Greber, Angew. Makromol. Chem. 1971, 16/17, 325]. Compositions for the encapsulation of electrical equipment have been derived from organosilicon monomers having styrenyl groups (Lewis, U.S. Pat. No. 2,982,757). Hirao et al. (Macromolecules 1987, 20, 242) has studied the anionic homopolymerization of (4-alkoxysilyl) styrenes and reaction of the resultant homopolymer with polystyryllithium.
There has been no disclosure, however, of the use of organometallic-substituted styrenes, e.g., chlorosilane-substituted styrenes, in the preparation of condensed phase polymers.

Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company


This invention relates to a transmission power control method and transmission power control apparatus in a mobile communication system. The reception quality of a signal (31, 32a, 32b, 41, or 42) transmitted from another mobile station (51 or 52) or base station (21 or 22) is compared with a predetermined control target value such as a signal-to-interference ratio. The comparison result is used for transmission power control on a remote station. If a frame error is detected in a transmitted signal, the control target value is increased by SIRinc. If no frame error is detected, the control target value is decreased by SIRdec. As SIRdec, the product of a target value of a frame error rate and SIRinc is set. With this operation, when a propagation environment such as multibus or moving speed changes, the control target value for transmission power control is changed within a short period of time, and channel quality is maintained constant, thus realizing desired channel quality.

In a code division multiple access mobile communication system, since many channels use the same frequency, the reception power of a signal on a given channel becomes interference wave power that interferes with other channels. On an upstream channel through which a mobile station transmits a signal and a base station receives it, when the ratio of signal power to interference wave power becomes high and excessive reception quality is set, the interference wave power increases. As a consequence, the channel capacity decreases. In order to prevent this, the transmission power on the mobile station must be strictly controlled. Transmission power control on an upstream channel is performed in the following manner. A base station measures reception quality based on a signal-to-interference ratio or the like, and compares it with a control target value. If the reception quality is higher than the control target value, the base station transmits a control instruction to decrease the transmission power to the mobile station. If the reception quality is lower than the control target value, the base station transmits a control instruction to increase the transmission power to the mobile station. The mobile station then increases/decreases the transmission power in accordance with the control instruction. This transmission power control method is disclosed in detail in U.S. Pat. No. 5,056,109 (Gilhousen et al., "Method and apparatus for controlling transmission power in a CDMA cellular mobile telephone system").
On a downstream channel as well, a high channel capacity is realized by performing transmission power control to set reception quality based on a signal-to-interference ratio or the like to a predetermined control target value. In transmission power control on a downstream channel, a mobile station measures the reception quality of the downstream channel, and compares it with a control target value. If the reception quality is higher than the control target value, the mobile station transmits a control instruction to decrease the transmission power to the base station. If the reception quality is lower than the control target value, the mobile station transmits a control instruction to increase the transmission power to the base station. The base station then increases/decreases the transmission power in accordance with the control instruction.
In an actual propagation environment for a mobile communication system, since mobile stations differ in their multipath effects and moving speeds, if a constant control target value is set for the above transmission power control on upstream and downstream channels, channel quality based on a bit error rate, frame error rate, or the like cannot be kept constant. If a large control target value is uniformly set to satisfy predetermined channel quality in mobile stations in any conditions, the set control target value is unnecessarily large for many mobile stations. As a consequence, the transmission power becomes unnecessarily high accordingly to increase interference wave power that interferes with other channels, resulting in a reduction in channel capacity. Optimal control target values that can minimize an increase in interference wave power and obtain a predetermined channel quality differ from mobile station to mobile station.
As a method of controlling a control target value to an optimal value, a technique called an outer loop is available, which changes a control target value in accordance with channel quality. When a frame error rate is to be used as channel quality, an error detection code is set in each frame, and a frame in which an error is detected by this code is determined as an error. A control target value is changed to set the frame error rate to a predetermined channel quality target value.
A specific method for this operation is described in Higuchi, Ando, Okawa, Sawabashi, and Adachi, "Experimental Study on Adaptive Transmission Power Control Using Outer Loop in W-CDMA" (Technical Report of IEICE, RCS98-18 (1998-04), pp. 51–57). As described in this reference, if the frame error rate in a predetermined time is higher than a target frame error rate, the control target value is increased by a predetermined amount, whereas if the frame error rate in the predetermined time is lower than the target frame error rate, the control target value is decreased by the same predetermined amount. The frame error rate in a predetermined time is obtained by counting the number of frames determined as errors for each predetermined number of frames and dividing the number of frames determined as errors by a predetermined number.
Assume that, in this method, a low frame error rate is set as a channel quality target value, and a control target value is changed by using the frame error rate in a predetermined time which is obtained from a small number of frames. In this case, even with the same channel quality, since the frame error rate in the predetermined time varies, a control target value is often set apart from an optimal value. Assume that in order to prevent this, the control target value is changed by obtaining a frame error rate within the predetermined time from many frames. In this case, when the optimal control target value changes, it takes much time to change the control target value in accordance with this change. Assume that the moving speed abruptly changes, the optimal control target value increases, and many frame errors are caused. Even in this case, the control target value cannot be increased until a predetermined number of frames are received, and the frame error rate in the predetermined time is calculated. As a consequence, the state where many frame errors are caused will continue. In contrast to this, if the optimal control target value decreases, the control target value cannot be decreased until a predetermined number of frames are received. As a consequence, the state where the transmission power is unnecessarily high will continue, resulting in a reduction in channel capacity.
Another problem in this conventional method is that the frame error rate greatly varies over time. In a constant propagation environment, even if the frame error rate is fixed to an ideal control target value as a channel quality target value, the frame error rate within a short time unit varies depending on the number of frame errors caused in the time. According to the conventional method, however, even if a propagation environment such as a moving speed is constant, since a control target value is repeatedly increased and decreased, the frame error rate within a short time unit greatly varies as compared with a case where a control target value is fixed to an ideal control target value. This is because, when the control target value is set to be larger than an optimal value, the frame error rate becomes lower than the channel quality target value, whereas when the control target value is set to lower than the optimal value, the frame error rate becomes higher than the channel quality target value.
When voice and image are to be transmitted in real time, even the frame error rate in a short time unit must be suppressed to be equal to or lower than a predetermined value because the quality of the voice and image deteriorates if frame errors concentrate. Therefore, a large channel quality target value must be set to make the frame error rate fall within a predetermined value while the frame error rate increases. As the control target value is increased, the transmission power increases, resulting in a reduction in channel capacity.

Transmission power control method and transmission power control apparatus in mobile communication system


Embodiments of this invention are directed to providing an approach that provides an Internet-based testing environment. In a typical embodiment, there is a cloud connect agent that executes while a test-taker is taking a test on a client device. The cloud connect agent is configured to monitor and control certain components of the client device.

An examination (or test) may be administered to measure a candidate's qualifications in a profession or a student's knowledge in a particular subject area. Generally, the process of administering a written examination and reviewing the test results may extend over a period of days or, at times, weeks. The examination procedure may include preprinted examination papers and printed test results, which contribute to the expense and inefficiency of written examinations.
Computer-based testing has grown in popularity in the past few years. Computer-based testing (CBT) simply means a test situation where the student or candidate utilizes a computer terminal rather than a printed examination. Generally, the questions appear on the screen and the test-taker answers them by typing at the keyboard or clicking a mouse on the appropriate answer. This format has a number of advantages over the conventional paper and pencil examination.
Candidates complete CBT examinations with much more speed and efficiency than conventional examinations. This is due to the inherent ease of clicking with a mouse. Also, the test-taker is not required to constantly shift his eyes from question sheet to answer sheet.
Perhaps the most compelling advantage of CBT is its inherent flexibility in which the design and format can be easily modified to adapt to different circumstances. The most obvious difference between traditional testing and CBT is that a computer-based examination's content can be generated in real time according to some set criteria. This means that each test-taker might receive the same questions in a different order or perhaps even a different examination altogether.
CBT examinations also provide more options in reporting results. The raw scores and processed results can be provided in whatever format is desired. In addition, CBT results in cost savings in printing, storing, distribution, and collecting examinations.
Following the introduction of the Internet, computer-based testing evolved into Internet-based testing (IBT). In Internet-based testing, the test-taker is seated at a computer that is connected to the Internet. Usually, the software running is an Internet browser. A connection is established with a remote web server which sends to the browser a series of web pages. Again, the test-taker answers by clicking the mouse or entering information at the keyboard. By submitting the answers, the test-taker sends the answers back to the web server for processing.
IBT offers further advantages from CBT. The Internet is well suited to the delivery of multimedia content. The point and click approach to navigation on the Internet lends itself extremely well to an examination situation. Modern universities all have computer labs full of Internet-enabled computers and test-takers enjoy the convenience of taking the examination using existing university facilities instead of travelling to outside testing centers. By electing to use the Internet as the vehicle for its examination, the testing organization will be able to assert greater control over the process and will not have to contract with a private testing institution.
While the Internet has undergone explosive growth in the past few years, there are still many development issues for IBT including controlling the network connection and monitoring a test-taker's personal computer (PC) that the test-taker is using as a client in taking the examination. Therefore, there is a need for an improved approach for Internet-based testing that addresses the above-mentioned problems. Heretofore, several unsuccessful attempts have been made to address these shortcomings.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,827,070 discloses a test development system for producing a computerized test, a test delivery system for delivering the computerized test to an examinee, and a workstation on which the computerized test is delivered to the examinee.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,681,098 discloses a test administration system including a central computer that provides a website to be accessed by the test administrator and the test taker at remote personal computers when using the test administration system and associated database containing a plurality of tests that may be distributed to a test taker.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,099,620 discloses a method and system for administering a secure, Internet-based examination at remote sites in which the examination is dynamic and potentially adaptive.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,494,340 discloses a method for computer-based testing includes authoring a test specification and content of the at least one test using a test definition language, compiling the test specification and content of the at least one test to create a compiled test specification and content, which includes validating the test specification and content, storing the compiled test specification and content to a resource file, and retrieving the compiled test specification and content from the resource file during delivery of the test.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,128,415 discloses an online test platform adapted to facilitate the development, delivery, and management of educational tests with interactive participation by students, teachers, proctors, and administrators even when some or all of them are remotely located.
None of these references, however, teach an agent application that is used in an Internet-based testing environment that is able to monitor and control aspects of a test-taker's PC.

Automated distributed testing administration environment


A flexible sensor pad includes a cavity to hold a sensor unit with an attached cable. According to one aspect of the present invention, a light-shielding layer is coupled to a bottom surface of the sensor pad, surrounds the sensor unit, and extends past two sides of the sensor pad. A transparent adhesive layer is coupled to the light-shielding layer and extends past two sides of the light-shielding layer. Another light shielding layer is coupled to a top surface of the sensor pad and covers the sensor unit. The cable divides the sensor pad into a first side and a second side which are mirror images of each other.

The present invention relates to medical devices and their manufacture. More particularly, the present invention relates to patient monitoring devices and methods.
Patient monitoring systems measure, display, and sometimes store physiological data. Patient monitoring systems are now used in a wide variety of applications. This includes, for example, hospital, ambulatory, and home health care. Hospitals routinely measure and analyze the vital signs of surgical, trauma, and other patients from admission through discharge. There are many different types of monitoring devices. For example, there are monitoring devices for blood pressure, body temperature, heart activity, blood gases, cholesterol, glucose, pulse rate, respiration rate, tissue oxygen saturation, and many other parameters.
Noninvasive monitoring devices fulfill an important role in assessing, tracking, diagnosing, and treating patients. These devices enable early diagnosis, treatment of acute conditions, and reduce the need for invasive interventions. Some types of monitoring devices gather patient data via sensors attached to the patient.
In order for the sensors gather accurate information, it is important that they are protected from outside interference. They should also be comfortable for the patient to wear as the sensors may be attached to the patient for long periods of time. Furthermore, anything that touches or comes near the patient must be sterile. Thus, sterility is also a concern. These are just a few examples of desirable features.
There is, then, a continuing demand for medical devices that are easier to use, safer to use, usable in locations outside the hospital, provide more features, and generally address the needs of patients, doctors, nurses, clinicians, first responders, and others in the medical community.
Therefore, there is a need to provide improved systems and techniques for monitoring patients.


A flashlight support device having a hollow open body that has at least one open end and is designed to removably fit over the body of a flashlight. Attached in substantially diametric opposition adjacent to one open end is at least one pair of separate legs for rotation in the Y-axis. Each leg is comprised of a bendable material and is capable of being bent, without any additional mechanism, into substantially any position and configuration in the X and Z-axis. A rotation mechanism and the adjustable and bendable legs attached thereto allows each rotatable and bendable leg to be rotated into a number of incremental positions in the Y-axis over a range of a full 360.degree.. In preferred embodiments, the flashlight support device has two opposed open ends, and there are at least two pairs of adjustable and bendable legs attached to the hollow body for rotation in the Y-axis.

a. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a support device for a self-powered illumination device. More specifically, it relates to a support and mounting device for a flashlight, which allows a flashlight carried by the device to be positioned to illuminate a desired area.
b. Discussion of the Prior Art
Heretofore, illuminating device supports encompassed many various designs, including wire racks, stationary tripods, stationary two legged supports, magnets, clamps, wire rings, and many other support configurations. U.S. Pat. No. 4,739,457 discloses a hands free illuminating device support having an adjustable light reflector. The support device allows an illuminating device to be prepositioned in a supported or suspended orientation. The support device is comprised of flanges attached to either side of the illuminating device casing and extending downward, terminating in a flange bottom edge. The flanges are configured to receive and latch the reflector into a stored position. Each flange also has a rotor shaft bearing to rotatably receive a rotor shaft on a Z-axis to the flange. This allows the rotor and a rigid leg attached to the rotor to have 360.degree. of Z-axis rotation. The rotor has a rotor shaft and leg shaft bearings which rotatably receive the leg shaft on a Y axis to the flange, thereby providing the leg with about 180.degree. of Y-axis rotation to the flange. The rigid legs have a leg shaft on one end and a hooking means on the opposite end. This allows the legs to be rotated, as required to accommodate the device to various detent positions on the Y and Z-axes to provide prepositioned support or suspension for the illuminating device held by the support device.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,743,623 shows a clip on support for a flashlight. U.S. Pat. No. 5,608,919shows a flashlight retainer that is flexible and has hooks for attaching it to a support. U.S. Pat. No. 5,016,148 teaches a flexible attached sleeve with support for a flashlight.
A commercially available product sold under the trademark "BENDYLIGHTS" has been found on sale during the week of Jun. 6, 1999. It consists of a cylindrical C-battery flashlight which is decorated with sunglasses/eyes on the head of the flashlight. It also includes a pair of bendable arms and legs in the form of caricature arms and legs, including an embedded bendable wire extending through each arm and leg. One wire joins both legs. One wire joins both arms. In both cases, the joining wires extend through the body of the flashlight and around the batteries. The BENDYLIGHTS products are integral with the body of the flashlight, and are not removable from the body of the flashlight.
None of the known prior art provides a simple device for supporting and mounting a flashlight, which device includes bendable appendages which are simply and easily rotated in the Y-axis and bendable in the X and Z-axis in order to allow a flashlight carried by the device to be positioned to illuminate a desired area


A self-aligned, lateral bipolar transistor is disclosed having at least one insulated metal gate for control of the base. The device has a Semiconductor-On-Insulator structure that reduces parasitic capacitances. Proper gate control provides a high and controllable gain of the device and also turns off the parasitic transistors. The device achieves variable, high gains as well as high frequencies due to the use of the gate. It requires no masking or doping manufacturing steps in addition to those used in making standard CMOS circuits, and is CMOS compatible. In a preferred embodiment, a second insulated metal back gate is used to further enhance the operation of the device.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a lateral, bipolar transistor of the type formed in a semiconductor on an insulator. More particularly, this invention relates to a high speed, high gain bipolar transistor which may be manufactured without any additional masking or doping steps to those used in making standard CMOS devices, and is compatible with standard CMOS digital circuitry.
2. Description of the Related Art
Bipolar transistors and Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor (MOS) devices have historically been viewed as being separate and distinct types of devices, each having its own advantages and disadvantages.
A major advantage of bipolar devices is their ability to handle higher speeds at a higher power level than standard MOS devices. However, conventional bipolar devices typically have a fixed, low gain when compared to the idealized devices, which may be a disadvantage in many circuits since additional components may be needed to achieve a high gain. Also, many bipolars consume relatively large areas when compared to their MOS counterparts, making them unsuitable for certain applications. This tends to lower packing density and can also degrade the speed of the devices.
The slow speed of conventional bipolar transistors is in part caused by the existence of large parasitic capacitances between active regions in those bipolars that use a vertical geometry. The use of a Semiconductor-On-Insulator (SOI) structure tends to reduce these parasitic capacitances, and thereby increase the speed of such devices. Some of the advantages and characteristics of using an insulator, and particularly sapphire, are discussed in Vasudev (1986), "Silicon-OnSapphire Heteroepitaxy", Epitaxial Silicon Technology, Chapter 4, Academic Press, Inc.
A number of ways are known to reliably manufacture SOI Integrated Circuits (ICs), many of which are discussed in IEEE Circuits and Devices Magazine, July, 1987, Vol. 3, No. 4. Current techniques include Separation by Implanted Oxygen (SIMOX), scaled dielectric isolation, wafer bonding, Double Solid Phase Epitaxy (DSPE), Zone-Melting Recrystallization (ZMR), and the solid state epitaxy and regrowth (SPEAR) process discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,509,990 to Vasudev and assigned to Hughes Aircraft Company, the assignee of the present invention. For a general discussion of techniques for constructing MOS SOI circuits, see Scott et al., "CMOS Technology", VLSI Handbook, Chapter 10, Academic Press (1985).
Bipolars are typically of either vertical or lateral design. A typical lateral bipolar transistor using bulk silicon is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,435,225 issued Mar. 6, 1984 to Robert L. Berry et al. This device is slow, due to the large capacitances in the emitter-base and collector-base junctions. It also has a low gain as a result of losses arising from the high parasitics associated with the use of a silicon substrate is used without an insulation layer. FIGS. 1a and 1b depict cross-sections of typical prior art vertical and lateral bipolar devices, respectively.
As expected from their architecture, vertical bipolars such as the planar device shown in FIG. 1a typically have lower diffusion efficiencies, and require more isolation than lateral devices to prevent the formation of parasitic transistors or leakage currents flowing between adjacent, active devices. Of course, other types of devices need such isolation, including standard Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) components. Parasitic transistors are particularly a problem in Very Large Scale Integrated Chips (VLSICs) because the components are closely packed. The isolation of circuit components requires additional manufacturing steps, and increases the cost of the chip.
An increase in the size of the emitter-base and collector-base junctions in bipolar devices also has a tendency to decrease the cutoff bandwidth or maximum frequency of the device, due to an increase in parasitic capacitances with increased junction size. As shown by comparing FIGS. 1a and 1b, lateral bipolars typically have smaller junctions than vertical bipolars, and thus higher cutoff bandwidths.
Referring now to FIG. la, the emitter-base junction 10a of a vertical bipolar transistor is formed at the junction of emitter 11a and base 12a. Junction 10a is smaller than the corresponding emitter-base junction 10b of the lateral bipolar transistor shown in FIG. 1b. Junction 10b is formed between emitter 11b and base 12b.
Similarly, collector-base junction 13a in FIG. 1a forms the junction between collector 14a and base 12a. It is smaller in size than its counterpart, collector-base junction 13b in FIG. 1b. Junction 13b is formed at the interface of collector 14b and base 12b. The entire lateral device depicted in FIG. 1b is formed on a insulating substrate 15b. Regardless of whether a vertical or lateral bipolar device is considered, it is desirable to restrict the size of the junctions to make the device suitable for higher frequency applications. SPEAR, DSPE and standard SOS processes.
Lateral and vertical bipolars also differ in that lateral bipolars typically have higher base resistances than their vertical counterparts, resulting in lower common emitter gains. It is desirable to reduce the base resistance in a lateral bipolar by proper design and control of surface potential in order to increase its gain.
To make use of the advantages of bipolar and MOS devices, both types of devices have been manufactured on the same integrated circuit chip using vertical bipolars. Such so-called BIMOS circuits are difficult and expensive to reliably manufacture because one must generally use both bipolar and MOS masking and doping steps during the manufacturing process. Besides the increased expense involved with each additional manufacturing step, the probability of manufacturing defects in an IC increases with the number of steps.
BIMOS chips have also been made using lateral bipolars and CMOS devices on a bulk silicon substrate. However, these circuits are not satisfactory due to the poor frequency response of lateral bipolars when formed on a silicon substrate without an insulation layer.
A voltage controlled lateral bipolar-MOS transistor fabricated on an insulated substrate, and having a gate separated from the top surface of the base by a oxide layer, is disclosed in an article by the present inventor, "Recent Advances in Solid-Phase Epitaxial Recrystalization of SOS with Applications to CMOS and Bipolar Devices," IEEE Circuits and Devices Magazine, Vol. 3, No. 4, July, 1987, pages 17-19. Graphs of the common emitter current gain as a function of collector current for this device are presented in FIG. 1c for SOS npn lateral bipolar-MOS transistors fabricated by the SPEAR, DSPE and standard SOS processes.

MOS-enhanced, self-aligned lateral bipolar transistor made of a semiconductor on an insulator


A gene encoding DNA which is selected from a) or b): a) DNA having a nucleotide sequence from the 190th position to the 807th position of a nucleotide sequence represented in SEQ ID NO: 1 of the Sequence Listing; or b) DNA which hybridizes to DNA of a) under stringent conditions, and encodes a transcription factor capable of altering characters of a plant.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a gene encoding a transcription factor capable of altering characters of a plant and its use. More particularly, the present invention relates to the PetSPL2 gene which is a novel gene derived from Petunia hybrida, genes related thereto, and the use thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
In order to clarify regulatory mechanisms controlling the characters of a plant, for example, morphogenesis of a flower, molecular biological and molecular geneticical studies have been conducted using Arabidopsis thaliana, Antirrhinum majus, and Petunia hybrida. In particular, Petunia hybrida is preferably used as a subject of studies for the following reasons: high value as a horticultural plant; the presence of various species; ease of transformation; ease to observe due to its large flower; and accumulation of genetical findings (H. Takatsuji, "Molecular mechanism for determining a shape of a plant", Cell Technology, Plant Cell Technology Series (SHUJUNSHA), pp. 96-106).
Genes which cause mutation have been isolated from mutants in which floral organs of the above-mentioned plant is altered. As a result, it is becoming clear that transcription factors play important roles in differentiation and morphogenesis of a flower. For example, SUPERMAN of Arabidopsis thaliana is a transcription factor having a zinc finger motif as a DNA binding domain. It is known that, in SUPERMAN mutant with its gene mutated, number of stamens are remarkably increased, and pistils are defective (THE IDEN, April, 1997 (Vol. 51, No. 4), pp. 34-38).
For understanding the mechanism for the control of characters of a plant, it is important to identify a novel transcription factor which is involved in such control. A gene for a transcription factor which controls morphogenesis of a flower may be introduced into a plant by using gene engineering procedure. It is possible to obtain a plant, using gene introduction, having a flower with novel characters which has not been obtained or is not likely to be obtained by a conventional breeding. It is considered that a plant with such novel characters is horticulturally valuable.

Method for shortening internode of inflorescence by introducing gene for petunia transcription factor PetSPL2

Director General of National Institute of Agrobiological Resources, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries