A combustor for a gas turbine utilizing a catalytic combustion system comprises a cylindrical outer casing, a combustion cylinder concentrically disposed inside the outer casing with an annular space between an outer periphery of the combustion cylinder and an inner periphery of the outer casing as a combustion air supply passage, the combustion cylinder having one end facing the closed one end of the casing with a space therebetween, and a catalyst unit disposed inside the combustion cylinder, the air for combustion being supplied to the catalyst unit. A heat exchanging device is formed in the air supply passage for heating the combustion air passing the air supply passage to a temperature more than a catalytic combustion starting temperature through a heat exchanging operation by a thermal energy of a combustion gas in the combustion cylinder. The combustion cylinder includes at least one section chamber for combustion and the catalyst unit is disposed in the section chamber and includes a plurality of catalyst sections sectioned in a plane normal to a flow direction of the air for combustion introduced into the combustion cylinder. The combustion cylinder is provided with a plurality of diffuse combustion zones and a plurality of premixture combustion zones are formed at the downstream side of the catalyst unit.

The present invention relates to a combustor for a gas turbine system utilized for a compound cycle power plant, and more particularly, to a combustor for a catalytic combustion type gas turbine system.
In these days, in a view point of an effective utilization of an energy source, various types of gas-turbine/steam-turbine compound cycle power plants have been adapted. Such power plants, however, involve significant problems or objects of reducing nitrogen oxide (NOx) discharged from the power plants particularly in the view point of an environmental protection.
Such a conventional compound cycle power plant includes a homogeneous type combustion system in which an air/fuel mixture is ignited by a spark plug means, for example. However, in a combustor for such a conventional gas turbine, a highly heated (high temperature of more than 2000.degree. C.) portion is locally caused in the combustor at the time of fuel burning, nitrogen (N.sub.2) decomposed from air in atmosphere is combined with oxygen (O.sub.2), and thus, a large amount of NOx is generated, also providing a significant problem.
In the prior art, there is further studied and developed various combustion systems for solving such problems, and in recent years, there is provided a catalytic combustion system utilizing a solid phase catalyst.
FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram representing one example of such a conventional combustor utilizing the catalytic combustion system. Referring to FIG. 9, the combustor includes a cylindrical casing 1 and a combustion cylinder (heating cylinder) 2 coaxially arranged inside the casing 1. The combustion cylinder 2 has one end wall, lefthand end as viewed, separated from one end wall of the casing to define a gap therebetween. An annular circumferential space is also defined between the inner combustion cylinder 2 and the outer casing 1, and the gap and the space are communicated with each other so as to form a combustion air supply passage 3.
The end wall, i.e. lefthand end wall, of the combustion cylinder 2 has a central portion at which a nozzle 4 for a diffuse fuel (diffuse fuel nozzle 4) is disposed and a swirler 5 is arranged around the outer peripheral portion of the diffuse fuel nozzle 4. A catalyst unit 6 in which a catalyst for the combustion of honeycomb structure utilizing a solid phase catalyst is located in the combustion cylinder 2, and a mixture gas supply port 8, through which a mixture gas of a fuel for the catalytic combustion (catalytic combustion fuel) supplied through a nozzle 7 for the catalyst (catalyst fuel nozzle 7) and an air for combustion is supplied, is formed on an upstream side, facing the diffuse fuel nozzle 4 in the illustration, of the catalyst unit 6.
On the downstream side of the catalyst unit 6 in the combustion cylinder 2, there is formed a nozzle 9 for a premixture fuel (premixture fuel nozzle 9), and an enlarged zone or portion 10 is also formed further on the downstream side of the premixture fuel nozzle 9 for uniformly mixing the mixture gas. A rear, righthand end as viewed in FIG. 9, of the enlarged portion 10 is connected to a turbine nozzle, not shown. The mixture gas is burned by means of ignition plugs 11 and 12 having ignition points positioned in the mixture gas supply port 8 and the enlarged portion 10 in the combustion cylinder.
The fuel is classified into or composed of a fuel for diffuse combustion (diffuse combustion fuel) F1, a fuel for calalytic combustion (catalytic combustion fuel) F2 and a fuel for premixture combustion (premixture combustion fuel) F3, which are supplied into the combustion cylinder 2 respectively through the diffuse fuel nozzle 4, the catalyst fuel nozzle 7 and the premixture fuel nozzle 9. On the other hand, air for combustion (combustion air) is supplied into the combustion air supply passage 3 through a front end opening of the passage 3 as shown by an arrow in FIG. 9, and then supplied into the combustion cylinder 2 in part through the swirler 5 and in remaining part together with the catalytic combustion fuel F2 through the supply port 8. The combustion gas subsequently burned in the cylinder 2 is jetted into a gas turbine through the turbine nozzle connected to the enlarged portion 10 at the rear end of the combustion cylinder 2.
FIG. 10 is a graph showing a relationship between a fuel flow rate and a combustor load in connection with a fuel rate control, in which the abscissa axis represents a combustor load and the ordinate axis represents a fuel flow rate.
With reference to FIG. 10, an ignition is carried out at the point Pa, and the diffuse combustion fuel F1 from the diffuse fuel nozzle 4 and the premixture combustion fuel F3 from the premixture fuel nozzle 9 are supplied into the combustion cylinder 2 up to the time when the combustor load reaches the point Pe. When the combustor load exceeds the point Pe, a condition for causing the catalytic combustion is realized (for example, a temperature at the inlet portion of the catalyst unit reaches a predetermined temperature), so that the catalytic combustion fuel F2 is supplied into the combustion cylinder 2 through the catalyst fuel nozzle 7 to then carry out the combustion in the catalyst unit 6 and to adjust the flow rate of the diffuse combustion fuel F1 so as to maintain an optimum gas temperature at an inlet of the catalyst unit 6. A curve B in FIG. 10 represents a change of a total fuel flow rate. As shown in FIG. 10, at the combustor load more than point Pe, almost half the fuel can be burned through the catalytic combustion, thus suppressing the generation of NOx.
FIG. 11 represents a temperature change of the gas temperature at the inlet portion of the catalyst unit 6 with respect to the combustor load.
However, the above-mentioned catalytic combustion system involves such problem as requires an increased temperature more than a predetermined one for starting the catalytic combustion. It is required at present for the catalytic combustion starting temperature to be higher than a temperature of the combustion air to be supplied with respect to almost catalysts, of course, being different in accordance with kinds or types of catalysts and fuels to be utilized. Accordingly, it is necessary to increase the temperature of the air/fuel mixture gas to be supplied to the catalyst unit up to the catalytic combustion starting temperature. For this purpose, the diffuse combustion is to be performed with respect to a part of the fuel.
In such method, the diffuse combustion provides a stable combustion, but has a high burning temperature, which results in generation of the NOx. The NOx generated during this diffuse combustion process constitutes almost part of the NOx generated in the entire combustor. Accordingly, this method provides a NOx suppression effect more than that of the conventional combustor utilizing no catalytic combustion system. However, as stated above, this method is not applicable for a present or future combustor to which more severe NOx prescription will be required.

Combuster for gas turbine system having a heat exchanging structure catalyst


The proportion of the torsional rigidity of a base end side grip portion to that of an end side portion fitted with a club head ranges between (1:1) and (4:1). As a result, a golf club shaft arranged so as to have such a proportion of torsional rigidity is increased in the torsional angle of the base end side grip portion thereof as compared with the end side portion thereof which is fitted with the club head thereof.

The present invention relates to a golf club shaft. In general, the golf club shaft is subjected to torsion while it is swung. In this case, an amateur golfer who holds the golf club shaft can perceive the degree of the torsion thereof while swinging it if a base end side grip portion thereof has a proportion of more than 25 in the torsional angle thereof to the torsional angle of 100 of an end side portion thereof which is fitted with a club head. However, if the base end side grip portion of the golf club shaft is less than 25 in the proportion of the torsional angle thereof to that of the end side portion thereof which is fitted with the club head, a limited number of professional golfers alone who have cultivated fine senses for perceiving the torsion of the golf club shafts in their training are capable of feeling their torsional degrees. This is as experimentally confirmed.
On the other hand, in a conventional golf club shaft made of reinforced fiber or other similar material, if the end side portion thereof which is fitted with a club head is 1 in the torsional rigidity Td thereof, the base end side grip portion thereof is more than 6 in the torsional rigidity Tc thereof, as shown in FIG. 5.
For this reason, in the conventional golf club shaft, the base end side grip portion of the golf club shaft is 17 or below in the proportion of the torsional angle thereof to that of 100 of the end side portion thereof to which the club head is attached. Therefore, an amateur golfer can not feel the torsional degree of the conventional club shaft while swinging it.
Under the circumstances, when the conventional golf club shaft undergoes unusual torsion which can be caused by irregular swing thereof, an amateur golfer who holds this conventional golf club shaft is not allowed to remedy the unusual torsion thereof.
However, if the conventional golf club shaft is reduced in the entire torsional rigidity thereof as shown with the two-dot chain line in FIG. 5, the amateur golfer is able to perceive torsion thereof while swinging it, while on the other hand, reduction in the torsional rigidity of the entire conventional golf club shaft excessively increases torsion of the end side portion thereof to which the club head is attached, and this can not allow the club head to remain constant in the direction thereof when the golf club shaft is swung, thereby causing a disadvantage or problem in which the conventional golf club shaft can not achieve any shot precisely in the direction as intended.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide for a golf club shaft which allows an amateur golfer to perceive the torsional degree thereof while swinging it, thereby achieving a shot thereby precisely in the intended direction.


A high capacity satellite having a launch configuration in which one or more antenna reflectors may be stored forward of a forward surface of the spacecraft and an on-orbit configuration in which a reflector boom may be extended forward and rotated to place the one or more antenna reflectors outboard of the spacecraft main body and further forward of the forward surface of the spacecraft.

The assignee of the present invention manufactures and deploys spacecraft for, inter alia, communications and broadcast services. Market demands for such spacecraft have imposed increasingly stringent requirements on spacecraft payload operational capacity. For example, rigid antenna reflector systems characterized by large reflector apertures and long focal lengths are increasingly needed to improve payload operational capacity.
Launch vehicle compatibility is a second requirement faced by a spacecraft designer. The increased performance requirements are only advantageously met if compatibility with conventional, commercially available launch vehicles is maintained. Accordingly, a spacecraft, as configured for launch, is desirably made compatible with the mass and fairing envelope constraints of such launch vehicles as, for example, Ariane V, Atlas XEPF, Proton, and Sea Launch. Commonly-assigned patent application Ser. No. 13/101,944, titled "High Capacity Broadband Satellite", and Ser. No. 13/026,175, titled "Satellite Having Multiple Aspect Ratios," disclose additional information regarding the above-mentioned problems, and are hereby incorporated by reference in their entireties.
In view of the foregoing, there is a need for a spacecraft capable of supporting higher-gain rigid antenna reflector systems while still fitting within the fairing envelopes of existing launch vehicles.

Extendable antenna reflector deployment techniques


A method and apparatus of determining the size of particles executing Brownian motion is provided. An integrated fiber optic probe, including a length of a gradient index multimode optical fiber fusion spliced to a monomode optical fiber, delivers laser light to a scattering medium such that the light scattered in the backward direction is collected by another integrated fiber optic probe mounted into the same cylindrical housing. The scattered light, after conversion to a series of photoelectron pulses, is processed to determine the mean particle diameter. The temporal coherence of the scattered field from submicroscopic particles illuminated by laser light is a function of both the integration time and the particle diameter. The temporal degree of coherence of the time averaged scattered intensity decreases as the integration time increases. Statistical processing of the scattered photons leads to a new method of particle sizing, which circumvents the need for digital autocorrelation.

1. Field of the Invention
The field of the invention relates to integrated fiber optic based dynamic light scattering apparatus including an electronic processing system for the characterization of the size of the submicroscopic scatterers, including colloidal suspensions, polymers, and physiological structures such as proteins, a method of determining the size of such particles, and probes for detecting scattered light.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
Dynamic light scattering provides a temporal characterization of the scattering species executing Brownian motion; the scattering species are usually in the size range 3 nm to 3000 nm and can be colloidal particles, proteins, polymers or random phase fluctuations caused by density or temperature fluctuations. The technique requires coherent illumination and coherent detection from the scattering species. The accepted practice is to detect the scattered light as a series of photon events, which are processed using a real time digital correlator to yield an intensity autocorrelation. The intensity autocorrelation data, using suitable modeling, is inverted to yield a distribution of sizes or molecular weights. Correlation techniques have become the main stay of the state of art systems in use today. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,975,237 and 4,983,040 disclose systems using correlation techniques for analyzing light scattered by particles undergoing Brownian motion. The photons streams may, however, be processed using equivalent spectral estimation techniques. Both techniques require several minutes of data acquisition followed by several minutes of data analysis prior to displaying the distribution of sizes.
The known systems for determining the mean diameter of particles exhibiting Brownian motion are relatively expensive, and require hardware which may be too large in size for certain field uses. Digital correlation which is the most often used approach for the experimental investigation of stochastic systems, requires an expensive piece of hardware in the correlator. Systems including such correlators further require computers having sufficient computing power to perform the necessary mathematical calculations. While the use of a PC or laptop computer in a lab or other convenient setting is not a problem, transporting such equipment to more inhospitable areas can be a significant drawback.
Probes employed for illuminating particles and/or detecting light scattered thereby have included several designs. In accordance with one probe embodiment shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,155,549, both the transmitting and receiving fibers are coupled to a gradient index microlens. Such a microlens greatly increases the size of the probe, which may not be acceptable in certain circumstances. Alternative structures disclosed in the patent include a lensless probe, and one in which a microlens is formed on the end of the transmitting fiber either by dipping the fiber or by heating the fiber end such that the core thereof diffuses into the cladding. An integrated fiber optic probe used as a receiver of scattered light is disclosed in an article by Dhadwal et al., "Integrated fiber optic probe for dynamic light scattering", Applied Optics 32, 3901-3904 (1993). The probe includes a monomode fiber fusion spliced to a short length of graded-index multimode fiber. An unfocused, collimated laser beam was used to provide light to the sample cell.

Method and apparatus for submicroscopic particle sizing by measuring degree of coherence

The Research Foundation of State University of New York


A multi-processor system wherein two processors are connected through a dual port memory which receives from one of the processors an interruption request signal together with the data to be transmitted to the other processor. The dual port memory then generates an interrupt signal for the other processor so that the other processor can fetch the data from the dual port memory using an interrupt procedure. The one processor also receives the interrupt signal transmitted by the dual port memory in order to confirm the status of the interrupt signal generating function of the dual port memory.

Conventional multi-processor systems adapted to transmit data between a processor A and a processor B have a dual port memory (hereinafter referred to as the "DPM") which is a common memory accessible from both the processors A and B as desired for the transmission of data between the processors (Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 62-242268).
The DPM has the function of generating an interrupt signal for one of the processors in response to an interrupt request signal from the other processor.
The interrupt request to be made by the processor A for the processor A to communicate with the processor B is accomplished by the processor A by writing data at a specified address in the DPM. Upon the processor A writing the data at the specified address, the control circuit of the DPM, monitoring address signals from both the processors, feeds an interrupt signal to the processor B for the request of interrupt. Upon accepting the interrupt signal, the processor B performs its interrupt processing routine to read out the data from the address in the DPM.
However, the method employed by the conventional multi-processor system for detecting the malfunction of the DPM is merely such that one of the processors, when writing the specified data in the DPM, reads out the stored data to check whether it is identical with the specified data. Accordingly, despite the interrupt request made by the processor, the other processor is unable to recognize the request in the event of malfunctioning of the DPM. Further if the interrupt signal generating function of the DPM has failed, the DPM and both the processors are unable to check whether this function is faulty. Thus, the conventional system requires considerable time for trouble-shooting.

Multi-processor system for detecting a malfunction of a dual port memory


Apparatus is described for continuously producing finger jointed lumber from individual elongated boards. Each board includes opposed end faces with elongated parallel fingers that will mate with complementary fingers of a following board to form end-jointed lumber. A reciprocating ram engages one end of successive individual boards, pushing the board longitudinally along a path to a confining box. The ram retracts to engage a successive board along its end face to push it longitudinally into engagement with the board held by the confining box. The fingers of the engaging board ends mate within the confining box and are pressed together to complete a joint. The ram includes a ram face that is complementary to the finger configuration of the board ends to mate intimately with the board end. The ram face may be heated to apply heat to the successive board ends for glue curing purposes. The successively engaged boards are pressed firmly together to complete the joint by operation of the ram or by auxiliary moving clamp assemblies along the framework of the apparatus.

The present invention is related to apparatus for end joining successive board lengths to form a single elongated piece of lumber, and more particularly to such devices for end joining individual boards having parallel fingers cut or pressed into abutting opposed transverse ends thereof.
There are two basic forms of apparatus used for end gluing and finger jointing short pieces of wood in end-to-end relationships to make long length lumber. The first is distinguished by a "stop and go" assembly procedure, while the second makes use of a continuous assembly.
"Stop and go" assembly may involve apparatus for aligning short pieces of wood spaced several inches apart from one another. Adjacent pieces of wood are then held in rigid clamps during the machining of a fingered configuration in the opposing ends by use of tapered saws or cutter heads. The ends can also be formed by pressing them on a die. The fingered configurations of the ends are then coated with an adhesive and clamped. The adjacent pieces are subsequently moved (by moving one or both of the clamps) toward each other to mate or close the joint. Sufficient pressure is applied during the jointing step to obtain a good glue bond at the mating surfaces of the fingers. Alternatively, the finger configurations are first brought together and then clamped only during the curing time of the adhesive.
The main disadvantage with "stop and go" end gluing is that a considerable amount of time is required before the adhesive within the joint will cure sufficiently. Because the wood is basically stationary during the clamping time, "stop and go" assembly is necessarily characterized by unacceptably low volume production.
On the other hand, a primary advantage with the clamping "stop and go" method is that the wood pieces can be held in perfect alignment during machining and mating. Misalignment of the joint can usually be prevented, even if the wood is warped, bowed, cupped, twisted, or otherwise moderately crooked. The product is therefore straight, since offsets at the joint or other misalignment problems rarely occur. Another advantage of the "stop and go" apparatus is that very small, short fingers can be used in the joint due to the accurate control maintained during the joint mating step.
Apparatus for continuously assembling finger joints produces a continuous flow of wood pieces through various types of conveyors during the mating, end pressing and glue curing steps. The conveyors mate the end finger configurations of longitudinally moving pieces and then apply end pressure necessary for glue bonding by varying the speed and longitudinal movement of successive boards along the operating conveying surfaces. Cure of the adhesive is usually accomplished by continuing to move the newly mated joints through a radio frequency field. With such procedures, the machining of fingers and application of glue to the end surfaces precedes the mating step and is accomplished by unrelated machinery.
The main advantage demonstrated by continuous flow finger jointing apparatus is high speed, high volume production. However, the desirable features of accurate alignment and capability of operating with short fingers exhibited by the "stop and go" apparatus is sacrificed. Warp of any kind in the wood tends to cause misalignment of the joint. Offset at the joint, whether it be horizontal or vertical, frequently results in a joint being mismatched by one finger, crossover of a finger from one groove to another, or two fingers entering one groove. The result is a weak or defective joint.
The difficulty encountered in accurately mating finger joints by use of a continuous assembly apparatus is partially overcome by using joint designs that make use of relatively long fingers and wide finger "pitch" (the distance from one finger tip to the tip of an adjacent finger). The greater pitch creates a wider gap into which a mating finger tip can enter. However, long, wide pitch fingers are a disadvantage in that they waste valuable wood product removed by machining. Long fingers also tend to split more readily when high gluing end pressure is applied.
Another disadvantage encountered with continuous flow apparatus is that pressure is not applied in a direction perpendicular to the outermost fingers. The wedging action of the mating "V" shaped fingers tends to prevent good contact of the outer fingers as the glue cures. The result is frequent poor glue bonds between the outermost fingers and their mating surfaces. Poor glue joints between long finger joint designs represent a significant portion of the cross section of the finger jointed member and therefore substantially weaken the resulting board at the glue joint, particularly in the zone of highest bending stress concentration. If the outermost fingers are not properly bonded, especially in long joint designs, the result is a weak, non-structural end joint that cannot qualify for use as higher grades of structural lumber.
The present invention overcomes the main disadvantages of both types of existing apparatus for assembling finger jointed lumber. The apparatus disclosed herein makes use of a semicontinuous flow, combining advantages of precise joint mating and high volume production. It accepts boards for bonding in a system in which the machining of fingers and the application of glue have previously been carried out by conventional means.


A gun safety system for use with a gun having a barrel, a handle and a safety latch structured for movement from a first disabled position wherein the firing mechanism is inoperable to a second enabled position wherein the firing mechanism operable, comprising a substantially flat main housing attached to the gun handle over the safety latch and having voice and finger print sensing and verification circuitry and means for blocking access to the gun safety latch. The voice and finger print sensing and verification circuitry includes a sensing integrated circuit, having a finger print image surface matrix and a microphone sound sensor, and an authentication integrated circuit electrically interconnected to the sensing integrated circuit, structured to compare the gun user's voice pattern and finger print image to those stored in memory. The means for blocking the safety latch includes a bimetallic strip centrally disposed within a cavity, a capacitor electrically interconnected to a battery, the authentication integrated circuit and the strip, and a substantially flat blocking disk. The blocking disk is sized and shaped to cover access ports in the main housing so that in the absence of user authentication the safety latch is inaccessible. Upon user authentication, the blocking disk moves away from the access ports rendering the safety latch accessible.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to weapon safety devices, and more particularly, to a gun safety device which utilizes fingerprint and voice recognition to selectively enable operation and wireless means to disable operation and which is capable of maintaining usage history of the weapon.
2. Description of the Related Art
Over the past several years, the number of children killed by handguns has increased greatly. CNN and the National Center for Health Statistics reported that 5,285 children were killed by guns in 1995 (approximately 14 per day). A Department of Justice study revealed that approximately 13% of students say they know someone who brings guns to schools, while a separate study has revealed that nearly one million U.S. students brought guns to school during a recent academic year.
Often times, the children get the gun in their own homes. It is not uncommon for adults to keep loaded guns in their homes for security purposes. Frequently, such guns fall into the hands of their children or their children's friends, often times resulting in serious injury or death.
Although most guns include a safety latch to prevent accidental firing, they are designed to be easily unlatched so that the gun can be quickly enabled and fired. Thus, the safety latch, by itself, is not an effective deterrent to children.
Moreover, the safety latch, by itself, does not prevent unauthorized usage against the gun owner by an intruder who gains access to the gun. The intruder can merely slide the latch to the unlocked position and use the gun against its owner.
Several devices have been developed to address the need for a more effective safety device for weapons. For instance, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,467,545, 5,502,915 and 5,603,179 disclose gun safety devices using finger or hand print identification to identify authorized users and enable operation. Similarly, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,570,528 and 5,459,957 disclose gun safety devices using voice recognition circuitry to identify authorized users and enable operation.
Although useful for their intended purposes, these prior art devices have not proven to be entirely satisfactory. Specifically, these devices all utilize a solenoid, magnet or other electromechanical element coupled to the firing hammer or trigger to enable or disable firing of the gun. Thus, to utilize these prior art devices with existing guns, the guns must be disassembled to install the necessary hardware. Such disassembly, installation of the appropriate hardware and reassembly of the gun may be difficult to accomplish for many people, resulting in the safety device not being utilized.
Furthermore, these prior art devices are specifically designed so that upon fingerprint or voice authorization, the locking mechanism automatically unlocks allowing the gun to be immediately fired. Such an automatic firing ready feature may not always be desirable. For instance, if the device improperly disabled the safety mechanism, either because of a malfunction in the circuitry or because it incorrectly recognized a finger, hand or voice print, the gun will be fully enabled and ready to fire by merely pulling the trigger. Thus, it may be desirable to require further action, i.e., manual sliding of the safety latch, after authorization, before the gun may be fired.
Additionally, the prior art devices utilize only finger/hand print identification means or voice recognition means. However, there may be instances when both finger/hand print identification and voice recognition are desired before the device is enabled.
Also, these prior art devices do not include means for a third party, such as a law enforcement officer, to disable the gun in the event it is being used against such officer or another person.
Accordingly, there is still a need in the art for a gun safety device capable of using both finger/hand print identification and voice recognition means to identify authorized users and enable firing, which may be used with existing guns without disassembling the gun and which does not automatically allow the gun to be fired after authorization by merely pulling the trigger. Any such device should include means for remotely disabling the gun in the event it is being used against a law enforcement officer or another person. The present invention is particularly suited to overcome those problems which remain in the art in a manner not previously known.


The present application discloses an emission-control circuit for controlling light emission of an organic light emitting diode (OLED), including a light sensor configured to detect an intensity of emitted light of the OLED; a first thin-film transistor (TFT); a second TFT; a third TFT; a fourth TFT; a fifth TFT; a sixth TFT; a first capacitor, and a second capacitor.

Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED) display has been a focus of research in display technology. As compared to liquid-crystal display (LCD) apparatuses, OLED display apparatuses have many advantages such as low power consumption, low fabrication cost, self-illumination, a wider viewing angle and faster response. As such, OLED displays have found a wide range of applications such as in mobile phones, personal digital assistance (PDAs), digital cameras, televisions, tablet computers, and laptop computers.

Emission-control circuit, display apparatus having the same, and driving method thereof

BEIJING BOE OPTOELECTRONICS TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.


An actuator has a rotatable input member coupled to a drive member such that rotation of the rotatable input member under an input load causes rotation of the drive member on a first axis. The drive member is coupled to a driven member such that rotation of the drive member causes rotation of the driven member on a second axis which is laterally offset from the first axis. A coupling between the drive member and the driven member is arranged to provide a rotational reduction from the drive member to the driven member. The driven member is arranged for connection to a wire of a Bowden cable having a sleeve seatable in relation to a housing for the actuator such that rotation of the driven member causes extension or retraction of the cable. The braking means exerts a braking load on a braking surface of the actuator which is fixed relative to the housing and the braking means is arranged for cooperation with the drive member such that when a backdriving load is exerted through the Bowden cable wire to the driven member, tending to cause the driven member to rotate the drive member, the drive member cooperates with the braking means to increase the braking load to resist rotation of the drive member.

It is well known to provide adjustable lumbar supports in vehicle seats. Various different forms of adjustable lumbar supports exist and variation occurs both in the lumbar supports themselves and in the actuators that enable lumbar support adjustment.
Some manual actuators for lumbar supports include a rotatable knob which can be rotated both clockwise and anti-clockwise, in order to increase or decrease the extent of lumbar support. In some forms of this type of actuator, the mechanism of the actuator includes a braking function, to brake the actuator against backdriving from an adjusted position. The force applied to rotate the knob must be large enough both to overcome the braking load, as well as to perform the lumbar support adjustment. Because of this, the knob can be difficult to rotate. That difficulty can be accentuated as the knob is usually located in a confined position, such as on the side of the seat back, between the seat and the vehicle door frame.
Some lumbar support actuators are bulky, which can limit the seat designs with which they can be used. Also, many actuators require several revolutions of the knob to adjust the lumbar support between extreme positions.


An ultraviolet purification system in which ultraviolet radiation is generated by an ultraviolet lamp wherein the amount of ultraviolet radiation is varied in accordance with fluid flow. The intensity of the ultraviolet lamp is controlled by a circuit which is responsive to fluid flow for selectivity energizing the lamp to provide variable UV intensity output depending upon fluid flow. The circuit arrangement is such that the ultraviolet lamp is always started with a high current ballast. The selection of ultraviolet lamp intensity outputs according to fluid flow maximizes the useful life of the ultraviolet lamp and renders the system more efficient by reducing the amount of heat transmitted to the fluid being acted upon during periods of low flow or non-use.

Many systems have been developed to assist in the purification of water and other fluids. Many of these systems use active carbon filters or other filters of a mechanical nature to remove chemicals and other particular matter, including micro-organisms. Such filters, while capable of removing certain particular matter and chemicals, are not completely satisfactory for the purification of fluids and water containing bacteria type of contaminents.
It is well known that the exposure of water of fluids to ultraviolet radiation kills many micro-organisms and bacteria. One such ultraviolet purification system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,769,131 entitled "Ultraviolet Radiation Purification System," and issued on Sep. 6, 1988. This patent discloses a water purification system using an ultraviolet lamp, and it is directed to two independent fluid conduits that are coiled about an ultraviolet lamp. The conduits are transparent permitting the ultraviolet energy to radiate the fluid flowing within the two conduits. Accordingly, any micro-organisms or bacteria present in the fluid so treated will be killed. In order to kill the micro-organisms contaminating water, a specific quantity or level of ultra-violet radiation must be maintained in order to effectively rid the contaminating micro-organisms from fluid or water being treated. The lamp, therefore, must provide the optimum amount of ultraviolet energy to kill the micro-organisms during the maximum rated fluid flow.
Heretofore, in ultraviolet water purification systems, in order to maintain the system in its optimum purification mode of operation, the energy source, i.e. the ultraviolet lamp was operated at its optimum operating mode regardless of the amount of fluid flow. Thus, at low flow or not flow rate, the ultraviolet lamp was maintained in its operating mode. The ultraviolet energy source or lamp was so maintained because the cycling of the lamp between "on" and "off" materially affected or shortened the useful life of the lamp.
In systems where the fluid flow was subjected to frequent intermittent flow operation, e.g. drinking water and/or other types of demand use situations, it was noted that the heat generated by the energized ultraviolet lamp source would be transmitted to the fluid or liquid being treated. In a low flow or no flow situation, the standing or slow moving water in the vicinity of the U.V. source or lamp would become highly heated, a very undesirable situation in the case of drinking water. The problem is even more aggrevated during long periods of non flow of such water or fluid.
In applications involving frequent uses for short durations, the cycling on and off of the ultraviolet lamp has proven to shorten the lamp's life. Therefore, it is advantageous to eliminate as much as possible, the on and off cycling of the UV lamp.
In other systems, e.g. as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,767,932, successive banks of ultraviolet lamps were disposed in the path of fluid flow wherein the amount of ultraviolet radiation generated was determined by the number of lamp banks that were energized in accordance to fluid flow. Systems of this type have been utilized to treat waste fluids. In such systems, it was still necessary to subject the lamp to an on-off cycle, even though the lamps were actuated in banks.

Ultraviolet water purification system with variable intensity control


A spintronic generator that provides electrical power with the motive force of natural electron spin. The utilization of natural electron spin can be enhanced with carefully matched materials, weights, and magnetic waveforms which provide precise pulsed frequencies in resonance with the materials. This resonance of the magnetic pulses provides clean abundant power. A utilization of the Zero Point Energy results in a local environment temperature drop which can be one of the sources of motive force. The harvesting of electricity can be in standard induction pick up coils controlled by direct current motor controllers using an LRC tank circuit.

The Searl Effect provides a way for extracting clean and sustainable electrical energy. The Searl Effect Generator provides three uniquely magnetized fixed stator rings having patterns setup to generate continual motion of similarly magnetized cylindrical rollers. The rollers have both freedom of spin and rotation around the stator which generates both mechanical and electrical power.


The method which is applicable to the inspection of bobbins of yarn of any size, color and material, is based on the acquisition of images of the surface of the bobbin and on their processing by a computer program in order to evaluate defects, and comprises various steps of exploring the bobbin (1) taking a plurality of images of various areas of said bobbin, each step occurring under specific conditions of lighting and relative position of particular image sensors (3, 4) in order to identify specific defects, displacing either the bobbin (1) or the image acquisition device (3, 4), or bot to explore, sector by sector, the whole surface of interest, each of the focused images, related to a particular defect being processed individually by the evaluation program.

Several embodiments are known in the state of the art which are applied to detect defects in yarn bobbins.
Japanese patent application 62-62938 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,138,151 disclose methods for detecting based on sensors for acquiring image by line by line reading, provided to give rise to a station embedded in a line to transfer bobbins toward a storage or service area.
This prior art methods have the main drawback that for localizing a defect it requires two or three acquisitions of the image sensor, its use meaning in addition limitations as for the bobbin colour and/or material, which make the general use of this method difficult which is mainly useful for direct reflection bobbins. In addition, as this kind of sensors only read one line, the encompassed field is then very restricted and the shots have to be performed at points very near to achieve effective results.
On the other hand, Japanese patent application 134105 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,359,408 disclose devices for inspecting spinning bobbins comprising a matrix type camera image acquisition means, the later of these background disclosing arrangements applied for detecting different defects with the use of several types of lighting sources such as ultraviolet rays, fluorescent or other.
However in said prior art patents the possibility is not contemplated to perform a complete scanning of all the bobbin surfaces, carrying out an inspection of multiple and different defects, which occurs in some cases twice or more times and by means of one or two stations embedded in a conveyor line of recently produced bobbins with the peculiarity that it is adaptable to different bobbin sizes and regardless the bobbin colour and material characteristics be.
There are not either disclosed in the state of the art the series of arrangements relative to image acquisition sensors and lighting sources this invention proposes and which namely provides with an effect of field depth such it allows to accurately focus the defects at each scanned sector which significantly facilitates their identification.

Method for inspecting spinning bobbins and system for implementing such method


A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device includes forming a gate insulating film over a semiconductor substrate, forming a silicon film over the gate insulating film, forming a resist pattern over the silicon film, etching the silicon film to form a protrusion portion of the silicon film, forming a dummy film over the silicon film, etching the dummy film so that the dummy film is partially remained on sidewalls of the protrusion portion, etching the silicon film using the remaining dummy film to form a gate electrode, and performing ion implantation into the semiconductor substrate to form source/drain regions.

A MOS transistor is formed by a process including forming a polysilicon gate electrode by patterning, performing ion implantation into a silicon substrate to form extension regions, forming sidewall spacers on sidewalls of the gate electrode, performing ion implantation into the silicon substrate to form source/drain regions, forming silicide regions over the source/drain regions and the gate electrode, depositing an interlayer insulating film thereon, forming contact holes reaching the source/drain regions through the interlayer insulating film, and burying conductive plugs in the contact holes.
Concomitant with an improvement in degree of integration of integrated semiconductor devices, the degree of integration of MOS transistors per unit area is improved, and there has been improvement in microfabrication techniques. The wiring interval is decreased compared to that in the past, and positioning margin in exposure also tends to be decreased. The pitch between adjacent gate electrodes is also decreased, for example, to approximately 200 nm.
When the distance between the gate electrode and each of the conductive plugs connected to the source/drain regions is decreased, displacement of the conductive plugs may cause electrical leakage or short circuit between the gate electrode and the source/drain regions.
A process of forming silicide regions on the source/drain regions and the gate electrode is an important process for reducing electrical resistance. A top portion of the gate electrode is expanded also in a lateral direction by a silicide reaction. By this expansion, the distance between the gate electrode and each of the conductive plugs connected to the source/drain regions is decreased, and as a result, the probability of occurrence of leakage and/or short circuit increases.
In order to manufacture a microfabricated MOS transistor with high reliability, various research and development activities have been carried out, and techniques have been disclosed, for example, in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication Nos. 11-238879 and 2008-78403.
In a semiconductor device including a microfabricated MOS transistor, it has been desired that leakage and/or short circuit between the gate electrode and source/drain regions be suppressed.

Method of manufacturing semiconductor device


In a method and apparatus for the correction of image data dynamically acquired with a magnetic resonance imaging method, a reliable B0 field map is recorded as a basic reference field map. Image data (VB) with distorted coordinates are also acquired over a predefined recording time. In addition, a set of distorted, dynamically obtained B0 field maps is acquired during the recording time. Incorrect B0 field maps are identified by comparison of the dynamically obtained B0 field maps with the basic reference field map, and the set of distorted, dynamically obtained B0 field maps is corrected accordingly. The acquired image data with distorted coordinates are corrected with the use of the corrected set of distorted, dynamically obtained B0 field maps.

Field of the Invention
The invention concerns a method for the correction of image data dynamically acquired with a magnetic resonance imaging method. The invention also relates to an image correcting device for a magnetic resonance scan. The invention also relates to a magnetic resonance system.
The invention makes reference to co-pending U.S. application Ser. No. 14/932,235, filed Nov. 4, 2014, corresponding to German patent application no. 102014222495.0. The content of the co-pending United States application is incorporated herein by reference.
Description of the Prior Art and Related Subject Matter
In what is known as Echo Planar Imaging (EPI) a number of phase-encoded echoes is used to fill a slice in k-space, also called a raw data matrix. The basic idea of this technique is to generate a series of echoes in readout gradients, after an individual (selective) RF excitation, which is allocated by a suitable modulation of the phase-encoding gradient to different lines in k-space plane. In this way, for example, a whole slice can be detected with a single RF excitation.
Due to the long echo train, particularly in the case of echo planar imaging additional geometric distortions, such as elongations or compressions, occur in the image. These will be called distortions below.
As described in detail in the aforementioned co-pending application Ser. No. 14/932,235, these artifacts can be eliminated inter alia by retrospective methods. These intervene in the reconstruction process only after recording of the raw data. With this type of post-processing method a separate field map, also called a B0 field map, is conventionally recorded which may be present either in undistorted coordinates or in distorted coordinates.
B0 field maps indicate the spatial distribution of what are known as off-resonance frequencies. Off-resonance frequencies should be taken to mean frequency shifts of the scan signals which occur due to the susceptibility jumps and external magnetic field inhomogeneities.
As described in detail in co-pending application Ser. No. 14/932,235, there exist both various types of B0 field maps (distorted and undistorted) and a wide variety of correction algorithms. These algorithms are each fixed to a one type of B0 field map. Since both field map types and the correction algorithms have different advantages and disadvantages, a flexible combination of any field maps with any algorithms is desirable. One possibility of converting field maps into each other is described in detail in co-pending application Ser. No. 14/932,235.
Due to external influences, heating of the system or patient movement the actual field distribution with respect to the original distribution detected in a field map can change with time. It is precisely with relatively long recording periods that dynamic updating of the field maps is therefore desirable, so that the geometric distortion correction does not lead to incorrect results.
A dynamic correction with the use of distorted field maps can be implemented in that one up-to-date field map respectively is created during the course of a continuous EPI recording from two repeated slice recordings respectively with the aid of the PLACE method. Since the image phase in the two slice recordings is affected differently by said dynamic influences, for example breathing, and the PLACE method is based on the phase difference between the two recordings, inaccuracies can occur during recording of the updated B0 field maps.
If undistorted B0 field maps are acquired on the basis of gradient echo recordings, admittedly these inaccuracies do not occur, but gradient echo recordings are not suitable for integration in a continuous image recording since they require a great deal of time. For this reason undistorted field maps are only carried out as a pre-scan, but are not suitable for carrying out an update during the image recording.

Method and apparatus for dynamic distortion correction of magnetic resonance image recordings


Systems and methods are presented to achieve crosstalk-free all-to-all exchange in optical multistage self-routing networks. The approach involves the computation of a Latin square and the subsequent decomposition of its rows to semi-permutations. Processors may then send messages to other processors in accord with these semi-permutations.

This application relates to the field of parallel computing and networking, and more specifically to all-to-all personalized exchange in multistage networks.
Communication among processors may be a design issue when, for example, a parallel processing system is built, or a parallel procedure is designed. With advances in silicon and Gaxe2x80x94As technologies, processor speed may soon reach the gigahertz (GHz) range. Traditional metal-based communication technology used in parallel computing systems is becoming a potential bottleneck. Progress in the traditional interconnects, or to in the new interconnect technologies, such as optics, would be well received in the parallel computing systems community.
Advances in electro-optic technologies have made optical communication a promising networking choice to meet the increasing demands for high channel bandwidth and low communication latency of high-performance computing/communication applications. Fiber optic communications offer a combination of high bandwidth, low error probability, and gigabit transmission capacity. They have been extensively used in wide-area networks and have received much attention in the parallel processing community as well. In fact, many commercial, massively parallel computers, such as the Cray C90, use optical technology in their communication subsystems.
Using new optical technologies in parallel computers may require us to reexamine the design of interconnection networks, and use of parallel processing procedures. Exploring the capabilities of the optical technology may involve a careful analysis of the properties of optics, a proposal of new performance measures, a design of new interconnection networks and routing procedures, and new parallel processing application procedures.
Multistage interconnection networks (MINs), hereafter also referred to as multistage networks, have been used for interconnecting purposes in parallel computing systems. A MIN can be blocking, such as a Banyan network, rearrangeably non-blocking, such as a Benes network, non-blocking, such as crossbar. Additionally, a MIN may have variably connecting capabilities, from rearrangeable for permutation to non-blocking for multicast, such as in a Clos-network, depending on the number of stages, the number of switches, the switch capability, and the interconnection patterns used between stages.
As optical technology advances, there has been a growing interest in using optical technology for implementing interconnection networks and switches. Although electronic MINs and optical MINs have many similarities, here are some fundamental differences between them. Because of some unique properties of optics, traditional routing procedures and results may not be applicable here. New research addressing optical MINs may be useful.
In the communication pattern known as all-to-all personalized exchange, every processor in a processor group sends a distinct message to every other processor in the group. All-to-all personalized exchange occurs in many important parallel computing/networking applications, such as matrix transposition and fast Fourier transform (FFT).
The issue of realizing all-to-all personalized exchange in optical multistage networks is examined below. A basic element of optical switching networks is a directional coupler with two inputs and two outputs (hereafter referred to simply as switches). Depending on the control voltage applied to it, an input optical signal is coupled to either of the two outputs, setting the switch to either the parallel or the crossing state. A class of topologies that can be used to construct optical networks is multistage interconnection networks (MINs), which interconnect their inputs and outputs via several stages of switches.
Advances in electro-optic technologies have made optical communication a promising networking choice to meet the increasing demands for high channel bandwidth and low communication latency of high-performance computing/communication applications. Although optical multistage networks hold great promise and have demonstrated advantages over their electronic counterpart, they also introduce new challenges such as how to deal with the unique problem of avoiding crosstalk in the optical switches, which may occur when two signal channels in a switch interact with each other.
There are two ways in which optical signals can interact in a planar switching network. The channels carrying the signals may cross each other in order to embed a particular topology. Alternatively, two paths sharing a switch may experience some undesired coupling from one path to another within a switch. It would be desirable to achieve optical exchange in multistage networks in a manner that reduces crosstalk.
Methods and systems are presented below involving optical multistage interconnection networks (MiNs). Although optical MINs hold great promise and have demonstrated advantages over their electronic counterparts, they also present their own problems. Due to certain optical properties, crosstalk in optical switches should be avoided if they are to work efficiently. The concept of a semi-permutation is introduced to analyze the permutation capability of optical MINs under the constraint of avoided crosstalk in several types of MINs. In particular, an optimal scheme for realizing crosstalk-free all-to-all personalized exchange in a class of unique-path, self-routing optical multistage networks is presented.
The basic idea of realizing all-to-all personalized exchange in such a multistage network is to transform it to a collection of the above-mentioned semi-permutations. Each of the semi-permutations can be realized crosstalk-free in a single pass (i.e., in a single, concurrent exchange of signals) and can take advantage of pipelined message transmission in consecutive passes.
More specifically, a method for crosstalk-free all-to-all exchange in an optical multistage network having inputs and outputs coupled to processors is presented. The method comprises sending messages between the processors in multiple passes, wherein, in each of the multiple passes, each of the processors transmits, in one-to-one fashion, a message to one of the processors by way of the inputs and outputs, in accord with semi-permutations decomposed from permutations corresponding to rows of a matrix. The optical multistage network may be one of a baseline network, omega network, Banyan network, and their reverse networks.
In each of the multiple passes, each of the processors may transmit, in one-to-one fashion, a message to one of the processors by way of the inputs and outputs, in accord with semi-permutations decomposed from permutations corresponding to rows of a Latin square. The semi-permutations may be obtained by computing two input sets.
A method is also presented for crosstalk-free all-to-all exchange in an optical multistage network having n inputs and n outputs coupled to n processors, where n xcex5{2, 4, 8, 16, . . . } and wherein each of the n processors is connected to one of the n inputs and one of the n outputs, comprising computing a Latin square having n rows and n columns; associating the n rows with n admissible permutations, each of the n admissible permutations being a one-to-one mapping from N={0,1, . . . ,nxe2x88x921} to itself; for j a member of the set {1, 2, . . . , n}, decomposing a jth permutation, from among the n admissible permutations, into two semi-permutations, one of the two semi-permutations, s(j), being a restriction of said mapping to a subset, S(j), of N having n/2 elements, and another of the two semi-permutations, t(j), being a restriction of said mapping to a subset, T(j), of N where T(j) is a complement N S(j); sending n/2 messages in a (2jxe2x88x921)th pass, and n/2 messages in a (2j)th pass, each of the messages departing from one of the n processors, traveling through one of the n inputs and one of the n outputs, and arriving at one of the n processors, wherein a kth processor from among the n processors sends a message to an Ith processor from among the n processors in the (2j-1)th pass if, and only if, s(j)(k)=1, and a qth processor from among the n processors sends a message to an rth processor from among the n processors in the (2j)th pass if, and only if, t(j)(q)=r, and for different j=1, . . . ,n, repeating said step of decomposing a jth permutation from among the n admissible permutations until all of the n admissible permutations have been decomposed; for different j=1, . . . ,n, repeating the step of sending n/2 messages in a (2jxe2x88x921)th pass, and n/2 messages in a (2j)th pass until n2 messages have been sent, and 2n passes have occurred, corresponding to 2n decompositions of the n admissible permutations.
Computing a Latin square having n rows and n columns may include computing a Latin square off-line. The optical multistage network may be one of a baseline network, omega network, Banyan network, and their reverse networks. The optical multistage network may include m=log2 n stages, each having one switch with two switch settings, interspersed by mxe2x88x921 interstage links, wherein computing a Latin square may include computing a Latin square so that each of the n rows corresponds, in one-to-one fashion, with a configuration of switch settings. The method may further comprise composing each of the n admissible permutations as a composition of 2mxe2x88x921 permutations, a jth permutation from among the n admissible permutations composed as
"sgr"(j)mxe2x88x921xcfx80(j)mxe2x88x922"sgr"(j)mxe2x88x922 . . . xcfx80(j)0"sgr"(j)0,
such that to each of the m stages there is associated a stage permutation and to each of the mxe2x88x921 interstage links there is associated an interstage link permutation, where the stage permutation corresponding to the jth permutation from among the n admissible permutations, and associated with an ith stage is denoted by "sgr"(j)i, with i=1, . . . , m, and the interstage link permutation corresponding to the jth permutation from among the n admissible permutations, and associated with an ith interstage link is denoted by xcfx80(j)i, with i=1, . . . , mxe2x88x921.
Also presented below is a method of achieving all-to-all crosstalk-free exchange in an optical multistage network, said network having an even number, nxe2x89xa72, of processors, comprising computing an nxc3x97n matrix   "AutoLeftMatch"      [                                        a                          0              ,              0                                                            a                          0              ,              1                                                …                                      a                          0              ,                              n                -                1                                                                                a                          1              ,              0                                                            a                          1              ,              1                                                …                                      a                          1              ,                              n                -                1                                                                          ⋮                          ⋮                          ⋮                          ⋮                                                  a                                          n                -                1                            ,              0                                                            a                                          n                -                1                            ,              1                                                …                                      a                                          n                -                1                            ,                              n                -                1                                                          ]
such that each entry of the matrix is chosen from the set N={0,1, . . . , nxe2x88x921}, and such that the members of each row equals the set N, and the members of each column equals the set N; mapping the matrix to a column vector of permutations,   "AutoLeftMatch"      [                                        ρ                          (              0              )                                                                        ρ                          (              1              )                                                            ⋮                                                  ρ                          (                              n                -                1                            )                                            ]
where a jth entry of the column vector of permutations, xcfx81(j), is given by       (                            0                          1                          2                          …                                      n            -            1                                                            a                          j              ,              0                                                            a                          j              ,              1                                                            a                          j              ,              2                                                …                                      a                          j              ,                              n                -                1                                                          )    ;
decomposing each permutation, xcfx81(j), into two semi-permutations, s(j), and t(j), each of which can be realized crosstalk-free, given by             s              (        j        )              =                  (                                                            b                                  j                  ,                  0                                                                                b                                  j                  ,                  1                                                                    …                                                      b                                  j                  ,                                                            n                      /                      2                                        -                    1                                                                                c                                  j                  ,                  0                                                                                c                                  j                  ,                  1                                                                    …                                                      c                                  j                  ,                                                            n                      /                      2                                        -                    1                                                                                )                          xe2x80x83                          and                                t                  (          j          )                    =              (                                                            d                                  j                  ,                  0                                                                                d                                  j                  ,                  1                                                                    …                                                      d                                  j                  ,                                                            n                      /                      2                                        -                    1                                                                                e                                  j                  ,                  0                                                                                e                                  j                  ,                  1                                                                    …                                                      e                                  j                  ,                                                            n                      /                      2                                        -                    1                                                                                )              ,
where s(j) is a restriction of the permutation xcfx81(j) to a subset, S(j), of N having n/2 elements, and t(j) is a restriction of the permutation xcfx81(j) to a subset, T(j), of N where T(j) is a complement N S(j); in a first pass, sending messages from processor b0j to processor c0j for j=0, . . . , n/2xe2x88x921; in a second pass, sending messages from d0j to processor e0j for j=0, . . . , n/2xe2x88x921; in a third pass, sending messages from processor b1j to processor c1j for j=0, . . . , n/2xe2x88x921; and in a fourth pass, sending messages from d1j to processor e1j for j=0, . . . , n/2xe2x88x921.
Also presented below is a method of achieving all-to-all crosstalk-free exchange in an optical multistage network, said network having an even number, nxe2x89xa72, of processors, comprising computing an nxc3x97n matrix   "AutoLeftMatch"      [                                        a                          0              ,              0                                                            a                          0              ,              1                                                …                                      a                          0              ,                              n                -                1                                                                                a                          1              ,              0                                                            a                          1              ,              1                                                …                                      a                          1              ,                              n                -                1                                                                          ⋮                          ⋮                          ⋮                          ⋮                                                  a                                          n                -                1                            ,              0                                                            a                                          n                -                1                            ,              1                                                …                                      a                                          n                -                1                            ,                              n                -                1                                                          ]
such that each entry of the matrix is chosen from the set N={0,1, . . . , nxe2x88x921}, and such that the members of each row equals the set N, and the members of each column equals the set N; mapping the matrix to a column vector of permutations   "AutoLeftMatch"      [                                        ρ                          (              0              )                                                                        ρ                          (              1              )                                                            ⋮                                                  ρ                          (                              n                -                1                            )                                            ]
where a jth entry of the column vector of permutations, xcfx81(j), is given by       (                            0                          1                          2                          …                                      n            -            1                                                            a                          j              ,              0                                                            a                          j              ,              1                                                            a                          j              ,              2                                                …                                      a                          j              ,                              n                -                1                                                          )    ;
decomposing each permutation, xcfx81(j), into two semi-permutations, s(j), and t(j), each of which can be realized crosstalk-free, given by             s              (        j        )              =                  (                                                            b                                  j                  ,                  0                                                                                b                                  j                  ,                  1                                                                    …                                                      b                                  j                  ,                                                            n                      /                      2                                        -                    1                                                                                c                                  j                  ,                  0                                                                                c                                  j                  ,                  1                                                                    …                                                      c                                  j                  ,                                                            n                      /                      2                                        -                    1                                                                                )                          xe2x80x83                          and                                t                  (          j          )                    =              (                                                            d                                  j                  ,                  0                                                                                d                                  j                  ,                  1                                                                    …                                                      d                                  j                  ,                                                            n                      /                      2                                        -                    1                                                                                e                                  j                  ,                  0                                                                                e                                  j                  ,                  1                                                                    …                                                      e                                  j                  ,                                                            n                      /                      2                                        -                    1                                                                                )              ,
where s(j) is a restriction of the permutation xcfx81(j) to a subset, S(j), of N having n/2 elements, and t(j) is a restriction of the permutation xcfx81(j) to a subset, T(j), of N where T(j) is a complement N S(j); in a (2ixe2x88x921)th pass, sending messages from processor bixe2x88x921, j to processor cixe2x88x921, j for j=0, . . . , n/2xe2x88x921, for i=1, . . . , n; in a (2i)th pass, sending messages from dixe2x88x921, j to processor eixe2x88x921, j for j=0, . . . , n/2xe2x88x921, for i=1, . . . , n.
A system for all-to-all crosstalk-free exchange is also presented below that includes an optical multistage network associated with a Latin square having n columns and n rows, wherein the optical multistage network includes an even number, nxe2x89xa72, of processors coupled to said processors; instructions for said processors to associate the n rows with n admissible permutations, each of the n admissible permutations being a one-to-one mapping from N={0,1, . . . , nxe2x88x921} to itself; for j a member of the set {1, 2, . . . , n}, instructions for said processors to decompose a jth permutation from among the n admissible permutations into two semi-permutations, one of the two semi-permutations, s(j), being a restriction of said mapping to a subset, S(j), of N having n/2 elements, and another of the two semi-permutations, t(j), being a restriction of said mapping to a subset, T(j), of N where T(j) is a complement N S(j); instructions for said processors to initiate the transmittal of n/2 messages in a (2jxe2x88x921)th pass, and n/2 messages in a (2j)th pass, each of the messages departing from one of the n processors, traveling through one of the n inputs and one of the n outputs, and arriving at one of the n processors, wherein a kth processor from among the n processors sends a message to an Ith processor from among the n processors in the (2jxe2x88x921)th pass if. and only if, s(j)(k)=1, and a qth processor from among the n processors sends a message to an rth processor from among the n processors in the (2j)th pass if, and only if, t(j)(q)=r; and for different j=1, . . . , n, instructions for said processors to continue to decompose a jth permutation from among the n admissible permutations until all of the n admissible permutations have been decomposed; and for different j=1, . . . , n, instructions for said processors to continue to send n/2 messages in a (2jxe2x88x921)th pass, and n/2 messages in a (2j)th pass until n2 messages have been sent, and 2n passes have occurred, corresponding to 2n decompositions of the n admissible permutations.
The optical multistage network may include one of a Banyan network, an omega network, a baseline network, and their reverse networks. The instructions for the processors to decompose a jth permutation from among the n admissible permutations into two semi-permutations may include computing two input sets in a time of the order O(n).
A system for crosstalk-free all-to-all exchange in an optical multistage network is also presented that comprises processors; and instructions for said processors to send messages between the processors in multiple passes, wherein, in each of the multiple passes, each of the processors transmits, in one-to-one fashion, a message to one of the processors in accord with semi-permutations decomposed from permutations corresponding to rows of a matrix. The matrix may be a Latin square.
The instructions for said processors to send messages between the processors may include instructions to compute input sets from which the semi-permutations may be obtained in a time on the order of O(n) where the Latin square is an nxc3x97n matrix. Instructions may be included to compute two input sets from which the semi-permutations may be obtained.

Optimal all-to-all personalized exchange in optical multistage networks


A drive mechanism for a neutron absorbing bar of a liquid cooled nuclear reactor has a drive shaft movable within upper internals and a shock absorber. The shock absorber has a hydraulic cylinder arranged to bear on the upper internals, formed with a bore comprising an upper portion of larger diameter provided with discharge holes spaced longitudinally along the bore and with a lower portion of smaller diameter, a piston, movable within and along the cylinder, having a diameter corresponding to that of the upper portion and defining a shock absorbing chamber with the upper portion, the chamber having exhaust means comprising the discharge holes located to be progressively covered by the piston during downward movement thereof within the cylinder, and a resetting spring biasing the piston towards a top position where it uncovers the discharge holes. The shaft passes through the piston and is arranged for forcing the piston down into the cylinder upon downward movement of the shaft in the upper internals beyond a predetermined level.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to drive mechanisms for controlling vertically movable bars in liquid-cooled nuclear reactors. It particularly relates to a mechanism comprising a rod supporting the bar and movable vertically in the fixed internal equipment of the reactor and a device for absorbing the shock of the fall of the rod, with hydraulic cylinder and a piston. It is particularly, although not exclusively, for use in pressurized water moderated and cooled reactors.
2. Prior Art
Drive mechanisms of the above-defined type have been used in nuclear reactors. The bar is generally formed of a "spider" with arms radiating from a pommel and absorbent rods fixed to the arms and containing neutronic poison. Movement of the bars makes it possible to control the reactivity in the core of the reactor. For an emergency shutdown of the reactor, all bars are inserted simultaneously by releasing their drive mechanisms so that the bars fall under the action of their own weight. The purpose of the shock absorbing device is to dampen the shock when the pommel comes into abutment against the upper core plate of the reactor or against the upper end piece of the fuel assembly with which the bar is associated.
Most shock absorbing devices have insufficient efficiency and/or oppose an excessive pressure loss to the flow of the cooling fluid. Referring to EP-A-159,509 for example, a control bar has a shock absorbing device consisting of a cylinder formed in the pommel and in which slides a piston biased into a downward projecting position by resilient means contained in the cylinder. Braking by compression of the spring and throttling of the liquid driven out of the cylinder through the clearance between the piston and cylinder varies during the stroke, which adversely affects the efficiency; the volume of the shock absorber must remain small, which makes it impossible to give it a long stroke.

Shock absorbing drive mechanism for nuclear reactor absorbing bars


A garden hose assembly includes an elongated and flexible tubular member that includes an open first end, an open second end and a peripheral wall extending between the first and second open ends. A cross-section taken traversely to a longitudinal axis of the tubular member has a generally oblong shape when the tubular member is filled with a fluid and a substantially flattened shape when the tubular member is not filled with a fluid. The tubular member has an outer surface colored a fluorescent color. A threaded female coupler is fluidly coupled to the first end and a threaded male coupler is fluidly coupled to the second end.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to garden hose devices and more particularly pertains to a new garden hose device for providing a high visibility to a garden hose which is positioned on a ground surface.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The use of garden hose devices is known in the prior art. While these devices fulfill their respective, particular objectives and requirements, garden hoses have always presented a tripping danger for person not seeing the garden hose. The need remains for a device that retains a low profile while also providing high visibility to prevent a person from tripping over the hose.


A Petunia plant particularly distinguished by its pale lavender pink flower color and creeping, mounding habit.

Petunia hybrida.
xe2x80x98Kakegawa S29xe2x80x99.
The present invention comprises a new and distinct cultivar of Petunia, botanically known as Petunia hybrida, and hereinafter referred to by the cultivar name xe2x80x98Kakegawa S29xe2x80x99. xe2x80x98Kakegawa S29xe2x80x99 originated from a hybridization made in 1997 in Kakegawa, Japan. The male parent was a phenotypically fixed F3 selection from a cross made in 1994 between two breeding lines, 4UK-1 and P-1a. The female parent of xe2x80x98Kakegawa S29xe2x80x99 was an F5 selection known as 89S-829-1a-1a-1a-1, originating from a dwarf multiflora breeding gene pool. F1 seed was obtained from this cross in 1997.
Two hundred F1 plants from the 1997 cross were transplanted to a field in Salinas, Calif. during the summer of 1998. Three lines were selected and vegetatively propagated for further evaluation. The three lines were propagated again in 1999, and evaluated for fixed characteristics and ease of propagation. Final selection of one line from the three was made during the summer of 1999. The line was established as xe2x80x98Kakegawa S29xe2x80x99, and determined to have its characteristics firmly fixed.
The terminal 1.0 to 1.5 inches of an actively growing stem was excised. The vegetative cuttings were propagated in five to six weeks. The base of the cuttings were dipped for 1 to 2 seconds in a 1:9 solution of Dip ""n Grow(copyright) (1 solution:9 water) root inducing solution immediately prior to sticking into the cell trays. Cuttings were stuck into plastic cell trays having 98 cells, and containing a moistened peat moss-based growing medium. The cuttings were misted with water from overhead for 10 seconds every 30 minutes until sufficient roots were formed.
xe2x80x98Kakegawa S29xe2x80x99 has been found to retain its distinctive characteristics after two years and four cycles of vegetative propagation and this novelty is firmly fixed. The variety has demonstrated stability during this time and has no inherent variation or off-types.

Petunia plant named xe2x80x98Kakegawa S29xe2x80x99


Biometric data is collected to obtain more detailed, connected, and reliable feedback data from users of an interactive software system that has a more empirical and objective basis. The biometric data is then used to create emotional pattern predictive model data representing emotional pattern predictive models associated with users of the interactive software system. The individual emotional pattern predictive models associated with multiple users of the interactive software system are then analyzed and processed to generate emotional pattern profile data for categories of users. These biometric data based predictive models are then used for targeted product diagnosis, targeted interventions, targeted marketing/upsell attempts, and grouping and analysis of feedback and user categories and feedback sources.

Interactive software systems are diverse and valuable tools, providing services that were either never before available, or were previously available only through interaction with a human professional. For example, an interactive software system may provide tax preparation or financial management services. Prior to the advent of interactive software systems, a user would be required to consult with a tax preparation or financial management professional for services and the user would be limited, and potentially inconvenienced, by the hours during which the professional was available for consultation. Furthermore, the user might be required to travel to the professional's physical location. Beyond the inconveniences of scheduling and travel, the user would also be at the mercy of the professional's education, skill, personality, and varying moods. All of these factors resulted in a user experience vulnerable to human error and variations in human ability and temperament.
In contrast, interactive software systems offer many benefits, including, but not limited to: the interactive software system does not have limited working hours, is not geographically limited, and is not subject to human error or variations in human ability or temperament.
Although interactive software systems represent a potentially flexible, highly accessible, and affordable source of services, they do have several significant shortcomings. One significant shortcoming of currently available interactive software systems is that because there is generally no human service representative interaction with the user of the interactive software system, it is difficult to obtain the type of visual and verbal feedback that is associated with human interaction, e.g., with a human tax or financial management specialist. This lack of detailed feedback and real-time interaction can result in less than ideal interactive software system capabilities, support systems, and user experience.
For instance, the features and operation of any interactive software system must be updated and improved to meet the needs of its current users, and to attract new users. However, in order to improve the features and operation of an interactive software system, detailed feedback must be obtained from users regarding specific issues with specific features or operations. Consequently, it is crucial for product development and customer care teams associated with an interactive software system to gather customer feedback on the interactive software system to address any identified shortcomings in the interactive software system as soon as possible, and as accurately as possible. However, currently, interactive software systems, such as tax preparation systems, largely rely on surveys to gather product feedback. Unfortunately, survey-based product feedback has several drawbacks that limit its effectiveness including, but not limited to: insufficient detail regarding the issue encountered, why it is an issue, and what the user would like to see done; lack of focus and general comments that provide no connection between the feedback/comments and specific operations and/or features of the interactive software system; generally subjective and emotion driven feedback that does not provide enough detail regarding why the user dislikes a given feature or operation and what emotion the feature or operation provokes in the user; and the notoriously low user participation in the survey process due to its generally burdensome requirement to enter data after the interview and interaction with the interactive software system is complete.
Another shortcoming of currently available interactive software systems is the placement and utilization of customer support and intervention systems associated with traditional interactive software systems. These services are currently provided in a highly generic way with the support and/or intervention services being offered automatically, if at all, at points within the interactive software system where support is predicted to be desired based on a generic hypothetical user. However, given that almost no individual user of the interactive software system is likely to exactly match the generic hypothetical user, the result is that the types of customer support and intervention systems offered, and when they are offered, may not correspond to where, or why, an actual individual user is getting frustrated or confused. As a result, support and/or intervention services are often offered at irrelevant times and locations for any given user.
In addition, because they lack sufficient "real-time" feedback, and unlike human professionals providing services, traditional interactive software systems cannot detect, much less adjust to, a user's emotional state or tailor their interactions with a user depending upon the user's emotional state. Consequently, even though a user may be in a certain emotional state when using the interactive software system or may have certain responses to the interactive software system that change his or her emotional state, traditional interactive software systems are developed in a way that specifically attempts to provide the most useful service to as many of their users as possible, i.e., in a static "one size fits all" approach. Indeed, traditional interactive software systems are, by design, fairly generic in nature and often lack the malleability to meet the specific needs of a given user, much less respond to variations in the emotional state of a given user. As a result, an interactive software system designed for a generic hypothetical user may alienate a specific user, who generally has a temperament that differs from the temperament of the generic hypothetical user and whose emotional state may vary from interaction to interaction.
The inability of traditional interactive software systems to meet the needs of specific users and/or adjust to a user's emotional state often results in user frustration, and ultimately, in lost customers. This is because, predictably, when users feel alienated from, or become frustrated with, an interactive software system, they are far more likely to abandon the interactive software system, which results in lost business.
Because traditional interactive software systems provide a static and generic user experience, they are incapable of adapting the user experience to the user's emotional state. As a result, the user experience and any analysis associated with the user experience is a largely inflexible component of a given version of an interactive software system.
In short, due to a lack of detailed and reliable feedback from users, numerous operations and features of traditional interactive software systems are designed based on generic user models that are, in fact, and by design, not accurately representative of any given "real world" user. It is therefore not surprising that many users, if not all users, of traditional interactive software systems find the experience, at best, impersonal. Specifically, users of traditional tax preparation interactive software systems may find the interview experience unnecessarily frustrating and unpleasant. Clearly, this is not the type of impression that results in happy, loyal, repeat customers.
Even worse, in many cases, the inability of traditional interactive software systems to detect, model, and/or react to a user's emotional state causes users to become frustrated with their user experience, the software system, and the provider of the software system. Many of these users and customers then simply abandon the process and interactive software system completely and may, therefore, never become paying or repeat customers. Furthermore, given the speed and reach of modern communications, any complaints voiced by a dissatisfied user may reach a myriad of other, potential users. Indeed, due to modern communications systems, the number of people that can become the audience for a single complaint is overwhelming and the potential reach of complaints can create serious consequences.
Consequently, lack of detailed, objective, connected, and reliable feedback from users, and resulting inaccurate user modeling, is a long standing technical problem in the interactive software system field. What is needed is a technical solution that provides for obtaining more detailed, connected, and reliable feedback data from users of an interactive software system that has a more empirical and objective basis. Then this feedback data could be used to create predictive models that allow for targeted product diagnosis, targeted interventions, targeted marketing/upsell attempts, and grouping and analysis of feedback and user categories and feedback sources.

Method and system for building and utilizing interactive software system predictive models using biometric data


A system for maintaining reconfigurable partitions in an integrated device includes a first buffer having channels that store configuration data and a mask. The system also includes first decompression circuitry having a second buffer coupled to the first buffer that stores the configuration data and second decompression circuitry having a third buffer coupled to the first buffer that stores the mask. The system also includes partition maintenance circuitry that applies the mask to the configuration data after the first decompression circuitry has decompressed the configuration data and the second decompression circuitry has decompressed the mask.

The present disclosure relates generally to configuration of programmable devices, such as field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs). More particularly, the present disclosure relates to maintaining reconfigurable partitions in programmable devices.
This section is intended to introduce the reader to various aspects of art that may be related to various aspects of the present disclosure, which are described and/or claimed below. This discussion is believed to be helpful in providing the reader with background information to facilitate a better understanding of the various aspects of the present disclosure. Accordingly, it should be understood that these statements are to be read in this light, and not as admissions of prior art.
Modern electronics such as computers, portable devices, network routers, data centers, Internet-connected appliances, and more, tend to include at least one integrated circuit device. Integrated circuit devices take a variety of forms, including processors, memory devices, and programmable devices, to name only a few examples. A field programmable gate array (FPGA) is one type of programmable device utilizing integrated circuits. Programmable devices may include logic that may be programmed (e.g., configured) after manufacturing to provide a wide variety of functionality based on various design possible within the programmable devices. Thus, programmable devices contain programmable logic (e.g., logic blocks) that may be configured and reconfigured to perform a variety of functions on the devices, according to a configured design. The integrated circuit devices may be configured in numerous difference configurations. These configurations are generally loaded into the integrated circuit devices. However, partially reconfiguring the programmable device may be problematic for situations where multiple users share a common device but distinct portions of the device.

Maintaining reconfigurable partitions in a programmable device