A surround includes a first piece including a basin, a second piece having a second piece back wall and a second piece side wall attaching to the second piece back wall for being disposed horizontally atop the first piece, and a third piece having a third piece back wall and a third piece side wall attaching to the third piece back wall for being disposed horizontally atop the second piece back wall and the second piece side wall, wherein the first piece, the second piece and the third piece form a package wherein one of the second piece or the third piece is disposed about the basin and an other of the second piece or the third piece nests behind the one of the second piece or the third piece.

Bathing surrounds, such as for showers or tubs, may be positioned within a recess built to receive the surround. The surround is inserted into the recess or corner to form a watertight structure. A watertight structure is highly advantageous because it minimizes the escape of water into a wall cavity behind the surround despite splashing or spraying water onto the structure's surrounding walls.
The surround may be formed as a one-piece structure, a two-piece structure formed of a one-piece U-shaped wall and a tub, or a three-piece structure that includes the tub and two L-shaped wall portions that sit atop the tub and are joined vertically to form the U-shaped walls. The contiguous wall portions fit atop the tub to provide ease of assembly while creating a water tight structure.

Multi-piece bathing structure surround and method


In an applicator, especially for mascara, hair dye, or similar cosmetics, including an oblong main body connectable to a rod. The main body is made of a comparatively hard synthetic material. A tubular bristle body having bristle-like, radially outwardly projecting extensions made of a relatively soft synthetic material, is also included. In order to attain an advantageous producibility and sturdy handling properties, the bristle body is axially fixed relative to the main body.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an applicator, especially for mascara, hair dye, or similar cosmetics, comprising an oblong main body that is connectable to a rod, said main body being made of a comparatively hard synthetic material, also a tubular bristle body having bristle-like, radially outwardly projecting extensions made of a relatively soft synthetic material.
The principal advantage of an applicator of this type lies in that it can be manufactured cost-effectively. The relatively hard synthetic material of the main body imparts the required stability, whereas the soft synthetic material of the bristle body permits the formation of correspondingly soft bristle-like extensions.
2. Background Art
An applicator of this type is known from EP 0 038 524 A 1 and DE 25 59 273 A1, or from WO 02/056 726 A.


A roof bracket system is provided including at least one roofing bracket comprising a base plate positioned on a main roof and having a bottom surface, a top surface and a periphery formed therebetween. The top surface of the base plate of each roofing bracket further has a pair of spaced and parallel wings for containing a joist of an auxiliary roof therebetween.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to brackets and more particularly pertains to a new roof bracket for mounting an auxiliary roof to a house without removing a portion of a roof of the house.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The use of brackets is known in the prior art. More specifically, brackets heretofore devised and utilized are known to consist basically of familiar, expected and obvious structural configurations, notwithstanding the myriad of designs encompassed by the crowded prior art which have been developed for the fulfillment of countless objectives and requirements.
Known prior art brackets include U.S. Pat. No. Des. 303,018; U.S. Pat. No. 4,826,122; U.S. Pat. No. 4,884,775; U.S. Pat. No. 5,113,971; U.S. Pat. No. Des. 319,695; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,880,200.
In these respects, the roof bracket according to the present invention substantially departs from the conventional concepts and designs of the prior art, and in so doing provides an apparatus primarily developed for the purpose of mounting an auxiliary roof to a house without removing a portion of the roof.

Roof brackets for mounting an auxiliary roof


A system includes a computing device that includes a memory configured to store instructions. The system also includes a processor to execute the instructions to perform operations that include receiving data representing an image, the image being represented in the data by a collection of visual elements. Operations also include determining whether to select the image for presentation by one or more entities using a machine learning system, the machine learning system being trained using data representing a plurality of training images and data representing one or more attributes regarding image presentation by the one or more entities.

This description relates to identifying images associated with particular subjects that may be of interest to particular entities and individuals. Attributes of the images can be used to identify such images for selection and potentially presentation.
Proportional to the astronomical growth of imagery presented over the Internet, the demand for such content has grown. Online viewers have grown accustomed to being presented a large variety of imagery when reviewing products, services, etc. While professionally prepared imagery is used to present viewers with such visuals, nonprofessionally prepared imagery can be used for presentation.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Using attributes for identifying imagery for selection


A catheter comprising a flexible elongate tubular member having proximal and distal extremities. A deflection tip is carried by the distal extremity of the flexible elongate member and has a curved deflecting surface. The flexible elongate member has a plurality of lumens therein extending through the distal extremity of the flexible elongate member and opening onto the curved deflecting surface of the deflecting tip. A plurality of arms are slidably mounted in the lumens. Each of the arms has a plurality of electrodes spaced-apart longitudinally thereon. A control mechanism is secured to the proximal extremity of the flexible elongate member and is coupled to the plurality of arms for moving the distal extremities of the arms into engagement with the deflection tip to cause the arms to deflect proximally and outwardly from the deflection tip.

In U.S. Pat. No. 5,156,151, there is disclosed a basket-like construction which is provided with a plurality of circumferentially spaced-apart arms which have outer surfaces on which a plurality of electrodes are spaced-apart longitudinally. The proximal extremity and the distal extremity of the basket-like construction are each interconnected. In the deployment of such basket-like constructions into the heart, difficulties have been encountered with the arms of the basket interfering with the mitral valve structure in the left ventricle. In addition, it has been found that the basket-like construction has a tendency to interfere with the posterior leaflet and chordae of the mitral valve and thus fails to make good contact with the posterior wall of the left ventricle. Also it has been found and there has been a tendency for the arms to become entangled in the fibrous muscle tissue in the left ventricle preventing proper deployment of the arms of the basket construction. There is therefore a need for a new and improved type of catheter construction which will overcome these difficulties.

Mapping and ablation catheter with individually deployable arms and method


A wireless communication device includes multiple antennas spaced apart from each other. Also included is a dielectric substrate with electrically conductive ground areas along the substrate opposite the antennas. Signal coupling is decreased between the antennas by connecting the ground areas together with an isolation structure. In one nonlimiting form, this structure includes an electrically conductive meander line structure.

The present invention relates to antenna devices, and more particularly, but not exclusively relates to methods, systems, devices, and apparatus to increase isolation between antennas located in close proximity to one another.
There has been a growing demand for wireless communication devices that have reduced antenna bulk, faster data transfer rate, and/or less power use. In response to such demands and other considerations, many portable electronic devices, including cellular phones, laptop computers, and personal digital assistants, commonly incorporate multiple wireless communications systems into their platforms. The close proximity of communication system transceivers, and particularly corresponding antennas, can result in an undesirable degree of system performance degradation.
One approach to this problem involves the suppression of unwanted signals that reach the transceiver circuitry with self-tuning filters, adaptive cancellation, or the like. Unfortunately, once interference reaches the transceiver, it sometimes can be overwhelming. Thus, there is a need for further contributions in this area of technology.

Increasing isolation between multiple antennas with a grounded meander line structure

The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois


Systems of sliding shelves for ovens are provided. The system includes a lower shelf and an upper shelf. The lower shelf includes a vertical rod; and the upper shelf includes an engagement element, and a stop horizontally distant from said engagement element. The vertical rod of the lower shelf mechanically interacts with the engagement element and with the stop.

Ovens are household and/or industrial appliances that are well known and essential in preparing food. Both discrete ovens, those consisting essentially of a cooking cavity, and ovens combined with cooktops, that is, ranges incorporating one or more burners combined with an oven, the latter generally positioned beneath the cooktop, are known.
The cooking cavity of an oven is generally parallelepiped-shaped, having 5 fixed walls and on one side a removable wall, such as a door, through which access is gained to the inside of the cavity. The walls may also include thermal insulation to prevent the heat generated within the cavity from dissipating, as well as an aperture through which the gas and heat generated within the cavity can escape to offset the internal temperature and pressure.
Various sources of radiation may be used to generate heat within the oven cavity or directly on the food, including, but not limited to, gas burners, electrical resistors, microwave generation, heated steam, etc. A combination of more than one source of heat may also be used in a single oven, such as a gas oven with a heating resistor, a microwave oven with a heating resistor, etc.
Ovens may include one or more inner shelves serving both to support the food during cooking and to adjust the height of the food within the oven.
Numerous embodiments of oven shelves, generally consisting of metal wire forming a grill, are known to the art.
Oven shelves generally have sliding capability, that is, they are horizontally slidable within the oven cavity for ease of placement or removal of the food being cooked, which is normally contained in containers such as baking trays, pans, glass trays, etc.
Systems are also known to the art that couple the sliding of the shelf to the opening of the oven door. In other words, the shelves move horizontally outwardly from the oven cavity when the door is opened, and return to their original position within the oven cavity when the door is again closed.


A shift register of a CCD line image sensor is divided into two from the center thereof so as to transfer the signal electrical charge for output portions placed on both ends of the sensor, so that the line image sensor has a higher data rate, and reduced optical smearing. Furthermore, when a color line image sensor has been made using such line image sensors, the clearance of the sensor may be made smaller, and the amount of the correction smear for positioning alignment may be reduced.

The present invention generally relates to a line image sensor which is used in an image signal portion for a copying machine, a FAX, an image scanner or the like.
In recent years, the demand for a higher copy speed and lower price in copying machines has increased. The demand for a higher copy speed and lower price in the line image sensors used in copying machines has also increased.
The long-standing line image sensor is composed of: a light receiving portion for converting the incident light into electrical signals with light receiving elements being arranged in a main-scanning direction: a transfer portion for receiving electrical charge caused in the above described light receiving elements so as to transfer it; an output portion having two output portions for receiving the electrical charge from the transfer portion and for converting it into an output voltage signal. (Tompsett ets. "Charge Coupled Imaging Devices: Experimental Result, "IEEE Trans. on Electron Devices ED-18, 992-996 (1971))
Signals generated in the light receiving portion consisting of N light receiving elements are r transferred as 94 electrical charge into the transfer portion. In the transfer portion, the signal electrical charge is sequentially transferred towards the output portion. In the output portion, N serial data are outputted.
The output portion cannot convert the volume of electrical charges to a voltage signal when the driving frequency is high. Therefore, the line image sensor cannot be driven at high speeds.
In order to compensate for the defect, there is also a line image sensor, which is bilinear in construction, and which is composed of two output portions, pairing off each transfer portion with the transfer portion being disposed on both the side faces of the light receiving portion. (Tompsett etc. "Charge Coupling Improves Its Image, Challenging Video Camera Tubes, "Electronics 46, No. 2, 162-168 (1973)).
In this case, signals generated in a light receiving portion composed of N of light receiving elements are alternately transferred into the transfer portion at both side faces. In each transfer portion, the N/2 data is transferred. Similarly, two output portions each handle half the data being processed, so that a data rate which is twice the driving frequency may be obtained.
In the above described construction, the width of the line image sensor becomes larger. Especially, in the case of a color image sensor made with three lines thereof being arranged in parallel in the sub-scanning direction, the clearance of the light receiving portion is larger, and the correction memory required for the positional alignment of each image sensor is necessarily large in size. Assume that the clearance of the light receiving portion has 12 line pitches, and the information of a point before 12 lines is read by a first sensor before the next light receiving portion reads the information of that time after the information at a certain point has been read by a first light receiving portion. The memory amount which is necessary in the reading A3 manuscript at 400DPI, eight gradations becomes: EQU 5000 image elements.times.(13+26)=195 k byte

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


A stereoscopic display for switching between two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) images. The stereoscopic display includes a display device providing an image and a parallax barrier unit that transmits all incident light in a 2D mode and forms barriers to separate an image for a left eye from an image for a right eye in a 3D mode by moving two facing polarization grating screens relative to each other. The polarization grating screens have a grating pattern such that two kinds of birefringence elements changing the directions of polarization of incident light into different directions are alternately disposed horizontally and vertically, and each row of the birefringence elements is shifted with respect to a previous row by a predetermined horizontal distance.

1. Field of the Invention
Apparatuses and methods consistent with the present invention relate to a stereoscopic display which switches between a two-dimensional (2D) mode and a three-dimensional (3D) mode and a method of thereof, and more particularly, to a stereoscopic display which switches between a 2D mode and a 3D mode using two polarization grating screens and a method thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, a 3D image is made based on the principle of stereo image sensing by two eyes. Binocular parallax occurring due to two eyes separated about 65 mm from each other is the most important factor for producing a 3D effect. Recently, the demand for stereoscopic displays that provide a stereoscopic image using binocular parallax has greatly increased in various fields, such as medical applications, games, advertisement, education applications, and military training. With the development of high resolution televisions, stereoscopic televisions providing stereoscopic images are expected to be widely used in the future.
Stereoscopic displays are divided into displays for use with glasses and glassesless displays. In general, as shown in FIG. 1A, a stereoscopic display for use with glasses 120 includes a liquid crystal display (LCD) 100 which displays an image with a predetermined polarization component, a micro polarizing screen 110 which changes the direction of polarization of an image for a left eye and an image for a right eye produced by the LCD 100, and polarization glasses 120 which transmits images with different polarization states for the left eye and for the right eye. For example, the micro polarizing screen 110 is a combination of 0° retarders 110a and 90° retarders 110b that are alternately interspersed. Also, the polarization glasses 120 include a pair of polarization plates 120a and 120b through which light with different polarization states is transmitted. Since the micro polarizing screen 110 makes the directions of polarization of the left-eye image and the right-eye image different from each other, and the polarization glasses 120a and 120b respectively transmit the left-eye image and the right-eye image, a viewer can see a 3D image.
However, the above-mentioned stereoscopic display has a disadvantage in that the viewer must wear the polarization glasses 120 to see the 3D image. To solve this problem, a glassesless stereoscopic display has been developed. The glassesless stereoscopic display produces a 3D image by separating an image for a left eye from an image for a right eye without the use of glasses. In general, glassesless stereoscopic displays are divided into parallax barrier displays and lenticular displays.
In a parallax barrier display, images to be seen by left and right eyes are displayed in an alternate vertical pattern and portions of the pattern are blocked by a very thin vertical lattice, that is, a barrier. In this way, a vertical pattern image to be seen by the left eye and a vertical pattern image to be seen by the right eye are separated by the barrier and the left and right eyes see images at different viewpoints so as to combine to form a 3D image. According to the parallax barrier display, as shown in FIG. 1B, a parallax barrier 50 having apertures 55 and masks 57 formed in a vertical grating pattern is disposed in front of an LCD panel 53 that has left-eye image pixels L and right-eye image pixels R respectively corresponding to a viewer's left eye LE and right eye RE, such that each eye sees a different image through the apertures 55 of the parallax barrier 50. The left-eye image pixels L output light to be input to the left eye, the right-eye image pixels R output light to be input to the right eye, and those pixels are alternately formed in a horizontal direction in the LCD panel 53.
Meanwhile, to provide a 2D image or a 3D image according to an image signal displayed on the display device, the stereoscopic display must switch between a 2D mode and a 3D mode. To this end, a variety of switchable stereoscopic displays have been developed. For example, according to a stereoscopic display disclosed in U.S. Patent Publication No. 2004-0109115, two micro retarders including a plurality of vertical stripes are moved relative to one another such that a 2D image is realized by transmitting all images and a 3D image is realized by forming a non-transmissive vertical parallax barrier.
However, since the apertures through which an image is provided are densely aligned in a vertical direction, the parallax barrier display has drawbacks in that a 3D image has a low resolution and color and brightness vary according to a viewer's position.

Stereoscopic display switching between 2D/3D images using polarization grating screen


A music pacifier (100) includes a pacifier frame (101) and a nipple (102) which locates at the one side of the frame and a container (106) locates on the other side of the frame. Within the container (106), there is a music IC & power supply (108), an insulating house (109), and a vibrating transducer (110). The insulating house (109) made of soft material is used to insulate the vibration produced. The vibrating transducer (110) is used to convert the pre-stored music into vibration. It locates in the above-mentioned house and connects with the above-mentioned music IC. There is also a vibrating tongue (111) which is used to pass the vibration produced by the above-mentioned vibrating transducer to an infant's jaw, including a contacting part (114) of the above-mentioned vibrating transducer which locates in the above-mentioned house as well as a tongue (113) which protrudes from the above-mentioned house and extends into the above-mentioned nipple.

Infants are happy with objects that can draw their attentions. Pacifiers contact infant's lips, thus becoming a very easy amusement. In many instances, sound and music may draw infant's attention. However, in some occasions which the environment is quiet, such as churches, airplanes and restaurants, toys that produce sound or music are not appropriate. Although earphones can provide individual music environment which avoid disturbing the others, infant's ears are just too small to use earphones. Also, using earphones for too long may impair their hearings.


A fuel cell device may include a fuel cell module; a condensate water recovery flow path which may recover water contained in an exhaust gas discharged from the fuel cell module as condensate water; a condensate water recovery device which may store the condensate water; and a reforming water supply flow path which may supply the condensate water to a reformer. The condensate water recovery device of the fuel cell device may include a first ion exchange container which may contain an ion exchange resin; and a first storage container which may store the condensate water. The first ion exchange container may be disposed inside the first storage container with a space from the first storage container, and may be attachable to and detachable from the first storage container.

For the configuration of the fuel cell, a fuel cell module including a cell stack in which a plurality of fuel cells that can obtain electric power using fuel gas (hydrogen-containing gas) and air (oxygen-containing gas) are stacked in a storage container, and a fuel cell device in which the fuel cell module and auxiliary machines for the operation of the fuel cell module are housed in a housing such as an exterior case are variously proposed.
In such a fuel cell device, excess fuel gas that is unused for power generation is combusted, and the exhaust gas after combustion is passed through a heat exchanger or the like to be cooled, and during this heat exchange, condensate water generated by condensation of water vapor contained in the exhaust gas may be recovered in a condensate water recovery device, purified with ion exchange resin, and stored in a water tank such as a reforming water tank, and the stored treated water may be supplied as the reforming water to a reformer that steam-reforms a raw fuel such as natural gas, which may be referred to as a self-sustained water operation.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication JP-A 2016-072056 (Patent Literature 1) discusses a condensate water recovery device that may purify condensate water and store it as reforming water, in which a water purifying unit that may store an ion exchange resin, a storage portion that may store the reforming water, and a backflow prevention unit may be integrally molded in a casing.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication JP-A 2013-182832 (Patent Literature 2) discusses a water purification device for a fuel cell system, which may include a water purifier including a container which may contain a water purification material (ion exchange resin), and a water tank (reforming water tank) which may store water to be purified by the water purifier, in which the container of the water purifier and the water tank may be connected externally.


A method is described for manufacturing an n-MOS semiconductor transistor. Recesses are formed in a semiconductor substrate adjacent a gate electrode structure. Silicon is embedded in the recesses via a selective epitaxial growth process. The epitaxial silicon is in-situ alloyed with substitutional carbon and in-situ doped with phosphorus. The silicon-carbon alloy generates a uniaxial tensile strain in the channel region between the source and drain, thereby increasing electron channel mobility and the transistor's drive current. The silicon-carbon alloy decreases external resistances by reducing contact resistance between source/drain and silicide regions and by reducing phosphorous diffusivity, thereby permitting closer placement of the transistor's source/drain and channel regions.

In silicon (Si) based microelectronics, a key parameter in assessing device performance is the current delivered at a given design voltage. This parameter is commonly referred to as transistor drive current or saturation current (IDsat). Drive current is affected by factors that include the transistor's channel mobility and external resistance.
Channel mobility refers to the mobility of carriers (i.e. holes and electrons) in the transistor's channel region. Increased carrier mobility translates directly into increased drive current at a given design voltage and gate length. Carrier mobility can be increased by straining the channel region's silicon lattice. For n-MOS devices, carrier mobility (i.e. electron mobility) can be enhanced by generating a tensile strain in the transistor's channel region.
Drive current is also influenced by other factors that include: (1) the resistances associated with the ohmic contacts (metal to semiconductor and semiconductor to metal), (2) the resistance within the source/drain region itself, and (3) the resistance of the region between the channel region and the source/drain regions (i.e. the tip region). The sum of these resistances is commonly referred to as the external resistance.
A global approach to increasing n-MOS transistor performance (by generating tensile channel strain) incorporates use of a silicon germanium (SiGe) layer formed over the entire surface of a semiconductor substrate. Epitaxial silicon that is grown on the SiGe layer will strain as it attempts to maintain its silicon crystal structure. Limitations with respect to this approach include: (1) an inability to generate high levels of tensile strain, (2) high dislocation defect densities, (3) the cost and complexity of the SiGe integration scheme, and (4) the production of an offsetting decrease in hole mobility that can degrade p-MOS transistor performance.
Local straining, as compared to global straining, focuses on the optimization of individual transistors by generating a particular type of strain in specific regions of the semiconductor substrate. Current methods for locally straining transistor channel regions include selective epitaxial deposition of source and drain regions with materials that impart a compressive strain in a p-MOS transistor's channel region and deposition of a strained dielectric layer above the gate stack to impart a tensile strain in an underlying n-MOS transistor's channel region.
It will be appreciated that for simplicity and clarity of illustration, elements illustrated in the drawings have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements are exaggerated relative to other elements for clarity. Further, where considered appropriate, reference numerals have been repeated among the drawings to indicate corresponding or analogous elements.

Method for forming an integrated circuit


When a memory device receives two or more pluralities of bits from a host to store in a nonvolatile memory, the device first stores the bits in a volatile memory. Then, in storing the bits in the nonvolatile memory, the device raises the threshold voltages of some cells of the volatile memory to values above a verify voltage. While those threshold voltages remain substantially at those levels, the device raises the threshold voltages of other cells of the volatile memory to values below the verify voltage. In the end, every cell stores one or more bits from each plurality of bits. Preferably, all the cells share a common wordline. A data storage device operates similarly with respect to storing pluralities of bits generated by an application running on the system.

The present invention relates to programming flash memories and, more particularly, to a method of programming a flash memory such as a NAND flash memory with reduced program disturb.
Flash memory devices are used in various applications to store digital information. A basic flash cell consists of a transistor with a floating gate positioned between the channel and the transistor's control gate. The threshold voltage of the transistor is defined as the lowest voltage that, when applied to the control gate of the transistor, changes the channel state from a non-conducting state to a conducting state. This voltage is affected by the amount of negative charge trapped in the floating gate: the more charge, the higher the threshold voltage of the cell. SLC (Single Level Cell)-type devices use cells with zero charged floating gates to represent a "1" state and cells with negatively charged floating gates to represent a "0" state. The cell state can be represented by the cell's threshold voltage, in this case using two voltage levels, "1" state voltage and "0" state voltage. Although cells may have slightly different "0" state voltages, applying a voltage that is between the "1" state voltage and the "0" state voltage to the control gate causes the "1" state cells to conduct, but the "0" state cells stay in the non-conducting state.
The most common kind of Multi Level Cell (MLC)-type devices uses 4 charge amounts in the floating gate, including zero charge, so the cell state can be represented by 4 voltage levels, thus a MLC cell stores 2 bits per cell. Generally, N bits per cell can be represented using 2N voltage levels. Using high number of bits per cell allows producing Flash devices with high data density and thus reduces the overall cost per Flash device.
A NAND Flash device consists of arrays of cells, called blocks. A block is built as a matrix in which the rows are word lines (WL) that connect the control gates of the cells, and each column is a chain of floating gate cells that are connected to a corresponding bit line (BL) on one side of the chain via a first select gate SGD, and on the other side of the chain to a common source line via a second select gate SGS. The SGD gates are connected to form a SGD line and the SGS gates are connected to form a SGS line, similar to the manner in which the control gates are connected to from the WL. An example of one block of a NAND Flash array with 8 WL's and 4256 BL's is shown in FIG. 1. Examples of such arrays are given in the following U.S. patents that are incorporated by reference for all purposes as if fully set forth herein: U.S. Pat. No. 5,774,397; U.S. Pat. No. 6,046,935. A physical page of such a memory includes the cells that have their transistor gates connected to the same WL. Each page in the example shown in FIG. 1 includes 4256 cells, so the block shown in FIG. 1 includes 8 pages of 4256 cells each, for a total of 34,048 cells. During an erase operation of a NAND block the whole block is erased as described below, and program and read operations on NAND cells are done on a per-page basis. Consequently, for the purpose of the present invention a block of cells is defined as the smallest chunk of cells that are erased simultaneously, and a page of cells is defined as the smallest chunk of cells that are written (programmed) simultaneously. (For historical reasons, writing to a flash cell is called "programming" the cell. "Writing" and "programming" are used interchangeably herein.)
An erase operation involves applying a high voltage between the C-p-well (an area in the silicon structure of the Flash device that is located under the cells and that is common to all the cells) and all the WL's of the selected block, with the WL's being held at 0 voltage. This high voltage causes the affected floating gates to discharge any charge that was trapped in the floating gate by a previous programming operation, thus bringing the cells to the erased state.
A programming operation involves applying a high voltage to the selected WL and applying a lower voltage to other WL's so as to bring the other WL's to a conducting state. The BL's of the cells that are to be programmed are kept at 0 voltage so the cells are put under stress caused by the high voltage of the selected WL and 0 voltage of the BL's. The BL's of the cells that are not intended to be programmed are connected to a voltage level such that the stress caused by the difference between the BL's and the voltage applied to the WL is not enough to cause a change in the floating gate charges of the cells. The programming process is made up of a series of programming pulses, interleaved with verification operations in which each cell's target threshold voltage is applied to the cell gate to check if more charge should be trapped in the floating gate. If more charge needs to be trapped in any cell's floating gate, another programming pulse is applied with a slightly higher amplitude or longer duration than the preceding programming pulse. If the cell has reached its target threshold voltage, its further programming is inhibited by applying an appropriate voltage level to its BL, similar to the cells that are not intended to be programmed.
A read or verify process involves applying one or more reference voltage levels to a cell gate and checking whether the cell is conductive. This reference voltage is applied to the selected WL. The other WL's are connected to a read pass voltage that makes the other cells conductive, and the cell's chain's SGS line is held at conducting state to connect the chain to the C-source line, which is kept at 0 voltage. The BL is precharged with some voltage, and if the reference voltage applied to the selected WL is higher than the tested cell's threshold voltage, then the tested cell becomes conducting, which makes the whole chain conducting, and the precharged BL voltage decreases. If the reference voltage applied to the tested cell is lower than the tested cell's threshold voltage, then the tested cell prevents conducting through the chain of cells and the voltage applied to the BL stays at its precharged level. Sense amplifiers connected to the BL's make the decision about the cell's state. A reference voltage that is used to verify the correct programming of one or more memory cells is termed a "verify voltage" herein.
The read operation of a SLC device uses one reference voltage level that is between the "0" and "1" voltage levels. The read operation in a MLC device with 4 cell states uses 3 reference voltage levels, and a device that stores N bits per cell, that are represented by 2N states, needs 2N−1 reference voltage levels for read operations.
Phenomena related to the Flash programming operation, such as cross coupling and program disturb, cause the actual threshold voltage distributions of a population of flash cells to take the form of 2N voltage groups for an N-bits-per-cell device. An example of threshold voltage distributions in a device with 8 nominal threshold voltage levels is shown in FIG. 2. Ideally, the corresponding reference voltages for reading the cells of such a device should be between the voltage groups: VR1, VR2, VR3, VR4, VR5, VR6 and VR7 as shown in FIG. 2.
The threshold voltage level groups should be separated for reliable read operation, and using a high number of voltage levels implies a larger difference between the lowest voltage level and the highest voltage level. High voltage levels require using a high programming pulse voltage applied to the WL during the programming operation, and this increases a program disturb effect as shown below.
A program operation puts a stress on the cells to be programmed, by applying a high voltage to the selected WL and 0 voltage to the selected BL, with the unselected WL's kept at conducting voltage and unselected BL's kept at some voltage that is lower than the programming voltage. Although all the gates of the selected page are connected to the high voltage applied to the selected WL, the programming stress is applied only to the cells at the intersections of the selected WL and the selected BL's, as the difference between the WL voltage and unselected BL's is lower than the difference between the WL voltage and the selected BL's. In an ideal device only the selected cells would change their floating gate charge during the programming operation, but in a real device the smaller stress between the selected WL and unselected BL's cause a small change in the charges on these floating gates too. This is known as the program disturb phenomenon and its effect is mainly seen in the low voltage level cells and is increased when using higher programming voltages. An example of a cell threshold voltage distribution after a programming operation that includes a program disturb effect is shown in FIG. 6 and is described below.
The following example illustrates the program disturb effect in a simplified situation in which the data to be programmed to a flash memory are to be represented by 8 voltage levels, #0 through #7. Different programming techniques exist, but they usually use a sequential increase of the programming voltage to program the different voltage levels, so this example assumes programming level #1, then #2, and so on till #7. This example also assumes that the cells to be programmed to the level #N are first programmed to levels # 1 through #(N−1) and then using higher programming voltages these cells are programmed to level #N. The example assumes that the user data are represented by all 8 voltage levels and the user data are evenly distributed among these 8 levels.
The programming starts with all cells in the erased state, as shown in FIG. 3. The voltage distribution after programming the level #1 is shown in FIG. 4, where the level #1 includes the cells that are to be programmed to level #1 and also the cells that are to be programmed to levels #2 through #7. The BL's of the cells that are to be programmed to level #1 are put in an inhibit state after these cells reach their target charge in their floating gates. FIG. 5 shows the voltage distribution after programming to level #2, where the level #2 includes the cells that are to be programmed to level #2 and also the cells that are to be programmed to levels #3 through #7. The voltage distribution after programming level #7 is shown in FIG. 6, where the widening and shifting of the low level distributions, such as distributions #0 and #1, is caused mainly by the program disturb phenomenon when programming high levels such as levels #6 and #7. It can be seen that some of the level #1 cells have become level #2 cells, so when the data are read from the flash they will be read with errors. Various techniques try to adjust the voltage levels being programmed so the final voltage distribution is narrow and in the right place, but the fact that the program disturb effect depends on the data content that is programmed makes it difficult to design a proper technique that works for all data patterns. For example the location of the level #1 could be set to a lower voltage first, so the program disturb caused by the programming the levels #6 and #7 would bring the #1 distribution to the right position, but this technique would fail for a page that does not include data represented by levels #6 and #7, as in this case the program disturb effect caused by the lower levels is much smaller, and some of the #1 cells would be read as #0 cells.
There is thus a widely recognized need for, and it would be highly advantageous to have, a method of programming flash cells that overcomes the disadvantages of presently known methods as described above.

Programming a NAND flash memory with reduced program disturb


When an ignition is turned off, an absolute steering angle detection value immediately before the ignition is turned off is stored as an absolute steering angle stored value in a memory and a CAN relative steering angle immediately before the ignition is turned off is stored as a relative steering angle stored value in the memory. When the ignition is turned on, a value obtained by correcting the absolute steering angle stored value with an angle value and the CAN relative steering angle) by which steering is performed during a period from the time when the ignition is turned off until the time when the ignition is turned on is set as an initial value of the absolute steering angle. A provisional absolute steering angle calculated value is calculated based on the relative steering angle, using the initial value of the absolute steering angle as a reference.

The present invention relates to a steering angle detecting apparatus for a vehicle detecting an absolute steering angle of a steering mechanism and an electric power steering apparatus including the steering angle detecting apparatus.
In recent years, as a steering device for vehicles, such as cars and trucks, an electric power steering apparatus has been widely spread which drives an electric motor on the basis of the steering torque of a steering wheel by the driver and applies steering assist force to a steering mechanism to reduce the steering effort to be applied by the driver.
In this type of electric power steering apparatus, many control functions using the steering angle of the steering wheel have been developed in order to ensure the handling stability and comfort of the vehicle. It is necessary to detect the steering angle as soon as possible in order to rapidly fulfill the control function on the basis of the steering angle after the vehicle is started.
There is proposed an electric power steering apparatus including plural sensors so as to detect detects the steering angle rapidly (for example, see PTL 1). In order to accurately detect the absolute rotational position of a steering wheel, this technique includes a first resolver detecting a first steering angle, which is the rotation angle of a steering shaft connected to a steering wheel, a second resolver having pole pairs different in number from those of the first resolver so as to detect a second steering angle, which is the rotation angle of the steering shaft, and a third resolver detecting the rotation angle (motor electric angle) of a motor which assists steering, and calculates the absolute rotation angular position of the steering wheel from the first steering angle, the second steering angle, and the motor electric angle.
In addition, there is proposed a steering angle detecting apparatus detecting the absolute steering angle of a steering wheel on the basis of its own neutral position, storing, in a memory, the absolute steering angle at the moment when an ignition switch is turned off, and detecting the absolute steering angle on the basis of the stored value when the ignition switch is turned on (for example, see PTL 2).

Steering angle detecting apparatus for vehicle and electric power steering apparatus


Spare gate cells for inclusion in an integrated circuit have multiple inputs and outputs and are capable of selectively performing, concurrently, multiple logic functions on signals appearing at the inputs. Selection of required logic functions depends on the connections of at least one of the inputs of the spare cell. One of the outputs is fed back to an input of the spare gate cell to provide certain functionality while other outputs are set to a fixed logical value. The spare gate cell may be configured to perform NOR, OR and inverter operations on inputs simultaneously.

The present invention relates generally to spare gate cell circuitry and, more particularly, to configurable spare gate cells for inclusion in an integrated circuit.
Large integrated circuits such as a system-on-chip (SOC) device have many logic circuits. Often, the circuit design must be updated or changed to correct errors or bugs discovered during simulations and testing. For example, during de-bugging, last minute changes to the SOC design, sometimes called Engineering Design Orders (ECO) are made by connecting one or more spare cells already located in the design to implement the correction. A typical spare gate cell includes a collection of transistors coupled together into a pre-defined logic gate or other functional logic circuit, which can then be used to perform a certain function. These pre-defined spare gates can be configured to implement various logic functions such as NAND, NOR, inverter, etc.
One known spare gate cell includes a configurable building block circuit having at least two inputs and an output. The configurable building block circuit is capable of selectively performing a plurality of possible logic functions on signals appearing on the inputs to produce a logic signal on the output, where selection of a logic function depends on connections of the input leads of the configurable building block circuit.
The increasing pressure of time-to-market has forced IC designers to improve capability of handling incremental design changes. These design changes, known as Engineering Change Orders or ECOs, are requested after silicon chips have been manufactured, thus the photo masks need to be changed. Since it is expensive to change the photo masks, it is more efficient and less expensive if the ECO can be implemented by changing only one or more of the metal layers of the design (used for interconnect), while the base layers (for cells) remain the same.
Most current VLSI (very large scale integration) circuits are constructed with at least three metal layers and usually seven or more metal layers. Implementing changes in the metal layer is only feasible if the spare cell corresponding to the desired functionality already exists in the layout of the SOC. Thus, spare cells usually are sprinkled throughout a design. However, a further complication is that only one logic function can be performed by a spare cell at any one time so that 'n' spare cells are required to perform 'n' functionalities. Therefore, silicon area and power requirements are high.
Thus, it would be advantageous to provide a spare cell that mitigates the above disadvantages of known arrangements.


Disclosed herein are motuporamine mimic agents and methods of making and using same. Particularly exemplified are motuporamine mimic agents comprising cytotoxic activity and/or anti-metaplastic activity.

The nonselective delivery of drugs to both targeted tumor cells and healthy cells is a major shortcoming of current chemotherapies. Enhanced cell targeting during drug delivery could diminish nonspecific toxicities by reducing uptake by healthy cells. Using existing cellular transporters for drug delivery provides opportunities for molecular recognition events to assist in the cell targeting process.
Ever since the published report of the discovery of motuporamines (see 1-3 FIG. 1), naturally occurring anti-cancer agents, found off the coast (Motupore Island) of new Guinea, the molecular structure and their bio-functions have fascinated biochemists (Williams et al., J. Org Chem 1998, 63:4838:4841; Williams et al., J. Org. Chem 2002, 67:245-248; Roskelley et al., Cancer Res. 2001, 61:6788-6794). Indeed, In light of the difficulty and expense of obtaining and purifying natural motuporamines, efforts have been made toward developing analogous compounds having similar or better characteristics that may be synthetically manufactured. Dihydromotuporamine C, (see 4a, FIG. 1) comprises a fifteen-membered ring, which is difficult to synthesize unless one uses expensive metal catalysts like Grubb's catalyst.

University of Central Florida Research Foundation, Inc.


The invention relates to an acrylate monomer of Formula 1Dtp-COO—(CH2)n—O—CO—CH═CH2                 wherein        Dtp is a diterpene group derived from a resin acid and        n is a number from 2–4as well as a process for the preparation thereof.The resin acid is in particular abietic acid or an isomer thereof.These monomers and the prepolymers and polymers derived therefrom can be used as biodegradable adhesives for materials such as metal, plastic, glass, paper and wood, in particular as construction adhesive.

A requirement that is becoming increasingly important in respect of adhesives is that they not only have good bonding properties but are also biodegradable. However, the known adhesives do not meet this requirement to a sufficient extent: powerful adhesives are generally not biodegradable or are biodegradable to only a slight extent.
An adhesive layer that contains a copolymer of an abietinoyl-glyceryl(meth)acrylate, an alkyl acrylate and a polyethylene glycol(meth)acrylate is described in European Patent EP 0 745 653. The adhesives concerned here are contact adhesives and not construction adhesives. There is also no mention of any biodegradability of the adhesive layers.
Netherlands Patent Application 9201695 (patent number 195014) corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 5,580,940 discloses a biodegradable diacrylate with a sugar as central unit. These known diacrylates comply, for example, with the formula:(H2C═C(R)—CO—O—A—O—CO—NH—Y—NH—CO—O)mZwherein A is a C2–C4 alkylene group, R is hydrogen or methyl, Y is an alicyclic group, in particular an isophoronediyl group and Z is a sugar residue, such as a glucose or fructose residue. As a result of the sugar residue, too high a solubility in water is produced, as a result of which the polymer is less suitable for construction adhesives for metal, plastic, glass and wood, The size of the side groups (isophoronediyl and sugar) on the reactive acrylate also means that the polymer will be weak and soft, which is very suitable for paper and cardboard and for contact adhesives, but not for construction adhesives.
In the known products, insofar as they are biodegradable adhesives, the adhesive characteristics are inadequate for construction adhesives and the application possibilities are restricted.

Adhesive based on biodegradable acrylates


A process for clonally expanding T cells of unknown specificity and a process for identifying a peptide ligand recognized by said T cells are provided.

It is commonly recognized that autoimmune diseases are provoked by activation of T cells reactive with self-antigens and cytokines or inflammatory mediators produced mainly by the activated T cells in turn damage the tissues. Thus, for treatment of autoimmune diseases, there have been attempts to suppress the activation of T cells reactive with self-antigens or to inhibit broadly and non-specifically the cytokines or the inflammatory mediators produced.
Recently, specific immunotherapies are expected to be the best therapy for autoimmune diseases. Once it becomes possible to identify peptide ligands recognized by every T cells at the peripheral, an antigenic epitope recognized by the T cells that are causing autoimmune diseases could be found out to lead to development of specific immunotherapies aimed at said etiologic T cells. For treatment of malignant tumors, it is also expected to develop specific immunotherapies wherein T cells that specifically attack tumor cells are chosen and activated. However, identification of antigens that are specific to patients and are recognized by T cells as well as determination of an amino acid sequence of said antigens has not yet been successfully achieved.
Much effort has been made for developing a method for identification of peptide ligands recognized by T cells. In case of identification of epitopes recognized by the previously reported T cell clones, a strategy has been employed wherein particular natural antigens to be anticipated were added during cloning of T cell and T cell clones responsive to said particular antigens were proliferated. This approach, however, is disadvantageous in that not T cell clones but those that recognize such particular antigens anticipated could be proliferated and if no T cells capable of recognizing said particular antigens are contained in the culture, then no proliferation of T cells could be obtained.
An alternative process for identifying peptide ligands recognized by cloned T cells have been reported (Tanaka, Y. et al., J. Immunol. 1999, 162: 7155–7161, "Identification of peptide superagonists for a self-K-ras-reactive CD4+ T cell clone by use of combinatorial peptide libraries and mass spectrometry"; Hemmer, B. et al., J. Exp. Med. 1997, 185: 1651–1659, "Identification of high potency microbial and self ligands for a human autoreactive class II-restricted T cell clone").
However, as far as peripheral T cells of unknown specificity are concerned, clones per se could hardly be obtained to render it difficult to propagate T cells to a degree sufficient for testing. In order to obviate the difficulty, an attempt has been made to stimulate T cells with an immobilized anti-CD3 antibody in the presence of IL-2 but the long-term maintenance of T cells could not readily achieve. This is supposedly due to lack of physiological response of APC via APC-peptide-T cell interaction.
Thus, there is a need for developing a process for proliferating peripheral T cells of unknown specificity for cloning as well as for effective analysis of epitopes recognized by said T cells.
In the previous study, it was observed that some peptide partial agonists support T cell survival (Matsushita, S. et al., J. Immunol. 1997, 158: 5685–5691). It was also observed that an agonistic anti-CD29 antibody MAR4 increased the efficiency in establishing T cell clones from PBMC, both by suppressing antigen-driven activation-induced cell death and by enhancing the T cell proliferation, only in the presence of TCR/CD3-mediated stimulation (Tanaka, Y. et al., Hum. Immunol. 1998, 59: 343–351). Moreover, it was observed that culture supernatant of antigen-stimulated T cells in the presence of monocytes, increased the efficiency of cloning, when added to culture wells for limiting dilution.
Under the circumstances, the present inventors constructed combinatorial randomized peptide library and stimulated peripheral blood- or tissue-derived T cells with this library in the presence of an interleukin so that the T cells are proliferated and cloned. The isolated T cell clone is then analyzed for its epitope recognition to identify epitopes recognized by said clone by combinatorial assay with peptide library. Based on the identified peptide sequence, natural peptide ligands recognized by the isolated T cell clone can then be identified by pattern match search with data base of sequence.

Clonal expansion of T cells of unknown specificity and identification of ligand recognized by the clonally expanded T cells

Abstract: A process for clonally expanding T cells of unknown specificity which comprises co-culturing said T cells of unknown specificity with combinatorial randomized peptide library (Xn peptide library wherein n is a number of amino acids) consisted of peptides having a randomized amino acid sequence consisted of amino acid residues selected from nineteen kinds of naturally occurring amino acid other than cysteine, an interleukin, and major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II antigen-expressing cells with DNA synthesis being suspended, said cells being derived from the individual where said T cells are obtained; and a process for identifying a peptide ligand recognized by the T cell clone of unknown specificity obtained by said process, which comprises determining proliferating activity of said T cell clone with Xn peptide library, in the presence of an interleukin and MHC class II antigen-expressing cells with DNA synthesis being suspended, said cells being derived from the individual where said T cells are obtained, to thereby determine a peptide sequence that can activate proliferation of T cells.

Juridical Foundation The Chemo-Sero-Therapeutic Research Institute


There is provided a hanger for mounting on a gutter which in turn is mounted on an eave of a structure, and wherein the gutter has a generally U-shaped cross sectional configuration, the hanger comprising an elongated member having a U-shaped portion sized to fit within the gutter, a stabilizing member joining a first end of the U-shaped portion, the stabilizing portion being designed to abut an underside of the roof, and a shaft portion located at a second end of the U-shaped portion, the shaft portion extending downwardly exteriorly of an outer wall of the gutter, the shaft portion having means thereon to hang an object, a connecting portion connecting the shaft portion to the second end of the U-shaped portion, the connecting portion having an inverted U-shaped configuration. The hanger member is easy to manufacture and may be used for hanging a number of objects such as plants, bird feeders, etc.

A lot of people like to adorn their house with potted flowers. To do so, they often use hooks to hang them. They also hang other items all around their house like hanging baskets, feeders for birds, birdeages and like articles.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a multi-function hanger that is retrievable, secure and does not require any maintenance.
Advantages of the present invention include the fact that the multi-function hanger can easily be installed on different models of gutters and that it is really stable.
Another advantage of the present invention resides in the fact that the multi-function hanger is made of a non-corrosive material in order to allow people to use it outside.
A further advantage of the present invention resides in the filet that different models of multi-finction hangers can be manufactured. In order to please the consumers, the multi-finction hanger can be manufactured in different lengths and colors (with varied decorative effects).


A composition containing thermoplastic elastomer and elastic fine particles is extruded into a sheet-like shape from an extruder. Then, by expanding this sheet-like shape member, a covering sheet having minute unevenness attributable to the elastic fine particles formed on the surface is produced. The covering sheet may have an adhesive layer, a substrate layer, a foamed resin layer, etc., on the opposite side to the surface having a matt feeling. Such covering sheet can be produced with good productivity without creating environmental problems such as a problem related to solvent, etc. By molding using the covering sheet, a molding having matt feeling can be obtained.

In order to provide surfaces of plastic moldings or metallic moldings with matt feeling (for example, suede-like soothing external appearance), suede-like covering coats are formed using paints or a sheet for moldings obtained by using paints.
For example, a suede-like sheet for molding is proposed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2-41243 which is obtained as follows. The matt paint which includes a bead pigment and an ionizing radiation curable resin vehicle is coated onto a base film having good moldability and cured.
However, since it is necessary to cure the ionized radiation curable resin composition by irradiation with an electron beam, etc. after the application thereof on a film, production steps for the sheet become complicated and the productivity is not satisfactory. Moreover, since a coating film of the sheet is made of a resin which is crosslinked using an electron beam, etc., the extensibility of the entire sheet is poor.
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 59-202830 proposes an apparatus in which a molding is decorated while being engaged in injection molding using the sheet.
When the sheet disclosed in above-mention Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2-41243 and the apparatus proposed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 59-202830 are incorporated in an attempt to obtain a molding having a soft touch feeling on the surface, the following problem arises.
When attempts are made to adhere the sheet onto the surface of the molding having unevenness or curves, there is a risk of the sheet being cracked since the extensibility of the sheet is poor. In particular, it is difficult to easily give matt feeling and soft touch feeling to the molding in deep draw forming.
Furthermore, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 62-251111 proposes a method of producing a molding, comprising the steps of: previously placing a thermoplastic resin sheet in a mold; introducing a resin in the mold; and pressing the resin in the mold with a cope, thereby obtaining a molding having the thermoplastic resin sheet (decorating sheet) adhered to the surface thereof.
However, the molding obtained by the method proposed in Japanese Lain-Open Patent Publication No. 62-251111 does not produce matt feeling since its surface layer is formed only of the thermoplastic resin and minute unevenness is not formed on the surface. Also, touch feeling is rather stiff. Therefore, this production method cannot be used to produce products which require matt feeling or soft touch feeling to the human skin, e.g., interior of automobiles, housings, cases, etc.

Method of molding using a covering sheet having minute unevenness on the surface thereof


A method and apparatus, for pleating curtains and pleated curtains using the apparatus, are described. The apparatus may be provided as a parts kit which includes a stiffener, pleat-forming members, and fasteners. The stiffener is attached to a curtain and bent into a series of pleat-shaped formations. The pleat-forming members and fasteners are used to hold the stiffener and support the curtain, forming the created pleats in place. The curtain may then be hung on a curtain rod by a separate hanging element which couples the pleat-forming members to a curtain rod. The hanging element may form an integral part of the pleat-forming member.

Curtains are a typical means for providing privacy and blocking sunlight, commonly found in the windows of homes, offices, and other buildings. Interior designers and individuals decorating their homes often desire to install or adjust curtain arrangements for aesthetic purposes. A common curtain arrangement is to hang the curtain in such a way as to produce regularly recurring folds, or pleats, in the curtain.
Pleats may be formed in a curtain in a labor-intensive and time-consuming manner that involves sewing folds in the upper edge of the curtain, or stitching various types of pleat curtain headings to the upper edge of the curtain. Alternatively, curtains may be purchased that have pleats professionally pre-sewn in place using special equipment; however, this hampers the flexibility and creativity of the person preparing a custom window treatment to her or his own personal taste by limiting the curtain design to the available selection of pre-sewn curtains. What is needed is a device that will enable application of pleats to non-pleated curtains in a fast and easy manner without requiring professional-level processing or advanced machinery, or further machine or hand sewing.

Method and apparatus for producing pleats in curtains and pleated curtains and hanging said curtains using said apparatus


A method of packet encryption and decryption that allows for pipelining. The first step is to identify the packets in a message to be encrypted. Then, a unique number is assigned to each packet. A value R is acquired. Then, a first register is initialized. An initialization vector IV is generated. Then, the first register is stepped a user-definable number of times. Then, a packet is selected. R and the unique number are combined. Then, a second register is initialized. A checksum is generated. Then, the packet is divided into blocks. A block is selected. Then, the checksum is combined with the block and designated the checksum. The block is encrypted. Then, the first and second registers are stepped. These steps are repeated for each block. Then, the checksum is encrypted. After the blocks are encrypted, the unique number, IV, the ciphertext of each block, and the encrypted checksum are transmitted. If there are any other packets to encrypt then the steps are repeated.

With ever increasing usage of the Internet for transmitting messages comes an increasing need to secure such communications. The most obvious way to secure Internet traffic is to encrypt it. However, the protocol for transmitting messages over the Internet (i.e., the Internet Protocol or IP) is packet based. That is, a message to be transmitted is divided into sections or packets and transmitted separately so that different packets may take different routes to arrive at the intended destination, based on the availability of a route. This allows for more reliable and efficient transmission since a dedicated line need not be established between the sender and receiver for the entire duration of the transmission and the loss of a route does not halt the transmission of the packets. The packets will be sent over the route that is available at the time. However, the packets may not arrive at the intended destination in the order that they appear in the message. Therefore, information must be added to each packet to indicate how the packets are to be reconstructed by the receiver to recover the intended message. This added information is often referred to as header information or information added to the header of a packet.
Sending messages in packet form is efficient from a transmission standpoint but causes problems from a security standpoint. If the encryption method used to encrypt packets requires the packets to be decrypted in the order they appear in the message then decryption cannot start until all packets are received. Since many messages are transmitted at the same time over the Internet by interspersing the packets of various messages, a bottleneck of packets awaiting decryption may accumulate at a receiver until all of the packets of a particular message arrive. This is undesirable from a network performance standpoint. Therefore, there is a need for a IP encryption method that allows for the decryption of an encrypted packet as soon as it is received by a receiver. Since users of the Internet value increased performance, an encryption method that allows for efficient encryption and decryption is highly desired. Pipelining is a method of attaining efficiency. It makes use of the fact that most block encryption algorithms are composed of one function repeated numerous times to encrypt a block of plaintext. Pipelining is achieved by replicating the function employed, in hardware or in software, as many times as it is repeated to achieve the result. This allows successive blocks of plaintext to be processed as soon as the first block has finished the first step in the pipelined process. Anytime a block moves to another process in the pipeline, a new block may be processed. The efficiency of a non-pipelined block cipher that takes n steps can be improved n times by pipelining it. Therefore, a pipelined method of encrypting and decrypting Internet Protocol transmission is needed.
The Encapsulating Security Payload (ESP) is a protocol for providing encryption and authentication of data packets transmitted over the Internet. ESP uses a hash algorithm to provide authentication. Hash algorithms cannot be pipelined. Therefore, ESP is not as efficient as a pipelined algorithm.
A cryptographic algorithm, such as a codebook, may be used in various cryptographic modes by configuring the algorithm with different types of feedback and incorporating different types of logic functions. Three well known modes for cryptographic codebooks are Electronic Codebook Mode (ECB), Cipher Block Chaining Mode (CBC), and Counter Mode (CM).
ECB may be pipelined. However, by repeating plaintext blocks (i.e., repeating parts of a message in its unscrambled form), ECB will repeat blocks of ciphertext (i.e., parts of a scrambled message will repeat). Such repeats give unintended recipients information about the encryption process that could help them acquire the plaintext message. It is preferred that a cryptographic algorithm not provide such information.
In CM, a counter (typically a one-up counter, but other counts are possible) provides input to the cryptographic codebook. The output along with plaintext is processed by an exclusive-or function to produce ciphertext. CM may be pipelined. However, changing bits in CM ciphertext produces predictable changes to CM plaintext, another characteristic to be avoided.
CBC doesn't have the characteristic that a repeat of a plaintext block produces a repeat of a ciphertext block. However, CBC cannot be pipelined because the encryption of a next plaintext block cannot start until the encryption of a previous plaintext block is completed. Therefore, CBC is not as efficient as a pipelined method.
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), an agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce's Technology Administration, announced the approval of the Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) for the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) as described in FIPS Publication 197 (FIPS PUB 197), which is hereby incorporated by reference into the present specification. This standard specifies a symmetric encryption algorithm that may be used by U.S. Government organizations to protect sensitive, but unclassified, information. The AES was designed to replace the Data Encryption Standard (DES). However, Triple DES remains an approved algorithm for U.S. Government use for the foreseeable future. Single DES is being phased out and is currently permitted only in legacy systems. DES and Triple DES are described in FIPS PUB 46-3, which is incorporated by reference into the specification of the present invention.
An article by Charanjit S. Jutla entitled "Encryption Modes with Almost Free Message Integrity," published on Dec. 8, 2000, discloses a method of operation for block encryption which provides confidentiality of data and message integrity. The present invention does not use the method disclosed in this article.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,910,777, entitled "PACKET SWITCHING ARCHITECTURE PROVIDING ENCRYPTION ACROSS PACKETS," discloses a device for and method of encrypting a flag in each packet, and leaving the rest of the packet unencrypted, before transmission and transmitting special packets to achieve syncronization with the decryptor. The present invention does not encrypt a flag, leave the rest of a packet unencrypted, and transmit special packets to achieve synchronization. U.S. Pat. No. 4,910,777 is hereby incorporated by reference into the specification of the present invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,594,869, entitled "METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR END-TO-END ENCRYPTION OF A DATA PACKET IN A COMPUTER NETWORK," discloses a device for and method of encrypting packets for a specific network protocol using programmable registers for identifying the specific protocol, whether or not decryption should be performed, and the starting location for decryption. The present invention does not use such programmable registers. U.S. Pat. No. 5,594,869 is hereby incorporated by reference into the specification of the present invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,684,876, entitled "APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR CIPHER STEALING WHEN ENCRYPTING MPEG TRANSPORT PACKETS," discloses a device for and method of encrypting packets, where each packet is parsed into a first part, a second part, and a residual part. The second part and the residual part are encrypted using a block cipher to form a first encrypted block. The first encrypted block is parsed into a third part and a fourth part. The first part and the third part are encrypted to form a second encryption block. The present invention does not use such an encryption scheme. U.S. Pat. No. 5,684,876 is hereby incorporated by reference into the specification of the present invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,898,784, entitled "TRANSFERRING ENCRYPTED PACKETS OVER A PUBLIC NETWORK," discloses a method of passing encrypted network packets to a computer on an internal network, examining a field in each network packet to determine which encryption algorithm was used to encrypt the network packet, determining which virtual tunnel each network packet was sent over and routing the same in accordance with its virtual tunnel, and encrypting network packets for transmission over internal and public networks connected to a network interface computer. The present invention does not use such a method. U.S. Pat. No. 5,898,784 is hereby incorporated by reference into the specification of the present invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,052,466, entitled "ENCRYPTION OF DATA PACKETS USING A SEQUENCE OF PRIVATE KEYS GENERATED FROM A PUBLIC KEY EXCHANGE," discloses a device for and method of partitioning a cipher stream into a sequence of secondary keys. The secondary keys are then used to encrypt packets either one key per packet or one key for all the packets. An index of the keys are sent to the receiver so that it knows what keys to use to decrypt the encrypted packets. The present invention does not use such a method. U.S. Pat. No. 6,052,466 is hereby incorporated by reference into the specification of the present invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,170,057, entitled "MOBILE COMPUTER AND METHOD OF PACKET ENCRYPTION AND AUTHENTICATION IN MOBILE COMPUTING BASED ON SECURITY POLICY OF VISITED NETWORK," discloses a device for and method of controlling the activation of packet encryption and authentication. The present invention does not use such a method. U.S. Pat. No. 6,170,057 is hereby incorporated by reference into the specification of the present invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,185,680, entitled "PACKET AUTHENTICATION AND PACKET ENCRYPTION/DECRYPTION SCHEME FOR SECURITY GATEWAY," discloses a device for and method of packet authentication, encryption, and decryption using link-by-link authentication and determining whether or not to encrypt or decrypt a packet based on information on a computer, encryption information, signature information, or information in the packet. The present invention does not use such a method. U.S. Pat. No. 6,185,680 is hereby incorporated by reference into the specification of the present invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,219,791, entitled "METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR GENERATING AND VERIFYING ENCRYPTED DATA PACKETS," discloses a device for and method of embedding error detection codes in the encrypted packets and checking the same to prevent the transmission of erroneously encrypted packets. The present invention does not use such a method. U.S. Pat. No. 6,219,791 is hereby incorporated by reference into the specification of the present invention.
U.S. Pat. Appl. No. US 2002/0002675 A1, entitled "SECURE ENCRYPTION OF DATA PACKETS FOR TRANSMISSION OVER UNSECURED NETWORKS," discloses a device for and method of using pure random numbers from a one-time pad to encrypt and order encrypted bytes of a packet. The present invention does not use such a method. U.S. Pat. Appl. No. US 2002/0002675 A1 is hereby incorporated by reference into the specification of the present invention.
U.S. Pat. Appl. No. US 2002/0023209 A1, entitled "ENCRYPTION AND DECRYPTION OF DIGITAL MESSAGES IN PACKET TRANSMITTING NETWORKS," discloses a device for and method of encrypting packets of varying lengths using an encryption algorithm that varies depending on the plaintext to be encrypted. The present invention does not use such a method. U.S. Pat. Appl. No. US 2002/0023209 A1 is hereby incorporated by reference into the specification of the present invention.
U.S. Pat. Appl. No. US 2002/0129243 A1, entitled "SYSTEM FOR SELECTIVE ENCRYPTION OF DATA PACKETS," discloses a device for and method of encrypting only certain of the packets and leaving the rest unencrypted. The present invention does not use such a method. U.S. Pat. Appl. No. US 2002/0129243 A1 is hereby incorporated by reference into the specification of the present invention.
U.S. Pat. Appl. No. US 2003/0131233 A1, entitled "EFFICIENT PACKET ENCRYPTION METHOD," discloses a method of encrypting packets using an S-vector, the sequence numbers, and two other variables to encrypt successive packets. The present invention does not use such a method. U.S. Pat. Appl. No. US 2003/0131233 A1 is hereby incorporated by reference into the specification of the present invention.

Method of packet encryption that allows for pipelining

The United States of America as represented by the Director, National Security Agency


A parallel optics module including singulated dies. A first singulated die includes a first semiconductor optical component, and a second die includes a second semiconductor optical component. The first and second dies are mounted to a substrate. The first and second dies to be integrated into a parallel optics module.

1. Field
Embodiments of the invention relate to the field of optical systems and more specifically, but not exclusively, to singulated dies in a parallel optics module.
2. Background Information
Optical systems are used today to move data and communications. Parallel optics involves using a number of optical channels over multiple optical fibers. Usually, each fiber carries a single optical channel. In a parallel optics system, a transmit module includes several transmitters that are connected to several optical fibers bundled in a fiber ribbon cable. A receiver module having several optical receivers is connected to the fiber ribbon cable to receive the optical signals.
In current parallel optics modules, an array of 12 Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Lasers (VCSELs) may be formed on one die. The pitch between the VCSELs is usually 250 microns to match the pitch between a corresponding array of 12 glass optical fibers. Since the core of the glass optical fibers is typically 8 to 62.5 microns, the 250 micron pitch of the VCSELs necessitates an alignment accuracy of the VCSELs of approximately 3–5 microns using multimode glass optical fiber. Further, since the VCSELs are formed in an array on a single die, if a defect is discovered in one VCSEL, the entire die is usually discarded.

Singulated dies in a parallel optics module


A new and distinct cultivar of Myosotis plant named ‘Unforgettable’, characterized by its outwardly spreading to prostrate plant habit; freely branching growth habit; variegated leaves; and numerous bright blue-colored flowers.

The present Invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Myosotis plant, botanically known as Myosotis palustris, and hereinafter referred to by the name 'Unforgettable'.
The new Myosotis is a naturally-occurring branch mutation of an unnamed selection of Myosotis palustris, not patented. The new Myosotis was discovered and selected by the Inventor in December, 1998 from within a population of plants of the parent selection in a controlled environment in Blaine, Minn.
Asexual reproduction of the new Myosotis by terminal cuttings in Blaine, Minn. since January, 1999, has shown that the unique features of this new Myosotis are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations of asexual reproduction.


Provided in accordance with the present invention, is a preferred embodiment of a boom for use in or containing, concentrating, and burning oil on the surface of a body of water. The boom includes a series of flotation sections, having an average density substantially less than that of water for providing flotation. The boom also includes a water distribution system at least partially surrounding one or more flotation sections. The water distribution system includes material substantially permeable to the water, for receiving, absorbing, and distribution of the water for heat protection. The boom additionally includes a pressurized fluid system/structure for placing the water distribution system in fluid communication with a supply of pressurized water. The pressurized fluid system includes at least one fluid conduit, extending for substantially the length of the boom. The conduit includes an end adapted for connecting to an external source of pressurized water. In operation, the conduit delivers the water along the boom's length, to the water distribution system.

Oil spills pose a major environmental threat to our increasingly urbanized world. Contamination of water and shoreline areas by even relatively modest amounts of oil can result in disastrous environmental consequences. In the environment, oil dissipates slowly over time and can cause significant adverse impacts for years unless cleaned up.
In response to an oil spill, clean-up personnel generally focus on cleaning up the spilled oil before the oil drifts ashore. Cleaning up an oil spill at sea dramatically reduces the risk of the spill impacting human population centers and other natural resources generally found in nearshore/shoreline environments. The adverse impact of an oil spill can thus often be significantly alleviated if the oil can be cleaned up before it reaches shoreline areas.
Cleaning up an oil slick floating on the surface of a body of water poses difficult problems. One attempted solution has been the use of ship-mounted oil containment and recovery systems (i.e., conventional booms and skimmers). Such recovery systems attempt to remove oil from the water's surface using direct suction devices, hydrodynamic planes, and a variety of oleophilic (oil-attracting) surfaces.
While satisfactory for some applications, such mechanical recovery systems generally require a great deal of logistical support, have relatively low oil recovery rates, and often pick up substantial volumes of water as well. The physical recovery of spilled oil with such skimming devices requires the use of large storage containers for the recovered oil and water, oil/water separation systems, and the provision of oil and oily waste disposal systems for the recovered fluids.
Many oil spill situations cannot be controlled adequately or in a timely manner with mechanical skimmers alone. The controlled burning of spilled oil in place (i.e., in-situ) with a fire-resistant boom provides an effective means of eliminating large volumes of oil quickly, with minimal logistical support, and without the need for large oil/water storage systems.
FIG. 1 illustrates spilled oil 20 floating on the surface of a body of water, being contained with a fire-resistant floating boom structure 22. Personnel maneuver the boom 22 into a shape corresponding generally to the letter "U", and contain and concentrate the spilled oil 20 (and/or other pollutants) between the legs of the U-shaped configuration. Once the oil has been sufficiently concentrated in the apex of the boom, personnel may ignite the oil using any of a number of aerial or surface ignition systems. The burning substantially consumes the oil, typically 90% to 98% of the contained oil, minimizing the risk of environmental damage. Unfortunately, the heat from the burning oil creates enormous thermal stress on the containment boom (typically 1800.degree. to 2000.degree. F.) which under wind and wave conditions may cause the rapid deterioration of even high temperature-resistant materials used in forming such booms.
Referring to FIG. 2, an oil containment boom 22 usually includes two main components: (i) a buoyant portion 24 extending above the water's surface 25 for flotation and to keep oil from splashing over the boom; and (2) a skirt or ballast portion 26 extending below the water's surface to prevent oil from escaping beneath the boom. Heat from the burning oil will typically impact the buoyant portion, and not the skirt/ballast portion as the skirt and ballast components generally remain submerged below the water's surface.
With continued reference to FIG. 2, one attempted solution for protecting fire-resistant containment booms from heat damage involves a cooling layer 28 in or between portions of the buoyant portion 24. The cooling layer is formed from a water absorbent material, in contact with the water. The cooling layer absorbs water, drawing moisture around the buoyant portion, against the influence of gravity, due to wicking. This moisture then functions for protecting the boom from heat.
While perhaps satisfactory in some applications, such passive cooling due to wicking generally provides insufficient heat protection. In particular, such passive cooling does not draw enough moisture, and/or does not draw the moisture upward far enough against gravity, along the buoyant portion to provide sufficient heat protection. That is, heat from burning oil still significantly damages such booms, even when the booms are made of high-temperature resistant materials. After use in an oil-burning operation, such booms normally require replacement and/or substantial repair.
The present invention provides an improved solution.


The invention presents method and apparatus for forming of large thin panels and similar parts having integral stiffeners at one side of a board. The method includes progressive forming of preheated billets into sculptured dies of corresponding length and width by a forging die of substantially identical width and short length with slightly inclined and flat forging surfaces providing a smoothly convergent working zone, and a periodical transfer of the sculptured die into the working zone between successive strokes of the forging die. Control of the material flow is performed by selection of a ratio of the working zone length to the billet thickness, variable contact friction at both dies and application of additional compressive forces to the billet at ends of the working zone. For semi-continuous processing of very long parts, the sculptured die is composed by plurality of sectioned elements. Embodiments of the method are conditions of isothermal and super plastic forming of light alloys with sub-micron grained structures.

Large complicated structural parts made from light alloys, composites, polymers, plastics and other materials can be used for automotive bodies, airplane skin and frames, missiles, space vehicles, ships and architecture. Presently, most panels and large thin parts from light alloys are fabricated by high speed or chemical milling of thick plate billets. This processing is expensive, material wasting, time and labor consuming. Another problem presents providing high, uniform and isotropic properties in final products. Usually, thick plates are produced by rolling of large ingots with many metallurgical defects and insufficient rolling reductions to heal these defects. Therefore, many high strength aluminum alloys show properties anisotropy, low ductility and brittleness in a short transverse direction. Also, a large volume of the removed material during milling operations results in product distortion requiring additional straightening operations.
Much more effective forming of panels in forging dies requires high pressures. For aluminum alloys, the average pressure is about 10,000 tons per a square meter. Practically, it may be applied to relative small panels as very powerful presses for large panels are not available. Among other approaches known in the art for fabrication of large panels are the die-rolling process (see U.S. Pat. No. 3,415,095), the step-forging process (see U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,521,472; 3,847,004; 4,608,848; 4,770,020 and 4,907,436) and the progressive forging process (see U.S. Pat. No. 5,327,767). All these techniques were found unpractical because of high cost, poor filing of sculptured dies, complicated tool, and/or possibility for generation of defects.
The advanced concept of the forging-rolling process was introduced in U.S. Pat. No. 5,673,581. In this case, by selecting sufficiently large ratios of a contact length between billet and die to a billet thickness, contact friction prevents material flow into directions of billet length and width and provides material flow into sculptured dies. Therefore, complicated and large panels can be fabricated. However, a few technical shortcomings still remain. First, during processing, forming dies slide along guide surfaces under high pressure with large friction and intensive wear. Second, two sets of top and bottom dies including difficult to fabricate ring dies of large curvature are needed. Third, a circular working zone between dies does not provide the optimal forging conditions with the increased contact length and an excessive load. Fourth, the tool and apparatus are complex, expensive and difficult for realization at standard presses. Fifth, forming of panels with thin boards, deep stiffeners and small transition radii may lead to such defects as laps, holes, and blinks.

Method and apparatus for forming of panels and similar parts


A process and device for scrubbing flows of gaseous effluents loaded with polluting substances, wherein the effluents are caused to circulate through a device including an array of scrubber units (4a to 4n) juxtaposed in an enclosure (3), each containing materials adsorbing the substances. When the adsorbing load thereof is saturated and for the scrubber units (4) to regain the scrubbing capacity thereof, they are selectively and successively isolated by a mobile collector (8) during the time required for their desorption by heating and for the substances to be transferred by an auxiliary fluid (a fraction of the circulating effluents for example or a gas delivered selectively to the inlet of the scrubber unit to be desorbed by an auxiliary circuit), and the substances mixed with the auxiliary fluid are possibly transferred towards a reactor (10) suited for removing them. The process can be applied for concentrating and scrubbing of polluting substances such as VOCs or gas dehumidification.

There are many devices intended for scrubbing gaseous effluents in industry, that work mainly by adsorption of the polluting substances on adsorbing materials or by terminal separation through a filter. After scrubbing in contact with the adsorbent, the scrubbed effluents can be discharged to the atmosphere or recycled in premises at least during winter time so as to decrease heating costs.
In certain types of devices, using for example activated carbon filters working according to the principle of cohesive force and of retention by chemisorption, the adsorbents are not regeneratable and they must be replaced as soon as the saturation threshold thereof is reached. The granular activated carbon used in some other filters can be regenerated at the plant provided that it is returned to the maker. A few days of activity of the polluting plant are sometimes enough to reach this saturation threshold when the initial polluting substance concentration is high. The cost of the adsorbent or the regeneration thereof quickly becomes prohibitive. This solution of filters with non regeneratable consumables is in any case unacceptable in an ecobalance since the pollution is in this case merely transferred from one support to another without being eliminated. Because of the replacement costs, of the lack of information and sometimes of difficulties in checking the condition of the devices, it often happens that the filters are not changed as frequently as they should.
There are also scrubbing devices with adsorbent regeneration by desorption and recovery or destruction of the polluting substances. However, these devices are often more expensive. They are rather suitable for facilities generating large amounts of polluting substances. In many cases, such devices most often do not constitute economically acceptable solutions. Many facilities are therefore not adequately equipped.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,608,273 for example or patent applications FR-A-2,659,869 and FR-A-2,709,431 describe processes for treating fluids loaded with substances to be eliminated, notably consisting in passing these fluids into tanks through a series of spaced-out filter layers containing an adsorbing material such as activated carbon for example. An adsorbing material that is electrically conducting or made conducting by adding conducting particles or heating wire is used. Desorption of the adsorbate is performed by heating it by means of an electric current running therethrough or of an electro-magnetic field produced by a winding. Two arrays of filter layers may be used and one is used in adsorption while the other is regenerated.
The claimants' patent application FR-94/06,281 describes a continuous scrubbing device for polluted effluents. It includes an internally chambered ring of vertical axis loaded with a particulate solid material adsorbing the polluting substances: silica, activated carbon, alumina or others, and continuously rotating inside a cage. A permanent circulation of gaseous effluents is established on the one hand between an effluent delivery line and an exhaust line in the central area via a first angular adsorption section of the ring, and on the other hand between a hot gaseous flow delivery line in the same area and an exhaust line via a second angular desorption section of the ring, where the adsorbate is regenerated. The lines are connected to external heat exchange and/or incineration means. This device can be associated with many types of polluting plants, but it is more particularly intended for those producing relatively high rates of polluted effluents (10,000 to 100,000 m3/h for example).

Process and device for scrubbing flows of gaseous effluents loaded with polluting substances


An airbag assembly includes a housing having a chute defining an opening. A panel is joined with the chute at a first end and extends over the opening to a second end opposite the first end and elevated with respect thereto. A substrate overlies the panel such that the elevated second end is closer to the substrate than the first end, and a foam layer extends from the substrate to the panel.

Automotive airbag systems include an airbag module mounted within a housing that is concealed beneath a surface of the vehicle interior. In particular, passenger airbag systems may include a chute defined by the housing and extending within the dashboard of the associated vehicle. The chute may be concealed beneath a surface of the dashboard or instrument panel substrate. In such an arrangement, the passenger airbag chute door (which may also be referred to as the "roof" of the chute) extends over an opening of the airbag assembly and is supported by a portion of the housing from the airbag canister, which may include a wall of the chute. The chute door may be weakened to facilitate tearing when a threshold amount of energy is applied to the underside thereof during activation of the airbag. The adjacent portion of the dashboard or instrument panel substrate may include a pre-weakened tear line that ruptures upon airbag deployment, allowing the airbag to deploy within the chute, out of the opening thereof, and from out of the dashboard.
In applications where the chute is covered by a portion of the instrument panel, multiple layers of material may extend over the door of the chute and other areas outward thereof, such material typically being bonded with both the door and the surrounding portions of the instrument panel support structure. Such layers may include the visible, outer layer of the instrument panel as well as intermediate layers, which may include foam or the like (used for "soft touch" instrument panel structures). Some variations of these covered arrangements may be "seamless" structures in which the outermost instrument panel layer is not pre-weakened along any particular predetermined tear seam. Depending on the type of material used for the outer layer of the instrument panel, the force necessary for airbag deployment to tear the un-weakened material may be appreciably greater than pre-weakened structures or in arrangements employing weaker materials. In an example, leather instrument panels may require a particularly high level of deployment force. Accordingly, further advances in airbag chutes and related structures are desired.