A photovoltaic module comprises electrically interconnected and mutually spaced photovoltaic cells that are encapsulated by a light-transmitting encapsulant between a light-transparent front cover and a back cover, with the back cover sheet being an ionomer/nylon alloy embossed with V-shaped grooves running in at least two directions and coated with a light reflecting medium so as to provide light-reflecting facets that are aligned with the spaces between adjacent cells and oriented so as to reflect light falling in those spaces back toward said transparent front cover for further internal reflection onto the solar cells, whereby substantially all of the reflected light will be internally reflected from said cover sheet back to the photovoltaic cells, thereby increasing the current output of the module. The internal reflector improves power output by as much as 67%.

Photovoltaic (PV) cells used for photoelectric conversion, e.g., silicon solar cells, are relatively small in size, typically measuring 2–4″ on a side in the case of cells made from rectangular EFG-grown substrates. It is common industry practice to combine a plurality of PV cells into a physically integrated PV module having a correspondingly greater power output. Also, several PV modules may be connected together to form a large array with a correspondingly greater power output. Typically PV modules are formed from 2 or more "strings" of solar cells, with each string consisting of a plurality of cells arranged in a row and electrically connected in series, and the several strings being arranged physically in parallel with one another so as to form an array of cells arranged in parallel rows and columns with spaces between adjacent cells. The several strings are electrically connected to one another in a selected parallel or series electrical circuit arrangement, according to voltage and current requirements.
For various reasons, it has been common practice for the modules to be laminated structures. These laminated structures consist of front and back protective cover sheets, with the front sheet being stiff and made of clear glass or a suitable plastic material that is transparent to solar radiation, and the back cover sheet (commonly called a "backskin") being made of the same or a different material as the front sheet. Disposed between the front and back sheets in a sandwich arrangement are the interconnected solar cells and a light-transparent polymer material that encapsulates the solar cells and also is bonded to the front and back sheets so as to physically seal off the cells. The laminated structure provides mechanical support for the cells and also protects them against damage due to environmental factors such as wind, snow, and ice. Another common practice is to fit the laminated module into a metal frame, with a sealant covering the edges of the module engaged by the metal frame. The metal frame protects the edges of the module, provides additional mechanical strength, and facilitates combining it with other modules so as to form a larger array or solar panel that can be mounted to a suitable support that holds the modules at the proper angle to maximize reception of solar radiation.
When a plurality of cells are arrayed in a module, the total active surface area of the array (i.e., the active area of the front faces of the solar cells) is less than the total area exposed to radiation via the transparent front protective sheet. For the most part this is due to the fact that adjacent cells do not touch each other and also the cells at the periphery of the array may not extend fully to the outer edges of the front protective sheet. Consequently, less than all of the solar radiation that is received by the PV module impinges on active solar cell areas, with the remainder of the received solar radiation impinging on any inactive areas that lie between the cells or border the entire array of cells.
A number of techniques have been proposed for increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of PV modules by concentrating incident solar radiation onto active cell areas. U.S. Pat. No. 4,235,643, issued Nov. 25, 1980 to James A. Amick for "Solar Cell Module", discloses a solar cell module characterized by a solar cell support having a plurality of wells for receiving individual solar cells, with the surface of the support between the cells having a plurality of light-reflective facets in the form of V-shaped grooves, with the angle at the vertex formed by two mutually-converging facets being between 110° and 130°, preferably about 120°, whereby light impinging on those facets would be reflected back into the transparent cover layer at an angle Ø greater than the critical angle, and then reflected again internally from the front surface of the cover layer so as to impinge on the solar cells. The term "critical angle" refers to the largest value that the angle of incidence may have for a ray of light passing from a denser optical medium to a less dense optical medium. As is well known, if the angle of incidence Ø exceeds the critical angle, the ray of light will not enter the less dense medium (e.g., air) but will be totally internally reflected back into the dense medium (e.g., the transparent cover layer 54 of Amick).
U.S. Pat. No. 5,994,641, issued Nov. 30, 1999 to Michael J. Kardauskas for "Solar Module Having Reflector Between Cells", discloses an improvement over the Amick invention by incorporating a light-reflecting means in the form of an optically-reflective textured sheet material in a laminated module comprising a transparent front cover, a back cover, a plurality of mutually spaced and electrically-interconnected photovoltaic cells disposed between the front and back covers, and a transparent encapsulant material surrounding the cells and bonded to the front and back covers. The optically-reflective sheet material is disposed between the cells and also between the cells and the outer periphery of the module. The optically-reflective textured sheet material of Kardauskas comprises a substrate in the form of a thin and flexible thermoplastic film and a light reflecting coating on one side of the substrate, with the substrate being textured by embossing so as to have a plurality of contiguous v-shaped grooves characterized by flat mutually-converging surfaces ("facets") that extend at an angle to one another in the range of 110°-130°, preferably about 120°. The light-reflecting facets extend in a predetermined angular relationship with respect to the front cover, so that light impinging on that those facets will be reflected upwardly back through the covering transparent encapsulant and the glass to the glass interface with air, and then backwards through the glass and covering encapsulant toward active areas of the cells. Kardauskas teaches that the light-reflecting coating may be either a light-reflecting metal film or a dielectric stack comprising multiple layers of materials arranged to form a reflecting mirror.
The Kardauskas patent teaches the use of a reflective material having a linear pattern of grooves wherein all of the grooves are parallel to one another. It also teaches that the embossed linear pattern of grooves may be replaced by an embossed herringbone pattern of grooves. In one arrangement, a sheet of the reflective material with a linear pattern of grooves is placed between the cells and the backskin, with the sheet being large enough so that it extends beyond the perimeter of the array of cells. The grooves of that sheet extend in the same direction as the columns or rows. Then additional strips of the same material are placed over the larger sheet in those portions of the land areas between the cells so that the grooves form a pattern wherein certain of the grooves extend parallel to the cell rows and other grooves extend parallel to the cell columns. More precisely, the linear grooves between adjacent rows are oriented at a right angle to the grooves between columns, so as to improve the amount of light that is internally reflected from the areas between the cells back onto the front surfaces of the cells. Kardauskas teaches a second way to obtain a patterned groove arrangement using his reflective material with linear pattern of grooves. The second way comprises cutting the reflective sheet material with a linear groove pattern into a plurality of strips, with individual strips being placed between adjacent columns and other strips being placed between adjacent rows so that the grooves of the strips between rows extend at a right angle to the grooves of the strips between columns.
The advantage of the Kardauskas invention is that it provides a material improvement in power output. As disclosed in the Kardauskas patent, a plurality of test cell coupons, each comprising a square cell measuring 100 mm on each side and surrounded on each side by a 25 mm. wide strip of laminated reflective film material, with the 0.002″ deep V-shaped grooves of that material running in one direction along two opposites sides of the cell and running in a second direction at a right angle to the first direction along the other two sides of the cell, were found to show improvements in power output in the range of 20.8% to 25.6% when illuminated by a solar simulator light source. A limitation of the Kardauskas invention is that introduces an additional separate component to the module and the laminating process.
Japan Published Patent Application No. 62-101247 discloses the concept of providing a solar cell module with a reflective back cover sheet in the form of a laminate comprising a polyester base layer and a light-reflecting aluminum coating, with the back cover sheet having a plurality of V-shaped grooves that provide angular light reflecting facets. The cells are spaced from one another in front of the back sheet, so that incident light passing through the front cover sheet and between the cells is reflected by the back cover sheet back to the transparent front cover sheet.
The module is made by placing the front and back cover sheets, the cells and an encapsulant in the form of EVA (ethylene-vinyl acetate polymer) in a laminating apparatus having an embossing platen, with the back cover sheet comprising a flat polyester base layer and an aluminum coating on the front side of the base layer. The polyester base layer faces the embossing platen. When the apparatus is operated to form a laminated solar module as described, it subjects the assembled components to heat and pressure, causing the encapsulant to melt and the platen to emboss a linear grooved pattern into the back cover sheet, with the result that back cover sheet has grooves on both its front and back sides. The manufacturing procedure taught by Japan Published Patent Application No. 62-101247 has two limitations.
First of all, the aluminum cover sheet does not directly engage the embossing platen, and hence the precision with which grooves are embossed in the aluminum coating depends on how precisely the platen can emboss grooves in the polyester base layer. Secondly, polyester films have a high melt temperature, typically about 250 degrees C. or higher, and must be heated under pressure to at least their melt point in order to be permanently deformed into a pattern of grooves by the embossing platen. Conventional polyester, i.e., polyethylene terephthalate (PET) has a melt point of about 250 degrees C., while poly 1,4 cyclo-hexanedimethanol terephthalate (PCT) has a melt point of 290 degrees C. However, EVA encapsulant has a melt point of about 150 degrees C. and will deteriorate if over heated. Consequently the laminating and embossing temperature must be limited to avoid overheating the EVA, but limiting that temperature has the effect of making it more difficult to permanently and precisely emboss the polyester base with sharp V-shaped grooves that are replicated in the aluminum coating. If the grooves formed in the aluminum coating do not have flat sides that converge at the required angle, less light will be internally reflected in the desired mode, thereby limiting any increase in module power output resulting from the use of a reflective back sheet.
The design disclosed by Japan Published Patent Application No. 62-101247 has been utilized in PV modules made by Sharp Corp. and described in an article published by the CADDET Japanese National Team entitled "Bigger Gaps Make PV Cells More Efficient". That publication indicates includes a drawing illustrating a module with a grooved reflective back cover sheet as disclosed by Japan Published Patent Application No. 62-101247. However, that article also indicates that an improvement of cell power output of only 4% is achieved by Sharp modules having the multi-groove reflecting back cover sheet. One possible explanation for the failure to achieve a greater improvement in power output may be how the reflective back sheet is made. Another explanation is that the grooves all extend in the same direction.

Photovoltaic module with light reflecting backskin


A method for manufacturing a lithium secondary battery including the steps of manufacturing a lithium secondary battery including an electrode assembly, a non-aqueous electrolyte in which the electrode assembly is impregnated, and a battery case receiving the non-aqueous electrolyte; performing formation of the lithium secondary battery; and performing a degassing process for removing gas generated inside the lithium secondary battery, wherein the non-aqueous electrolyte includes a lithium salt, an organic solvent and 1,2,3-trifluorobenzene as an additive, wherein the 1,2,3-trifluorobenzene is included in an amount of 0.1 wt % to 10 wt % based on the total weight of the non-aqueous electrolyte, and the formation step is performed by charging the state of charge (SOC) of the battery up to 10% to 80%, while applying a voltage of 3.5 V to 4.5 V under a pressure of 0.5 kgf/cm2 to 5 kgf/cm2 at 45° C. to 80° C.

As technical development and demand for mobile devices are increased, the demand for secondary batteries as energy sources is rapidly increasing. Among such secondary batteries, a lithium secondary battery having high energy density and voltage is being commercialized and widely used.
The lithium secondary battery is generally manufactured by a method in which a positive electrode and a negative electrode are manufactured by applying a positive electrode active material composed of a lithium-containing oxide or the like or a carbonaceous negative electrode active material capable of intercalating or deintercalating lithium ions, and a material of mixing a binder and a conductive material selectively to a positive electrode current collector and a negative electrode current collector, respectively, the positive and negative electrodes are laminated on both sides of a separator to form an electrode current collector having a predetermined shape, and then a non-aqueous electrolyte, in which an appropriate amount of a lithium salt is dissolved in this electrode current collector and an organic solvent, is inserted into a battery case and sealed. Furthermore, it is required to undergo formation and aging processes almost necessarily in order to secure the performance of the battery.
The formation process activates the battery by repeating charging and discharging after assembling the battery, and the lithium ions discharging from a lithium metal oxide, which is used as a positive electrode upon charging, are inserted by moving to a carbon electrode, which is used as a negative electrode. In this case, lithium has a strong reactivity, so that a compound such as Li2CO3, Li2O, or LiOH is generated by reacting with an electrolyte on the surface of the negative electrode, and this compound forms a solid electrolyte interface (SEI) film on the surface of the negative electrode. Further, the aging process is a process for stabilizing by allowing the activated battery to stand left for a certain period as described above.
Since the lithium secondary battery completed by such a manufacturing process may accelerate the decomposition reaction of the electrolyte at a high temperature or decrease the charge/discharge capacity of the lithium secondary battery, it has been generally prohibited to be exposed to a high temperature.
However, in order to manufacture a lithium secondary battery having high energy density, secondary batteries are required to drive at a high temperature and a high voltage, and in this case, an oxide reaction between the electrolyte and the positive electrode may cause the occurrence of gas to increase during high-temperature storage and life characteristics to deteriorate.
In order to solve such a problem, there is need for a method for manufacturing a lithium secondary battery capable of decreasing the occurrence of gas during high-temperature storage and at the same time, preventing life characteristics from being lowered.

Lithium secondary battery having high-temperature storage properties and method for manufacturing the same


Resupply, recycling and exchange of consumption items of office apparatuses made by two or more manufacturers can be facilitated by a customer support center, a supply center, office systems and customer support terminals connected via a communication network, wherein an apparatus management database, a cost and supply information database, an analysis database, and a supply management database are installed at appropriate locations, each associated with functional units such as a data acquisition unit, a data analysis unit, a report generating unit and the like for issuing purchase orders, recycling orders, exchange orders and office system improvement proposals.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a customer support system, an office system, a customer support center, a supply center and a customer support method.
2. Description of the Related Art
In conventional information centers of office systems and the like, usage information relative to office apparatuses is stored for each manufacturer of the apparatuses. However, there are no systems that offer management of office apparatuses of a plurality of manufacturers in a comprehensive manner.
Further, office users have to take care of resupplying consumption items of the office apparatuses, and each manufacturer looks after recycling of used materials only of the manufacturer.
The problem to be solved is in that a conventional office system does not offer management of office apparatuses of a plurality of manufacturers, although an office usually uses office apparatuses of different makers. That is, the office system management is not optimized.
Further, ordering and recycling of consumption items have to be arranged per manufacturer, causing office management of consumption items to be a time-consuming problem.
The present invention is made in view of the above-mentioned problems, providing a more desirable office system that looks after various office apparatuses of a plurality of manufacturers, and simplifying the resupplying of consumption items, and the like.

Customer support system, an office system, a customer support center, a supply center and a customer support method


A surface-mounted fuselage skin appliqué panel having an aperture to a reference static air input port is rugged, replaceable, and independently calibratable. The static port skin appliqué generally conforms to the fuselage surface, and is held in place either with adhesive or with a mounting frame. The appliqué size enables airflow in the vicinity of the static port to be substantially uniform. Because the appliqué is not part of the fuselage structure, distorting stress loads are avoided. The appliqué material resists scratches and bumps that can distort flow. A static port skin appliqué and its mounting provisions can be made using a range of materials, and can receive finishes to meet user preferences.

A relatively small region of an aircraft fuselage surface, commonly located near the cockpit, is used as a reference surface for many flight dynamic measurement functions. The region needs a smooth and stable contour, so that reference pressure detection remains consistent from flight to flight. In order to allow relatively static reference air to couple via a static port to altimeters and other flight instruments, the fuselage region is commonly pierced with one or more holes, which can stress the skin material. Riveting and other fastening methods likewise apply stresses. As a consequence of such stress loading, the region has a tendency to deform as flight flexure, pressurization cycling, and thermal changes allow relief of stress. Even scratches and bumps from contact with equipment such as gangways and air stairs can appreciably affect flow, while calibration, both periodic and after even minor distortion, is often time consuming and costly.
Repairs to the region of the static port can involve replacing surface panels, labor-intensive shimming, and application, smoothing, and finishing of filler material ("Bondo®" or comparable surface filling products from various vendors). Known prevention methods include installing at the location of the static port a recessed well into which a panel is fitted that substantially takes the shape of the unmodified surface. Such methods are likewise generally costly and labor intensive.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for providing a simplified static port skin appliqué fitting that assures smooth, stable, repeatable airflow over a fuselage surface proximal to a static port, maintains a specific surface contour, allows calibration of the appliqué separate from the aircraft, and permits ready removal and replacement of the appliqué. There is a further need for improved durability compared to an ordinary skin surface of the aircraft.

Static port skin applique apparatus and method


A system for switching data packets through a multiple (m) input, multiple (n) output switching device providing switching having a fast one-cycle throughput. A respective switching device behaves like an output queued switch from a set of distributed output queues reading the incoming input control information from the plurality of input ports (IP) and compresses the information in a form which allows an easy association with a respective output port (OP) to which an individual input port is temporarily mapped.

The present invention relates to switching technology in computer networks. More particularly it refers to a system for switching information packets through a multiple (m) input, multiple (n) output switching device.
During the last years the data traffic through electronic networks has increased remarkably. This tendency was strongly triggered by the general acceptance and frequent use of the Internet by private persons and enterprises.
In general, the data is transferred in packets from a start node to an end node of a respective data transmission. Between start node and end node in general, a plurality of nodes are used during packet transmission at which a packet is routed in one—when monocast—and into several directions—when multicast transmission—in order to arrive finally at the end node.
At any intermediate node a kind of switching device is provided having a number of m input ports and a number of n output ports that routes the packets according to the intended target node. The physical line onto which this is done is called a link. Thus, in a network the nodes are connected by one or more links which are often full duplex links which allow simultaneous communications in both directions. Both ends of each link are terminated by a 'link-circuit' which is also called a port.
A switch is thus a key component of the entire network. It is called non-blocking when it can simultaneously interconnect several pairs of selected links. It is also called a cut-through switch when it can begin re-transmitting (i.e., forwarding) data packets well before the complete packet has been received. Further, a modern switch supports multiple priorities or class of traffic per port, further referred to herein as lanes.
In European patent application EP 0404423 a respective disclosure can be found related to the specific prior art network switches. This disclosure is incorporated herein by reference.
The problem concerned with the present invention is now in more detail the following: The basic principle of any switch fabric is to route incoming packets from any of the m input ports to one or more of the n output ports.
The prior art disclosure M. Kateavenis, P. Vatsolaki, and A. Efthymiou, "Pipelined Memory Shared Buffer for VLSI Switches", ACM SIGCOMM'95, Mass. USA, August 1995, pp. 39-48, gives an overview on different ways of building a switch fabric by using various queuing systems such as Input Queuing (IQ), Output Queuing (OQ) or Combined Input and Output Queuing (CIOQ).
A switch fabric that places incoming packets in a queue that is dedicated to its outgoing line where it waits until departing of the switch, is called an output queued or output buffered switch fabric. This approach is considered to be the reference switch model as it provides the optimum delay-throughput performance for all traffic distributions. But this architecture is also considered to have limited scalability because the required internal bandwidth or speedup (S)—defined as the number of times that the switch core works faster than the input line rate—is equal to number of input ports (S=m). This makes output queuing impractical for switches with high line rates or with large number of ports, because memories with sufficient bandwidth are simply not available.
Therefore, most high performance switch (both research and commercial) have chosen architectures employing input queuing (also referred as input buffering) to reduce cost and simplify the implementation.
An input queued architecture is considered to be more scalable and its implementation does not have the restriction of an OQ model because the core fabric only needs to work at the input line rate (S=1). However, IQ based switches need to resolve input and output contention by means of arbiters at the inputs and outputs. Maximum matching algorithms have been proposed to achieve 100% throughput, but their high complexity make them unfeasible to implement for high-speed systems. These are schemes such as Longest Port Queuing (LPQ), Oldest Cell First (OCF) and Longest Port First (LPF). Maximal matching such as iSLIP, Dual Round-Robin Matching (DRRM) and Longest Output Occupancy First Algorithm (LOOFA) have been considered as an alternative to maximum matching schemes. These schemes are less complex to implement, but still because of the high requirements put on these arbiters, only switches with small number of ports (i.e 32 for iSLIP) have been proposed. Another drawback of IQ switches is that guaranteed Quality of Service (QoS) is usually difficult to implement. The reason is that packets not only contend for an output port, they also contend for entry into the switch fabric with packets that are destined for other outputs. This places a packet at the mercy of other packets destined for other outputs, and makes the packet latency difficult to control, unless a mechanism is provided to resolve input contention.
For a long time, buffered crossbars have been considered as the solution to improve switching throughput. A buffered crossbar has buffering at each crosspoint, meaning that incoming packets are queued per output at every inputs. This architecture takes advantage of the IQ implementation scalability by requiring a switch core that only operates at the input line rate (S=1), while also providing all the delay-throughput characteristics of an OQ switch.
From a queuing system point of view, a buffered crossbar can be seen as an output queued switch having distributed output queues instead of a centralized output queue. In order to behave identically to an OQ switch, a buffered crossbar requires an arbitration scheme between the physical distributed queues to recreate a logical output queue. (FIG. 1a). The conventional crosspoint-buffer-type switch adopts ring arbitration to search for a crosspoint buffer that has a request to send a packet to the output line. Because this scheme is known to be limited by the number of input ports and by the transmission delay of the control signals in each crosspoint, approaches such as Round-Robin (RR) or Weighted Round-Robin (WRR) arbitration are usually preferred.
However, even if their implementation is more scaleable, RR and WRR arbitration also experiment problems when both the input port increases to large numbers (i.e 128˜256) and the line rate increases in the range of tens of Gb/s. The reason is that packet time decreases as the input/output line rate increases, which puts a strong dependency on the high-speed logic that performs the arbitration decision within one packet cycle.
Also, although the RR and the WRR arbitration are suitable for many communication applications, their behavior may not be acceptable when the aim is to approximate or emulate a real output queued switch. In particular, some computer applications may require that the sequence of incoming packets among multiple input ports gets maintained. In those cases, more complex algorithms such as fair queuing type of algorithms are required, which again will limit the buffer crossbar scalability.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Chip circuit for combined and data compressed FIFO arbitration for a non-blocking switch

International Business Machines Corporaiton


A method of forming at least a portion of a dual bit memory core array upon a semiconductor substrate, the method comprising performing front end processing, performing a first bitline implant, or pocket implants, or both into the first bitline spacings to establish buried first bitlines within the substrate, depositing a layer of the spacer material over the charge trapping dielectric and the polysilicon layer features, forming a sidewall spacer adjacent to the charge trapping dielectric and the polysilicon layer features to define second bitline spacings between adjacent memory cells, performing a deep arsenic implant into the second bitline spacings to establish a second bitline within the structure that is deeper than the first bit line, removing the sidewall spacers and performing back end processing.

Several trends continue to be present in the semiconductor and electronics industry. Devices continue to be made smaller, faster and require less power while operating. One reason for this ongoing trend is that personal electronic devices are being fabricated that are designed to be smaller, and yet at the same time, packaged with greater memory capability. For example, cellular phones, personal computing devices, recorders, and personal sound systems are getting smaller while the memory capability, speed and computational power are expanding. In light of these trends, there is an ever increasing demand in the semi-conductor industry for smaller and faster transistors to provide the core functionality of the integrated circuits used in these devices.
Accordingly, in the semiconductor marketplace there is a continuing trend toward manufacturing integrated circuits (ICs) with higher densities. To achieve high densities, there has been and continues to be efforts toward scaling down dimensions (e.g., submicron levels) on semiconductor wafers. In order to accomplish these higher densities, smaller feature sizes and reduced separation between features, more precise feature shapes are required to be placed on the small rectangular portions of the wafer, commonly known as dies. This may include the width and spacing of interconnecting lines, the diameter of contact holes, as well as the surface geometry of various other features (e.g., corners and edges), and the like. The scaling-down of integrated circuit dimensions results in faster circuit performance and/or switching speeds, and can lead to higher effective yields in IC fabrication by providing more circuits on a silicon die and/or more silicon die per semiconductor wafer.
The process of manufacturing integrated circuits involves numerous process steps, during which hundreds/thousands of copies of an integrated circuit are formed on a single wafer. This process can create electrically active regions in and on the semiconductor wafer surface. A typical process of manufacturing these active areas in a metal-oxide-semiconductor-field-effect-transistor (MOSFET) requires ion implanting of the source and drain. With devices becoming smaller and smaller the current approach within the industry has been to implant ions shallowly so that the lateral and vertical junctions are shallow, as well.
However, short channel effects have to be minimized as the industry scales down the memory cells. A common known problem within the industry is that as one cell is programmed, the cell next to it is erroneously programmed as well, commonly referred to as "program disturb". Although not totally understood, one possibility is that electrons or holes are migrating around to the other side of the device and programming the cell.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to allow transistors to be scaled down while preventing erroneous or undesired programming of the cell.

Deep bitline implant to avoid program disturb


Ethylenically unsaturated carboxyl monomers, such as acrylic or methacrylic acid or their esters, are protected from premature polymerization during manufacture and storage in the presence or absence of water by the incorporation therein of an effective stabilizing amount of a blend two or more nitroxides. Some of these blends provide synergistic stabilization efficacy much superior to the stabilization results obtained by use of either nitroxide alone.

It is well known that ethylenically unsaturated monomers like vinyl aromatic compounds, such as styrene, .alpha.-methylstyrene, vinyltoluene or divinylbenzene or acrylic monomers, such as acrylonitrile, methacrylonitrile, acrylic acid, methacrylic acid and their esters and amides, or unsaturated esters such as vinyl acetate or unsaturated polyesters have a strong tendency to polymerize when subjected to elevated temperatures. Manufacturing processes for such monomers typically include distillations or handling at elevated temperatures.
Known inhibitors of acrylic monomer polymerization include phenothiazine, hydroquinone monomethyl ether, methylene blue and nitroxides. Phenothiazine, while unable to totally inhibit polymerization of acrylic monomers, is a commonly used co-additive. Recent patents claim phenylenediamines with soluble transition metal salts (U.S. Pat. No. 5,221,764), and aryl N-nitroso compounds (EP 0 522 709 A2) are active in acrylic monomer stabilization. U.S. Patent No. 5,504,243 teaches a ternary mixture of a soluble transition metal salt, nitroso compound and nitroxide are also effective as monomer inhibitors. However, there still remains a need for a compound to improve the stability of acrylic monomers during their processing. The need exists for a stable polymerization inhibitor system which will effectively and safely prevent the premature polymerization of unsaturated acrylate monomers during distillation and other purification processes, particularly if air is absent, and during organic-aqueous phase separations.
As indicated above, it is known that acrylonitrile, acrylic acid, methacrylic acid and their respective esters, which are generically referred to in this application as acrylates, have a tendency to undergo unwanted and premature polymerization at elevated temperatures. The industrial production of acrylates also yields several byproducts from which the desired monomer must be separated. One stage of this purification usually involves the partition of the acrylate between an organic and an aqueous phase. During this purification and subsequent steps, the acrylate can undergo a thermally induced polymerization. This undesired reaction must be limited and hopefully entirely repressed to insure that the reactors, tanks, pipes, etc. used to make, store and transport the monomer remain free or essentially free of high molecular weight polymeric material.
The production of acylic acid usually involves the catalytic gas-phase oxidation of propylene. During the purification processing of the monomer, the reaction stream often undergoes a partition between an organic and an aqueous phase. During this partition, a particular polymerization inhibitor may not partition sufficiently well into each of the two phases where it is needed to prevent the monomer from undergoing premature and unwanted polymerization. The instant invention pertains to the use of a mixture of two or more nitroxides which when used together provide synergistic stabilization efficacy to the acylate monomer during its preparation and purification, especially when it undergoes partition between an organic medium and water or even in a solely organic system.

Polymerization inhibition of acrylates using blends of nitroxides


A system for reclaiming contaminated water from a cooling tower in a power generation system includes a contaminant collection heat exchanger that receives a supply of extraction steam from the power generation system, and to receive and concentrate contaminants in the contaminated water by boiling the contaminated water and producing process steam using thermal energy from the extraction steam. A concentrate condensation device receives and further concentrates the contaminants collected in the contaminant collection heat exchanger. A process, heating, condensing and/or electrical generation subsystem receives the process steam from the contaminant collection heat exchanger.

This section is intended to provide a background or context to the invention recited in the claims. The description herein may include concepts that could be pursued, but are not necessarily ones that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated herein, what is described in this section is not prior art to the description and claims in this application and is not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
Power generation systems and facilities that use steam as a working fluid (e.g. Rankine cycle systems, etc.) in which a source of thermal energy converts a feedwater to steam to drive a turbine and generator in simple or combined cycle operation are generally known. In such power generation systems, the steam exiting the turbine is typically condensed and then returned to the system as feedwater to complete the thermodynamic cycle. In some systems, a cooling tower, such as a wet cooling tower, is used to condense the steam for reuse in the power generation cycle. During the cooling and evaporation process, dissolved minerals tend to accumulate in the condensate within the cooling tower until the total dissolved solids (TDS) reaches an upper limit established for proper operation of the power generation system. In order to maintain TDS levels within acceptable limits, draw-off or blowdown of the condensate is frequently conducted and fresh make-up water must be added to the system to compensate for the removal of the water from blowdown. Typically, cooling tower blowdown in simple or combined cycle power generation plants amounts to one of the plant's largest sources of water discharge and the need for separate processing of the blowdown water to prevent environmental contamination.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a system and method that can substantially reduce (or eliminate) cooling tower blowdown wastewater discharge. It would also be desirable to provide a system and method that produced pressurized steam for process heating or electric generation. It would also be desirable to provide a system and method that could process and return most of the cooling tower blowdown wastewater as distilled water that can be reused in the power generation plant and that can separate the collected contaminants (e.g. salts, etc.) for use in other applications.

Cooling tower water reclamation system and method


An inflator includes a housing and a gas source material enclosed in a rupturable container in the housing. The gas source material is adapted to undergo decomposition to form an inflation gas. A reactant material is adapted to react with the gas source material to produce decomposition thereof, and is positioned in a cavity extending between a housing outer wall and an enclosure positioned within the housing. The container and an expandable bladder are positioned in the enclosure. Ignition of a propellant within the bladder generates combustion gases, thereby expanding the bladder. Bladder expansion forces portions of the container into openings formed along the enclosure, thereby stressing and rupturing the portions of the container in the openings and releasing gas source material to flow through the openings into the cavity, where it reacts with the catalyst to produce inflation gas.

The present invention relates generally to vehicle occupant protection systems, and more particularly to inflators employed in vehicle occupant protection systems incorporating inflatable protection devices.
It is well known to protect a vehicle occupant using an inflatable cushion, or airbag, which is inflated with gas when the vehicle encounters sudden deceleration, such as in a collision. In such systems, the airbag cushion is normally housed in an uninflated and folded condition to minimize space requirements. Upon actuation of the system, the airbag is inflated, in a matter of no more than a few milliseconds, with gas produced or supplied by a device commonly referred to as an inflator.
Many types of inflator devices have been disclosed in the art for the inflating of one or more inflatable restraint system airbag cushions. Prior art airbag systems utilize compressed stored gas inflators, pyrotechnic inflators and hybrid inflators. However, each of these types of inflators has been subject to certain disadvantages, such as greater than desired weight and space requirements, production of undesired or non-preferred combustion products in greater than desired amounts, and production or emission of gases at a greater than desired temperature. Thus, there is a continuing need and demand for further improvements in safety, simplicity, effectiveness, economy of size, and reliability in the apparatus and techniques used for inflating an inflatable device such as an airbag cushion.


Computer systems, methods and computer readable media storing instructions, for providing news item recommendations are disclosed. An example system includes one or more digital memories having stored therein metadata for a plurality of news items and click data corresponding to user interactions with the plurality of news items, and a processor. The processor is configured to: determine a user profile for a user, the user profile including indications of news items previously clicked on by the user; select candidate news items for recommendation from (a) said news items based upon respective similarity distances to news items included in the user profile or (b) news items included in other user profiles that are identified based upon their respective similarity distances to the user profiles; and score the candidate news items using, at least in part, a temporal aspect of the candidate news items.

News has transformed primarily into a digital format with leading newspapers and news agencies having a significant online presence. The speed at which news reaches the reader notwithstanding, the proliferation of blogs and microblogs to deliver specialized content has become the order of the day.
Although a large amount of news content is being generated each day, only a subset of content is relevant to a user's interests. Out of this subset of relevant content, the content that the user is likely to engage with is considerably smaller. With the generation and proliferation of such a large amount of news content, it becomes hard for users to sift through it all and find news articles of interest. Even highly engaged users tend to dis-engage with a website when the content they are served is unappealing or not relevant to them.
This deluge of information has given rise to a challenge known as "Information Overload." Previous research has shown that variations in amount of information presented to the user, has an impact on the user's decision making process and in turn has an effect on decision quality. Prior studies have analyzed the effects of decision making by consumers in the face of information overload during the purchase of different products like CD players, peanut butter, dinner and other small and large purchases. In the digital news media domain, recommendation systems have been used to ensure delivery of content to the user in tune with their tastes. However, these systems face an unprecedented challenge—the transient nature of popular news and user's changing interests.
Recommendation systems have been popularized mostly by e-commerce websites like Amazon.com™, Netflix™, Yelp™ and other such retailers. Recommendations in the e-commerce context however, has in most cases, provided explicit feedback data of customer ratings for a particular product or comments about the product by customers, pre or post purchase. This explicit feedback data provides the recommendation engine with some notion of user likes and dislikes.
The absence of such explicit feedback by users compounds the recommendation problem in the digital news media domain. Most recommendation systems for recommending digital news content rely on inferring user engagement through clicks; which is not necessarily an accurate measure as it gives no explicit information about the degree to which a user is interested in a news article. A click on a link to an article, for example, although capable of being interpreted as an indication of a user's interest in the subject of that article, does not provide any information as to how much (e.g., a degree or level of interest, beyond merely indicating interested in or not interested in) interest the user has in the linked article.
Although there is a gross lack of explicit information about user interests, some other factors strongly influence user engagement in the news media domain. These additional factors and their combined effects on recommendation quality and user engagement are described below.
News content in the contemporary age is experiencing a shift in the publishing process wherein there is a transition from the traditional print medium to the internet. This transition has brought with it many new opportunities and has completely changed the way users receive and consume news content. One of the major changes is that online news content is dynamic in nature and near realtime. This eliminates the delay associated with printing a newspaper which, once printed, is the source of a relatively small amount of static content. This is the major allure of online content.
In an effort to deliver all the important events in the world to the users fast, news agencies typically publish a vast amount of news content on a daily basis. Vast to such a degree that sifting through all the content manually and selecting content of interest is a challenge for users. This phenomenon leads to the aforementioned "Information Overload." This serves as the primary motivation of recommendation systems for news content.
A primary goal of such recommendation systems is to gain some notion of a consumer's tastes and personalize content that the consumer sees such that it is in tune with those perceived tastes. Hence, much work has been done previously with a goal to understand user preferences and recommend content that the user might engage with.

Systems and methods for recommending temporally relevant news content using implicit feedback data


A system for communicating between members of a group is disclosed which includes a communications interface transmitting at least one of voice, video and text communications from an originating member to at least one destination member within a virtual group. The graphical communication flow module graphically depicts to each member of the virtual group the originator and target of different types of communication (text, voice or iconic) occurring simultaneously within the virtual group. The simultaneous access window allows virtual group members to engage in “real-life” group activities (like viewing a video, reviewing a document, or participating in training exercises) while at the same time transmitting, receiving, and viewing communications occurring between computer users connected to the virtual group. This system of providing group interaction over networks has unique and important applications to virtual group counseling, virtual office meetings, and group communications in the form of chat rooms over the Internet.

Problems with Existing Systems of Computerized Group Interaction
There are many problems associated with currently available systems of computerized group interaction. Generally speaking, conventional systems for group interaction (e.g. chat-rooms) are poor replicas of actual communication in the real world. They are even poorer imitations of the operation of functional, task-oriented groups. A detailed look at the specific problems associated with currently available systems of computerized group interaction follows.
The main problem with currently available systems of computerized group interaction is that they do not provide a no way of visualizing all members of the group with whom one is interacting at the same time. For example, when a person attends a staff meeting at work, she is usually able to see the speakers and the other staff members. When she hears somebody speaking, she can connect the voice with the speaker, and can usually determine to whom the speaker is directing his/her comments, as well as how the speaker is feeling and how the listener is reacting to the message. In chat-rooms, it is difficult to ascertain these things.
Another problem with these systems is that communications must usually occur in a serial manner, one entry at a time, even though this is not the way natural communication in the real world occurs. To the contrary, many times people have side conversations going on, or they make short comments while the main speaker is talking, or they send hand-written notes back and forth while someone has the floor.
Another problem with currently available systems is that they do not allow for a new person to join a closed membership meeting that is already in progress (at the discretion of the "gatekeeper") as often happens in real-life situations. For example, a manager from another office making an unexpected visit may be invited to join an on-going management meeting to discuss a specific project, and then leave when that discussion is completed.
Another problem with currently available systems is that most do not provide the capacity to view presentation materials at the same time that the group communication is going on. Most work groups, academic groups, and support groups have materials that are presented and discussed during meetings.
Another problem with these systems is that specially developed clinical tools for teaching group communication skills (or enhanced work team skills) cannot be utilized during the course of the group meeting.
Another problem with currently available systems of computerized group interaction is that they do not allow group members to rate themselves and each other on questions relevant to their progress on goals or their group participation.
Another problem with these systems is that they make no provision for taking notes or "minutes" while participating in the meeting. This is a serious limitation, as usually someone is asked to take notes during meetings and then is required to type them out for later dissemination or record-keeping. The ability to take notes is also important for students in a classroom setting, or people attending professional education seminars.
Another problem with currently available systems of computerized group interaction is that there is no way to transfer confidential work documents or reports between group participants. For example, participants in a "real-life" management meeting may each have confidential reports to turn into the boss during the course of that meeting.
Another problem is that it is not possible to reserve a meeting room for on-going work on a large project that requires intermittent attention from different participants over an extended period of time. For example, in real-life, a certain meeting room could be reserved for a large project where different employees would come and go as time permitted throughout the week to continue work on the project.
Another problem with currently available systems is that they do not follow a standardized format across different programs, thereby making voice, video, and written communication between groups of people difficult if not impossible at times. This is exactly the same problem that sometimes exists when people with different internet service providers (ISPs) or instant messaging services try to communicate, especially by voice.
Yet another problem with these systems is that they do not allow the user to move pieces of written information from place to place during the interaction. For example, it would be useful for one participant in a chat-room using a written format to be able to highlight something that someone else has written earlier in the conversation and then to add to it. This ability to take pieces of text already written and then build on them would be useful in academic discussions as well as work-related task groups. Or it would b very useful to be able to take notes during an electronic work team meeting, and then be able to send these notes or minutes to a central document.
A final problem is that current systems of electronic group interaction do not allow people outside of the group room to observe the meeting. The ability to broadcast a work team meeting or a staff meeting to many other employees who were unable to attend would be very useful. A feature that allowed for observation by outsiders would also be extremely useful when teaching group dynamics and running structured group programs. People learn a lot via "observational learning", and space may not always be available for the numbers of people who want to participate.
Problems with Existing Group Discussion Methods Over Computer Networks
In addition to the above-described problems with conventional computerized group interaction systems, there are serious problems associated with electronic group discussions in a more general sense. In an article written by Bridget Murray, "Reinventing Class Discussion Online", APA Monitor on Psychology, April, 2000, many pitfalls of discussion groups on the web are outlined. They include a) Students are quickly overwhelmed by too much information that is not organized; b) Students do not have good group communication skills. The writer suggests that specific methods of avoiding these pitfalls are organizing material and teaching specific group communication skills using methods such as role-playing. Unfortunately, most existing websites for discussion groups (or support groups) do not provide adequate organization of material, nor do they provide appropriate opportunities for learning group communication skills.
Another method that is often used in professional training settings to teach group therapy skills is allowing people to observe a live group in action. Observational learning is a powerful way for people to learn social skills, problem solving skills, and group communication skills. Many times in training settings, groups of professionals (and other students) remain behind a one-way mirror, observing the meetings of an ongoing group therapy program. Clearly, the opportunity to observe another group in action is not an option on existing websites.
Another important clinical tool for teaching people social skills and group communication skills is using exercises. One very popular exercise in marital counseling developed by Notarius and Markman in their book, We Can Work It Out, 1993, is having each partner hold three cards, one having a plus sign (+), one having a minus sign (−) and one having a neutral sign (0) written on it. The partners hold up the card that best describes how he or she is feeling as the other partner is speaking. This exercise provides a tremendous amount of feedback to the speaker.
The inventor has adapted this exercise for use with groups. She had each group member make a set of cards. Then group members were asked to hold up the card that best expressed their reaction to the person who was speaking in the group. This exercise was highly effective in helping the speaker to pay attention to the reaction of others when speaking. Despite the effectiveness of various types of exercises as aids to improving group skills, computerized discussion groups are currently unable to employ these methods.
Another important tool for teaching group communication skills is ensuring that all group members receive appropriate feedback about how they are doing. In many groups, members fill out rating scales on various relevant points. For example, one group may rate how close they feel to each other group member. Or they may rate how satisfied they are with the group progress. This type of feedback can be used to help each group member and to steer the group in a desired direction.
Another kind of feedback that is often obtained from group therapy participants is information about where the person falls on a standardized measure of some trait or variable. For example, people who are depressed are often given the Beck Depression Inventory (or some other measure of depression) at different points throughout the group treatment in order to assess progress. This information is received by the group therapists who often explain the results of the assessments to the participant.
Additionally, feedback about one's activity level during a group meeting can also provide essential feedback to the group members and leaders. Specifically, this data can be used to understand actor effects, partner effects, and relationship effects in the social relations model (Kenny, Interpersonal Perception: A Social Relations Analysis, 1994). However, there is currently no available system of group interaction that allows for obtaining these types of ratings, activity level data, and feedback in groups meeting via global communications networks.
Another technique that is often used to help teach group dynamics and communication skills in "real-life" settings is videotaping the people who are engaged in a conversation or role-6 playing exercise, and then having those people watch the videotape at a later time. Being able to watch a videotape of oneself with an eye for understanding how one might improve performance has been shown to be highly effective. To the inventor's knowledge there is no web site that allows for videotaping of oneself while communicating in a group discussion.
Another method that is regularly used to improve group communication skills involves techniques for strengthening group cohesion. Group cohesion is a measure of how close group members feel to other members of the group and how much they like the group as a whole. Techniques for strengthening group cohesion often include encouraging group members to interact together more often in settings outside of the usual group discussion meeting time. Another technique is having each group member choose a "buddy" that they will talk with between group sessions if they have questions or problems that arise. Finally, group cohesion becomes much stronger as the same group of people meet together over time on a regular basis. While there is one web site that allows people to form their own closed groups (a company called e-groups), this web site does not provide the necessary structure and guidance to help group members follow through with any of these methods for strengthening group cohesion. Additionally, the e-groups site suffers from all of the limitations of computerized group interaction outlined above.
In view of the above-described limitations of computerized group interaction and of computerized group discussions in general, current internet group communication is often shallow, unstructured and ineffective. Despite these problems, however, millions of people do use the internet to engage in chat-rooms, discussion groups, and even business meetings. Recent reports indicate that 40 million people have engaged in chat-rooms on AOL alone.
Accordingly, one object of the present invention is to provide a system that solves the problems with currently available computerized group interaction systems and methods of computerized group discussion.
Need for Improved Methods of Providing Structured Group Programs Over Computer Networks
Structured programs provide a common focus, method, and setting for teaching everything from job skills to the "History of Modern Civilization". Academic courses, business skills training manuals, self-improvement books, "how to" manuals of any kind, business meetings, bridge clubs, chat-rooms, behavior therapy groups, and community organizations can all be viewed as structured programs. Most structured programs have a common focus, purpose or goal; a method or procedure for accomplishing that purpose; and a setting (time and place) for working through the program. In structured group programs, the participants go through at least some of the steps of the program in a group setting.
Structured programs differ in their degree of regimentation, their specificity of purpose, and the characteristics of their memberships. For examples, some programs may outline specific steps that must be taken to accomplish a particular goal (e.g. improving customer service in a business). Other programs may not have that many rules or special procedures that must be followed (e.g. a neighborhood book club).
Some structured programs are designed for homogenous membership (like a day-care program for senior citizens); and others are set up for heterogeneous membership (like a class offered at a community college for teaching computer skills). Some groups are led by professionals (like a physician-led support group for cancer survivors); while others are led by lay persons, e.g. Alcoholics Anonymous groups; while still others have no designated leader, e.g. some chat-rooms, peer groups. Some groups have a constant membership that meets on a regular basis over time (e.g. a company's Board of Directors) while other groups have a changing membership and do not meet more than once (a group of people gathered together to learn a new therapy technique at a continuing education seminar for professionals).
Many structured programs require the use of specially prepared materials like workbooks, blackboards, texts, video players, and other printed materials. Many programs also utilize special teaching techniques (like lectures, role-playing, live demonstrations and/or special psychological methods). Many programs require that participants take notes, fill out various forms, turn in homework or work products, and take tests or other assessments.
Most structured group programs have several other requirements. Some programs require that participants each keep a personal work folder with their own records stored inside (like test results, personal notes, workbooks). Other structured programs require a place where participants can view presentation materials together in a group setting. Most operating programs require a method for the group leader to communicate with each of the group participants individually from time to time. Many programs require that there be a way for group members to meet outside of regularly scheduled group meetings to work on long-term projects and team "homework" assignments. An important component of many structured programs involves providing resources to be used as an adjunct to the materials presented in the program. A system of informing potential participants about what types of programs are offered, whom they will be led by, and where and when they will be held is an important requirement for many large group program delivery systems. And finally, in the case of internet systems of group services delivery, a security system with password access is required to ensure that participants program materials and closed group communications are protected.
For reasons of convenience, efficiency, and sometimes anonymity, many individuals and businesses want to be able to attend different types of group activities in virtual meeting spaces over the internet (e.g. meetings, classes, seminars). However, the existing web sites that provide group services and structured programs over the internet suffer from all of the same limitations of group communication systems over computer networks that were outlined above. In addition, no current system of group system delivery provides a way to meet all of the requirements for providing structured group programs outlined in this section.
What is needed is a web site that combines all of the necessary components for the successful operation of a large scale group services delivery system which meets the requirements for effectively providing structured group programs.
Special Need for an Internet Structured Group Program Focussed on Personal Goals
There are many limitations associated with the kinds of groups that are offered to the general public both in the "real world" and on the internet. One main limitation is that there is no group program, either in the real world or on the internet, that is focussed specifically on helping the general population reach their personal goals. There are many groups that focus on people who have serious emotional problems or addictions. But many people are averse to participating in those types of groups because of the stigma attached. Many others do not view themselves as "emotionally disturbed" or needing "therapy" and therefore do not wish to get involved in the kinds of groups that are available in the community or on the internet. Still others do not have the finances to go to professional group therapy sessions, nor the time or the transportation to commit to community support groups. But the fact remains that most people could benefit greatly from participating in a structured group program focussed on helping people reach their personal goals.
There are many reasons why focussing on one's personal goals is important. Psychological research has found that working toward goals has a positive effect on health, self-esteem, and psychological well-being. Every person from every ethnic group and nation has some goal that they would like to accomplish. Some people may not know what they want; others may want too much. Some people may not know how to go about attaining their goals, while others know exactly what they need to do, but cannot bring themselves to do it. Still other people have a solid understanding of what they would like to accomplish, but are unable to locate the resources needed to actualize their goals. Probably everyone has been in each of these places at different points in their lives. Struggling to accomplish one's goals is clearly a universal experience. But there is currently no place where relatively "healthy" people can meet together to get the support and structure that they need to help them reach their personal goals.
Accordingly, one object of the present invention is to provide an internet site offering structured group programs focussed on reaching personal goals to the general public. To overcome all of the previously outlined problems with computerized group communication, these programs would have to be offered in conjunction with the system of computerized group communication embodied in this invention in order to be effective.
Need for an Enhanced System for Creating Virtual Meeting Spaces where Conferences, Seminars & Meetings can be Held Over Computer Networks
Recent increases in the productivity of American workers have been attributed to a focus on teamwork. The emphasis on improving communication between teams of designers, production workers, marketing staff, suppliers, and customers has led to an increased necessity for meetings. The greater frequency of meetings involving more and more people has led to higher travel and office space costs (to allow for conference rooms), as well as decreased productivity of some workers. Who hasn't heard employees (and even managers) complain that all they do all day long is go to meetings, so they never get any work done during normal business hours? In addition to increasing necessity for meeting space, virtually all businesses, agencies, and organizations have the need at one time or another to present a structured set of materials to their employees or clients in the form of training manuals, workbooks, or programs. Sometimes special seminar presenters are involved in presenting structured materials in a lecture or seminar format, but usually some written materials are disseminated as well.
Many businesses and individuals would like to be able to attend meetings, seminars, get-togethers, and classes via their computers. While there are sites for groups to meet over the internet (e.g., e-groups and voicechat), these sites suffer from many of the limitations of computerized group interaction systems outlined above. Specifically, these systems do not allow users to "see" the participants with whom they are interacting or to share on-line program materials with them. While expensive teamware and virtual office systems are available for use over computerized networks, these systems also suffer from many of the limitations of computerized group interaction systems outlined above. Existing teleconferencing systems provide an enhanced way for some meetings to occur electronically, but they generally do not allow for sharing documents while at the same time viewing the other participants involved in the meetings. The popularity of on-line discussion groups, chat-rooms and instant messaging services also is an indication that individuals enjoy the chance to "meet" with classmates, friends, family, and others over computer networks. But chat-rooms and instant messaging services also suffer from the limitations of computerized group interaction systems outlined above.
If better methods for holding meetings over computerized networks existed, businesses would reap big rewards. Virtual meeting spaces would allow users to stay at their workstations when attending meetings, thereby saving time, travel costs, and office expenses. Attending meetings while remaining at their workstation (or from a job site) would also improve worker productivity and company efficiency, as phones would not have to be left unanswered, and employees would not be left without supervisory presence while managers attend meetings. In addition, persons who have to attend consecutive meetings in disparate locations would be able to attend both meetings without a problem.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention is to provide a system that is free of the problems outlined above for businesses to hold meetings over computer networks and thereby reap the benefits of increased productivity.

Method and apparatus for providing group interaction via communications networks


An electronic device includes a connecting member, a housing, a positioning member, a display body, and an inner support mechanism. The positioning member is fixed to the housing. The display body is positioned on the housing and connected to the positioning member. The inner support mechanism has a support member and an adjustment member. The support member is fixed to the housing. The adjustment member is movably connected to the support member to maintain resistance to the positioning member.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates generally to electronic devices and, more particularly, to an electronic device with an adjustable support mechanism.
2. Description of Related Art
An electronic device, such as a flat panel display, often has a back housing and a front bezel positioned on the back housing. If the size and thinness of the flat panel display are increased, a middle portion of the bezel is easily bent. Therefore, the flat panel display generally has an inner support mechanism to support the bezel.
A frequently used support mechanism of the flat panel display includes two support bases and a plurality of support bars. The support bases are fixed on opposite ends of the back housing, and the support bars are horizontally positioned on the support bases and abut the bezel. However, the typical support mechanism has a complex structure, and a height of the support mechanism cannot be changed.
Therefore, an electronic device with a support mechanism which overcomes the described limitations is desired.

Electronic device with support mechanism

Hong Fu Jin Precision Industry (ShenZhen) Co., Ltd.


An inkjet ink set includes eleven colored inks and a surface enhancing ink. The eleven colored inks include a magenta ink, a light magenta ink, a yellow ink, a cyan ink, a light cyan ink, a medium gray ink, a light gray ink, a photo black ink, a red ink, a green ink, and a blue ink. The surface enhancing ink is configured to enhance gloss of an image formed with at least one of the eleven colored inks.

The present disclosure relates generally to inkjet ink sets.
An inkjet printing system generally includes a printhead and an ink source which supplies liquid ink to the printhead. The printhead ejects ink drops through a plurality of orifices or nozzles and onto a print media, such as paper. Typically, the nozzles are arranged in one or more arrays such that properly sequenced ejection of ink from the nozzles causes characters or other images to be printed upon the print media as the printhead and the print media are moved relative to each other.
Inkjet ink sets used in inkjet printing systems often include four, six or eight different colored inks. Generally, the colors included in such ink sets are one or more shades of cyan, magenta, yellow and/or black. The inks of the set are combined together to form secondary colors. The combination of two or more colored inkjet inks may result in a printed image having substantially non-uniform gloss, due, at least in part, to the roughness of the mixed ink film. The combination of two or more inks may also have a relatively high ink flux. Blotchiness of the filled area (i.e., coalescence) may result at high density areas when the ink flux exceeds the capacity of the media. When the printed image does exhibit such undesirable characteristics, the characteristics often manifest themselves at relatively high ink density areas.
The addition of more colors (e.g., green, red, blue, etc.) to an ink set may be problematic, as these extended colors tend to have multivalent ion contaminants. After repeated use, these contaminants may be deposited onto printhead resistors as a film build-up. This build-up may reduce the thermal efficiency of heat transfer, which reduces the ink drop velocity and drop weight, resulting in less color saturation and banding.

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


The present invention relates to a reflector for an antenna comprising a first reflector assembly and at least one second reflector assembly, the first reflector assembly having a first reflector structure adapted for a first antenna frequency band f1 and at least one second antenna frequency band f2; the at least one second reflector assembly having a second reflector structure adapted for the first antenna frequency band f1 and at least one third antenna frequency band f3; and wherein the first reflector assembly and the at least one second reflector assembly are electrically coupled so that the first reflector assembly and the at least one second reflector assembly together form a common reflector structure adapted for the first f1, at least one second f2 and at least one third f3 antenna frequency bands. Furthermore, the invention also relates to a multi band antenna comprising at least one such reflector.

Multi band antennas are antennas providing wireless signals in multiple radio frequency bands, i.e. two or more bands. They are commonly used and are well known in wireless communication systems, such as GSM, GPRS, EDGE, UMTS, LTE, and WiMax systems.
This type of multi band antenna often comprises a reflector structure for controlling the radiation of the antenna, e.g. beam width and lobe pattern. To achieve this end, mentioned types of reflectors may have different shapes and setups depending on the frequency in use and the desired radiation pattern, etc.
FIG. 1 schematically shows, in cross section, an example of a reflector for a triple band base station antenna according to prior art. The reflector is placed behind one or more radiating antenna elements in use and is arranged to provide, together with the radiating elements, desired antenna radiation characteristics.
However, it has proved difficult to provide reflectors having reflector structures suitable for multiple antenna frequency bands giving desired antenna radiation characteristics. This is especially the case for multi band antennas arranged to transmit in three or more frequency bands.


An apparatus for maintaining a sealed environment in the pressurized barrel reservoir injector which comprises a plastic closure cap that mates with a barrel reservoir with a dispensing tip. The closure cap has a top wall and a circular outer side wall extending downward from the top wall, and an annular sealing rib for engagement with an annular planar surface. Importantly, the cap also has three locking tabs that have a ascending horizontal top surface that engage external tabs on the reservoir, and also having an interior groove that houses a series of three nodes that are evenly spaced and positioned slightly ahead of the leading end of each locking tab. The external threading tabs of the reservoir pass counter-clockwise through the groove and pass over the nodes. The nodes act to maximize tension of the cap locking tab against the end of the external reservoir tab thereby preventing loosening of the cap.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates, generally, to fluid dispensers, and more particularly, to apparatus for dispensing fluids from a pressurized injector barrel reservoir. A closure cap provided by this invention prevents retrogression of the cap from the barrel reservoir and a subsequent loss of air pressure from within the dispenser. This is highly important to the operator who relies on a predictable measure of air pressure inside the barrel reservoir in order to dispense fluids with the precision required to meet industry standards and specifications.
2. Background Information
In the past, various devices and methods have been used or proposed to create and maintain a sealed environment in injector-type barrel reservoir apparatus. Molded plastic closure caps for pneumatic dispensers of fluids such as pharmaceuticals, nutritional supplements, adhesives, lubricants, chemicals, inks and other fluid compositions are in wide use today. A broken seal between the cap and the reservoir is a problem common to this type of dispenser. The subsequent loss of air pressure inside of the dispenser and, depending on the fluid contents in the dispenser, the very real possibility of contamination to the environment or injury to the operator exist and are a serious problem.
The seal can be breached by various ways and means such as pulsating air pressure inside the reservoir or the harsh conditions typically found in stockyards. An operator administering pharmaceuticals or nutritional supplements to livestock must, at times, physically restrain the animals. This is difficult and fatiguing work thereby making applications using pressurized injectors preferable over injections given via hand syringes that are slow, messy, and fatiguing to use. Pneumatic dispensers are preferred when quality-control and safety are a priority. Controlled air-pressure allows the operator to make faster deposits exactly where they are needed without mess and waste. And air-powered dispensers that incorporate adjustable air output provide exact fluid flow control.
Various devices and methods have been used and proposed to overcome the problem of a broken seal between the reservoir and cap of an injector type syringe. However, these devices have significant limitations and shortcomings. Specifically, one prior art apparatus relies on a cooperating locking mechanism to hold the cap in a sealed relationship with the reservoir. The closure cap of the above mentioned prior art includes an annular sealing rib having a generally arcuate mating surface for engagement with the annular planar mating surface of the plastic container. The cap's internal threads engage the reservoir's external threads. As the closure is tightened into sealing relationship with the reservoir, the arcuate mating surface engages the cap's planar mating surface. While this provides a good seal between the closure cap and the reservoir, this arrangement still does not contribute sufficient tension to prohibit a backward creeping action and a possible broken seal between the component parts.
Despite the need for a device and method in the art which overcomes the disadvantages and limitations of the prior art, none insofar is known or has been developed. Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved pressurized barrel injector apparatus which is specifically directed at overcoming all of the problems previously enumerated regarding the performance of a sealing closure cap. This is accomplished through a series of three nodes that provide static pressure on the reservoir's external threading tabs thereby preventing the cap from creeping backward or loosening.


A fuel cell system capable of improving the chemical durability of a membrane electrode assembly by compensating for the amount of an antioxidant lost within the electrolyte membrane or electrode of the fuel cell stack in such a manner that the antioxidant is provided from an antioxidant supply device, provided in a fuel processing system and/or an air processing system, to a fuel cell stack, in preparation for a case where the antioxidant within the electrolyte membrane or electrode is lost due to the dissolution or migration characteristic of the antioxidant.

A fuel cell system typically includes a fuel cell stack for generating electrical energy, a fuel processing system (FPS) for supplying fuel (i.e., hydrogen) to the fuel cell stack, an air processing system (APS) for supplying the fuel cell stack with oxygen within air, for example, an oxidizer necessary for an electrochemical reaction, and a heat and water management system for controlling an operating temperature of the fuel cell stack.
The fuel cell stack has a structure in which multiple unit cells for generating electrical energy through a reaction between hydrogen (H2) and oxygen (O2) are stacked and assembled. Each of the unit cells includes a membrane electrode assembly (MEA) with a perfluorinated sulfonic acid ionomer-based electrolyte membrane, an anode electrode positioned on one side of the electrolyte membrane and supplied with hydrogen (H2), and a cathode electrode positioned on the other side of the electrolyte membrane and supplied with air, and gas diffusion layers (GDLs) stacked on the outside of the anode electrode and the cathode electrode.
Accordingly, a reaction for generating the electricity of the fuel cell stack occurs in the MEA. After hydrogen supplied to the anode electrode, i.e. an oxidation pole, is separated into hydrogen protons and electrons, the hydrogen protons are moved to the cathode electrode, i.e. a reduction pole, through the electrolyte membrane, and the electrons are moved to the cathode electrode through an external circuit. Oxygen molecules, the hydrogen protons and the electrons reach each other in the cathode electrode, thus generating electricity and heat and also generating water (H2O) as reaction by-products.
During the reaction for generating the electricity of a fuel cell, hydrogen and oxygen within air cross over through the electrolyte membrane and thus facilitate the generation of hydrogen peroxide (HOOH). Such hydrogen peroxide generates oxygen-containing radicals, such as hydroxyl radicals (.OH) and hydroperoxyl radicals (.OOH).
Such radicals cause the chemical degradation of the electrolyte membrane by attacking the perfluorinated sulfonic acid ionomer-based electrolyte membrane, thus having a bad influence of reducing the durability of the fuel cell.
Accordingly, as a conventional technology for mitigating the chemical degradation of the electrolyte membrane, a method of adding various types of antioxidants to the electrolyte membrane or the electrode has been introduced.
In the conventional technology, the antioxidant includes a primary antioxidant having a radical scavenger function and a secondary antioxidant having a hydrogen peroxide decomposer function. The primary antioxidant and the secondary antioxidant may be used solely or in combination.
For example, representative primary antioxidants used for a perfluorinated sulfonic acid electrolyte membrane for a polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell include a cerium-based antioxidant such as cerium oxide or ceria or cerium (III) nitrate hexahydrate, a terephthalic acid-based antioxidant, and the like. A representative secondary antioxidant includes a manganese-based antioxidant such as manganese oxide.
The electrolyte membrane to which a large amount of such an antioxidant is added increases chemical durability, but may decrease performance of a unit cell that constitutes a fuel cell because a sulfonic acid group included in the electrolyte membrane decreases proton conductivity through coupling with a positive ion antioxidant.
Furthermore, an antioxidant, such as cerium oxide introduced into the electrolyte membrane, is ionized and dissolved during the manufacturing process or operation of the fuel cell. An antioxidant directly introduced in an ion form like cerium salt hydrate is lost to the outside of each unit cell of the fuel cell because the antioxidant is easily moved in an environment in which the fuel cell operates, and may degrade the durability of the electrolyte membrane in the long term.
Accordingly, the antioxidant is preferably used properly by taking into consideration the performance and durability of a fuel cell.


To detect identity spray attacks, a machine learning model classifies account access attempts as authorized or unauthorized, based on dozens of different pieces of information (machine learning model features). Boosted tree, neural net, and other machine learning model technologies may be employed. Model training data may include user agent reputation data, IP address reputation data, device or agent or location familiarity indications, protocol identifications, aggregate values, and other data. Account credential hash sets or hash lists may serve as model inputs. Hashes may be truncated to further protect user privacy. Classifying an access attempt as unauthorized may trigger application of multifactor authentication, password change requirements, account suspension, or other security enhancements. Statistical or heuristic detections may supplement the model. However, the model may adapt to changed attacker behavior through retraining with updated data, making the model-based approach more effective over time than rigid statistical or heuristic detection approaches.

Attacks on computing systems take many different forms, including some forms which are difficult to predict, and forms which may vary from one situation to another. Accordingly, one of the guiding principles of cybersecurity is "defense in depth". In practice, defense in depth is often pursed by forcing attackers to encounter multiple different kinds of security mechanisms at multiple different locations around or within a computing system. No single security mechanism is able to detect every kind of cyberattack, or able to end every detected cyberattack. But sometimes combining and layering a sufficient number and variety of defenses will deter an attacker, or at least limit the scope of harm from an attack.
To implement defense in depth, cybersecurity professionals consider the different kinds of attacks that could be made. They select defenses based on criteria such as: which attacks are most likely to occur, which attacks are most likely to succeed, which attacks are most harmful if successful, which defenses are in place, which defenses could be put in place, and the costs and procedural changes and training involved in putting a particular defense in place.
In particular, installing tools and techniques for detecting and limiting identity attacks is one of the many possibilities to consider when implementing defense in depth. Some examples of identity attacks include "password spray" attacks in which an attacker tests a given password against multiple accounts. If none of the accounts accept the first password tried, then a second password may be sprayed or stuffed, i.e., tested against multiple accounts. In a "credential stuffing" identity attack, an attacker tries to access a website B using credentials from a breached website A. In general, an identity attack continues until it is detected and shut down, or until the attacker succeeds in gaining illicit access to one or more desired accounts and moves on to the next phase of the attack, such as installing malware, exfiltrating data, or encrypting data to hold it for ransom.

Identity spray attack detection with adaptive classification


The invention relates to a method and apparatus. In the method, a programmable random access memory testing circuit detects a signal to initiate testing of at least one random access memory circuit, the testing circuit being connected to a bus to which a processor and the at least one memory circuit is connected, the at least one memory circuit comprising at least a first memory block. The testing circuit determines that the bus is not reserved and reserves the bus. The testing circuit reads application data in a first memory block to a temporary memory of the testing circuit. The testing circuit executes marching test for the first memory block in a memory circuit. The testing circuit returns the application data back to the first memory block in the memory circuit. The testing circuit releases the bus.

Field of the Invention
The invention relates to safety critical apparatuses, random access memory testing, and a circuit for random access memory testing in a safety critical system.
Description of the Related Art
In safety critical systems the correct and failure free operation of all system components is essential. Examples of such safety critical system include aircraft flight control systems, heart pacemakers and elevator safety systems. Elevator safety system control safety aspect of elevators such as elevator operation in various fault situations. It must be necessary to be able to apply elevator brakes, to receive and to transmit distress signals, check for overload, check for the going off of fire alarms and ensure the opening of the doors whenever the opening is safe for passengers. The elevator safety system may be separate from other non-critical systems such as entertainment, commercials, infotainment or elevator driving functions, for example, the serving of elevator cage calls from floors. The safety systems and call servicing systems in elevators may run on physically separate hardware platforms. The elevator safety systems gather typically a lot of sensor information relating to elevator load, movement, signals from users, signals from safety contacts, such as shaft door safety contacts, and the status of various other system components. This implies that elevator safety systems must have a limited response time for signals received and transmitted between a central processing unit, sensors, safety contacts, control relays and control circuits, which may be further connected to elevator drive motor and door controller circuits.
Safety critical systems are tested and functionally verified extensively. The correct operation of a safety critical system must be verified component by component. Examples of such components are central processing units, memories, message busses and various peripherals connected to the message bus. There are certain security standards that govern the safety critical systems in elevators. Examples of such include Programmable Electronic System in Safety Related Applications (PESSRAL). The International Standards Organization (ISO) standard 22201:2009 is applicable to passenger lifts, goods/passenger lifts used in residential buildings, offices, hospitals, hotels, industrial plants, etc. ISO 22201:2009 covers those aspects that it is necessary to address when programmable electronic systems are used to carry out electric safety functions for lifts (PESSRAL).
An important aspect in safety critical elevator systems is the correct functioning of memory. Memory cells may be stuck to a certain value, they may not transition to an another value, or the address decoder than selects memory cells rows or columns for access based on address lines driven may be faulty entirely or just for certain address ranges. Memory cells may also leak to neighboring memory cells. Memory faults may cause subtle erroneous behavior to once well-working applications of the safety critical system or they may cause total system freezing.
In standard personal computers Random Access Memory (RAM) is often tested at computer power on or reboot. However, this may not be sufficient for safety critical elevator systems. Firstly, safety critical elevator systems remain powered on for extended periods of time and are not rebooted or powered on or off frequently. Secondly, the memory must in any case also be tested while the safety critical system is operational. Therefore, there arises the need to test the memory of the safety critical system while the safety critical system software is executing. It may not be possible to suspend the execution of the system software by the system processor in order to perform a complete memory test. A piecemeal approach for testing the memory in portions by the system processor also involves many problems. While the memory is being tested by the processor it must be ensured that the memory testing does not accidentally cause writes to the memory area being tested. This requires considerable care of the programmer to avoid using machine code instructions that write to the RAM. It may also be necessary to check the machine code generated by a high-level programming language compiler. When the processor is used for memory testing software and hardware interrupts must be disabled, which causes disturbance. The interrupts may not be processed fast enough which introduces latency to the safety critical system. The memory testing by the processor turns of normal process or thread scheduling, which may cause nondeterministic behavior for the safety critical system. For example, the system might react too slowly for critical signals, monitor critical sensors too slowly, or perform critical computations too slowly or too late. Peripherals communicating with the processor in the safety critical system must always have a certain speed of operation available. Generally, it is very risky to intrude the functioning of the processor by way of the RAM tests run by the processor.
The use of the processor for RAM testing also involves a further problem. Always when the safety critical system involving the memory testing program code is changed, the whole safety critical system must be tested and its functioning must be verified with an extensive gamut of tests. The burden to make changes becomes very high for the programmer. The safety critical system must also be re-tested if the software development tools are changed, for example, when a new compiler version is introduced.
Therefore, it would be beneficial to be able to implement the memory testing as a separate entity the correct functioning of which could be verified separately.

Apparatus and a method for memory testing by a programmable circuit in a safety critical system


An information handling system includes a processor that may perform issue queue virtual load/store instruction operations. The issue queue maintains load and store instructions with a real/virtual dependency flag. The issue queue provides storage resources for real and virtual load/store instructions. Real load/store instructions execute in a load store unit LSU. Virtual load/store instructions are pending execution in the LSU. The LSU may keep track of each virtual load/store instruction within the issue queue by thread, type, and pointer data. Provided that all dependencies are clear for a pending virtual load/store instruction, the LSU marks the pending virtual load/store instruction as real. The pending virtual load/store instruction may then issue to the LSU as a real load/store instruction.

The disclosures herein relate generally to processors, and more specifically, to processors that employ instruction issue queue dependency management for load and store instructions.
Modern information handling systems (IHSs) may include load and store instructions within an instruction issue queue that a processor fetches and decodes from an instruction data stream. A processor load/store unit (LSU) executes the load and store instructions as they issue from the issue queue. Issue queue and LSUs maintain a finite amount of storage space for instruction data. Processors manage the storage limitations for load and store instructions by limiting the allocation of LSU entries. Processors monitor LSU instruction execution status to determine when a new load or store instruction may issue from the issue queue into the LSU.
Because out-of-order instruction handling is common in modern IHSs, processors typically track the dependencies between instructions pending issue in the instruction issue queue. A particular instruction may not issue until dependencies for that particular instruction are met. Those dependencies may include data dependencies, address dependencies, and other dependencies. When each of the particular instruction dependencies clear, that particular instruction may issue to an execution unit, such as the LSU within the processor, for further processing.

Information handling system with real and virtual load/store instruction issue queue

International Business Machines Corporation