Disclosed herein are an apparatus and method for predicting performance attributable to the parallelization of hardware acceleration devices. The apparatus includes a setting unit, an operation unit, and a prediction unit. The setting unit divides the time it takes to perform a task into a plurality of task stages and processing stages, and sets one of a parallelization index and target performance. The operation unit calculates the times it takes to perform the stages, and calculates at least one of the ratio of a target parallelization stage in the task and a speed improvement value. The prediction unit calculates an expected performance value or a parallelization index based on at least one of the calculated the times it takes to perform the stages, the calculated ratio of the target parallelization stage, the calculated speed improvement value, and the set target performance.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to an apparatus and method for predicting performance attributable to the parallelization of hardware acceleration devices and, more particularly, to an apparatus and method for predicting performance attributable to the parallelization of hardware acceleration devices, which are capable of predicting the degree of improved performance when a task is performed in a parallel manner using hardware acceleration devices in a real-time processing system. That is, the present invention relates to an apparatus and method for predicting performance attributable to the parallelization of hardware acceleration devices, which are capable of predicting central process unit (CPU)-based software execution a versus the degree of improved performance when the execution of software is parallelized using general-purpose multi-core hardware acceleration devices, such as field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), many integrated cores (MICs), or graphics processing units (GPUs).
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional real-time data processing system employs a method of processing software based on a central processing unit (CPU). As the use of real-time data has explosively increased recently, a problem arises in that the performance of processing real-time data is reduced when only a conventional real-time data processing system is used.
In order to solve this problem, a real-time data processing system adopts a method of parallelizing software processing using hardware acceleration devices, such as FPGAs, MICs, or GPUs. For example, Korean Patent No. 10-0463642 (entitled "Apparatus for accelerating Multimedia Processing using Coprocessor") discloses an acceleration apparatus for performing multimedia processing in order to improve the processing performance of multimedia by performing parallelization processing.
A real-time data processing system using hardware acceleration devices contrives to improve overall performance in such a manner as to modularize the parts of the entire task that can be easily parallelized and then execute the modules through parallel processing using the hardware acceleration devices. That is, the parts that should be sequentially performed are performed by a high-speed CPU using a software method, and the parts that can be parallelized are performed by the hardware acceleration devices.
It is, however, difficult to predict an improvement in performance (i.e., acceleration) attributable to parallelization if an appropriate level of parallelization is not performed by hardware acceleration devices because a CPU typically has the fastest processing speed among hardware elements. In other words, the time it takes to perform the entire task may become faster or slower depending on the number of modules of the entire task that have been parallelized and the degree of parallel processing that is performed by the parallelized modules.
In order to improve task performance, it is possible to perform parallel processing using as many hardware acceleration devices as possible. In this case, problems arise in that the hardware acceleration devices occupy an excessively large area and high expenses are incurred.
A conventional parallelization processing method using hardware acceleration devices will now be described. A system designer determines parts of the entire task to be parallelized based on his or her experience. The system designer determines a task flow so that the parts determined to be parallelized are performed by the hardware acceleration devices and the remaining parts are performed by a CPU. A real-time data processing system actually performs data processing in accordance with the determined task flow, and the system designer checks the degree of improved performance attributable to parallelization based on the actual data processing of the real-time data processing system.
This conventional method greatly depends on the experience of a system designer in order to determine a task flow required for the parallelization processing of the task, and requires a lot of time to form parallelization processing using the hardware acceleration devices.
However, the performance of parallelization processing using hardware acceleration devices can be determined only when actual implementation has been completed. Accordingly, if existing hardware acceleration devices are designed again or replaced with new hardware acceleration devices because of design errors or an insufficient improvement in performance, a problem arises in that a development period increases because the stages from a design stage to a final implementation stage should be repeated. That is, although a lot of time and effort should be invested in order to construct parallelization processing using hardware acceleration devices, an expected effect cannot be previously predicted, and an actual test can be performed and the performance of parallelization processing can be measured only in the final stage. As a result, problems arise in that a lot of time is required to check the performance of parallelization processing and a lot of time and effort are repeatedly wasted in order to modify the configuration of parallelization processing and to measure the performance.

Apparatus and method for predicting performance attributable to parallelization of hardware acceleration devices

ELECTRONICS AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS RESEARCH INSTITUTE


A composite fastener member, in one form, having integral head and shank portions is defined by a plurality of superimposed composite fiber reinforced sheets spirally wound about a longitudinal axis. A plurality of fastener members, oppositely disposed within an opening in an article, define a fastener especially useful in joining lightweight composite structures such as aircraft or aircraft engine components. In another form, the ends of a single spirally wound composite fastener member are splayed to fasten a plurality of sheets.

The present invention relates to composite articles having at least partially mechanically joined members such as airfoils of turbomachinery blades, vanes, struts, and the like, and more particularly to a fiber reinforced composite fastener suitable for attaching composites to composites or attaching composites to metals.
Increasing usage of composite material in aircraft secondary and primary structure has focused attention on enhancement of general quality and long-term maintainability while retaining light weight. Composite airfoils, often hollow with various designs of reinforcing structure therein, utilize a variety of composite material including graphite/epoxies, graphite/glass/epoxies, and like fiber-reinforced composite material. When one member of the structure is metallic, the potential for galvanic corrosion is extremely high; aluminum fasteners and even stainless steel fastening systems can be affected. Thus, titanium fasteners frequently are specified.
Composite fasteners for composite airfoil assemblies have been the subject of prior development Droprams. For example, injection molded fiber-reinforced thermoplastic rivets and bolts were evaluated in a U.S. Air Force program reported in Report AFML-TR-79-4044, Project IR-453-7(1), June, 1979. The short fiber reinforcement, however, limited the tensile properties of such preformed thermoplastic rivets. Thus, there still is a need for development of simple composite fasteners of improved mechanical properties for joining composite to composite material or joining composite to metallic material in the formation of airfoils and other aircraft structures. The present invention is addressed to such need.


A sliding door closure system (10) for a sliding door assembly (100) including a door frame (101) enclosing a pair of sliding doors (102) wherein the system (10) comprises a telescoping housing unit (13) operatively associated with an internal spring biasing unit (14) wherein one end of the housing unit (13) is operatively associated with the door frame (101) and the other end of the housing unit is operatively associated with one of the sliding doors (102); and, further including tension adjustment means (15) for fictionally adjusting the closure speed of the housing unit (13).

As can be seen by reference to the following U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,131,188; 4,649,598; 4,891,911; 4,471,575; and 4,884,369; the prior art is replete with myriad and diverse self-contained automatic sliding door closure arrangements.
While all of the aforementioned prior art constructions are more than adequate for the basic purpose and function for which they have been specifically designed, these patented devices are of little or no value to owners of sliding glass door constructions that are not equipped with these self-contained door closure arrangements.
Needless to say, the vast majority of both existing and planned future construction will not be equipped with the self-contained closure systems due to their initial cost coupled with the degree of difficulty encountered in repairing and/or replacing the self-contained internal door mechanisms.
As a consequence of the foregoing situation, there has existed a longstanding need among owners of sliding glass door constructions for a simple and efficient add-on closure arrangement that can be installed on the exterior surfaces of the sliding glass doors to produce a self-closing effect; and, the provision of such a construction is a stated objective of the present invention.


Content material is protected with a variety of watermarking processes. Different subsets of the protected content material are submitted to different watermarking processes. At the rendering device, a watermark detector is configured to detect one or more different watermarks. Only if the particular watermark(s) that the rendering device is configured to detect is removed from the protected content material will the rendering device permit the rendering of the protected material. If the particular watermark(s) that the rendering device is configured to detect is unpredictable, or if the particular segment that is protected by a particular watermark is undetectable, a wholesale removal of specific watermarks from the watermarked material will neither be efficient nor economically viable.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of security, and in particular to the protection of content material via watermarking.
2. Description of Related Art
Watermarking is becoming an increasingly popular technique for protecting content material. A watermarking process embeds an indelible mark into the content material that is configured to be imperceptible during a conventional rendering of the content material. For example, an audio recording is embedded with a watermark by adding material to the audio recording in such a manner that the added material is spatially masked when processed via a conventional audio playback device.
The watermark that is applied to the content material is determined to be irremovable from the content material, so that a rendering device will always be able to detect watermarked material. In this manner, a rendering device can be configured to deny rendering to watermarked material, absent some evidence that the user is authorized to render the watermarked material. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,209,092, "METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR TRANSFERRING CONTENT INFORMATION AND SUPPLEMENTAL INFORMATION RELATED THERETO", issued 27 Mar. 2001 to Johan P. M. G. Linnartz et al, presents a technique for the protection of copyright material via the use of a "ticket" that controls the number of times the protected material may be rendered, and is incorporated by reference herein. If the rendering device detects the presence of a watermark, the ticket is checked to determine whether this rendering exceeds the limited number of authorized renderings. In an example embodiment, the ticket forms the watermark.
Watermarks are preferably designed to be irremovable from the watermarked material. In an effective watermarked object, the watermark cannot be removed without introducing substantial damage to the watermarked object. In the example of an audio recording that is protected by a watermark, attempts to remove the watermark will generally introduce audible distortion to the playback of the previously-watermarked material.
As watermarking becomes more prevalent, so too will attempts to remove watermarking with minimal damage to the protected material. With the ease of communication and distribution provided by the Internet, once a hacker determines how to overcome a particular watermark, it can be expected that the process for removing the watermark will become commonly available, thereby obviating the protection provided by the watermark. This problem will be particularly devastating if current attempts to "standardize" on one watermarking process are successful, and a process for removing this standard watermark is discovered.

Using multiple watermarks to protect content material


A method for allowing multiple users to simultaneously edit circuit wiring data, such as VLSI circuit data. The circuit data, contained in a computer database, is partitioned into a plurality of "parcels". Two types of wiring networks are identified within each parcel, internal and external. An internal network is completely enclosed within a parcel, whereas an external net spans two or more parcels. Each of the parcels may be simultaneously worked on by an individual user or circuit designer. Changes made to an internal wiring network has no impact on any of the other parcels. Changes made to an external wiring network does impact on other parcels which share the external network. A "design controller" is provided which restricts editing accessibility of an external network to one user at a time and locks out all other users. After changes are made to an external wiring network the database and the other parcels are updated to reflect the changes before the external network can be accessed again.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to an improved method for computer aided design of logic circuits, such as very large scale integrated (VLSI) circuits, and more particularly, to a method which allows several designers to simultaneously or concurrently edit circuit wiring.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The number of circuit components on, and the complexity of, very large scale integrated circuits is enormous and is increasing. More complicated circuits are being designed and implemented as very large scale integrated (VLSI) circuits containing millions of components and wired interconnections or networks. Typically, VLSI circuit wiring follows channels forming an addressable grid pattern. In such VLSI circuits there may be 1000 by 1000 channels or 1,000,000 or more addressable wiring locations. A wire network seldom follows a single channel in straight line, but rather follows a set of connecting channels all running along the grid. The complexity of such circuits necessitates not only that computers be used to manage the vast amounts of design related data, but also that a number of designers work simultaneously on the design in order to complete it within a reasonable time period.
A well known hierarchical design approach, also known as "top-down" design, evolves breaking a large circuit design into several, simpler, functional modules, each of which are further decomposed into submodules and so on until the lowest level submodules are simple enough to implement.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,890,238 to Klein et al. discloses a hierarchical design method for VLSI chip design. The circuit is partitioned into areas that are shaped to fit together perfectly without any area remaining in between. Each partition is a self-contained piece of logic. All connections needed to interconnect neighboring partitions are included in each partition. Global wiring connections are routed directly through various partitions rather than around them. Internally, global wires crossing a partition are handled as if they were part of that partition. Each partition can be designed independently of the other partitions. The individual circuit partitions are then shaped and placed together such that outputs from one partition are inputs to an adjacent partition. "Transfer books" are placed at partition boundaries and serve as wiring channel cross points which "snap" together to connect the overall logic structure.
"Floorplanning" is another approach to VLSI circuit design which involves automatically placing logic and memory elements on an integrated
circuit. Such an approach is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,918,614 to Modarres et al.. Floorplanning allocates space between circuit elements for wiring interconnections. Parameters such as circuit density and the likelihood of interconnections among certain circuit elements are taken into account in order to minimize the actual chip area and maximize the probability that circuit wiring interconnections between elements can be routed within the space allocated.
Hierarchal and floorplanning methods are directed to the initial design and layout stages of a VLSI circuit. Such prior art methods which rely on VLSI circuit partitioning lack efficient external wiring schemes between the individual modules. Thus, they are not easily adaptable to wire editing applications in the later circuit design stages.

International Business Machines Corporation


The present invention is related to a process for refining raw sugar comprising the steps of: (a) dissolving either washed raw sugar or raw sugar directly to produce a melter liquor; (b) clarifying the melter liquor; (c) crystallising the melter liquor to produce a mixture of a very low colour intermediate sugar and a syrup; (d) separating the very low colour intermediate sugar from the syrup; (e) redissolving the separated very low colour intermediate sugar to produce a fine liquor; (f) filtering the fine liquor to remove any foreign particles which may have contaminated the sugar produced in step (d); and (g) crystallising refined sugar from the fine liquor. The invention is also related to a process for producing very low colour (VLC) intermediate sugar by the steps of (a) to (d) defined above.

Raw sugar is produced by milling sugar cane and is, of necessity, done in close proximity to the fields in which the sugar cane is grown. The raw sugar includes soluble and insoluble impurities which are normally removed by a process called refining which is usually carried out in a sugar refinery. Conventional sugar refining processes are normally, though not necessarily, carried out close to consumer markets and often at great distances from the sugar mill in which the raw sugar was produced. The process conventionally used for sugar refining involves dissolution of the washed raw sugar to produce a melter liquor. The melter liquor is then limed and subjected to a process of carbonatation or phosphatation in which calcium carbonate or calcium phosphate, respectively, is caused to be precipitated and the precipitate is filtered from the liquor in the case of carbonatation and skimmed from the liquor after aeration in the case of phosphatation. Substantially all of the suspended particulate material in the melter liquor is removed with the precipitate during filtration. This procedure, which is generally referred to as clarification, results in a straw coloured clear liquor.
The clear liquor is subjected to decolorisation, typically by being passed through a column containing an adsorbent material such as bone charcoal, resins or granular carbon. The decolorisation process results in a fine liquor from which white sugar is crystallised in vacuum pans. The resulting suspension of crystals in syrup is separated in centrifugals and the sugar is then dried to produce free flowing white crystal sugar.
Australian Patent Specification 84859/91 describes an alternative process for refining cane raw sugar. In this process raw sugar is dissolved to produce a melter liquor and then boiled to crystallise the sugar in the melter liquor. This sugar is recovered as a very low colour intermediate sugar (VLC sugar). If redissolved and filtered the VLC sugar yields a clear fine liquor. When boiled this fine liquor produces white sugar crystals of a colour equivalent to the white refined sugar produced in a conventional sugar refinery employing a traditional decolorising system such as char, granulated carbon or an ion exchange resin.
White sugar should have a turbidity value of approximately 5 or less to be satisfactory in commercial markets. Experience with a variety of raw sugars has shown that the process described in Australian Patent Specification 84859/91 could not consistently meet this specification.


A method of mutual verification between a client and a server is disclosed. The method comprises receiving a request via a telecommunication link, the request comprising an address of the server; receiving a verification data; decrypting the verification data with a private key of the server; identifying an account identity (ID) of the client from the decrypted verification data; generating a first logon token; generating a logon message comprising the first logon token and a uniform resource locator (URL) of the server; encrypting the logon message with a public key of the client; transmitting the logon message via the telecommunication link; receiving a logon request comprising the account ID and a second logon token; and determining whether the second logon token matches the first logon token.

Internet applications and services have permeated our lives in many aspects. Typical internet activities include email, internet surfing, cloud storage, social network, electronic transaction, on-line shopping, etc. As more attention is taken from the real-world to the virtual world interactions, crimes and malicious actions have also grown in a rapid pace. In order to continuously develop internet services without compromising the security, many approaches have been proposed. Among others, passwords are commonly used nowadays. FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a client-server system 100 in prior art. Referring to FIG. 1, client A may interact with server_1 to server_n of different internet websites, using different sets of IDs and passwords, ID_1 associated with psw_n to ID_n associated with psw_n, respectively. However, setting different passwords for different websites may still run the risk of cyber crimes such as computer virus attack, data hacking and internet fraud by a malicious client B. It is desirable to have a method and system that can improve the existing password-based security mechanism.

Method of mutual verification between a client and a server


A computer-implemented method for automatically configuring virtual private networks may include 1) broadcasting by a client on a network to discover a virtual private network server configured to manage virtual private networks, 2) discovering, by the client in response to the broadcast, the virtual private network server, 3) establishing a secure connection between the client and the virtual private network server in response to the discovery, and 4) receiving, by the client from the virtual private network server through the secure connection, configuration settings that enable the client to automatically connect to a virtual private network. Various other methods, systems, and computer-readable media are also disclosed.

Persons and organizations frequently desire to communicate with each other over a computing network such as the Internet. Unfortunately, communications over a computing network may be compromised. For example, an unsecured communication may be read by a third party at a midpoint between the communication's source and destination. The intended parties to the communication may be unaware that the third party read the communication. The third party may also alter, redirect, or destroy the communication.
To alleviate the above problems, organizations have developed mechanisms for secured network communications. One mechanism for secured communications is a virtual private network. A virtual private network may encrypt or obscure the original communication, including its original source and destination. A virtual private network may also detect an attempt to access the communication by an unauthorized party. In response, the virtual private network may automatically reroute the communication (and future communications) and/or alter encryption or other protocols.
Unfortunately, when a user first connects to a network, the user may not be aware that a virtual private network is available. Even when the user is aware that a virtual private network is available, the user may not know how to connect to the virtual private network. The user may also be unwilling to undergo the inconvenience of manually configuring and establishing connection to the virtual private network.

Systems and methods for automatically configuring virtual private networks


An image pickup apparatus includes an image pickup element for converting an optical image on a focal plane into an electrical image signal and outputting the electrical image signal. A vibration sensor detects a vibration amount of an image pickup apparatus main body, and an optical axis decentering member is provided for decentering an optical axis to cause the optical image to coincide with a predetermined position on the focal plane of the image pickup element. A driving control circuit controls a decentering amount of the optical axis decentering member on the basis of a detection output from the vibration sensor, and a control circuit controls the driving control circuit so that the decentering member is operated if the image pickup element is outputting the electrical signal.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image pickup apparatus such as a video camera.
2. Related Background Art
In recent years, video cameras have become remarkably popular since they have compact, lightweight structures, variable magnifications, and multifunctions.
In the above-mentioned video camera, most functions associated with an image pickup operation are automated. Therefore, an unsuccessful image pickup operation caused by the functions of the video camera itself rarely occurs.
The video camera is most frequently used in a hand held state. In this state, the frame may be considered to be always vibrated. In recent years, degradation of image quality caused by the frame vibration, and an uncomfortable situation such as "video sickness" are discussed as problems.
As a means for eliminating the above-mentioned frame vibration, an image stabilization device utilizing a gyro mechanism is conventionally known.
In this device, a lens barrel system is movably supported by a gyro mechanism to obtain a stable image. However, this device makes the camera main body bulky, and also causes an increase in weight.
In recent years, an image pickup apparatus, which comprises image vibration correction means comprising optical axis decentering means, such as a variable angle prism, for decentering an optical axis of an image pickup optical system according to a vibration of a camera and thereby locating an optical image on a predetermined focal plane of an image pickup element, has been developed.
The variable angle prism has the following structure. That is, a liquid having a given refractive index is sealed in an accordion-like chamber having a bellows clamped between two transparent plates. The transparent plate on the object side is tilted by a driving mechanism comprising a magnetic circuit, thereby decentering a photographing optical axis.
In the above-mentioned apparatus, since the optical axis is decentered by the variable angle prism, a lens barrel system need not be moved, and increases in the size and weight of the camera main body can be minimized. Thus, a good image can be obtained by effectively preventing an image vibration.
In the above-mentioned apparatus, since an image vibration correction is performed by tilting the transparent plate of the variable angle prism by the driving mechanism comprising the magnetic circuit, power consumption is increased as compared to a normal photographing mode. Thus, a demand has arisen for efficient battery saving means.
In addition, the apparatus using the variable angle prism suffers from the following problem.
In the image pickup apparatus comprising the image vibration correction means, e.g., the optical axis decentering means such as the variable angle prism, when the image vibration correction mode is disabled during an image recording operation, a tilting state by the driving mechanism for driving the transparent plate is released, and a centering operation occurs. That is, the two transparent plates become parallel to each other due to liquidity of the liquid sealed between them.
For this reason, discontinuous finder images are formed, and a user may feel uneasy.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Image pickup device and apparatus including vibration correction means


A fluid container stand is provided having an extension member supported in an upright vertical position by an underlying base. The base is constructed from a plurality of planar base members and a plurality of planar union members. The base members are radially disposed about the longitudinal axis of the stand in an upright intersecting position and provide a slot at their top ends to receive the lower end of the extension member. The union members orthogonally engage the base members at predetermined vertical intervals along the longitudinal axis of the stand to securely maintain the base members in their desired position. The stand is further provided with a hooked structure mounted on the upper end of the extension member for suspending fluid containers therefrom.

Fluid container stands are typically used in medical treatments for suspending intravenous (IV) fluid bags overhead so that the IV fluid may be fed under the force of gravity to a patient positioned below the bag. Conventional IV stands are usually constructed from heavyweight stainless steel to withstand the rigors of continuous everyday use for extended periods of time in hospitals or other care facilities. A need exists, however, for a fluid container stand for short-term uses, such as individual home care.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a fluid container stand that is sturdy and stable, yet is fabricated from relatively lightweight and inexpensive materials, thereby rendering the stand practical for individual home care. It is another object of the present invention to provide such a stand that is essentially disposable at the end of its useful lifetime. It is further an object of the present invention to provide a fluid container stand that is relatively easy to assemble and disassemble, thereby rendering the stand fully portable and convenient to store or transport.

Fluid container stand for therapeutic treatments


A method is capable of generating a command file of a group of design rule check (DRC) rules or layout versus schematic (LVS) rules and layout parasitic extraction (LPE) rules that can be used by a layout verification tool to verify the layout and the parasitic characteristics of an integrated circuit. The method comprises choosing whether to generate a command file of DRC rules or a command file of LVS/LPE rules, selecting a process from a group of processes, setting a set of parameters, and extracting program codes from a plurality of modules according to the selected process and the set of parameters so as to generate a command file of DRC rules or LVS/LPE rules.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to generating a command file, and more particularly, to generating a command file of a group of DRC rules and/or a command file of a group of LVS/LPE rules to be used by a layout verification tool.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A computer programmed with layout verification software is normally used to verify that a design of an integrated circuit (IC) chip conforms to certain predetermined tolerances that are required by a process to be used in fabricating the chip, to ensure that a layout connectivity of the physical design of the IC matches the logical design of the IC represented by a schematic, and to extract parasitic resistance and capacitance of the IC. These are all very important steps for guaranteeing the properties of the chip manufactured by the process before the tape out of the circuit.
Tolerances for the process that is used to fabricate the IC, methods for checking the consistency between the physical design and the logical design of the IC, and the way to extract parasitic resistance and capacitance of the IC are often specified in the form of "rules". In an operation, these kinds of rules are called design rule check (DRC) rules, layout versus schematic (LVS) rules and layout parasitic extraction (LPE) rules respectively. Examples of DRC rules to be used in checking the design of an IC include minimum width, minimum spacing between elements of a circuit, minimum width of notches, checks for acute angles and self-intersecting polygons, and enclosures and overlap checks. Such DRC rules can be applied to actual layers that are to be fabricated in the chip, and also to derived layers that are formed by logical operations (such as not, and, or, and xor) on actual or derived layers or some combination thereof. Running a command file of LVS rules extracts devices and nets formed across layout hierarchy and compares them to the schematic netlist to ensure that a layout connectivity of the physical design of a circuit matches the logical design of the circuit represented by a schematic. For a command file of LPE rules, it helps to verify electromagnetic phenomena due to parasitic resistance and capacitance of the circuit.
With current technologies, command files of DRC rules and LVS/LPE rules used by a layout verification tool to verify the layout and the parasitic characteristics of an integrated circuit become more and more complicated. It is known that the verifications of ICs of different processes or packages require different command files of DRC and LVS/LPE rules. Consequently, the increasing metal options and bonding styles raise the quantity of the demand for command files dramatically. It is not easy to update thousands of lines of program codes manually without mistakes, and the load of maintaining the command files is heavy. In fact, there are a lot of rule statements sharing the same command, and there are some blocks of commands can be shared for different layout verification function. However, with the method for generating command files according to prior art, different command files can only be generated individually. Therefore it costs a lot of time and effort to generate new command files with different parameters even the new command files are only a little different from other existing ones.
There are already lots of such layout verification tools on the market but they all suffer from the aforementioned problems of maintaining program codes. And the generation of a new command file for verifying the fabrication of ICs by different process or of different parameters is very inefficient.

Method for generating a command file of a group of DRC rules and/or a command file of a group of LVS/LPE rules


An antenna for the transmission and reception of electromagnetic radiation is provided. The antenna includes a body portion, which can be flexible to permit incorporation of the antenna into a material. The antenna also includes an aggregate of extended length nanotubes along the body portion, and a plurality of contact points between adjacent nanotubes to permit transmission of electromagnetic radiation, while reducing resistivity along the antenna at a high frequency, for example, above 100 MHz. A method of manufacturing an antenna is also provided.

Antennas for transmission and reception need to provide high fidelity information on the nature of the signals received or transmitted. These signals can be distorted in a number of ways, including by the design of the antenna, through its frequency band of operation, and by the manner in which the antenna may be mounted. In addition, signal distortion may be caused by the materials from which the antenna is made. For instance, the materials from which the antenna is made may cause phase distortion. Phase distortion is typically frequency dependent and can be set up by surface currents induced in conductors by high frequency AC fields. However, the resistance provided by such materials is usually isotropic in nature. As a result, the signal is attenuated along the length of the antenna, as well as across the narrow diameter of the antenna.
The materials from which the antenna is made may also give rise to the occurrence of surface currents. Typically, surface currents can be inducted in high frequency transmission of information. The presence of surface currents can lead to frequency related phase shifts with the potential to distort or degrade transmitted information.
The materials from which the antenna is made can further enhance the thermal signature of the antenna. In particular, the material used can affect the resistivity and limit the current carrying capacity in the antenna. As a result, when a relatively high amount of currents is being carried along the antenna, the antenna may heat up, thereby increasing the thermal signature of the antenna. Such enhancement in the thermal signature, under most circumstances can be undesirable and the thermal energy expended is a waste of power.
It is believed that carbon nanotubes may have properties that potentially can overcome these problems and further offer the promise of much higher power radiated per input power. Nanotubes have been known for some time. Examples of literature disclosing nanotubes include, J. Catalysis, 37, 101 (1975); Journal of Crystal Growth 32, 35 (1976); "Formation of Filamentous Carbon", Chemistry of Physics of Carbon, ed. Philip L. Walker, Jr. and Peter Thrower, Vol. 14, Marcel Dekker, Inc, New York and Basel, 1978; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,663,230, issued Dec. 6, 1984. More recent interest in carbon filamentary material was stimulated by a paper by Sumio Iijima in Nature 354, 56 (1991) also describing synthesis and structure of carbon nanotubes. These early studies and the work that has developed from these studies resulted in a material with remarkable mechanical and electronic properties. However, the nanotubes that these studies produced have been relatively short and can be limited for composite material reinforcement or for spinning into yarns or filaments for use as antennas. In addition many of these early carbon nanotubes were encrusted with amorphous carbon thereby degrading their usefulness.
Present commercial methods for the manufacture of nanotubes can generate only relatively short length nanotubes. Lengths typically may vary from a few nanometers (e.g., 10 nm) to only tens of microns in length. As a consequence, antennas manufactured from these relatively short length nanotubes can result in inefficient conduction from one relatively short nanotube to another. Conduction from short structure to short structure can lead to relatively high resistivity along the length of the antenna, and can also preclude using ballistic conduction potential of these materials. Further, the shorter tubes produce weaker yarns so handling and attaching to this material may be difficult.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide an antennas which can minimize signal distortion, including phase distortion, and phase shifts caused by surface currents, minimize thermal signature under very high power, while at the same time providing substantially enhanced conduction.

Nanostructured antennas and methods of manufacturing same


The present invention is directed to a method and apparatus for assisting in rating and filtering multimedia content, such as images, videos and sound recordings. One embodiment comprises a computer implemented method for rating the objectionability of specified digital content that comprises one or more discrete content items, wherein the method includes the step of moving the specified content to one or more filtering stages in a succession of filtering stages. After the specified content is moved to a given one of the filtering stages, a rating procedure is carried out to determine whether a rating can be applied to one or more of the content items, and if so, a selected rating is applied to each of the one or more content items. The method further comprises moving content items of the specified content to the next stage in the succession after the given stage, when at least one content item of the specified content remains without rating, after the rating procedure at the given stage. When none of the content items of the specified content remains without a rating after the rating procedure has been completed at the given stage, ratings that have been respectively applied to at least some of the content items are selectively processed, in order to determine an overall objectionability rating for the specified content.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention disclosed and claimed herein generally pertains to a method and apparatus for assisting users in rating objects of multimedia content, such as images, videos and audio recordings, for objectionable content or subject matter. More particularly, the invention pertains to a method of the above type wherein discrete or individual content items are respectively scored or rated, in order to determine the rating that they should each be given in a rating scheme or structure. Even more particularly, the invention pertains to a method of the above type wherein a specified multimedia object, comprising a number of discrete content items, is moved through a succession of filtering stages, and different semantic procedures are used at different stages to rate respective content items.
2. Description of the Related Art
Rich media, such as text, audio, image and video, are used to freely communicate messages in computer-based communications. As increasing numbers of people across age groups and with diverse cultural backgrounds access on-line digital media objects, there is a growing need to filter sensitive content. For example, parents need tools for managing access of their children to potentially harmful videos, in an environment where what is "harmful" varies in different cultures, but content is available across geographical and cultural boundaries.
Ratings are presently used by the entertainment industry to provide a recommendation system for video content classifications, such as for films, television programs, games and the like. However, this approach to ratings is generally manual, time consuming and inflexible. As TV broadcasting moves toward the Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) model, the boundaries between web content and television content, as well as the boundaries between content created by industry and content created by users, will steadily diminish and ultimately disappear. Moreover, geographical boundaries in content creation and consumption will likewise disappear. That is, videos will be acquired, edited, uploaded and viewed not only locally, but on a global basis as well.
Currently used rating systems are not very adaptable to these anticipated changes. Current technologies protect against access to objectionable websites by using text-based filters and various recommendation systems, and professional video creators have generally been responsible for providing content descriptors that are the basis of the ratings. However, these systems are limited by completeness, in that the manual descriptor-rating schemes remain incomplete and are frequently not enforced. Such systems are also of limited efficiency. It is not possible to have reliable ratings, where very large amounts of data are involved (e.g., all videos on YouTube.com), in an arrangement wherein both the content descriptors and the ratings are provided manually. In addition, the prior art systems are of limited accuracy, since both the description and the ratings are done for the whole video. As a result, it is not possible to guarantee that the ratings are accurate for all segments of the video. Some sensitive content may appear only in the middle of the video clip, and there is no auditing mechanism to check the completeness and accuracy of the descriptors. Finally, it would be desirable for a rating system to be flexible enough to accommodate different international standards, and adjust to the backgrounds and preferences of video consumers on a global basis. Presently available systems do not provide this flexibility. Moreover, currently employed approaches such as human processing do not scale.
While automatic solutions are currently being proposed as alternatives to manual processing, these solutions fall into one of two main approaches. These are (1) duplicate detection and removal, exemplified by U.S. Pat. No. 6,381,601, and (2) low-level image analysis operations like detecting skin color pixels, as exemplified by U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,895,111 and 7,027,645. However, there are a number of drawbacks to these proposed automatic systems: (1) Skin detection and image filtering based on these operations is computationally intensive, and is also error prone with limited accuracy. Moreover, skin detection is best suited for detecting nudity, and does not address other types of sensitive content or objectionability, such as violence, gore or hate. (2) Removing duplicates by matching to known content requires developing and maintaining large databases. It will be impossible to rate new content using a comparison approach, since the system will not contain prior content that will match the new content. (3) Ratings of suitability tend to be based on a very limited assessment of objectionability, which is not related to the semantics of the content. (4) Any rating and filtering schemes that rely on human reviewers are manually intensive, do not scale, and offer a fixed and relatively small number of categories. As an example, the well known rating system of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPPA) is limited to ratings such as G, PG, PG-13 and R.

Method and apparatus for semantic assisted rating of multimedia content

International Business Machines Corporation


A noise attenuating device for reducing the noise generated by a gas flow passing through an open butterfly valve having a disc pivotally mounted in a valve housing for rotation about a transversal axis between an open and a closed position thereof. The noise attenuating device comprises a first series of elongated members extending from the upstream side of the disc above the transversal axis and a second series of generally diametrically opposed elongated members extending from the downstream side of the disc below the horizontal axis. Typically, the elongated members extend at 45 degree from the disc of the butterfly valve.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a noise attenuating device and, more particularly, to a device which is adapted to attenuate the noise generated by a flow of gas passing through a butterfly valve when in an open position thereof.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Conventional butterfly valves comprise a disc positioned in a duct for rotation about an axis defined by a shaft in order to control a fluid flow through the duct. Typically, the disc is rotated via a torque applied by an external actuator through the shaft.
In a large number of applications, especially where compressible fluids are employed, the use of such a conventional butterfly valve results in undesired effects such as vibration, wear and noise. For example, high speed gas flow generates aerodynamic throttling noise over a wide range of valve opening. More particularly, such aerodynamic noise increases rapidly towards the fully open position (90.degree.) and reaches a peak near 60.degree. valve opening.
Various solutions have been proposed for reducing the valve noise level, notably the installation of a noise attenuating device, such as a muffler, immediately downstream of the butterfly valve. Such butterfly valve and muffler assemblies are well known and widely used in connection with gas turbine engines. However, it has been observed that the muffler may deteriorate with time. Moreover, the butterfly valve and muffler assembly increases the weight and the cost of the overall gas turbine engine.
Efforts have also been made to suppress the noise at the source as, for instance, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,960,177 which issued to Baumann on Jun. 1, 1976, and which discloses a modified butterfly valve having a disc pivotally mounted in a valve housing defining a circular bore. A row of ribs are formed at the outer rim of the disc for breaking the uniform velocity profile. The ribs are arranged to extend generally parallel to the inner wall of the bore when the disc is in closed position. Moreover, the ribs point in opposite directions below and above the horizontal axis of the disc and they are spaced in order to provide flow passages having a constricted cross-section. Therefore, this provides for small individuals jets discharging into a relatively large downstream area (in comparison to the cross-section of the jet) thereby resulting in low velocity and pressure recoveries which in turn ensure low noise level.
Although the butterfly valve described in the above-mentioned patent is very effective, the ribs create an obstruction to the flow.

Noise attenuating device for butterfly valves


A manifold absolute pressure (MAP) sensor for internal combustion engines is disclosed. In the MAP sensor, the top and bottom cases (1, 7) of a sensor housing have a plurality of fitting slots (10) and fitting protrusions (11) at their connection edges respectively and are easily and tightly assembled into a single structure through a mechanical fitting and epoxy bonding process. A plurality of support protrusions (12, 12') are internally formed on each of the top and bottom cases (1, 7) and support each side of the circuit board (5), with the circuit board (5) being positioned under the sensor member (4) and allowing the pressure inlet pipe (4') of the sensor member (4) to pass through. A supporting ring (13) and an O-ring (14) are commonly fitted over the pressure inlet pipe (4') of the sensor member (4) and are closely fitted into the enlarged top end of the pressure inlet port (8).

As well known to those skilled in the art, a manifold absolute pressure (MAP) sensor is installed in a suction manifold of an internal combustion engine and is used for auxiliarily controlling suction timing of mixed gas into a cylinder by sensing the internal pressure of the cylinder and outputting a signal, indicative of the loaded condition of the engine, to an electronic control unit (ECU) for the engine. Such a MAP sensor thus allows the mixed gas to be appropriately fed into the cylinder in response to the operation of a fuel control valve and maintains a stable operation of the engine.
FIG. 3 is a sectional view showing the construction of a known MAP sensor for internal combustion engines. As shown in the drawing, the housing of the known MAP sensor is comprised of two parts, that is, a top case 20 and a bottom case 21 which are integrated into a single structure. The bottom case 21, having a pressure inlet port 22 on its bottom, is provided with a fitting groove on its top surface, thus being integrated with the top case 20, with the lower edge of the top case 20 being fitted into the groove 23. After the lower edge of the top case 20 is fitted into the groove 23, a thermosetting epoxy bond 24 is uniformly applied onto the junction between the two cases 20 and 21, thus fixing the top case 20 onto the bottom case 21. However, the epoxy bond 24 is applied onto the inside and outside of the junction between the two cases 20 and 21. In order to define a space for the epoxy bond 24 at the junction, the width of the fitting groove 23 is larger than the thickness of the lower edge of the top case 21, thus allowing the top case 20 to be moved on the bottom case 21 in the event of the bond 24 being not applied onto the junction. Therefore, the known MAP sensor may fail to be precisely assembled and it is very difficult to assemble the sensor, thus reducing productivity of the MAP sensors. The epoxy bond 24 is exposed to the outside of the housing, thus spoiling the appearance of the sensor. The integration of the two cases 20 and 21 is accomplished by applying the bond 24 onto the junction between the two cases 20 and 21 and the sensor housing regrettably has a structural limit with a low vibration resistance. Therefore, the known MAP sensor may fail to effectively resist an external impact and may be easily cracked due to such an impact.
The fitting groove 23 is formed on the top surface of the bottom case 21. Therefore, when a gap is unexpectedly formed in the bonding line at the junction between the top and bottom cases 20 and 21, it is possible to allow moisture or impurities to be introduced into the sensor housing through the gap. In addition, the epoxy bond 24, which is interiorly applied onto the junction, generates gas during a hot drying process for the bond 24 and allows the gas to remain in the housing. The above-mentioned moisture, impurities and gas may contaminate and break the parts in the sensor housing, thus causing an operational trouble of the sensor and reducing the operational precision of the sensor while sensing the pressure in a cylinder.
In the housing of the above sensor, both a sensor member 25 and a circuit board 26 fail to be stably supported because both the member 25 and the board 26 are supported only by a fitting force of the sensor member 25, which is fitted into the pressure inlet port 23 of the bottom case 21. Therefore, both the sensor member 25 and the circuit board 26 may be easily moved and cause a crack at the bonded junction of the housing in the event of external vibrations being applied onto the sensor.

Manifold absolute pressure sensor for internal combustion engines


A method and system dynamically and contextually manage information in an electronic computational environment. In one aspect, a desired project provides a context for management of a plurality of information elements, each element being in at least one of a plurality of categories. Each category in turn is a member of a category set, and the category set includes data category, function category, and result category. The context corresponds to at least one model that is defined by the elements and a set of rules governing permissible relationships among the elements. The method includes: receiving an input to the environment specifying a relationship among at least two information elements; using an integrity engine, operating to enforce such rules, to verify dynamically correctness of the relationship specified; and upon acceptance of the relation by the integrity engine, storing automatically the relationship specified, so as to permit dynamic interaction with respect to the context. The relation can be specified and implemented on the fly, without a preconceived design process. Related systems are also provided.

Data plays a major role affecting the whole information spectrum which is conventionally known as database management systems (DBMS) as discussed next.
Data:
DBMS were designed to satisfy the storage and retrieval needs of large static software system. DBMS have been extremely successful in sustaining the demands of large stable corporate entities that required little change over time. However, in a dynamic environment, like biotechnology, where the main activity is research for finding new relations among different organisms and compounds mandates to quickly capture new results that link existing with newly found or introduced attributes, in which case a DBMS quickly breaks down. Similarly, in the area of data mining where new relations are discovered about existing datasets, these relations need to be integrated with the datasets to effectively put to work the new data mined relations.
Three main obstacles that best describe such breakdown are as follows:                1. The fact that existing DBMS are static consumes time and expensive resources in the event a change is needed, due to the schema re-design process. A dynamic DBMS allows end-users to quickly reflect a change like create new attributes or capture new relations on-the-fly.        2. A shift in type of user directly accessing the database is needed. Database administrators (DBAs) guarded their systems very closely preventing any access. This is essential when DBMS systems are used, for example, in call centers with users' level of sophistication is minimal and the type of data at hand is important. In the example of the biotech research, the end-user is a scientist of an experienced caliber and the type of data is sometimes owned by that same scientist who guards it with a degree of vigilance maybe higher than a DBA.        3. Collaboration becomes essential in keeping a system up to date which requires a system to accept new input from several sources, in the form of new data categories and relationships and not only new data values. The traditional database life cycle of requirement gathering by a team, schema design, than passing the flow to a few DBAs breaks down because of limiting sophisticated end-users access to directly contribute to the system over time thus keeping the system up to date.
The above three obstacles stem mainly from existing DBMS static approach to change. Examples of most widely used static models are relational and object oriented. These obstacles will be clearer as to why they exist after discussing the short comings of both models.
Conventional DBMS:
Conventional relational DBMS, the most widely used data model, is based on lambda calculus. It tightly fixes the relation between attributes, data elements signifying a group of values like phone-numbers, to their relations. For example, a relation called "Customer" is represented as a table with a group of attributes: name, address, and phone #. This is represented in the data dictionary, a master lookup table used by the relational model to parse and execute SQL queries. An entry in the data dictionary would look like "Customer: name, address→phone #" which means a phone # is dependant on name and address in relation/table "Customer" and that the attributes name, address, and phone # reside in relation Customer. In the data dictionary, each table has one entry with the table name as the key value for search together with all the functional dependencies within that table. A user cannot get a person's phone # if they only know their name, the name of the relation must be supplied as well. In the relational model, the interface language available to programmers, i.e. technical users, is SQL. A user executes an SQL query, like: "Select phone # from Customer where name=Matt" to get Matt's phone number out of the relational model. If the user does not know the table name "Customer" and that attributes name and phone # belong to the Customer table, the user will not be able to retrieve a person's phone number, which is known as schema in the relational model. The user is required to have a priori knowledge of the underlying schema in order to use the DBMS. The schema identifies the relations between attributes and tables and the dependencies among attributes. This is one reason that makes relational models rigid because attributes are fixed to a relationship once a schema is designed.
The above design limitation of fixing attributes to relations in a relational model explains its rigidity and therefore its inability to change relationships on-the-fly. Let us assume customer now has a cell phone number and a DBA adds it to table Customer as a quick work around to avoid schema redesign (see FIG. 12 fourth column in table customer). Let's say customer Matt moves (See FIG. 13). Due to the delete anomalies, the customer cell phone number data will be lost since the functional dependency of table Customer in the data dictionary looked like: "Customer: name, address→phone #, cell phone" which renders the cell phone dependent on the name and address. To avoid losing the cell phone number information, the user needs to split the Customer table into two tables, say Customer12 and Customer13 (See FIG. 14), which triggers a complete schema redesign cycle (see FIG. 17). Similarly, if phone is found to depend only on name and not address, a similar split will be needed (See FIG. 15) to preserve the functional dependencies as name→phone # and name→address. This ruggedness to change can have major business impact due to time delay and expenses incurred. For example, when the FCC issued that customers can keep their phone number irrespective of the phone company allowing users to take their phone numbers wherever they move implies that phone# depends on name and not address triggers a databases re-design.
Another aspect of relational database model rigidity is that the process of designing a schema is manual—carried out by experts (database administrators) utilizing a set of external business rules and data normalization rules. These rules when put together with the experience of experts define the data model that exists in the relational database. The data normalization rules enforce the integrity of the data in the model (i.e. business rules) under design.
Other database models, like object-oriented database have similar limitations. In FIG. 16, the object model encapsulates data elements by methods. The relationships and logic of the encapsulated data elements are locked in the encapsulating methods. A change mandates a change in the method and the messages related to accessing that method will need to change as well rendering the model also rigid to dynamic change requiring a system redesign. Object-oriented suffer from two other main obstacles: data encapsulation makes it harder for an end user to access the data without knowing the method to use. The user needs to know the object, the correct methods, as well as how to instantiate the messages for accessing the data as a priori knowledge of the system. Secondly, no standard query language exists in the object oriented paradigm which gained the relational model popularity in the market share due to the ease of use and standard operators available in the SQL language.
Type of User: Both models suffer from limiting their user community to highly technical users to interact with the DBMS such as DBAs or programs. Programmers embed statements to query or insert data in the function code they write allowing the function to interact with the underlying DBMS. Written functions shield end users from the details or the need of a priori knowledge of the underlying data model. However, this creates a layer banning access for an end user to interact with the actual data layer as stored in conventional DBMS.
Collaboration: From the previous point, type of users allowed to interact with DBMS is limited to only highly technical staff. This shuts access for end-user collaboration, mainly the business or non-technical user.
Information:
Beyond data, the two best known categories are functions and results.
Software Systems
A software system is best described as a: data layer where data is stored in a conventional database management system (DBMS); a functionality layer where a group of functions are stored in a file system or a functionality server to be instantiated by a user via the interface layer; and an interface, i.e. result or rendering layer, which manages the input and output of the system to the User. Each layer responds to requests interfacing with the underlying layer forming a software system.
Prior art software systems of the type described in previous paragraph have limitations that can be characterized:                1. Interactions are one-way: Users request or insert data according to a predefined slot or functionality. For example, a user in a car repair shop notices that the color of the car does relate to the repair intervals of certain parts. Let's say red car drivers can be more aggressive resulting in more frequent tire and brake repairs. Adding attribute "color" to relations in a conventional system by an end user is not possible. It requires technical expertise and might trigger a schema re-design. This results into an impact on the DBMS, on the functionality server to re-write the function to reflect the new change, and the interface to accommodate the users to enter new requirements. That is what is meant by "one-way", i.e. using the system as designed inserting or requesting data values based on some operation out of the system, not possible to add or change new requirements into the system. In case a result creates a new attribute, the result can not be stored back into the system—i.e. on-way.        2. Closed function-base: Inserting new functionality requires technical expertise to add and link them to the underlying DBMS, i.e. create the relation between the function and what attributes/tables it needs to access. Even if the software system exposes the function base, i.e. available functions, to the user empowering them to choose the sequence of execution by building a workflow or a data-flow-path (DFP), the pool of available functions is still closed. The system suffers from its inability to allow end-user to add new functions to the pool because making the link to the underlying DMBS requires knowledge of the underlying design of attributes and relationships.        3. User interaction: end-user interaction is limited to the interface as requested by the business needs and developed by a technical team. The end-user doesn't have control to make a change and depends on technical resources. System updates translates into a painful process with time delays for updates plus the expense to carry out.The biggest obstacle in a software system becomes its static DBMS that captures the business requirements of the system regarding relationships among data items like attributes and tables are stored. Because of this static nature, software systems are built in a "silo" fashion. The database is independent of the functionality server and the functions have data retrieval statements that are not tracked, while the results that come out of the system are usually not related to the state of the software system. Hence, a change in the DBMS doesn't trigger which functions are affected—no relationship exists—the programmers who insert the data access statements in the function code assume static state of the system and any schema re-design includes re-visiting and manually examining the function-base as well—i.e. "system silo effect". Similarly with results, an obtained result doesn't keep track of the DFP used or data sources used.
In a software system, the interface layer is best known to be data-driven or static. For example, a web-based system using dynamic data driven web layout is driven by a function that is based on the underlying static data model. The dynamic aspect of the interface is based on the permutations and combinations of the fixed pool of attributes whose data values trigger conditions causing a change in the web-state. Changing the interface behavior needs an update in the driving function(s) and updates to the data-model statements requiring a priori knowledge expected by a technical user. That is, the static DBMS remains an obstacle, because change (to the system) based on new attributes is limited to inserting data values in a pre-defined slot in the designed database.
The system silo effect hinders an end-users' ability to add new features or change system behavior.
Function
Advancements in function-bases are limited, that is, where functions can be stored, selected accessed, arranged for execution in a DFP manner, enabled by end users to gain more independent control in achieving results tailored to their needs quickly. A key obstacle remaining is the inability of end-users to introduce new functionality. As discussed above in the software system limitations, adding new functionality or modifying existing functionality that requires or reflects a change in the underlying data model remains a stumbling block to end-users. It requires technical assistance from resources to intervene. At the same time, functions that have the data retrieval components, such as the SQL statement, embedded in the code make them tightly-coupled—inflexible to be used against any other data source, creating a another layer of integration complexity. Hence, existing function-bases are static.
This limitation translates to a number of areas:                1. Collaboration: end-users can't share functions which encapsulate experience or complex logic instrumental in obtaining certain results.        2. Data integration: A function operates on data sources and its logic results in linking those sources creating a relation among them. This is key in advancement of data integration is to enable researches and end-users to contribute to large data integration efforts.Result
Results suffer from symptoms that are similar to those in the case of functions. Prior art in capturing how results are obtained by which set of functions and data sources used cannot be stored back into a database if these results introduce the need for new attributes or new relations for the data to be stored in. For example, consider a merchant identifying its customers via their phone numbers. One customer requests to add the cell phone number as an alternate number. If the database doesn't have an attribute or a slot of an alternate or cell phone number, the merchant is stuck with a rigid system that makes expansion difficult—a common experience. Hence results that do require a DBMS change are stuck. Another shortcoming in results is in collaboration and sharing of results. It is difficult for a user to find how new results where obtained, what DFP—sequence of functions used with what input parameters and which versions of functions used, and the datasets used in the DFP. A user has no access to such valuable information of how a result is obtained or of finding how new data sources or functions could be used in obtaining a result—doing what-if analysis.
Data Integration:
Due to the importance of this topic—data integration—unraveling the root symptom is important and relevant to this invention as the tool under discussion solves root cause. Data integration across multiple sources today is typically performed as a manual activity, namely capturing a relation between two or more items. Doing this still remains a challenge! The key bottleneck remains the static nature of the tools and the approach to the problem.
Various obstacles, in the prior art, hinder dynamic data integration. Consider the way in which people try to integrate static systems in a collaborative environment. Most integration efforts tackle the process by assigning a limited number of experts (i.e., the "Group") to integrate a number of underlying data sources. The Group creates a parser-like engine or identifies relationships in a schema-design-like exercise. The outcome is a virtual integration layer providing a unified view for the end user. By the time the integration process is complete; two factors already limit the effectiveness of the solution developed by the Group. First, each underlying data source continues to change. Second, other experts outside the Group continue to find new integration relationships. Hence, the Group is forced to undertake another effort of data integration. This iterative approach to integration fails to take into account the on going changes that take place while the integration process is in progress. By the time the process is complete, it is already obsolete!! The time spent creating a virtual integrating layer becomes the bottleneck during which no external integration rules or changes in underlying data sources are considered. Everything is put on hold until the next integration cycle.
Three obstacles to dynamic data integration are as follows:                1. The Tools: Current data modeling technologies, which are the tools used to solve integration problems, are static. Adding a new relation triggers a schema re-design in the relational model and a similar effect takes place in the object oriented model. On top of that, a parser engine-like approach which acts as the virtual integration layer locks in the logic linking data items from underlying data sources rendering it static as well. This creates a compound stagnant effect, as it not only locks the logic in the parser; it also mandates that the underlying data sources must remain static as well. This multifaceted static nature of current integration approaches, i.e. a static virtual integration layer depending on static underlying data sources—renders a fragile and inflexible solution.        2. The Expertise: The process of schema redesign mandates a restricted number of participants. During an exercise to update a schema, expertise is restricted to only a few available participants who have expert knowledge of the field and the data modeling tools. Similarly, the process of creating a virtual integration layer is limited by a small number of participating experts to produce a single snapshot. This static design methodology only captures the experience of a few at a point in time.        3. The Logic: Integrating data items is based on logic to relate those items to one another. The relating logic varies depending on some similarity factor like complexity or dimensionality. In dimensionality, like data items are those that share in space, in time, or in an experiment, . . . etc. In complexity, like data items are those that share similarity resulting from a search, say a Blast search (a function that matches, identifying a relation, the input of a gene sub-string to which gene in the human map), or after running a data mining function which is the result of a more complex function. Such similarity can be based on one or a series of functions leading to the complex logic.
Data integration (DI) is an example that highlights the severity of the problem at hand. The use of static tools across all information categories limits the ability to identify or tackle a practical and timely solution. A large number of disciplines that need to deal with legacy data face data integration and data access challenges, biotechnology is just one example.
Integration—Beyond Data:
Integration may alternatively be viewed as creating a model to represent a real life scenario as a mathematical/software modeling. Modeling involves capturing the relationships and interactions among different elements from real life into a model. Data modeling, like schema design, is a snapshot in time. The art of modeling is therefore the art of successfully identifying and selecting those elements that affect the environment under study, the relationships among those elements, and determining which elements are to remain constant in the environment. Modeling is about fixing parameters—which elements will be changing, possible changes for each element, and which elements will remain static. For example, in modeling traffic flow of cars in a city center, one may fix the car width, number of lanes per street depending on the total width of existing streets. On the other hand, the timing of green lights, and the flow rate of cars, may be kept variable to experiment with the model-optimizing parameters like green light duration. Hence changing a fixed element or introducing new variables in a model will result in a re-design. Models are created following the static approach as is in a data model.
Mathematical modeling usually focuses more closely on the relationships in a model and rules of interaction among elements in a model. These aspects may be captured in a function to mimic and govern the interaction. However, functions in a model still rely on data sources to simulate the targeted environment. Hence, the same inflexibility problems as discussed earlier in prior art make it difficult to deal with redesigns that require a change in the model.

Holistic dynamic information management platform for end-users to interact with and share all information categories, including data, functions, and results, in collaborative secure venue


Provided are an electrode catalyst layer, a membrane electrode assembly and a polymer electrolyte fuel cell, having sufficient drainage property and gas diffusibility with high power generation performance over a long term. An electrode catalyst layer (10) bonded to a surface of a polymer electrolyte membrane (11) includes at least a catalyst substance (12), a conductive carrier (13), a polymer electrolyte (14) and fibrous substances (15). The number of the fibrous substances (15) in which inclination θ of axes with respect to a surface of the electrode catalyst layer (10) bonded to the surface of the polymer electrolyte membrane (11) is 0°≤θ<45°, among the fibrous substances (15), is greater than 50% of the total number of the fibrous substances (15) contained.

A fuel cell is a power generation system that generates electricity from a chemical reaction of hydrogen and oxygen. The fuel cell has advantageous effects of higher efficiency, lower environmental load, and lower noise, compared to the conventional power generation, which is attracting attention as a future clean energy source. Especially, a polymer electrolyte fuel cell capable of being used at around room temperature is prospectively expected to be used in automotive power supplies and household stationary power supplies. In recent years, various researches and developments on the polymer electrolyte fuel cell have been conducted. Challenges for practical application of the polymer electrolyte fuel cell include improvement in battery performance such as power generation characteristics and durability, infrastructure improvement, reduction in manufacturing cost, and the like.
The polymer electrolyte fuel cell is generally formed by stacking unit cells. The unit cell has a structure in which a membrane electrode assembly, where a fuel electrode (anode) for supplying a fuel gas and an oxygen electrode (cathode) for supplying an oxidant are bonded to both sides of a polymer electrolyte membrane, is sandwiched by a separator having a gas flow path and a cooling water flow path. The fuel electrode (anode) and the oxygen electrode (cathode) mainly and respectively consist of an electrode catalyst layer including at least a catalyst substance such as a platinum-based noble metal, a conductive carrier and a polymer electrolyte; and a gas diffusion layer having gas permeability and conductivity.
In the polymer electrolyte fuel cell, electricity can be taken out through the following electrochemical reaction: first, hydrogen contained in the fuel gas is oxidized by the catalytic substance to generate protons and electrons in an electrode catalyst layer on the fuel electrode side. The generated protons pass through a polymer electrolyte membrane in the electrode catalyst layer and a polymer electrolyte membrane in contact with the electrode catalyst layer, and reach an electrode catalyst layer on the oxygen electrode side. Moreover, electrons generated simultaneously are transferred to the electrode catalyst layer on the oxygen electrode side, via a conductive carrier in the electrode catalyst layer, a gas diffusion layer in contact with a side of the electrode catalyst layer opposite to the polymer electrolyte membrane, a separator, and an external circuit. The protons and electrons react with oxygen contained in oxidant gas to produce water, in the electrode catalyst layer on the oxygen electrode side.
The gas diffusion layer has a function of diffusing the gas supplied from the separator and supplying it into the electrode catalyst layer. Pores in the electrode catalyst layer are positioned ahead of the gas diffusion layer from the separator and serve as passages for transporting a plurality of substances. The pores of the fuel electrode are required to have a function to smoothly supply the fuel gas to a three-phase interface which is an oxidation-reduction reaction field. Further, the pores of the oxygen electrode are required to have a function of smoothly supplying the oxidant gas. For smooth supplying of the gas, it is important that there are gaps between the pores in the electrode catalyst layer so that the pores are not densely distributed.
As means for controlling so that the pore distribution in the electrode catalyst layer does not become dense, for example, the electrode catalyst layer containing carbon having different particle diameters or carbon fibers has been proposed (see PTLs 1 and 2).

Electrode catalyst layer, membrane electrode assembly and polymer electrolyte fuel cell


A medical portable terminal device includes an operation panel section including a touch panel for a first operator placed in a non-sterilized area to operate and configured to be capable of controlling operations of a plurality of medical instruments disposed in the non-sterilized area, an image pickup section configured to pick up an image of a region where a second operator performs operation of a gesture, a recognizing section configured to recognize the operation of the gesture from the picked-up image, an operation-list memorizing section configured to memorize an operation list for causing the plurality of medical instruments to perform a plurality of operations associated with a recognition result, and a control section configured to switch between control of the plurality of medical instruments based on operation of the operation panel section and control of the plurality of medical instruments based on the operation of the gesture.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a medical portable terminal device used for operations of medical instruments.
2. Description of the Related Art
A large number of medical instruments are used when a surgical operation is performed. Therefore, there has been proposed a surgical medical system that enables a nurse to easily operate the large number of medical instruments from one place.
As a first conventional example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2012-48602 discloses, for the purpose of making it possible to more easily acquire desired medical information with more intuitive operation, a medical information display device in which a user interface for acquisition condition input receives an input of a gesture during display of a subject external view image (a human body icon), an acquisition-condition specifying section specifies, on the basis of a type of the gesture discriminated by a gesture-type analyzing section or the like and a region corresponding to the type of the gesture, a medical information acquisition condition for acquiring medical information corresponding to the gesture, and a medical-information acquiring section acquires medical information satisfying the specified medical information acquisition condition from a medical information acquisition database and displays the medical information with display means.
As a second conventional example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2010-182014 discloses a device in which a camera that photographs a surgeon in a sterilized area and a gesture recognizing section that recognizes, with the camera, a gesture of the surgeon performing a surgical operation are provided in a medical information terminal. The device provides, according to a gesture of a hand of the surgeon, the surgeon with information such as monitoring information and a test result of a patient.

Medical portable terminal device that is controlled by gesture or by an operation panel


A method for making a metal oxyhydroxide electrocatalytic material comprises titrating a precursor solution with a (bi)carbonate salt, the precursor solution comprising a first metal salt and a solvent, wherein the titration induces reactions between the (bi)carbonate salt and the first metal salt to provide first metal carbonate species in the titrated precursor solution; and exposing the titrated precursor solution to microwave radiation to decompose the first metal carbonate species to form the metal oxyhydroxide electrocatalytic material and carbon dioxide. Mixed metal oxyhydroxide electrocatalytic materials such as nickel-iron oxyhydroxide may be formed. Also provided are the materials themselves, electrocatalytic systems comprising the materials, and methods of using the materials and systems.

The development of efficient, earth-abundant electrocatalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is of great importance to solar fuel production, because the OER is the half reaction that limits the overall efficency.1-3 Developing catalysts for the OER is especially challenging because the oxidation of water to oxygen occurs through a complex four-electron/four-proton transfer4 and many materials require a significant overpotential to drive the catalysis.5 Traditionally, the best catalysts for the OER have been composed of the noble metals Ru and Ir.6-8 However, since the discovery that iron impurities can improve the OER activity of nickel oxide electrocatalysts,9,10 nickel-iron oxyhydroxides (Ni1-xFexOOH), specifically the layered double hydroxide (LDH) structure of Ni1-xFexOOH, have emerged as promising non-precious metal OER electrocatalysts in alkaline media and can rival the performance of iridium oxides.11-30

Microwave assisted synthesis of metal oxyhydroxides


A horizontal sidewall fire protection sprinkler has a deflector having a vertical face, transverse to the fluid flow from the output orifice, and a horizontal shelf positioned above and perpendicular to the vertical face. A portion of the horizontal shelf extends in the fluid flow direction by a first length, with respect to the vertical face, and this first length is less than about half of the total length of the horizontal shelf in the fluid flow direction. The sprinkler may be installed in a support cup having a raised mounting platform configured to receive the sprinkler body and a cylindrical outer surface. A horizontal or pendent fire protection sprinkler has a body having an output orifice and a flange and a seal cap to seal a flow of fluid from the output orifice and a thermally-responsive element positioned to releasably retain the seal cap. Housing members extend through and from the flange of the sprinkler body, and contain rods, each of which extends through the flange. A deflector is connected to ends of the rods.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a pendent fire protection sprinkler with a drop-down deflector. The present invention further relates to concealed pendent sprinklers for residential applications. The present invention relates to horizontal sidewall fire protection sprinklers, including those having a deflector with a rearwardly positioned horizontal shelf, which reduces the overall length of the sprinkler to provide a low-profile configuration. Such sprinklers may also be mounted in a supporting cup having a raised platform, with an escutcheon and cover, to provide a concealed configuration with improved sensitivity.
2. Related Art
Fire protection sprinklers conventionally are connected to a conduit to receive pressurized fire-extinguishing fluid, such as water. A typical sprinkler has a base with a threaded portion for connection to the conduit and an output orifice to output the fluid to provide fire control and/or suppression. The output orifice is sealed by a seal cap, which is held in place by a release mechanism. The release mechanism is designed to release the cap under predetermined conditions, thereby initiating the flow of fire-extinguishing fluid. A typical release mechanism includes a thermally-responsive element, e.g., a frangible bulb or a fusible link, and may include a latching mechanism.
Fire protection sprinklers may be mounted on a fluid conduit running along a ceiling and may either depend downward from the conduit, which is referred to as a "pendent" configuration, or may extend upward, which is referred to as an "upright" configuration. Alternatively, a sprinkler may be mounted on a wall, a certain distance below the ceiling, which is referred to as a "horizontal sidewall" configuration. Horizontal sidewall sprinklers have an output orifice that is oriented so that the fluid is output horizontally and sprays onto an area to be protected in front of the sprinkler. The area to be protected may extend across an entire room, in which case the relevant fire protection standards, e.g., Underwriters' Laboratories® Standard 1626, require the fluid flow to reach a particular height on the four walls surrounding the coverage area, among other requirements. Horizontal sidewall sprinklers are particularly useful in applications in which overhead piping is not easily installed, e.g., in residential applications.
Certain conventional sprinklers have a pair of arms that extend from a base, with the arms connecting at a hub. The hub is spaced apart from the output orifice of the base and is aligned with a longitudinal axis thereof. The hub may have a set-screw configured to apply a force to the thermally-responsive element and latching mechanism to maintain the seal cap in a position in which it seals the output orifice. A deflector is commonly provided, and may be mounted on the hub, transverse to the output orifice, to provide dispersion of the output fluid.
Other sprinklers have a deflector that is attached by a pair of arms that extend from the base of the sprinkler, but do not meet at a hub. In such sprinklers, the thermally-responsive element holds the seal cap in place without being held in compression by a hub. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,976,320 shows a sprinkler having a deflector attached to the body with arms that do not meet at a hub. The arms extend from the sprinkler body, and a drop-down deflector is attached to the sprinkler via two guide pins, which are installed in holes in a bent portion at the bottom of each arm. U.S. Pat. No. 5,664,630 shows another example of a sprinkler with a drop-down deflector.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,374,919 shows a horizontal sidewall sprinkler having a deflector with a horizontal shelf. The forwardly-extended portion of the shelf (approximately 0.6 inch) is greater than half the total length (approximately 1.0 inch) thereof. The sprinkler is mounted in a cup with a cover. The cup is mounted in a cavity in the wall such that the flange of the cup is flush with the wall surface. A cover is mounted on the flange so as to leave a gap therebetween to allow air flow to enter.
Technical bulletin "Series LFII Residential Horizontal Sidewall Sprinklers 4.2 K-factor" (Tyco Fire Products, Lansdale, Pa., April 2004) shows a horizontal sidewall sprinkler having a deflector with a horizontal shelf. The shelf is perpendicular to the frame arms and is approximately 0.7 inch in length, as measured from front edge to back edge near the center (the front edge faces away from the output orifice). The shelf appears to extend at a slightly upward angle with respect to the horizontal axis and has a protrusion in the center of the forward edge. The shelf extends approximately 0.43 inch beyond the major vertical surface of the deflector (i.e., the surface transverse to the fluid flow). Thus, the forwardly-extended portion of the shelf is approximately 61% of the total length thereof.
Technical bulletin "Series TY-L—5.6 K-factor Horizontal Sidewall Sprinklers, Standard Response, Standard Coverage" (Tyco Fire Products, Lansdale, Pa., January 2003) shows a horizontal sidewall sprinkler having a deflector with a horizontal shelf. The shelf is parallel to the frame arms and is approximately 0.66 inch in length, as measured from front edge to back edge near the center (the front edge facing away from the output orifice). The shelf extends approximately 0.37 inch beyond the major vertical surface of the deflector (i.e., the surface transverse to the fluid flow). Thus, the forwardly-extended portion of the shelf is approximately 56% of the total length thereof.
Technical bulletin "Model CHEC—8.0 K-factor Concealed Horizontal Extended Coverage Quick Response Light Hazard, Sidewall Sprinklers" (Tyco Fire Products, Lansdale, Pa., April 2004) shows a horizontal sidewall sprinkler having a deflector with a horizontal shelf. The shelf is perpendicular to the frame arms and is approximately 0.880 inch in length, as measured from front edge to back edge near the center (the front edge facing away from the output orifice). The shelf has a protrusion in the center of the forward edge. The shelf extends approximately 0.56 inch beyond the major vertical surface of the deflector (i.e., the surface transverse to the fluid flow). Thus, the forwardly-extended portion of the shelf is approximately 63.6% of the total length thereof. This document also shows the sprinkler mounted in a support cup assembly with a cover. The sprinkler is positioned in the support cup such that a frangible glass bulb is completely enclosed within the support cup and does not extend beyond the wall surface (i.e., the "retainer flange mounting surface"). The hub at which the frame arms meet is positioned so that a portion of the hub falls within the gap between the flange and the cover (i.e., within the "preset gap).
Some conventional horizontal sidewall sprinklers are installed in such a manner that their structure is visible, which is not aesthetically pleasing. Moreover, the sprinkler's extending structure tends to invite improper use of the sprinkler, for example to hang clothing or other items. Such improper use is undesirable, as it may render the sprinkler inoperable or cause unintended activation. Some conventional horizontal sidewall sprinklers are mounted in a support cup with a cover, such that the thermally-responsive element is positioned completely within the support cup. This arrangement tends to reduce air flow across the thermally-responsive element and correspondingly reduces the sensitivity of the sprinkler. Moreover, such configurations often include deflector shelves that extend significantly beyond the vertical surface of the deflector and require covers that extend further from the wall.

THE RELIABLE AUTOMATIC SPRINKLER COMPANY


A wiping product is disclosed containing an odor control agent. In one embodiment, the wipe may comprise a pre-moistened wipe containing a wiping solution. The wiping solution can contain the odor control agent. The odor control agent may comprise inorganic oxide particles, quinone compounds, or activated carbon particles. The odor control agent can be present in the wipe and can be configured to transfer to an opposing surface. In one embodiment, the pre-moistened wipe can be used during diaper changing to reduce malodors given off by the diaper after being discarded.

Saturated or pre-moistened wiping products have been used in a variety of wiping and polishing applications. Perhaps the most common form is a stack of individual, folded sheets packaged in a plastic container for use as baby wipes. Wet wipes are also available containing antimicrobial compositions for cleaning desired surfaces. Wet wipes are typically used only once and then discarded.
Wet wipes designed to clean or disinfect adjacent surfaces are typically made from liquid absorbent, textile substrates. The substrates, for instance, may contain synthetic fibers alone or in conjunction with natural fibers. For instance, some wet wipe materials are made from airlaid webs that have been treated with a water insoluble adhesive or spunlace webs containing water insoluble synthetic fibers. Wet wipe materials may also contain meltspun webs, such as meltblown webs, spunbond webs, coform webs, and laminates thereof. Recently, water dispersible wet wipes have also been produced that degrade when submerged in a wet environment.
Although pre-moistened wipes function well to clean spills and to wipe away urine and fecal matter during a diaper changing, a need currently exists for a pre-moistened wipe that is not only configured to clean an adjacent surface but also to capture and/or reduce malodors generated from the area being cleaned. For instance, a need currently exists for a baby wipe that not only is well suited to wiping away urine and/or fecal matter but also that can be configured to reduce malodors coming from the child or from the diaper itself. Pre-moistened wipes with odor control properties are also needed for cleaning hard surfaces in addition to other personal care applications.

Delivery of an odor control agent through the use of a presaturated wipe