A layer manager provides at least two content layers within a user interface window of a software application. A tab manager provides at least two content tabs within at least one of the content layers. A transfer manager is configured to transfer at least one content tab between the at least two content layers.

Often when displaying information, software applications may be required to display related information using two or more portions of a graphical user interface or other display window. For example, some software applications may display a primary data object within one portion of a user interface, while providing a number of related data objects in other portions of the user interface. In other examples, software applications may provide individual, selectable sheets, any one of which may be selected for display on an associated user interface.
However, in the first example, in which a primary object is simultaneously displayed in conjunction with the number of secondary or otherwise related objects, it may occur that a total number of displayed objects is such that relatively small amounts of room within the display window are available for each of the individual data objects. Consequently, it may be difficult for users to interact with such relatively small display portions. Moreover, it may be difficult to arrange the various data objects for display within the user interface, in a manner which uses the available space efficiently. Further, it may be difficult to enable a user to select a particular data object for viewing within an entirety of the graphical user interface, particularly while maintaining an ease of availability of any remaining non-selected data objects within the display.
In the second example of display techniques provided above, in which a plurality of sheets are individually selectable by, and provided to, a user of a corresponding software application, it may occur that the user finds it difficult or impossible to simultaneously view (or otherwise interact with) selected ones of the available sheets. Thus, in such examples, although it may be straightforward for a user to quickly and easily view an entirety of a selected sheet, it is difficult or impossible for the user to view multiple ones of the sheets simultaneously and in synchronization with one another.
Consequently, neither of the above-referenced example display techniques are sufficient for providing users with straightforward, intuitive display techniques for selecting and viewing desired content within different portions of a display window and/or simultaneously, or in synchronization within, the display window. As a result, users may experience frustration, as well as inefficient use of time, during the use of conventional graphical user interfaces and other display windows.

Display window with multi-layer, parallel tab display


A system and method for verifying the value of goods on a supplier invoice comprises inputting a first value (import declaration value) and second value (payment invoice value) of imported goods in a computer system, and comparing the values. Next, a user is alerted if the values are unequal, or a payment is made if the values are equal. Then, the process is repeated for subsequent invoices. The values are compared for every occurrence, or alternatively, it occurs selectively. The method further comprises selecting a statistical sample of invoices having the first value greater than a predetermined amount. Alternatively, the method comprises selecting a statistical random sample from all invoices in the system, and identifying an amount of occurrences of unequal values, attributed to a common supplier. Then, all invoices of the common supplier are selected if the amount of occurrences exceeds a predetermined amount, and the user is alerted.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to automated invoice systems and methods, and more particularly to an automated invoice system for verifying compliance with United States Customs regulations on imported goods.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, import declarations on the value of imported goods are made at the time goods come into the United States. The importer must declare the dutiable value of merchandise. The final appraisement is fixed by the United States Customs Service. Several appraisement methods are used to arrive at this value. The transaction value serves as the primary basis of appraisement, wherein the transaction value is the price actually paid or payable by the buyer (supplier) to the seller for the goods imported. Other factors may also add to the dutiable value of merchandise, such as packing costs, selling commissions, royalty or licensing fees, etc. When the transaction value cannot be determined, then the value of the imported goods being appraised is the transaction value of identical merchandise. However, if merchandise identical to the imported goods cannot be found, or an acceptable transaction value for such merchandise does not exist, then the value is the transaction value of similar merchandise. Similar merchandise means merchandise that is produced in the same country and by the same person as the merchandise being appraised. It must be commercially interchangeable with the merchandise being appraised. Moreover, the identical or similar merchandise must have been exported to the United States at or about the same time the merchandise being appraised is exported to the United States.
However, invoices from foreign suppliers are usually submitted sometime thereafter. Occasionally, audits are performed by the United States Customs Service to verify and compare the value of the goods as declared versus the value as actually paid (as indicated on a paid invoice). Under 19 U.S.C. 1509, the United States Customs Service may examine records to ascertain the correctness and determine the importers' liability for duty, fees and taxes due the United States.
Conventional systems perform this verification process at the time when an audit occurs (usually by a random sampling of declarations), which precipitates a company to scramble to get the invoices, proof of payment, and other documentation that match a given declaration, in order to prove the actual value paid for the goods.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,151,588 issued to Tozzoli, et al., the complete disclosure of which is herein incorporated by reference, teaches a system of facilitating payment for transactions involving international sales of goods, whereby the seller is a foreign entity. However, the system disclosed in Tozzoli only verifies that each portion of a transaction, for a sale of goods, relates to the corresponding purchase order and criteria established by the funder, which is usually a bank, and possibly by the trade system, and then generates payment instructions accordingly.
However, this system, and others like it, suggests that the criterion for deciding whether payment is to be made is determined by the entity providing the funding, and not necessarily the trade system; i.e., the statutes and regulations governing importing/exporting, namely, those regulations pertaining to the United States Customs Service. Furthermore, most conventional systems do not necessarily verify if the transaction complies with United States Customs Service regulations; at least not before the invoice is paid and the aforementioned auditing process occurs.
Thus, there is a need for a new and improved system, which performs the verification (matching of the declaration and invoice for value of goods) before the invoice is paid and before an audit occurs.

Import declaration/foreign supplier invoice payment reconciliation process

International Business Machines Corporation


An acrylic polymer powder obtained by coagulating and drying a latex containing acrylic polymer particles, in which acrylic polymer powder, the average particle size of the powder is 5 to 10 μm, the percentage of void is 70% or less, and the integral void volume on voids having a pore diameter of 1 μm or more is 0.9 mL/g or less. Acrylic sol obtained using the powder is excellent in storage stability and fluidity.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to acrylic polymer powder suitable for acrylic sol, an acrylic sol comprising the acrylic polymer powder and a plasticizer, and a molding obtained from the acrylic sol.
2. Statement of Related Art
Plastisol is matter obtained by dispersing resin powder and a filler in a plasticizer into a sol state, and the plastisol is applied by application or the like, and heated to gel into a molding. A resin industrially widely used for this process is polyvinyl chloride which is called polyvinyl chloride sol or polyvinyl chloride paste. The polyvinyl chloride sol composition is used in many fields for various purposes, namely as coating agents, impregnants, coking agents, etc. for automobiles, carpets, wallpaper, floors, etc.
On the other hand, moldings obtained from polyvinyl chloride sol compositions have the defect that, when disposed of by combustion, they strikingly damage incinerators due to the generation of hydrogen chloride gas from polyvinyl chloride. Furthermore, on recent environmental problems, polyvinyl chloride is not only a cause of acid rain but a causal substance of the destruction of the ozone layer of the earth. Thus, the appearance of plastisol free of these defects and substituting for polyvinyl chloride compositions has been desired in various commodity fields.
Under the demand, as a plastisol not generating hydrogen chloride gas at the time of combustion, acrylic sols using an acrylic resin are proposed. For example, an acrylic sol using acrylic polymer particles of a uniform composition is proposed (see GB1516510A corresponding to JP51-71344A, especially claims), but the acrylic sol has the problem that when a general purpose plasticizer such as dioctyl phthalate is used, the solubility of the particles in the plasticizer is high and the rise in viscosity of the acrylic sol occurs in several minutes after the mixing, which leads to the impossibility of film formation, and thus the acrylic sol can scarcely be used in practice. For improving the film formability and storage stability of acrylic sol, a process to copolymerize a monomer component having low compatibility with the plasticizer in an acrylic polymer is proposed (see EP533026A corresponding to JP5-279539A, especially claims), but such a sol composition has the problem that when used, the plasticizer is apt to bleed out onto the surface of the film obtained.
Plastisol compositions as acrylic sols in the state of dispersion in a plasticizer in which plastisol compositions the secondary average particle size is in the range of 0.1 to 500 μm are proposed (see GB1516510A corresponding to JP51-71344A, especially claims; JP54-117553A, especially claims). However, when an acrylic sol containing an acrylic polymer whose secondary average particle size is very small is used, the initial viscosity of the sol is high because of the large particle area per volume of the acrylic polymer particles, dilatancy is apt to occur, the fluidity of the sol is lowered, and troubles such as the uneven thickness or faintness of the film at coating, and the unevenness of spray pattern at spray coating take place. For getting such an acrylic sol containing an acrylic polymer whose secondary average particle size is very small to have a practical viscosity, there arises a necessity, e.g., to increase the amount of the plasticizer or add an organic solvent for dilution. As a result, such a problem that the plasticizer bleeds out onto the film surface, the mechanical strength of the film is lowered or the organic solvent added remains in the film and spoils the film formation is apt to occur.
On the other hand, when an acrylic sol containing an acrylic polymer whose secondary average particle size is large is used, the tendency that the viscosity is lower than that of the acrylic sol containing an acrylic polymer whose secondary average particle size is very small is seen, but there is a problem that since the uniformity of the acrylic polymer in the acrylic sol is poor and thus fish eyes are formed to prevent the formation of smooth film, and moreover, there is also a problem that since it takes a long time for the gelation of the film by heating, the productivity of products coated with the acrylic sol is apt to be lowered.
Although an acrylic sol of low viscosity containing a mixture of acrylic polymer particles having an average particle size of 0.1 to 2.0 μm with acrylic polymer particles having an average particle size of 3.0 to 50 μm is proposed (see JP 8-73601A, especially claims), there are drawbacks that a troublesome step of making a dried resin (secondary particles) into the desired particle size distributions by classification or pulverization and mixing the resulting two kinds of acrylic polymer particles is needed, and moreover the particles are destroyed by shearing force generated in the mixing with the plasticizer, etc. and thereby the stability of the sol is lowered.
As stated above, there was the problem that when a general purpose plasticizer such as dioctyl phthalate is used in acrylic sol, the solubility of the particles in the plasticizer is high and the rise in viscosity of the acrylic sol occurs in several minutes after the mixing, which leads to the impossibility of film formation, and thus the acrylic sol can scarcely be used in practice. Further, when, for improving the storage stability of an acrylic sol composition, such an acrylic sol composition that a monomer component having low compatibility with the plasticizer is copolymerized in the acrylic polymer contained therein is used, the acrylic sol composition had the problem that the plasticizer is apt to bleed out onto the surface of the film obtained. Thus, in the case of the use of acrylic polymer particles, storage stability and plasticizer retention (bleed-out resistance) after film formation are incompatible, and it was impossible to satisfy both properties in polymer particles of uniform structure.
Thus, an acrylic sol composition using particles of core shell structure is proposed in the above-mentioned EP533026A corresponding to JP5-279539A, especially claims, and an acrylic polymer wherein an acid is made to be contained in the polymer skeleton is used therein. However, the polymer proposed in the document is low in compatibility with plasticizers, and when a plasticizer low in polarity such as a phthalic ester is used, the state of plasticization gets poor and good film cannot be obtained. Further also in U.S. Pat. No. 5,441,994A corresponding to JP6-322225A, especially claims, a plastisol composition using particles of core shell structure is proposed. Although the word, particles of core shell structure, is used, the word therein means particles obtained by preparing particles of uniform structure and hydrolizing them with an alkali to convert the ester groups at the surface parts of the particles to carboxyl groups. Therefore, the thickness of the shell parts is extremely thin, and the shell parts substantially occupy only about 1% or less of the volume of the particles. Thus, the effect of the improvement of storage stability expected as a role of the shell parts is extremely low. The shell parts introduced by alkali hydrolysis has a very high acid value, and thus their compatibility with the plasticizer is extremely low and film formability is strikingly lowered. Moreover, such structural particles as above having shell parts of a high acid value are apt to take aggregative structures consisting of the particles in the plastisol, and as a result, there arises a tendency that the viscosity of the plastisol composition at low shearing rates becomes higher and workability is lowered.
Other examples of plastisol compositions using core shell structural particles are proposed in JP7-233299A, especially claims and JP8-295850A, especially claims. Therein, by using a core shell polymer consisting of a core part basically showing compatibility with plasticizers and a shell part showing incompatibility with plasticizers, very fundamental performances (storage stability of a low level, plasticizer retention of a low level, etc.) are realized. However, in order to put a plastisol composition to industrially practical use, extremely high performances [storage stability of a high level, plasticizer retention of a high level, mechanical performances (tensile strength, tensile elongation, etc.) of high levels, etc.] are required. In that point, the polymer proposed in the above documents are unsuitable for industrially practical use because the balance between a plasticizer and it in compatibility is not optimized and any of storage stability, the plasticizer retention of the film and the flexibility of the film is in a low level.
In JP8-295850A, especially claims and JP9-77950A, especially claims, an acrylic sol is proposed using acrylic polymer particles comprising component (a) consisting of a specific monomer having good compatibility with plasticizers and component (b) consisting of a specific monomer having poor compatibility with plasticizers, the constitutional ratio of component (a) being decreased in a multistage way or continuously toward the outmost layer from the center of each acrylic polymer particle, and the constitutional ratio of component (b) being increased in a multistage way or continuously toward the outmost layer from the center of each acrylic polymer particle. However, the acrylic sol using the acrylic polymer particles has a problem that since the shapes and/or properties of the acrylic polymer particles are not clearly defined therein, compatibility between the surface layer of the particles and the plasticizer is low and the diffusion of the plasticizer into the secondary particles is poor, fish eyes resulting from the remaining secondary particles are formed during film formation and smooth film cannot be formed, and therefore, there is a case where practically undesirable results occur.
Although various trials have been made for making storage stability, plasticizer retention, film flexibility, etc., which are the most fundamental properties of plastisol, stand abreast, it is the present state of things that all these plastisols are in low levels and have not reached an industrially practical level, probably partly because the shapes and/or properties of acrylic polymer particles, etc. used are not clearly defined therein.

Acrylic polymer powder, acrylic sol and molding

Abstract: The storage stability and fluidity of the acrylic sol can further be heightened, or it is possible to give different effects (enhancement of mixing properties of the powder with a plasticizer; lowering of the viscosity of the acrylic sol, enhancement of particle destruction resistance; enhancement of the bleed-out resistance, film uniformity and flexibility of moldings obtained from the acrylic sol, formation of smooth film; etc.), by adjusting the macropore diameter and micropore diameter of the acrylic polymer powder, the ratio between the pore volume of macropores to the pore volume of micropores per gram of the powder or the particle size ratio between the length and breadth of the powder in a specific range; incorporating a water soluble macromolecule in the latex; making a reactive surfactant a constituent of the acrylic polymer particles; or using as the latex a mixed latex of two kinds of latexes containing mutually different acrylic polymer particles.

Abstract: Further, the molding of the invention never generates hydrogen chloride gas when incinerated, which is different from moldings formed from polyvinyl chloride sol.


Disclosed are apparatus and related methods of interchangeably securing (a) portable electronic devices or (b) portable electronic devices that are housed within protective cases to one more supports. In one embodiment, the apparatus may be a holster with a coupling means for removably securing the holster to a support (e.g., a clip, armband, or vehicle mount) that features cooperating coupling means. In another embodiment, the apparatus may be a protective case with a coupling means for removably securing the holster to a support that features cooperating coupling means.

Mobile communication, media devices, and other portable electronics (hereinafter "mobile devices"), like cellular phones or smart phones, are frequently toted by people as they accomplish their daily activities. A close proximity to one's mobile device is viewed as a necessity to many people desirous of having communication or entertainment at their fingertips. This said, holding a mobile device in hand can be tedious and encumbering. In view of the foregoing, many hands-free mobile device toting or holding means have been developed. For instance, sometimes mobile devices are toted via belt clip holsters. Additionally, many people wear mobile devices on their biceps or shoulders during exercise routines so that the display of the device may be readily viewable with a slight head and arm gesture during an exercise (e.g., running). Yet still, people have been known to use various vehicle mounting systems so that a mobile device's display may be viewable within a vehicle (e.g., while driving).
Having multiple toting mechanisms for mobile devices can become problematic. Problems arise, for example, because mobile devices are relatively fragile and switching between the various holders or toting means can cause damage to the phone. Fragile mobile devices can be enclosed in protective cases, but protective cases raise other problems in view of holding and toting means because dimensions of protective cases are not constant for any particular mobile device. Inconsistent dimensioning of protective device cases becomes problematic in that the holding or toting means are usually sized to a particular mobile device without accounting for inconsistency in case sizing. As a result, mobile device owners must undesirably and tediously expose the phone to damage by removing the protective case prior to placing the device in a holder or toting means. In view of the foregoing, a need exists for apparatus and related methods of holding or toting mobile devices which do not unnecessarily expose the devices to damage.

Apparatus for improving the interchangeability of portable electronic devices amongst various supports and related methods


An inkjet printhead that uses a non-aqueous ink. The inkjet printhead includes a flow channel plate having an ink channel, and a nozzle plate which is combined with the flow channel plate and has a plurality of nozzles through which the non-aqueous ink is ejected, wherein a non-wetting coating film is formed on inner walls of the ink channel and the nozzles.

1. Field of the Invention
The present general inventive concept relates to an inkjet printhead, and more particularly, to an inkjet printhead that uses non-aqueous ink.
2. Description of the Related Art
An inkjet printhead is a device that prints a predetermined color image by ejecting minute droplets of ink on desired areas of a printing medium. Inkjet printheads can be generally classified into two types according to the ejection mechanism of ink droplets. The first type is a thermal inkjet printhead that ejects ink droplets using the expansion force of ink bubbles created using a heat source, and the second type is a piezoelectric inkjet printhead that ejects inkjet droplets using a pressure created by the deformation of a piezoelectric element.
FIG. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a piezoelectric inkjet printhead as an example of a conventional inkjet printhead. Referring to FIG. 1, a flow channel plate 10 includes a manifold 11, a plurality of restrictors 12, and a plurality of pressure chambers 13, which constitute an ink channel. A vibration plate 20 that is deformed due to driving of piezoelectric actuators 40 is combined with an upper surface of the flow channel plate 10. A nozzle plate 30 having a plurality of nozzles 31 is combined with a lower surface of the flow channel plate 10. The flow channel plate 10 and the vibration plate 20 can be formed as one unit, and also the flow channel plate 10 and the nozzle plate 30 can be formed as one unit. The flow channel plate 10, the nozzle plate 30, and the vibration plate 20 are usually formed of silicon.
The manifold 11 is a path for supplying ink from an ink tank (not illustrated) to the pressure chambers 13, and the restrictors 12 are paths for supplying ink to the pressure chambers 13 from the manifold 11. The pressure chambers 13 are filled with ink to be ejected, and are arranged on one side or both sides of the manifold 11. The nozzles 31 are formed through the nozzle plate 30 and are connected to the pressure chambers 13. The vibration plate 20 is formed on an upper surface of the flow channel plate 10 to cover the pressure chambers 13. The vibration plate 20 is deformed due to the driving of the piezoelectric actuators 40 and provides pressure for the pressure chambers 13 to eject ink. Each of the piezoelectric actuators 40 includes a lower electrode 41, a piezoelectric film 42, and an upper electrode 43 sequentially formed on the vibration plate 20.
In an inkjet printhead having the above structure, an ink-philic coating film 34 formed of thermally oxidized silicon is formed on inner walls of the nozzles 31 and inner walls of the ink channel. The ink channel is a path for ink flow and includes the pressure chambers 13, the restrictors 12, and the manifold 11. If the inner walls of the nozzles 31 and the ink channel have an ink-philic property, a contact angle with respect to ink is reduced, and thus, capillary force increases. Therefore, the time required for refilling ink into the pressure chambers 13 is reduced and ejection frequency can be increased. An ink-phobic coating film 38 is formed on an external surface of the nozzle plate 30. The ink-phobic coating film 38 can be formed of perfluorinated silane, which is a well known material that can minimize ink-wetting by reducing surface energy of the nozzle plate 30. If the external surface of the nozzle plate 30 has an ink-phobic property, that is, a non-wetting property, the ink-wetting at the surface of the nozzle plate 30 can be prevented, and thus, straightness of ink droplets can be ensured.
Conventional inkjet printheads mainly use aqueous ink. When aqueous ink is used in an inkjet printhead having the above structure, since the inner walls of the nozzles 31 and the ink channel have an ink-philic property, that is, a high ink wetting property, ink refill can be smoothly achieved, and the performance of the inkjet printhead can be improved since air trapping on the inner walls of the ink channel is prevented.
Recently, the application of inkjet technology to various industrial fields such as display apparatuses, radio frequency identifications (RFID), or bio-chips is being actively studied. As a result, the development of non-aqueous ink besides the conventional aqueous ink is being accelerated.
However, if non-aqueous ink is used in a conventional inkjet printhead, the inner walls of the nozzles 31 and the ink channel become contaminated by ink residues, such as a dispersing agent or a pigment. That is, since the non-aqueous ink has a low surface tension compared to the conventional aqueous ink, the non-aqueous ink can relatively easily wet the inner walls of the nozzles 31 and the ink channel. Also, the non-aqueous ink has a high vapor pressure, since the non-aqueous ink easily vaporizes. Accordingly, the dispersing agent or the pigment in the non-aqueous ink strongly combines with oxidized silicon, which has a high surface energy, and as a result, the residue such as the dispersing agent or the pigment is adsorbed on the inner walls of the nozzles 31 and the ink channel. Also, since the non-aqueous ink has a high vapor pressure compared to the aqueous ink, ink evaporation actively occurs at a meniscus portion of ink that contacts the air, and as a result, the ink residue is adsorbed on the walls of the nozzles 31.
FIGS. 2 and 3 respectively are photo images of an inner wall of a nozzle and an inner wall of a restrictor, which are contaminated by residues when non-aqueous ink is used in an inkjet printhead of FIG. 1. However, a method of cleaning the inner walls of the nozzles and the ink channel when the inner walls of the nozzles and the ink channel are contaminated has not yet been developed.


The present invention is a data parallel system which is able to utilize a very high percentage of processing elements. In an embodiment, the data parallel system includes an array of processing elements and multiple instruction sequencers. Each instruction sequencer is coupled to the array of processing elements by a bus and is able to send an instruction to the array of processing elements. The processing elements are separated into classes and only execute instructions that are directed to their class, although all of the processing elements receive each instruction. In another embodiment, the data parallel system includes an array of processing elements and an instruction sequencer where the instruction sequencer is able to send multiple instructions. Again, the processing elements are separated in classes and execute instructions based on their class.

Computing workloads in the emerging world of "high definition" digital multimedia (e.g. High-Definition Television (HDTV) and High-Definition-Digital Versatile Disc (HD-DVD)) more closely resemble workloads associated with scientific computing, or so called supercomputing, rather than general purpose personal computing workloads. Unlike traditional supercomputing applications, which are free to trade performance for super-size or super-cost structures, entertainment supercomputing in the rapidly growing digital consumer electronic industry imposes extreme constraints of both size, cost and power.
With rapid growth has come rapid change in market requirements and industry standards. The traditional approach of implementing highly specialized integrated circuits (ASICs) is no longer cost effective as the research and development required for each new application specific integrated circuit is less likely to be amortized over the ever shortening product life cycle. At the same time, ASIC designers are able to optimize efficiency and cost through judicious use of parallel processing and parallel data paths. An ASIC designer is free to look for explicit and latent parallelism in every nook and cranny of a specific application or algorithm, and then exploit that in circuits. With the growing need for flexibility, however, an embedded parallel computer is needed that finds the optimum balance between all of the available forms of parallelism, yet remains programmable.
Embedded computation requires more generality/flexibility than that offered by an ASIC, but less generality than that offered by a general purpose processor. Therefore, the instruction set architecture of an embedded computer can be optimized for an application domain, yet remain "general purpose" within that domain.
The current implementations of data parallel computing systems use only one instruction sequencer to send one instruction at a time to an array of processing elements. This results in significantly less than 100% processor utilization, typically closer to the 20%-60% range because many of the processing elements have no data to process or because they have the inappropriate internal state.

System and method for class-based execution of an instruction broadcasted to an array of processing elements


A self-locking and threaded bone tack screw device (10) for fixing and retaining tissue grafts and synthetic membranes directly to a maxillofacial bone graft site. The tack has an oversized cylindrical dome shaped head (14) for retaining the tissue and synthetic membrane to the bone graft site and a hexagonal recess (14a) for easy insertion and removal of the device. The tip of the device incorporates a sharp pin point (12a) to easily pierce the tissue and membrane and initially penetrate into the bone graft site. A locking flange (12c) locks into the bone graft site in a single direction. A self-tapping screw thread (12f) is provided for driving the pin point tip into the bone graft site. Incorporation of the self-locking pin point tip in series with the self-tapping thread allows the hexagonal tool driven bone tack to be easily inserted and removed from the graft site without compromising its fixation.

Presently two types of fixation devices are used for the retention of tissue grafts and synthetic membranes to a maxillofacial bone graft site, namely, a standard threaded bone screw and a simple pin point tack.
The threaded bone screw type incorporates a defined self-tapping thread to thread through the tissue or synthetic graft material before screwing into the bone graft site. Threading this self-tapping screw through the tissue or synthetic membrane and into the bone graft site, however, requires a certain degree of skill as the thread can easily engage and tear the tissue or synthetic membrane during insertion. Additionally, it involves a challenge to locate, stabilize and self-start the bone screw into the desired graft site and in most cases requires a surgical pilot hole.
To overcome the functional deficiencies of the bone screw design and to simplify surgical requirements, a push pin tack was developed. The push pin tack design incorporates a pin point tip that easily penetrates through the tissue or membrane graft and drives a cylindrical shaft directly into the bone site. This push pin bone tack provides a quick and easy surgical alternative for fixing tissues or synthetic membranes to a graft site. However, without the rigid fixation provided by the screw design, one takes the risk of a separation from the graft during the healing phase.

Bone attachment device for use with tissue grafts and membranes


A communication system comprising one or more ubiquitous sensor(s) for generating awareness data relating to a user, a context engine for receiving and processing the awareness data to determine the user's current context for the purpose of event handling, a policy engine for receiving and relating at least one pertinent evidential indicator of an incoming event from a caller to the user's current context and in response selecting a preferred event handling feature, and a delivery agent for executing the preferred event handling feature.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to communication systems, and more particularly to a context aware call processing architecture for effecting user-defined features.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Traditional telephony features are standardized and coarse grained. Users are given access to a plurality of features (Call Forward on Busy etc.) that are centrally located within a communication system, such as a PBX.
The utility of these features is limited by their inability to be personalized to the needs of an individual and to be aware of the user's current activities. For example, a user may be occupied with some work. Such a user will therefore be 'busy' in relation to other work of less importance but 'available' in relation to work of higher priority or to information about his/her current task. Traditional telephony features such as Call Forward on Busy are coarse-grained and therefore cannot match these important human distinctions.
The very limited degree of personalization in feature sets according to the prior art results from the fact that traditional call processing has relied on a centralized definition of common features to accelerate the time to market and to improve system stability. Expert designers typically develop standard features that are tested for compatibility before deployment. Personalization with such a scheme is impossible because of the large numbers of possible personalized features.
The Internet telephony work on the SIP protocol (IETF) has created the CPL standard that partially addresses the goal of achieving personalized features (see Sinnreich, H; Johnston, A. B., Internet Communication Using SIP, Wiley, 2001 pp 104-108, and The Internet Draft by Schulzrinne, H.; Rosenberg, J.; SIP Caller Preferences and Callee Capabilities, draft-ietf-sip-callerprefs-05.txt available at: http://www.softarmor.com/sipwg/drafts/draft-ietf-sip-callerprefs-05.txt). Although CPL allows the user a limited ability to locally specify call handling, it does not go beyond specifying policies on call handling based on the identity of the incoming caller and time of day. It does not take into account the user's context and is unable to accommodate conflict handling between user policies, thereby severely limiting the utility of CPL, it's scalability and evolvability.


A method of proofing a refrigeration system operating state includes monitoring a change in operating state of a refrigeration system component, determining an expected operating parameter of the refrigeration system component as a function of the change, and detecting an actual operating parameter of the refrigeration system component after the change. The method also comprises comparing the actual operating parameter to the expected operating parameter of the refrigeration component and detecting a malfunction of the refrigeration system component based on the comparison. The method may be executed by a controller or stored in a computer-readable medium.

Produced food travels from processing plants to retailers, where the food product remains on display case shelves for extended periods of time. In general, the display case shelves are part of a refrigeration system for storing the food product. In the interest of efficiency, retailers attempt to maximize the shelf-life of the stored food product while maintaining awareness of food product quality and safety issues.
The refrigeration system plays a key role in controlling the quality and safety of the food product. Thus, any breakdown in the refrigeration system or variation in performance of the refrigeration system can cause food quality and safety issues. Thus, it is important for the retailer to monitor and maintain the equipment of the refrigeration system to ensure its operation at expected levels.
Refrigeration systems generally require a significant amount of energy to operate. The energy requirements are thus a significant cost to food product retailers, especially when compounding the energy uses across multiple retail locations. As a result, it is in the best interest of food retailers to closely monitor the performance of the refrigeration systems to maximize their efficiency, thereby reducing operational costs.
Monitoring refrigeration system performance, maintenance and energy consumption are tedious and time-consuming operations and are undesirable for retailers to perform independently. Generally speaking, retailers lack the expertise to accurately analyze time and temperature data and relate that data to food product quality and safety, as well as the expertise to monitor the refrigeration system for performance, maintenance and efficiency. Further, a typical food retailer includes a plurality of retail locations spanning a large area. Monitoring each of the retail locations on an individual basis is inefficient and often results in redundancies.

Proofing a refrigeration system operating state


An apparatus and method for displaying a three-dimensional virtual endoscopic image are provided. In the method, information on a virtual endoscopic image is input in the form of volume data expressed as a function of three-dimensional position. A two-dimensional reference image, a three-dimensional reference image, and a virtual endoscopic image are detected from the volume data. The detected images are displayed on one screen. Virtual cameras are respectively displayed on areas, in which the two and three-dimensional reference images are respectively displayed. Here, a camera display sphere and a camera display circle are defined on the basis of a current position of each virtual camera. When information regarding to one image, among the two and three-dimensional reference images and the virtual endoscopic image on one screen, is changed by a user's operation, information regarding to the other images is changed based on the information changed by the user's operation.

In order to avoid giving patients discomfort provoked by an endoscope used for observing the state of the patients' internal organs, virtual endoscopy has been developed and widely and usefully used with respect to a bronchus, a blood vessel, a large intestine, a joint, and so on in a human body. In virtual endoscopy, an image similar to a real endoscopic image is generated using a series of two-dimensional images collected through CT or MRI. In other words, a virtual endoscope is noninvasive and thus allows the inside of a patient's internal organs to be observed without giving the patient pain, so recently, it is very usefully used.
A real endoscope allows the inside of internal organs to be observed only in a direction in which a camera moves. Unlikely, a virtual endoscope allows a user to observe the inside of internal organ in desired directions and is thus very helpful to diagnosis.
However, a conventional virtual endoscope is difficult to operate due to inefficient user interface.
For example, a conventional virtual endoscopic method is composed of a two-dimensional reference image acquired using an image input apparatus and a virtual endoscopic image generated from the two-dimensional reference image. Accordingly, in the conventional virtual endoscopic method, a correlation between the reference image and the virtual endoscopic image is two-dimensionally shown, so it is difficult to express a three-dimensional correlation and detect the position of a part shown in the virtual endoscopic image or a relative relation with other structures.
In the conventional virtual endoscopic method, a virtual camera is controlled and expressed in a two-dimensional reference image. Accordingly, it is difficult for a user to operate the virtual camera in a desired direction and recognize the direction of the virtual camera.

Apparatus and method for displaying virtual endoscopy display


In the case of a head restraint (1) for a vehicle seat, in particular for a motor vehicle, having a fixed first subassembly (11), a moveable second subassembly (13), and a drive (15), which is normally retained by a locking unit (21), moving the second subassembly (13) forward relative to the first subassembly (11), the locking unit (21) has a clamping magnet.

The present invention relates to a head restraint for a vehicle seat, in particular for a motor vehicle seat, with the head restraint having a fixed first subassembly, a moveable second subassembly, and a drive, which is normally retained by a locking unit, for moving the second subassembly forward relative to the first subassembly.
DE 39 00 495 A1 discloses a head restraint of the above-described type, in which a displaceable mass is provided as a sensor. In the event of a crash, the sensor releases a locking unit, so that a padded element is pushed rapidly forward by pressure stores acting upon a piston and by springs.


The device and method for performing an optical Hall test provide means for on-destructive measurement of free carrier concentration or effective mass in semiconductor materials using Faraday rotation spectra. A beam emitted by a Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectrometer is transmitted through the sample that is mounted between a polarizer and analyzer and the opposite poles of a magnet before finally being incident on a detector. The ratio of the samples's transmission spectrum with the magnetic field on to that with the magnetic field off is converted, through a suitable mathematical formula, to Faraday rotation. The rotation is, then, plotted versus the square of the wavelength. The slope of the graph at longer wavelengths is directly proportional to the carrier concentration and the effective mass. With one known, the other can be easily determined.

The Hall test, invented in 1879 by E. H. Hall and improved by L. J. van der Pauw in 1958, is commonly used to measure carrier concentration and mobility in semiconductor samples. It requires four electronic contacts to be soldered to the surface of the semiconductor sample. The test is time-consuming (on the order of a few hours) and is also subject to large errors due to contamination introduced by soldering. In low-mobility samples such as n-type silicon, the contamination typically results in a 10% or more rise in carrier concentration and approximately 10% drop in mobility due to infusion of the solder's impurities into the sample. In high mobility materials such as mercury cadmium telluride (HgCdTe) and indium antimonide (InSb), soldered contacts can easily result in excess of 100% error in carrier concentration and 50% or more error in mobility. This is due to the "doping" effect of the solder's impurities into the sample at soldering temperatures. For this reason, particularly in thin films, the Hall test is destructive, usually requiring an expendable or "witness" sample that cannot be subsequently used for device manufacture.
Faraday rotation is the rotation of the plane of polarization of light as it passes through a sample in the presence of a magnetic field whose field lines are in the direction of the light. In semiconductors, Faraday rotation has two components: the plasma component which is due to free carriers and the interband component which is due to free carrier transitions across the band gap. The plasma component (.theta..sub.n) is proportional to the free carrier concentration (N), the effective mass (m.sup.*) and the wavelength of light (.lambda.) used according to ##EQU1## where q is the electron charge, c is the speed of light, .epsilon..sub.0 is the permittivity of free space, m is the electron mass (these values are constants along with .pi.), B is the magnetic field strength used, L is the thickness of the sample, and n is the refractive index of the material. By far the most popular known method of determining free carrier effective mass in semiconductors is via measurement of Faraday rotation at a single wavelength as the light travels through the semiconductors. Faraday rotation utilizing a single wavelength is useful in measuring the plasma component of the rotation in semiconductors such as silicon (Si) and gallium arsenide (GaAs) where the interband component is negligible due to their relatively wide band gaps. But in narrow band gap semiconductors such as HgCdTe and InSb where the interband component is significant, the plasma component of the Faraday rotation cannot be isolated from the interfering interband component. Indeed, until the invention of this device, measurement of electron effective mass in narrow band gap semiconductors such as HgCdTe and InSb was very limited if not impossible. HgCdTe was discovered as a promising infrared detector material in 1959. The electron effective mass is an important parameter in the design of detectors but it could not be measured in HgCdTe and other narrow band gap semiconductors such as low-doped InSb. Several calculated values of effective mass of HgCdTe were reported in the early 1980's but these were seen to be significantly inaccurate, especially at higher temperatures. Room temperature values were of particular interest but were unavailable. Effective masses of free electrons in HgCdTe and InSb were recently measured for the first time using this device.

Device and method for performing an optical hall test

The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Army


A method and apparatus for inter-module communication is disclosed. The method includes forming a message that includes customer relations management system information. The customer relations management system information may include, for example, agent information, work item information, queuing information, statistical information, connection information or rule information, among other such information. The message can be communicated in order to perform a function, such as an agent-related function, a work item-related function, a statistics-related function or an administrative function, for example. The message can be, for example, a command, a request or a notification.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to communications between software modules, and, more particularly, to a method and apparatus providing an extensible interface for inter-module communication.
2. Description of the Related Art
In today's technological economy, companies are moving towards managing and interacting with their customers through a wide variety of communication channels. Such communication channels include face-to-face interaction, telephone communications, facsimile (colloquially, "fax") communications, e-mail, voice-mail, Internet information inquiries via "call me now and call me later," collaborative sessions via the Internet and other such communications channels. With all these communication channels, companies are faced with efficiently managing each customer interaction while meeting desired service levels and maximizing customer satisfaction. In addition, companies are faced with optimally staffing and training their workforce to deal with these communication channels, whether through their call center(s), telebusiness organizations, or their sales, marketing, and service professionals.
Currently, many customers have dedicated e-mail inboxes, fax inboxes, and voice-mail boxes defined for specific business areas as well as automated call distributors. Employees are assigned to poll and manage the inquiries for each communication channel. Combined with the traditional call queues for inbound telephone calls, agents are tasked with managing all these communication channels while having no visibility into the queue status and priorities of each channel.
Thus, it is desirable to provide a system that includes a universal queue strategy capable of assigning, routing, and queuing work items from multiple channels of communications to an agent having the appropriate skills to respond to the request. This reduces the response times and customer satisfaction, while balancing priorities amongst multiple communication channels.
As will be appreciated by those of skill in the art, the queuing of such work items may be performed by a software module dedicated to such tasks. Such a module would dole out work items to agents as appropriate, based on some paradigm. In providing such functionality in a separate module, the question of the manner in which such a module (and indeed, any such inter-module communications) are to take place.
A traditional approach would be to define a application programming interface (API) that would allow calls to be made to the queuing module, in order to produce the desired results (e.g., the queuing of a work item). Alternatively, a dynamic link library (DLL) could be employed. A DLL is a collection of sub-modules (e.g., subroutines or objects/methods), any of which can be called (instantiated) when needed by a program currently being executed in a computer. DLL files are so named because they are dynamically linked with the program that uses them during program execution rather than being compiler with the main program. Again, as with a library, an API is provided to allow the programmer to access the functions contained therein.
Unfortunately, by using a library or DLL, several obstacles can present themselves. First, the library or DLL may have what are termed "side effects"—that is, one or more of the sub-modules may cause unexpected changes in the data of the calling module. Moreover, if the calling module supplies data to the sub-module in the wrong format, the sub-module may simply take the incorrectly formatted data as data in the expected format, again producing unexpected results. Given there and other sources of errors, the time required to test and debug software thus created is increased substantially, as such effects are difficult to track down. Collaboration of different groups creating various modules is also affected, as the time required to integrate the module with the library/DLL is also increased. In fact, not only is the creation of software using such techniques error prone, but the maintenance of such systems also becomes more difficult, with the potential for small changes to the module and/or sub-modules to have catastrophic unforeseen effects. Thus, a way for modules to communicate that avoids the aforementioned problems is desirable, as such a technique would provide the requisite functionality without the potential burdens of increased development time, integration time and maintenance efforts.

Extensible interface for inter-module communication


A dried pet food which is able to mechanically clean the teeth of pets when chewed. The pet food is based on a matrix of a protein source and a carbohydrate source. The density of the product is less than 20.5 lbs./ft3. The product also has a large size as compared to at least some other prior dried pet food.

The present invention relates generally to pet foods. More specifically, the present invention relates to pet foods that when chewed by pets, cause a mechanical, abrasive cleaning of the pets' teeth.
Many pets suffer from dental health problems. It is estimated that over 70% of dogs have some degree of gingival or periodontal disease. Plaque formation on the surface of the pets' teeth is a primary factor in the development of such problems. Dental plaque is a combination of bacteria, bacterial by-products which form a glycoprotein matrix, and salivary precipitates which bind to the tooth surface.
Contributing to the problem is the formation of tartar or dental calculus (mineralized plaque). Dental calculus forms on the tooth surface at or above the gum line and serves as a substrate for the additional accumulation of plaque. Apart from causing gum irritation and potentially, periodontal disease if left untreated, this calculus has an unsightly appearance.
Pets are more susceptible to the formation of plaque and calculus than animals in the wild. This is due to the nature of the foods that pets eat. In the wild, many animals eat foods that mechanically abrade plaque and calculus from the teeth. In contrast, pets are usually fed commercially available pet foods that although they may provide better nutritional value, do not in general subject the teeth to abrasive forces sufficient to clean the teeth. This is even true of dried kibbles that are able to abrade the teeth only to a very limited extent. In part, this is due to the fact that dried kibbles usually crumble when chewed by the pet.
Maintenance of optimal dental health depends on regular professional cleaning of all these accumulations both above and below the gum line, as well as adequate home care. Mechanical cleansing of the tooth surfaces with tooth brushing is an effective means of controlling the buildup of plaque and calculus in both humans and pets. However, most pet owners are reluctant or unable to provide the routine brushing necessary to maintain good oral health in their pets and would likely welcome an alternative provided by dietary means.
There have been various attempts to provide products for improving pet dental health. One such attempt centers around the use of chews made from rawhide or rawhide substitutes. By allowing the pet to gnaw or chew on such rawhide products, the pet abrades calculus and plaque from its teeth. It is also possible, as described in European patent application 0272968, to incorporate various oral care agents into such chews. These products, however, have the drawback that they are typically expensive. Moreover, they are usually only effective with dogs that are prone to chew and gnaw.
Another approach has been to incorporate oral care agents into certain pet foods. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,000,940 discloses baked dog biscuits which contain a tetrasodium pyrophosphate salt. The patent states that the salt causes a reduction in calculus accumulation. Another example of such an approach is, European patent application 0205354 which discloses baked dog biscuits which contain vegetable fibers to abrade the teeth of the dog when chewed. A drawback with both of these products, however, is that the biscuits crumble upon being bitten. Hence, the dog cannot chew the product and little abrasion occurs. This thereby reduces the efficacy of the product.
A further approach is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,431,927. That patent describes a dried product which contains aligned fibers which, when chewed, fracture in long striations rather than crumbling. The patent states that this allows the product to remain in contact with the animals' teeth for a longer period of time hence enhancing the abrasive effect. However, a disadvantage of this product is that it must be produced using a specially coated die that allows laminar flow conditions within the die. The laminar flow condition is reported to cause the alignment of the fibers within the product leading to the fracturing of the product when bitten by the animal. The use of such dies necessitates a complicated procedure for manufacturing the product.
There is therefore a need for an improved dental care pet food.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A semiconductor device includes: a first semiconductor layer which is formed over a substrate and is formed from a nitride semiconductor; a second semiconductor layer which is formed over the first semiconductor layer and is formed from a nitride semiconductor; a third semiconductor layer which is formed over the second semiconductor layer and is formed from a nitride semiconductor; a source electrode and a drain electrode which are formed over the third semiconductor layer; an opening which is formed in the second semiconductor layer and the third semiconductor layer between the source electrode and the drain electrode; an insulating layer which is formed on a side surface and a bottom surface of the opening; and a gate electrode which is formed in the opening through the insulating layer.

GaN, AlN, and InN which are nitride semiconductors, materials composed of a mixed crystal thereof, and the like have a wide band gap, and thus have been used as a high-output electronic device, a short-wavelength light-emitting device, and the like. For example, GaN, which is a nitride semiconductor, has a band gap of 3.4 eV. The band gap is larger than a Si band gap of 1.1 eV and a GaAs band gap of 1.4 eV.
Examples of the high-output electronic device include a high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) as a field effect transistor (FET). An HEMT using a nitride semiconductor may be used for a high-output and high-efficiency amplifier, a large-power switching device, and the like. For example, in an HEMT in which AlGaN is used in an electron supply layer and GaN is used in an electron travel layer, piezoelectric polarization and the like occur in AlGaN due to distortion caused by a difference in lattice constant between AlGaN and GaN, and thus a high-concentration two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) is generated. The HEMT having the above-described structure, that is, in the HEMT having a structure, in which the electron supply layer is formed from AlGaN and is formed on the GaN formed as the electron transit layer, is typically normally-on. However, in the above-described high-output electronic device, there is an application in which normally-off is demanded from the viewpoint of cost or fail-safe.
On the other hand, even in a semiconductor device having the structure other than the HEMT, a high-output electronic device may be manufactured by using a nitride semiconductor such as GaN. In the semiconductor device, a semiconductor device having a structure capable of realizing normally-off is also disclosed.
However, in the disclosed semiconductor device using GaN and the like, normally-off is possible, but a withstand voltage may not be sufficient, and thus the semiconductor device may not be suitable as a high-power switching device in some cases.
The following are reference documents:    [Document 1] Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2002-359256,    [Document 2] Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2008-205414 and    [Document 3] Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2013-55148.


Various embodiments of fabricated crystalline-based structures for the electronics, optoelectronics and optics industries are disclosed. Each of these structures is created in part by cleaving a donee layer from a crystalline donor, such as a micaceous/lamellar mass comprising a plurality of lamelliform sheets separable from each other along relatively weak cleavage planes. Once cleaved, one or more of these lamelliform sheets become the donee layer. The donee layer may be used for a variety of purposes, including a crystalline layer for supporting heteroepitaxial growth of one or more semiconductor layers thereon, an insulating layer, a barrier layer, a planarizing layer and a platform for creating useful structures, among others.

There is an ever-present need and desire to reduce the size, weight and cost of electronic devices we use without sacrificing performance. A wide range of devices from displays, electronics, sensors and optical components, to name just a few, would benefit from methodologies that would produce ruggedized, lightweight, portable, small form factor, less power hungry and lower cost devices. Furthermore, new and novel markets and opportunities could be addressed and opened up if these devices could be made physically flexible and/or conformal.
To address these needs, previous approaches attempted to realize these devices by developing new, novel and expensive technologies. They have attempted to tailor the manufacturing process parameters such that flexible substrates polymer/plastic foil and metal foils may be used. However, polymers/plastics severely limit the maximum temperature a substrate may be exposed to during manufacturing. Metal foils, albeit immune from this temperature limit, suffer from a multitude of other problems that diminish device performance. This tailoring of manufacturing process parameters to suit the choice of substrate selection rather than device performance has resulted in less than ideal devices.
In addition to the desire to satisfy the needs just discussed, silicon on insulator (SOI) and other types of semiconductor material on insulator (SMOI) wafers are the subject of intense research and interest for next-generation technologies in the electronics industry. SMOI technology offers a host of benefits that are key enablers for next-generation technologies. SMOI wafers are useful for a large number of applications, such as:                high-bandwidth electronics, e.g., memory, high-speed processors and servers, video conferencing systems, direct cinema distribution and display, etc.;        low voltage, low power CMOS, e.g., portable computers, portable communications, notebooks, watches, PDAs, etc.;        high voltage and high power devices, e.g., automotive controls, power switches, display and audio power supplies, etc.; and        other applications, e.g., smart sensors and controls, MEMS, optoelectronics, radiation-hardened devices, smart power circuits and intrinsic gettering layers, among others.Depending on the semiconductor layer thickness and insulator thickness SMOI technology may be further sectioned into categories, such as, thin-body CMOS, fully-depleted CMOS, partially-depleted CMOS, bipolar power, etc. Currently, the International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors (www.itrs.net) predicts the need to have thin-body CMOS (silicon layer thickness less than 10 nm) by about the year 2011.
Moreover, SMOI substrates presently come in many different flavors, including, SOI with opaque substrate, germanium on insulator with opaque substrate, silicon on sapphire with transparent substrate and silicon-germanium on insulator with opaque substrate. The variants may be opaque or transparent to visible radiation. Some applications, such as backlit displays, micro-displays, head-mounted displays, etc., require transparent substrates for backlight to pass through. On the other hand, mainstream electronics usually utilize opaque substrates.
SMOI wafers need to have low surface roughness, low defect densities, low densities of pinholes in the insulator layer, high insulator breakdown field, low interface bubble density, low metallic contamination and low oxygen content in the semiconductor film layer. Furthermore, for more widespread industry acceptance, SMOI wafers need to significantly lower in cost and command only a small premium over conventional bulk silicon wafers. Unfortunately, most in-production SMOI techniques are too exotic and therefore too expensive to service the overall market segments where SMOI technology would otherwise be embraced.

System and method for manufacturing thick and thin film devices using a donee layer cleaved from a crystalline donor


The present invention is directed to an electrochemical fuel cell. The configuration of the fuel cell stack provides a multiple-legged current flow path therethrough. Electrically isolated zones are formed in the cells and one coupled in a serial manner. This configuration provides incremental voltage summing such that additional power converting element are not needed to match the stack output to the load.

Fuel cell systems are increasingly being used as a power source in a wide variety of applications. Fuel cell propulsion systems have also been proposed for use in vehicles as a replacement for internal combustion engines. The fuel cells generate electricity that is used to charge batteries and/or to power an electric motor. A solid-polymer-electrolyte fuel cell includes a polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) that is sandwiched between an anode and a cathode. More specifically, an anode membrane and a cathode membrane form a membrane electrode assembly (MEA). To produce electricity through an electrochemical reaction, a fuel, commonly hydrogen (H2), but also either methane (CH4) or methanol (CH3OH), is supplied to the anode and an oxidant, such as oxygen (O2) is supplied to the cathode. The source of the oxygen is commonly air.
In a first half-cell reaction, dissociation of the hydrogen (H2) at the anode generates hydrogen protons (H+) and electrons (e−). The membrane is proton conductive and dielectric. As a result, the protons are transported through the membrane. The electrons flow through an electrical load (such as the batteries or the electric motor) that is connected across the membrane. In a second half-cell reaction, oxygen (O2) at the cathode reacts with protons (H+), and electrons (e−) are taken up to form water (H2O).
One characteristic of PEM fuel cells is that power is often provided at a higher current and a lower voltage than is required by the loads they are connected to. As a result, a power conversion device is incorporated between the load and the fuel cell stack to step up the voltage supplied to the load. Such power conversion devices increase cost, weight and volume of the fuel cell system.


A process for producing insulating foam, wherein certain especially small inorganic minerals such as silica fume are directly integrated into bubble fluid to better mechanically strengthen bubbles formed and thus allow the formation of smaller bubbles to be reformed. The manner of reforming the bubbles is progressive and actualized by a glass bead chamber, a second stage consisting of two screened discs, separated from each other and located at the end of the glass bead chamber, and a third stage chamber presenting itself with a considerably enlarged screen area and having considerably finer meshes than the second stage.

The present invention relates to cementitious foams, useful for insulating cavities and structures, exampled by the spaces between walls, floor and ceiling, loft and roof, foundation materials and wall, including insulating hollow core building blocks. This foam insulating product in its cured state is composed of inorganic materials in its majority and thus is rated fire proof. The flame spread is zero and the smoke density factor is zero as rated per ASTM E-84-81a and ASTM E814/UL1479. It does not give off harmful chemical fumes certified by ASTM D5116. Now these values are concurrent from the original cementitious foam of the 1980's as formulated by Air Krete Inc. What has necessarily been sought is the highest insulating value possible. This previous cementitious foam was able to register R-3.9 for its best tested results. Many organic based foams such as both open and closed cell polyurethane, phenolic, polyisocyanurate and icynene typically test higher or similarly to this compared R-value. Organic orchestration of the bubble formation may be mechanically induced, but effectively decided by the chemical responses in the foams. This has been a particular advantage over cementitious foams. A process was developed by trial and error of mechanical manipulation and in combination with inorganic materials having special mechanical attributes as to size and shape, whereby a unique bubble matrix was formed that when combined with introduced cement components, resulted in the invented foam having a substantially higher R-value.

Progressive bubble generating system used in making cementitious foam


A refrigerator temperature control system includes a passageway for delivering a supply of cooling air from a freezer compartment to a fresh food compartment. A diverter member is positioned about the passageway in the freezer compartment for channeling the air through the passageway. A freezer compartment temperature sensor is routed from a temperature control unit in the fresh food compartment, through a bore formed in an insert which defines the air passageway, into a specialized chamber formed as part of the diverter member. The chamber is in fluid communication with the flow of air to the fresh food compartment through a bleed hole. To increase its surface area, the sensor is preferably coiled within the chamber and an insulation jacket extends about the sensor from within the fresh food compartment, with the insulation jacket creating a seal within the bore. In addition, a supporting sleeve extends about the sensor between the temperature control unit and the coiled portion of the sensor.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to refrigerators having freezer and fresh food compartments which are separated by a partition and, particularly, to a temperature sensor for signaling freezer compartment temperatures to a temperature control unit. More specifically, the invention is directed to the positioning of the temperature sensor within a special compartment of an air flow control member used in directing cooling air to flow from the freezer compartment to the fresh food compartment.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
In typical household refrigerators having partitioned freezer and fresh food compartments, air is generally circulated over an evaporator and then delivered to both the freezer compartment and the fresh food compartment. One or more user operated temperature controllers are provided in order to manually adjust the desired temperature ranges for the two compartments. In certain know prior art arrangements, the fresh food control is operatively connected to a thermostat unit which receives fresh food compartment temperature signals by means of a capillary tube or other type of sensor mounted within the fresh food compartment. With such a system, the fresh food control thermostatically maintains the fresh food compartment temperature by periodically energizing and de-energizing a compressor of a refrigeration circuit.
In such a known arrangement, it is also common to connect the freezer control to an air flow damper positioned in a passageway through which air is delivered from the freezer compartment to the fresh food compartment. As the freezer control is set to a cold position, the damper is manually moved to allow less air into the fresh food compartment and the fresh food control responds by increasing the active time of the compressor to maintain the temperature of the fresh food compartment while further cooling the freezer compartment. Conversely, if the freezer control is set to a less cold position, the damper moves to allow more air to be sent from the freezer compartment to the fresh food compartment and, correspondingly, the fresh food compartment control compensates by running the compressor less often.
A major disadvantage of this type of known refrigerator temperature control system is that the temperature of the freezer compartment is only indirectly controlled based on the temperature in the fresh food compartment. One proposed solution to this problem is to incorporate separate temperature sensors for the fresh food and freezer compartments respectively. More specifically, a first sensor would be routed from either a thermostat or a damper in the temperature control unit to a desired location in the fresh food compartment, while a second sensor is routed from the other of the thermostat or the damper in the control unit to the freezer compartment. Temperature signals from the second sensor would then be used to regulate the refrigeration cycling directly or to automatically set the position of the air flow damper such that a direct control response can be obtained.
In these types of refrigerator temperature control systems, positioning of the sensor can be crucial to the operation of the overall system. The known prior art has had limited success in maintaining a consistent positioning of the sensor and has generally placed the sensor directly in the air flow stream to the fresh food compartment. The positioning of the sensor in this manner can result in rather large temperature fluctuations depending upon the rate of flow of cooling air across the sensor. In addition, condensation and conduction to the portion of the sensor in the freezer compartment can also have an adverse impact on the accuracy of the temperature readings.
Based on the above, there exists a need in the art of refrigerators for an improved temperature control system which can accurately and directly respond to temperature variations in a refrigerator freezer compartment. More specifically, there exists the need for an improved freezer temperature sensing arrangement for use in a temperature control unit of a refrigerator.

Refrigerator temperature control system incorporating freezer compartment temperature sensor


By providing two separate and independent locking systems formed in a single padlock, with both locking systems independently enabling the single shackle to be released and/or lockingly engaged, an effective, easily produced, multi-purpose padlock is achieved. In the preferred embodiment, a single housing and shackle assembly are employed and constructed for enabling the shackle to be released from locked engagement with the housing using either a rotatable dial combination construction or a key activating tumbler construction. In this way, a dual locking and releasing padlock is achieved which virtually eliminates the difficulties typically encountered with known, prior art lock configurations.

Numerous padlock constructions have been developed and are widely employed by individuals to prevent unauthorized persons from gaining access to any particular item or area which has been closed and locked. Although many locks are constructed to be opened by a key, numerous combination lock constructions have been developed which are opened by knowledge of a particular combination.
One particular type of combination lock that has become very popular due to its ease and convenience of use is a combination lock which employs a plurality of rotatable independent dials, each of which forms one of the indicia, usually numerals or letters, which comprise the combination for releasing the lock. Typically, the combination lock has one mode or position in which the user is able to set or reset the desired combination sequence. Although locks of this general nature have been available for several decades, these prior art combination lock constructions suffer from common deficiencies which have not been successfully overcome.
Although many manufacturers have attempted to solve the problems associated with rotatable dial or combination locks, one principal difficulty and drawback these prior art constructions have been unable to overcome is a construction which assures the user that a preset combination will not be accidentally or inadvertently altered or changed, without the user's knowledge. In such instances when the known combination is unknowingly changed or altered without the user's knowledge, the entire combination lock is incapable of future use, since the user is typically unable to release the shackle from locked engagement with the housing.
In addition, although key operated locks do not suffer from the difficulty of having the combination changed or altered without the user's knowledge, users are frequently incapable of using key operated locks, due to the key being lost or misplaced. As a result, prior art key operated locks are also frequently discarded due to the user's inability to find a particular key for operating the lock.
Another common problem which has consistently plagued prior art constructions is the cost of construction for producing and assembling prior art padlocks, whether the padlock is key operated or combination operated. In order to attain a padlock which provides all of the features desired by consumers, prior art constructions typically incorporate numerous small components, each of which require expensive assembly procedures to produce the final product. As a result, these prior art lock constructions are expensive to produce, thereby reducing the ability of these locks to reach a broad base of consumers.
Another problem commonly found with prior art padlocks is the inability of these prior art constructions to prevent contaminants from reaching the rotatable, internal component of the lock, thereby causing damage to these components or interfering with the ease of operating the lock by an individual who either knows the actual combination or has the activating key. Although numerous attempts have been made to reduce the adverse effects caused by contaminants reaching these components, such attempts have been incapable of completely eliminating in this problem.
A final, still further difficulty, which has recently arisen and affects both combination locks and key operated locks, is a requirement that all secured locks must be broken by Customs officers, and/or inspection or security personnel in order to gain access to luggage which is deemed suspicious. Under new security regulations that is being implemented, all luggage must be scanned or inspected to prevent the transportation of potentially dangerous items or products which are deemed to be undesirable. In those instances when luggage is scanned and further visual inspection is required, the inspectors have the authority to open the luggage for visual inspection, including physically breaking any lock which may be on the luggage.
Consequently, with these new regulations presently implemented, all prior art lock systems which are incapable of being opened by inspectors and/or security personnel are subject to be physically broken, in order to gain access to any luggage which needs to be visually inspected. As a result, consumers will now be faced with the possibility that any lock system employed to protect the contents of a suitcase can be physically removed by security personnel, leaving the luggage completely unprotected during the remainder of the trip.

Padlock with fully integrated dual locking systems


The present invention is intended to generate data optimal for both display and reuse from an image. From an input image, vector data of a display foreground layer, vector data of a non-display foreground layer, and a display background layer in which a portion of the input image is filled are generated. Next, electronic data including the display foreground layer, display background layer, and the non-display foreground layer is generated. By using the multi-layered electronic data, a composite image of the display foreground layer and the display background layer is provided for display, and the layers for display are switched for reuse. This makes it possible to provide data optimal for both display and reuse.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technology for converting a document image into electronically reusable data.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, in document creation, not only simply entering characters, but also advanced functions, such as decorating a font, freely drawing pictures, and capturing photographs, have become used.
However, the higher the content of a document is, the larger the required effort is in order to create the document from the beginning. Accordingly, it is preferable to directly reuse a part of a previously created document or an altered and edited document as much as possible.
In addition, with widespread use of networks typified by the Internet, opportunities in which documents are electronically distributed have increased. However, electronic documents are often distributed in a form printed on paper.
Accordingly, even if there is only a paper document at hand as described above, a technology for obtaining content as reusable data from a paper document has been proposed. For example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-265384 discloses that, when an apparatus electronically reads a paper document, a document that matches the content of the read document is acquired by searching a database, and the acquired document can be used instead of read document data. In addition, if an identical document cannot be specified in the database, an image of the read document is converted into easily reusable electronic data. Thus, also in this case, the document content can be reused.
There have been vectorization technologies (technologies for conversion into vector data) as technologies for converting document images into easily reusable data. For example, Japanese Patent No. 3026592 and Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-346137 disclose technologies for obtaining outlines of connected pixels in binary images as function descriptions. By using these technologies, character and figure outlines in document images can be converted into vector data. By using the vector data in software such as a document creating application, character positions and sizes can easily be changed in units of characters, and, in addition, geometric shape changing, coloring, etc., can easily be performed.
In addition, a region-recognition technique for recognizing regions such as character regions, line-drawing regions, and natural images and tables in a document image is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 06-068301, etc.
By using the vectorization technology to convert a paper document into easily reusable vector-description electronic data, the electronic data can be stored and used more efficiently compared with the case of storing the paper document.
However, when a document image is converted into data suitable for reuse, appearance of the data in display may differ from appearance of the original data. Accordingly, when the data is displayed on a screen or is printed, there is a possibility that information equivalent to that of the original image may not be obtained.
For example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-265384 describes that, when an inner outline and outer line of a line drawing portion are close to each other, an average distance is found and the line drawing is represented as a vector by a line having the average distance as a line width. However, the use of the average distance as the line width may cause an outstanding difference from an original image.
When an image is vectorized by the vectorization technique disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 3026592 or Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-346137, if connected pixels have a single color, the pixels can be reproduced by representing one color in the vector description. However, when the periphery and interior of the connected pixels have different colors, gradation, or random colors, it may be difficult to extract the colors and it may be difficult to describe the vector.
As described above, limitation in information extraction and limitation in vector description exist. Thus, when an original image is converted into vector descriptions focusing on reusability, there is a possibility that appearance equality important to display and printing may not be obtained.
In addition, when a character image is converted into character codes by using a character-recognition technology, appearance equality cannot be obtained unless converted data includes font information identical to that in an input image. Specifically, when the character image is reproduced by using the character codes and the font, there is a possibility that a reproduction apparatus has no font information identical to that in the input character image. Thus, there is a possibility that appearance equality may not be obtained. In addition, in the character-recognition technology, recognition errors occur due to an effect of noise at a scanning time and an effect of an unknown font that has not been learned in a recognition dictionary.

Image-processing apparatus, image-processing method, and computer program used therewith


Disclosed are processes for the preparation of glycolaldehyde in which formaldehyde is contacted with carbon monoxide and hydrogen in the presence of a rhodium catalyst and a solvent containing at least one N,N-dihexylbutyramide. The glycolaldehyde product is recovered by extraction with water. The process provides high selectivity to glycolaldehyde and efficient separation of hydroformylation products from the solvent and rhodium catalyst.

Glycolaldehyde is an intermediate in many organic reactions and is particularly useful as an intermediate in the production of ethylene glycol through a catalytic hydrogenation process. Ethylene glycol is a valuable commercial chemical with a wide variety of uses, e.g., as a coolant and antifreeze, monomer for polyester production, solvent, and an intermediate for production of commercial chemicals.
Glycolaldehyde can be prepared by the rhodium catalyzed hydroformylation of formaldehyde under elevated temperatures and pressures. The hydroformylation reaction is typically carried out in an aprotic solvent which will dissolve polar materials. Suitable solvents include a wide variety and are exemplified by N,N-disubstituted amides, in which each hydrogen of the amido nitrogen is substituted by a hydrocarbon group, e.g., 1-methylpyrrolidin-2-one, N,N-dimethylacetamide, N,N-diethylacetamide, and N,N-dimethylformamide; nitriles, such as acetonitrile, benzonitrile, propionitrile and the like; cyclic ethers such as tetrahydrofuran, dioxane and tetrahydropyran; ethers such as diethyl ether, 1,2-dimethoxybenzene, alkyl ethers of alkylene glycols and polyalkylene glycols, e.g., methyl ethers of ethylene glycol, propylene glycol and di-, tri- and tetraethylene glycols; ketones such as acetone, methyl isobutyl ketone, and cyclohexanone; and esters, such as ethyl acetate, ethyl propionate and methyl laurate.
The separation of the glycolaldehyde product from the hydro-formylation reaction mixture in these processes, however, is often difficult and expensive because of the thermal sensitivity of the catalyst and reactivity of the the glycolaldehyde product. For example, the separation of glycolaldehyde from the hydroformylation catalyst solution by traditional distillation methods can be difficult because of the decomposition hydroformylation catalyst and the formation of glycolaldehyde byproducts. Various techniques for accomplishing this separation have been disclosed and include, for example, distillation (British Patent No.1,585,6004 and U.S. Pat. No.'s Re. 32,084 and 4,405,851), separation of glycolaldehyde as a distinct polar phase from the non-polar catalyst components (U.S. Pat. No.'s 4,496,781, 4,560,806, and 4,608,444), and extraction (U.S. Pat. No.'s 4,503,260; 4,405,814; 4,740,525; 4,477,685 and 4,382,148). These methods, however, are subject to various shortcomings. For example, distillation of the reaction mixture subjects the catalyst to conditions which can result in the decomposition of ligands and/or the irreversible precipitation of rhodium metal. Distillation, in some instances, can result in the formation of metallic mirrors on the surface of process equipment. In addition, distillation can greatly reduce the activity of the catalyst. The conversion of the glycolaldehyde product to an acetal or hemiacetal may improve its thermal sensitivity, but does not solve the problem of catalyst decomposition. This approach also suffers from the disadvantage that an additional hydrolysis step is required to obtain the glycolaldehyde product.
Glycolaldehyde may also be separated using extraction techniques. It can be difficult, however, to separate the glycolaldehyde into an easily isolated form without the simultaneous extraction of significant amounts of expensive rhodium catalyst or reaction solvent. Residual catalyst and solvent can interfere with the conversion of glycolaldehyde into further products such as ethylene glycol. In addition, it is sometimes necessary to recycle the organic phase from the extraction to reuse the solvent and catalyst in subsequent reactions. With extraction, it is also difficult to balance catalyst activity, glycolaldehyde extractability, and rhodium retention in the organic phase.
For example, lower molecular weight amide solvents such as, for example, dimethylformamide, dimethylacetamide, N,N-dimethylbutyramide, and N-methylpyrollidinone (NMP), give good catalyst activity, but are readily extracted into the aqueous phase along with some of the rhodium catalyst. Higher molecular weight amides, by contrast, can give better extraction performance but typically exhibit poor reaction rates. In view of the problems that remain in the art, there is a need for a process for the hydroformylation of formaldehyde to glycolaldehyde that can provide good reaction rates and selectivity to glycolaldehyde, allows for clean separation of the product and catalyst, and enables efficient recovery and recycle of the catalyst and solvent.

Process for the preparation of glycolaldehyde


A manufacturing method of ladder-like phosphorus-containing polysilsesquioxanes nanocomposite material is disclosed. The method uses a reaction between ladder-like phosphorus-containing polysilsesquioxanes and modified epoxy. Besides improved char yield and limiting oxygen index, thermal degradation rate of the nanocomposite material is lowered dramatically so that the nanocomposite material possesses excellent flame retardance and thermal stability. Moreover, optical transparency of the nanocomposite material according to the present invention is still good, not being reduced by increased amount of polysilsesquioxanes. Thus the nanocomposite material is applied to decorative paints or protective paints.

The present invention relates to a manufacturing method of composite material, especially to a manufacturing method of a ladder-like phosphorus-containing polysilsesquioxanes organic/inorganic nanocomposite material.
Due to requirements for higher performance, improvement of various properties of the polymer materials such as thermal resistance, flame retardance, and mechanical feature is getting more important. A lot of research for improving polymer properties has been done continuingly. During theses characters, the most important is flame retardance because that the disadvantage of polymer is inflammable. When there is a fire, the polymer is easy to burn and generate toxic haze as well as char that lead to serious damage and properties loss.
Thus it is an important issue to develop flame retardant and related technology for polymers. Flame retardant is divided into two groups: organic and inorganic. The organic flame retardant mainly consists of halogen and phosphide. However, virulent toxin and corrosive gas such as hydrochloric acid, HBr, HCN and dioxin are released while burning halogen. This not only damage our health but also cause degradation of ozone layer on the earth so as to generate an enormous hole and cause damages to ecology of the earth. Due to more strict regulations and environmental protection consciousness, it is prohibited to use halogens. Thus there is a trend to develop new generation of new flame retardant.
Organic/inorganic hybrid material not only combines advantages of organic/inorganic fields but also possesses it's unique feature. In the related researches, organic polyorganosiloxanes is one of the important points. The basic structure of organic polyorganosiloxanes includes silicon, oxygen and siloxanes with organic group attached on the silicon. In 1863, Friedel and Crafts prepared the first compounds, in which carbon and silicon atoms were directly united. The first practical synthesis of organosilanes was accomplished by F. Stanley Kipping in 1904 by Grignard reagent reacting with silicon tetrachloride for the formation of the Si—C bond. Then by hydrolysis reaction and condensation reaction of siloxanes, silsesquioxanes are obtained. Until 1960, J. F. Brown, L. H. Vogt have established a synthesis method of silsesquioxanes.
As to the present invention, the sol-gel technology is used to prepare organic/inorganic hybrid material containing phosphorus and silicon so as to increase flame retardance of the material. Due to special features of sol-gel reaction, organic/inorganic materials are compatible, without phase separation. Inorganic materials are distributed inside organic materials in nano-scale so as to form nanocomposites materials with different properties of two materials.

Manufacturing method of ladder-like phosphorous-containing polysilsesquioxanes nanocomposite material

Chung Shan Institute of Science and Technology, Armaments Bureau, M.N.D.


A system and method for CT projection extrapolation are provided. The method comprises receiving a CT projection for extrapolation. The method also comprises selecting a target patch comprising at least one pixel of a row to be extrapolated. The method further comprises generating a correlation profile between the target patch and one or more source patches, wherein the source patches comprise measured pixels in the CT projection in one or more rows adjacent to the target patch. The projection data is generated for at least one pixel of the target patch based on the correlation profile and the measured pixels of at least one of the source patches.

Embodiments presented herein relate generally to computerized tomography (CT) systems, and more particularly to systems and methods for processing sinograms obtained in CT systems.
CT or computerized axial tomography (CAT) is a medical imaging technique employing tomography generated by computer processing. CT imaging provides cross-sectional images or "slices" of anatomy. CT systems produce images using X-rays, based on the ability of various anatomical structures to block or absorb X-rays.
Conventional CT imaging systems comprise a motorized patient bed to advance the patient into a circular patient bore in the CT imaging system. As the patient passes through the CT imaging system, an X-ray emitter rotates around the inside of the patient bore. The X-ray emitter emits a narrow, cone-shaped beam of X-rays to irradiate a section of the patient's body. X-ray detectors on the opposite side of the X-ray emitter record the X-rays exiting the patient's body, thus forming an X-ray view at one angle of the X-ray emitter. Multiple such views are collected to produce a complete CT sinogram.
Once the sinogram data has been acquired, an image processor reconstructs the individual views into a cross-sectional slice of internal organs and tissues within the anatomical structure. Typically, the sinogram data of the individual slices is integrated to generate a three dimensional volumetric information (3D-CT scan). Such a 3D-CT scan is viewable from multiple different perspectives.
Accurate CT reconstruction is difficult due to a number of reasons. For example, in cone beam CT some sections of the patient's body are sometimes inside and sometimes outside the emitted X-ray beam, resulting in truncation of the projection at the edges. Such truncation is known as z-truncation. Z-truncation results in deterioration in image quality at the edges of reconstructed volume, and generates undesired artifacts. To mitigate artifacts generated due to z-truncation, data extrapolation techniques are required. One known technique of extrapolation estimates the truncated data by simple duplication extrapolation. In other words, the duplication extrapolation technique copies the first or last row of the available scan data to synthesize extra projection rows. However, such a technique may introduce inconsistencies between different views of the scan data and may result in false anatomic structures or streaks in the reconstructed images.
Therefore, there is a need for a system and a method that overcomes these and other disadvantages associated with known CT reconstruction techniques.

Methods and systems for CT projection domain extrapolation


A golf club counterweight structure is arranged to include a golf club shank having a handle and a golf club head, with the head projecting at a second end from a club first end, with a support rod mounted to the handle at a free end of the handle extending in a spaced relationship relative to the handle, including a counterweight member joined to the handle at a junction oriented substantially aligned relative to the free end, with the counterweight positioned over the club second end for enhanced guidance and swing control for use of the club structure as a golf putter.

1. Field of the Invention
The field of invention relates to golf club apparatus, and more particularly pertains to a new and improved golf club counterweight apparatus arranged for enhancing use of a golf club putter.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Putting in a golfing environment requires steady alignment of the putter structure relative to a target ball. Prior art patents are available for this purpose and indicated in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,844,468; 4,872,684; 4,895,371; 4,898,387; and 4,962,932.
The instant invention attempts to overcome deficiencies of the prior art by providing for a counterweight structure projecting beyond the golf club handle and mounted to the handle providing for proper alignment and positioning of the hands relative to the handle and orientation of the golf club relative to an individual's body and in this respect, the present invention substantially fulfills this need.