A method for non-destructive testing of a drive shaft that is accessible by only one of its ends in longitudinal waves, using a multi-element annular ultrasonic transducer. Such a transducer consists of independent elements that can be excited by electrical pulses of the same frequency, but for which different electronic phase shifts will be applied, in the invention, to the pulses transmitted to the elements. Such an electronic phase shift allows the focussing or deflection of a final beam synthesized by all the elements constituting the transducer, the said final beam being concentrated to adopt a generally cylindrical shape with a cross-section that is far smaller than the cross-section of the shaft to be tested and is highly energetic over a long distance due to the waveguide effect created by the cylindrical geometry of the shaft.

The field in which the use of the method according to the invention will be described in great detail is that of primary pumps of a nuclear reactor cooled by water under pressure. An example of such a pump currently in use is described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2.
FIG. 1 shows a pump 100—called a primary pump—normally used in nuclear reactors cooled by water under pressure; primary pump 100 serves to put into circulation, in the cooling circuit of the nuclear reactor, referred to as the primary circuit, the cooling water of the nuclear reactor under pressure. Pump 100 comprises, in particular:
a pump body 101, connected by means of a first tube 102 to a first pipe of the primary circuit, and by a second tube 103 to a second pipe of the nuclear reactor; pump 100 puts the water into circulation between these two tubes, establishing a certain pressure;
a wheel 104, driven by an electric motor 105;
a drive shaft 106, having a lower section 110, called a pup shaft, this lower section being itself capable of being considered as a drive shaft, secured to wheel 104, and an upper section, called the motor shaft, connected by means of a coupling 107, called the intermediate shaft, to the rotor of electric motor 105; drive shaft 106, more particularly pump shaft 110, is generally cylindrical, although it includes, in an axial direction 109, of a succession of sections slightly different in diameter, thereby allowing the installation and housing of different elements, in particular pump wheel 104 or a protective thermal ring; the differences in the existing diameter, however, are sufficiently low to qualify the drive shaft as a generally cylindrical shaft;
an assembly of means of cooling, rotary guidance of shaft 106 and sealing arranged on the periphery of drive shaft 106; these means include, in particular, a thermal barrier 108, including a network of tubes through which a cooling fluid passes, and arranged around a lower section of the lower end of pump shaft 110;
a plurality of assembly means, in particular positively connected keys 112 driven into a recess arranged in the lower section of pump shaft 110, or rotary fixing 113 or stop pins inserted in recesses arranged in the drive shaft at the point where thermal barrier 108 is located.
The lower end of pump shaft 110 is caused to be immersed in water under pressure at a temperature of the order of 280° C. (degrees Celsius). Moreover, in normal operation, cold water, at a temperature lower than 55° C., is injected at thermal barrier 108 to form a barrage between the primary circuit and means of sealing the shaft. Under these conditions there is a transition zone 114 between the drive shaft and thermal barrier subject to major variations in temperature due to the mixture of water from the primary circuit at 280° C. and the injection water at 55° C.; the corresponding section of the shaft is therefore subject to major thermal stresses that are likely to result in the occurrence of cracks or a crazing phenomena in this section of the shaft, in if thermal rings are added. Cracks of thermal origin are multiple and form a network. The deepest cracks have a preferably axial orientation.
In addition to the cracks of thermal origin cracks of a mechanical origin are also observed: the latter appear either in the changes of cross-section or in the holes of stop pin 113 blocking the rotation of parts secured to drive shaft 106, or in the keyways, for example those of keys 112. They have a preferably transversal orientation. There are generally no multiple cracks, except where multiple pin holes are drilled. Moreover, drive shaft 106 is subject to risks of torsional fracture at the changes of cross-section found along the shaft.
Therefore the defects sought, whether they result from fatigue of mechanical or thermal origin, or even both, commence on the surface and spread progressively toward the inside of the part. They are mainly located in the lower section of the primary pump, a section subject to substantial temperature gradients.
In the state of the art different solutions have been proposed for detecting the occurrence of such defects in the lower section of pump shaft 110. In particular, several test methods have been proposed involving the use of ultrasonic transducers. Such transducers transmit ultrasonic beams in the shaft; these beams are reflected mainly at the location of the above-mentioned defects of the shaft; they are then received by the ultrasonic transducers that are coupled to an assembly of signal processing means for their interpretation and hence clearest possible detection of the existence and positioning of the said defects. In all the test methods there is an intermediate shaft that connects the pump shaft to the motor shaft, thereby providing access to an upper end of the pump shaft.
A first family of solutions resides in the use of transversal ultrasonic waves. Such an example of a solution is shown in FIG. 3, in which a drive shaft comparable to pump shaft 110 is tested. In this method an ultrasonic transducer—or sensor—is positioned at a gearing point 300, in contact with pump shaft 110; depending on the position of the sensor, different points to be tested may be reached, possibly after one or more reflections on the surface of the drive shaft, the beam being capable of taking different trajectories, different examples of which are denoted by references 301, 302, 303 and 304 respectively, so that each is able to reach a point to be tested. The sensors used are in most cases parallelepipedic mono-element transducers provided with a ferrule that enables the beam to deflect by an angle of up to approx. 75° to the axis of the shaft.
The advantage of this method is that it enables the defects to be located vertically and angularly: a rotary movement of the transducer about the drive shaft enables a circumference of the shaft, determined vertically by suitable axial positioning of the transducer, to be scanned. However, the transversal transducers must be used as close as possible to the zone to be tested; they must be arranged in positions that are lower than the directly accessible positions of the pump shaft; it is then necessary to dismantle the pump shaft, which complicates the test operation, particularly in the case of nuclear primary pumps. Such transducers also suffer from the disadvantaging of having a large beam opening, i.e. a low resolution, revealing only relatively major transversal defects. The axial defects arising from thermal fatigue are not detectable.
Moreover, it is necessary to use a ferrule for positioning the transducer in a given orientation, and hence obtain a desired angle of incidence, which complicates the test operation even more. Furthermore, the presence of thermal rings prevents the transducer from being positioned at the corresponding level of the shaft. Finally, it may be necessary, for testing the lowest points, to use several reflections of the ultrasonic beam, which involves a major loss of energy and thereby limiting the resolution of the return information. Therefore the longer the shaft the more difficult it is to apply the method.
A second family of solutions resides in the use of longitudinal waves. These test methods make use of transducers which transmit a divergent ultrasonic beam 400, shown in FIG. 4, whose width, at a great distance, i.e. at approximately three metres, is contained within the diameter of pump shaft 110. These solutions make use of transducers of the type with cylindrical mono-elements, annular mono-elements, or even annular transducers with two elements or with two groups of separate elements, with one element or a group of elements used for transmission, and one element or a group of elements used for reception.
These tests allow the detection of large transversal defects and their location vertically in the shaft. However, it is not possible to position them precisely and angularly on the periphery of the shaft. Transversal cracks of a mechanical origin, with a small reflecting surface, are difficult to detect since the resolution is dependent on the ratio of the area of the defect to the area of the beam in the same plane.
Moreover, axial defects are not detectable since the energy transmitted is never sufficient to be diffracted in sufficient quantity to the transducers through the upper end of axial defects.
Testing with this type of transducer may be improved by adding acoustic lenses, which improve the resolution and location of defects on the periphery but which suffer from the disadvantage of having a given focus, corresponding to a single distance, which involves having as many sensors as different heights to be examined. Moreover, axial defects remain non-detectable by these improved transducers.
Finally it should be noted that the operation which has just been described corresponds to a theoretical principle of use inherent in the technology of ultrasonic transducers in homogeneous and isotropic environments. Now forged shafts, and in particular shafts in austenitic or austenoferritic stainless steel, which are present mainly in the primary pumps of nuclear reactors, have a heterogeneity zone 500, shown in FIG. 5, with a metallurgical structure; these heterogeneities are found mainly in the thickest sections, and they vary from one shaft to another according to chemical composition, the forging range and the range of heat treatments applied.
N the thick sections of these shafts the metallurgical structure is therefore disturbed and remains course, which results in considerable retrodiffusion of the ultrasonic waves. This peculiarity results in the disturbance and attenuation of the transmitting and receiving power of the traditional transducers described above. However, the metallurgical structure is fine on the periphery, where the ultrasonic transmission is satisfactory.
This situation is aggravated when use is made of transducers with transversal waves whose beam necessarily crosses this heterogeneity zone twice for short shafts, i.e. shafts shorter than 2 metres, and even more for long shafts, i.e. shafts up to 3.5 metres long, considering the outward and return trajectories of the ultrasonic beams.

Method for testing the condition of a drive shaft of a rotary machine


A sensor arrangement for detecting fogging on a glass pane, the arrangement including a support plate, a sensor element in thermal communication with the glass pane, wherein the sensor element is arranged on the support plate and is sensitive to moisture and a contact element that thermally couples the sensor element with the glass pane. The contact element is fastened on the support plate so as to enclose the support plate to a large extent in a contact area where the contact element contacts the glass pane.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a sensor arrangement for detecting fogging on a glass pane, having a support plate on which at least one sensor element sensitive to moisture is arranged, wherein the sensor element is thermally connected with the glass pane. The sensor arrangement in accordance with the present invention is particularly suited for detecting fogging on a windshield of a motor vehicle.
2. Discussion of Related Art
Suitable sensor arrangements for detecting fogging on windshields of motor vehicles are known, for example, from WO 01/58731 or EP 1 306 242 A1. Arrangements are proposed in each one, which include a moisture-sensitive sensor element arranged on a support plate. A capacitive thin-film sensor is preferably provided as a suitable sensor element. The sensor element is thermally connected to the glass pane, and therefore to the temperature of the glass pane. Thermal coupling takes place by a thin adhesive foil. The sensor arrangement is furthermore fastened on the glass pane by the adhesive foil.
The thermal coupling of the sensor arrangement to the glass pane is important for the functioning of the arrangement. A contact area as large as possible between the sensor arrangement and the glass pane would be ideal for a good thermal coupling. However, this cannot be realized in many cases because of the amount of available structural space. Often only a small contact surface is available between the sensor arrangement and the glass pane, which is problematical with respect to good thermal coupling.


An amplifier, comprising: an input node; an output node; a gain stage having a gain stage inverting input, a gain stage non-inverting input and a gain stage output; a feedback capacitor connected in a signal path between the gain stage output and the gain stage inverting input; a sampling capacitor connected between the input node and the gain stage inverting input, and a controllable impedance in parallel with the feedback capacitor, wherein the controllable impedance is operable to switch between a first impedance state in which it does not affect current flow through the feedback capacitor, and a second impedance state in which it cooperates with the feedback capacitor form a bandwidth limiting circuit.

It is known that amplifier circuits can be used in conjunction with sampling circuits to acquire and hold a signal, and to apply gain to it. Such circuits are subject to noise, and it is desirable to reduce the noise power that is sampled. Such amplifier and sampling circuit combinations may also be used to form a difference between two signals. Such amplifiers may be provided in analog to digital converters (ADC) to amplify a residue that is passed from one stage of a pipelined ADC to a subsequent stage.

Amplifier, a residue amplifier, and an ADC including a residue amplifier


A method for use in a computing system, comprising: storing, in a random-access memory, a working copy of a data item, the working copy of the data item being stored in the random-access memory by a first processor; registering, with a second processor, a respective address in the random-access memory where the working copy of the data item is stored; and correcting, by the second processor, any modifications to the working copy of the data item that are made after the working copy of the data item is stored in the random-access memory, the modifications being corrected in parallel with the first processor executing software based on the working copy of the data item.

In a computing system, system memory can be corrupted inadvertently or maliciously. An attacker, for example, can gain access to a computing system by replacing critical firewall settings that are stored in the random-access memory of the system. As another example, an attacker can render an autonomous vehicle inoperable by replacing critical mission settings that are stored in the random-access memory of a computing system that controls the vehicle. Accordingly, preventing the replacement of critical data that is stored in a computing system's memory can help ensure the safe and reliable operation of the computing system.

Replacing compromised data in a self-healing system


A magnetic head includes a coil, a main pole, a trailing shield, a gap section, a return path section, and a coil underlayer. The main pole has a top surface including a first inclined portion and a flat portion. The coil includes a specific coil element. The specific coil element has a bottom surface facing toward the top surface of the main pole, and a front end face inclined with respect to a medium facing surface. The coil underlayer lies under the specific coil element, and has a front end face. The trailing shield includes a portion interposed between the front end face of the coil underlayer and the medium facing surface. The bottom surface of the specific coil element includes a second inclined portion.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a magnetic head for perpendicular magnetic recording for use to write data on a recording medium by means of a perpendicular magnetic recording system, and to a method of manufacturing the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
The recording systems of magnetic read/write apparatuses include a longitudinal magnetic recording system in which the magnetization of signals is directed along the plane of a recording medium (the longitudinal direction), and a perpendicular magnetic recording system in which the magnetization of signals is directed perpendicular to the plane of a recording medium. It is known that the perpendicular magnetic recording system is harder to be affected by thermal fluctuation of the recording medium and capable of providing higher linear recording density, compared with the longitudinal magnetic recording system.
Magnetic heads for perpendicular magnetic recording typically have, like those for longitudinal magnetic recording, a structure in which a read head unit having a magnetoresistive element (hereinafter, also referred to as MR element) for reading and a write head unit having an induction-type electromagnetic transducer for writing are stacked on a substrate. The write head unit includes a coil and a main pole. The main pole has an end face located in a medium facing surface facing a recording medium. The coil produces a magnetic field corresponding to data to be written on the recording medium. The main pole passes a magnetic flux corresponding to the magnetic field produced by the coil, and produces a write magnetic field from its end face.
A magnetic head for use in a magnetic disk drive such as a hard disk drive is typically provided in a slider. The slider has the medium facing surface. The medium facing surface has an air inflow end (a leading end) and an air outflow end (a trailing end). An airflow that comes from the air inflow end into the space between the medium facing surface and the recording medium causes the slider to slightly fly over the surface of the recording medium.
Here, the side of the positions closer to the leading end relative to a reference position will be referred to as the leading side, and the side of the positions closer to the trailing end relative to the reference position will be referred to as the trailing side. The leading side is the rear side in the direction of travel of the recording medium relative to the slider. The trailing side is the front side in the direction of travel of the recording medium relative to the slider.
The magnetic head is typically disposed near the trailing end of the medium facing surface of the slider. In a magnetic disk drive, positioning of the magnetic head is performed by a rotary actuator, for example. In this case, the magnetic head moves over the recording medium along a circular orbit about the center of rotation of the rotary actuator. In such a magnetic disk drive, a tilt of the magnetic head with respect to the tangent of the circular track, which is called a skew, occurs depending on the position of the magnetic head across the tracks.
Particularly, in a magnetic disk drive of the perpendicular magnetic recording system which is higher in capability of writing on a recording medium than the longitudinal magnetic recording system, the skew mentioned above can cause the phenomenon that signals already written on one or more tracks that are adjacent to a track targeted for writing are erased or attenuated during writing of a signal on the track targeted for writing. In the present application, this phenomenon will be called unwanted erasure. The unwanted erasure includes adjacent track erasure (ATE) and wide-area track erasure (WATE). To achieve higher recording densities, it is necessary to prevent the occurrence of unwanted erasure.
In order to prevent the occurrence of unwanted erasure induced by a skew and achieve higher recording densities, it is effective to configure the main pole so that the thickness of its portion near the medium facing surface decreases with increasing proximity to the medium facing surface, and also provide a write shield that has an end face located in the medium facing surface and surrounding the end face of the main pole.
In a magnetic head including the write shield, there is typically provided a return path section for connecting the write shield to a portion of the main pole located away from the medium facing surface. The write shield, the return path section and the main pole define a space for a portion of the coil to pass therethrough. The write shield and the return path section have the function of capturing a magnetic flux that is produced from the end face of the main pole and spreads in directions other than a direction perpendicular to the plane of the recording medium, thereby preventing the magnetic flux from reaching the recording medium. The write shield and the return path section also have the function of allowing a magnetic flux that has been produced from the end face of the main pole and has magnetized a portion of the recording medium to flow back to the main pole.
The position of an end of a record bit to be recorded on the recording medium is determined by the trailing-side edge of the end face of the main pole located in the medium facing surface. In order to define the position of the end of the record bit accurately, it is therefore important that the write shield include a trailing shield which is located on the trailing side relative to the main pole.
With increases in frequency of write signals to achieve higher recording densities, it is required of the magnetic head that the write current flowing through the coil should exhibit a rapid rise. To meet such a requirement, it is effective to reduce the length of the magnetic path passing through the write shield, the return path section and the main pole. To achieve this, it is effective to reduce the distance between the medium facing surface and an end of the coil that is closest to the medium facing surface. Further, if the coil is a helical coil wound around the main pole, it is possible to enhance the write magnetic field by reducing the distance from end of the coil closest to the medium facing surface to each of the medium facing surface and the main pole.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,385,019 B1 discloses a magnetic head having the following features. The magnetic head includes a main pole, a coil, a write shield and a return path section. The main pole has a top surface including an inclined portion and a flat portion, the inclined portion being located closer to the medium facing surface than the flat portion. The inclined portion is inclined with respect to a direction perpendicular to the medium facing surface. The flat portion extends in a direction substantially perpendicular to the medium facing surface. The write shield includes a trailing shield. The coil includes a coil element located on the trailing side relative to the main pole, the coil element extending to pass through the space defined by the main pole, the trailing shield and the return path section. The coil element has a first inclined surface inclined with respect to the medium facing surface. The trailing shield has a second inclined surface. The second inclined surface includes a first portion opposed to the inclined portion of the top surface of the main pole, and a second portion opposed to the first inclined surface of the coil element. This magnetic head allows for a reduction in length of the magnetic path passing through the trailing shield, the return path section and the main pole.
However, the magnetic head disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 8,385,019 B1 has room for improvement in the following respects. Specifically, in this magnetic head, the first inclined surface of the coil element and the inclined portion of the top surface of the main pole are formed simultaneously by ion beam etching such that they become located in one plane. In this case, the location and inclination angle of the inclined portion of the top surface of the main pole vary easily in response to variations in thickness of the coil element or variations in conditions of ion beam etching. Variations in the location and inclination angle of the inclined portion vary the shape of the end face of the main pole and the shape of a portion of the main pole near the medium facing surface. Such variations in turn vary the write characteristics.
In the magnetic head disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 8,385,019 B1, as mentioned above, the first inclined surface of the coil element and the inclined portion of the top surface of the main pole are located in one plane. Due to this configuration, it is not possible for this magnetic head to achieve further reduction in length of the aforementioned magnetic path by further reducing the distance between the medium facing surface and the end of the coil closest to the medium facing surface.

Magnetic head for perpendicular magnetic recording including a coil having an inclined front end face


Crosslinked styrenic polymers may be sulphonated in a controlled manner in an organic solvent at elevated temperature using SO.sub.3 in the presence of a trialkyl phosphate. The process does not introduce further crosslinking into the polymer permitting it to have an extremely high water uptake. The resulting polymer is useful as a hydrogel.

Sulphonated polymers have been known for some time. Non-crosslinked sulphonated vinyl polymers have been known since at least the early nineteen sixties.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,072,618 issued Jan. 8, 1963 in the name of Albin F. Turback, assigned to Esso Research and Engineering, discloses a process for the sulphonation of non-crosslinked polystyrene. In fact the disclosure of the patent makes it clear that it is important to reduce the number of crosslinks to the smallest possible number (Col. 1, line 31). The object of U.S. Pat. No. 3,072,618 was to prepare water soluble polymers which would be useful as thickeners, impregnants, adhesives, soil conditioners and textile sizes.
Greek Patent 86.0636 in the names of G. Valkanas and P. Rigas issued Mar. 18, 1986 discloses that polystyrene crosslinked by reaction with a di-alkylhalo aromatic compound in the presence of a Lewis Acid is useful in agricultural applications after it has been sulphonated. The Greek Patent discloses a process for sulphonation in which a gel of the crosslinked polystyrene is sulphonated with sulfuric acid. From a practical point of view such a process results in a significant amount of acid water which must be separated and treated before safe disposal. This is a disadvantage which needs to be overcome before the technology disclosed in the Greek Patent can be effectively commercialized.
The polymers disclosed in the Greek Patent are not water soluble as they are intended to stay in the ground to hold water in the soil. The polymers disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,072,618 are intended to be water soluble. Interestingly applicants have discovered that the process designed for use with non-crosslinked polymers is also useful with crosslinked starting materials in accordance with the present invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,209,592 issued Jun. 24, 1980, assigned to Rohm and Haas Company discloses a process to manufacture ion exchange resin. In the process SO.sub.3 is used both as a crosslinking agent and as a sulphonating agent. Uncrosslinked polystyrene is reacted directly with SO.sub.3 in an halogenated solvent. While the resulting polymer is a sulphonated crosslinked vinyl aromatic monomer it does not have the same water uptake as the polymers of the present invention. Particularly, the sulphonated croslinked vinyl aromatic polymers of the present should have a water up take of at least 15000, preferably 20000, most preferably 25000 or greater weight % of water. It is clear from the examples of U.S. Patent the water uptake is below about 100 weight %.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,448,935 issued May 15, 1984, assigned to National Starch and Chemical discloses a process for simultaneously crosslinking and sulphonating polystyrene. The patent contains a limitation that the process is conducted a low temperatures from 0.degree. to 25.degree. C. The process of the present invention operates a higher temperatures than those disclosed in the reference. The process of the present invention provides a controlled sulphonation process which may be carried out at elevated temperatures. Most importantly the process does not introduce a significant further amount of crosslinking into the crosslinked polymer.

Sulphonation process for low crosslinked polystyrene


A handling robot used in a field of warehouse logistics comprises a mobile chassis, and a storage shelf. The storage shelf is mounted to the mobile chassis and comprises a plurality of layered plate components distributed at different heights. The handling robot further comprises a handling device configured to transport a material to a layered plate of the plurality of layered plate components, and a lift component configured to drive the handling device to lift relative to the storage shelf.

Intelligent warehousing is one of links of the logistics process, the application of intelligent warehousing ensures the speed and accuracy of data input in each link of materials warehouse management, ensures that an enterprise timely and accurately grasps real data of inventories, and reasonably maintains and controls the inventory of the enterprise. By scientific coding, it is also convenient to manage for example batches and shelf lives of inventory items. With the storage site management function of system, it is possible to timely grasp current locations of all inventory items, which is conducive to improving the working efficiency of warehouse management.
Handling robots play an important role in intelligent warehousing, and can replace manual handling of materials. However, in the process of realizing the present application, the inventor found that: current handling robots transport a small amount of materials each time.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A multi-sensor security/fire alarm system comprises a master control unit which repeatedly interrogates, e.g., by a multiplexing scheme, the respective inputs and/or operating status of a plurality of remote sensor units (e.g., intrusion and fire sensors). In response to an alarm or other off-normal condition detected by any of the remote sensors, the master control notifies an alarm-monitoring service which either responds itself to the detected condition, or notifies the local police or fire department. To prevent one alarm-monitoring service from taking over, without authorization, the alarm-monitoring accounts of another service which may have expended considerable time and expense in installing the system, the master control unit is mated with its associated sensors by a unique code. According to a preferred embodiment, each sensor comprises an EEPROM which stores a unique portion (e.g., a single digital bit) of a multibit security code which is collectively defined by the unique code portions of all the individual sensors and stored in memory of the control unit. The control unit periodically addresses the remote sensors to compare the "distributed code" with the code stored by the control unit.

The present invention relates to security/fire alarm systems of the type which are continuously monitored for alarms and other conditions that may require the immediate attention and/or servicing provided by a system-monitoring enterprise. More particularly, it relates to improvements in apparatus for discouraging the repudiation of a contractual arrangement between a system monitoring enterprise and a customer who has agreed to have such enterprise monitor the alarm and/or operating status of the system for a predetermined time period.
A security/fire alarm system dealer, under contract to an end user, will spend considerable time and effort in customizing the installation of a security/fire alarm system to suit the needs of his customer. Depending on the physical size and needs of a building requiring intrusion and/or fire protection, a suitable security/fire alarm system may comprise a wide variety, as well as a large number, of intrusion and fire sensors. These sensors must properly set-up and checked out at key locations throughout the building. Further, they must be connected by wires, referred to as a "bus", to a master control unit which, in the more sophisticated systems, operates to repeatedly interrogate the individual remote sensors by a digital address code which is unique to each remote sensor. Upon being interrogated or "addressed", each sensor transmits a communication to the master control unit indicating its alarm status and whether or not the sensor and its communication electronics are functioning properly. Two-way communication between the control unit and the remote sensors is in the form of digital electronic multiplexed signals and takes place over a communications "bus" which connects all remote sensors with the control unit. A security/fire system of this type is disclosed in the above-referenced U.S. patent application Ser. No. 817,866, filed concurrently herewith, the contents of such application being incorporated herein by reference.
In addition to contracting to install an alarm system, which an alarm system may either lease or sell to the customer, an alarm dealer will often contract with such customer to provide, for a monthly fee, a twenty-four hour per day system-monitoring service. Compared to the installation phase, the monitoring phase is considerably more profitable to the installer, and it is here that the installer can recover a large part of the installation cost. Obviously, the installer would like to monitor the system as long as possible, certainly, at least, for the agreed-upon term of the monitoring contract. However, it is sometimes the case that another system-monitoring enterprise will induce the customer to repudiate his monitoring contract with the installer in favor of a lower monthly service fee offered by the other enterprise. This lower service fee is usually made possible by the fact that the other enterprise has no installation costs to recover. To prevent this occurrence, manufacturers of master control units design them so that the system can only be programmed by a remote dial-in. Thus, to take over the monitoring account, one needs to know the correct phone number, an access code and a password. Since this information is known only to the original installer, unauthorized takeovers are discouraged. But this type of anti-takeover system can still be circumvented at modest cost by merely purchasing an identical control unit from the same manufacturer and connecting it to the existing wiring of an installed system. The enterprise taking over the account can then program the control unit to respond to a new phone number, access code and password.

Multi-sensor security/fire alarm system with mated master control


Circuit arrangement (1) for the delay adjustment of analog-to-digital converters (4-1, . . . 4-N, 504) operating in a temporally offset manner, having at least two analog-to-digital converters (4-1, . . . 4-N, 504) each having a signal path, which receive an analog signal (VI) present at an input (2) of the circuit arrangement (1) and in each case convert it into a digital intermediate signal (Z1, . . . ZN), the analog-to-digital converters (4-1, . . . 4-N, 504) in each case being clocked by clock signals (CLK1, . . . CLKN) which have a predetermined time offset with respect to one another; having a logic circuit (7), which interconnects the digital intermediate signals (Z1, . . . ZN) for the purpose of generating a digital output signal (ZD) of the circuit arrangement (1); it being possible to set the bandwidth of the signal paths of the analog-to-digital converters (4-1, . . . 4-N, 504) in each case in such a way that a deviation of the clock signal (CLK1, . . . CLKN) from the predetermined time offset for the respective analog-to-digital converter (4-1, . . . 4-N, 504) is compensated for by a change in the bandwidth of at least signal path.

Arrays of analog-to-digital converters operating in parallel comprise a plurality of analog-to-digital converters which digitize an analog signal in parallel, but with a certain temporal offset. The individual digital signals are then recombined by means of a multiplexer, thereby effectively achieving a higher sampling rate than that of the individual analog-to-digital converters. Converter arrays of this type are also called TIADCs (=time interleaved analog-to-digital converters).
In the simplest case of a TIADC, two analog-to-digital converters are connected in parallel, alternately sample a common analog input signal and digitize it. As a result, the sampling or conversion rate of the overall system appears doubled compared with the sampling rate of the individual analog-to-digital converters.
In the more general case, by increasing the number of analog-to-digital converters operating in parallel or by increasing the number of channels, in the case of N analog-to-digital converters it is possible to increase the effective sampling rate of the converter array to N times the sampling rate of an individual analog-to-digital converter. In the case of such arrays, however, there is the difficulty that any type of inequality among the individual converters leads to conversion errors. By way of example, different offset values of the various analog-to-digital converters lead to disturbing sounds at frequencies comprising whole divisors of the sampling frequency. Different nonlinearities of the channels, differences in gain, deviations from the ideal sampling instant or a different bandwidth of the analog-to-digital converters also lead to undesirable disturbances.
The text below discusses in particular the adjustment of the individual sampling instants of the respective analog-to-digital converters in a TIADC.
FIG. 1 shows a converter array or TIADC according to the prior art.
N analog-to-digital converters A/D1, A/D2, . . . A/DN are provided, each having an analog input E1, E2, . . . EN, a digital output A1, A2, . . . AN and an input C1, C2, . . . CN for a respective clock signal CLK1′, CLK2′, . . . CLKN′. A common analog input signal VIN is applied to the analog inputs E1, E2 . . . EN. The analog-to-digital converters A/D1, A/D2, A/DN in each case supply digital intermediate signals Z1, Z2, ZN at their outputs A1, A2, AN, which intermediate signals are switched through as digital output signal ZD of the TIADC by a multiplexer MUX connected downstream.
A clock generator CLKG generates a global clock signal CLK, which is passed to a Delay Locked Loop DLL, which generates therefrom an N phase clock or N clock signals CLK1, CLK2 . . . CLKN which in each case have the same clock period T as the global clock signal CLK but are in each case delayed by a time offset of T/N=ΔT.
These clock signals CLK1, CLK2, CLKn are in each case passed via a tunable delay element V1, V2, VN, by way of example in each case a Vernier element, as tuned clock signals CLK1′, CLK2′, CLKN′ to the inputs C1, C2, . . . CN of the individual analog-to-digital converters A/D1, A/D2, A/DN. The tunable delay elements V1, V2, V3 are set in such a way that clock signals CLK1, CLK2, CLKN that deviate from the ideal clock are delayed to a greater or lesser extent in order to compensate for the error.
As is described in K. Poulton et al.: "A 4GS/s 8b ADC in 0.35 m CMOS", ISSCC 2002, pages 166–167, the optimum sampling instants or the optimum time offsets which are determined by the respective clock signals CLK1′, CLK2′, CLKN′ may be set by applying a pulsed wave as input signal VIN and Fourier analysis of the digital intermediate signals Z1, Z2, ZN. What is disadvantageous about the prior art solution for delay adjustment is, in particular, that the variable delay elements V1, V2, . . . VN have to be kept available N-fold and have to be individually drivable. A considerable additional outlay on circuitry is therefore required. Moreover, the tunable delay elements represent additional noise sources and may cause shallower clock edges. This leads to an increased timing jitter and reduces the performance of the converter array according to the prior art.
Anderson et al. "Verification of a Blind Mismatch Error Equalization Method for Randomly Interleaved ADCs using a 2.5 V/12b/30 MSs PSAADC", ESSCIRC 2003, pages 473–476, describes a method for attenuating disturbance effects due to misadjusted analog-to-digital converters in TIADCs. According to this method, a further M additional analog-to-digital converters are provided as well as the N parallel analog-to-digital converters. Since the entire converter array is intended to yield a sampling rate that is N times higher than that of each individual analog-to-digital converter, the M additional analog-to-digital converters are used to achieve randomization. For a converter cycle, N converters are randomly selected from the N plus M converters and their conversion result is switched through as digital output signal of the converter array by the multiplexer. This results in a random distribution, inter alia of the offset errors. This method also requires a huge additional outlay on circuitry since additional analog-to-digital converters have to be kept available.

Circuit arrangement for the delay adjustment of analog-to-digital converters operating in a temporally offset manner


Method and system are provided for storage allocation enhancement of microservices. A method carried out at a microservice orchestrator, includes: identifying distinct phases of a run of a microservice container; categorizing the phases of a run of a microservice container, wherein the categorization defines a predicted storage behavior of the microservice container input/output operations in the phase of the microservice container; and providing the categorization in association with the microservice container input/output operations in the phase to a storage system for use in storage allocation of the input/output operations.

The present invention relates to storage allocation of microservices, and more specifically, to enhancement of storage allocation based on phases of a microservice run.
Microservices are a software development mechanism designed to decouple applications from their implementations. There are various benefits to this design philosophy, notably, encouraging modularity, scalability and architecture-independent design. In recent years there has been a particular rise of containerization as means of implementing and orchestrating microservice oriented architectures. For example, Kubernetes™ (Kubernetes is a trademark of The Linux Foundation) is an open-source container orchestration system for automating application deployment, scaling and management. It works with a range of container tools including Docker™ (Docker is a trademark of Docker, Inc.).
Docker™ is a tool which packages applications as something close to lightweight virtual machines, that ideally become environment agnostic. An example of something which may be containerized may be a database. Significantly, one can specify the associated storage. In Kubernetes™, the Container Storage Interface is used to implement a provisioning layer from which volumes can be created. Volumes can be provisioned and made accessible to nodes and snapshot operations performed. Docker™ and similar technologies are referred to herein as microservice orchestrators.
In filesystems, a location for a file is typically allocated on-the-fly from a storage allocator. In block storage, one can either provision by allocating the whole amount of capacity necessary for a volume in one pass (full allocation), or only allocate what is required at the time, and use forward-lookup structures to point at the location where the data is stored. Thin provisioning is typically the basis of sophisticated storage efficiency tools such as compression or deduplication.

Storage allocation enhancement of microservices based on phases of a microservice run

International Business Machines Corporation


Any part of an abrasive media in a solid particle or liquid form is prevented from entering a seal and/or the area where a rotary shaft bearing for a rotating barrel is sealed, thereby protecting the bearing and/or its seal against any possible damage that may be caused by abrasive media. A the barrel finishing operation performed by rotating a rotating barrel rotatably mounted inside a cylindrical stationary barrel on a lower portion thereof in a spaced relationship to the stationary barrel. The stationary barrel has an outer bottom plate at the bottom end thereof. At least one blade is mounted on the back side of a rotating plate forming the bottom end of the rotating barrel, and is rotated by rotating the rotating plate to any part of the abrasive media existing between the back side of the rotating plate and the top side of the outer bottom plate in the direction remote from the rotary shaft, thereby developing a negative pressure or vacuum area located on the back side of the rotating plate and on the side of the blade nearer to the rotary shaft. Air is then drawn from the atmosphere into the vacuum area by the action of the negative pressure, and thus an air layer is created in the vacuum area. The air layer prevents that part of the abrasive media from entering the rotary shaft bearing and/or its seal.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a barrel finishing machine that includes a cylindrical stationary barrel having an outer bottom plate at the bottom end thereof, and a rotating barrel rotatably mounted inside the stationary barrel on the lower portion of the stationary barrel in a spaced relationship to the stationary barrel and containing abrasive media including any required water and compound, if required, and workpieces being surface-finished and the like by the abrasive media, whereby the workpieces may be surface-finished by rotating the rotating barrel. More particularly, the present invention relates to a seal protecting method and apparatus for use with a spiral-flow barrel finishing machine that prevents any part of the abrasive media in solid particle and/or liquid form resulting from the surface finishing from entering the bearing for the rotary shaft and its seal, thereby protecting the bearing or its seal from any possible damage that may be caused by the abrasive media.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is known in the art that a seal cover is provided on a boss in the bottom plate of the rotating barrel to prevent any possible damage to the seal element or bearing element in the spiral-flow barrel finishing machine (for example, Japanese Utility Model application No. Heisei 6 (1994)-42058 as now published). It is also known in the art that a stirring section is provided behind a dishlike bottom plate on the rotating barrel (for example, Japanese Utility Model application No.Heisei 6 (1994)-31944 as now published).
It is recognized that the inventions disclosed in the applications mentioned above may be effective, respectively, in preventing damage to the seal element and the bearing element and the like, but if the abrasive media in its liquid form contains large quantities of solid particles or grains that may be produced when the particular surface finishing operation such as a rough finishing operation, occurs, those grains will tend to build up in those areas which are located on the outer bottom plate of the cylindrical stationary barrel, such as the areas closer to the rotary shaft, where the liquid abrasive media is flowing relatively slowly. Those inventions therefore could not adequately prevent any possible damage to the seal element and the like.

Seal protecting method for use with spiral-flow barrel finishing machine and spiral-flow barrel finishing machine with seal protecting apparatus


Provided is an image reading apparatus, including: a placing member on which an original is to be placed; a reading section arranged so as to be opposed to the original across the placing member and reading an image of the original placed on the placing member; a casing which supports an outer peripheral edge portion of the placing member; and a support member supporting a portion other than the outer peripheral edge portion of the placing member, the support member including an abutment portion abutting against the casing, the support member being capable of supporting the placing member under a state in which the abutment portion abuts against the casing.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image reading apparatus, and an image forming apparatus including the image reading apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Referring to FIGS. 40A and 40B, a configuration of an image reading apparatus according to a comparative example is described. In FIGS. 40A and 40B, an image forming apparatus 101 is a laser beam printer or the like. An image reading apparatus 102 is arranged above the image forming apparatus 101, and the image reading apparatus 102 and the image forming apparatus 101 are used as a multifunction peripheral. The image reading apparatus 102 includes an original placing glass 106 on which an original is to be placed, and a casing 103 for supporting the original placing glass 106. Further, the image reading apparatus 102 includes a cover 104 having a pressure plate 105 for aligning the original with the original placing glass 106, and an image sensor section 107 serving as an image reading unit which is freely movable inside the casing 103. A drive unit (not shown) for driving the image sensor section 107 causes the image sensor section 107 to scan the original, to thereby read an image of the original.
A signal line bundle 108 is connected to the image sensor section 107. In order not to interrupt the movement of the image sensor section 107, the signal line bundle 108 is provided so as to be movable in association with the movement of the image sensor section 107 while being curved in parallel to the arrow "e" direction of FIG. 40A corresponding to a moving direction of the image sensor section 107. In the image reading apparatus 102, the image sensor section 107 moves relative to the original placing glass 106 from a home position indicated by the solid line of FIG. 40A to a reading position indicated by the two-dot chain lines of FIG. 40A. The signal line bundle 108 is arranged so as not to interrupt the operation of the image sensor section 107 while being held in contact with a lower surface of the original placing glass 106.
The original placing glass 106 is supported at its outer peripheral edges by the casing 103. The original placing glass 106 and the image sensor section 107 are arranged in proximity. When the image reading apparatus 102 receives a force by a drop impact in the arrow "F" direction of FIGS. 40A and 40B in a period in which the image reading apparatus 102 is transported, the original placing glass 106 is distorted. At this time, the lower surface of the original placing glass 106 can not be supported except the image sensor section 107. Thus, the original placing glass 106, the image sensor section 107, or both of the original placing glass 106 and the image sensor section 107 may be damaged. In view of this, the thickness of a packaging material is increased to improve its shock absorbing performance, and the thickness of the glass itself is increased to enhance the strength of the original placing glass 106.
As a result, there is a problem in that the image reading apparatus 102 and the image forming apparatus 101 including the image reading apparatus 102 cannot be reduced in size and weight. Further, there is a problem in that a packaging volume is increased and accordingly the cost of distribution is increased.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2010-034787 describes a configuration in which a dust removing member including a contact cleaning section for cleaning the back surface side of the original placing glass is mounted to a carriage which is provided so as to be capable of traveling along the back surface side of the original placing glass. The contact cleaning section of this configuration may be brought into contact with the back surface of the original placing glass, but cannot sufficiently support the original placing glass which receives a force by a drop impact.

Image reading apparatus and image forming apparatus including the same


A mobile device having a time controlled electronic wallet is disclosed. The mobile device comprises a processor and an electronic wallet application that executes on the processor. The electronic wallet application enters a ready-to-pay mode, initiates a ready-to-pay timer when entering the ready-to-pay mode, transmits the confidential information when in the ready-to-pay mode based on receiving contactless communication, and leaves the ready-to-pay mode when the ready-to-pay timer expires.

A variety of alternatives to using cash may be used for paying for goods and services. Credit cards, debit cards, and smart cards may be used to pay for grocery purchases, retail purchases, gasoline purchases, restaurant purchases, etc. Transit cards may be used to purchase a ride on a mass transportation vehicle such as a bus or a subway train. Toll payment devices, sometimes referred to as toll tags, may be used to pay tolls without stopping or slowing down at a toll booth, and/or pay for parking fees at airports. The ease with which these payment cards may be stolen and used for purchases of goods and services by someone other than the card holder or authorized proxies of the card holder, which may also be referred to as identity theft, makes payment card security an important subject.
A portable electronic device may include an electronic wallet application, also referred to as an eWallet, that provides a variety of financial and payment capabilities. The electronic wallet application supports paying for products or services with the portable electronic device in much the same way as presenting a credit card, a debit card, a smart card, a transit card, or a toll tag for payment. The portable electronic device may communicate with a point-of-sale (POS) terminal using contactless communication means, for example near field communication (NFC) technology, to provide the appropriate financial information to complete a payment transaction.


A video camera system includes a camera body having a camera electrical connecting terminal which performs at least a communication, a camera mount, a color separation prism, and a plurality of imaging elements, and an optical accessory having an accessory mount which is attachable/detachable to/from the camera mount of the camera body, and having an accessory electrical connecting terminal which is connected with the camera electrical connecting terminal when the optical accessory is attached. The camera electrical connecting terminal is disposed at least at one side position of the direction of the color separation axis where is at the rear of a flange plane of the camera mount along the optical axis and is substantially the same as the direction of the color separation axis of the color separation prism.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a video camera system in which both a camera body and an optical accessory have connecting terminals for electrical connections, or an optical accessory.
2. Related Background Art
Conventionally, in multiple-plate type video cameras using color separation prisms, a lens exchangeable video camera system which allows optical accessories or accessories such as exchangeable lenses, various kinds of converters, and the like to be freely attached/detached by adopting a bayonet mount, is known.
In such video camera system, an electrical connection is normally attained outside a mount using a cable and connectors attached to the ends of the cable as power supply or communication means from a camera body to an optical accessory. In recent years, another type of mount has been proposed. With this mount, electrical connecting terminals are arranged on flange portions of mounts of the camera body and the optical accessory, and an electrical connection between the two mounts can be attained simultaneously with the mechanical mounting of them.
However, in the prior art, since the electrical connecting terminal is disposed on the flange portion of each mount, the width of the flange portion must be increased, resulting in a mount with a large outer diameter and a large weight.
On the other hand, the mount and its flange portion consist of a hard metal for the purpose of suppressing wear as much as possible. For this reason, a machining process for arranging the electrical connecting terminal on such portion requires high cost.
Furthermore, since a user can relatively easily touch the contacts of the electrical connecting terminal arranged on the flange portion of the mount when the optical accessory is detached from the camera body, a short-circuiting accident between terminals due to a metal piece such as a coin, a contact error due to dust, or the like readily occurs.
A multiple-plate type video camera tends to have a long back focus since a color separation prism must be disposed. When the electrical connecting terminal is arranged on such camera, the back focus is further prolonged, resulting in a large, heavy camera.

Video camera system and optical accessory


A system for magnetic detection may include a nitrogen vacancy (NV) diamond material, a radio frequency (RF) excitation source, an optical excitation source, an optical detector, a magnetic field generator, and a controller. The controller may control the excitation sources to apply a first pulse sequence. The controller may receive a first light detection signal due to the first pulse sequence, measure first and second values of the first light detection signal at first and second reference periods, and compute a first measurement. The controller may further control the excitation sources to apply a second pulse sequence, receive a second light detection signal due to the second pulse sequence, measure first and second values of the second light detection signal at first and second reference periods, and compute a second measurement. The first and second measurements may be based on high and low resonance frequencies of the NV diamond material.

A number of industrial applications including, but not limited to, medical devices, communication devices, and navigation systems, as well as scientific areas such as physics and chemistry can benefit from magnetic detection and imaging. Many advanced magnetic imaging systems can operate in limited conditions, for example, high vacuum and/or cryogenic temperatures, which can make them inapplicable for imaging applications that require ambient conditions. Furthermore, small size, weight and power (SWAP) magnetic sensors of moderate sensitivity, vector accuracy, and bandwidth are valuable in many applications.
Atomic-sized nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in diamond have been shown to have excellent sensitivity for magnetic field measurement and enable fabrication of small magnetic sensors that can readily replace existing-technology (e.g., Hall-effect) systems and devices. The sensing capabilities of diamond NV (DNV) sensors are maintained at room temperature and atmospheric pressure, and these sensors can be even used in liquid environments (e.g., for biological imaging). DNV sensing allows measurement of 3-D vector magnetic fields that is beneficial across a very broad range of applications, including communications, geological sensing, navigation, and attitude determination.

Apparatus and method for high sensitivity magnetometry measurement and signal processing in a magnetic detection system


Systems and methods for handover of a mobile station to a base station are provided. Handover criteria for determining which base station to handover to is different for different candidate base stations. This difference can account for base station loading and/or environmental factors. The handover criteria can include a threshold and hysteresis value. A wireless communication system can employ a fixed threshold and hysteresis value for all base stations, and these fixed values are adjusted differently for different candidate base stations.

In wireless communication networks, such as cellular networks, mobile stations can move through large geographic areas, while maintaining a call, due to the concept of mobility. In wireless networks mobility refers to the ability of a mobile station to move between wireless access points, e.g., base stations, while maintaining communications with another communication station. Known handover techniques use mobile station measurements, base station measurements, or a combination of these measurements.
Because handovers may result in a disruption or dropping of a call, and because handovers consume network resources, handovers are typically controlled in some manner. For example, handover determinations are typically based on a comparison of measured signal strengths (either of a signals transmitted from the mobile station being measured by the base station or a signals transmitted from a base station being measured by the mobile station) with a threshold and hysteresis value. When the signal strength of signals between a mobile station and a base station currently serving the mobile station (herein referred to as a serving base station) falls below a threshold value and the strength of signals between the mobile station and another base station (herein referred to as the target base station) are above the threshold value by a predetermined hysteresis value, then the mobile station hands-off from the serving base station to the target base station. Various other ways of using hysteresis and threshold values are known in the art.

Individual neighbor threshold and hysteresis assignment


Disclosed herein are a particle production method whereby spherical fine particles of a crystalline calcium phosphate-based compound can be efficiently produced at low cost, fine particles (especially, spherical particles) with good flowability produced by the particle production method, and a high-quality sintered body obtained by sintering a molded body of the particles. The particle production method comprises a first step of mixing a first substance containing phosphorus and a second substance containing calcium so that the phosphorus and the calcium are present in a predetermined mole ratio and feeding, into a heated atmosphere, droplets of a slurry containing an amorphous reaction product, obtained by the reaction between the first substance and the second substance, to bring the reaction product into a gaseous state; and a second step of crystallizing the reaction product in the gaseous state to obtain particles mainly composed of a calcium phosphate-based compound containing phosphorus and calcium in the predetermined mole ratio. The heated atmosphere preferably contains plasma produced by ionization of an ambient gas.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for producing particles, particles, and a sintered body.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Calcium phosphate-based compounds are a type of ceramic material, and are widely used as, for example, biomaterials and stationary phase materials for chromatography.
In a case where biomaterials of a calcium phosphate-based compound are produced, particles of a calcium phosphate-based compound are prepared from, for example, a liquid (slurry), the particles are molded into various desired shapes to obtain molded bodies, and the molded bodies are baked (sintered) to obtain sintered bodies. Then, the thus obtained sintered bodies are clinically used as artificial bones and artificial dental roots, and the like.
In a case where stationary phase materials for chromatography of a calcium phosphate-based compound are produced, particles of a calcium phosphate-based compound are prepared in the same manner as in the case of production of the biomaterials described above, and then the particles are baked (sintered) to obtain sintered fine particles. The thus obtained sintered fine particles are used as column packing materials and the like.
As a method for preparing such particles, a method for producing hydroxyapatite particles using an emulsion technique has been disclosed (see, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 2002-137910).
However, such a method necessarily involves complicated treatment such as decantation or centrifugation and is not suitable for mass production, and therefore has problems in production efficiency and cost.
In addition, there is also a problem that particles obtained by this method are likely to be amorphous. Therefore, in a case where molded bodies are prepared using such particles, these molded bodies are likely to vary in density, and sintered bodies obtained by sintering the molded bodies are lacking in stability of strength and porosity.

Method for producing particles, particles, and sintered body


A failure prediction device generates a failure predictor pattern in accordance with previous cases of failure that has occurred in a first system, the failure predictor pattern being used to detect a predictor of failure in the first system configuration. When a system configuration is changed from the first system configuration to a second system configuration, the failure prediction device calculates the difference information that indicates the difference between the system configurations by using the number of changes that is the accumulated number of times that a change of the configuration item which is included in a system is executed. The failure prediction device determines, in accordance with the calculated difference information, whether the failure predictor pattern is applicable to the detection of a predictor of failure in the second system configuration.

As a way of predicting failure that occurs in an information processing system, failure prediction devices that use a failure predictor pattern indicating a predictor of failure have been known. For example, the failure prediction device extracts, on the basis of the previous logs and failure occurrence information, a combination of messages that have a high co-occurrence probability with which failure occurs. When the same combination of messages as that of the failure predictor pattern is output from the information processing system, the failure prediction device determines that there is a possibility that the failure occurs.
Furthermore, in a well-known technique, when the failure determination rule used for predicting failure is to be reused in a different system, or the like, the reference for determining whether the rule can be reused is set for each configuration item included in the information processing system. For example, if the number of monitor items in the operating system (OS) equal to or greater than the threshold is identical or the version of the OS is identical, it is determined that the failure determination rule is to be reused.                Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2009-176203        Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2012-3713
However, the above-described technology has a problem in that, as the failure predictor pattern is generated on the basis of the co-occurrence probability, it is not certain how much effect the changes in the system configuration would have on the pattern, and it is difficult to determine whether the application of the failure predictor pattern is appropriate or not.
For example, in a cloud system, the large number of configuration items is included in the system, and the system configuration is frequently changed. Therefore, if a failure predictor pattern is learned each time the system configuration is changed, the learning time becomes short and the reliability of the generated failure predictor pattern is decreased.
If the technique for setting the reference for each configuration item is applied to the failure predictor pattern, the reference is generated for each configuration item and the failure predictor pattern is changed in accordance with the reference each time the system configuration is changed. Thus, as this technique increases the workload, it is not suitable for the cloud systems.
Thus, according to the above-described technologies, it is difficult to determine whether the failure predictor pattern that is to be applied to a specific information processing system is a valid pattern or not; therefore, the invalid failure predictor pattern is applied, and a predictor of failure can be missed.

Computer-readable recording medium, failure prediction device and applicability determination method


A redundant switch (50) is provided for performing a switch fabric test. The redundant switch (50) includes a foreground switch fabric controller (24) for controlling a foreground switch fabric (26), a background switch fabric controller (124) for controlling a background switch fabric (126), and a first I/O module (14) in communication with the foreground switch fabric controller (24). The first I/O module (14) sends, at the request of the foreground switch fabric controller (24), a test cell to an input of the background switch fabric (126) and receives the test cell from a corresponding output of the background switch fabric (126). The first I/O module (14) determines if an error occurred and provides an error signal to the foreground switch fabric controller (24) in response if an error occurred. The foreground switch fabric controller (24) may log the error signal or enable an alarm or indicator in response.

Usage and demand for modern communication systems continues to soar as users demand more and more sophisticated communication services and bandwidth while relying on the instant availability of these communication systems. Increasingly, communication systems are used to provide all types of information including voice, video, and data.
Modern communication systems include a collection of components, such as digital switching systems, that communicate, manipulate, and process information in a variety of ways. Digital switching systems are integral components of today's modern communication systems. The availability of communication systems is directly related to the availability of the digital switching systems used in these communication systems. As reliance on communication systems continues to increase, the availability of the digital switching systems used in these communications systems becomes critically important.
Problems arise when attempting to increase the availability of a digital switching system. The digital switching system may provide redundant capability so that if a circuit or module of the digital switching system fails, a backup circuit or module may be used. Problems arise when transitioning from a system or circuit operating in the foreground to a system or circuit operating in the background. Performance suffers greatly when the transition causes delays, interruptions in service, and errors. Often, when a circuit or module fails, the backup circuit is not properly initialized or operating correctly resulting in data loss or complete system failure. Also, overall system performance suffers when system resources are consumed attempting to verify that a backup circuit or module is operating correctly so that the backup circuit or module may be relied upon in the event of a failure.

Redundant switch system and method of operation


Systems, methods, and other embodiments associated with heat mapping of defects in software components are described. In one embodiment, a method includes receiving feedback data that describes errors reported from a software product, wherein the software product includes components. Records are retrieved that are associated with the errors reported, where a record links an error to a defect in a component from the software product. A heat map is generated that has regions assigned to represent different components from the software product. Graphical elements are generated and added to a region for each defect identified in a corresponding component, where a size of a visual area of the region is based, at least in part, on a number of graphical elements contained in the region.

Software products are sold by vendors to various customers across multiple geographies. A software product is a complex amalgamation of components which may or may not have subcomponents. For the software product to function correctly, the components and subcomponents, which are dependent on one another, ought to function correctly. For example, a component may be dependent on hierarchically related subcomponents. However, due to the complexity of software products, the components and/or subcomponents invariably have defects, which may cause other components not to function properly.
Customers using the software product may experience errors (e.g., bugs, program faults, coding errors) caused by the defects. The source of a defect is typically a specific component or subcomponent of the software product. Likewise, a defect typically affects a specific component or subcomponent. The likelihood that the component or subcomponent will require a remedy, such as a software patch, increases with the number of defects that the component or subcomponent has.
Customers' feedback informs a vendor of the errors that the customer has experienced while using the vendor's software product. The vendor combines the customers' feedback using traditional measurements (e.g., bar graphs, stacked graph, defect trend lines) in order to assess the kinds of problems that customers are experiencing with the software product. However, traditional measurements do not visually represent that components and/or subcomponents are arranged in a hierarchical fashion. For example, a bar graph may show the number of defects that components and subcomponents have, but not how components and subcomponents are interrelated. Likewise, traditional measurements do little to predict components that will require remedy or expose the size of problems in components relative to the software product as a whole. Accordingly, traditional measurements do not convey the full effect of a defect on the software product.

Heat mapping of defects in software products


Through vias in a substrate are formed by creating a trench in a top side of the substrate and at least one trench in the back side of the substrate. The sum of the depths of the trenches at least equals the height of the substrate. The trenches cross at intersections, which accordingly form the through vias from the top side to the back side. The through vias are filled with a conductor to form contacts on both sides and the edge of the substrate. Contacts on the backside are formed at each of the trench. The through vias from the edge contacts. Traces connect bond pads to the conductor in the through via. Some traces are parallel to the back side traces. Some traces are skew to the back side traces. The substrate is diced to form individual die.

Wafer level packaging provides a complete electronic device package at the wafer level. This provides a package having a high density of integrated circuits in a small or ultra-thin profile package. Electronic devices and associated software applications continue to demand more memory and processing power from chip packages. However, electronic devices that use such chip packages have continued to shrink. Thus, the demand for integrated circuit packages having a high density in a smaller package has also increased. While it is desirable to design a new die that meets all of the needs of the market, such a design may not be feasible or ready for market. Thus, dies or chips are connected together, e.g., stacked, to achieve the desired density and electronic capacity. Wafer level packaging is used to meet these demands. However, most wafer level packaging processes have not had industrial success as such processes require a significant amount of wafer thinning followed by etching or laser drilling processes to create through holes in the wafer level package.

Method of forming a conductive via through a wafer


A process for sweetening high mercaptan content gasoline or other liquid hydrocarbons is disclosed which utilizes aqueous caustic solution. A recycle stream is used to increase the conversion potential by reducing the relative mercaptan concentration of the untreated gasoline. Part of the treated gasoline effluent is recycled to the untreated feed. The treated gasoline has a low mercaptan concentration while the untreated gasoline is high in mercaptans. As the two streams combine, the feed to the unit becomes less concentrated in mercaptan compounds. In effect, the mercaptan concentration of the untreated gasoline has been diluted by the treated gasoline. Nitrogen inhibits the solubility of oxygen into gasoline. Nitrogen present in the recycle stream would create a system high in nitrogen and low in oxygen. By increasing the level of nitrogen, oxygen is limited in its ability to complete the sweetening reaction. In order to keep nitrogen from inhibiting oxygen, the gasoline effluent is sent to a low pressure separation vessel. in this vessel, nitrogen gas separates from the liquid gasoline. Part of this liquid gasoline stream is recycled to join with the untreated gasoline. The recycle gasoline is now free of nitrogen that would inhibit the solubility of oxygen.

The invention relates to hydrocarbon processing. In one aspect, the invention relates to a process for converting mercaptans found in hydrocarbon streams into disulfides.
Mercaptans are undesirable in hydrocarbon products because of odor and discoloration. The effects of these compounds can be eliminated by reacting two mercaptans to form one disulfide compound, or in effect, connecting the two terminal end sulfur atoms. The reaction is usually the final stage in gasoline refining. Industly follows many methods for this process, usually involving several steps and vessels. Due to the low cost of operation, caustic treating is the preferred process.
During caustic treating, gasoline is injected with air and allowed to come into contact with a caustic solution. The caustic can contain a catalyst which promotes the chemical reaction. The reaction is based on the principles of mass diffusion, or the movement of molecules from one substance into another. The molecules of oxygen, caustic, and mercaptans must all come into contact with each other to react. The mercaptan molecules are dispersed throughout the gasoline, and thus, must travel through the gasoline until it reaches contact with the caustic and oxygen.
As the reaction takes place, oxygen is consumed. The amount of required oxygen greatly increases as the concentration of mercaptan in the gasoline increases. At a given temperature and pressure, air has a constant solubility in gasoline, therefore, regardless of the concentration of mercaptans, the concentration of oxygen is constant. When the soluble oxygen has been consumed, the reaction stops short of treating all the mercaptans. In the prior art, the problem of limited oxygen solubility was partially compensated for by increasing system pressure.
A process for treating hydrocarbon liquids which contain high concentrations of mercaptans would be desirable. A process for treating hydrocarbon liquids which contain high concentrations of mercaptans in existing low pressure equipment would be even more desirable.

Process for sweetening liquid hydrocarbons


In non-limiting examples of the present disclosure, systems, methods and devices for assisting with task completion are provided. A natural language input may be received. A natural language processing engine may be applied to the natural language input. A primary task associated with the natural language input may be identified. A plurality of subtasks for completing the primary task may be identified from the natural language input. A determination may be made from the natural language input that the primary task or one of the plurality of subtasks is more important than other tasks. The primary task and the plurality of subtasks may be added to a list of tasks in a task completion application. An indication of importance may be associated in the task completion application in association with the task or subtask that is determined to be more important.

As computers have become ubiquitous in everyday life, so to has their use in making users' lives more productive. To-do lists are one of the key tools that experts identify as being integral in being productive and accomplishing goals. However, because to-do lists on computers are generally populated via manual input, inputting tasks can be counter-productive to the goal of being more efficient with users' time. Automation of task population is desired. However, it is difficult to accurately capture the importance of tasks, organization of those tasks, and the identification of shortest paths for task completion.
It is with respect to this general technical environment that aspects of the present technology disclosed herein have been contemplated. Furthermore, although a general environment has been discussed, it should be understood that the examples described herein should not be limited to the general environment identified in the background.

Natural language processing and machine learning for personalized tasks experience


To estimate the top surface of a measurement target on the basis of a data point group that corresponds to the top surface of a measurement target and is obtained using a laser scanner. This top surface estimation method for hoisting loads and by acquiring, using the laser scanner, data point groups in a hoisting load region which includes a hoisting load and an object from above the hoisting load and the object, dividing the hoisting load region into layers which constitute a plurality of groups which have a prescribed thickness in the vertical direction, and allocating the acquired data point groups to the plurality of layer groups, and estimating the top surfaces of the hoisting load and the object in each layer group on the basis of the data point groups allocated to the plurality of layer groups.

Conventionally, there is known a technique of acquiring a three-dimensional shape of a measurement target object on the basis of point cloud data of the measurement target object acquired by a laser scanner. Such a technique is disclosed in Patent Literatures (hereinafter, abbreviated as "PTL(s)") 1 to 3 below, for example.
As techniques for creating a three-dimensional map three-dimensionally expressing the shape of a grounded object as a measurement target object. PTLs 1 to 3 disclose techniques related to a three-dimensional point cloud analysis method of analyzing a three-dimensional point cloud expressing the shapes of a plurality of grounded objects and the like. According to the three-dimensional point cloud analysis methods described in PTLs 1 to 3, first, three-dimensional point cloud data is prepared, the three-dimensional point cloud data expressing outer shapes of a plurality of grounded objects, and including position coordinates in a three-dimensional coordinate space set for analysis and a normal vector of a plane where a point is estimated to exist. Then, principal component analysis is performed on the three-dimensional point cloud data to determine a provisional gravity direction, and a side surface point cloud is extracted by excluding points with normal vectors that are along the provisional gravity direction. Furthermore, points with small inter-point distances are grouped to separate point clouds on a building basis, and a side surface of each building is determined. A gravity direction is determined by determining, by principal component analysis, a normal vector for each side surface obtained in such a manner, and by taking a weighted average of outer products of the normal vectors.
According to the three-dimensional point cloud analysis methods described in PTLs 1 to 3, a side surface of each building is determined by a statistical method of principal component analysis, by using wide-region three-dimensional point cloud data expressing a plurality of grounded objects.

Measurement target top-surface estimation method, guide information display device, and crane

THE SCHOOL CORPORATION KANSAI UNIVERSITY


The invention provides the compounds of formula (I) and pharmaceutically acceptable derivatives thereof wherein:                R0 and R1 are independently selected from the group consisting of H, halogen, C1-6alkyl, C1-6alkoxy, and C1-6alkoxy substituted by one or more fluorine atoms;        R2 is selected from the group consisting of H, C1-6alkyl, C1-6alkyl substituted by one or more fluorine atoms, C1-6alkoxy, C1-6hydroxyalkyl, SC1-6alkyl, C(O)H, C(O)C1-6alkyl, C1-6alkylsulphonyl, and C1-6alkoxy substituted by one or more fluorine atoms; and        R3 is C1-6alkyl or NH2.

This invention relates to pyrazolo[1,5-a]pyridine derivatives, to processes for their preparation, to pharmaceutical compositions containing them and to their use in medicine.
The enzyme cyclooxygenase (COX) has recently been discovered to exist in two isoforms, COX-1 and COX-2. COX-1 corresponds to the originally identified constitutive enzyme while COX-2 is rapidly and readily inducible by a number of agents including mitogens, endotoxin, hormones, cytokines and growth factors. Prostaglandins generated by the action of COX have both physiological and pathological roles. It is generally believed that COX-1 is responsible for the important physiological functions such as maintenance of gastrointestinal integrity and renal blood flow. In contrast the inducible form, COX-2, is believed to be responsible for the pathological effects of prostaglandins where rapid induction of the enzyme occurs in response to such agents as inflammatory agents, hormones, growth factors and cytokines. A selective inhibitor of COX-2 would therefore have anti-inflammatory, anti-pyretic and analgesic properties, without the potential side effects associated with inhibition of COX-1. We have now found a novel group of compounds which are both potent and selective inhibitors of COX-2.

Pyrazolopyridine derivatives as selective cox-2 inhibitors

Abstract: Compounds of formula (I) are potent and selective inhibitors of COX-2 and are of use in the treatment of the pain, fever, inflammation of a variety of conditions and diseases.


Road surface friction is sensed by measuring strain on a structure of a vehicle in the vicinity of a wheel of the vehicle. Road surface friction coefficient is determined by measuring strain on a structure of a vehicle in the vicinity of a wheel of the vehicle thereby to produce signal outputs proportional to road surface frictional force and vertical load and calculating the road surface friction coefficient from the outputs.

Technical Field
This invention relates to an antilock braking device for precluding the locking of the wheels of a vehicle on sudden application of the brake and a road surface friction sensor and a road surface friction coefficient detector which can be used as components of the antilock braking device.

Road surface friction sensor and coefficient detector


An imaging device includes a housing, a carrier arranged within the housing, an optical assembly supported by the carrier within the housing, and a plurality of non-optical components arranged within the housing. The carrier includes one or more frame components that are configured to rotate relative to the housing about one or more axes of rotation. The optical assembly includes one or more lenses and an image sensor. The optical assembly is movable relative to the housing via the carrier about the one or more axes of rotation. At least one of the non-optical components is (1) operably coupled to the optical assembly and (2) not supported by the carrier.

For many years, both amateur and professional photographers and videographers have struggled with blurred images due to instability of the camera mounting, motion by the user, motion and vibration transferred to the camera from a mobile transport, or some combination of these issues.
Currently, there exist several methods of image or camera stabilization. For example, images can be processed by software for stabilization. In another example, vibration of the camera may be mediated by individually stabilizing either a lens or a sensor, or stabilizing an overall imaging device as a whole. Such stabilization techniques are still unable to effectively eliminate vibrations or undesired movements having large amplitude and high frequency in a compact form.

Method and system for motion camera with embedded gimbal