An improved process for preparing mono-condensation derivatives of adipic acid with fewer steps and better purity is disclosed. In particular, this process comprises: (a) forming relatively concentrated and pure cyclic monomeric adipic anhydride by depolymerization and concentration starting from polymeric adipic anhydride; and (b) adding a condensation reactant having an active hydrogen, e.g., a primary or secondary amine, to said cyclic monomeric adipic anhydride to form the corresponding mono-condensation derivative of adipic acid.

Mono-amido-condensation derivatives of adipic acid can be used in the synthesis of the corresponding amidoperoxyacids. These peroxyacids are known in the art as bleaching compounds. These compounds provide effective bleaching over a wide range of temperatures, from 5.degree. C. to about 85.degree. C., and are effective for removing stains and/or soils from the surface of textiles, especially dingy soils.
Various processes for making mono-amides of adipic acid and the corresponding peroxyacids are known. For example, the peroxyacids can be prepared by the reaction of the carboxylic acids with hydrogen peroxide in the presence of sulfuric acid. Mono-amide of adipic acid can be synthesized by, first, reacting adipic acid with methanol to form the dimethyl ester. Ammonia, or an amine, is reacted with the dimethyl ester to form a mixture of diamides, monoamides-monoesters, diesters, etc. Unreacted diester and methanol are recycled. Thereafter, this mixture is fractionated to isolate the desired monoamide-monoester. The monoamide-monoester is then selectively hydrolyzed to form the monoamide-acid.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,634,551, Burns et al., issued Jan. 6, 1987, teaches that amido acids can be prepared by the reaction of the corresponding acid chloride with the appropriate amine followed by the precipitation of the resulting amido acid. Stability of the peroxyacids formed thereafter is affected by the resulting chloride impurity, as well as metal contamination.
Because of their high melting points, peroxyacids and their precursors can be purified by precipitation and/or crystallization techniques. However, during crystallization any metal ions present can become entrapped in the crystals.
Moreover, organic acids also have a tendency to scavenge trace quantities of metal ions. Metal ion contamination reduces the stability of peroxyacids because they catalyze the decomposition of peroxyacids. Also, metal ions can affect the melting point of peroxyacids.
One object of the present invention is to improve the current process of making amido acids by reducing the number of reaction steps, by producing higher yields with better purity, and by reducing the number of by-products which need to be recycled.

Process for the preparation of mono-condensation derivatives of adipic acid


Methods and apparatus for producing a semiconductor on glass (SOG) structure include: bringing a first surface of a glass substrate into direct or indirect contact with a semiconductor wafer; heating at least one of the glass substrate and the semiconductor wafer such that a second surface of the glass substrate, opposite to the first surface thereof, is at a lower temperature than the first surface; applying a voltage potential across the glass substrate and the semiconductor wafer; and maintaining the contact, heating and voltage to induce an anodic bond between the semiconductor wafer and the glass substrate via electrolysis.

The present invention relates to the manufacture of a semiconductor-on-insulator (SOI) structure using an improved anodic bonding process.
To date, the semiconductor material most commonly used in semiconductor-on-insulator structures has been silicon. Such structures have been referred to in the literature as silicon-on-insulator structures and the abbreviation "SOI" has been applied to such structures. SOI technology is becoming increasingly important for high performance thin film transistors, solar cells, and displays, such as active matrix displays. SOI structures may include a thin layer of substantially single crystal silicon on an insulating material.
Various ways of obtaining SOI structures include epitaxial growth of silicon (Si) on lattice matched substrates. An alternative process includes the bonding of a single crystal silicon wafer to another silicon wafer on which an oxide layer of SiO2 has been grown, followed by polishing or etching of the top wafer down to, for example, a 0.05 to 0.3 micron layer of single crystal silicon. Further methods include ion-implantation methods in which either hydrogen or oxygen ions are implanted either to form a buried oxide layer in the silicon wafer topped by Si in the case of oxygen ion implantation or to separate (exfoliate) a thin Si layer to bond to another Si wafer with an oxide layer as in the case of hydrogen ion implantation.
Manufacture of SOI structures by these methods is costly. The latter method involving hydrogen ion implantation has received some attention and has been considered advantageous over the former methods because the implantation energies required are less than 50% of that of oxygen ion implants and the dosage required is two orders of magnitude lower.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,176,528 discloses a process that produces an SiOG structure. The steps include: (i) exposing a silicon wafer surface to hydrogen ion implantation to create a bonding surface; (ii) bringing the bonding surface of the wafer into contact with a glass substrate; (iii) applying pressure, temperature and voltage to the wafer and the glass substrate to facilitate bonding therebetween; (iv) cooling the structure to a common temperature; and (v) separating the glass substrate and a thin layer of silicon from the silicon wafer.
Although the manufacturing processes for making SOI structures is maturing, the performance of final products employing them is limited by the properties of the semiconductor material and the insulating substrate. Accordingly, it is desirable to continue to advance the physical, electrical, thermal, and optic characteristics (as well as other characteristics) of the SOI structures.

Semiconductor on insulator and methods of forming same using temperature gradient in an anodic bonding process


A method of operating a first node to generate a secret key for encrypting wireless transmissions between the first node and a second node. The method comprises receiving a first training signal comprising a plurality of subcarriers from the second node and constructing a matrix from the frequency responses of each of the plurality of subcarriers of the first training signal at the first node. A singular value decomposition of the matrix is computed; and a secret key is derived from one or more singular vectors of the singular value decomposition.

Symmetric key techniques for securing a wireless transmission use the same secret (private) key to encrypt and decrypt a message. Such a secret key must therefore be known to both the transmitter and receiver of the message, but must not be known to or determinable by any eavesdroppers in order to guarantee the security of the message. In order to minimise vulnerabilities from wirelessly distributing or reusing secret keys, pairs of wireless devices may be configured to generate secret keys themselves using random properties of wireless channels between them.
Survey on channel reciprocity based key establishment techniques for wireless systems (Wang et al. Wireless Networks, vol 21, pp. 1835-1845, 2015) presents examples of methods of generating secret keys by quantising received signal strengths, frequency-phase information, or channel impulse response.

Secret key generation for wireless channels


Provided is a transmission line transformer having increased signal efficiency. The transmission line transformer is formed on an integrated circuit (IC), wherein a first transmission line disposed in one direction. Second and third transmission lines have same length direction as the first transmission line and are spaced apart from each other in a lateral direction above or below the first transmission line. Accordingly, an area of the first transmission line and areas of the second and third transmission lines, which face each other, are increased, thereby improving a coupling factor. Also, since a secondary transmission line is divided into two regions and uses the second and third transmission lines that have narrower widths than the first transmission line, parasitic capacitance components generated between the first through third transmission lines and a semiconductor substrate may be decreased.

A transformer that is one of common devices used in a high-frequency integrated circuit (IC) for a wireless communication system is used to convert impedance or combine electric powers. FIG. 1 is a diagram of a conventional transmission line transformer, wherein a primary transmission line 110 and a secondary transmission line 120 are formed on a semiconductor substrate. Also, primary ports 130-1 and 130-2 are connected to each end of the primary transmission line 110 and secondary ports 140-1 and 140-2 are connected to each end of the secondary transmission line 120. Referring to a cross-sectional view 150 taken along a line A-A′ of FIG. 1, an insulator is disposed between the semiconductor substrate and the primary and secondary transmission lines 110 and 120.
FIG. 2 is a diagram for describing a principle of the conventional transmission line transformer of FIG. 1, wherein when a current is supplied to the primary transmission line 110 in a direction shown in FIG. 2, a current is induced to the secondary transmission line 120 in an opposite direction. Also, if the conventional transmission line transformer is ideal and thus lossless, a current strength in the secondary transmission line 120 is the same as a current strength in the primary transmission line 110.
In the conventional transmission line transformer of FIG. 1, highest layer metal lines available in semiconductor processes are used for the primary and secondary transmission lines 110 and 120, because when a distance between a metal line forming a transmission line transformer and a semiconductor substrate is decreased, a parasitic capacitance component is generated between the metal line and the semiconductor substrate, and thus a signal power loss is generated on the semiconductor substrate due to a magnetic field generated in the metal line.
Also, the current (hereinafter, a secondary current) of the secondary transmission line 120 is induced by the current (hereinafter, a primary current) of the primary transmission line 110 according to a magnetic field formed around the secondary transmission line 120 of the conventional transmission line transformer by the primary current. Generally, a coupling factor is used as an index indicating the strength of the secondary current induced by the primary current, and in order to increase the coupling factor, the magnetic field formed by the primary current needs to largely affect the secondary transmission line 120 of the conventional transmission line transformer. Accordingly, the areas of the primary and secondary transmission lines 110 and 120 facing each other need to be increased. However, the areas may be increased by increasing lengths of the primary and secondary transmission lines 110 and 120, but a power loss may be generated in the conventional transmission line transformer due to parasitic resistance components of the metal lines generated accordingly.
FIG. 3 is a transmission line transformer suggested instead of the conventional transmission line transformer. Referring to a cross-sectional view 350 of the transmission line transformer of FIG. 3, a primary transmission line 310 and a secondary transmission line 320 are disposed in same locations of different layers on a semiconductor substrate. Accordingly, primary ports 330-1 and 330-2 connected to the primary transmission line 310 and secondary ports 340-1 and 340-2 connected to the secondary transmission line 320 are disposed in same locations of different layers.
Parasitic resistance components that are same as those generated in the conventional transmission line transformer of FIG. 1 are generated in the transmission line transformer of FIG. 3, but a coupling factor is largely increased as areas of the primary and secondary transmission lines 310 and 320 facing each other are increased. However, at this time, a highest layer metal line and a lower layer metal line are used, and thus a distance between a metal line and a semiconductor substrate is decreased. Accordingly, a signal power loss caused by the semiconductor substrate is increased more than the conventional transmission line transformer of FIG. 1. Also, since the areas of the primary and secondary transmission lines 310 and 320 facing each other are largely increased, the transmission line transformer sensitively reacts to a signal change or a surrounding environment change.

Transmission-line transformer in which signal efficiency is maximised

Soongsil University Research Consortium Techno-Park


Direct oxidation of propylene to propylene oxide is accomplished using alkaline earth metal compound-supported silver catalysts containing tungsten and potassium promoters. In one embodiment of the invention, the tungsten promoter and the potassium promoter are simultaneously introduced through the use of potassium tungstate. Catalysts of this type exhibit unusually high propylene oxide productivity when carbon dioxide is present in the feedstream.

The direct oxidation of ethylene to ethylene oxide by molecular oxygen is well-known and is, in fact, the method used currently for commercial production of ethylene oxide. The typical catalyst for such purpose contains metallic or ionic silver, optionally modified with various promoters and activators. Most such catalysts contain a porous, inert support or carrier such as alpha alumina upon which the silver and promoters are deposited. A review of the direct oxidation of ethylene in the presence of supported silver catalysts is provided by Sachtler et al. in Catalyst Reviews: Science and Engineering, 23 (1&2), 127-149 (1981).
It is also well-known, however, that the catalysts and reaction conditions which are best suited for ethylene oxide production do not give comparable results in the direct oxidation of higher olefins such as propylene. The discovery of processes capable of providing propylene oxide by vapor phase direct oxidation in higher yields than are presently attainable thus would be most desirable.
The use of molybdenum-promoted supported silver catalysts as propylene epoxidation catalysts is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,625,084. While such catalysts are capable of producing propylene oxide at relatively high selectivities when the feedstream contains carbon dioxide, the rate at which propylene oxide is formed (as measured by the concentration of PO in the reactor effluent) unfortunately is quite sensitive to the carbon dioxide concentration. That is, as increasing amounts of CO.sub.2 are introduced into the feedstream, the proportion of reacted propylene being converted to propylene oxide becomes greater but the proportion of propylene in the feedstream which is reacted drops significantly, the net result being that the quantity of epoxide produced per unit volume of propylene processed decreases. It would thus be highly desirable to develop direct oxidation catalysts and processing conditions which will permit propylene oxide productivity to be maintained at high levels over a broad range of carbon dioxide concentrations.
According to U.S. Pat. No. 4,007,135, the addition of a number of elements, in particular one of the group consisting of sodium, cesium, rubidium and potassium in combination with at least one member selected from the group consisting of copper, gold, zinc, cadmium, mercury, niobium, tantalum, molybdenum, tungsten, vanadium, chromium, calcium, magnesium, strontium and barium, improves the properties of alpha-alumina-supported silver catalysts used for the preparation of alkylene oxides and having a silver content between 3 and 15 wt. %. This patent teaches that relatively low concentrations of tungsten (from 0.052 to 2570 ppm by weight, based on the final catalyst) are used for said amounts of silver. However, the patent does not teach which tungsten compounds could be used for such purpose, does not specify the nature of tungsten's alleged effect on the properties of the silver catalysts, and does not provide any working examples showing the use of tungsten-containing catalysts.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,407,888 notes that tungsten-doped silver catalysts have not been used in industrial processes for the preparation of ethylene oxide. According to the patent, the reason for this is that doping with tungsten reduces catalyst activity to such an extent that the high temperatures required for long-term usage of these catalysts cannot be attained in the pressure-water-cooled tube bundle reactors normally used for industrial ethylene oxide production. The patent proposes alternative silver catalysts containing one or more alkali metals and also tungsten as promoters on a porous support substantially consisting of low surface area alpha-aluminum oxide and containing tungsten in a concentration not to exceed 990 ppm weight based on the total catalyst.
Additional publications disclosing tungsten-modified supported silver catalysts include U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,808,738, 4,820,675, 5,011,807, 5,145,824, 5,364,826, 5,380,885, 5,447,897, and 5,502,020, Japanese Kokai No. 81-105,650 (Chem. Abstracts 95:2037182), European Pat. Pub. Nos. 480,538 and 480,539, and International Publication Nos. WO95/01837 and WO96/13493.

Propylene oxide process using alkaline earth metal compound-supported silver catalysts containing tungsten and potassium promoters


Prior to a hydraulic fracturing treatment, the requisite injection rate for a desired propped fracture length of a fracture may be estimated with knowledge of certain physical properties of the proppant and transport fluid such as fluid viscosity, proppant size and specific gravity of the transport slurry as well as fracture geometry and the fracture length.

In a typical hydraulic fracturing treatment, fracturing treatment fluid comprising a transport slurry containing a solid proppant, such as sand, is injected into the wellbore at high pressures.
The transport of sand, as proppant, was examined in Biot and Medlin, "Theory of Sand Transport in Thin Fluids", SPE 14468, Sep. 22-25, 1985, which is herein incorporated by reference. In Biot-Medlin, it was determined that the mechanics of sand transport are principally controlled by horizontal fluid velocity, U, of the transport fluid containing the proppant (transport slurry). The velocity ranges for transport mechanisms were defined in terms of the ratio vt/U as follows:                vt/U>0.9 Transport by rolling or sliding;        vt/U≈0.9 Critical condition of pick-up;        0.9>vt/U>0.1 Bed Load transport;        vt/U<0.1 Suspension transportwherein Vt is the terminal settling velocity for the transport slurry. Thus, at very low velocities, proppant moves only by sliding or rolling. The upper limit of this range is determined by a critical proppant pick-up velocity. At intermediate velocities, a fluidized layer is formed to provide bed load transport. At high velocities, proppant is carried by suspension within the transport fluid.
Once natural reservoir pressures are exceeded, the fluid induces fractures in the formation and proppant is placed in the created fractures to ensure that the fractures remain open once the treating pressure is relieved. Highly conductive pathways, radiating laterally away from the wellbore, are thereby provided to increase the productivity of oil or gas well completion. The conductive fracture area is defined by the propped fracture height and the effective fracture length.
In the last years, considerable interest has been generated in recently developed ultra-lightweight (ULW) proppants which have the requisite mechanical properties to function as a fracturing proppant at reservoir temperature and stress conditions. Hydraulic fracturing treatments employing the ULW proppants have often resulted in stimulated well productivity well beyond expectations. ULW proppants are believed to facilitate improved proppant placement, thus providing for significantly larger effective fracture area than can be achieved with previous fluid/proppant systems. Improvements in productivity have been attributable to the increased effective fracture area from use of such ULW proppants.
In light of cost economics, there has also recently been a renewed interest in slickwater fracturing which uses relatively non-damaging fracturing fluids. The most significant disadvantage associated with slickwater fracturing is poor proppant transportability afforded by the low viscosity treating fluid. Poor proppant transport results in the tendency of proppants to settle rapidly, often below the target zone, yielding relatively short effective fracture lengths and consequently, steeper post-stimulation production declines than may be desired. Post-frac production analyses frequently suggests that effective fracture area, defined by the propped fracture height and the effective fracture length, is significantly less than that designed, implying either the existence of excessive proppant-pack damage or that the proppant was not placed in designated areal location.
Three primary mechanisms work against the proper placement of proppant within the productive zone to achieve desired effective fracture area. First, fracture height typically develops beyond the boundaries of the productive zone, thereby diverting portions of the transport slurry into non-productive areas. As a result, the amount of proppant placed in the productive area may be reduced. Second, there exists a tendency for the proppant to settle during the pumping operation or prior to confinement by fracture closure following the treatment, potentially into non-productive areas. As a result, the amount of proppant placed in productive areas is decreased. Third, damage to the proppant pack placed within the productive zone often results from residual fluid components. This causes decreased conductivity of the proppant pack.
Efforts to provide improved effective fracture area have traditionally focused on the proppant transport and fracture clean-up attributes of fracturing fluid systems. Still, the mechanics of proppant transport are generally not well understood. As a result, introduction of the transport slurry into the formation typically is addressed with increased fluid viscosity and/or increased pumping rates, both of which have effects on fracture height containment and conductivity damage. As a result, optimized effective fracture area is generally not attained.
It is desirable to develop a model by which proppant transport can be regulated prior to introduction of the transport slurry (containing proppant) into the formation. In particular, since well productivity is directly related to the effective fracture area, a method of determining and/or estimating the propped fracture length and proppant transport variables is desired. It would further be highly desirable that such model be applicable with ULW proppants as well as non-damaging fracturing fluids, such as slickwater.

Method of fracturing a subterranean formation at optimized and pre-determined conditions


A system and processing methods for refining a convolutional neural network (CNN) to capture characterizing features of different classes are disclosed. In some embodiments, the system is programmed to start with the filters in one of the last few convolutional layers of the initial CNN, which often correspond to more class-specific features, rank them to hone in on more relevant filters, and update the initial CNN by turning off the less relevant filters in that one convolutional layer. The result is often a more generalized CNN that is rid of certain filters that do not help characterize the classes.

The approaches described in this section are approaches that could be pursued, but not necessarily approaches that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated, it should not be assumed that any of the approaches described in this section qualify as prior art merely by virtue of their inclusion in this section.
Plant disease detection is important in agriculture. Today, an automated approach often involves classifying plant photos, which can be implemented by applying a convolutional neural network (CNN). A CNN has a relatively complex structure. A typical CNN can include a series of convolution blocks, each comprising a convolutional layer, a pooling layer, and a rectified linear unit (RELU) layer. Each convolutional layer then includes multiple filters respectively corresponding to features of an image. The complex structure may provide specificity to the classification and increase accuracy of the classification result.
However, symptoms of a plant disease can appear in various forms. To detect a plant disease, sometimes a single CNN built from a relatively small training set does not suffice. FIG. 7 illustrates sample photos of two plants grown under different conditions but infected by a common plant disease. The photos show corn leaves, and the common plant disease is grey leaf spot (GLS). The image 702 shows a leaf that was inoculated (disease inoculated on purpose), while the image 704 shows a leaf that was not inoculated. The two photos show similar lesions overall, but the lesions in the image 702, such as the lesion 706, have smoother shapes on a cleaner background, while the lesions in the image 704, such as the lesion 708, have more jagged shapes on a busier background, which might include not only a leaf but the soil, for example. Therefore, one CNN that is designed to recognize GLS from photos of inoculated leaves may not recognize GLS from photos of non-inoculated leaves, and vice versa.
Given the large number of plant diseases and environmental factors and the frequent challenge to obtain enough samples for training digital models to detect plant diseases, it would be helpful to have an approach that can recognize multiple diseases across various environmental factors with satisfactory efficiency and accuracy without requiring a specific volume of training data.

Detecting infection of plant diseases with improved machine learning


A cursory inspection of the device reveals a small "Funnel" but because the funnel (or device) is plugged at the base (or bottom) the name "Funny Funnel" was developed. Unlike a true funnel, the back is flat and higher than the rounded front. The highly visible area on the inside of back will be referred to as the "area of promotion," which may be used for advertising, logos, etc. Vehicle use requires a Velcro.RTM. "button" for support while home or industrial use requires a supportive base. In both instances the "funnel" can be easily removed for cleaning, etc. A burning cigarette is easily deposited because of the large opening at the top. The cigarette will extinguish itself in seconds and can be relit. The "funnel" shape of the device, the use of the Velcro.RTM. button and the "area of promotion" are new a new concept for cigarette extinguishers.

1.Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a device for extinguishing cigarettes, which is very easy to use, is simple in design and materials (and can therefore be mass-produced at low cost), and, most importantly, exhibits one or more exterior areas that can be used for advertisements, logos, and messages, thus making the device very attractive as a give-away or as a very inexpensive item, to be used for promotional activities.
2. Background
Numerous devastating fires, often in remote forest and brush areas (but also in houses, apartments, and mobile homes), are caused every year by the careless disposal of still-glowing cigarette butts, especially by glowing butts thrown out of automobile windows by drivers or passengers. Besides causing great economic damage to individuals, the environment, and the U.S. economy in general (thus affecting every taxpayer in the U.S.A. through Government-financed fire-fighting, restoration and reclamation), such carelessly started fires have also caused loss of lives, including the lives of firefighters tasked to extinguish or confine the fires. Such man-made catastrophes occur especially frequently in the dry western part of the U.S.A.
Most drivers and passengers of automobiles extinguish their cigarette butts by crushing them in the (sometimes very small) ashtrays installed for this purpose in automobiles, and most responsible smokers in living quarters use ashtrays, too. A small number of smokers, however, fail to use the designated ashtrays because of inattention or ignorance.
3. Description of the Prior Art
Several cigarette-extinguishing devices that go beyond simple ashtrays have been described in the patent literature of the past 50 years or so. Many of these devices are functional, as described in the patents, but none of them has found widespread use in the U.S.A. The results of our limited research suggest that the main reasons are the lack of motivation on the part of the potential users to bother with the sometimes cumbersome devices, combined with the slight inconvenience of using them, and the relatively high manufacturing costs and, therefore, high retail costs of the devices (notwithstanding the claims made in several of the above-mentioned patents that the devices are "simple and easy to manufacture" or "inexpensive to manufacture"). In recent years, the motivation of smokers to use safe, "positive" cigarette-extinguishing methods has increased because of increased public emphasis on, and awareness of, environmental issues; this is supported and enhanced by slogans and cartoon figures like Smokey, the Bear. However, cigarette-extinguishing devices are still virtually unknown to most of the potential users in the USA, and such devices are not generally available, if at all. Therefore, a device for extinguishing cigarettes is needed, which can be used in a variety of scenarios, is made of fire-resistant materials, is easy and safe to use, and, above all, is inexpensive and therefore readily accepted by the potential users. The acceptance by the potential users depends, in addition to genuine environmental and safety concerns and ease of use, mainly on two factors:
the device must be available at no or minimal cost, and/or PA1 the design and appearance of device must elicit a positive response from the users by appealing to some of the users' preferences, e.g., by displaying a certain design or logo (NRA, NBA, Smokey, Happy Face, etc.). PA1 national and international companies advertising either their logos or some specific products, such as oil companies, car makers, food, beverage, and cigarette manufacturers and distributors, theme parks (e.g., Disneyland), and the like; PA1 individual states (e.g., Florida), townships (e.g., Las Vegas), individual resorts and hotels or hotel chains (e.g., Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas), and the like; PA1 popular sports teams and sports events (football, baseball, basketball, golf, etc.) clubs and associations (e.g., Lions, Shriners, VFW, NRA, etc.), convention and exposition organizers (e.g., COMDEX, Expo, etc.), and the like; PA1 Governments entities (e.g., EPA, National Park Service, U.S. Forest Service, etc.).
To provide anything free of charge, or very cheap (e.g., below cost), in a free economy, an individual or a company must be willing to bear the manufacturing and distributing costs, or provide subsidies. In turn, there must be an incentive, a reason, for the sponsors to bear all or part of the cost. One such incentive is to provide the sponsor with the possibility to use the device for advertising his company or company products to the targeted users (and others being in the proximity of the device and thus also being exposed to such advertisements).
Sponsors and distributors who might find sponsoring such a device attractive include
None of the inventors who have been issued patents for cigarette extinguishers (the "prior art") has recognized the above-explained promotional features and requirements, especially the importance for adding an area of advertising space, features that are paramount to the successful introduction of such devices to the public. What is therefore deemed to be new and above the prior art is outlined below.


Disclosed are novel benzo-, naphtho- and phenanthrochromenes substituted by carbamated or ureated phenyls having the following general formula (I):

Photochromic compounds are those capable of reversible color change under the influence of electromagnetic radiation at certain wavelengths. For example, certain photochromic compounds may exhibit a different color when exposed to ultraviolet (UV) radiation or sunlight, and return to their initial colors when the such exposure ceases. Such returning to the initial color may be effected alternatively by thermal treatment and/or exposure to an electromagnetic radiation at a different wavelength.
Photochromic compounds find application in various fields, for example, for the manufacture of photochromic ophthalmic lenses, contact lenses, solar protection glasses, filters, camera optics or photographic apparatus optics or other optical devices and observation devices, glazing, decorative objects, bill elements or even for information storage by optical inscription (coding). The photochromic compounds, sometimes referred to as photochromic dyes, confer photochromic properties to these manufactured articles.
In the field of photochromic ophthalmic optics, and in particular the spectacle lens market, it is desired that a photochromic lens comprising one or more photochromic compounds has the following traits:    a high transmission in the absence of ultraviolet light;    a low transmission (high colorability) under solar irradiation;    acceptable coloration and discoloration kinetics;    a tint desired by the consumer (preferably grey or brown) with preferably a maintenance of the chosen tint during the coloration and discoloration of the lens;    maintenance of the performance and properties within a temperature range of 0-40° C.; and    a significant durability, as they are sophisticated and expensive products.
These characteristics are determined, inter alia, by the active photochromic compounds contained in the lens matrices, which must further be compatible with the matrices material, be it organic polymer or inorganic.
In addition, it is now understood that in order to obtain a desirable color of the photochromic ophthalmic lens, such as brown or grey, the use of a combination of at least two complementary photochromic dyes may be necessitated. Such complementary dyes exhibit different colors, viz., they have distinct maximal absorption wavelength in the visible range between 400-700 nm. This combination further imposes other technical requirements of the photochromic compounds. In particular, the coloration and discoloration kinetics of the (two or more) supplementary photochromic dyes may be advantageously essentially identical. The same applies for their stability over time and also for their compatibility with the plastic or inorganic support material.
Among the numerous photochromic compounds described in the art, benzopyrans and naphthopyrans have been documented, for example, in the following literature: U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,567,605; 3,627,690; 4,826,977; 5,200,226; 5,238,981; 5,411,679; 5,429,744; 5,451,344; 5,458,814; 5,651,923; 5,645,767; 5,698,141; WO-A-95 05382; FR-A-2,718,477; WO-A-96 14596; and WO-A-97 21698. Generally, the photochromic compounds have the following reduced formulae (F1), (F1′) and (F1″):
(F1)(F1′)(F1″)benzopyrans2H-naphthopyrans3H-naphthopyrans
U.S. Pat. No. 5,645,767 describes naphthopyrans (F2) having an indeno group linked to the 5- and 6-carbons of the 2H-naphthopyran skeleton:

U.S. Pat. No. 5,651,923 describes 2H-naphthopyrans (F3, F4) having a naphthofurano or benzo group linked to the 5- and 6-carbons of the 2H-naphthopyran skeleton:

U.S. Pat. No. 5,783,116 describes derivatives of 2H-naphthopyrans (F5, F6) having a non-substituted alicyclic group:

WO 01/36406 discloses 3H-naphthopyran derivatives (F7, F8) having a benzo 5- or 6-membered aliphatic ring linked to the 5- and 6-carbon of the 3H-naphthopyran skeleton:

U.S. Pat. No. 6,506,538 describes a group of photochromic 2H-naphthopyran compounds having the following general formula (F9) wherein the annelated ring (A) can be (F9-1), (F9-2), (F9-3), (F9-4) and (F9-5):
(F9)(F9-1)(F9-2)(F9-3)(F9-4)(F9-5)
These compounds were described in the above references to have photochromic properties. However, in reality, even though these compounds may have one or more of the desired properties described supra, such as a high transmission in the absence of ultraviolet and a high colorability under solar irradiation, few, if any, of the compounds described hitherto have the complete combination of the properties sought after which are necessary for the production of satisfactory articles. In particular, few, if any, of these compounds is intrinsically grey or brown. Therefore, the necessity of using an additional photochromic dye in order to obtain one of these two tints still exists.
In this context, it would be useful to be able to modify the photochromic compounds of each coloration such that final adjustment of the tint is permitted. Taking the formula (F9) supra as an example, where R1 or R2 is a phenyl, the presence of a donor group on the para position can lead to variable amount of bathochromic shift of the absorption band of the photochromic compounds. However, it has been found that the bathochromic shift obtained by substituting an alkoxy group with an amino group is too large (30-40 nm at minimum). Therefore there exists the necessity of obtaining an intermediate shift.
Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2001-114775 describes compounds where the group R1 is a phenyl substituted on the para position by an amine substituted by electro-attracting groups such as sulphonyls or acetyls. An example compound as disclosed in this document has the following formula (F10):

The absorption wavelengths were therefore significantly lowered (−15 to −30 nm) relative to the comparative examples having morpholino groups. On the other hand, the discoloration kinetics of the compounds is significantly compromised as discovered by the present inventors, though this was not mentioned in this document.
The inventors of the present invention discovered a group of new compounds having a combination of the desired bathochromic shift in their absorption bands compared with analogous compounds having alkoxy, and, unexpectedly, advantageous photochromic properties, notably more rapid discoloration than those having sulphonyls or acetyls.

Benzo-, naphtho- and phenanthrochromene substituted by carbamated or ureated phenyls, preparation thereof and compositions and articles containing them

Abstract: wherein R1 represents a group

Abstract: their preparation, photochromic compositions and articles containing them. This family of compounds have interesting and useful photochromic properties, especially in terms of absorption band and discoloration speed.


The present application provides novel regulatory elements including promoter sequences from marine microorganisms. The application further discloses DNA constructs containing these novel regulatory elements; transgenic cells, transgenic non-human organisms, and progeny containing these novel regulatory elements. Methods of modifying, producing, and using the regulatory elements are also disclosed. The regulatory elements disclosed herein are particularly suited for use in Nannochloropsis and other microalgae.

Modern genetic engineering offers tremendous opportunities to develop biotech organisms with commercially desirable characteristics or traits. Particularly, recent advances in molecular biology and transgenic technologies have greatly accelerated the introduction of new genes and, hence new traits into commercial crops. The proper expression of a desirable transgene in a transgenic organism is widely considered to be a requisite requirement to achieve this goal. Nucleic acid elements having gene regulatory activity, i.e. regulatory elements such as promoters, leaders, enhancers, introns and transcription termination regions, are polynucleotide molecules which play an integral part in the overall expression of genes in living cells. Isolated regulatory elements that function in a crop of interest are therefore useful for modifying the crop's characteristics through the methods of genetic engineering.
In the field of algae biotechnology, transgenesis of algae is a complex and fast growing technology. A powerful driving force in algal transgenesis is the promising prospect of using genetically modified algae as bioreactors. In fact, non-transgenic algal biotechnology has been deployed in many technology areas including nutrition, aquaculture, production of chemicals and pharmaceuticals, etc. In particular, non-transgenic microalgae have proven their utility and tractability as a production system for therapeutic or industrial products and, in this respect, algae now seem poised to become the "green" alternative to current mammalian, yeast, insect, or even bacterial recombinant production systems. Furthermore, recent progress in algal transgenesis promises a much broader field of application in molecular farming, which is generally defined as the production of proteins or metabolites that are valuable to medicine or industry, and has become increasingly feasible with transgenic algal systems. Indeed, the ability of transgenic algae to produce high levels of recombinant antibodies, vaccines, insecticidal proteins, or bio-hydrogen has already been demonstrated in several microalgal species.
As a result, there is a continuing need for novel genetic tools and methods that would facilitate the genetic engineering of algae to further enhance their physiological properties. In particular, several microalgae have recently attracted considerable attention as being potentially suitable for algal biofuel production. However, optimization of culture conditions for selected microalgal species has been reported to be potentially a challenge, because the fatty add content of individual species and isolates can vary considerably under different environmental conditions in laboratory culture and in large-scale production field. For these reasons and others, it is of immense social, ecological and economic interests to develop novel algal strains that have enhanced nutritional value, improved resistance to biotic contaminations, and tolerance to harsh conditions such as high salinity and high temperature. Therefore, more efficient methods and systems for large-scale cultivation of microalgae are critical if algal-derived biofuels are to become a reality. If these issues can be resolved, algae will potentially represent a far more superior source of biofuel than terrestrial plants. Optimization of biofuel production in algal systems should further improve the potential of this auspicious technology in the future.
However, despite the availability of many molecular tools, the genetic modification of algae, particularly microalgae, is often constrained by an insufficient expression level or temporally nonspecific expression of the engineered transgene. In addition, while previous work has provided a number of regulatory elements that can be used to affect gene expression in transgenic algae, there is still a great need for novel regulatory elements with beneficial expression characteristics. One example of this is the need for regulatory elements capable of driving gene expression preferentially in different algal growth phases. On the other hand, there exists a need for regulatory elements capable of driving gene expression constitutively throughout cell life cycle and/or unaffected by growth conditions. Thus, the identification of novel molecular tools including genes, vectors, regulatory elements (e.g., promoters), etc. that function in various types of algae and in distinct growth phases and growth conditions will be useful in developing enhanced varieties of algae.
Furthermore, as the field of algal transgenesis develops and more genes become accessible, a greater need exists for algae transformed with multiple genes. These multiple exogenous genes typically need to be transcriptionally controlled by separate regulatory sequences. For example, some transgenes need to be expressed in a constitutive manner whereas other genes should be expressed at certain developmental stages or in specific compartments of the transgenic cell. In addition, multiple regulatory sequences are also needed in order to avoid undesirable molecular interactions which can result from using the same regulatory sequence to control more than one transgene.


Aspects of the technology described herein provide for controlled access to a secure computing resource. A first device may receive a child token from a second device having a parent token. The child token may grant the first device access to a subset of data accessible to the second device. Based on a degree of physical proximity between the first device and a third device associated with a user satisfying a threshold proximity, an indication of a user identifier for the user may be received from the third device. A request for access to a secure computing resource associated with the user may be sent to the second device. The request may include the indication of the user identifier and an indication of the secure computing resource. Access to the secure computing resource may be granted based on the child token and the indication of the identifier.

Consumers desire personalized retail experiences. A personalized experience may be provided for a particular consumer by leveraging data about the consumer, such as the consumer's purchase history data (e.g., the style and size of an item purchased, as well as the date on which it was purchased) or other consumer-approved actions and services in which the consumer is engaged with a company. A retailer or manufacturer may maintain such data about consumers of their products and services, and access to the data must be controlled in a manner that safeguards the data and the consumer's privacy.

Controlling access to a secure computing resource


An on-chip cache memory is used to provide a high speed access mechanism to frequently used channel state information for operation of a DMA device that supports multiple virtual channels in a high speed network interface. When an access to a particular channel state is performed, e.g., by a host processor or the DMA device, the cache is first accessed and if the state information is not located currently in the cache, external memory is read and the state information is written to the cache. As the cache does not store all the states stored in external memory, replacement algorithms are utilize to determine which channel state information to remove from the cache in order to provide room to store a recently accessed channel. A doubly linked list is used to track the most recently used channel. As cached channel information is accessed, the corresponding entry is moved to the top of the list. The doubly linked list provides a rapid apparatus and method for updating pointers to the cache. Top and bottom pointers are maintained, pointing to the most recently used and least recently used channels. When a channel is used, it moved to the top of the list. When channel data is moved from external memory to the cache, the bottom pointer points to the channel data to be removed from the cache.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to providing a multichannel direct memory access (DMA) engine to support transfer of data across multiple channels in a multi-channel high speed network.
2. Art Background
Certain applications dictate the need for multiple DMA mechanisms. One technique is to provide multiple sets of DMA hardware to support the multiple devices that are performing DMA transfers. Another technique is to provide one set of DMA hardware that is configurable to support DMA transfers between a plurality of devices and memory. However, configuration or state information for each device must be maintained for rapid access by the DMA hardware. For speed purposes, it is desirable to maintain all the state information in memory located on the same component as the DMA hardware. If kept in on-chip memory, however, the cost can be significant if a large number of devices are supported.

Method and apparatus for multiple channel direct memory access control


The invention relates to a device in which at least two liquid or semi-liquid reagents can be stored separately. When used, the inventive device enables precise, chronologically defined, sequential reagent discharge in a reaction chamber by means of a linear movement without any prior mixing of said reagents.

This is a 371 of International Application No. PCT/EP98/07413 filed Nov. 19, 1998.
The present invention refers to a device allowing to store a plurality of liquid or semi-liquid (flowable) reagents, required for a given chemical or biochemical synthetic or test reaction, in integrated form, i.e. in a single container that is easy to produce and to handle, and, in use, the device further allowing for an exact dosing of such reagents in a reaction chamber without any prior mixing of the reagents by a simple linear movement of a plunger.
Integrated storage and defined dosing of a plurality of liquid or semi-liquid reagents is of great importance for the production of ready-to-use chemical and pharmaceutical products which are chemically complex, i.e. wherein various, sometimes very different reagents that react with each other have to be supplied in doses into a reaction chamber in a chronologically defined sequence, and which also must be easy to produce and to handle by the user. A sufficiently simple handling is realized in particular when the user can trigger the dosing by only a few unmistakable manipulations.
Important fields of application are the chemical and biochemical fast analytics and in active substance formulating for pharmaceutical purposes. Clinical fast analytics is of particular commercial importance. Here, simple integrated systems are needed that operate reproducibly and, possibly, quantitatively, which can be used in decentral applications (doctor""s offices, pharmacies, households) even by non-skilled users. A typical list of requirements concerning the handling and reliability has been established In the US in the guidelines to the CLIA (clinical laboratory improvement act).
A device presently used in fast analytic for storing and dosing of a maximum of three different reagents is described In U.S. Pat. No. 4,943,522. Here, a biochemically active component is applied to a strip-shaped glass tissue and dried thereon. Dried, it can be stored over a longer period. The glass tissue is placed over a strip of cellulose nitrate. In use, a liquid sample is applied that penetrates the glass tissue due to capillary forces acting and dissolves the reagents stored there, thus initiating a partial reaction. The reaction mixture will then penetrate further Into the cellulose nitrate membrane, where a second and, possibly, a third reactive component is present reacting further with the sample. This method is not practical for reactions requiring more than three reagents, since, in general, mixing an/or netting reactions between the components occur that are difficult to control. Intermediate washing steps to avoid these effects are not possible. Specifically, the device does not provide a very good quantitative evaluation since the basic phyisco-chemical steps such as drying, reconstitution and lateral diffusion are very sensitive to interferences and cannot well be reproduced without great technical effort. Therefore, preference is given to liquid reagents. A corresponding device for storing and dosing is described in WO/A/9718895. It Is based on the use of at least two rigid storage receptacles/containers holding the reagents. The containers are disposed one behind the other and are each closed at the bottom by means of a closing means that can be opened through a trigger means. In use, the reagents flow through the open bottoms due to gravity and into the underlying container and from the last container out from the device and into the reaction chamber. On principle, the dosing may be performed in two ways. Either, the closing means of the individual containers are opened sequentially, starting with the container nearest the outlet opening to the reaction chamber, the higher container being opened only when the lower container is empty, or all containers are opened simultaneously with liquids from higher containers flowing into a lower container not yet empty. In the first case, a multiple triggering of the dosing is necessary. This is tedious to the user and not acceptable for many applications. In the second case, partial mixing cannot be excluded. Generally, this leads to uncontrollable pre-reactions or dilution. The above application suggests to minimize these effects by neutral additives that change the density and the viscosity of the liquids. However, this does not exclude reactions at phase interfaces and mixing caused by microturbulences.
Another disadvantage of the above device is the control of the dosing by gravity in combination with the flow resistance of the application device and, possibly, the connected reaction chamber. Since the flow resistance within the containers depends very strongly on the interfacial tensions of the liquids, small added amounts of surface active substances, e.g., can have strong effects on the flow characteristics. In applications where, for reaction-kinetic reasons, a reproducible outflow behavior of the reagents is required, this causes very large variations in the course of the reaction.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a device which enables, in a simple manner, a precise, chronologically defined and sequential discharge of at least two liquid or semi-liquid reagents into a reaction chamber by a single mechanical linear movement, without prior mixing of the reagents,
According to the present invention, a device is employed wherein the individual reagents are disposed one behind the other in the form of a reagent column, the individual reagents segregated by movable partitions that are slidably supported in a sealing manner at the inner surface of a cylindrical container holding the reagent column.
For dosing, the segregated reagent column is advanced towards and through an outlet opening, the reagents leaving the container accordingly and the partitions being advanced into a portion of the container that is below the inlet opening of the outlet channel. Here, the media contained in this portion of the container is pushed either into the environment or into the reaction chamber via a pressure compensation channel. In the first instance, the pressure compensation channel is open to the environment and the media is air. In the second instance, the pressure compensation channel is open to the reaction chamber and the media is a liquid to be dosed, e.g. a washing solution.
Further, a holding force generating unit is integrated in the device, which, together with the first lower partition, seen in the discharge direction, generates a pressure counteracting the linear movement and higher than the pressure generated by the pressure generating unit. Here, it is possible, for example, to provide a spring between the bottom of the receiving container and the first partition. A particularly simple solution is to use a first partition having a slightly higher friction that the subsequent partitions, due to a larger outer diameter. An analogous effect may be obtained if the receiving portion below the inlet opening of the outlet channels has a slightly smaller inner diameter, e.g., by 1-10%, than the superjacent portion of the receiving chamber, or if it has a higher friction due to special surface treatment.
In an advantageous development of the invention, it is provided that the pressure generating unit is a plunger or rod abutting the inner surface of the receptacle in a sealing manner and being slidable towards the first end of the receiving chamber. Since the topmost reagent volume in the reagent column is usually sealed off by a partition element, this partition element acts as a plunger onto which the rod of a pressure generating device acts. The pressure generating device may also be designed as a pneumatic pressure generating unit acting pneumatically on the topmost partition element. Hydraulic systems are also conceivable as the pressure generating unit.
Suitably, the outlet opening is joined by an outlet channel which extends beyond the first end of the receptacle. This outlet channel is disposed either outside or within the receiving chamber. When disposed within, it is designed as an outlet tubule whose end arranged in the receiving chamber can pierce the partition elements when these move towards the first end of the receptacle due to the pressure exerted by the pressure generating unit. Here, the outlet tubule directed opposite to this direction of movement.
Should the portion of the receiving chamber between the outlet opening and the relief opening merely hold air or a gas, it is suitable to direct the relief opening into the environment around the receptacle. It is also possible that a reagent is present in this portion of the receiving space. It is then suitable to have the relief opening in fluid communication with the outlet opening, for example, by making the relief opening terminate in the outlet channel.
Specifically, the holding force generating device is a unit increasing the friction between the lowermost partition element in an area between the outlet opening. The increased static friction thus obtained guarantees that at least the lowermost partition element is not moved any further when reaching the portion of the receiving chamber below the outlet opening, so that the pressure accumulated by the pressure generating unit is used to discharge the reagent above the lowermost partition element through the outlet opening. When the next partition element comes into the vicinity of the outlet opening and closes the same, the pressure from the pressure generating device will move the two overlying partition elements towards the first end of the receiving chamber until the upper one of these two partition elements is situated below the outlet opening. Now, the reagent of the volume above this partition element may flow off through the outlet opening. This process is repeated corresponding to the number of partition elements and reagent volumes.
Increased friction in the portion below the outlet opening of the receiving chamber may, for example, be effected by a corresponding treatment of the contacting surfaces of the lowermost partition element and the inner surface of the receiving chamber. It is also conceivable to provide a constriction in a portion of the receiving chamber below the outlet opening or to configure the lowermost partition element oversized with respect to the other partition elements, i.e. wider than the other partition elements. Finally, it is also conceivable to use a spring as the holding force generating unit whose resilience acts opposite to the direction of the partition elements along which these move under the action of the pressure from the pressure generating unit.
In this variant of the invention, the partitions are replaced with gas or liquid volumes. These gases or liquids are inert and substantially not miscible with the reagents. The liquids are hydrophobic. In the outlet opening, there is a hydrophilic membrane allowing only the reagents to pass but not the hydrphobic separating liquids or the gaseous separating volumes. In the initial state of the device according to this variant, a closure is arranged in the region of the outlet device dosing the same from inside. The use of liquid or gas volumes for separation requires the receptacle to be configured as a capillary. This capillary is open at its two opposite ends and has a branch adjoining the outlet opening.
Below the outlet opening, between the same and the lower first end of the capillary, the holding force generating device, already mentioned in connection with the partition elements of the first variant of the invention, is provided, now cooperating with the closure. Therefore, all above explanations regarding the holding force generating device apply analogously to the second variant of the invention.
The following is a detailed discussion of embodiments of the invention with reference to the drawings.

Device for sequential discharge of flowable reagents


Methods, machines, systems and machine-readable instructions for processing an image are described. In one aspect, the image is divided into a population of image blocks. Frequency domain vectors are generated from respective ones of the image blocks. Each of the frequency domain vectors includes a respective set of values corresponding to a set of transform coefficients. Preliminary estimates of quantization parameter values are determined from frequency distributions of the transform coefficient values in a set of the frequency domain vectors corresponding to a variable sample of the population. The variable sample is determined at least in part by at least one threshold. Values of quantization parameters are estimated from the preliminary estimates.

Digital images and video frames are compressed in order to reduce data storage and transmission requirements. In most image compression methods, certain image data is discarded selectively to reduce the amount of data needed to represent the image while avoiding substantial degradation of the appearance of the image.
Transform coding is a common image compression method that involves representing an image by a set of transform coefficients. The transform coefficients are quantized individually to reduce the amount of data that is needed to represent the image. A representation of the original image is generated by applying an inverse transform to the transform coefficients. Block transform coding is a common type of transform coding method. In a typical block transform coding process, an image is divided into small, non-overlapping rectangular regions (or "blocks"), which are subjected to forward transform, quantization and coding operations.
FIG. 1 shows a prior art method of compressing an image 10 in accordance with the JPEG compression format. In this method, if the original image 10 is not already specified in a preselected color space (e.g., the YCrCb color space), the original image 10 is converted into the preselected luminance-based color space (block 12). Each color plane of the image in the preselected color space corresponds to a respective image (i.e., an array of pixel values) that is processed individually as follows. The color components (e.g., the Cr and Cb color components) are downsampled (block 14). Each color plane is divided into blocks of pixels (e.g., 8×8 pixel blocks) (block 16). A DCT block transform is applied to each pixel block individually (block 18). The resulting DCT coefficients are quantized (block 20). In this process, the DCT coefficients are quantized to the closest integer multiples of the quantization parameter values corresponding to the frequencies of the DCT coefficients. That is, a quantized transform coefficient cij for a block is given by:
                                                                                c              _                                      i                                                                                j                                =                      round                                                                                (                                          c                                  i                                                                                j                                                            q                                  i                                                                                j                                                      )                                              (        1        )            where cij is the (i,j) transform coefficient and qij is the quantization parameter corresponding to the transform coefficient cij. The quantized transform coefficients are encoded using a lossless coding technique to produce a compressed image 22 (block 24).
FIG. 2 shows a prior art method of decompressing the compressed image 22. In this method, the compressed image data is losslessly decoded (block 26). The resulting quantized transform coefficients are dequantized (block 28). These dequantized coefficients ĉij are given by:ĉij=qij· cij  (2)
An inverse DCT block transform is applied to each of the dequantized transform coefficients (block 30). The resulting image blocks are assembled into the constituent color planes of the image (block 32). The color components (e.g., the Cr and Cb color components) are upsampled (block 34). If the image is not is already specified in the final color space (e.g., the RGB color space), the resulting image is converted from the preselected luminance-based color space (e.g., the YCrCb color space) to the final color space to produce the decompressed image 36 (block 38). The values of the original quantization parameters (qij) that were used to compress an image may be used in a variety of ways. For example, the quality of an image often is degraded by a block transform coding process, which may introduce discontinuities at the block boundaries in the reconstructed image and may introduce ringing artifacts near image boundaries. Many artifact reduction methods rely on the original values of the quantization parameters that were used to compress the images in order to reduce the appearance of artifacts that were introduced by block transform coding processes. The original quantization parameters also may be used to recompress an image without introducing additional compression artifacts into the image.
The JPEG compression standard allows the original quantization parameter values that were used to compress an image to be stored in the compressed image file. Many other image formats (e.g., a bitmap format, such as BMP), however, do not retain information about the quantization parameter values. As a result, information about the original quantization parameter values typically is lost in the process of decompressing JPEG images into other formats.
Different methods have been proposed for estimating the original quantization parameter values from a decompressed bitmap image. In general, these methods involve dividing the image into blocks, computing forward transforms of the image blocks, and, after the entire image has been processed, estimating the quantization parameter values based on histograms of the values of the forward transform coefficients in the image blocks. In some approaches, an optimization process (e.g., a maximum likelihood estimation process) is performed to evaluate likelihood functions that compute quantization parameter values by fitting the forward transform coefficient values to a model of the probability distribution function of the forward transform coefficient values.
Although the above-described methods are capable of obtaining estimates of the quantization parameter values, these methods are computationally intensive and require significant memory resources. For example, many of these methods process an entire image before the quantization parameter values are estimated and, therefore, the processing requirements increase with image size. These methods also store the histograms of coefficient values for each of the transform coefficients and, therefore, these methods require significant memory resources. In addition, the optimization processes that are performed by these methods are computationally intensive and therefore are not suitable in application environments, such as embedded environments, in which processing and memory resources are significantly constrained.

Estimating image compression quantization parameter values

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


A method for managing products in a refrigerator comprises the steps of: registering user information including a face image, in association with at least one vendor; after a refrigerator door is opened, photographing an external area around the refrigerator and then recognizing a user's face; while the door is closed after the opening of the refrigerator door, photographing the inside of a storage chamber of the refrigerator and processing the captured image to acquire product information of a product taken; storing the acquired product information of the taken product as a product use history, in association with the recognized user's face; and when receiving a user input, displaying a purchase recommendation product list per user with information of an associated vendor on the basis of the product use history. In an embodiment of the present invention, a refrigerator to which an IOT is applied may be provided.

A refrigerator is an apparatus for discharging cold air generated by a freezing cycle composed of a compressor, a condenser, an expansion valve, an evaporator, etc. to lower the temperature in the refrigerator so that foods or the like may be refrigerated or frozen.
When the door of a refrigerator is made opaque, a user cannot check foods stored in the inside of the refrigerator without opening the door of the refrigerator.
In order to overcome such an inconvenience, there is an example in which a refrigerator is implemented to have a door partially changed to be transparent so that foods stored in the inside of the refrigerator can be checked when a predetermined input is received. However, according to this method, it is difficult to check foods stored at the back side.
Also, in order to check stored foods through radio frequency identification (RFID) tags or the like, an RFID tag should be attached to each stored food.
Meanwhile, in order to manage user preferences for foods stored in a refrigerator even after the foods are checked, a user should enter preferred food names or collectively classify the preferences according to a predetermined criterion (e.g., adult, kid, etc.).
Thus, the history of the foods stored in the refrigerator cannot be efficiently managed, and thus the usability is degraded.

Refrigerator and method for managing products in refrigerator


A spooler is shown for a barcode information system. The spooler allows one printer to be assigned to one queue of the spooler, multiple printers to be assigned to a single queue; and a single printer to be assigned to multiple queues. The spooler is flexible in its configuration so as to allow print jobs to be distributed evenly among the various printers of the system. The printers of the system need not be the same and may be incompatible in that they communicate in different languages and/or they do not have the same format options. To minimize processing time, jobs may be terminated while in the process of printing. The jobs can later be restarted at the point in the job at which termination occurred. Further, format and graphic packets previously transmitted to a printer by the spooler for one job are not retransmitted to the same printer for subsequent jobs utilizing those same format and graphic packets so as to increase the efficiency of the system.

Barcode identification systems having a number of barcode printers are known for printing jobs that include barcodes and associated alphanumeric characters on a web of record members such as tags, labels and the like Typically, barcode printers can print jobs in a limited number of formats. The format of a tag or label defines the type of data fields, i.e., bar code fields, alpha fields, numeric fields, etc.; the position of the fields on the tag/label; the font used to print alphanumeric fields if more than one font is available; magnification and rotation factors if any; etc. as is well known to those in the art of barcode identification systems. Printers of various types often have different format options. For example, not all printers can print in the same fonts. Because of the differences in printer format options, a job having a format capable of printing on one printer typically will not print on a printer of a different type.
One known barcode identification system utilizes a number of incompatible barcode printers as well as compatible barcode printers. As used herein, incompatible printers refers to printers that do not communicate in the same language and/or do not have substantially the same format options. In this known barcode identification system, a different queue is provided for each type of printer in the system. Although incompatible printers cannot be assigned to the same queue, each queue can have assigned thereto a number of printers of the same family, i.e., compatible printers that communicate in the same language and are capable of printing data in the same formats The printer-queue assignment in this known system is such that each printer assigned to a queue must be able to print every job listed in that queue. When a printer becomes ready to print, the spooler of this system transfers to that printer the top priority job as identified in the queue to which the printer is assigned. Although this system provides a somewhat even distribution of jobs among compatible printers attached to a given queue, it does not provide load leveling among all printers in the system, i.e., among incompatible printers attached to different queues.
Other spoolers for barcode identification systems are known to distribute jobs in a round robin manner among compatible printers. These systems are even less flexible than the known system discussed above in that no load leveling occurs. More particularly, when distributing jobs to compatible printers in a round robin manner, the spooler assigns a first job to a first printer, the next job to a second printer and so on until the last printer is assigned a job. At this point the spooler returns to the first printer and assigns another job to it, repeating the process until each of the printers has a second job assigned. Assigning jobs to barcode printers in this manner is extremely inefficient since one printer might have a number of very small jobs assigned to it and sit idle for most of a day, whereas another printer might be assigned a number of very large jobs each of which might take an entire day to print.


The present invention relates to an improvement of an ionizing smoke sensor having one radiation source and a two chambered structure consisting of an internal ionization chamber housing an internal electrode having a radiation source and defined by an intermediate electrode, and an external chamber where smoke can flow in, defined by an external electrode and irradiated from the radiation source through an opening in the intermediate electrode. Hitherto, in an ionizing smoke sensor having one radiation source and a two chambered structure, there has been a problem in that the giving of misinformation and noinformation occur when a little amount of thread, moisture or dust invades or a current of air flows an internal ionization chamber through an opening and an external ionization chamber. In addition, the electric field in the internal ionization chamber loses its homogeneity because of the opening, hence V-I characteristics preferable for the internal ionization chamber can not be obtained. Furthermore, stable V-I characteristics can not be obtained since hardly any smoke can hardly flow into the internal ionization chamber because of the mesh structure. In the ionizing smoke sensor of the present invention, the above described problems are solved by forming the opening part in the intermediate electrode with a mesh structure having a rate of porosity more than or equal to 50%.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ionizing smoke sensor having one radiation source and a two chambered structure comprising of an internal ionization chamber housing an internal electrode having a radiation source and defined by an intermediate electrode, and an external chamber where smoke can flow in, defined by an external electrode and irradiated from the radiation source through an opening in the intermediate electrode.
2. Description of the Related Art
Hitherto, an ionizing smoke sensor having one radiation source and a two chambered structure, for example, the sensor shown in FIG. 8, has been known.
In FIG. 8, an internal ionization chamber 1 (internal chamber) and an external ionization chamber 2 (external chamber) are formed in a body cover 20 and an outer cover 30.
The internal ionization chamber 1 is defined by an insulating member 3 and an intermediate electrode 4 and so constructed that smoke can hardly flow in. An internal electrode 6 having a radiation source 5 which generates pairs of ions is housed in this ionization chamber 1.
The external ionization chamber 2 is defined by an external electrode 7 which covers the outside of the internal ionization chamber 1 and the intermediate electrode 4. A smoke inflow entrance is installed in the external electrode 7 so that smoke can flow in when a fire occurs.
As shown in FIG. 9, an opening 8 is mounted on a part of the intermediate electrode 4 dividing the internal ionization chamber 1 from the external ionization chamber 2 facing the radiation source 5. The radiation irradiated from the radiation source 5 can irradiate the external ionization chamber 2 through this opening 8 and ion pairs can be generated in the external ionization chamber 2.
The operation of this ionizing smoke sensor will be explained as follows.
When voltage is applied between the external electrode 7 and the intermediate 4 and between the intermediate electrode 4 and the internal electrode 6, a faint electric current flows due to the movement of the ion pairs generated by the radiation source 5 from the minus pole to the plus pole due to an electric field generated in each of the ionization chambers and V-I characteristics which generate a specified voltage between the electrodes are obtained.
When the smoke flows into the external ionization chamber 2, the ion electric current flowing between the intermediate electrode 4 and the external electrode 7 decreases and the voltage between the electrodes rises because the mobile speed of the pairs of ions decreases because of the attachment of ion pairs to smoke particles. Then the smoke sensor detects that the smoke concentration has reached a specified value based on the change in the V-I characteristics of the external ionization chamber 2 and sends a fire detecting signal.
However, in this conventional ionizing smoke sensor, since the relatively large opening 8 through which the radiation passes is installed in the intermediate electrode 4 to generate the specified ion pairs in the external ionization chamber 2, a problem occurs, namely, a little amount of thread, moisture, dust and so on which flows into the external ionization chamber 2 invade the internal ionization chamber 1 through the opening 8 and cause misinformation to be given, or a current of air which flows into the internal ionization chamber 1 from the external ionization chamber 2 through the opening 8 carries away the ion pairs, fluctuates the reference voltage and causes sensitivity change to be given.
In addition, since the part where the opening 8 is formed does not have the same function as the intermediate electrode, problems occur, namely, the electric field is hardly formed in the part of the internal ionization chamber 1 facing the opening 8 and hence a sensor having the internal ionization chamber 1 with good V-I characteristics can not be obtained.
Conventional ionizing smoke sensors are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,361,763 and 3,935,492.
Only a bar or a centerpiece is mounted on the opening hole of the intermediate electrode in the smoke sensor of U.S. Pat. No. 4,361,763, and this intermediate electrode is essentially the same as the intermediate electrode shown in FIG. 9 and has problems similar to those of the intermediate electrode shown in FIG. 9.
Although U.S. Pat. No. 3,935,492 discloses a structure having a meshed intermediate electrode, since the whole body of the intermediate electrode is meshed, there are problems in that it is easily affected by a current of air and the electric field is easily fluctuated by ion pairs being carried away.


Methods and apparatus for designing and producing programmable logic devices are provided. A logic design system may be used to analyze various implementations of a desired logic design for a programmable logic device integrated circuit. The logic design system may be used to produce configuration data for the programmable logic device in accordance with an optimized implementation. A logic circuit for a programmable logic device can be analyzed by taking into account the effects of hotspots, power supply voltage drops, and signal congestion on device performance. By modeling the performance of transistors and other components using position-dependent and signal-dependent variables such as temperature, voltage, and capacitance, the effects of congestion on device performance can be characterized and an optimum implementation of the logic design in a programmable logic device can be obtained.

This invention relates to programmable logic devices, and more particularly, to optimizing logic designs for programmable logic devices by taking into account the effects of congestion.
Programmable logic devices are a type of integrated circuit that can be programmed by a user to implement a desired custom logic function. In a typical scenario, a logic designer uses computer-aided design (CAD) tools to design a custom logic circuit. These tools use information on the hardware capabilities of a given programmable logic device to help the designer implement the custom logic circuit using the resources available on that given programmable logic device. To ensure that the customized programmable logic device performs satisfactorily, the computer-aided design tools optimize the placement and routing of resources on the device.
As semiconductor fabrication methods improve, it is becoming possible to fabricate transistors and other integrated circuit components with increasingly small dimensions. It is generally desirable to shrink component sizes and otherwise scale devices as much as possible to reduce costs and improve performance. However, as devices become smaller, the effects of circuit congestion become increasingly important to consider.
Congestion can lead to a number of problems. If circuits are spaced too closely or if too many components are active, the power supply voltage on certain power supply lines may droop due to current loading effects. Local heating can give rise to hotspots on a device, which can adversely affect circuit performance. Sometimes signals interact poorly with each other and produce crosstalk.
With conventional programmable logic device CAD tools, designs are optimized during placement and routing operations by considering resistance-capacitance (RC) circuit delay effects. Using this type of information, a conventional programmable logic device CAD tool may decide to move certain portions of logic on a programmable logic device to improve performance. If, for example, a certain block of logic must frequently access a hardwired multiplier circuit and a memory, the CAD tool can place that block of logic adjacent to the multiplier circuit and the memory, thereby reducing interconnect delays.
However, programmable logic device CAD tools do not adequately address the effects of congestion. For example, while it may be possible to estimate the operating temperature of a programmable logic device, existing tools are not able to identify hotspots or areas where supply voltages droop due to signal loading. It may be possible to estimate cross-talk noise on certain nodes in a circuit with existing tools, but existing tools are not able to optimize a circuit to reduce cross-talk problems. Moreover, it is not possible to use custom-logic or application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) design tools to address these issues, because those tools are incapable of creating custom logic designs for programmable logic devices.
It would therefore be desirable to be able to optimize programmable logic device designs by taking into account the effects of circuit congestion.

Methods for optimizing programmable logic device performance by reducing congestion


An infrared image sensor comprises, a substrate having an image area on which infrared radiation is made incident and an non-image area out of the image area, plural first heat-sensitive parts arranged in rows and columns on the image area, plural second heat-sensitive parts provided in the non-image area so as to correspond to the respective rows of the first heat-sensitive parts in the image area with the same thermoelectric conversion function as that of the first heat-sensitive parts, a bias current supply circuit supplying a bias current to the first heat-sensitive parts and second heat-sensitive parts, an output circuit outputting an electric signal of the first heat-sensitive parts, and a bias current control circuit controlling the bias current to be fed to the first heat-sensitive parts, according to an electric signal of the second heat-sensitive parts.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a non-cooled infrared image sensor requiring no cooling device, in particular, an infrared image sensor adopting a method of reading a signal by the passage of a bias current.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, as thermal infrared image sensors which need no cooling devices, infrared image sensors of vanadium oxide bolometer type and BST (Barium-Strontium-Titanate) pyroelectric type have been commercialized. These products comprise heat-sensitive parts which absorb infrared radiation and raise the temperature thereof, support legs for thermally separating the heat-sensitive parts from a silicon substrate, and horizontal address lines and vertical signal lines and the like for selecting pixels formed of the heat-sensitive parts. Each heat-sensitive part absorbs infrared radiation from a subject, and the rise in the temperature of the heat-sensitive part in absorption is sensed on the basis of change in the resistance or capacitance. Therefore, the support legs supporting the heat-sensitive part are configured to have a small cross section and a long length, to enhance their heat-insulating effects.
Among the products, in the method called "bolometer type" in which the rise in the temperature of the heat-sensitive part is detected on the basis of change in resistance, a bias current is fed for a certain period of time, to accumulate (integrate) signals by infrared radiation. Therefore, during the signal accumulating period, the heat-sensitive parts are heated by Joule heat generated by the bias current. The rise in the temperature caused by the Joule heat is greater than the rise in the temperature caused by absorption of infrared radiation from the subject, thus most of signals from the heat-sensitive parts is occupied by noise generated by the Joule heat. To cancel the noise, there have been proposed a method, in which an integrator circuit is provided for each column and charge for noise generated by Joule heat is removed through a reference resistor, and the like (for example, please refer to Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Pub. No. 9-284651).
However, such methods have the following problem. Specifically, the above canceling mechanism does not work, in the case where the temperature of the package on which the chip is mounted has changed, in particular, in the case where the temperature of the chip rapidly changes, such as directly after start of driving the chip. Further, much heat is radiated from the whole heat-sensitive parts, and contributes to change in the temperature of the chip.
As described above, in conventional thermal infrared image sensors, it is difficult to remove noise components generated by Joule heat in the case where the temperature of the chip rapidly changes, and this is a main cause of lowering the reliability of the sensors. Therefore, it has been desired to realize an infrared image sensor which is inexpensive and highly reliable and can effectively remove noise components accompanied by change in the temperature of the chip.


A flexible assembly for a display device and the display device are provided. The flexible assembly includes a flexible substrate, and a first output pad, a second output pad, a third output pad and a fourth output pad that are arranged on the substrate. The first output pad, the second output pad, the third output pad and the fourth output pad are sequentially arranged along a first direction and are spaced apart from each other. A pitch is between each output pad and an adjacent output pad, and the pitch is a sum of a spacing distance between each output pad and the adjacent output pad and a width of the adjacent output pad in the first direction. The pitch between the first output pad and the adjacent second output pad is smaller than the pitch between the third output pad and the adjacent fourth output pad.

Flexible display technology is a research hotspot in the field of display technology in recent years and is widely used due to advantages of lightness, thinness, good shock resistance and good impact resistance. At present, a display device manufactured by using a flexible panel includes a liquid crystal display device, an organic electroluminescent display device or an electrophoretic display device, which can be applied to manufacturing a smart card, a portable computer and an electronic paper, and the like.

Flexible assembly for display device and display device


The present invention provides a high frequency amplifier circuit and a microwave integrated circuit which allow easy development of various models having different operating frequencies and other properties and improve the yield of production.. The high frequency amplifier circuit of the present invention comprises a high frequency transistor and a matching circuit connected between a terminal of the transistor and an external connection terminal, wherein. the matching circuit has a variable capacitive element of which one end is connected to a terminal of the transistor and the other end is connected to the external connection terminal, and a short stub of which one end is connected to the other end of the variable capacitive element and the other end is directly grounded.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a high frequency amplifier circuit. More particularly, it relates to a high frequency amplifier circuit and a microwave integrated circuit used in microwave, sub-millimeter wave and millimeter wave bands.
2. Description of the Related Art
With the development of radio communications technologies, higher radio frequencies have come to be used and recently millimeter waves and sub-millimeter waves having frequencies beyond 20 GHz have been in use.
In amplifiers and MMIC (monolithic microwave integrated circuit) used at extremely high frequencies beyond 20 GHz, dispersion in the characteristics of active devices and dispersion in passive circuits greatly affect the circuit performance, thus making it difficult to achieve a high yield of production and presenting a hurdle against the effort of cost reduction. Also, in the stage of design or development, it is difficult to exactly determine the characteristics of active devices (equivalent circuit parameters) and the model parameters of passive circuits, and therefore target specifications can hardly be satisfied in a single trial fabrication. This situation has also resulted in a significant increase in the development cost. Also, because it takes a long period of time to develop one type of product, it has been difficult to allow small-lot production of various products having different characteristics such as frequency, gain and output power.

High frequency amplifier circuit and microwave integrated circuit


An engine for a planing-type boat can have a water jacket, which is provided in a main body of the engine and which is supplied with cooling water for cooling the engine. The water jacket can include a ceiling with its rearward portion higher than its forward portion. The water jacket can also include a water drain provided at the rear highest portion of the ceiling to discharge cooling water out of the water jacket. In addition, a head bolt fastening portion for receiving a bolt is provided on an outer side portion of the water jacket in the cylinder head, and a rib is provided in a portion of the water jacket that corresponds to the head bolt fastening portion.

1. Field of the Inventions
The present inventions relate to cooling systems for engines, and more particularly, an engine water jacket that can be provided on the upper side of an engine body.
2. Description of the Related Art
Certain typical water-cooled marine engines include a water jacket that is configured to cool the engine, including the cylinder block and cylinder head. The cooling systems of some of these marine engines are known as "open-loop" cooling systems, which use water from the body of water in which the associated boat is operating for cooling the engine.
For example, Japanese Patent Document JP-A-2002-161803 discloses such a water-cooled engine. In this design, the cooling jacket in the cylinder head has a generally horizontal ceiling.

Engine water jacket for water planing boat


An artificial eye system may include an extracorporeal unit mounted outside a user's body and an intracorporeal unit 3 mounted inside a user's eye. The extracorporeal unit 2 may include a visor and a power supply unit. The visor may include a primary coil, an image receiving element that receives a picture image, a light emitting element that transmits an electric stimulus signal produced based on an image signal from the image receiving element, and an eye-gaze point recognizing unit. The intracorporeal unit may include a secondary coil that is electro-magnetically induced by the primary coil, a light receiving element that receives the electric stimulus signal from the light emitting element, a signal processing circuit that processes the electric stimulus signal received by the light receiving element, and a plurality of electrodes that transmits the electric stimulus signal processed by the signal processing circuit to the retina.

Despite the recent advancement in medical technologies, an effective cure for blindness has not been devised yet. Blindness is not limited to a mere loss of a visual function but is a disease seriously affecting the patient's mental life and social life. Therefore, technologies for curing blindness are acutely demanded.
One of the blindness cure technologies is implemented in an artificial eye system designed to replace the function of a diseased part such as the retina or the optic nerve with an artificial entity. In general, the artificial eye system comprises an extracorporeal image receiving element and a nerve stimulating electrode implanted in an intracorporeal region. Image information received by the image receiving element is transmitted to the brain via the stimulating electrode. Therefore, at least an image information transmission system for transmitting the image information and a power supply system for supplying power to the electrode are needed.
However, the study of the artificial eye system has just started. Something, which is movable with a user (blind patient) and has the image information transmission system and the power supply system combined appropriately, has not yet been available.
The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances and has an object to provide an artificial eye system which has excellent usability and is practically feasible.


A method of generating a function, the function for assessing a parameter. The method includes: displaying a field for receiving a rule on a computer; entering a rule into the computer; transmitting the rule to a server; storing the rule on the server; and generating a function for assessing the parameter.

Many people have the need to make accurate assessments. A person may wish to purchase an automobile that has a specific color, engine size, condition, and mileage. However, choosing the "best" automobile may be difficult because of the large number of automobiles that are available for purchase. The person may also need to evaluate a number of employees based upon a large number of parameters. Such evaluations can be difficult and extremely laborious. Further, the person may need to evaluate which of a number of potential customers that he should spend limited marketing dollars upon. Making such a determination can be very challenging.
Thus, there is a need for a tool that will enable a user to rapidly make accurate assessments such as those discussed above.