A controlling section controls an image forming section to form a calibration pattern on an object. The calibration pattern includes a plurality of marks in first and second groups. The marks in the second group are formed at a different position in the second direction from the marks in the first group. The marks in each of the first and second groups are arranged in the first direction over a predetermined range on the object. Each mark has shape and color. The detecting section detects the calibration pattern formed on the object, thereby obtaining detection results. The correcting section corrects, based on the detection results, an image forming position at which the image forming section forms an image. The marks belonging to different groups and having a same color are formed at different positions with respect to the first direction in at least part of the predetermined range.

Conventionally, so-called tandem-type image forming apparatuses are known. This type of image forming apparatus includes a plurality of photosensitive members for each color (yellow, magenta, cyan, and black, for example) that is arranged in a direction in which a paper conveying belt moves. Images in each color borne on a corresponding photosensitive member are sequentially transferred onto a paper on the belt.
In such a tandem-type image forming apparatuses, if image forming positions on paper for each color are deviated (shifted) from the correct positions, color images with color registration errors are formed undesirably. Hence, one of these image forming apparatuses has a function to correct image forming positions of each color (Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2007-232763). When performing this correcting function, first the image forming apparatus forms a registration error detection pattern (calibration pattern) on the belt. The registration error detection pattern includes marks in a left group formed along a left end of the belt and marks in a right group formed along a right end of the belt. The both groups have the same configuration where marks in each color are arranged with predetermined spaces along a direction in which the belt moves. The positions of the marks in each group are detected by an optical sensor. Then, amounts of registration errors of respective colors (yellow, magenta, and cyan, for example) relative to a reference color (black in this example) are calculated. A left and right average amount of registration errors are obtained from the amounts of registration errors in the both groups. The image forming positions are corrected by offsetting the amounts of registration errors. In this way, errors in detecting registration errors that occur from meandering of the belt and the like can be reduced, by using the marks in the left and right groups.

Image forming apparatus with improved color calibration


An amplifier is operable in push-pull mode, single-ended mode, or a composite mode that is an intermediate between single-ended and Push-pull modes. Moreover, at least one output device may be configured to operate using a high performance AC servo loop that functions the output device as a current source. Still further, a control input driver stage is provided that is capable of supplying sufficient AC current to overcome Miller capacitance induced roll off within the intended frequency spectrum of triode vacuum tubes. Additionally, methods are provided to substantially null or selectively introduce DC magnetic bias within the output transformer core. Still further, a solid state power supply stage provides substantial AC hum reduction during single-ended operation and simultaneously provides output voltage load regulation attributes similar to traditional vacuum tube rectifier circuits.

Embodiments of the present invention relate in general to audio frequency amplifiers, and in particular, to audio amplifiers employing systems and methods to increase amplifier performance and fidelity. Embodiments of the present invention further relate to audio amplifiers having alterable harmonic format.
Ever since the invention of the vacuum tube audion by Lee De Forest in 1906, audio frequency amplifiers have been a mainstay of the consumer electronics marketplace. Moreover, audio frequency amplifiers that utilize vacuum tube topologies are still popular and sought after devices, especially in niche markets such as for high end home audio and for use as musical instrument amplifiers, e.g., as utilized to amplify guitar, bass guitar and other electronic instruments.
Many amplifier designs incorporate an output stage that operates in a "Push-Pull" mode. In push-pull mode, output devices are logically divided or otherwise grouped into a pair of output sections that operate in a complimentary fashion. In this regard, the two output sections provide amplification in anti-phase relative to the one another. The anti-phase amplified signals are combined in such a way that the signal currents add and certain distortion signals, such as distortion due to the non-linear characteristic curves of the output devices, subtract from one another. The result is that the pair of output sections can collectively provide more gain than a single output section by itself, and overall distortion is reduced.
Many amplifier designs alternatively incorporate an output stage that operates in a "Single Ended" mode. In single-ended mode, one or more output devices are driven in parallel by a single instance of an input signal having a single phase. As such, the gain of a single-ended amplifier is generally limited to the gain of the output device.
Push-pull amplifiers typically provide greater output power and wider bandwidth compared to single-ended amplifiers. Despite typically exhibiting less output power, single-ended amplifiers are still highly desired and sought after in many applications for their subjectively pleasing harmonic and tonal character, which differs from typical push-pull amplifiers, e.g., due to the distortion canceling byproduct of the push-pull configuration, which can tend to cancel more pleasing even order harmonics.


Calculating a highly accurate locus is a goal. An administrative part (20) for correcting a traveling locus of a mobile object (V) is characterized by including an evaluation function generating unit (21) that sets a plurality of nodes on locus data of the mobile object (V) acquired by a wheel rotation quantity measuring unit (16), correlates position data of the mobile object (V) acquired by the wheel rotation quantity measuring unit (16) to the nodes and correlates position data of the mobile object (V) acquired by other units of measurement means than the wheel rotation quantity measuring unit to the nodes, represents positions at which the nodes may occur by probability, represents positions at which position data correlated to the nodes may occur by probability, and calculates an evaluation function including the nodes and the position data as variables, based on each probability; and a locus optimization calculation unit (22) that calculates a locus on which each node occurs with largest probability, based on the evaluation function.

An autonomous mobile system has heretofore been disclosed that estimates its location and moves along an intended route, while generating a map which is adapted to actual environment based on data measured by measuring devices (internal and external sensors) mounted in a mobile object (refer to, e.g., Patent Literatures 1 and 2).
In Patent Literature 1, disclosed are an environment identifying apparatus, an environment identifying method, a program, a recording medium, and a robot apparatus for autonomously moving, while recognizing a particular shape as a landmark and generating a map through the use of a camera as an external sensor.
In Patent Literature 2, disclosed are an environmental map making method and a mobile robot for making a map in such a way as to extend a region in which surrounding object shape data was measured by matching (overlaying) surrounding object shape data acquired at the current time instant against (on) surrounding object shape data acquired at the previous time instant and in a different position than the current position sequentially in time.

Locus correcting method, locus correcting apparatus, and mobile object equipment


An optical scanning apparatus. The optical scanning apparatus includes a cover module, an optical module and a spacing element. The optical module is connected to the cover module. The spacing element is connected to the cover module and abuts the optical module. The cover module is separated from the optical module at a predetermined distance by the spacing element, and the optical module slides on the spacing element.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical scanning apparatus, and in particular to an optical scanning apparatus with a spacing element.
2. Description of the Related Art
In an optical scanning device (scanner), target media is placed on a transparent glass platen to be scanned by an optical module disposed thereunder. The optical module usually includes a contact image sensor (CIS), moving backward and forward to scan the target media. Specifically, the transparent glass platen is separated from the optical module by a predetermined distance to guarantee a sufficient depth of field (focusing distance) therebetween. Thus, the optical module scans the target media and outputs a clear image corresponding thereto.
Referring to FIG. 1, a conventional optical scanning device 1 includes a transparent glass platen 11, an optical module 12 and a support structure 13. The support structure 13 supports the optical module 12, and the transparent glass platen 11 is disposed on the optical module 12. Additionally, multiple separators (or spacers) 14 are disposed on the optical module 12. The transparent glass platen 11 is supported by the separators 14 and is thereby separated from the optical module 12 by a predetermined distance. Moreover, the depth of field for the optical scanning device 1 is guaranteed by the separators 14. Nevertheless, disposing the separators 14 on the optical module 12 is complicated and inconvenient.
Another optical scanning device uses multiple separators (or spacers) disposed on the support structure thereof to guarantee the depth of field between the transparent glass platen and the optical module thereof. Similarly, disposing the separators (or spacers) on the support structure is complicated and inconvenient.


A method for deallocation of a memory region involving transmitting, by a host channel adapter (HCA), a first invalidation command for invalidating at least one key associated with the memory region, transmitting, by the HCA, a second invalidation command for invalidating a translation lookaside buffer (TLB) entry for the memory region, invalidate the at least one key associated with the memory region, determining whether all memory access requests to the memory region have been processed by the HCA, stalling processing of the second invalidation command when outstanding memory access requests to the memory region are present, and processing the outstanding memory access requests for the memory region by the HCA before executing the second invalidation command invalidating the TLB entry for the memory region.

The Infiniband® network includes nodes that communicate through a channel-based switched fabric (Infiniband® is a registered trademark of Infiniband Trade Association, located in Beaverton, Oreg.). For example, the nodes may be a host, an input/output subsystem, or a router which connects to another network. The switched fabric is made of a collection of switches, routers, and/or links that connect a set of channel adapters. The channel adapters form an interface between the switched fabric and the nodes. The channel adapter of the host is referred to as a host channel adapter. The channel adapter of an I/O subsystem is referred to as a target channel adapter.
In Infiniband®, two processes communicate using a queue pair (QP). A queue pair includes a send queue and a receive queue. Specifically, in order for a process to send a message to another process, the process posts the message to the send queue located on the host. The host may be a virtualized host including a plurality of virtual machines. The host channel adapter sends the message in the form of packets to the channel adapter having the receive queue. Each packet that is sent may include a packet sequence number. Logic associated with the receive queue ensures that packets are processed in a particular order using the packet sequence number.
In the Infiniband® network, mechanisms for allocation and dellocation of memory regions for a virtualized host are typically provided by software. Because memory address translations from virtual to physical memory are often cached on the channel adapters, deallocation of a host memory region conventionally involves flushing the cache. The region of memory being deallocated is typically unavailable for reuse until after the deallocation process has completed.

Method and system for efficient memory region deallocation


This invention relates to the extraction of psychoactive compounds from psilocybin fungus for use in medicine. Raw psilocybin fungus is dried and ground. The solvent used for extraction is a lower aliphatic alcohol, water, a hydro-alcohol mixture, an acidic hydro-alcohol mixture, or an alkaline hydro-alcohol mixture. The extraction slurry is filtered and pH-adjusted if necessary. The solvent is then partially evaporated, or completely evaporated with water added back, to form a concentrated slurry. The concentrated slurry is then standardized to provide a known concentration of the psychoactive alkaloids that have been extracted. The standardized slurry may then be dried to result in a powdered psilocybin mushroom extract with a precisely defined purity.

Varieties of mushrooms have played important roles in most societies. The active ingredients in mushrooms, especially psilocybin mushrooms with psychoactive compounds such as psilocybin, psilocin, baeocystin, norbaeocystin, and norpsilocin, have been found to have medicinal properties including relief of symptoms of various diseases and conditions. The concentration of active psilocybin mushroom compounds varies not only from species to species, but also from mushroom to mushroom inside a given species, subspecies or variety. The same holds true even for different parts of the same mushroom or mycelium.
Various methods of extraction, which have been used to separate natural extracts from a variety of mushrooms, have resulted in difficulties with large crop-to-crop variability. This is as well as the problem of a large variability within a single plant or fungus in terms of the concentration of the active psychoactive compound and its stability. Different solvent choices extract the psychoactive compounds equally, some of them electively extract one or the other, and some convert the compounds between each other or degrade them into non-psychoactive compounds. Many extraction processes for extracting standardized concentrations of the compounds for direct medical use are usually complex. This results in expensive extraction processes and a high cost of isolated, natural extracts.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,183,172 to Heim et al. relates to an industrial process for the isolation of active compounds from mushrooms grown under predetermined conditions. With the predetermined growing conditions, mushrooms grow with ten times more active mycelium and sclerotium, and increased concentrations of psychoactive compounds. However, a large portion of the target compounds are lost during the extraction process or not extracted at all. In addition, the solvent and solvent systems used during the extraction process are materials such as methanol, acetone, dichloromethane, diethyl ether or others known to be toxic to humans, even in small quantities. These problems are significant with respect to very potent extracts of psilocybin mushrooms, considering that a normal dose for use ranges from only 5 mg to 25 mg. The extracted psychoactive compounds are generally without a stable and standardized concentration.
To date, the focus has largely been on synthetic preparations of these compounds because of the many difficulties associated with naturally extracted preparations. It is currently infeasible and expensive to extract psilocybin from mushrooms, and even the best chemical synthesis methods require expensive and difficult-to-source starting substrates.
Accordingly, there is a need of methods to produce high efficiency, standardized preparations of the target compounds for medical use while using acceptable solvent systems to create a more consistent supply chain.
This background information is provided to reveal information believed by the applicant to be of possible relevance to the present invention. No admission is necessarily intended, nor should be construed, that any of the preceding information constitutes prior art against the present invention.

Aqueous extraction of psychoactive compounds from psilocybin fungus


A clamping apparatus is provided with: a metallic detector that is provided to a pivot shaft pivotally moving integrally with a clamp arm under the operation of a driving unit, in such a manner as to extend along the pivot shaft so as to be around the axis thereof; and one proximity sensor that is arranged so as to be opposed to the detector and that detects the magnetic loss of the detector. The detector is formed so that the area of a sensor opposing part opposed to a detection surface of the proximity sensor changes in association with the pivotal moving of the pivot shaft.

Conventionally, for example, in an automated assembly line of an automobile or the like, a welding process is performed in which a plurality of press-formed plates are welded to each other with the plates being clamped by a clamp device.
In this clamp device, the piston of the cylinder portion is displaced in the axial direction under the action of the fluid pressure, whereby the clamp arm is rotated via the toggle link mechanism connected to the piston rod. With this, the position of the clamp arm is switched between a clamping position and an unclamping position.
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2001-113468 discloses a clamp device that detects the rotational position of a clamp arm (the clamping state or the unclamping state) by detecting the position of a metal holding member, which is displaced together with a piston rod during a stroke, using two inductive proximity sensors. The clamp device adapts to change in the rotational angle range of the clamp arm by changing the plurality of holding members having shapes different from each other.
European Patent Application Publication No. 0636449 discloses a clamp device that detects the position of a piston rod by using two limit switches attached to a switch holder. The switch holder has a plurality of attachment holes for allowing the limit switches to be attached thereinto, in the axial direction of the piston rod, whereby the attachment positions of the limit switches can be changed.


Monoclonal antibodies which specifically bind to Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) E2/NS1 antigen. Also provided are hybridoma cell lines which secrete these monoclonal antibodies, methods for using these monoclonal antibodies, and assay kits for assays which contain these monoclonal antibodies.

This invention relates generally to antibodies which specifically bind to hepatitis C virus (HCV), and more specifically, relates to a panel of novel hybridoma cells lines which secrete monoclonal antibodies which specifically bind to the putative HCV protein E2/NS1, and methods for using these monoclonal antibodies.
Descriptions of hepatitis diseases causing jaundice and icterus have been known to man since antiquity. Viral hepatitis is now known to include a group of viral agents with distinctive viral organization protein structure and mode of replication, causing hepatitis with different degrees of severity of hepatic damage through different routes of transmission. Acute viral hepatitis is clinically diagnosed by well-defined patient symptoms including jaundice, hepatic tenderness and an elevated level of liver transaminases such as aspartate transaminase and alanine transaminase.
Serological assays currently are employed to further distinguish between hepatitis-A and hepatitis-B. Non-A non-B Hepatitis (NANBH) is a term first used in 1975 that described cases of post-transfusion hepatitis not caused by either hepatitis A virus or hepatitis B virus. Feinstone et al., New Engl. J. Med. 292: 454-457 (1975). The diagnosis of NANBH has been made primarily by means of exclusion on the basis of serological analysis for the presence of hepatitis A and hepatitis B. NANBH is responsible for about 90% of the cases of post-transfusion hepatitis. Hollinger et al. in N. R. Rose et al., eds., Manual of Clinical Immunology, American Society for Microbiology, Washington, D.C., 558-572 (1986).
Attempts to identify the NANBH virus by virtue of genomic similarity to one of the known hepatitis viruses have failed thus far, suggesting that NANBH virus has a distinctive genomic organization and structure. Fowler et al., J. Med. Virol, 12: 205-213 (1983), and Weiner et al., J. Med. Virol, 21: 239-247 (1987). Progress in developing assays to detect antibodies specific for NANBH has been hampered by difficulties encountered in identifying antigens associated with the virus. Wands et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,870,076; Wands et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 83: 6608-6612 (1986); Ohori et al., J. Med. Virol. 12: 161-178 (1983); Bradley et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 84: 6277-6281 (1987); Akatsuka et al., J. Med. Virol. 20: 43-56 (1986).
In May of 1988, a collaborative effort of Chiron Corporation with the Centers for Disease Control resulted in the identification of a putative NANB agent, hepatitis C virus (HCV). M. Houghton et al. cloned and expressed in E. coli a NANB agent obtained from the infectious plasma of a chimp. Kuo et al., Science 244: 359-361 (1989); Choo et al., Science 244: 362-364 (1989). cDNA (copy DNA) sequences from HCV were identified which encode antigens that react immunologically with antibodies present in a majority of the patients clinically diagnosed with NANBH. Based on the information available and on the molecular structure of HCV, the genetic makeup of the virus consists of single stranded linear RNA (positive strand) of molecular weight approximately 9.5 kb, and possessing one continuous translational open reading frame. J. A. Cuthbert, Amer. J. Med. Sci. 299: 346-355 (1990). It is a small enveloped virus resembling the Flaviviruses. Investigators have made attempts to identify the NANB agent by ultrastructural changes in hepatocytes in infected individuals. H. Gupta, Liver 8: 111-115 (1988 ); D. W. Bradley J. Virol. Methods 10: 307-319 (1985). Similar ultrastructural changes in hepatocytes as well as PCR amplified HCV RNA sequences have been detected in NANBH patients as well as in chimps experimentally infected with infectious HCV plasma. T. Shimizu et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 87: 6441-6444 (1990).
Considerable serological evidence has been found to implicate HCV as the etiological agent for post-transfusion NANBH. H. Alter et al., N. Eng. J. Med. 321: 1494-1500 (1989); Estaben et al., The Lancet: August 5: 294-296 (1989); C. Van Der Poel et al., The Lancet August 5: 297-298 (1989); G. Sbolli, J. Med. Virol. 30: 230-232 (1990); M. Makris et al., The Lancet 335: 1117-1119 (1990). Although the detection of HCV antibodies eliminates 70 to 80% of NANBH infected blood from the blood supply system, the antibodies apparently are readily detected during the chronic state of the disease, while only 60% of the samples from the acute NANBH stage are HCV antibody positive. H. Alter et al., New Eng. J. Med. 321: 1994-1500 (1989). These data clearly indicated the need for the identification of additional HCV proteins for efficient serodiagnosis of HCV infection. Following the cloning and expression of structural protein CORE and 33C, second generation antibody assays have been developed which employ HCV CORE and 33C proteins in addition to C-100 for the detection of antibodies to HCV in NANB patients. Although the second generation assays have significantly increased the sensitivity of detection, the prolonged interval between exposure to HCV and antibody detection, and the lack of adequate information regarding the profile of immune response to various structural and non-structural proteins raises questions regarding the infectious state of the patient in the antibody negative phase during NANBH infection. Therefore, there is a need for the development of assay systems to identify acute infection to HCV and the presence of HCV.

Monoclonal antibodies to putative HCV E2/NS1 proteins and methods for using same


A power supply for a synchronized appliance is disclosed and includes a first energy store having a first energy storage capacity, a processor powered by energy from the first energy store, and a second energy store having a second energy storage capacity greater than the first energy storage capacity. The processor initiates charging of the second energy store after a delay beginning at a time of receipt of a charge of predefined level from the first energy store.

Fire alarm and mass notification systems are used to notify the public of the presence of fire, smoke and other potentially harmful conditions. A notification appliance circuit (NAC) may be part of such a system and include many notification devices powered and controlled by a common source and control panel.
A notification appliance may include strobe lights and horns to generate warnings. Strobes and horns of each notification appliance of a NAC are synchronized in a manner determined to prevent disorientation and confusion. Synchronization may be based on signals from the NAC along with the power for each notification appliance. Synchronization of each notification appliance can be based on an initial rising edge of power provided along lines from the NAC. Variations and latency in the time between the initial rising edge of power and a synchronization reset of the notification appliance can cause corresponding variations in synchronization of the notification appliances of the NAC.

Low latency power supply for notification appliance synchronization


Presented herein are systems and methods for attenuating flow ripple generated by a hydraulic pump. In certain aspects, a method and system for operating a hydraulic positive displacement pump according to a stabilized command profile are disclosed, such that flow ripple generated by operation of the pump according to the stabilized command profile is attenuated as compared to operation of the pump according to a corresponding nominal command profile. In other aspects, a pressure-balanced active buffer is disclosed that allow for at least partially cancelling flow ripple in a hydraulic circuit comprising a pump. In another aspect, a method for generating ripple maps for a pump is disclosed. Such ripple maps may be used, for example, to determine the stabilized command profile used to operate the pump, or may be used by the pressure-balanced active buffer to counteract ripple in the hydraulic circuit.

Hydraulic systems are employed in a wide variety of industrial and consumer applications. Many hydraulic systems make use of one or more pumps. Hydraulic pumps inherently generate flow ripple during operation. Flow ripple describes the behavior of positive displacement hydraulic pumps to output pulsations of fluid flow rather than a constant rate of fluid flow during operation at constant speed. This flow ripple may result in oscillations in operating pressure, referred to as pressure ripple, observed at one or more points in the hydraulic system. For industrial and commercial applications, flow ripple and/or the resulting pressure ripple may be associated with consequences such as premature failure of equipment or degradation in customer experience.

Active hydraulic ripple cancellation methods and systems


A surgical head clamp having two arms, one with a single head engaging pin and the second with two head engaging pins mounted on a bracket. The bracket is capable of being rotated to reposition the head. The operating knob which releases the bracket to allow rotation has a safety locking pin which prevents the inadvertent rotation of the bracket when the pin is in a locked position.

Surgical head clamps or skull clamps generally are provided with two types of mechanisms to hold the head in position. One type of clamps uses pads that are forced against the patient's head to hold the head in position. Examples of head clamps of this type are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,108,426 and 4,545,572.
A second type of head clamp uses a series of head engaging pins which engage the patient's skull at three points and provide positive anchorage of the head engaging pins into the skull. If the head engaging pins are held in a stable position, there is little likelihood that the skull will move relative to the head engaging pins during the surgical procedure.
The head clamp disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,966,383 shows a three pin arrangement with the head engaging pins carried on hinged arms.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,099,441 discloses a surgical head clamp which contains two head engaging pins on a bracket supported by an arm and a third head engaging pin supported by another arm in the device. The two arms are brought together to adjust the space between the head engaging pins to fit the dimensions of the patient's head.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,835,861 discloses a surgical head clamp having three head engaging pins with two of the pins on a bracket and a third pin on a moveable pin carrier in which the moveable pin is held on a threaded pin carrier so finer adjustments in the relationship of the head engaging pins to the patient can be made.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,169,478 also discloses a surgical head clamp with three head engaging pins which is similar to that shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,835,861. The head clamp includes a mechanism to rotate the bracket containing the two pins and reposition the head of the patient without releasing the head engaging pins from the patient's skull. The mechanism disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,169,478 to prevent rotation employs interlocking teeth on stop members which are forced into engagement by ball actuators. The ball actuators move from dished sockets in the unlocked position to the lands between the dished sockets in the locket position. Upon repeated use and upon repeated sterilization, there is a tendency for foreign particles and debris to accumulate in the dished sockets or on the lands which prevent the positive locking of the bracket.
Although the surgical head clamp disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,169,478 does offer certain advantages to the physicians, the problem exists in that the bracket can be inadvertently turned which may cause the head to move in the bracket and could cause injury to the patient. The weight of the patient in certain operating positions could exert a force against the bracket which might cause the bracket to turn if the ball actuators are not firmly positioned on the lands on the actuator disk.
The copending application Ser. No. 921,867, filed Jul. 28, 1992, discloses a head clamp which employs index pins between a rotatable bracket and the frame of the head clamp to prevent inadvertent rotation of the bracket. However, the bracket cannot be adjusted when the head engaging pins are engaging the patient's head. The patient's head must be disengaged from the pins before the bracket can be rotated.


The disclosed invention is related to a universal strand-specific protocol for the sequencing preparation of all classes of RNA. The protocol allows for sequencing for dozens to more than thousands of samples simultaneously. Specifically, the disclosed invention is a method for parallel sequencing target RNA from samples from multiple sources while maintaining source identification. The method includes providing samples of RNA comprising target RNA from two or more sources; labeling, at the 3′ end, the RNA from the two or more sources with a first nucleic acid adaptor that comprises a nucleic acid sequence that differentiates between the RNA from the two or more sources; reverse transcribing the two or more sources to create a single stranded DNA comprising the nucleic acid sequence that differentiates between the RNA from the two or more sources; amplifying the single stranded DNA to create DNA amplification products that comprise the nucleic acid sequence that differentiates between the RNA from the two or more sources; sequencing the DNA amplification products thereby parallel sequencing target RNA from samples from multiple sources while maintaining source identification.

Next-generation sequencing is rapidly becoming the method of choice for the analysis of RNA, such as for transcriptional profiling. In contrast to microarray technology, sequencing allows identification of novel transcripts and does not require preexisting knowledge of the sequence of the genome. In addition, unlike hybridization-based detection, the sequencing of RNA allows genome-wide analysis of transcription at single nucleotide resolution.
Despite progress, sequencing of specific strands of RNA remains cumbersome and expensive. What is needed is an inexpensive method of sequencing large numbers of RNA simultaneously in solution. The method must be rapid and easy to perform. Methods of simultaneously sequencing large numbers of RNA molecules would provide chemical screens of cell cultures to identify drugs of interest, tissue, blood and other biological sample bank screening. These methods further would allow screening of RNA from tissue in paraffin-blocks. These methods would also provide antibiotic screening to determine drug resistance in microorganisms. This disclosure meets that need.


A capacitive force sensor is introduced between an actuator and motor vehicle brake shoe and is composed of a closed, metallic hollow cylinder that accepts a plate capacitor. One or more end faces of the hollow cylinder act as force-absorbing membranes and transmit elastic deformations onto the plate capacitor, a measured signal being generated as a result. The force sensor can be utilized in a range of measurement of up to, for example, 2.5 tons, a temperature range from -40 through 350.degree. C. and also exhibits extremely high measuring precision.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to a force sensor for making a direct force measurement in the force flux, i.e., in the force field produced by a force to be measured. A direct force measurement means that the directly charged with the force to be measured. Usually disposed to oppose or yield to the force to be measured, the force sensor thereby transmits the force to be measured and simultaneously measures it.
2. Description of the Art
The actuation of brakes, particulary in the motor vehicle field, currently ensues hydraulically. For various reasons, a switch to purely electrically actuated via an electric motor with gearing. This can occur, for example, on the basis of the motion of a spindle running in an electric motor.
A constant measurement of braking force is required for safety reasons as well as for controlling the braking procedure. This should ensue directly at the brake shoes insofar as possible. Considerable temperature differences, however, prevail in this region. The temperature range to be taken into consideration at a caliper extends from approximately -40.degree. C. up to approximately 350.degree. C. The range of force measurement extends up to a few tons. Additionally, of course, a high precision should be assured, for example a measuring reliability with less than 1% deviation. Additionally, there is a need to accommodate very rapid temperature changes which occur during normal operation of a motor vehicle brake. Enormous impact stresses perpendicular to the motor vehicle axle are also present. The force sensor thus should have a permanent load alternation endurance as well as an absolute insensitivity to moisture. Insensitivity to electromagnetic emission is likewise meaningful. Other complicating factors are that only a small space is available in the region of the motor vehicle brake, and the system costs should be optimally low.
Known force sensors are, for example, piezosensors or strain gauge time sensors. The latter represent an indirect measuring method, whereby the sensor does not lie in the force flux. Neither of these systems even approximately satisfies the aforementioned extreme demands. Other systems, for example, are capacitive pressure and silicon-based force sensors. These, however, do not satisfy the extreme operating conditions or the cost demands.


An energy-dispersive x-ray detector designed so that the space accommodating an x-ray detector device can be evacuated well and efficiently. When the detector device is not in use, a control portion stops the operation of a compressor and the operation of a refrigerator. Then, the temperature of an adsorbent rises. Gas which has been once adsorbed is released into the space, thus deteriorating the degree of vacuum. If the x-ray detector is instructed to operate via a console portion, the control portion operates a vacuum pump and opens an exhaust valve to evacuate the inside of the space. When the output signal from a vacuum gauge indicates that the degree of vacuum inside the space has reached a given level, the control portion closes the exhaust valve, stops the operation of the vacuum pump, and starts the operation of the compressor. As a result, the adsorbent is cooled. Then, the inside of the space is maintained at a desired degree of vacuum.

In an EDS, the space in which the x-ray detector device is placed is required to be maintained as a high vacuum. For this purpose, an adsorbent such as active carbon is cooled by liquid nitrogen. The gas inside the space is adsorbed by the adsorbing action the adsorbent to maintain the degree of vacuum.
In the prior art EDS. as the temperature of the adsorbent rises, the gas adsorbed on the adsorbent released into the space in which the x-ray detector device is installed. Therefore, even when the EDS is not in use, depletion of the liquid nitrogen is not permitted. Consequently, liquid nitrogen must be frequently replenished. In this way, maintenance involves a problem. Furthermore, there is a danger in treating liquid nitrogen.
It is contemplated to use a refrigerator as a means for cooling adsorbent It is expected that the aforementioned problems are solved by this means. However, the space in which the x-ray detector device is placed is normally closed. Therefore, if the operation of the refrigerator is stopped when the EDS is not in use, the temperature of the adsorbent rises. Then, gas which is once adsorbed is released into the space, thus deteriorating the degree of vacuum. Thus, in this system where the adsorbent is cooled by the refrigerator, it is necessary to operate the refrigerator incessantly. In consequence, the components of the refrigerator wear away quickly. As a result, components must be replaced frequently. Also, heat storage materials must be exchanged often.

Energy-dispersive X-ray detector and method of evacuating same


A method for scheduling the execution of a computer instruction, receive an entitlement processor resource percentage for a logical partition on a computer system. The logical partition is associated with a hardware thread of a processor of the computer system. The entitlement processor resource percentage for the logical partition is stored in a register of the hardware thread associated with the logical partition. An instruction is received from the logical partition of the computer system and the processor dispatches the instruction based on the entitlement processor resource percentage stored in the register of the hardware thread associated with the logical partition.

System virtualization creates multiple virtual systems from a single physical system. The physical system can be a stand-alone computer, or alternatively, a computing system utilizing clustered computers and components. Virtual systems are independent operating environments that use virtual resources made up of logical divisions of physical resources such as processors, memory and input/output (I/O) adapters. System virtualization is typically implemented through hypervisor technology. Hypervisors, also called virtual machine managers, use a thin layer of code in software or firmware to achieve fine-grained, dynamic resource sharing.
The hypervisor provides the ability to divide physical system resources into isolated logical partitions (also referred to as LPARs). Each LPAR operates like an independent system running its own operating environment (i.e., a virtual system). The hypervisor can allocate dedicated processors, I/O adapters, and memory to each LPAR. The hypervisor can also allocate shared processors to each LPAR. More specifically, the hypervisor creates virtual processors from physical processors, so that LPARs can share the physical processors while running independent operating environments.
Although each LPAR acts as an independent server, the LPARs on a physical server can share resources with each other. The hypervisor's ability to share resources among many LPARs allows increased resource utilization by shifting the server resources to where they are needed.
A processor is a device that executes programmable instructions. A processor core consists of components for execution of programmable instructions: floating point unit, fixed point unit, branch unit, load/store unit, internal caches, associated pipeline, General Purpose Registers (GPRs), Special Purpose Registers (SPRs) and Floating Point Registers (FPRs). In modern day superscalar processors, to increase the utilization of execution units, and hence throughput of work done by processor, the execution units are shared among multiple hardware threads in a time-shared manner, such that to the executing software it appears as if the processor is dedicated to itself. To achieve that, certain essential processor resources like GPRs, FPRs, SPRs are duplicated to create a notion of "hardware thread", sometimes referred to as a "Central Processing Unit (CPU) thread." In a sense, an LPAR consists of multiple software processes, in which a software process consists of multiple software threads, in which each software thread can execute on a hardware thread.
The more processors assigned to an LPAR, the greater the number of concurrent operations the LPAR can run at any given time. Dedicated processors are physical processors that are assigned to a single partition. Conversely, shared processors are physical processors whose processing capacity is shared among multiple LPARs.
Simultaneous multithreading is the ability of a single physical processor to simultaneously dispatch instructions from more than one hardware thread. Because there are two or more hardware threads per physical processor, additional instructions can run at the same time.
Context switching is this process of swapping one program out of the Central Processing Unit (CPU) and replacing it with another process's instructions. Context switching is how the computer's operating system multitasks different programs. Using context switching, one program executes for a while and then saves a copy of the program's execution state (such as register values), restores the execution state of the next program to execute on the processor. A context switch can be referred to as a "register context switch," or a "frame switch," or a "thread context switch."

Honoring hardware entitlement of a hardware thread

International Business Machines Corporation


An improved method for manufacturing an insulated gate field effect transistor is described. The method comprises the steps of forming a semiconductor film on an insulating substrate, forming a gate insulating film on said semiconductor film, forming a gate electrode on said gate insulating film with said gate insulating film inbetween, anoding said gate electrode in order to coat an external surface of said gate electrode with an oxide film thereof and applying a negative or positive voltage to said gate electrode with respect to said semiconductor film. Lattice defects and interfacial states caused by the application of a positive voltage during the anoding are effectively eliminated by the negative voltage application.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for forming a semiconductor device and, in particular, to a method of manufacturing thin film insulated gate field effect transistors. The thin film transistor can be formed on both an insulating substrate like glass and a semiconductor substrate of single crystal silicon and the like.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Recently, an insulated gate type semiconductor device with a thin film active layer (active region) is studied. Especially a thin film insulated gate transistor, what is called thin film transistor is studied enthusiastically. These are defined as amorphous silicon TFT, crystal silicon TFT, on the basis of material-crystal condition of semiconductor utilized.
Crystal semiconductor has bigger field mobility than that of amorphous semiconductor, and is operated at a high speed. Not only NMOS TFT but also PMOS TFT can be obtained from crystal silicon. Because a CMOS circuit can be formed, a TFT utilizing crystal silicon is studied enthusiastically especially now.
According to achievement until now, in forming an insulated gate device like this, the most appropriate characteristic is obtained by the gate insulating film of a silicon thermal oxidation film. However, it is necessary to heat the film approximately at 1000.degree. C. to obtain the thermal oxidation film. At a temperature like this, substrate material utilized is limited. In forming a TFT like this, an insulating film formed by sputtering and various kinds of chemical vapor deposition (CVD) has been utilized.
Because temperature as high as this is not needed for forming such insulating film as this, restrictions to the substrate is removed. On the other hand, it is problematic that such insulating film formed by this gas phase deposition method has high interface state density and many defects such as pin holes. Concerning repair of such defects and improvement of characteristic, no treatment was done after deposition, and as a matter of fact mainly solved by making the deposition condition most appropriate.
Recently, researchers interests have been directed to improvement of thin film insulated gate field effect transistors (TFT). For example, it has been proposed in Japanese Patent Application No. Hei4-30220 or Japanese Patent Application No. Hei4-38637 of the same applicants to make the gate electrode from Al, Ti, Cr. Ta or Si and coat the external surface of the gate electrode with oxide films thereof. The source and drain regions of the device are formed by ion implantation with the anoded gate electrode as a mask so that they are located set back from the edge of the gate electrode to provide a so-called offset structure therebetween. The source and drain regions of the device are then laser annealed to recrystallize the same.
The transistors having such an offset structure exhibit excellent characteristics as compared with those having gate electrodes of silicon, tantalum or chromium manufactured without the offset structure. The reproducibility, however, is not so high in this case utilizing the offset structure. The reason for such a low reproducibility is application of a high voltage to the gate electrode during anoding to subject the semiconductor region under a high electric field so that trapping energy states are generated in the semiconductor regions. Although no voltage is particularly applied to the semiconductor region, a voltage of 20 to 150 V is created thereacross due to influence of the high voltage applied to the gate electrode.
This problematic situation will be explained with reference to FIG. 1(A) showing a cross sectional view of a prior art transistor. The transistor comprises a glass substrate 101, a semiconductor film 102 formed on the substrate 101, a gate electrode 104 formed on the semiconductor film 102 through a gate insulating film 103 and an aluminum oxide film 105 formed by anoding of the gate electrode 104 made of aluminum to cover the gate electrode 104. The anoding is carried out by applying a high positive voltage to the gate electrode 104 in an electrolyte which is grounded through a suitable electrode. First, the electric field is caused mainly in the electrolyte around the gate electrode when the anoding is just initiated. The voltage across the semiconductor film 102 is not so high in this stage. When the thickness of the oxide film becomes thick, however, the electric field is concentrated to the oxide film and therefore the voltage across the gate insulating film is increased and causes injection of electrons into the gate insulating film 106 just under the gate electrode 104.
The thickness of the oxide film 105 is, for example, 300 to 400 nm when formed in accordance with the method as described in Japanese Patent Application No. Hei4-30220 or Japanese Patent Application No. Hei4-38637. The thickness of the gate insulating film 103 is, for example, 100 nm. The electric field in the gate insulating film 103 then exceeds the electric field across the aluminum oxide film 105 in this case, assuming that the resistivity of silicon oxide and the resistivity of aluminum oxide are equal to each other, even if the semiconductor region 102 under the gate insulating film 103 is intrinsic and has a certain resistivity to generate a voltage drop thereacross. Because of such a high electric field, the anoding can no longer be continued without damage to the gate insulating film 103.
Furthermore, since an underlying insulating film such as a silicon oxide film is formed between the glass substrate 101 and the semiconductor film 102 in order to prevent undesirable influence of the glass substrate on the semiconductor film 102, particular attention must be paid for formation of the underlying silicon oxide film and the semiconductor films. For example, the silicon oxide film must be formed in order not to contain movable ions. More destructive is existence of trapping states. The elimination of movable ions can be performed to some extent by making the process clean. It is, however, impossible to substantially solve the problem associated with trapping states because the problem originates from the general restriction to the process. The density of interfacial states between the silicon oxide film 103 and the underlying semiconductor films 104 is an important factor which dictates the characteristics of the transistors. In the case of the MOS technique on single crystalline semiconductor substrates, the interfacial state density between the single crystalline semiconductor and a gate oxide film formed on the semiconductor by thermal oxidation is of the order of 10.sup.10 cm.sup.-2. On the other hand, since a corresponding semiconductor is deposited in the form of a polycrystalline silicon on an oxide film formed by plasma CVD, atmospheric pressure CVD or low pressure CVD in the case of the thin film transistors, the interfacial state density is as high as 10.sup.12 cm.sup.-2 or higher. This density is too high to put the transistors into practical use. Namely, if the interfacial state density is so high, several carriers are trapped at the interface and determine the conductivity type of the semiconductor regions irrespective of the gate voltage to increase current leakage therethrough. Accordingly, the underlying silicon oxide film must be formed with such a high quality as required in the case of the gate insulating film. In the case that a silicon oxide film is formed by sputtering or ECR plasma CVD, which is employed in low or intermediate temperature processes where thermal oxidation is not available, the interfacial state density is higher than that in the case of thermal oxidation by about one order of magnitude and therefore a similar problem is inevitable.

Method for forming a semiconductor device using anodic oxidation

Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.


A coffee maker and microwave oven includes: a room for mounting various electric parts on an inside thereof; a case at one side of the room; a water tank in an upper space of the case; a funnel under the water tank having a filter for extracting coffee; a water supply pipe having a first pipe connected to the water tank, and a second pipe for supplying water to the funnel directly; a water supply tube on a bottom of the case, having one end connected to the first pipe, and the other end connected to the second pipe; a heater tube in contact with the water supply tube, the heater tube having a heater for heating the water passing through the water supply tube; and a temperature sensing unit in the vicinity of the heater tube for measuring a temperature of the heater.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to coffee maker and microwave ovens, and more particularly, to a coffee maker and microwave oven and a method for controlling the same which can prevent electric components suffering from damage caused by overheating of a heater.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
In general, a microwave oven cooks food with intermolecular frictional heat generated as a high frequency wave (about 2,450 MHz) disturbs molecular arrangement of the food.
Because the microwave oven heats the food with the high frequency wave, the microwave oven cannot cook various kinds of food. For an example, coffee people enjoys to drink, cannot be prepared with the microwave oven, to require a coffee maker, separately.
However, presently, as a city grows the denser, leading to have a small residential space, and according to the trend of pursuing practicality, the various necessaries of life, starting from home appliances, are required to be compact, such that the home appliances are required to have, not only the traditional original functions, but also various extra functions.
However, the related art microwave oven can not meet such consumer demands.

Coffee maker and microwave oven and method for controlling the same


A power supply switching apparatus for electronic equipment including a first control circuit connected to a battery. The first control circuit monitors a power supply voltage of the battery to output a first control signal when the power supply voltage of the battery is lower than a first predetermined voltage. The first control circuit also outputs a second control signal when the power supply voltage of the battery is higher than a second predetermined voltage. A second control circuit monitors whether power is supplied from an external power supply to the electronic equipment, to generate a third control signal when the power is not supplied from the external power supply. The second control circuit generates the third control signal regardless of whether the second control signal is present, when power is supllied from the external power supply. A switching circiut section supplies power from the battery to the internal circuit when the first and third control signals are not present. The switching circuit section disconnects the battery from the internal circuit in response to the first or third control signal.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a power supply switching circuit, and more particularly to a power supply switching circuit with a protection function, which can selectively receive power from a built-in secondary battery cell and power from an external power supply.
2. Description of the Related Art
There is known, electronic equipment which can operate based on power supplied from an external power supply and power supplied from a secondary battery built into the electronic equipment. In such electronic equipment, it is possible than when power is supplied from the external power supply, an; over-voltage which exceeds an adequate charging voltage for the secondary battery is applied to the secondary battery. In this case, the secondary battery is not charged properly. Therefore, there is the possibility that the electronic equipment is set in a dangerous state due to generation of heat and so on.
In order to avoid such a dangerous state, the electronic equipment may include a switching circuit for switching a power supply source between the secondary battery and the external power supply. Such a switching circuit may be composed of a relay, a transistor switch, a mechanical switch or the like. Alternatively, the switching circuit might be realized by ON/OFF switches respectively provided in parallel for power supply lines for the secondary battery and the external power supply, and to turn on either one of the switches.
On the other hand, in the charging operation of a secondary battery cell, an over-voltage protection circuit or an over-discharge protection circuit may be provided to detect the above-mentioned extraordinary charging state to the secondary battery cell. The protection circuit would electrically disconnect the secondary battery cell in the event of an extraordinary charging state. It is desirable that these protection circuits are composed of a detecting circuit for detecting that the over-voltage state or the over-discharge state is present, and a switching circuit which is controlled based on the detection result by the detecting circuit to electrically disconnect the secondary battery cell.
However, if the power supply switching circuit and the secondary battery cell protection circuit are provided independently, there are multi-stage switch circuits in series in the power supply line of the electronic equipment. This becomes disadvantageous in the small size and weight of the electronic equipment. This problem is especially conspicuous in a portable communication terminal comprising the electronic equipment.
Also, the resistances of respective switch circuits are added on the power supply line. As a result, the series resistance of the power supply line increases, so that the line voltage descreases because of operation current to the equipment, and power supply noise increases, resulting in degradation of the performance of the electronic equipment.
The power supply switching method when AC power is supplied from the external power supply is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Laid Open Utility Model Disclosure (JP-U-Show a 58-645). In the method, the connection of the external power supply is detected and then a power supply line is switched. In this example, however, the charging operation protection of the secondary battery cell is not considered. When the charging operation protection is considered, because the double switch structure becomes necessary, the above-mentioned problems will be present.

Power supply switching apparatus with protection function for supplying power to an electronic circuit via an external power source or an internal power supply source


Audio in an audio conference is spatialized using either virtual sound-source positioning or sound-field capture. A spatial audio conference is provided between a local and remote parties using audio conferencing devices (ACDs) interconnected by a network. Each ACD captures spatial audio information from the local party, generates either one, or three or more, audio data streams which include the captured information, and transmits the generated stream(s) to each remote party. Each ACD also receives the generated audio data stream(s) transmitted from each of the remote parties, processes the received streams to generate a plurality of audio signals, and renders the signals to produce a sound-field that is perceived by the local party, where the sound-field includes the spatial audio information captured from the remote parties. A sound-field capture device is also provided which includes at least three directional microphones symmetrically configured about a center axis in a semicircular array.

Various techniques exist to provide for collaboration between parties situated remotely from one another. Two popular examples of such techniques that support live collaboration are audio conferencing and video conferencing. Audio conferencing systems provide for the live exchange and mass articulation of audio information between two or more parties situated remotely from one another and linked by a communications network. Video conferencing systems on the other hand generally provide for the live exchange of both video and audio information between the parties. Despite the audio-only nature of audio conferencing systems, they are still quite popular and are frequently employed because of their ease of use, high reliability, support for live collaboration between a reasonably large number of parties, compatibility with ubiquitous global communications networks, overall cost effectiveness, and the fact that they don't generally require any specialized equipment.


The invention is directed to a thermoelectric module that utilizes a glass-ceramic material in place of the alumina and aluminum nitride that are commonly used in such modules. The glass-ceramic has a coefficient of thermal expansion of <10×10−7/° C. The p- and n-type thermoelectric materials can be any type of such materials that can withstand an operating environment of up to 1000° C., and they should have a CTE comparable to that of the glass-ceramic. The module of the invention is used to convert the energy wasted in the exhaust heat of hydrocarbon fueled engines to electrical power.

Thermoelectric materials are those in which when used in certain combinations, can convert heat into an electric current. While thermoelectric devices can be used for either cooling (when an electric current is supplied) or power generation (when exposed to hot and cold temperature sources), the present invention is directed to the second case—power generation.
Thermoelectric materials have the potential to greatly increase the efficiency of power systems that rely on hydrocarbon fuels (for example, coal, gasoline, diesel fuel, etc.) as energy sources. While various power generating thermoelectric devices have been proposed over the years, they have not found widespread utility, particularly for mobile applications such as cars and trucks, due to their low efficiency and high cost. In power generation application, for example automotive applications, one encounters high temperature gradient situations. Currently, approximately 75% of the energy obtained from the combustions of a fuel such as gasoline is wasted due to thermal and other losses, and only about 25% of the energy is utilized by the vehicle for either moving it or powering equipment and accessories. Broken down, of the 100% of the energy from the fuel, approximately 40% is lost in the exhaust gases and 30% is lost cooling (radiator). Of the remaining 30%, approximately 5% is lost to friction or is radiated; leaving a net of 25% that is used for vehicle operation—mobility and powering (electrically) equipment and accessories. Of the 25% used for vehicle operation, about 18% is used for actually moving the vehicle and 7% is used for powering the equipment and accessories such as climate control, active breaking systems, entertainment (CD, radio, electronic engine control and other electrical power consuming equipment.
Presently, the electrical power demand of vehicles is increasing and is typically from 1-5 kilowatts in current vehicles. However, there is a problem due to the fact that the electrical power presently generated by a vehicle is generated very inefficiently, the efficient being less than 20% in the best instances, including chemical to mechanical and electrical conversion. A thermoelectric recovery system would enhance the efficiency of hydrocarbon-power vehicles by utilizing a part of the presently wasted thermal energy for direct electrical power conversion and would save the mechanical energy of the vehicles that is now used, for example by an alternator. This would result in a net saving of the overall chemical energy supplied by combustion of the fuel. Some of the benefits that would be obtained from the use of a thermoelectric module would include a reduction in environmental CO2, the ability to use lighter and less powerful engines due to decreased load on the engine to supply power, the use of smaller batteries because electrical power would be supplied from the thermoelectric module once the engine is started, and the ability to drop the need for certain equipment such as an alternator. The thermoelectric modules can be used in many different vehicular applications to increase the efficient of combustion engines, for example boats and airplanes as well as land vehicles, and they can also be used for non-mobile applications such as heating systems and emergency generators (small power units generally).
One of the problems with thermoelectric energy conversion is that it is not very efficient when there is a small thermal gradient, for example a gradient of 100-200 degrees Centigrade. The temperature range of from ambient to approximately 250° C. is the domain where most the presently existing thermoelectrical materials and devices operate, and they are generally only used in those situations where other, convention electrical generators are not preferred or cannot be used; for example, in satellites, pipelines, gas-line monitoring, and other others of similar nature where convention generators may present problems. In contrast, at higher temperature the thermoelectric efficiency rises in the Carnot cycle with the square of the thermal gradient (in degrees Kelvin, ° K).
The figure of merit (K−1) of thermoelectric materials is usually defined as:Z=S2σ/κ=S2//ρκ=PF/κwhere:                S is the Seebeck coefficient or thermopower (usually in μV/K)        σ is the electrical conductivity (in S.cm−1),        ρ is the electrical resistivity (in Ω.cm),        κ is the total thermal conductivity (in W.cm−1.K−1), and            PF is the electronic component or power factor (in W.K−2.m−1).
Since Z varies with temperature, thermoelectric materials ("TE") materials are best rated by a dimensionless figure of merit, ZT, where T is temperature in K. Good TE materials have low thermal conductivity (e.g., phonon glasses), high electrical conductivity (e.g., electronic crystals), and high thermopower. However, these properties are difficult to optimize simultaneously in a specific material since the three parameters in Z are not independent. In general, as S increases, so does ρ.
The ideal maximum output power P of a module is given by the expression:P=(S·ΔT)2/(4ρL)where ΔT=Thot−Tcold is the difference of temperature between the hot and cold sources, and L is the length of the TE leg.
In conventional architecture, the choice of material for the electrode plate is led by electrical, thermal and thermo-mechanical considerations. That is, the material should be able to withstand high temperatures (resistance to creep and oxidation) and also achieve good heat transfer. The material should also be matched to electrode and TE elements, and be a good electrical insulator in order to prevent any circuit shortcut. Currently, alumina (Al2O3) and aluminum nitride (AlN) are generally favored as the plate materials. FIG. 1 illustrates a simplified drawing of a conventional thermoelectric module 10 utilizing materials such as alumina and aluminum nitride. QH and QC represent the heat input and output flows; Tsh and Tsc represent the hot source temperature and cold source temperature, respectively; ΔVoc is the voltage differential; α is a constant, and elements 12 are electric insulating layers.
The present invention is directed to solving the problem that in high temperature gradient applications, the present materials used for the electrode plate are exposed to severe thermal cycling (e.g. ranging from 50° to 850° C.) and are likely to create a prohibitive thermal expansion mismatch (see FIG. 2, right side). As a consequence of the thermal mismatch failures are likely to appear as shown in the right side of FIG. 2 which represents conventional thermoelectric module architecture 10. The left side of the dashed line represents the structure at room temperature, without any thermal gradient between the top and bottom of the Figure. The right side of the dashed line represents the same structure under an 800° C. thermal gradient when mismatched elements are used. For example, for a 50 mm large module, an 850° C. temperature gradient generates a 150 μm mismatch between the hot and cold alumina plate, presenting an 80×10−7/° C. CTE. Several complex architectures have been proposed to that fundamental problem as is disclosed by Tateyama et al., US 2005/0016183 A1 and US 2005/0211288 A1 (assigned to Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba). The present invention offers a material solution preventing destructive high temperature mismatch between thermoelectric module hot and cold source.


A mechanism for opening or closing a shut off valve, the mechanism having a lever mounted on a spindle to which the valve is attached for mounting the valve from a normally open position to a closed position. A trigger mechanism including the lever and a biasing spring which when activated, rotates the lever, spindle and valve. A retainer mechanism ordinarily holds the trigger mechanism in a cocked position corresponding to the open position of the valve. The float, when subjected to water, releases the retainer mechanism permitting the trigger mechanism to close the valve.

Hot water tanks are typically provided with protective devices for automatically shutting off the supply of gas to the burner when the burner flame is extinguished due to leaking water. However, there may be circumstances when the burner flame is extinguished and the gas continues to escape through the pilot light into the room.
Water heaters or hot water tanks, whether in residential or commercial buildings, are susceptible to failure in a manner when the water within the tank and water entering the tank will leak uncontrollably onto the underlying floor. Such flooding could cause extensive damage to the building and its contents particularly when the flooding occurs on a weekend in a commercial building or when the homeowner is absent from the building or house.
Because the water tank is often placed in a position remote from the water drain, serious damage can result to floors, floor coverings and to goods that are stored proximate to the leaking tank, if the tank is allowed to leak for a prolonged period of time. In addition, it is possible for the pilot light to go out and in certain cases for gas to escape into the house or building. Accordingly, there is a need for a simplified and improved safety fluid shut off valve mechanism which shuts off the water or other fluid supply to the water tank/heater, to a brine tank and to gas operated appliances when an undesirable water leak occurs. Accordingly, it is desirable to have a shut off valve mechanism which is actuated in response to an external stimulus such as, for example, escaping water or liquid from a domestic hot water system or tank or other vessel.

Float control fluid shut off valve mechanism


The device comprises a microphone for detecting a speech signal from a near speaker, and a loudspeaker for reproducing a speech signal from a remote speaker. The processing for canceling the interfering acoustic echo implements an adaptive linear filtering algorithm. Double talk situations are detected by: evaluating an index representative of the convergence or divergence of the algorithm; assessing a predetermined condition for detecting a double talk situation; and if the condition is satisfied, modifying at least one parameter of the algorithm in response to the detection. The representative index may be the norm of the gradient vector describing the adaptation of the filter from one iteration of the algorithm to the next, the conditions being a comparison between the gradient and a threshold. The parameter that is modified double talk situation may be the adaptation stepsize of the algorithm, and also the gain control of an echo suppression stage.

Such a "hands-free" device for a motor vehicle is described by way of example in WO 2008/049982 A1 (Parrot SA) which describes various types of echo cancellation and suppression processing, noise reduction processing, etc., as applied to a signal picked up by a microphone that picks up the acoustic signal from the near speaker.
The echo considered herein—to be distinguished from the "line echo" that arises solely within the transmission path, and for which various filtering methods are known—is the acoustic echo as picked up by the microphone and that is due to the phenomenon of reverberation in the environment of the speaker, typically the room or the vehicle cabin occupied by the speaker, and also to direct acoustic coupling between the loudspeaker and the microphone.
A microphone picks up not only the voice of the near speaker, but also the surrounding noise and, above all, the acoustic echo coming from the sound reproduced by the loudspeaker. The acoustic echo constitutes a major disturbing element of the device that can often be so great as to make the speech of the near speaker (the speaker whose speech is lost in the acoustic echo) incomprehensible for the remote speaker (the speaker at the other end of the transmission path of the telephone signal).
This effect is particularly marked when the microphone and the loudspeaker are close together, and the acoustic power delivered by the loudspeaker is high—as is very often true of systems on board motor vehicles, where the sound level from the loudspeaker is relatively high in order to cover surrounding noise.
Furthermore, numerous "hands-free" devices are implemented in the form of appliances that are self-contained, and removable, comprising a single housing containing both the microphone and the loudspeaker together with control buttons: the proximity (a few centimeters) between the loudspeaker and the microphone then gives rise to a considerable level of acoustic echo, typically of the order of twenty times greater than the speech signal produced by the near speaker.
This effect is manifest essentially during so-called "double talk" situations, i.e. when both speakers are speaking at the same time, because when the remote speaker is speaking the level of the echo that is produced is considerably greater than the mean level of the speech from the near speaker.
Unfortunately, these stages in a call are important since they enhance interactivity between the speakers, and it is important to conserve them (i.e. to maintain so-called "full duplex" communication, as contrasted to alternating or "half-duplex" communication, in which, while one of the speakers is speaking, the other speaker is prevented from intervening.
This double talk situation is very critical for echo cancellation processing (also known as acoustic echo cancellation (AEC)), since it is necessary to estimate dynamically the component that is associated with the acoustic echo and to subtract this estimate from the overall signal picked up by the microphone, but without that degrading the component that is associated with the speech from the near speaker.
In addition, conventional processing in the presence of echo makes use not only of acoustic echo cancellation, but also of post-processing referred to as echo suppression, which applies varying gain to the signal for the purpose of attenuating the residual echo, but does so overall without distinguishing between the residual echo and useful speech, if any is present. As a result, during a period of double talk, this time-varying gain control gives rise simultaneously to a significant degradation in the useful speech.
Various algorithms exist for detecting double talk that make it possible to detect such a situation and to adapt the processing for echo cancellation and for suppressing the residual echo.
Thus, US 2008/0101622 A1 describes echo cancellation processing that implements one or two double talk detectors (DTDs). When two DTDs are used in parallel, an evaluator circuit is provided that delivers a status flag (converged/not converged) concerning the adaptive filter used for the echo cancellation processing. This evaluator circuit is used to control a switch that enables one of the DTDs to take the place of the other once filtering has converged. That flag nevertheless makes no contribution to determining the presence or absence of double talk by either of the DTDs. The convergence status of the adaptive filter is thus without effect on the decision taken by one or the other of the DTDs about the existence or absence of a double talk situation; this status is used only downstream from the double talk detectors, in order to substitute one of the DTDs for the other.
In general, the algorithms that have been proposed in the past for detecting double talk are relatively complex, insofar as they are based on analyzing the spectral envelope of the echo signal. Double talk detection is thus relatively demanding in terms of calculation power, and even then it does not provide a high degree of certainty about the presence of a genuine double talk situation.

Method of detecting a double talk situation for a “hands-free” telephone device


An ultrasound probe comprises therapeutic transducers which include a plurality of arrayed first transducer elements and emit therapeutic ultrasounds to a subject, and diagnostic transducers which include a plurality of arrayed second transducer elements and emit diagnostic ultrasounds to the subject and receive the diagnostic ultrasounds, wherein the therapeutic transducers are stacked over the diagnostic transducers.

In an ultrasound apparatus, therapeutic ultrasounds are emitted via a diagnostic probe kept in contact with the body surface of a subject, and ultrasound images (e.g. tomograms and M-mode images) are reconstructed on the basis of reflected echo signals generated from the subject. Also, a target region is uninvasively treated by emitting therapeutic ultrasounds onto the subject via a therapeutic probe.
In performing an ultrasound therapy, a diagnostic probe and a therapeutic probe are usually arranged alongside each other on the body surface of the subject in order to emit therapeutic ultrasounds while checking the target region by its ultrasound images (see, e.g., Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 5-220152).
However, arranging a diagnostic probe and a therapeutic probe alongside each other on the body surface as in the conventional practice results in a difference in scanning coordinates between the diagnostic ultrasounds and the therapeutic ultrasounds according to the difference between the contact positions of the two probes. Moreover, since the contact positions of the two probes are determined by the operator as desired, the difference in scanning coordinates is not constant. Therefore, while finding out the difference in scanning coordinates between the two probes on every occasion of therapeutic action, the coordinate position of the target region is determined on the basis of ultrasound images acquired with the diagnostic probe, the coordinate position is converted into the coordinate system of the therapeutic probe, and therapeutic ultrasounds are emitted onto the target region accordingly. As a result, particular care should be taken in manipulating the therapeutic probe and the diagnostic probe, inviting inconvenience in the use of probes.


A method and apparatus for detecting ink flow through the printhead of an inkjet pen includes sensing the temperature of the printhead substrate as the inkjet pen prints a test pattern into the printer spittoon. The method includes printing a test pattern and storing data representing the temperature of the printhead. The method includes summing the change in temperature of the printhead between an initial point and points at intervals during the printing of a test pattern to provide a thermal history of the printhead. Ink flow is determined from the rate of temperature change during the printing of a test pattern, and from the change in thermal history of the printhead among test patterns.

This invention relates to thermal inkjet printing and, more particularly, to detecting ink flow through the printhead of a thermal printing device such as a computer printer, facsimile machine or the like.
Thermal inkjet printing is now a common method of producing high quality, low cost printing with computer printers, facsimile machines and potentially with copiers and other devices as well. The basic design and operation of inkjet printing devices are well known and amply described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,910,528, owned by the present assignee and hereby incorporated by reference. Such devices use an inkjet pen (also known as an ink cartridge), which includes an ink container and printhead through which ink from the container is ejected onto the print media.
One concern with inkjet printing is the sufficiency of ink flow to the paper or other print media. Print quality is a function of, among other things, ink flow through the printhead. Too little ink on the paper produces faded and hard-to-read printed documents. In a worst case, no ink may be printed and the entire document is lost. This scenario may occur where a facsimile machine, out of ink, receives a transmission when unattended and attempts to print. Since the inkjet pen moves across the media even when no ink is being ejected, the facsimile machine mistakenly assumes that the transmission has successfully been received and acknowledges reception to the sender.
One approach to detecting the sufficiency of ink mechanically in inkjet printing is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,935,751, also assigned to the present assignee. The ink pen therein houses a contractible ink bag to which is attached a rigid strip. The top end of the pen housing is a window revealing the end of the strip. A scale may be attached to the window. As the ink bag depletes, it contracts and pulls the strip across the window. An observer can manually tell from the position of the strip the relative amount of ink that is left in the bag and thereby the sufficiency of ink for printing. Another mechanical technique using a ball check valve is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,940,997.
A second approach is to place a capacitive sensor on the printhead, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,853,718. The capacitance is a function of the amount of ink present in a channel connecting the ink reservoir to the inkjet of the printhead. With ink present, a charge on the capacitor leaks off quickly. With ink absent, the charge leaks off slowly. A sampling circuit designed to measure the capacitor voltage at a certain interval detects whether there is ink in the channel. Although plausible, this approach requires the addition of relatively complex and costly circuitry to the printing device.
A third approach is to place a thermistor (a semiconductor device whose electrical resistance is dependent upon temperature) directly in the ink channel. Ink has a greater thermal conductivity than air, and the resistance of the thermistor rises as air replaces ink in the channel. The drawback of this approach is that, over time, deposits form on the thermistor which cause it to give an erroneous output. A similar technique wherein a temperature sensor is surrounded by gas or liquid is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,326,199.
A fourth approach, shown and described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,206,668, is to compare the temperature change of the printhead at two different printing intervals to determine inkflow through the printhead. As the printhead runs out of ink, its rate of temperature change increases. By examining the ever-increasing ratio of temperature change at distinct printing intervals, this approach determines when ink flow is no longer sufficient. While accurate, this approach may occasionally provide an out-of-ink signal too late because of an anomalous reading of temperature change at one of the intervals.

Method and apparatus for summing temperature changes to detect ink flow


Methods for treating aligning substrates produces uniform alignment of liquid crystals in at least two modes. The method is based on the treatment of liquid crystal aligning substrates with a collimated or partially collimated plasma beam. In one embodiment, the method comprises a step of bombarding an aligning substrate with at least one plasma beam from a plasma beam source at a designated incident angle to align the atomic/molecular structure or the surface profile of the aligning substrate in at least one aligned direction.

A uniform surface alignment of liquid crystals (LCs) is an important problem in practical applications of liquid crystal cells. In the case of uniform alignment, the direction of the average orientation of LC molecules on the substrate can be described by two angles—zenithal angle θ (the angle between the substrate and the direction of LC average orientation, also called the pretilt angle of the LC, and the azimuth angle φ (the angle in the plane of the substrate, measured between the director and some axis). In absence of external torques, the two angles have well-defined equilibrium values or range of values that are determined by the specifics of molecular interactions at the liquid crystal-substrate interface. These equilibrium values determine one, two, or more "easy axis" or "easy axes" directions. The angle θ can be used to classify the types of uniform alignment of LC. Three cases can be cited:
1) homeotropic (also known as perpendicular or normal) alignment characterized by preferential orientation of LC molecules in a direction normal to the film. In this case LC pretilt angle θ is equal to 90°.
2) planar alignment characterized by uniaxial ordering of LC molecules in plane of the aligning substrate (θ equals 0).
3) tilted alignment with the orientation axis obliquely oriented with respect to the aligning substrate. For this type of alignment 0°<θ<90°.
The first type of alignment implies that the azimuth angle φ is not specified, whereas 2) and 3) types are characterized by a well-defined value of the azimuth angle φ, when the medium adjacent to the LC is anisotropic. The azimuth direction might be degenerate, i.e., φ is not specified, when the adjacent medium is isotropic in the film plane.
As, a rule, homeotropic alignment of LC can be relatively easy obtained for both thermotropic and lyotropic LCs. Thermotropic materials acquire their mesomorphic (orientationally ordered) state when the material is within a certain temperature range. Lyotropic materials become mesomorphic when dissolved in some solvent (such as water), within an appropriate concentration range. The most common method of homeotropic alignment is a treatment of the aligning substrates with surfactant materials. In contrast, great skill is required to obtain planar or tilted alignment with desirable alignment parameters such as the azimuth angle φ, strength of anchoring, etc. The problem is challenging for both thermotropic and lyotropic LCs. The most common technique for such a controlled alignment is a unidirectional rubbing of special aligning films (e.g., polymer films) deposited at the bounding substrates. However, this method often hinders the further improvement of the devices based on LC cells because of several principal drawbacks. The rubbing process causes surface deterioration as well as generation of electrostatic charges and dust on the aligning surfaces. Besides, it is not convenient for the fabrication of LC cells having some special structure, for example, multidomain cells. The reason is that the rubbing method implies mechanical contact with aligning substrates.
To avoid the problem, a number of non-contact LC alignment methods has been suggested. Among them the photoalignment method is the most promising and intensively studied. Using this method, substrates are covered by photosensitive materials and subsequently irradiated with polarized UV or visible light. The photoalignment method allows controlling of LC anchoring and easy axis direction in both azimuthal and polar planes. This makes possible patterned alignment used to enhance viewing angles in nematic LCD. However, the photoaligning technique is usually accompanied with a low anchoring strength and relatively poor photo and thermal stability. Besides, LC alignment on the photoirradiated substrates is characterized by the pronounced image sticking effect which is a residual image when the controlling voltage is changed.
From the first sight, the main problem of photoalignment is a problem of useful materials. However, following literature data, practically all photoaligning materials developed up to this date more or less suffer from the drawbacks mentioned above. This gives the reasons to conclude that shortcomings of photoalignment are mainly associated with treatment procedure. As we believe, the action of UV/Vis light modifies the aligning surface only "softly" and so it is not capable to create strong boundary conditions for LC layers.
To overcome shortcomings of the conventional photoalignment method, M. Hazegava suggested to use deep UV irradiation. He showed that 257 nm irradiation causes LC alignment effect on the polymers, which are non-sensitive to conventional UVis light. One more radical solution is suggested by Chaudhari et al. It consists in oblique irradiation of the aligning polymer substrates with a collimated or partially collimated ion beam. This method provides excellent LC alignment on both organic and non-organic substrates. Later on, several modifications of the ion treatment method have been suggested. In the aligning substrate is bombarded with ions at normal incidence in the presence of an electric field, which is applied in the area close to the substrate. In this case the applied field is sufficient to redirect ions obliquely to the substrate. The other modification is proposed in where ion beam irradiation is used in combination with rubbing to produce two-domain patterning of the aligning substrate.
The advantages of deep UV irradiation and ion irradiation can be combined by the treatment of the aligning substrates with various kinds of plasma. The processing of LC substrates with the glow discharge was earlier applied for surface etching, grafting of the aligning surfaces with various atoms, as well as plasma polymerization. In comparison to prior art plasma methods that include deposition of various films [J. C. Dubois, M. Gazard, and A. Zann, 1974, Appl. Phys. Letters, 24(7), 29738-40; R. Watanabe, T. Nakano, T. Satoh, H. Hatoh, and Y. Ohki, 1987, Jpn. J. Appl. Phys., 26(3), 373, and A. I. Vangonen, and E. A. Konshina. 1997, Mol. Cryst. Liq. Cryst., 304, 507] and post-deposition treatments, mainly by bombardment with reactive ions [N. Shahidzadeh, A. Merdas, and W. Urbach, 1998, Langmuir, 14, 6594, 41-43; J. G. Fonseca, P. Charue, and Y. Galerne, 1999, Mol. Cryst. Liq. Cryst., 329, 597; and S. P. Kurchatkin, N. A. Muravyeva, A. L. Mamaev, V. P. Sevostyanov, and E. I. Smirnova, Patent of Russia No 2,055,384.], the technique of the present invention has a number of advantages. All the previously known methods listed above are reportedly capable of producing various values of zenithal anchoring coefficient and pretilt angle but not a uniform planar alignment; mostly because the substrates are placed in the gas discharge area where the plasma treatment is practically isotropic. Sprokel et al. [G. J. Sprokel and R. M. Gibson, 1977, J. Electrochem. Soc., 124(4), 559] proposed a directed plasma flux and anisotropic treatment, which resulted in a uniform planar alignment. This was achieved by the use of a modified r.f. plasma etcher in which reactive plasma was extracted and carried onto substrates by the gas stream. The technique of alignment set forth in this invention is extremely versatile, as it allows one to align both the thermotropic LCs such as the ones used in LC displays and lyotropic LCs, such as lyotropic chromonic LCs used in optical elements and biological sensors, see C. Woolverton et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,171,802; O. D. Lavrentovich and T. Ishikawa, U.S. Pat. No. 6,411,354 and O. D. Lavrentovich and T. Ishikawa, U.S. Pat. No. 6,570,632. Moreover, all these liquid crystalline materials can be aligned at a broad variety of substrates, both inorganic and organic.

Method of plasma beam bombardment of aligning films for liquid crystals


A system and method is disclosed for generating a user profile. The method discloses: receiving a user profile request from a profile requester; identifying profile fragments with a profile mediator, from existing profiles in a profile corpus which are responsive to the user profile request; aggregating the identified profile fragments into the user profile response; and transmitting the user profile response to the profile requestor. The system discloses various means and modules for effecting the method.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to systems and methods for generating user profiles.
2. Discussion of Background Art
A user profile, used in service personalization, is a structured construct containing information both directly and indirectly pertaining to a user's preferences, behavior, and context. Since personalization of services, content and user interactions is seen as key to a superior customer experience, it is important for service providers to build and maintain accurate models of a customer's preferences, interests and background through a user profile.
In doing so, however, several problems need to be confronted.
First, there is a lack of rich user profile information. Typical user profiles, such as those used by services on the web, are unable to capture rich information about a user. A profile is not merely a weighted vector of 'interest' keywords, rather it needs to capture user context, behavior and domain-relevant associations between the constituents of a profile. Current user profiling systems can be said to be of two general types: questionnaire-based profiling systems (i.e. asserted profile systems), and inference-based profile systems.
In questionnaire-based systems, users assert facts about themselves through questionnaire-based schemes. The service asks the user what it thinks are pertinent questions, and the answers to these questions are used to build a user profile. This approach, however, has several disadvantages: One, users may not enter complete information. Two, they might have already entered the requested information at other services and may not like to repeat themselves. Three, information needed for personalization is often orthogonal or contextual in nature to the service or interaction at hand. This information either lies elsewhere, or was not anticipated when the questionnaire was designed.
With inference-based profile systems, the system attempts to infer information about a user, for instance by analyzing user clickstreams, or mining user behavior, interaction or navigation patterns. However a service analyzing the interactions of a user with only itself is prone to make erroneous or very limited inferences.
A second problem that needs to be confronted is the new service spareness problem. When a user interacts with a new service for the first few times, there is a limited interaction history and the new service has a very sparse information model about the user. This may be because the number of user interactions with the new service is too small for an inferred profile to be generated, and usually asserted profile information is not enough. As a result, the sparseness profile problem encountered by new services tend to prevent effective personalization.
Some approaches attempt to address some of these problems using domain-specific data sharing agreements. In these schemes explicit data sharing agreements or schemes are in place between two or more parties to construct user profiles. The disadvantage with this approach is that manual or explicit point-to-point data sharing schemes and agreements need to already be in place between the different services so that data sharing can occur.
In response to the concerns discussed above, what is needed is a system and method for generating a user profile that overcomes the problems of the prior art.

System and method for generating a user profile

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP


Disclosed in the embodiments of the present invention are an OAM message transmission method and transmission device, and a storage medium. The OAM message transmission method comprises: obtaining an OAM block generated on the basis of an OAM message; replacing an idle block in a data stream with the OAM block; and sending the data stream carrying the OAM block.

An OAM message is various information required to be transmitted in daily operation, administration and maintenance of an operating company over a network. How to implement transmission of an OAM message to minimize a perception of a user side to improve a user experience and transmit the OAM message without any dedicated transmission resource is a problem urgent to be solved in a conventional art.

OAM message transmission method and transmission device, and storage medium

CHINA MOBILE COMMUNICATION CO., LTD RESEARCH INSTITUTE

CHINA MOBILE COMMUNICATIONS GROUP CO., LTD.