An unacknowledged mode (UM) radio link control (RLC) entity receives RLC protocol data units (PDUs) delivered through one or more logical channels and re-orders the received PDUs by referring to their sequence numbers and by using a receive window and a timer to minimize delivery delay time, to reduce missing PDUs received from each logical channel, and to process the PDUs by avoiding duplicate PDUs.

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary basic architecture of a UMTS network. As shown in FIG. 1, the UMTS is roughly divided into a terminal 100 (mobile station, user equipment (UE), etc.), a UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network (UTRAN) 120, and a core network (CN) 130. The UTRAN 120 includes one or more radio network sub-systems (RNS) 125. Each RNS 125 includes a radio network controller (RNC) 123, and a plurality of base stations (Node-Bs) 121 managed by the RNC 123. One or more cells exist for each Node B 121.
FIG. 2 illustrates a radio interface protocol architecture that exists in the mobile terminal and in the UTRAN as one pair, for handling data transmissions via the radio interface. Regarding each radio protocol layer, the first layer (Layer 1) is a physical layer (PHY) that serves the purpose of transmitting data over the radio interface by using various radio transmission techniques. The PHY layer is connected with an upper layer, the medium access control (MAC) layer via transport channels, which include a dedicated transport channel and a common transport channel depending upon whether that channel is shared or not.
In the second layer (Layer 2), a MAC layer, a radio link control (RLC) layer, a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer and a broadcast/multicast control (BMC) layer exist. The MAC layer serves the purpose of mapping various logical channels to various transport channels, as well as performing logical channel multiplexing for mapping a plurality of logical channels to a single transport channel. The MAC layer is connected to a higher layer, the RLC layer, via logical channels, and these logical channels are divided into control channels that transmit control plane information and traffic channels that transmit user plane information.
The RLC layer handles the guaranteeing of the quality of service (QoS) of each radio bearer (RB) and the transmission of the corresponding data thereof. To guarantee the unique QoS of a radio bearer, the RLC layer has therein one or two independent RLC entities for each radio bearer, and provides three types of RLC modes; a transparent mode (TM), an unacknowledged mode (UM), and an acknowledged mode (AM), in order to support the various QoS. Also, the RLC layer adjusts the data size accordingly such that a lower layer may transmit data over the radio interface, by performing segmentation and concatenation on the data received from an upper layer.
The PDCP layer is located above the RLC layer and allows data that is transmitted by using Internet Protocol (IP) packets, such as IPv4 or IPv6, to be effectively transmitted over a radio interface having a relatively smaller bandwidth. For this purpose, the PDCP layer performs a header compression function, whereby only the absolutely necessary data in the header portion of the data are transmitted, in order to increase transmission efficiency over the radio interface. Because header compression is its basic function, the PDCP layer only exists in the PS (packet switched) domain, and a single PDCP entity exists per each radio bearer (RB) for providing effective header compression function with respect to each PS service.
Additionally, in the second layer (L2), a BMC (Broadcast/Multicast Control) layer exists above the RLC layer for performing the functions of scheduling cell broadcast messages and broadcasting to terminals located in a particular cell.
The radio resource control (RRC) layer located at the lowest portion of the third layer (L3) is only defined in the control plane, for controlling the parameters of the first and second layers and for controlling the transport channels and the physical channels in relation to the configuration, the re-configuration, and the releasing of the radio bearers (RBs). Here, the RB refers to a logical path provided by the first and second layers of the radio protocol for data delivery between the terminal and the UTRAN. And in general, configuration of a radio bearer (RB) refers to regulating the protocol layers and the channel characteristics of the channels required for providing a specific service, as well as setting their respective specific parameters and operation methods.
The basic function of the RLC layer is to guarantee the QoS (Quality of Service) of each RB and transmitting data accordingly. As the RB service is a service that is provided from the second layer of the radio protocol to an upper layer, the entire second layer affects the QoS, and in particular, the effect of the RLC is great. For the RLC to guarantee the QoS that is unique to that RB, an independent RLC entity is provided for each RB and to support various QoS, three types of RLC modes; Transparent Mode (TM), Unacknowledged Mode (UM), and Acknowledged Mode (AM) are provided. Each of these three RLC modes respectively supports different QoS, the operation methods thereof are different and there are differences in their detailed functions as well. Methods and systems are needed to overcome the noted problems.
TM RLC is a mode in which no overhead is attached to the RLC SDU (Service Data Unit) received from an upper layer when constituting a RLC PDU (Protocol Data Unit). Namely, the RLC passes the SDU in a transparent manner, thus it is called TM RLC, and due to such characteristics, the user plane and the control plane performs the following functions. In the user plane, because the data processing time within the RLC is short, transmission of real-time circuit service (CS) domain data such as voice and streaming in the CS domain are mainly handled. In the control plane, because there is no overhead within the RLC, the uplink transmission of RRC messages from any terminal and the downlink transmission of RRC messages that are broadcast to all terminals within a cell region are handled.
Unlike transparent mode, the mode in which overhead is added at the RLC is called non-transparent mode, and there are two types with respect to whether receipt of the transmitted data is unacknowledged (UM: unacknowledged mode) or acknowledged (AM: acknowledged mode). UM RLC transmits data by adding to each PDU, a PDU header that includes a sequence number (SN), such that the receiving end can know which PDU had been lost during transmission (i.e., the PDU is missing). When considered from the transmitting side RLC, if the transmitting side operates in unacknowledged mode, it does not check whether the receiving end properly received the corresponding PDU, and once a PDU is transmitted, it is not re-transmitted. When considered from the receiving end RLC operating in unacknowledged mode, the PDUs that have been missing are determined by referring to the sequence numbers of the received PDUs, and for those PDUs determined to be missing, waiting is not performed and a received PDU is delivered immediately to the upper layer. For example, when a UM RLC first receives a RLC PDU having SN=3 and then receives a RLC PDU having SN=6, the UM RLC determines that receipt of the RLC PDU having SN=4 and the RLC PDU having SN=5 was unsuccessful and no longer waits for these two RLC PDUs. Due to such function, the UM RLC mainly handles, in the user plane, the transmission of broadcast/multicast data and the transmission of real-time packet data such as voice (e.g., VoIP: Voice over IP) or streaming of the packet service (PS) domain, while in the control plane, the transmission of RRC messages that do not need receipt acknowledgement among those RRC messages transmitted to a particular terminal or terminal group within a cell region.
As one type of non-transparent mode, AM RLC constitutes a PDU by attaching a PDU header that includes a SN as done in UM RLC, but unlike UM RLC, the receiving end provides acknowledgement for the PDU transmitted by the transmitting end. In AM RLC, the reason that the receiving end provides acknowledgement is to request re-transmission from the transmitting end of those PDUs that were not received, and this re-transmission function is one of the most important characteristics of the AM RLC. The ultimate purpose of this is for the AM RLC to guarantee error-free data transmissions through re-transmissions, and due to this purpose, the AM RLC mainly handles non-real-time packet data transmissions such as TCP/IP of the PS domain in the user plane.
The UM RLC will be explained in more detail hereafter. The UM RLC sets and manages a state variable called 'VR(US)' which refers to the next sequence number that is expected to be received, namely, the very next sequence number after the sequence number of the RLC PDU that was most recently received. Thus, if the most recently received SN=x, then VR(US)=x+1.
The UM RLC of the transmitting end receives RLC SDUs (Service Data Units) from an upper layer, performs segmentation or concatenation thereto to generate data units of appropriate size and sequence numbers are sequentially allocated to each in order to form RLC PDUs which are then delivered to a lower layer. Also, the UM RLC includes length indicators (LI) in the RLC PDU that indicate the location of boundaries between RLC SDUs within a RLC PDU, in order to allow proper reassembling (reconstructing) of the RLC SDU from the RLC PDU at the receiving end.
Here, the sequence number can be expressed in 7 bits. By expressing the sequence number in this simple manner, the header portion of each RLC PDU can be minimized and the transmission efficiency of the data to be sent can be increased. Thus, the sequence number values that are actually included in the RLC PDUs are from 0 to 127. The transmitting side sequentially allocates sequence numbers starting from 0 to each RLC PDU, and after the number 127 has been allocated, the sequence numbers beginning from 0 are used again. As such, when a sequence number (e.g., 0) is allocated after a larger sequence number (e.g., 127), this is referred to as a 'wrap-around' situation. Thus, the RLC PDUs having sequence numbers allocated after a wrap-around situation should be delivered after the RLC PDUs having sequence numbers allocated before the wrap-around situation. The receiving end always checks the sequence numbers (SN) of the received RLC PDUs, and if the SN of the received RLC PDU is smaller than the SN of the last received RLC PDU, it is determined that a wrap-around situation has occurred and it is assumed that all subsequently received RLC PDUs would be RLC PDUs that should be sequentially after the previously received RLC PDUs.
FIG. 3 depicts the operation of the UM RLC at the receiving end according to the related art when a RLC PDU is received from a lower layer.
First, the VR(US) is updated (re-set) to match the SN value of the received RLC PDU. Second, if the update interval of the VR(US) is not 1 in the above first step, it is determined that there is at least one missing RLC PDU, and all RLC SDUs related to the one or more missing RLC PDUs are discarded. Otherwise, if the update interval is 1, then the next step is performed. Third, a reassembly procedure is performed by using the successfully received RLC PDUs, and then only those successfully reassembled RLC SDUs are sent to the upper layer and the operation is completed.
Hereafter, multimedia broadcast/multicast service (MBMS) will be described. MBMS refers to a downlink transmission service for providing data services such as, streaming services (e.g., multimedia, video on demand, webcast, etc.) or background services (e.g., e-mail, short message services (SMS), downloading, etc.), to a plurality of terminals by employing a downlink dedicated MBMS bearer service. A single MBMS service is comprised of one or more sessions, and MBMS data is transmitted to the plurality of terminals through an MBMS radio bearer while a session is ongoing.
MBMS can be classified into a broadcast mode and a multicast mode. The MBMS broadcast mode refers to transmitting multimedia data to all users within a broadcast area, which is a region where broadcast service is possible. In contrast, MBMS multicast mode refers to transmitting multimedia data to only a certain specified user group within a multicast area, whereby a multicast area, which is a region where multicast service is possible.
The UTRAN providing the MBMS service transmits via the logical channel MCCH (MBMS Control CHannel), MBMS-related RRC messages, namely, control messages to a plurality of terminals. Here, the MCCH is a point-to-multipoint downlink channel, and is mapped to a transport channel FACH (Forward Access CHannel), while the transport channel FACH is mapped to a physical channel SCCPCH (Secondary Common Control Physical CHannel). Examples of MBMS-related RRC messages transmitted through the MCCH include MBMS service information and MBMS radio bearer information. Here, MBMS service information transmits to the terminals wishing to receive the MBMS service, an ID (identification) list of MBMS services that are ongoing in a corresponding cell and transmits the type of radio bearer for the corresponding MBMS service. Also, when a particular MBMS service uses a point-to-multipoint radio bearer for a corresponding cell, the MBMS radio bearer information transmits information about the point-to-multipoint radio bearer for that service to those terminals that wish to receive that service.
A terminal that wishes to receive a particular MBMS service by using a point-to-multipoint radio bearer receives MBMS service information through the MCCH. If the MBMS service information received by the terminal instructs that the MBMS radio bearer information should be received for a particular MBMS service, the terminal obtains through the MBMS radio bearer information, the necessary information for configuring a MBMS radio bearer at the terminal for receiving the particular MBMS service. Namely, if the MBMS service information received by the terminal includes the ID of a particular MBMS service, and if the type of radio bearer for the particular MBMS service is informed to be a point-to-multipoint type, the terminal receives the MBMS radio bearer information to obtain the point-to-multipoint radio bearer information, and configures a point-to-multipoint radio bearer at the terminal by using this information.
In the related art, when a point-to-multipoint radio bearer is configured in a cell region for a particular MBMS service, because a plurality of terminals commonly receive service data through the point-to-multipoint radio bearer, the UTRAN cannot appropriately configure the point-to-multipoint radio bearer for each terminal having respectively different reception conditions. Thus, when a point-to-multipoint radio bearer is configured, the probability of unsuccessful data reception by the terminal is higher than that when a point-to-point radio bearer is configured.
To reduce such probability of unsuccessful data reception by the terminal, when a MBMS service is transmitted from a cell through a point-to-multipoint radio bearer, the terminal searches the neighboring cells and additionally receives that MBMS service through the point-to-multipoint radio bearer provided from one or more of those neighboring cells to thus receive the MBMS service data that is desired. Namely, when a particular MBMS service is provided through a point-to-multipoint radio bearer from the cell (region) in which the terminal is located in, even if the reception of some data is unsuccessful, such data can be received from one or more other cells that have the point-to-multipoint radio bearer configured therein, and thus unsuccessfully data receptions can be minimized.
However, in the related art, the UM RLC entity at the receiving end receives RLC PDUs from only a single cell or only a single logical channel, and upon checking the sequence number of each RLC PDU, no longer waits to receive those RLC PDUs that have been determined to be missing (lost), all RLC SDUs related to any unsuccessfully received RLC PDU are discarded (deleted), and only the successfully received RLC PDUs are processed.
But, this causes serious problems when data is received through a point-to-multipoint radio bearer from multiple cells or when data is received through multiple logical channels, such as in MBMS service. This is because the points of time when a terminal receives the data of a particular service from each cell are different. For example, FIG. 4 assumes that data of a single MBMS service is received from Cell A and from Cell B. According to the related art operation, if the UM RLC receives a RLC PDU having SN=5, the VR(US) is updated, while the RLC PDU having SN=3 and the RLC PDU having SN=4 are considered to be unsuccessfully received and no longer waits to receives these RLC PDU. Then, the RLC SDU including the RLC PDU having SN=5 is reassembled and sent to the upper layer. As can be understood from FIG. 4, even though the terminal could receive a PDU having SN=3 from Cell B, the RLC PDUs having SN=3 and SN=4 are considered to be not receivable, and has the problem of processing the RLC PDU having SN=5 before the RLC PDUs having SN=3 or SN=4 are received.
Also, upon receiving a RLC PDU having SN=5 from Cell A, the UM RLC updates the VR(US) to 6, and if a RLC PDU having SN=3 is received thereafter from Cell B, the UM RLC determines that a wrap-around situation has occurred because the currently received RLC PDU (having SN=3) has a lower sequence number than the last received RLC PDU (having SN=5). Thus, the UM RLC determines that the currently received RLC PDU (having SN=3) is a new RLC PDU that was generated after the RLC PDU having SN=5, and the problem of unesirably updating the VR(US) to 4 and processing the RLC PDUs thereafter occurs. If the RLC PDU having SN=5 is received from Cell B after the VR(US) was updated to 4, there is a problem in that the RLC PDU having SN=5 (received from Cell B) is processed again, because a RLC PDU having SN=5 had been previously received from Cell A and already processed. In such case, the length indicator information included in the RLC PDU and the mapping between the RLC PDUs do not match one another, thus resulting in the serious problem of not allowing the UM RLC to properly reassemble the RLC SDUs from the RLC PDUs. This also problematic because most services employing the UM RLC are applications require sequential reception of data, and such improper data reception causes problems in the operation of such applications.
The related art problems occurring due to non-sequential data reception at the UM RLC are addressed by the present invention to minimize delivery delay time, to reduce missing PDUs received from each logical channel, and to process the PDUs by avoiding duplicate PDUs.
Thus, in the present invention, an unacknowledged mode (UM) radio link control (RLC) entity receives RLC protocol data units (PDUs) delivered through one or more logical channels and re-orders the received PDUs by referring to their sequence numbers and by using a receive window and a timer.

Apparatus and method for enhanced UM RLC data handling


According to one embodiment, An actinic-ray- or radiation-sensitive resin composition comprises a basic compound (C) having n basic groups and m groups that when exposed to actinic rays or radiation, generate an acid, provided that n and m satisfy the relationships n≧1, m≧2 and n<m.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an actinic-ray- or radiation-sensitive resin composition employed in a semiconductor production process for an IC or the like, a circuit board production process for a liquid crystal, a thermal head or the like and other photofabrication processes, and also relates to a method of forming a pattern with the use of the composition. More particularly, the present invention relates to an actinic-ray- or radiation-sensitive resin composition that is suitable when an electron beam or far-ultraviolet rays of wavelength 250 nm or shorter, preferably 220 nm or shorter, are used as an exposure light source, and also relates to a method of forming a pattern with the use of the composition.
In the present invention, the terms "actinic rays" and "radiation" mean, for example, a mercury lamp bright line spectrum, far-ultraviolet rays as produced by an excimer laser, extreme ultraviolet rays, X-rays, an electron beam and the like; the term "light" means actinic rays or radiation.
2. Description of the Related Art
In photosensitive compositions, such as a chemical-amplification resist composition, for use in semiconductor photolithographic processing, etc., especially when an ArF excimer laser (wavelength: 193 nm) is used as a light source, it is beneficial to employ a resin having an alicyclic hydrocarbon group from the viewpoint of transparency and resistance to dry etching.
Stronger acids are demanded for the photosensitive compositions containing the resin having an alicyclic hydrocarbon group. Thus, use is made of compounds that generate perfluoroalkylsulfonic acids, such as triphenylsulfonium trifluoromethanesulfonate or the like.
However, the perfluoroalkylsulfonic acids exhibit high hydrophobicity, so that the photosensitive compositions containing the acid generators that generate these acids have poor affinity to aqueous developers. Thus, it has been likely to encounter the problems that a decrease of sensitivity is caused by deteriorated developability and development residues (scum) occur.
Patent reference 1 discloses photosensitive compositions each containing a compound that generates a specified acid having a perfluoroalkyl group connected by means of a nitrogen atom.
Patent reference 2 discloses compounds that generate a sulfonic acid having a basic nitrogen atom so as to inhibit any change of pattern line width over time from exposure to radiation to post-baking.
Further improvement of various performances, especially exposure latitude and line edge roughness performances, is demanded in accordance with the further enhancement of pattern fineness.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Actinic-ray- or radiation-sensitive resin composition and method of forming pattern therewith


In a method for crystallising plastic granules with a tendency to conglutinate, in particular PET and PU granules, the granules are subjected to vibratory excitation in a vibrating trough (1) transversely to the direction of longitudinal extension of the vibrating trough (1), at around their reaction temperature. The flow of granules follows a spiral path through the trough, achieving a narrow dwell time spectrum and a homogenous temperature gradient for the granules. Conglutination is also reliably prevented.

Following the actual granulation process, some plastic granules are subjected to heat treatment to change the structure of the granules. For example, polyethylene terephthalate granules also referred to here by the abbreviation PET granules, from the granulation process, are initially obtained in an amorphous state. The amorphous granules are converted into an at least partially crystalline state in a subsequent stage of treatment, known as crystallisation. Pronounced orientation of the molecular chains occurs in this process. In practice, degrees of crystallisation of around 30 to 50% are achieved in the crystallisation of PET granules.
Temperature control plays an important role in crystallisation. Firstly, the amorphous granules must be brought to or kept at a suitable reaction temperature. Secondly, some granules, for example PET or PU granules, tend to conglutinate in the transitional phase. PET granules become sticky even below the reaction temperature required for crystallisation, which lies between approximately 80 and 170° Celsius. The granules must be agitated during crystallisation to prevent their agglomeration. Their tendency to conglutinate decreases as the degree of crystallisation increases.
Whilst the amorphous granules are subjected to a crystallisation stage at temperatures below 80° Celsius in conventional granulation processes while being heated and powerfully agitated, it has recently been proposed, in connection with underwater granulation methods, that hot, pre-dried granules be exposed to vibratory excitation during an immediately subsequent crystallisation process. The vibratory excitation prevents conglutination of the plastic granules. The process heat stored in the granule particles may be exploited simultaneously for crystallisation, so that no additional heat is required in underwater granulation methods. In contrast, granules which have, for example, been stored in a silo in the interim, must first be cooled to avoid conglutination and subsequently be reheated for crystallisation.
In WO 2005/044901, a method is described for the thermal retreatment of PET granules in which the amorphous granules are fed through a vibrating trough for crystallisation. Said trough is divided into multiple consecutive chambers by intermediate walls in the form of weirs. The trough is vibrated in its direction of longitudinal extension by vibration motors. In this way the granules are conveyed along the trough by the vibratory excitation. The intermediate walls dam the flow of granules, causing longitudinal turbulence. At some point the individual granules spill over the intermediate weir walls and reach the granule outlet. The vibrating trough consequently has the same effect as a series of agitation vessels. Although this can prevent conglutination of the individual granules and achieve crystallisation, this configuration has the disadvantage of a relatively broad granule dwell time spectrum.
The use of a vibratory conveying device for crystallisation of PET granules is also known from DE 10 2004 050 356 A1. Vibration is excited in the direction of conveying in this case too. Compared to WO 2005/044901, the granules have a relatively short dwell time of 20 to 90 seconds in the vibratory conveyor device. Although a better dwell time spectrum can be achieved here, the path followed by the individual granules is relatively short, restricting their potential for interaction with other granules. This is unfavourable for equalising the temperature between the granules. Granules which predominantly traverse the trough on the surface of the flow of granules experience a different temperature gradient to those closer to the floor.
Achievement of a good dwell time spectrum is the intention of a vertical shaft reactor, as disclosed in DE 100 49 263 A1. However, no vibratory excitation is provided in this case.

Method and device for crystallising plastic granules with a tendency to conglutinate, particularly PET and PU granules

Vibra Maschinenfabrik Schultheis GmbH & Co.


A preparation method of an antibacterial cornea repair material includes (1) purifying type I collagen extracted from beef tendons, and preparing a collagen solution; (2) casting the collagen solution into a mold to form a membrane by air drying at room temperature; (3) soaking the membrane in an antibiotic solution, stirring until the membrane is in contact with the antibiotic solution, adding a crosslinking agent and a catalyst to the antibiotic solution contacted with the membrane, and stirring the antibiotic solution contacted with the membrane with the crosslinking agent and the catalyst added therein to perform a crosslinking reaction to obtain a crosslinked membrane; and (4) washing the crosslinked membrane material with deionized water, and air drying at room temperature. The antibacterial cornea repair material has relatively good mechanical properties, optical properties, biocompatibility, and antibacterial effect, and can be used for repairing and replacing damaged cornea tissue.

A cornea disease is a very common ophthalmic disease, which causes about one third of the blind patients in the world. Corneal transplant is an effective means of treating corneal blindness, and an allograft-donated cornea is currently the only clinically feasible cornea repair material. However, because the amount of healthy donated corneas is far less than the demand of the corneal transplant, research and development of artificial corneas seems to be very necessary.
In addition to the lack of the corneal transplant materials, how to avoid the inflammation reaction after the corneal transplant surgery is another problem faced by the corneal transplant. The current common method is postoperative frequent medication, which not only wastes a lot of drugs, but is difficult to ensure the amount of drugs and dosing time as well, also very troublesome for the patients themselves. Therefore, many tissue engineering repair materials will be loaded with drugs through physical effects such as drug package or adsorption; however, such repair materials, for the unique requirements of the cornea for optical transparency and toughness, are often very difficult to ensure their good optical and mechanical properties in addition to the drug release effect. Therefore, the cornea repair material should have an antibacterial effect in a period of postoperative wound recovery on the basis of ensuring the physicochemical and biological properties needed by the cornea repair material, which will greatly reduce the risk of inflammation reaction after the corneal transplant surgery.

Antibacterial cornea repair material and preparation method thereof


A bio-information detection substrate and a gene chip are provided. The substrate includes a first main surface, the first main surface includes a test region and a dummy region located around the test region, at least one accommodation region is disposed on the first main surface, and the accommodation region is located in the dummy region.

In recent years, research on biochips or microfluidic chips has attracted more and more attention. A typical microfluidic chip generally refers to a chip with a micron-sized detection unit which is integrated with processes of biological and chemical reaction, analysis, detection and the like. In the above-described chip producing process, chip packaging is an important part. However, a current packaging mode still cannot meet requirements in terms of flatness and sealing degree of the chip, which severely restricts performance of the chip.

Bio-information detection substrate and gene chip

BEIJING BOE OPTOELECTRONICS TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.


An IC test instrument has an IC test circuit for an integrated semiconductor chip. A probe card is coupled to the IC test circuit. Probe needles are disposed on the probe card. The probe needles comprise a cobalt-based alloy containing at least 10 weight-percent of chromium. A passive-state film comprised of chromium oxide is formed on one end of the probe needles, and a solder-enhancing metallic layer is formed on the other end of the probe needles. The passive-state film may be formed by electrolytic polishing or chemical solution immersion. The passive-state film prevents a contaminating substance, such as aluminum oxide, from adhering to the needle. The probe needle substrate may be bent and may be formed by wiredrawing a cobalt-based alloy.

The present invention relates to an IC test instrument which is suitable for use, for example, in probe-testing semiconductor chips.
Probe needles for probe-testing are generally made of tungsten.
In a probe test of semiconductor chips, the tungsten probe needle incorporated in a probe card undergoes an enormous number of repetitive contacts, through the needle point, with semiconductor chips. The service life of the tungsten probe needle is about one million operations. As the probe needle tip repetitively comes in contact with aluminum pads formed on the semiconductor chip, aluminum oxide sticks to the end of the probe needle, increasing the contact resistance. The adhesion of aluminum oxide is caused as follows. In the process of manufacturing the tungsten probe needle, a tungsten oxide film is formed in the surface of the tungsten. But since the strength of the tungsten oxide film is weak, the tungsten oxide film is broken by the repeated contact with the aluminum pads, allowing the pure tungsten to come into direct contact with the aluminum pads. As a result, aluminum adheres to the tungsten and oxidizes.
Since the probe test cannot be continued when the contact resistance of the probe needle becomes large, it is necessary to polish the tip of the probe needle every several tens of thousands of contacts to remove the aluminum oxide. This requirement is a hindrance to the performance of automatic, continuous probe testing on a large number of semiconductor chips.


The present disclosure relates to the field of reactor engineering technologies, and particularly to a spherical element detecting and positioning device. The spherical element detecting and positioning device includes a pressure-bearing casing, an internal member and an execution part; the pressure-bearing casing includes a tank body, one sphere inlet adapter pipe and two sphere outlet adapter pipe respectively arranged on the tank body; the internal member is arranged in the rotor counter-bored hole and includes a lining ring and a limit ring; and the execution part includes a turntable and two support lugs. The spherical element detecting and positioning device provided by the present disclosure can achieve triple functions of performing automatic material separation, precise positioning and directional conveyance of spherical elements, has compact structure and simple control, and can meet the operation reliability and maintainability requirements for long-term and intermittent operation under the strong radioactive environment.

A pebble bed high temperature gas-cooled reactor employs the on-line continuous multi-pass refueling strategy with spherical fuel elements, the running and operating of a fuel loading and unloading system will directly affect the reactivity change of the reactor. An on-line burnup measurement device measures the burnup of the fuel elements unloaded from the core. The elements that have not reached the target burnup are returned to the core, and the spent fuel elements that have reached the target burnup level are unloaded into a spent fuel storage tank. The HTR-10 high temperature gas-cooled experimental reactor is equipped with an lifter at the downstream of a damage fuel separator to cooperate with the burnup measurement device to perform burnup measurement. The lifter performs dual functions of positioning distribution of burnup measurement and pneumatic conveyance. The lifter has to be interlocked with the damage fuel separator at the upstream, and it is greatly affected by the downstream airflow, therefore it cannot meet the operating requirements for the burnup measurement and directional conveyance of a large number of spherical elements in commercial power plants.
In order to meet the high-frequency cycling requirement of the core fuel elements, equipment assemblies and pipes for performing functions of pipeline temporary storage, single conveyance, positioning of burnup measurement, directional distribution, pneumatic conveyance, and etc. are arranged on the pebble bed modular high temperature gas-cooled reactor commercial nuclear power plants after core unloading and crushed spheres sorting, so as to decouple the burnup measurement from the functions of core unloading and pneumatic conveyance, thereby improving the reliability of the system, equipment and control.
A device for accurately positioning the spherical elements to be measured is disposed at the burnup measurement point of the fuel loading and unloading system, and is matched with a collimator of the burnup measurement device, so that a high-activity y spectrometer can be used to measure the burnup on-line. Since the on-line burnup measurement is based on the y-spectrum energy of the relevant nuclides, the radiation effects of adjacent spherical elements must be excluded. On the other hand, the measurement times of the spherical elements with different burnup are different, while the unloading speed of the upstream unloading device is basically constant. Therefore, a certain number of spherical elements must be temporarily stored in the pipe sections waiting for burnup measurement. In order to accurately measure the burnup of the spherical elements one by one to ensure the reliability and stability of automatic operations such as unloading, burnup measurement, directional conveyance and etc., in addition to the radiation measurement device and the distributor, corresponding spherical element control device must be arranged at the upstream of the sphere flow pipeline.
Burnup measurement is a key process for the automatic operation of the fuel loading and unloading system and even the pebble bed high temperature reactor, and it involves a plurality of devices mentioned above and many control points. These devices work in a high-temperature, high-pressure, and radioactive helium environment. Especially, for the single conveyor or the spacer conveyor, the burnup measurement positioner and the steering gear, the daily number of operations reaches 3000, 3000 and 200 times respectively in an HTR-PM demonstration project, which brings great challenges to the thermal fit and tolerance of the moving parts, friction and wear of the shafting with the oil-free lubricant bearings, the sealing of highly permeable helium at the pressure boundary, the interlocking control of the devices and fault tolerance, etc.

Spherical element detecting and positioning device for a pebble bed nuclear reactor


A charging system for a shaft smelt reduction furnace includes a frame structure for mounting on a top charge opening of a shaft smelt reduction vessel; a center shaft arrangement supported by the frame structure and for removing off-gas gases from the furnace and to introduce granular charge materials to form a stack of materials in the furnace. The center shaft arrangement includes a center hood for off-gas extraction; a pair of first and second feed channels for first and second materials.                The center hood includes a pair of facing off-gas panels defining an off-gas channel.        The partition walls include lower portions that extend towards each other below the center hood to define a center feed passage, whereby material descending through the first feed channels may accumulate on lower portions according to the angle of repose of the material, permitting self-adjustment of the first material stock-line in the shaft arrangement.

Smelting reduction technology is an alternative technology to the conventional blast furnace. The blast furnace has been the dominant technology for iron production for centuries. Its operation has been improved and optimized continually; this has resulted in very efficient large-scale operating facilities.
Smelting reduction technology is a typically coal-based ironmaking process, which, as the name clearly suggests, involves both solid-state reduction and smelting.
In shaft furnaces, the gasses formed by the combustion ascend through the furnace in counter-current flow to the charge. The contact between these gasses and the charge will influence the efficiency of the furnace significantly. A constant and homogeneous charging level is therefore desirable to achieve good permeability and distribution of the gasses.
In this context, the conventional equipment and methods used for feeding and distribution of charges in circular cross section shaft furnaces are already known, such as for example those used with blast furnaces, electric reduction furnaces, cupola furnaces, and the like.
Specifically, in blast furnaces the charge formed of classified ore, pellets, sintered or other conventional agglomerates, coke and limestone is charged sequentially through the upper part of the furnace to form a vertically continuous multi-layer charge. The charge is distributed uniformly along the furnace cross section depending on the granular size of its constituents to ensure good permeability and distribution of the ascending gasses in counter current flow to the charge. This is achieved by the use of rotating distributors and/or deflectors that are fed with charge material from a single location.
In furnaces having rectangular cross sections, such as for example in shaft smelt reduction furnaces, the charge comprising iron ore is charged through a central upper shaft while the fuel is charged laterally.
In order to improve the efficiency of the thermal exchange between the ascending gasses and the charge by minimizing the wall effect and to optimize the uniformity of the permeability, columns of different materials are conventionally formed. Since the length of these furnaces is quite longer than the width thereof, the use of the distributors employed in circular cross section furnaces may not be adequate for these furnaces.
An example of smelting reduction furnace is for example disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 1,945,341. The charging of the furnace is carried out to form a center column of coarse ore, whereas a mixture of small coal and fine is charged adjacent the walls. The main embodiment described therein concerns a furnace of circular cross-section equipped with a charging installation comprising a bell and hopper. Although also evoking the possible use of a furnace of rectangular cross-section, no other charging installation is described. It is however clear that the conventional blast furnace equipment is not appropriate for rectangular furnaces.
DE 194 613 discloses a blast furnace arrangement having a central gas offtake pipe, wherein feed openings are arranged circularly around the blast furnace.
DE 1758372 discloses a charging system for a blast furnace arranged over a cylindrical furnace shaft. It comprises a large ball valve in a lower hopper, lateral hoppers feeding a shoot and the lower hopper, as well as central hopper with shoot and ball valve. The valve and hoppers are arranged to cooperate with inner and outer circular partition walls extending downwardly into the furnace shaft and that allow forming a central and two annular material stacks.

Charging system, in particular for a shaft smelt reduction furnace


An aspirator assembly having an air-gas mixing tube mated with an aspirator housing cap with a tapered socket interface and wherein an inlet check valve closure mechanism provides for manually selectable permission or prevention of the opening of ambient air inlet check valves by employing twin lock bars mounted in central swiveling relation about a check valve hinge support member which spans the inlet end of the aspirator housing cap.

Rapid inflation systems are currently used in various applications, but have achieved significant commercial recognition in the aviation industry in connection with the rapid inflation of evacuation slides and liferafts which are deployed in emergencies. Typical rapid inflation systems use pressurized primary gas to induce or aspirate a secondary gas or ambient air to combine with the pressurized gas so as to rapidly inflate an inflatable structure such as an evacuation slide. Specifically, in such aspirator devices, a pressurized primary gas is rapidly introduced into the aspirator assembly through a nozzle arrangement. This rapid introduction of pressurized primary gas in combination with certain design of a mixing area or tube creates a partial vacuum within the aspirator assembly, and thereby entrains a secondary gas or ambient air to enter the aspirator assembly through inlet check valves provided for that purpose. Once inside the aspirator assembly, the ambient air passes through a converging region of the aspirator assembly, through a transition zone, and mixes with the primary gas in a mixing region to generate a combined air-gas flow mixture. This combined air-gas flow exits the aspirator assembly through a discharge region of the tube which is normally disposed within an inflatable structure. Thus, the aspirator assembly uses a small volume of pressurized primary gas to entrain a relatively large volume of a secondary gas or ambient air to inflate an inflatable structure. The efficiency of the aspirator assembly is often measured by its "mass-flow ratio," which is a ratio of the volume of primary gas used by the aspirator assembly to the volume of secondary gas or ambient air entrained by the aspirator assembly.
The prior art references disclose aspirator assemblies which operate generally as described hereinabove, but which suffer from a number of drawbacks. It is known in the art that the mass-flow ratio of an aspirator assembly depends in large part on the location of the introduction of the primary gas into the aspirator assembly and location of the nozzle jets with respect to the transition zone between the converging and mixing regions of the mixing tube. While these prior art devices achieve sufficient entrainment of ambient air to rapidly inflate evacuation slides and liferafts in emergencies, none of the devices disclose a design capable of providing adjustments, so as to optimally locate and to lock such optimal position of the transition zone of the mixing tube with respect to the nozzle jet assembly.
As stated above, aspirator assemblies are typically used in high-stress emergency situations. It is not uncommon for the inlet check valves to be inadvertently pushed open by passengers' fingers, aircraft debris, etc. after the evacuation slide or raft has been inflated. This can cause the evacuation slide or raft to deflate, compromising its safety and effectiveness. It is known in the prior art to provide safety features preventing undesirable accidental deflation of the emergency evacuation structures; design of such features, however, has been complicated, making them expensive to maintain and manufacture.
Finally, due to the probability of widespread commercial application of aspirator assemblies, those aspirators which are most easily manufactured and assembled are most desirable. The prior art devices often employ a multiple-piece housing design in which the major components of the device are either welded or bolted together, which complicates manufacture of the device.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide an aspirator assembly having an increased efficiency leading to reduction of time required to inflate a given inflatable structure.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide an aspirator assembly having a selectively sealable inlet and, thereby providing the ability to alternatively permit or prevent opening of the aspirator inlet check valve.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide an aspirator assembly having a simplified assembly process, thereby reducing manufacturing time, manufacturing errors, and manufacturing inefficiencies.


A computer program, method, and system for dynamically and interactively providing nutrition content information for consumables such that a user may monitor, tailor, plan, and review their intake thereof in light of a health-related interest or concern, such as, for example, weight-loss, food allergies, or diabetes or other nutrition affected illnesses or disabilities. Consumables are categorized and displayed in lists associated with an appropriate color to draw attention to relative nutrition content and to facilitate quicker and easier evaluation of a consumable of interest. Summaries are provided of a user's actual intake in light of a pre-established target intake for a particular day. Detailed reports may be generated showing consumption over a user-specifiable time period.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a computer program, method, or system for providing nutrition content information for consumables. More particularly, the present invention relates to a computer program, method, or method for dynamically and interactively providing nutrition content information for consumables such that a user may monitor, tailor, plan, and review their intake thereof in light of a health-related interest or concern, such as, for example, weight loss, food allergies, or diabetes or other nutrition-affected illnesses or disabilities.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is often desirable to monitor nutrition content of consumables, including, for example, calories, fat, sugar, protein, or carbohydrates. This is particularly true where such nutrition content may affect a health-related interest or concern, including, for example, weight loss, food allergies, or diabetes or other nutrition-affected illnesses or disabilities. Relatedly, it is further desirable to plan future consumption based upon nutrition content, and to review past consumption summarized for a specifiable time period.
Various print resources exist to facilitate monitoring nutrition content. Books, for example, provide long lists of consumables and related nutrition information. Furthermore, most packaged consumables provide nutrition information on the packaging. Unfortunately, print resources suffer from a number of limitations and disadvantages. Books, for example, are bulky and difficult to conveniently tailor for efficient use by any particular person (short of adding or removing pages), which reduces likelihood of consistent use. Package-based information is, of course, limited to packaged foods. Furthermore, print resources are generally unable to practically present nutrition information in a visually descriptive manner operable to conveniently impart to a user a sense of a particular consumable's place in an overall monitoring scheme. Additionally, print resources are generally unable to practically provide a convenient mechanism whereby future consumption can be dynamically planned and past consumption can be reviewed.
It is known to use computers and computer programs to facilitate monitoring and planning intake of consumables. Existing programs, however, are typically non-interactive and non-dynamic and therefore inconvenient and awkward to use, which may decrease compliance and effectiveness. Furthermore, existing programs typically do not allow for substantial modification or customization to suit users' particular consumption habits or preferences, which may make the program inapplicable to or unuseable by some people or cultures.
Due to the above identified problems and shortcomings in the existing art, an improved computer program or method is needed for monitoring nutrition information of consumables and intake thereof.

Computer program, method, and system for monitoring nutrition content of consumables and for facilitating menu planning


A touch device for dynamically setting a touch inactive area includes a storage unit, an identification unit, a touchscreen unit and a processing unit. The touchscreen unit presents an operation interface and a plurality of function keys provided thereby, each function key corresponding to a display area and a function. The identification unit generates feature data on the basis of a specific user. The processing unit obtains inactive area setting data by user data stored in the storage unit which corresponding to the feature data to set at least one touch inactive area on the touchscreen unit. However, when a function key corresponding to a display area overlapped with the touch inactive area is touched on the touchscreen unit, a corresponding function will not be activated.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a touch device and method for setting a touch area, and more particularly to a touch device and method for identifying users to set a dynamically touch inactive area corresponding to a touch inactive area, and a non-transitory recording medium.
2. Related Art
In the prior art, a touch device and an operation interface provided by its operating system are mostly presented by a touch screen. Users utilize the touch screen to send a control instruction in manners such as clicking, touching, and writing on the operation interface, to operate the touch device for executing program, inputting/outputting data, data frame presentation, connecting to network connection, and so on.
As shown in FIG. 1, since users have different habits and gestures for holding a touch device 100, an operation interface 110 with a fixed format may not be applicable to each user. Moreover, when holding the touch device 100, some users may touch the operation interface 110 with their fingers or other parts habitually to start an execution program, a function or a touch event that the user currently does not intend to execute. It results in a waste of working time and system resources. A more serious circumstance is that, when the touch device 100 is connected with a remote servo device, an unwanted touch event may cause the touch device to transmit mistaken data to the servo device, and the servo device may easily store the mistaken data after obtaining it, or further generate or start a mistaken operating mechanism, resulting in loss of property or reputation that the unit of the device cannot predict or is difficult to recover, or need of additional costs to correct the data and redress the loss caused by the mistaken data. With respect to the situation that unwanted touch easily occurs, there are no proper solutions currently, and generally the only way is to avoid portions most unwanted touch occurs on the operation interface design. However, since each user has a different habit of using the touch device and a different manner of holding it, positions where unwanted touch easily occurs vary and situations resulting in operation errors cannot be generalized; besides, display areas of many touch devices (e.g., mobile phones and tablet PCs) are quite small, so that the design of the operation interface of the device cannot coordinate with the habits of most users to avoid using all display areas where unwanted touch may occur. Hence, it is currently in need of a solution to prevent each user from generating unwanted touch or operation errors on the touch device.

Touch device and method for dynamically setting touch inactive area, and non-transitory recording medium


This invention relates to compositions for combating parasites in animals, comprising 1-arylpyrazole compounds in combination with substituted imidazole compounds. This invention also provides for an improved methods for eradicating, controlling, and preventing parasite infestation in an animal comprising administering the compositions of the invention to an animal in need thereof.

Animals such as mammals and birds are often susceptible to parasite infestations/infections. These parasites may be ectoparasites, such as insects, and endoparasites such as filariae and other worms. Domesticated animals, such as cats and dogs, are often infested with one or more of the following ectoparasites:                fleas (Ctenocephalides spp., such as Ctenocephalides felts and the like),        ticks (Rhipicephalus spp., Ixodes spp., Dermacentor spp., Amblyoma spp., and the like),        mites (Demodex spp., Sarcoptes spp., Otodectes spp., and the like),        lice (Trichodectes spp., Cheyletiella spp., Lignonathus spp. and the like),        mosquitoes (Aedes spp., Culux spp., Anopheles spp. and the like) and        flies (Hematobia spp., Musca spp., Stomoxys spp., Dematobia spp., Coclyomia spp. and the like).
Fleas are a particular problem because not only do they adversely affect the health of the animal or human, but they also cause a great deal of psychological stress. Moreover, fleas are also vectors of pathogenic agents in animals, such as dog tapeworm (Dipylidium caninum), and humans.
Similarly, ticks are also harmful to the physical and psychological health of the animal or human. However, the most serious problem associated with ticks is that they are the vector of pathogenic agents in both humans and animals. Major diseases which are caused by ticks include borrelioses (Lyme disease caused by Borrelia burgdorferi), babesioses (or piroplasmoses caused by Babesia spp.) and rickettsioses (also known as Rocky Mountain spotted fever). Ticks also release toxins which cause inflammation or paralysis in the host. Occasionally, these toxins are fatal to the host.
Moreover, mites and lice are particularly difficult to combat since there are very few active substances which act on these parasites and they require frequent treatment.
Likewise, farm animals are also susceptible to parasite infestations. For example, cattle are affected by a large number of parasites. A parasite which is very prevalent among farm animals is the tick genus Boophilus, especially those of the species microplus (cattle tick), decoloratus and annulatus. Ticks, such as Boophilus microplus, are particularly difficult to control because they live in the pasture where farm animals graze. Other important parasites of cattle and sheep are listed as follows:                myiases-causing flies such as Dermatobia hominis (known as Berne in Brazil) and Cochlyomia hominivorax (greenbottle); sheep myiases-causing flies such as Lucilia sericata, Lucilia cuprina (known as blowfly strike in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa). These are flies whose larva constitutes the animal parasite;        flies proper, namely those whose adult constitutes the parasite, such as Haematobia irritans (horn fly);        lice such as Linognathus vitulorum, etc.; and        mites such as Sarcoptes scabiei and Psoroptes ovis.
1-arylpyrazoles as a class of chemicals are well known in the art, and certain compounds in this class have been found to be potently active against a wide range of pests and parasites that are harmful to animals and plants. For example, 1-arylpyrazole derivatives are known in the art to prevent, treat or control ectoparasitic infestations in mammals, such as cats, dogs and cattle. Certain 1-arylpyrazoles and their use against pests are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,963,575; 5,122,530; 5,232,940; 5,236,938; 5,246,255; 5,547,974; 5,567,429; 5,576,429; 5,608,077; 5,714,191; 5,814,652; 5,885,607; 5,567,429; 5,817,688; 5,885,607; 5,916,618; 5,922,885; 5,994,386; 6,001,384; 6,010,710; 6,057,355; 6,069,157; 6,083,519; 6,090,751; 6,096,329; 6,124,339; 6,180,798; 6,335,357; 6,350,771; 6,372,774; 6,395,906; 6,413,542; 6,685,954; and 7,468,381, 7,514,561, 7,517,877, 7,759,381 and 7,834,003. See also: EP 0 234 119, EP 0 295 117, EP 0 352 944, EP 0 500 209, EP 0 780 378, EP 0 846 686, and EP 0 948 485, all of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
The compounds of the families defined in these patents are extremely active and one of these compounds, 5-amino-3-cyano-1-(2,6-dichloro-4-trifluoromethylphenyl)-4-trifluoromethylsulfinylpyrazole, or fipronil, is particularly effective against pests, including fleas and ticks.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,759,381 describes certain 1-arylpyrazole compounds that are substituted at the 5-position of the pyrazole ring with alkyl or C1-C4 haloalkyl groups. These compounds were also found to be particularly effective against fleas and ticks.
These compounds are given as having activity against a very large number of parasites, including insects and acarines in fields as varied as agriculture, public health and veterinary medicine. The general teaching of these documents indicates that these active compounds may be administered via different routes: oral, parenteral, percutaneous and topical routes. Topical administration comprises, in particular, skin solutions (pour-on or spot-on), sprays, drenches, baths, showers, jets, powders, greases, shampoos, creams, etc. The pour-on type skin solutions may be designed for percutaneous administration.
Notwithstanding the effectiveness of certain arylpyrazole compounds on certain parasites, there continues to be a need for new formulations comprising 1-arylpyrazoles in pharmaceutically acceptable carriers that exhibit improved efficacy against parasites.
Other compounds that are known in the art to prevent, treat or control endo- and ectoparasitic infestations include milbemycin or avermectin derivatives, which are natural or semi-synthetic compounds that contain a 16-membered macrocyclic ring. The avermectin and milbemycin series of compounds are potent anthelmintic and antiparasitic agents against a wide range of internal and external parasites. The natural product avermectins are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,310,519 to Albers-Schonberg, et al., and the 22,23-dihydro-avermectin compounds are disclosed in Chabala, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,199,569. For a general discussion of avermectins, which include a discussion of their uses in humans and animals, see "Ivermectin and Abamectin," W. C. Campbell, ed., Springer-Verlag, New York (1989). Naturally occurring milbemycins are described in Aoki et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,950,360.
Another family of parasiticides are the formamidines which include but are not limited to amitraz (MITABAN®, Pfizer; POINT-GUARD®, Intervet; PREVENTIC®, Virbac; TAKTIC®, Intervet), chlordimeform, chloromebuform, formetanate and formparanate. Amitraz is a well-known acaracide/insecticide from the formamidine family acknowledged to be useful as a miticidal agent and for the control of ticks. See Plumb's Veterinary Drug Handbook (Fifth Edition), ed. Donald C. Plumb, Blackwell Publishing, pg. 34, (2005). The formamidine family of compounds is distinguished by a characteristic —N═CR—NR′-moiety. Amitraz differs from other members of the formamidine family in that there are two such moieties in the molecule. Amitraz has the following structure:

One problem associated with compositions comprising formamidine compounds, including amitraz, is the lack of long-term stability under certain conditions. For example, amitraz has been shown to degrade in aqueous solutions at certain pH ranges, as described, for example, in E. Corta, A. Bakkali, L. A. Berrueta, B. Gallo, F. Vicente, "Kinetics and Mechanism of Amitraz Hydrolysis in Aqueous Media by HPLC and GC-MS", Talanta 48 (1999) 189-199. Some amitraz degradates have further shown pesticidal efficacy, such as described, for example, in Osborne, M. P., "Actions of Formamidines, Local Anesthetics, Octopamine and Related Compounds Upon the Electrical Activity of Neurohaemal Organs of the Stick Insect (Carausius morosus) and Sense Organs of Fly Larvae (Musca demstica, Calliphora erythrocephala)", Pesticide Biochemistry and Physiology 23, 190-204 (1985).
Therefore, although formamidine parasiticides, including amitraz, have considerable utility for treating and preventing parasitic infestations, there are several problems associated with using amitraz as a parasiticide in a commercial veterinary pharmaceutical product. These problems include: (1) insufficient stability at certain pH values: while amitraz is stable at higher pH values, amitraz tends to hydrolyze over time at pH ranges commonly associated with physiological use (e.g., pH of about 5.0 to about 6.0); (2) amitraz is not effective for the control of fleas; and (3) compositions comprising amitraz may not provide a sufficiently long term shelf life in mixtures with some antiparisitic agents and certain carriers. For example, compositions containing amitraz may not have sufficient long term stability (shelf life) in certain solvent systems which are optimal for other antiparasitic agents with which it may be combined.
A composition comprising a 1-aryl-pyrazole with a formamidine compound, e.g. fipronil with amitraz, which exhibits synergistic efficacy against ectoparasites is described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,531,186 to Boeckh et al.; however certain embodiments of the composition, where a 1-arylpyrazole and a formamidine are present together in certain carriers, may not have a sufficiently long storage shelf life. One possible reason for the insufficient long term shelf life is that fipronil is stable at a pH of about 5.0 to about 6.0, while amitraz will degrade at this pH range.
Interestingly, another family of compounds generally known as substituted imidazoles has been shown to have modest insecticidal activity. This class of compounds is also known for activity at alpha-1 and alpha-2 adrenergic receptors. See, e.g., Whitlock et al., Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry Letters, 18, (2008), 2930-2934 and Whitlock et al., Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry Letters, 19, (2009), 3118-3121 regarding partial agonist activity of substituted imidazoles at alpha-1A adrenoceptors.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,417,057 and its divisional U.S. Pat. No. 7,767,667 to Dixson et al., disclose pesticidal heterocycles that include imidazole derivatives. The pesticidal heterocycles of the '057 and '667 patents were demonstrated to be moderately active against cotton aphids at high concentration (300 ppm for 24 hours).
U.S. Pat. No. 7,592,362 and its divisional U.S. Pat. No. 7,825,149 to Chubb et al., disclose hundreds of imidazole compounds that are reportedly useful as paraciticides although no data in the patents show this.
WO 2010/020896 to Chubb et al., discloses a combination of an alpha substituted 2-benzyl substituted imidazole, a 1-arylpyrazole (e.g., fipronil), and optionally an insect growth regulator (e.g., s-methoprene). Tested in vivo formulations demonstrated some efficacy against C. felis (i.e., cat fleas) out to 35 days and against I. ricinus (i.e., castor bean tick) out to day 28.
WO 2011/092604 to Chubb et al., discloses a combination of demiditraz, fipronil, an acid modifier, and optionally at least one antioxidant.
Despite the work done to date synthesizing compounds to control parasites, there remains a need in the art for formulations, methods of storage and methods of administration for animal parasiticides in a synergistically active formulation.
Citation or identification of any document in this application is not an admission that such document is available as prior art to the present invention.

Compositions comprising an aryl pyrazole and a substituted imidazole, methods and uses thereof


An adjustable and collapsible bench system (10) is provided for supporting the body of a user while allowing a plurality of orientations to be fixed at the user's behest. The bench system (10) includes a body support mechanism (16) which is adjustably mounted on a base frame mechanism (24). The body support mechanism (16) may be rotationally actuated with respect to the base frame mechanism (24) and releasably secured to the base frame mechanism (24) to provide a plurality of angular orientations of the body support mechanism (16) with respect to the base surface (12). The body support mechanism (16) may be rotationally collapsed to allow for a minimization of the dimensional volume of the bench system (10).

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to benches adapted to support the weight of a user. In particular, this invention directs itself to bench systems wherein the user may sit or lie at varying angles with respect to a base surface and use differing muscle groups for exercise purposes. Still further, in particular, this invention relates to an adjustable and collapsible bench system including a body support mechanism which is displaceable in a plurality of directions to particularly orient and position the user in a predetermined and varying orientation with respect to an external structure and/or a base surface. More in particular, this invention relates to a bench system having rotational mechanisms which allows the body support mechanism to be moved longitudinally and inclined at a plurality of angles. Still further, this invention directs itself to a bench system where rotational displacement mechanisms allow the bench system to be collapsed into a substantially planar contour to reduce the dimensional extent of the bench system for either transportation or storage purposes. Still further, this invention relates to a bench system which is stabilized on a base surface through a stabilizing frame which is secured to a leg member which in itself interfaces with the base surface. More in particular, this invention relates to a bench system whereby a central base frame mechanism incorporates an L-shaped beam construction whereby the body support mechanism 16 may be mounted to the base frame mechanism at a plurality of locations to increase the orientation variability of the body support mechanism.
2. Prior Art
Bench systems for use with exercising devices or otherwise are well known in the art. Adjustable bench systems are also known however, in some prior art systems, the body support mechanism is movable only between a limited number of inclined angles. In such prior art systems, a singular dimensional displacement of the body support mechanism limits the different types of exercise activities for which the prior art bench systems may be used. Furthermore, in other prior art systems employing full size benches, mechanisms are not provided to allow for collapse of the bench to reduce the overall dimensional extent of the bench for either transportation and/or storage.


A collapsible panel particularly suitable for a partition or enclosure system. In the preferred embodiment each panel has a flexible membrane affixed to an extruded frame, the corners of the frame having hinges which alternately fold along the plane of the frame and perpendicular to the plane of the frame. The frame is thus collapsible in two directions so as to collapse to a very small cross-sectional area, and when the panel is opened the membrane is pulled taught, which imparts structural integrity to the panel and prevents billowing of the membrane in windy conditions. Connecting elements are also provided so that the panels can be connected together to form a self-standing enclosure, or affixed to scaffolding or any other suitable frame structure.

Portable enclosures are used for a number of purposes. One important characteristic of portable enclosures is their lightweight design, and the ability to collapse the enclosure to a small size is an important advantage. Weather resistant enclosures in particular are widely used, finding applications in construction, greenhouses, ice fishing huts, insulated enclosures, disaster relief accommodation, storage sheds, paint spray booths, army and mining exploration accommodation, dust control, and many other uses.
Construction enclosures, for example, are used to facilitate outdoor construction during inclement, and especially cold, weather conditions. Typically the construction crew will erect a scaffold around the construction site and tie tarps to the scaffolding as wind barriers. However, it is difficult to tension the tarps sufficiently to prevent billowing in windy areas, and the insulation and wind-resistance value of such an enclosure is poor because the seams between adjacent tarps can never be uniform or properly sealed. Moreover, tying the tarps is a time consuming and labour intensive task which can add significantly to the cost of the construction.
For other applications such as temporary accommodation and storage, a suitable frame or rigid panels must be used to create a self-standing enclosure that will resist deformation and collapse in windy conditions. Typically such supporting structures and rigid panels are relatively heavy and bulky, increasing the cost of transporting the enclosure from site to site. In each case there must be a balance struck between the weight of the enclosure and its structural integrity.
Collapsible partitions and screens are used in many of the same applications, as well as in space management in offices and commercial premises, theatrical arts, crowd control, awnings, blinds and for many other uses. Again, the competing considerations of weight and structural integrity have rendered the design of such partitions problematic.

Collapsible panel and modular enclosure and partition system


Embodiments of this application provide a hybrid-cloud data storage method and apparatus, a related device, and a cloud system. The data storage method includes: obtaining, by a gateway of a private cloud, to-be-stored data; determining partial data to be encrypted in the to-be-stored data, to obtain first target data; obtaining a first ciphertext obtained after the first target data is encrypted, the first target data being encrypted according to a first key provided by an encryption chip connected to the gateway; generating second target data including the first ciphertext according to the first ciphertext; generating a data slice corresponding to the second target data according to the second target data; and transmitting the data slice corresponding to the second target data to a public cloud for storage.

A hybrid cloud refers to a combination of a public cloud and a private cloud, and has become one of the main modes and development directions of cloud computing. The public cloud is a computing resource provided by a public cloud service provider, may be used by all network users, and is a cloud environment that may be shared and used by all enterprises and users. The private cloud is a cloud environment dedicated to specific users for security reasons. For example, resources in a private cloud built for an enterprise are only available to internal users of the enterprise, or specific external users related to the enterprise.

Data storage method, device, related equipment and cloud system for hybrid cloud

TENCENT TECHNOLOGY (SHENZHEN) COMPANY LIMITED


An apparatus for determining shear bond strength of a cement to be set within a wellbore penetrating a subterranean formation consists of a housing, a vertical rod which extends from the uppermost portion of the housing through the lowermost portion of the housing, a base plate for positioning onto the bottom of the housing and for supporting the lowermost portion of the vertical rod, and a test plate for positioning onto the top of the housing through which the uppermost portion of the vertical rod extends. The apparatus may further contain a push rod. Shear bond strength is determined by introducing into the housing a sample core of the formation prior to introduction of a slurry containing the cement. The force required to break the bond between the vertical rod and the set cement may be used to determine the shear strength between the casing within the wellbore and the set cement when the cement is hardened within the wellbore. The force required to break the bond between the set cement and the sample core may be used to determine the shear strength between the set cement and formation core when the cement is hardened within the wellbore.

During construction of oil and gas wells, a rotary drill is typically used to bore through subterranean reservoirs of the earth to form a wellbore. As the rotary drill bores through the earth, a drilling fluid or mud is circulated through the wellbore. Drilling fluids are usually pumped from the surface into the wellbore through a drill string and transmitted to the drill bit. By continuously pumping the drilling fluid, the drilling fluid can be circulated out the bottom of the drill pipe and back up to the well surface through the annular space between the wall of the wellbore and the drill pipe.
Once the wellbore has been drilled, casing is lowered into the wellbore. A cement slurry is then pumped into the casing and a plug of fluid, such as drilling mud or water, is then pumped behind the cement slurry in order to force the cement up into the annulus between the exterior of the casing and the borehole. The cement slurry is then allowed to harden as a sheath. The cement sheath then holds the casing in place. The well is subsequently stimulated in order to enhance the recovery of oil or gas from the reservoir.
Maintaining zonal isolation for the lifetime of the well is critical. Leakage behind the casing reduces the cost-effectiveness of the well and may cause safety risks from pressure build-up. During well treatment operations, in particular completion and production phases of the well, variations in temperature and internal pressure of the wellbore pipe string may result in radial and longitudinal pipe expansion and/or contraction. This tends to place stress on the annular cement sheath existing between the outside surface of the pipe string and the inside formation surface or wall of the wellbore. Such stresses lead to cracking and/or disintegration of the cement sheath. Thus, failure of a cement sheath to provide zonal isolation may occur as a result of properties of the cement-casing interface, the cement-formation interface as well properties of the cement.
It has become increasingly important for service providers to provide to well operators cement mixes capable of withstanding specific downhole conditions well and specific operating conditions which the well is to be subjected.
Not only must the cement slurry containing such cement mixes exhibit a pumpable viscosity, acceptable fluid loss control, minimal settling of particles and the ability to set within a practical time, the cement mix and the properties of the cement slurry must be carefully selected in order to minimize or eliminate cracking of the cement when set as a cement sheath. As such, the cement mix and the slurry containing the mix must be tailored in order for the set cement to withstand those axial stresses, shear stresses and compressional stresses encountered under in-situ wellbore conditions. Further, the components of the cement mix and the cement slurry must be selected such that, when hardened, the set cement is not brittle since brittleness causes cracking of the sheath.
Knowledge of the bond strength of the cement sheath at the formation face and at the casing interface at in-situ downhole conditions would be an invaluable tool to ensure an optimal cement mix and job design are provided to the well operator. To date, however, neither a testing protocol nor an apparatus has been developed which is capable of measuring shear bond strength at both interfaces.
A testing method is needed for evaluating cement mixes and in particular the shear bond strength of a cement set from such mixes under conditions which simulate conditions found in a wellbore environment. The method needs to provide reliable and reproducible data at both the formation interface and at the casing interface. In particular, a testing protocol is desired for assessing bond strength at both the formation interface and at the casing interface which is based on a targeted subterranean formation to be cemented and bottom hole conditions of the well. Testing methods under these conditions will provide the requisite data for optimizing the properties of cementitious slurries for rendering suitable hardened cements at in-situ stress conditions.

Method of measuring shear bond strength of cement


Composite flip-chip with encased components and method of fabricating the same is described. One aspect of the invention relates to fabricating composite flip-chip packages for integrated circuit dice. Interposing substrates are formed. At least one discrete component is attached to a bottom surface of each of the interposing substrates. A first array of solder balls is placed on the bottom surface of each of the interposing substrates. The interposing substrates are mounted to a carrier strip. The integrated circuit dice are attached to top surfaces of the interposing substrates. The integrated circuit dice and the interposing substrates are encapsulated in molding compound to define flip-chip assemblies.

As integrated circuits have become more complex employing more and more pins in a limited area, and more input/output (I/O) signal pins are switching at high speed at the same time, decoupling the power supplies through efficient usage of low inductance capacitors is essential. Current techniques for incorporating decoupling capacitors include: i) placing discrete capacitors coplanar to the integrated circuit (IC) die on the top surface of the substrate; and ii) placing discrete capacitors onto the underside of the package, coplanar to the BGA balls.
The first approach, of placing discrete capacitors coplanar to the IC die, is cost effective, but suffers from the following drawbacks: a) the effective inductance of the decoupling network ranges around 400 pH to 600 pH, due to the cumulative effect of the horizontal/lateral spreading inductance of the power plane between the power bump locations in the IC die and the capacitor location, the inductance contributed by the vias, and the ESL (Equivalent Series Inductance) of the capacitor; b) the placement of capacitors and the feasible quantity of capacitors are very constrained, due to die-to-capacitor keep-out and capacitor to package-edge keepout rules; c) the capacitors interfere with signal routing as the mounting pads for the capacitors act as obstacles to the routing paths; d) capacitors obstruct the placement and attachment of the lid by limiting the amount of area available for the lid to contact the substrate, potentially causing lid separation in field usage due to poor adhesion; and e) in some IC die and package size combination, there is not enough real estate for placing any capacitors.
The second approach, of placing discrete capacitors onto the under side of the package, either vertically direct below the IC die bump location or nearby, allows for reasonably low inductance decoupling at around 100 pH by careful design, exhibits certain deficiencies: a) for each capacitor that is placed, two or more pin locations of the package need to be depopulated (that is, removed from communicating between the package and the PCB); b) the power bump locations on the die dictate where the capacitor and pin depopulation should be, which renders pinout sharing among differently sized dice impractical; and c) in applications where a high number of capacitors or other useful passive and/or active components are required, the pin depopulation constricts the available number of pins available for a designated package size. This could also limit the pinout pattern design and prevent implementation of a high performance pinout pattern.
Accordingly, there is a need for a flip chip package with integrated capacitors that is low-inductance capable, with high capacity in both unit count and capacitance, with design flexibility, constraint-free pinout, allowing multiple passive or active component types.

Composite flip-chip package with encased components and method of fabricating same


An optical displacement measuring apparatus includes a light source, a collimate lens, a mirror, and a truncated cone shaped prism, and includes an imaging lens and a pinhole optical device for extracting light parallel to an optical axis of incident light from light returned from an object through the truncated cone shaped prism, and an optical position detector. The truncated cone shaped prism has optical properties of converting only light returned to a truncated conical circumference surface at a fixed angle corresponding to an apex angle into light parallel to an optical axis of incident light. The parallel light is offset from an optical axis of incident light in accordance with a displacement of the object relative to the truncated cone shaped prism. The optical position detector detects an offset amount to measure the displacement of the object.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical displacement measuring apparatus, and, more particularly, to an optical displacement measuring apparatus for introducing light from a light source through an objective optical system to an object to be measured, and detecting light reflected from the object to be measured in a detection unit to measure a displacement of the object to be measured relative to the objective optical system.
2. Description of the Related Art
Japanese Patent Publications JP 2005-265616 and JP 2006-58115 describe, as means for measuring a displacement of an object in a non-contact manner, conventional technologies such as "a triangulation system using light", "an optical probe method", and "an automatic focusing technique".
Here, in the "triangulation system using light", a light beam is irradiated from a semiconductor laser or the like to a surface to be measured, and light reflected from the irradiated surface is imaged by means of a condenser lens onto an optical position detector placed in a direction which differs from an irradiation direction. According to this method, because the movement of the surface brings about changes in position of the beam on the position detector, a displacement of the surface to be measured can be determined rapidly according to a principle of a triangulation method. However, on the principle of the triangulation method, it is necessary for the light source to be placed at a sufficient distance from the optical position detector in order to realize high-precision measurement. Accordingly, because sufficient space available for measurement is needed in the vicinity of the surface to be measured, the triangulation system using light is unfit for use in displacement measurement of an object such as a workpiece housed in a casing having a small mouth.
The "optical probe method" includes a critical angle method, an astigmatic method, a knife edge method, a heterodyne method, and other methods. In any of these methods, minute spot light is imaged on an object, and reflected light from the object is collected to detect a condition of the reflected light. Thus, these methods can achieve highly sensitive detection, and apparatuses employing these methods can be designed as a small and light-weight configuration and may be used, for example, as an optical probe for optical measurement of surface roughness. However, because a detection range with high precision is limited to an area close to a focused position, this method suffers from a very narrow measurable range. In general, the measurement is available only within, for example, a range of several micrometers. In addition, the method also has a problem that a measured value varies depending on a surface condition of the object.
In the "automatic focusing technique", because focusing is always obtained on an object by moving a lens, a displacement of the object can be measured from a travel distance of the lens. Therefore, this technique can realize a broader measurement range. However, in automatic focusing operation, for example, when a surface of the object has discontinuous displacements due to the presence of unevenness such as steps, the lens is at risk of losing its tracking direction, thereby necessitating a new search operation. Accordingly, it is, in some cases, difficult to perform high-speed measurement using the auto-focusing technique.
JP 2005-265616 discloses an optical displacement measurement device including a conical objective lens placed in front of an object and using optical properties as described below. Light emitted from behind the objective lens is introduced into the objective lens and refracted on a cone-shaped interface of the objective lens to irradiate the object, and light reflected from the object is returned to the objective lens, refracted again by the cone-shaped interface, and delivered in parallel to the light which is initially emitted. It is further described that because the light returned from the objective lens is offset from a central optical axis of the objective lens according to a distance between the object and the objective lens, i.e. an amount corresponding to a displacement of the object, the displacement of the object can be measured based on an amount of the offset.
On the other hand, JP 2006-58115 discloses an optical displacement measurement device in which a conical objective prism is placed in front of an object to be measured, and outbound light shifted in parallel with a central optical axis of the objective prism is introduced from behind the objective prism to the object. Also in this case, the outbound light having passed through the objective prism is reflected from the object and returned to the objective prism through which the light is converted into inbound light which is parallel to the initially emitted outbound light. An offset amount of the inbound light from the central optical axis varies depending on the displacement of the object to be measured. It is further described that the inbound light is focused by a condenser lens at a focus point, to thereby suppress effects of scattered light by means of a pinhole optical device disposed at the focus point.
When the conical objective optical systems described in the above-described Publications JP 2005-265616 and JP 2006-58115 are used, an end section can be made compact in size, so that a displacement of a workpiece housed in a casing whose mouth is small can be measured. In addition, mechanical operation is not needed, and a wide range of measurement can be realized at high speed. However, in the teachings of the above-described Publications, light introduced through the conical objective optical system to the object to be measured is obliquely irradiated on the object. The use of such oblique incident light may result in the occurrence of an event that when the object to be measured has an uneven surface including, for example, bumps and dips or elevation changes, a position struck by the incident light varies depending on the displacement of the object to be measured, which would introduce an error into a displacement measuring result.

Optical displacement measuring apparatus