A method of vapor degreasing workpieces using a refrigerated vapor degreasing system. The system has a tank for containing a bath of degreasing solvent, a heater for vaporizing the solvent, a primary solvent condenser, a secondary solvent condenser, and a single refrigeration unit which can be switched to operate in two different modes. Workpieces are loaded and supported within the tank. The degreasing solvent is heated and evaporated in the tank. Refrigerant is cycled in a closed-loop, single compressor refrigeration system as low-pressure/low-temperature vapor, high-pressure/high-temperature vapor, high-pressure/low-temperature liquid, low-pressure/low-temperature vapor, and low-pressure/low-temperature liquid. A degreasing zone is formed around the workpiece and a primary evaporation barrier is formed above the workpiece by circulating low-pressure/low-temperature refrigerant from the refrigeration system through the primary solvent condenser located above the workpiece. The evaporated degreasing solvent condenses on the workpiece in the degreasing zone to clean the workpiece. A secondary evaporation barrier is formed above the degreasing zone by circulating low-pressure/low-temperature refrigerant from the refrigeration system through the secondary solvent condenser located above the degreasing zone. The secondary solvent condenser is intermittently defrosted by circulating high-pressure/high-temperature refrigerant from the refrigeration system through the secondary solvent condenser.

Vapor degreasing is a well-known, simple and effective method of cleaning workpieces. Chemical-solvent vapor degreasing systems typically comprise an open-topped tank designed to contain a bath of chemical degreasing or cleaning solvent. Heating coils are mounted on or adjacent to the bottom of the tank and are immersed within the solvent. The heating coils boil the solvent and generate vapors which condense on the workpieces, thereby dissolving oil and grease and removing other contaminants from the workpieces.
To prevent the environmentally-deleterious, chemical degreasing solvent from escaping the tank through the open top, it is known to provide a primary solvent condensor positioned intermediate the tank, and a freeboard chiller or secondary solvent condensor positioned above the primary solvent condensor proximate the open top of the tank. The primary and secondary condensers typically comprise a series of low-temperature, finned refrigeration coils located on the inner walls of the tank. Low-temperature refrigerant flows through the coils to create primary and secondary barriers which inhibit the loss of evaporated degreasing solvent.
The temperature of the refrigerant circulating through the freeboard chiller is typically less than 0.degree. F. Therefore, the condensing coils of the freeboard chiller must be defrosted periodically to maintain their efficiency. To defrost the freeboard chiller, the flow of low-temperature refrigerant to the freeboard chiller must be temporarily interrupted by turning off the refrigeration unit. If a single refrigeration unit is used to cool both the freeboard chiller and the primary solvent condensor, the degreasing operation must be shut down during the defrosting cycle since both condensors will be deactivated when the refrigeration unit is turned off. If the degreasing operation is not shut down, the vaporized degreasing solvent will freely escape the tank.
To eliminate this "down-time", it is known to provide two separate refrigeration units for cooling the freeboard chiller and the primary solvent condensor. With two separate refrigeration units, the freeboard chiller can be defrosted without deactivating the primary solvent condenser. Therefore, the degreasing operation can be continued during the defrost cycle, albeit with a small loss of vaporized solvent from the top of the tank. However, a degreasing system having dual refrigeration units is more costly and is less efficient than a system having a single refrigeration unit.
Therefore, it would be desirable to provide a refrigerated vapor degreasing system which requires only one refrigeration unit for cooling both the freeboard chiller and the primary solvent condenser.
Additionally, it would be desirable to provide a degreasing system with single refrigeration unit wherein the freeboard chiller can be defrosted while still maintaining the flow of low-temperature refrigerant through the primary solvent condensor.


The present invention relates to an electronic equipment rack arrangement principle. In order to allow for the maximum use of COTS (component off the shelf) modules, or, at least, maximum use of “standardized” modules, primarily in relation to the electronic functions of said rack, the electronic equipment rack according to the invention offers a configuration in which the function modules (3) and the interface modules (8) are juxtaposed, preferably vertically, and the electronic functions handled by the function modules (3) are decoupled from the interface functions handled by the interface modules (8). Such a rack also allows for all the maintenance operations to be done through the front panel (F) of said rack, all of its component modules being made accessible from this side.

Currently, there are numerous possible configurations for avionics racks, or electronic equipment racks in general, of which three main types are usually encountered.
In simple terms, an electronic equipment rack is made up of a mechanical structure comprising a motherboard, electronic equipment handling a set of functions and combined under the designation of function modules, and interface elements allowing for the link with an environment, for example the rest of the aircraft in the case of an avionics rack. Such electronic equipment generally comprises boards or "single replaceable units" (SRU). An electronic equipment rack also comprises internal connectors enabling the motherboard, the electronic equipment and the interface modules to be interconnected, and external connectors enabling the link with the environment of said rack. There is generally a side of the rack that is easily accessible; this side is called the front panel of the rack. From this side, it is usually possible to access the function modules and work almost directly on the electronic equipment or SRUs. The opposite side, generally difficult to access, is called the rear panel of the rack.
Whatever the chosen configuration in the current state of the art, major drawbacks emerge, notably making the maintenance of these racks difficult. There are various such defects generally encountered:                need to introduce interface elements within the function modules, and therefore the electronic equipment: this leads in fact to the at least partial loss of the possibility of using COTS-electronic equipment because, notably in the case of an avionics rack, the interface modules are specific to each aircraft,        need to disconnect the rack from its environment to access the electronic equipment, despite the fact that the maintenance operations performed thereon are generally frequent,        external connectors situated on the rear panel, and therefore generally difficult to access,        need to dismantle the complete rack to access the interface modules, making a maintenance operation of this type lengthy and complicated,        great depth of the rack (distance between the front panel and the rear panel), corresponding to a topology that is ill suited in particular to areas along the sides of the aircraft.
Defects in the non-exhaustive list above make it necessary to search for an optimum configuration for the electronic equipment racks: such is the subject of the present patent application.


Provided is an electronic device including: a housing; a vibration body disposed in the housing; and a microphone disposed in the housing. By vibrating the vibration body, the electronic device transmits air conduction sound and vibration sound that is generated by the vibration. During the generation of the sounds, howling reduction processing is performed, so that usability of the electronic device is improved.

Patent Literature 1 describes an electronic device such as a mobile phone that transmits air conduction sound and bone conduction sound to a user. Patent
Literature 1 also describes that the air conduction sound is sound perceived by an auditory nerve of a user as a result of an eardrum being vibrated by an air vibration that is created by a vibration of an object and that travels through an external auditory canal down to the eardrum. Furthermore, Patent Literature 1 describes that the bone conduction sound is transmitted to the auditory nerve of the user through a part of a user's body (e.g. a cartilaginous portion of an external ear) that is in contact with the vibrating object.
In the mobile phone described in Patent Literature 1, a rectangular plate-shaped vibration body configured by piezoelectric bimorph and a flexible material is attached to an outer surface of a housing via an elastic member. Patent
Literature 1 also describes that, upon application of a voltage to the piezoelectric bimorph of the vibration body, the piezoelectric material is expanded and contracted in a longitudinal direction, thereby causing the vibration body to undergo flexture vibration. As a result, when the user places the vibration body in contact with an auricle, the air conduction sound and the bone conduction sound are transmitted to the user.


A DWDM add/drop system for use in optical communication system is disclosed. Using semiconductor fabrication techniques, a plurality of waveguide arrays and signal carriers are substantially symmetrically arranged about an optical axis of the system. Electrode heaters are provided proximate junctions created at the intersections of selected waveguides. Using the heaters, portions of optical signals may be redirected to other waveguides. In addition, the heaters may be used to attenuate or otherwise modify signals in the waveguides. The waveguide arrays are arranged such that a plurality of signal processing operations may be performed substantially simultaneously. In a preferred embodiment, the switches and waveguide arrays are coupled with a light focusing device and a dispersion apparatus to form a switched, combined multiplexer/demultiplexer having signal attenuation and modification capabilities.

The increased demand for data communication and the remarkable growth of the Internet have resulted in increased demand for communication capability within metropolitan areas. There has also been an equally large increase in demand for communication capability between large metropolitan areas. Optical communication systems using a network of fiber optic cables are being developed and installed to meet the increased demand.
The data transmission capacity of fiber optic cables and fiber optic networks has been substantially increased as a result of wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) and dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM). Within WDM and DWDM systems, optical signals assigned to different wavelengths are combined (multiplexed) into a multiple wavelength signal for transmission over a single fiber optic cable or other suitable waveguide. A typical DWDM system modulates multiple data streams on to different portions of the light spectrum. For example, one data stream may have an assigned wavelength of 1534 nanometers (nm) and the next data stream may have an assigned wavelength of 1543.8 nm. The required spacing between assigned wavelengths is generally established by International Telecommunications Union (ITU) specifications. These spacings include 0.4 μm and 0.8 μm.
Demultiplexing, the reverse process of multiplexing, typically refers to separation of a multiple wavelength or multi-wavelength signal transmitted by a single fiber optic cable or other suitable waveguide into constituent optical signals for each wavelength. Each optical signal may be further processed to obtain the associated data stream or other information. Both multiplexing and demultiplexing are required for satisfactory operation of WDM and DWDM systems. Multiplexing and demultiplexing of optical signals in conventional DWDM systems are typically performed by two separate relatively expensive and often difficult to manufacture optical devices.
Various types of optical switches and techniques are currently used in optical communication systems. Many currently available optical switches are based upon optoelectric and electrooptic conversion of light signals and electrical signals within the associated optical switch. One type of presently available optical switch includes a matrix of thermooptic switching elements interconnected by waveguides formed on a silica substrate. Switching of light signals is accomplished by the use of thin film heaters to vary the temperature of the switching elements. Electrical circuits are also provided to supply switching current to the heaters. A heat sink may be provided to dissipate heat caused by the switching operations. One example of such switches is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,653,008.
Various types of optical signal amplifiers, wavelength division demultiplexers, optical switches, wavelength division multiplexers and techniques are currently used in optical communication systems. Optical signal amplifiers, wavelength division multiplexers and demultiplexers and other components associated with optical communication systems that transmit multiple wavelength light signals typically function best when respective signal levels for the multiple wavelength optical signals are substantially equal with each other. A substantial variation in signal level of multiple wavelength optical signals can result in an undesirable signal to noise ratio and resulting poor performance.
Multiple wavelength optical signals are normally collectively amplified by a light amplifier. The amplification factor of many light amplifiers is dependent upon the wavelength of each optical signal. Therefore, the amplification factors for multiple wavelength optical signals varies depending on the specific wavelength of each signal. The resulting difference between signal levels for multiple wavelength optical signals amplified by a single amplifier is often relatively small. However, when a large number of light amplifiers (ten or more) are used in a fiber optic communication system, the variation in signal levels becomes cumulative and may result in unsatisfactory lowering of associated signal to noise ratios. Therefore, variable optical attenuators are often provided at the input stage and/or output stage of light amplifiers in both large metropolitan communication systems and long distance fiber optic communication systems to adjust signal levels or intensity of multiple wavelength light signals to maintain a desired signal to noise ratio.
Variable optical attenuators are often included in optical communication systems to maintain a desired signal level for each optical signal or wavelength. Examples of variable optical attenuators (VOA) include natural density filters that are often used to suppress the amount of light depending on wavelength characteristics. Other variable optical attenuators include mechanical devices that position a glass substrate so that light signals may be attenuated by varying the position of the glass substrate. Still other variable optical attenuators attenuate light signals by rotating the polarization of each light signal as it passes through a Faraday element.

Miniaturized reconfigurable DWDM add/drop system for optical communication system


A process for forming a semiconductor device begins by diffusing an N layer having a relatively high concentration into a P wafer having a relatively low concentration. Next, the wafer is etched to yield a plurality of mesa semiconductor structures, each having a P-N junction intersecting a sidewall of the mesa structure. Then, a layer of oxide is grown on the sidewalls of the mesas, which oxide layer passivates the device. The oxidizing step curves the P-N junction toward the P layer in the vicinity of the oxide layer. Then, the P-N junction is diffused deeper into the P layer with a diffusion front which tends to curve the P-N junction back toward the N layer in the vicinity of the oxide layer. This diffusion is carried out to such an extent as to compensate for the curvature caused by the oxidizing step and thereby substantially flatten the P-N junction. A plurality of successive oxidation/diffusion steps can be undertaken to further flatten the junction adjacent the mesa sidewall. The resultant P-N junction has a greater breakdown voltage in the vicinity of the oxide layer due to the substantial flatness of the P-N junction. The decreased concentration gradient of the linearly graded junction in the vicinity of the oxide layer caused by the oxidizing step increases the breakdown voltage in the vicinity of the oxide layer above the bulk breakdown voltage.

The invention relates generally to processes for forming P-N junctions in semiconductor devices, and to the resultant devices. The invention relates more particularly to a process for forming a passivated P-N junction in a mesa structure. The passivation layer is formed by growing silicon dioxide on the mesa sidewall. This invention relates more specifically to a method to compensate for the curvature in the P-N junction which occurs during the oxidation and thus keep the P-N junction relatively plane.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,740,477 to Einthoven et al issued Apr. 26, 1988 discloses a semiconductor device having a P.sup.+ /N.sup.- /N.sup.+ junction in a mesa structure, which patent is hereby incorporated by reference as part of the present disclosure. The mesa can be formed by an anisotropic etch, and the walls of the mesa slope outwardly from a top surface thereof toward the N.sup.- /P.sup.+ junction. After the mesa is etched, the highly concentrated N.sup.+ region is diffused more deeply into the mesa but not below the base of the mesa, and the diffusion adjacent to the sidewall of the mesa takes on a generally concave shape relative to the N.sup.- layer as it penetrates into the N.sup.- layer. The result is that the thickness of the lightly doped N.sup.- region adjacent to the sidewall of the mesa is greater than the thickness of the lightly doped region at the interior regions. Consequently, electric fields adjacent to the sidewall of the mesa are reduced and the tendency for surface breakdown is reduced. The mesa also includes a grown silicon dioxide layer surrounding its sidewall to passivate the device.
While the structure of U.S. Pat. No. 4,740,477 has proven highly effective and useful, in some applications, particularly those requiring a low cost junction, it is desirable to provide a diffused P-N junction with bulk breakdown without the intervening lightly doped region.
Attempts have been made to passivate a diffused P-N junction with a grown oxide layer to prevent parasitic breakdown. However, the resultant breakdown occurred adjacent to the oxide layer because the oxidizing step curves the portion of the P-N junction adjacent to the oxide layer toward the P layer.
A general object of the present invention is to provide a process for making a P-N junction with a greater breakdown voltage adjacent to the oxide layer than exhibited by the aforesaid diffused P-N junction portion, for a given bulk breakdown.
Another general object of the present invention is to provide a P-N junction of the foregoing type in a mesa structure which structure is passivated with a grown silicon dioxide layer around its sidewall.
Another general object of the present invention is to provide semiconductor devices of the foregoing types which are useful as zener and other types of diodes that in essence exhibit avalanche breakdown in the bulk region.
Another general object of the present invention is to compensate the curving of the diffused P-N junction portion adjacent to the oxide layer by subsequent diffusions and oxidations which curve the P-N junction in opposite directions.

Method for making passivated mesa semiconductor


The present invention relates to an improved process for the production of conjugated polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), preferably conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), using finely dispersed heterogeneous metal catalysts on a mesoporous support, in the absence of Hg. The present invention also relates to a method to increase the large microporosity and (optionally) the small mesoporosity of a zeolite, thus obtaining a modified zeolite having a large and highly accessible internal surface.

Two types of naturally occurring polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) can be distinguished, based on the relative position of double bonds: i.e. (i) fatty acids with isolated double bonds, such as linoleic acid (C18:2), and (ii) fatty acids having conjugated double bonds. Linoleic acid is a major component in vegetable oils, with soybean and safflower oil typically containing linoleic acid levels up to 53.7% and 77.7%, respectively. Fatty acids with conjugated double bonds occur relatively rarely in natural fats. However, conjugated fatty acids have gained increasing importance in recent years because of their nutritional and technological properties.
From a technological point of view, conjugated fatty acids find use as drying oils in paints, varnishes and plastics. Drying oils polymerize or "dry" after they have been applied to a surface to form tough, adherent and abrasion resistant films. As conjugated double bonds are more reactive than unconjugated ones, CLAs are also used as co-monomers in the production of bio-plastics via cationic and free radical copolymerization. Tung oil is an example of a naturally occurring oil containing significant levels of conjugated fatty acids. Because tung oil is expensive for many industrial applications, research was conducted in order to find substitutes.
In the particular case of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), i.e. the positional and geometric conjugated dienoic isomers of linoleic acid (C18:2, which can have either the cis or trans configuration), the cis-9,trans-11 isomer of CLA (c9,t11-CLA, rumenic acid) is by far the predominant form in foods (as much as 90% of the total CLA content), especially in milk and tissue fat of ruminants. Synthetic CLA mixtures consist mostly of c9,t11- and t10,c12-CLA in almost equal amounts, with traces of t9,t11- and t10,t12-CLAs.
A variety of positive health effects have been attributed to CLAs. They are claimed to be anticarcinogenic, antidiabetic, antioxidative and antiarteriosclerotic. They decrease fat and increase muscle content in the body, reduce inflammation, show a beneficial effect on bone formation, enhance immune functions and reduce asthma (Bhattacharya et al, 2006). Recent studies conducted with enriched preparations in either c9,t11- or either t10,c12-CLA show that the two isomers assess different biological activity. Several reviews summarize the health effects of CLA mixtures and the purified form of c9,t11- and t10c12-CLA isomers (Bhattacharya et al., 2006; Pariza et al., 2001). Next to the c9,t11- and the t10,c12-CLA isomer, the t9,t11-CLA also exhibit beneficial health effects, which are superior compared with the more abundant c9,t11- and t10,c12-CLAs (Coakley et al., 2006; Ecker et al., 2009; Lee & Vanden Heuvel, 2010).
Because of their technological and nutritional applications, several isomerisation reactions to convert fatty acids having isolated double bonds into fatty acids having conjugated double bonds have been developed.
Conjugated PUFA Production Via Alkaline Isomerisation
In the alkali isomerization process, PUFA, such as linoleic acid, or an oil rich in PUFA or linoleic acid, like safflower oil, is treated at high temperature (200-250° C.) under alkaline conditions and an inert atmosphere (N2). In the current commercial processes strong bases, like NaOH or KOH, dissolved in water, are used. During the alkaline treatment isomerization as well as saponification takes place. As a consequence, the triglyceride structure is broken and glycerol and soaps are formed. Afterwards the aqueous phase, containing glycerol and the homogeneous base, is separated and the soaps are treated with an acid (mostly citric acid) in order to convert them to free fatty acids. In this process mainly the c9,t11 and the t10,c12-CLA isomers are formed in almost equal amounts.
Some improvements of the commercial alkaline isomerisation include, for example, the use of organic solvents with a high boiling point, like ethylene glycol and propylene glycol, instead of water. This way, the reaction can be conducted under the boiling point of the solvent (at 130-150° C. compared to 200-250° C. in the aqueous process), which leads to a better temperature and pressure control, and shorter reaction times (2.5-6 hours). Moreover, the selectivity to the c9,t11- and the t10,c12-CLA isomer is higher (Saebo et al, 2002).
Homogeneous, basic catalysts can also be used for the production of conjugated CLA esters. In this process, alkali metal alcoholate catalysts are used, which in contrast to KOH and NaOH, do not hydrolyze the ester bond. The use of high amounts of bases is often a problem in the industrial process because this lead to corrosion of the reactor.
In the context of the alkaline isomerisation, esterification of conjugated PUFAs/CLAs or either transesterification of conjugated PUFA/CLA alkyl esters is required to obtain triacylglycerols (TAGs) containing conjugated PUFA/CLA.
Conjugated PUFA Production Using Homogeneous Metal Complexes
Different homogeneous catalysts have been tested for the preparation of conjugated fatty acids and oils:                Cr-complexes, such as arene-Cr(CO)3 complexes and Cr(CO)6 (Frankel, 1970),        Rh-complexes, for example RhCl3, [(C6H5)3P]3RhCl (DeJarlais and Gast, 1971ab; Singer et al, 1972, 1977), [(C6H5)3P]2RhCOCl (Singer et al, 1972) and [RhCl(C8H14)2]2 (Larock et al, 2001),        Pt-complexes, as cis-Cl2[(C6H5)3P]2PtSnCl2 and PtCl2(PPh3)2 (DeJarlais and Gast, 1971, Larock et al, 2001), and        Ru-complexes, such as Ru(η6-naphthalene)(η4-cycloocta-1,5-diene) (Pertici et al., 1999) and RuHCl(CO)(PPh3)3 (Larock et al., 2001).
The substrates can be fatty acids like linoleate as well as polyunsaturated oils, for example soybean or safflower oils. Like the isomerization reaction in strong alkali, several conjugated products are formed. These systems are characterised by low reaction temperatures, high selectivity towards CLA, and the fact that TAGs enriched in CLA can be produced directly. However, the main drawback of these systems is that the catalysts are soluble homogeneous metal complexes, which are not environmentally friendly and difficult to separate from the reaction medium or products. The reuse of such catalysts and the ligands and the use of high amounts of solvents are often problematic. In the particular case when the conjugated PUFA/CLA product will be used in food applications, the choice of the solvent will be limited and also only very low metal contamination levels are acceptable.
Conjugated PUFA Production Via Heterogeneous Catalysis
Heterogeneous catalysis (i.e. a metal catalyst deposited on a porous anorganic or carbon support with a large internal surface) constitutes an attractive strategy for sustainable CLA production, as the catalyst can be separated and reused easily. Although some heterogeneous processes for isomerisation of linoleic acid or methyl linoleate have already been described in literature, low productivity is the main drawback.
Different metals and supports have been screened for the production of CLA, including:                a Ru/C catalyst in the isomerization of methyllinoleate (Mukesh et al, 1985; Narasimhan et al, 1985; Deshpande et al, 1985)        a Rh/C catalyst for the isomerization of methyllinoleate (Deshpande et al, 1985)        Ru on different supports (γ-Al2O3, SiO2Al2O3, C and MgO) and in combination with Ni (Mukesh et al, 1988).
However, besides isomerization also hydrogenation (formation of oleate, elaïdate and stearate), polymerization and coke formation was observed.
Bernas et al (2003) and Bernas et al (2004) screened Ru, Ni, Pd, Pt, Rh, Ir, Os, and bimetallic Pt—Rh supported by activated carbon, Al2O3, SiO2Al2O3, MCM-22, H-MCM-41, H-Y and H-BETA for the isomerization reaction of linoleic acid to CLA. In order to enhance the isomerization reaction a two-step process was used. In a pre-activation step the catalyst surface is first saturated with hydrogen and then the isomerization reaction of linoleic acid to CLA occurs under a N2 atmosphere. However, significant quantities of hydrogenated products, such as oleic acid, were formed.
Kreich and Claus (2005) described a highly selective method for the synthesis of CLAs over heterogeneous silver catalysts and in the constant presence of hydrogen. Also, the use of heterogeneous gold catalysts were tested in the isomerization of linoleic acid under constant hydrogen flow. Depending on the Au catalyst used, isomerization or hydrogenation is favored (Bauer et al, 2009; Simakova et al., 2010).
One of the main disadvantages of the heterogeneous catalyst based isomerization processes is that the productivities in the heterogeneous processes are very low compared to the industrial process using homogeneous bases. Another difficulty in the heterogeneous catalyzed process is the competition between isomerization and hydrogenation. While isomerization can take place in both directions (i.e. from conjugated to isolated double bonds and vice versa), hydrogenation is a consecutive reaction which only goes in one direction and lowers the CLA yield. On the one hand, hydrogen is needed in order to form the half-hydrogenated intermediates which leads to the isomerization of linoleic acid to CLAs, on the other hand too high levels of hydrogen will lead to the formation of unwanted hydrogenated products. Hence, the direct production of CLA using heterogeneous catalysts is a difficult and complicated process.
In this respect, partially hydrogenated vegetable oils contain higher levels of CLAs, indicating that during the hydrogenation of vegetable oils (using heterogeneous catalysts) CLAs are formed (Mossoba et al., 1991; Banni et al., 1994). By finetuning the hydrogenation process increasing levels of CLAs can be accumulated. The isomerization/hydrogenation ratio can be influenced by the catalyst used as well as the reaction conditions. High CLA accumulation requires conducting the hydrogenation at a high temperature, a low hydrogen pressure, a low agitation rate and a high catalyst level (Jung et al., 2001, 2002). However, these conditions also favor the formation of the unwanted C18:1 trans-isomers, which are known to increase the risk of cardiovascular diseases.
Finally, Chorfa et al (2010) described the hydrogenation/isomerization of safflower oil using a rhodium loaded mesoporous molecular sieve. The reaction was conducted at 180° C. and low hydrogen pressure (0.3 bar). The main isomers formed are the c9,t11-, t10,c12- and t,t-CLAs.
In short, the production of conjugated polyunsaturated fatty acids and derivatives thereof, known in the art, has several disadvantages:                In the alkaline conversion of nonconjugated PUFA, the alkali bases, solvents and acids used are disadvantageous from an ecological and economic point of view. Also an extra processing step is needed to neutralise and/or remove the alkaline catalyst. Furthermore, a mixture of different conjugated PUFA isomers is obtained instead of a single PUFA isomer. Also, the use of conjugated PUFA, such as CLA, in food application requires conjugated PUFA enriched TAGs (and not as free fatty acids or FAMEs), which cannot be obtained directly by the use of homogeneous bases due to the saponification. Thus, an extra time-consuming esterification or transesterification of conjugated PUFA (CLA) (as fatty acid or methylester derivative thereof) is needed.        The main drawback of using homogeneous metal complexes is that these catalysts are soluble in the reaction medium, which makes them difficult to separate and is not environmentally friendly. In addition, when the conjugated PUFA or CLA product will be used in food applications, the choice of the solvent will be limited and very low metal contamination levels are required (from food safety point of view and to minimize the oxidation of the unsaturated fatty acids).        The main disadvantage in the heterogeneous production of conjugated PUFA or derivatives thereof, particularly in the presence of H2 or similar compounds, is the competition between hydrogenation and isomerization. Although changing the process conditions can aid in minimizing the hydrogenation reaction and hence the formation of hydrogenated byproducts, the reaction conditions which have a positive influence on the isomerization reaction also favor the production of harmful C18:1 trans-isomers.
There hence remains a need for novel methods to produce conjugated polyunsaturated fatty acids and derivatives thereof, such as the alkylesters thereof (e.g. PUFA methylester) or glycerides, particularly triglycerides, comprising said conjugated PUFA.
Accordingly, the present invention provides a new heterogeneous isomerisation catalyst for the synthesis of conjugated PUFA in the absence of hydrogen, as well as novel methods for the synthesis of conjugated PUFA using said heterogeneous catalyst, particularly in the absence of hydrogen.

Method for the production of conjugated polyunsaturated fatty acids with heterogenous catalysts


A system for regulating an alternating current voltage source has a pair of P-channel MOSFETs and a pair of N-channel MOSFETs in a bridge configuration with an inductor-capacitor tank there between. A processor in conjunction with a feedback circuit regulates the energy transferred to the tank by modulating the pulse width of signals that are output from the processor and which are used as inputs to the gates of the MOSFETs. By increasing or decreasing the pulse widths transmitted to the various gates of the MOSFETs, the processor increases or decreases the energy transferred to the tank. The feedback circuit is connected between the tank and the processor so that the processor can compare the feedback voltage from the tank to a threshold level in the processor and modify the pulse widths at the output of the processor accordingly.

Many electrical systems have circuits that use inductor and capacitor tanks to provide a fixed frequency output from a voltage source. These outputs are used in a variety of applications, including radio transmissions and radio frequency generations.
In many of these systems, the loading characteristics of a tank are substantially fixed. When the load is fixed and constant, a fixed drive level provides a constant amplitude of energy to the tank. In addition, if a system has a constant voltage power source, low impedance bridge circuits provide a stable and repeatable drive level.
However, when the load is variable, a constant drive level does not provide a constant power amplitude level to the tank. Moreover, if the voltage source of a system is not constant, bridge circuits do not provide a constant drive level.
In addition, in systems that are battery operated, a power inverter is typically used to provide the constant voltage source because the voltage level drops as the life of the battery increases. Unfortunately, power losses typically are associated with the use of such power inverters as the power inverter attempts to stabilize the variable battery voltage.
For example, in the prior art half-bridge circuit of FIG. 1, the power source is applied directly to the series inductor-capacitor (LC) tank. The half-bridge configuration has an input and an output divided between two identical devices, each operating in phase opposition with respect to the other. In this instance, the output is the tank which is center tapped with respect to a P-channel metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor (MOSFET) and an N-channel MOSFET. Thus, one side of the circuit carries current from battery to ground through the tank, and the other side of the circuit operates in phase opposition. However, as the battery life increases, the power delivered to the tank will vary and decrease, thus changing and decreasing the power radiated from the tank.
In the prior art system of FIG. 2, a full-bridge circuit uses an inverter to alternately provide power to the tank. However, the power level merely is alternated, and the power drive level to the tank is not controlled or regulated to provide a constant drive level. Therefore, the same power loss problem occurs in the system of FIG. 2 when the battery life increases.
Thus, a system and method are required to provide a constant drive level for a tank in a drive circuit. An improved system is needed to modulate the power provided to the tank of the drive circuit and to control the modulation to provide a fixed drive level when variations in the power level of the power source exist or when variations in the tank load exist.

System and method for regulating power in tank circuits having a bridge configuration


A container assembly is provided for use in monitoring consumption of a liquid from the container assembly. The container assembly includes a body constructed and arranged to hold a liquid. The body has a base portion and an opposing top portion. The top portion permits liquid to be supplied into and to be removed from the body. The base portion has a skirt member. Indicator structure is operatively associated with the skirt member for rotational motion relative to the body into a plurality of different positions. Indicia is disposed on the body to indicate consumptive uses of the container assembly. Complementary engaging structure is on the skirt member and on the indicator structure for mounting the indicator structure with respect to the skirt member in such a manner that rotation of the indicator structure is possible in one direction and rotation of the indicator structure is resisted in the opposite direction. The engaging structure including at least one protrusion on one of the indicator structure and the skirt member and a series of spaced recesses in the other of the indicator structure and the skirt member. Each of the recesses corresponds to a particular indicia, allowing the user, with each consumptive use, to rotate the indicator structure with respect to the body in the one direction to engage the at least one protrusion with a recess, thereby monitoring consumptive uses of the container assembly.

This invention relates to a container assembly for holding liquids and for monitoring an amount of liquid consumed.
It has been widely accepted that drinking adequate amounts of water each day may be a health benefit for individuals. This is particularly true for overweight persons. Studies have shown that most overweight people don't drink enough water each day. A dietary program should include not only a monitored daily food consumption but also a program for monitoring daily water consumption. The standard contemporary formula for water consumption is that a dieting person, and indeed every person, should drink at least eight, eight-ounce glasses of water each day.
Dieters or others who practice this formula generally measure eight ounces of water in a measuring cup and pour the measured amount of water into a drinking glass, consume the water and then record the event on paper or the like. Others may simply estimate the volume of water in a conventional glass, drink the water from the glass and then record the event on paper, or rely on memory, to record how many glasses of water were consumed that day. These practices allow for possibilities of mistake and are also inconvenient and time-consuming.
Drinking vessels have been provided which also monitor the amount of water consumed each day. One such vessel is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,877,192 to Hosking. Hosking discloses a beaker having a groove in a top portion thereof. A collar is fitted within the groove for manual rotation relative to the beaker. The collar includes a window which aligns over numbers on the beaker to sequentially indicate a number of consumptive uses of the beaker through the window. A drawback of this device is that the collar may rotate with respect to the beaker in either direction. Thus, a user may inadvertently move the collar to an inaccurate consumption number or to a location between two adjacent consumption numbers.


An image-stabilization apparatus is provided that includes an image stabilizer and a status-determining processor. The image stabilizer counterbalances a camera shake in accordance with sensor signals from a shake-detecting sensor. The status-determining processor determines whether a status of the camera is in a fixed state or in a unstable state on the basis of the signals. The status determination process is carried out at the time of exposure and the characteristics of an image-stabilizing operation are altered according to the results of the status determination process.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image-capturing apparatus provided with an image-stabilization apparatus, and more particularly, to an image-stabilization apparatus that alters a drive mode according to whether the image-capturing apparatus is in fixed state or not. Further, the invention relates to a camera provided with such image-stabilization apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
The image-stabilization apparatus shakes a correction lens or an image sensor in accordance with signals from angular velocity sensors to counterbalance or compensate for a camera shake. However, signals from an angular velocity sensor generally include an offset and it is not favorable to keep the image-stabilization apparatus in operation when the camera is in a fixed state. Accordingly, there is provided a camera that uses signals from the angular velocity sensors to determine whether or not it is fixed on a tripod, whereby an image stabilizing operation is discontinued when the camera is determined to be in a fixed state. However, even when the camera is mounted on a tripod sources of image blur still exist, such as a tremble caused by a release operation. Therefore, when the image-stabilizing operation is suspended in the fixed state, an image blur resulting from a release operation and the like may occur even when a camera is stationary. Accordingly, there is also provided a camera in which an image-stabilizing operation is carried out at relatively low sensitivity when the camera is determined to be fixed on a tripod (U.S. Pat. No. 7,505,217).

Image-stabilization apparatus and camera


A method and arrangement for preventing the locking out of devices which are coupled to a bus by either of two of the devices which have become initiator and target devices respectively. The devices arbitrate for control of the bus after the bus enters a bus free phase. The device which wins the arbitration becomes an initiator. A timer in each device on the bus is started upon the initiation of the arbitration. The initiator device is removed from the bus when an elasped time after the timers have been started reaches a pre-determined value. The distributed clock of the invention ensures that the devices coupled to the bus will clear the bus after the initiator has been on the bus for a pre-determined time, thereby obviating skew problems associated with single clocked systems.

Modern computer systems often have many devices linked together by a common bus. These devices use the bus to establish communication with each other and transfer information between one another. A timeout is an action taken by a bus system to free the bus for use if one or more devices maintains control of the bus for too long a period of time. This can happen, for example, if the device using the bus stalls and does not remove itself from the bus.
A method is needed for forcing off of a bus those devices which have maintained control of the bus for too long a period of time. One such method of timing out has been to have each device which has taken control of the bus remove itself from the bus when it has maintained control for too long a period of time. However, if the timer on this device malfunctions so that the device keeps maintaining the control of the bus, the bus will be effectively locked up; since no other device on the bus forces the stalled device off of the bus.
In some prior art arrangements, a reset causes the state machines which drive and control the bus of all the devices connected to the bus to be cleared. However, this clearing is a drastic measure and should be avoided to the greatest extent possible since the state machines must be brought back to the condition they were in when the reset signal was asserted.


System and method for performing speech recognition using acoustic invariant structure for large vocabulary continuous speech. An information processing device receives sound as input and performs speech recognition. The information processing device includes: a speech recognition processing unit for outputting a speech recognition score, a structure score calculation unit for calculation of a structure score that is a score that, with respect for each hypothesis concerning all phoneme pairs comprising the hypothesis, is found by applying phoneme pair-by-pair weighting to phoneme pair inter-distribution distance likelihood and then performing summation, and a ranking unit for ranking the multiple hypotheses based on a sum value of speech recognition score and structure score.

The vocal signal is changed variously according to non-linguistic factors such as age, sex, microphone, background noise, or the like. Therefore speech recognition is required to be robust with respect to non-linguistic factors. In recent years, acoustic invariant structure is being proposed as one technique for realizing this type of speech recognition (Non-Patent Literature 1). According to this method, in contrast to traditional speech processing, the absolute features of speech are entirely discarded, and f-divergence is used for modeling of the relative relationships between phonemes. Isolated word recognition (Non-Patent Literatures 2, 3, and 4), foreign language pronunciation evaluation (Non-Patent Literature 5), or the like have been proposed heretofore using acoustic invariant structure, and robustness and good performance are being displayed by acoustic invariant structure.
However, according to the aforementioned literature, acoustic invariant structure has not been used for continuous speech recognition. This has been due to the lack of a suitable decoding algorithm for use of acoustic invariant structure. Although a decoding algorithm performs hypothesis-by-hypothesis alignment of the feature vector sequence, alignment of phonemes becomes necessary in order to use acoustic invariant structure. Although there has also been research that attempts to solve the aforementioned problem by using bottom-up clustering of the short time interval of the feature vector sequence and the Hidden Structure Model (HSM), this approach was only applied to an artificial task and was not indicated to be effective for actual tasks (Non-Patent Literature 6).
Therefore under the aforementioned circumstances, a method was newly proposed for realization of continuous speech recognition by using acoustic invariant structure for an N-best ranking framework (Non-Patent Literature 7). According to this method, firstly based on the traditional hidden Markov model (HMM) based speech recognition processing, an N-best list is acquired together with a speech recognition score. Thereafter, acoustic invariant structure is extracted from phoneme alignment for each N-best hypothesis, and appropriateness of a hypothesis from the standpoint of this invariant structure is acquired as a structure score. Finally, the multiple hypotheses of N-best are ranked according to the values of the sums of the speech recognition scores and the structural scores.

Information processing device, large vocabulary continuous speech recognition method and program including hypothesis ranking

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION


A method for engine start-up reducing white smoke and the start-to-idle time. The method includes the combination of producing two sub-fuel injections into the cylinders of the internal combustion engine at different points in the position of at least one injection valve of the engine and reducing the number of combusting cylinders in half. The two sub-fuel injections reduce the start-to-idle time. Once the engine is idling, the half cylinder operation reduces the white smoke emitted therefrom. The two sub-fuel injections are also employed when in half cylinder operation to reduce noise.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to internal combustion engines for motor vehicles. More specifically, the invention relates a method for reducing white smoke and the start-to-idle time of internal combustion engines for motor vehicles.
2. Description of the Related Art
Fuel efficiencies and pollutants are two great concerns for consumers and environmental advocates alike. Thus, there is an almost continuous effort to increase efficiencies and reduce pollutants in the automotive industry. Internal combustion engines which combust diesel fuel take a greater time to reach an idle speed (in revolutions per minute) from a cold start than comparable spark ignition engines. This factor increases the consumption of fuel by such diesel powered engines. U.S. Pat. No. 5,465,701, issued to Hunt on Nov. 14, 1995, addresses the cold start issue for internal combustion engines in general. This reference discloses a fuel control system wherein a cold start fuel injector is mounted in an air intake passageway downstream from a throttle for the internal combustion engine. A three way air valve has an air inlet fluidly connected to the air intake upstream from the throttle. An engine control unit controls the actuation of the air valve and fluidly connects an inlet to a first outlet, a second outlet or both outlets. In addition, the air valve may close fluid communication between the inlet and the outlets. This device is undesirable because it introduces new hardware which must be coordinated with the operation of other necessary components of the internal combustion engine. More specifically, the fuel injector and the air valve must be coordinated such that the fuel injector and the air valve operate to reduce the amount of time it takes for the engine to reach an idling speed.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,492,100, issued to Ishii et al. on Feb. 20, 1996, discloses a fuel control device which prevents an internal combustion engine from using all of its cylinders except when a full cylinder operation mode can be reliably changed over from the partial cylinder operation mode. The valves are changed over using a control mechanism which selectively operates the valve change over. The valve change over is operated in a target operation mode selected by the operation mode selector. This patent does not, however, disclose the use of fuel ratios to minimize pollutants exhausted by an internal combustion engine fueled by diesel fuel that will reduce the amount of pollutants exhausted thereby.

Method for internal combustion engine start-up


A titanium-tungsten target material capable of limiting the amount of particles generated during sputtering and a method of manufacturing this titanium-tungsten material. The titanium-tungsten target material has a titanium-tungsten alloy phase which occupies 98% or more of the whole area of the material as observed in a micro-structure thereof. In one example of the manufacturing method, an ingot obtained by melting tungsten and titanium is processde by a solution treatment to form a titanium-tungsten target, or a power obtained by melting the ingot is sintered to form a target. Preferably, the melting may be performed under reduced pressure in an electron beam melting manner. In another example of the manufacturing method, a powder is formed from a molten metal by an atomization method and the obtained powder is sintered to form a titanium-tungsten target. For sintering of the powder, it is preferable to apply hot isostatic pressing or hot pressing.

This invention relates to a titanium-tungsten (titanium-tungsten) target material used to form a barrier metal layer or the like for use in semiconductor devices and to a method of manufacturing the titanium-tungsten target material.
With the increase in the degree of integration of large scale integrated circuits (LSIs), a problem of aluminum wiring migration, such as contact migration of diffusion precipitates at contact portions of aluminum wiring and a silicon semiconductor substrate, has arisen. To cope with this problem, barrier metal layers have recently been studied.
A titanium-tungsten thin film (typically composed of 10 wt %, of titanium and the balance of tungsten) is often used as a barrier metal layer, and a method of sputtering a target is adopted to form such a titanium-tungsten thin film.
In general, a titanium-tungsten target material for the thin film is manufactured by blending a titanium powder and a tungsten powder and hot-pressing the blended powder.
However, titanium powders used as raw materials for the conventional titanium-tungsten targets have a large oxygen content, and the oxygen content of targets formed from such raw materials is necessarily high.
Such high-oxygen-content targets are disadvantageous because oxygen is liberated during sputtering to cause cracks in the target, oxidation of formed films, and variations in film quality.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,838,935 discloses a method for reducing the oxygen content of a titanium-tungsten target or a fact that the formation of a high-density low-porosity target as well as reductions in the carbon and oxygen contents can be achieved by replacing at least a pair of a titanium powder with hydrogenated titanium or by using a tungsten powder having a binodal grain size distribution and a hydrogenated titanium powder or a mixture of a hydrogenated titanium powder and a titanium powder.
JP-A-63-303017 also discloses a method for reducing the oxygen content of a titanium-tungsten target. In this method, a tungsten powder and a hydrogenated titanium powder are blended together and hot-pressed after or while being dehydrogenated.
The use itself of the hydrogenated titanium powder is effective in preventing oxidation and is also capable of limiting the amount of oxygen picked up during milling because the hydrogenated titanium powder may be more suitably milled with less contamination by oxygen as compared with the ordinary titanium powder.
It has thus become possible to obtain titanium-tungsten targets having an oxygen concentration as low as 900 pm or less.
As has been described, research has been made extensively to reduce the oxygen content of titanium-tungsten target materials.
The above-mentioned publications, however, contain no suggestion as to how the structure of titanium and tungsten constituting a target affects sputtering, that is, they do not disclose at all that the alloy structure, particularly the presence of a titanium phase, relates to the occurrence of particles during sputtering.
Recently, with the development of semiconductor products having thinner conductors formed at a higher density, a new problem has arisen with respect to a sputtering process using the above-mentioned low-oxygen-concentration titanium-tungsten target in that large particles attach to a thin film formed by sputtering to cause disconnection of electrode wiring conductors.
The generation of such particles cannot be prevented as long as only the method for reducing the titanium-tungsten target oxygen content is used.
To solve this problem, the inventor of the present invention has examined in detail the relationship between the target structure and the generation of particles, and has found that coarse titanium grains relate to the generation of the particles. That is, the inventor has ascertained, as one of the reasons for the generation of particles, a fact that in the presence of both titanium and tungsten, titanium having a light atomic weight is selectively sputtering, and that tungsten grains contained in or in the vicinity of coarse titanium particles are scattered as large particles from the target material.

Titanium-tungsten target material and manufacturing method thereof


Techniques are disclosed for producing and/or optimizing jamming codes for use in directional infrared countermeasures (DIRCM) systems. In some embodiments, Fourier analysis may be implemented to produce jamming codes which more efficiently (e.g., time efficient, power efficient) and/or more reliably (e.g., no frequency gaps) achieve optical break-lock (OBL) of infrared (IR)-seeking missiles/threats over a broad range of frequencies (e.g., short-wavelength IR, mid-wavelength IR), as compared to heritage jamming code methodologies. Some embodiments may be implemented in military/defense applications (e.g., protection of military/tactical aircraft or other vehicles); some other embodiments may be implemented in non-military/commercial applications (e.g., protection of domestic, civilian, and/or commercial aircraft or other vehicles). Some embodiments may be implemented to protect against IR-seeking air-to-air missiles (AAMs), surface-to-air missiles (SAMs), and/or man-portable air-defense systems (MANPADS/MPADS). Numerous configurations and variations will be apparent in light of this disclosure.

Infrared (IR)-seeking (heat-seeking) missiles typically are designed to lock onto a source of IR radiation, such as an aircraft's engine. Upon achieving lock-on, componentry of the IR-seeking missile directs the missile along a path in an attempt to intercept (e.g., hit) the targeted IR source. In some cases, the targeted source (e.g., an aircraft or other vehicle) may include an infrared countermeasures (IRCM) system that detects and attempts to eliminate or otherwise mitigate the threat of the impending IR-seeking missile. However, there are a number of non-trivial issues that can arise which complicate the effective implementation of IRCM.

Fourier transform-based jamming techniques

BAE Systems Information and Electronic Systems Integration Inc.


Disclosed are ready-to-eat puffed dried food products that are high both in protein and in fiber. The cereals contain sufficient amounts of at least one protein ingredient to provide a total protein content about 50% to 75% (dry weight) of the cooked food product; sufficient amounts of at least one dietary fiber ingredient to provide a total fiber content of about 1-45% (dry weight); and sufficient amounts of a starch containing ingredient to provide a starch content of about 5-45%. The food products have a crush strength raging from about 0.25 to 3.5 kg/cm3.

The present invention relates to food products and to their methods of preparation. More particularly, the present invention relates high protein puffed ready-to-eat food products and to their methods of preparation.
Obesity is a rapidly growing health concern worldwide. A high protein, low carbohydrate is one popular diet approach to weight reduction or maintenance.
In addition to conventional meat and dairy products that are naturally high in proteins, a wide variety of dry mix products as well as ready-to-eat foods are available. For example, dry powder mixes for addition to liquids (e.g., milk, water or juices) for preparing various high protein fluid blends or shakes are well known. Also, various high protein formulations are provided in convenient ready-to-eat bar ("RTE") form. While such bars can contain high levels of protein, such products are usually high in moisture (i.e., have water activities higher than 0.45). In other variations, such dry mixes or bar products might also include high levels of quickly available sugars to ostensibly facilitate athletic activities (colloquially sometimes referred to as "power bars").
Regrettably, many such high protein products have such poor organoleptic properties as to require uncommon motivation for even repeat consumption let alone to become an effective dietary component of an effective weight loss or even weight management program.
In other forms, ready-to-eat cereals have been specially formulated for those who are weight conscious. Generally, these products comprise cooked cereal dough formulations in various conventional RTE cereal forms that are fortified with added protein. While popular, such products generally comprise high levels of carbohydrates and generally comprise less than 50% protein.
While high protein RTE food products are conceptually popular, formulating dry ready-to-eat food products that are both higher than 50% protein (dry weight basis) and that taste good is difficult. High protein food products can suffer off flavors from such components as soy or whey proteins. Also, dry high protein food products can suffer from an unpalatable texture that is often hard or glassy. Such off flavors become increasingly noticeable and difficult to mask and the glassy texture more severe at higher protein concentrations.
High protein puffed products have long been known (see, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,689,279 (issued to) and U.S. Pat. No. 3,814,824 "Breakfast Cereals Containing Soy Material and Sodium Bicarbonate" (issued Jun. 4, 1974 to Bedenk et al.). While puffed to some degree and of some what improved flavor, such products have not found consumer acceptance due to an undesirably hard or glassy texture.
The present invention provides improvements to such puffed high protein content Ready To Eat products. In one aspect, the improvement resides in the including sufficient amounts of fiber in the high protein formulation to reduce glassy textual attributes to provide a softer product. In another aspect, the present invention provides improvements in selecting high-speed extruder to directly expand the present high protein content formulations to provide the present highly puffed products that are characterized in part by the present low density range.
High-speed cooker extruder especially twin screw extruder for the provision of puffed ready-to-eat cereal products is known (see, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,210,741 "Grain Based Extruded Product Operation" issued Apr. 3, 2001 to van Lengerich et al.). The '741 patent, however, is concerned with providing expanded cooked cereal dough pieces of unique texture by direct expansion especially those containing high levels of sugar. In contrast, the present invention provides improvements to the teachings of the '741 patent by providing high protein low carbohydrate (especially low sugar) products.
The present invention provides puffed ready-to-eat cereal products that are not only high in protein content but also are high in fiber content.
In addition to providing high levels of protein, the present cereal compositions additionally comprise high levels of fiber. While providing consumer acceptable high protein R-T-E presents formidable challenges, providing such high protein cereals that are also high in fiber content is even more difficult since the amount of starchy constituent is necessary decreased in direct proportion to the increases in fiber and protein.
Notwithstanding the high levels of both protein and fiber, the present cereal compositions provide R-T-E cereals especially those in the form of puffed pieces, the present products exhibit good organoleptic eating qualities in addition to their desirable nutritional profile of high fiber and protein content.
Surprisingly, a wide variety of high soluble fiber R-T-E cereal products can be provided that are almost indistinguishable in taste and texture from their counterparts that are not fortified with fiber when that fiber is supplied by inulin. Such high fiber high quality R-T-E cereals can be provided from cooked cereal doughs that are fortified with soluble fiber provided by inulin within certain concentrations. In its method aspect, the present invention provides methods for preparing such novel R-T-E cereal products.

High protein puffed food product and method of preparation


An object is to provide a technology for preventing content of an unlocking operation from being easily recognized by another person even when the unlocking operation is seen by the other person. In order to achieve the object, there is provided an electronic device (10) including an input reception unit (11) that receives an input from a user through an operation to indicate a predetermined region using a predetermined object, and a lock unit (12) that locks a predetermined function, and unlocks the lock when the input reception unit (11) receives an input caused by a first operation and an input caused by a second operation in parallel.

Patent Documents 1 and 2 disclose a means for unlocking a lock set in a portable terminal apparatus.
Patent Document 1 discloses an unlocking means for unlocking a lock when a touch operation with respect to a touch input key "Unlock" is performed with a touch pen 8 in a state in which a complex operation key 9 is pressed in a portable terminal apparatus illustrated in FIG. 12 (citing FIG. 2 of Patent Document 1).
Patent Document 2 discloses an unlocking means for unlocking a lock by touching an object displayed on a touch panel display with a finger, and then, sliding the finger in a predetermined direction without lifting it.
Further, an unlocking means for unlocking a lock when an input of a predetermined password is received is well known.

Electronic device, unlocking method, and non-transitory storage medium


The safety key has a shank which is provided with a plurality of control surfaces for properly positioning tumblers and has a front end and a rear end. At a front end, the rotor of the associated locking cylinder has at least one further control surface, which interacts with a further control surface arranged at the rear end of the shank. The safety key is backward compatible and is relatively difficult to copy.

1. Technical Field of Use of the Invention
The invention relates to a safety key and locking cylinder, the locking cylinder having a stator and a rotor, with a front end and a rear end, and a keyway, and the safety key having a shank which is provided with a plurality of control surfaces for properly positioning tumblers and has a front end and a rear end. The invention also relates to a locking system with such safety keys and locking cylinders.
2. Prior Art
Safety keys and locking cylinders of the above-mentioned type are known in numerous configurations. The essential factor for safety keys for high-grade systems is for there to be no possibility of straightforward copying on comparatively simple drilling and milling machines. A safety key which is difficult to copy may be achieved in accordance with the applicant's EP 0 621 384 B1 by the shank of the safety key being provided with a control element which is designed as a pin and is mounted in a displaceable manner in the shank. This control element can be properly positioned by an additional tumbler in the locking cylinder. Such a key cannot be copied with justifiable outlay. A so-called toothed key with a similar control element has been disclosed in EP 0 802 289. It is also ensured that this key is comparatively difficult to copy.
The abovementioned safety key is rendered disadvantageous by the costs which arise from the formation of the abovementioned control elements and from the additional tumblers in the locking cylinder. These control elements, in addition, may have an adverse effect on the combinatorics.

Safety key and locking cylinder, and locking system with such safety keys and locking cylinders


A vertically movable bathroom can be moved between a plurality of vertically spaced user stations, such as the floors in a high rise building. In one embodiment a freight elevator in a high rise building is modified to include complete bathroom facilities that are accessible to disabled persons, such that the facilities can be provided to any floor of the building. The modified elevator also includes first aid supplies, oxygen, a stretcher, etc., to make such supplies available throughout the building. Fire safety facilities, including a self contained sprinkler system and an express control to cause the elevator to travel to an exit floor without opening on any intermediate floors, provide a safe means of egress from the building in the event of a fire or other emergency.

There is an increasing desire in the United States and throughout the world to improve the accessibility of both public and private facilities to disabled persons. For many years disabled people, particularly those who are unable to walk, have been denied access to career opportunities, entertainment, etc., because they were unable to either gain access to, or remain for long periods of time in, the buildings that provide such employment and services.
One of the difficulties faced by disabled persons is that standard bathroom facilities are not designed for their use. For example, standard bathrooms do not provide wheelchair access, since the stalls are usually too small and the doors are too narrow. Furthermore, even bathrooms which have been modified to provide wheelchair access usually do not provide necessary facilities for severely disabled persons such as, e.g., lift devices which can raise such a person out of the wheelchair and position him or her over the toilet.
The increased awareness of the needs of disabled persons has resulted in many building owners voluntarily renovating their facilities to provide access for the disabled. Laws have also been enacted at both the state and federal levels to require building owners to make their buildings accessible to the disabled. However, the high cost associated with such renovations has prevented and/or delayed compliance with such laws and has inhibited voluntary renovations.
For example, it can cost tens of thousands of dollars to renovate the bathroom facilities on a single floor of a typical office building to meet the minimum requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Thus, for an average high rise building, such renovations can total hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars. Such a large investment may not be possible for many building owners and may seem unwarranted where there may be only a few disabled people working in the building.
It has been suggested that building owners renovate one or two floors to provide bathroom facilities with disabled access, and then require all disabled persons working in the building to travel to a renovated floor. However, it is inherently unfair to require a disabled person to travel many floors to use a bathroom, while other building occupants have facilities on each floor. Furthermore, some federal and/or state regulations may require that bathroom facilities for the disabled be made available on each floor of a building.
In addition to the need to provide disabled bathroom facilities on each floor of a building, it is also desirable to provide first aid equipment (e.g., stretcher, oxygen, bandages, etc.) on each floor. However, the cost of providing such equipment on every floor of a large building is prohibitive.
Finally, there is a need to provide a safe means of egress from a tall building in the event of fire or other emergency, especially for disabled persons. Conventional elevators are not safe in fires, and disabled persons are often stranded in high buildings where the only means of escape is a stairway that they cannot use.


In the assaying of direct and indirect bilirubin, it is has been found that organic compounds, capable of undergoing diazotization to products having absorption spectrum substantially identically to bilirubin, can be used as a calibration standard. Typical of these organic compounds is ANS (8-anilino-1-naphthalene-sulfonic acid). However, these compounds do not have the typical yellow color of bilirubin. It was also discovered that this deficiency can be corrected by the addition of methyl or ethyl orange. When combined, these compounds provide a liquid control stable at room temperature for 12 months or more.

The present invention relates to the use of novel calibration standards or controls in the quantitative analysis of bilirubin in biological fluids by diazotization and direct reading methods.
Bilirubin, a principal component of bile pigment in a body fluid, is produced by the decomposition of heme from the hemoglobin in red blood cells. Two fractions of bilirubin are present in blood serum. One is named free or non-conjugated bilirubin and the other conjugated bilirubin since it has become conjugated with glucuronic acid and rendered water-soluble. Conjugated bilirubins react easily with diazonium ions and their quantity can be determined by colorometry. Thus, the conjugated bilirubins are commonly referred to as direct bilirubins.
Free bilirubin, on the other hand, is hydrophobic and difficult to quantitatively analyze directly by diazotization. Consequently, its quantity is typically ascertained indirectly by first determining the total bilirubin and the conjugated bilirubin and subtracting the latter from the former. Hence, the free or non-conjugated bilirubins are commonly referred to as indirect bilirubins. Measurement of the total bilirubin involves the use of solubilizing agents such as methanol, dimethylsulfoxide and benzoate-caffeine to dissolve the water-insoluble non-conjugated bilirubins and thereby insure dissolution of both bilirubin fractions for diazotization.
The content of bilirubin in blood increases in response to an increase in the decomposition of hemoglobin as well as a decrease in liver function. Accordingly, the quantitative analysis of both direct and indirect bilirubins is considered to be an indispensable clinical test item.
Now the purpose of a calibration standard or control in colorimetric measurements such as spectrophotometric measurements is to provide a standard agent from which an unknown can be measured. Generally, highly purified preparations of the analyte are used for this purpose. Unfortunately, purified bilirubin is a compound which is highly unstable to light and temperature. For this reason, it is necessary to store bilirubin in dark containers in the absence of air in a cold place. It has been demonstrated that bilirubin standards can deteriorate two percent per month even at -23.degree. C. (See Tritz, Fundamentals of Clinical Chemistry, W.B. Saunders Company, Philadelphia, Pa., 2nd Edition (1976), 1034-1043, and Dowmas et al, Clinical Chemistry, 19, (9):984 (1973).
There are several calibration controls commercially available. The most common is lyophilized serum which contains bilirubin. An example is LYPOCHEK, a trademarked product of Bio-Rad Company. Bilirubin in this control is stable for three days at 2.degree.-8.degree. C. after the addition of water. Lyophilized controls suffer from the inaccuracy of rehydration by the operator and by their very short life.
Another type of control commercially available is CHEMTRAK, a trademarked liquid bilirubin control/calibrator of Medical Analysis Systems, Inc. This control has the advantage of being a liquid control and having a shelf life of sixty days, if not opened. Once opened, however, the control is only stable for fourteen days at 2.degree.-8.degree. C. Moreover, the material is light sensitive. In the products described, bilirubin is not used as a control substance. Instead, derivatives of bilirubin are used rather than true bilirubin. The agents in CHEMTRAK.RTM. Liquid Bilirubin Control and Sta-Bil.RTM. L Liquid Bilirubin Control are bilirubin extracts and synthetic derivatives such as bilirubin ditaurate. All compounds which are analogues to bilirubin in structure have been found to be unstable.
Accordingly, it is evident that a need exists for an improved, more stable standard.


System, method and program for identifying a subset of a multiplicity of source networks. The subset including one or more source networks which have sent messages to one of a plurality of destination locations having a same IP address. For each of the multiplicity of source networks, a determination is made whether there are fewer intervening hops from the source network to the one destination location than from the source network to other of the plurality of destination locations. If so, the source network is included in the subset. If not, the source network is not included in the subset. One application of the present invention is to identify a source of a denial of service attack. After the subset is identified, filters can be sequentially applied to block messages from respective source networks in the subset to determine which source network in the subset is sending the messages.

Networks such as intranets, extranets and the Internet are well known today. Computers and other devices reside on respective networks. (Some routers are contained within firewalls which perform a screening function as well as a routing function.) When a computer on one "source" network sends a message addressed to a computer on another, "destination" network, the message is forwarded from one router to the next until it reaches the destination network. There may be an Internet Service Provider ("ISP") for the destination network, and a "site" router at the destination network to forward the message to the destination computer. Thus, computers and other electronic devices on different networks can communicate with each other.
Each message is divided into packets for transmission and routing according to a known internet protocol (IP) standard. Each packet includes a header and a payload. The header includes the IP address of the destination host, and the routers uses the IP address to know where to forward the message. The payload includes data such as a request or information. The payload also includes information such as the application port to provide the requested service, and the site router uses all of this information to determine which computer within the network to receive and process the message packet.
Most hosts have a respective, unique IP address. The source host embeds the IP address of the destination host in the header of each message packet. When the source network sends the message packets, routers en route to the destination network forward the message packets from router to router (in "hops") until they reach the destination host. In a "multi-netting" architecture, there is more than one site network or destination network (typically owned by the same company) broadcasting the same IP address. Each such site has a different physical location, different site router and different MAC address (representing the respective site router). There are also one or more ISPs for each destination network within the multi-net, logically interposed between the site router for the destination network and the Internet (with its routers). The source network embeds the IP address of the multi-net in each message packet (probably unaware that the destination is a multi-net). When the source network sends the message packets, the routers en route to the multi-site send the messages to one of the ISP(s) for the multi-net along the path with the fewest hops, as described below.
Often, there are multiple possible paths or routes between a source network and a destination network (or site router). The routers know the various paths based on ongoing exchanges of router and network "topology" information between the routers. Typically, each router will determine a shortest (available) path to use for a message packet to reach its destination network, and then forward the message packet to the next (downsteam) router/hop in the path. There are different standards/protocols that can be used by each router to identify the shortest path to the destination network, such as Routing Information Protocol ("RIP"), Open Shortest Path First ("OSPF"), and Border Gateway Protocol ("BGP"). In the "BGP" protocol, each router broadcasts to other routers the path it uses to get to a destination network, via other routers or "nodes". For example, a router B may broadcast that it uses router C to get to network D, a router G may broadcast that it uses router C to get to network D, a router I may broadcast that it uses routers F, G, and C to get to network D, and a router E may broadcast that it uses routers E, F, G, and C to get to network D. Based on these broadcasts, router F may determine that its shortest path to network D is via routers G and C, and forward message packets addressed to network D to router G. Router G will then forward these message packets to router C, and router C will forward these message packets to network D. In the OSPF protocol, "adjacent" routers exchange topological information. Typically, one router on each LAN exchanges topological information with neighboring routers. The OSPF protocol dictates that each router will send a message to its "adjacent" routers providing its state and network routing "costs." The adjacent router then broadcasts the complete routing topology to all neighboring routers. The neighboring routers use this information to determine which path is best to send network traffic.
Unfortunately, many computers operated by "hackers" send "malicious" messages to other computers, typically via the Internet. One type of malicious messages can form a "denial of service" attack. In a denial of service attack, the individual messages may request ordinary services from the destination computer, but the messages are so numerous that they overwhelm the resources of the destination computer or the transiting networks. This degrades the performance/response time of the destination computer or networks for legitimate users/customers and, in extreme cases, may shut down the destination computer altogether.
When a denial of service attack occurs, it was known to trace back to their source network the messages suspected of being malicious. The trace back was performed by looking up the source network address in the received message header. After tracing back the messages to the source network, it was known to apply a filter in a firewall or site router to block subsequent messages from the IP address of this source network. However, it is not easy to identify the messages that are malicious. Also, to hide their identity, some hackers embed a phony source IP addresses in the message packets that they send. This is commonly referred to as source IP address "spoofing." Consequently, when the destination network receives these message packets, the destination network (and its administrator) cannot identify the real source of the malicious messages, even when the malicious messages are identified and their headers examined.
Another known solution is to sequentially apply filters at the firewall or site router for the network subject to the denial of service attack. Each filter blocks a different individual or group of source IP addresses, and then checks if the malicious traffic is blocked. Unfortunately, this is a time consuming process, because there are typically many source IP addresses to block. Also, during the course of the tests, some bona fide messages may be blocked and lost, or unacceptably delayed.
An object of the present invention is to facilitate the identification of a source of malicious messages sent to a multi-net.
An object of the present invention is to facilitate the identification of a source of malicious messages sent to a multi-net environment, when the source IP address of the malicious message listed in the message packets is "spoofed."
Still another object of the present invention is to facilitate the identification of a source of malicious messages sent to a multi-net, where the malicious messages constitute a denial of service attack.

Identifying source of malicious network messages

International Business Machines Corporation


The invention is directed to providing a smaller semiconductor device formed as an optical sensor including a light receiving portion and a light emitting portion. A light receiving portion and a light emitting portion are disposed on a front surface of a semiconductor substrate for forming a semiconductor die, and a supporting body is attached to these so as to face these with an adhesive being interposed therebetween. A first opening exposing the light receiving portion from the front side of the supporting body is provided, and in a separated position therefrom, a second opening exposing the light emitting portion from the front side of the supporting body is provided. A first electrode and a second electrode are further disposed on the front surface of the semiconductor substrate, and bump electrodes electrically connected to these are disposed on the back surface of the semiconductor substrate.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a semiconductor device and a method of manufacturing the same, particularly to an optical sensor which measures a position of an object by irradiating the object with light from a light emitting portion and sensing the reflected light by a light receiving portion, and a method of manufacturing the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
An optical sensor is known as one of means of measuring a position of an object. This optical sensor has a light receiving portion and a light emitting portion, and detects a position of an object to be measured by, for example, irradiating the object with an optical pulse by the light emitting portion, sensing the luminance or phase of the optical pulse reflected by the object by the light receiving portion, and using the difference between the luminances or phases of both the optical pulses.
For example, such an optical sensor is applied to a technology of automatically sensing a distance between a user and a sound collecting microphone of a mobile and optimizing the phone volume according to the distance. In this technology, the optical sensor is provided near the sound collecting microphone of the mobile, and the luminance or the like of reflected light of light emitted to the user by the light emitting portion of the optical sensor is measured by the light receiving portion of the optical sensor, thereby measuring the distance between the user and the sound collecting microphone.
When such an optical sensor is realized by a semiconductor device, as shown in FIG. 12, a light receiving die (i.e. a semiconductor die) 101 including a light receiving element such as a photodiode is mounted as the light receiving portion on an elongated rectangular mounting substrate 100, and a light emitting die (i.e. other semiconductor die) 102 including a light emitting element such as an LED is separately mounted thereon as the light emitting portion.
An optical sensor for detecting a position of an object to be measured is described in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2001-183458.
In the optical sensor described above, however, since the light receiving die 101 and the light emitting die 102 are mounted on the mounting substrate 100 as separate semiconductor dies, it is necessary to secure a wide mounting region. This makes it difficult to reduce the size of the optical sensor.

Semiconductor device and method of manufacturing the same

Semiconductor Components Industries, LLC


A foldable hinge is described herein that includes a plurality of interconnected sliding links, wherein each of the interconnected sliding links comprise at least one curved extruding prong and at least one curved rail. The at least one curved rail of a first interconnected sliding link can be coupled to the at least one curved extruding prong of a second interconnected sliding link to form a torque engine. Additionally, the interconnected sliding links can be rotatable based on a pressure applied to the interconnected sliding links. The foldable hinge can also include a plurality of shafts coupled to the plurality of interconnected sliding links, wherein each shaft is coupled to a separate interconnected sliding link.

Many mobile electronic devices have display panels attached to base portions of the mobile electronic devices that include various computing components and input devices. A display panel can be attached to the base portion of the mobile electronic device using various mechanical components. In some examples, the mechanical components can support various viewing angles of the display panel in relation to the base portion of the mobile electronic device.

HEWLETT-PACKARD DEVELOPMENT COMPANY, L.P.


An automotive vehicle latch system is aligned in a single operation without trial-and-error manipulations of the striker. An alignment mechanism is mounted on the vehicle body to align the striker on the vehicle body with the latch on the vehicle door. The alignment mechanism includes an elongated latch sensor having one end attached to a loosely mounted striker and another end adapted to mate with the door latch when the door is moved to a partially closed position. After the latch sensor has been locked in a proper position for alignment of the striker and latch, the door can be opened to allow the striker to be fastened to the vehicle body.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to automotive door latches, and particularly to a fixture for aligning a striker on an automotive body with a latch on an associated door, so that the striker can be accurately installed without trial-and-error alignment procedures.
2. Description of Prior Developments
Conventional automotive latch systems often include a striker mounted on the automotive body at an edge of the door opening and a latch mounted in an edge of the door. In order for the latch system to operate correctly, it is necessary that the striker be aligned with the latch at the time the striker is installed.
Typically, the striker includes a mounting plate seated flatwise on an edge wall of a door opening, and a U-shaped rod or roller extending outwardly from said mounting plate so as to be in the path of the latch located on the door. The mounting plate may be secured to the wall of the door opening by one or more screws extendable through vertical slots in the wall for connection with nuts located on the concealed face of the wall. The vertical slots permit the striker to be adjusted vertically so as to be aligned with the latch on the associated door.
The striker alignment operation will sometimes involve securing the striker mounting plate on the fixed wall, then closing the door to ascertain the extent of misalignment, then loosening the mounting plate, and resecuring the plate in a position calculated to correct the misalignment. Some trial and error in repositioning of the plate is usually required. The mounting screws have to be loosened and retightened each time the striker plate is to be repositioned. The process is somewhat time-consuming and not always fully successful.

Mechanism for aligning a striker with an automotive door latch


A synchronous vector processor SVP device having a plurality of one-bit processor elements organized in a linear array. The processor elements are all controlled in common by a sequencer, a state machine or a control circuit (controller) to enable operation as a parallel processing device. Each processor element includes a set of input registers, two sets of register files, a set of working registers, an arithmetic logic unit including a one-bit full adder/subtractor, and a set of output registers. In video applications each processor element operates on one pixel of a horizontal scan line and the SVP is capable of real-time digital processing of video signals. In video applications a data input control circuit including a master controller circuit, a vertical timing generator circuit, a constant generator circuit, a horizontal timing generator circuit and an instruction generator circuit is provided. In order to distribute variables to each processor element simultaneously the data input control circuit is provided with a set of auxiliary registers and an addressing structure to modulate one of the processor elements' working registers. In this manner variables are provided to the SVP device in lieu of a designated control instruction bit.

Fast and accurate real-time processing of data signals is desirable in general purpose digital signal processing, consumer electronics, industrial electronics, graphics and imaging, instrumentation, medical electronics, military electronics, communications and automotive electronics applications among others, to name a few broad technological areas. In general, video signal processing, such as real-time image processing of video signals, requires massive data handling and processing in a short time interval. Image processing is discussed by Davis et al. in Electronic Design, Oct. 31, 1984, pp. 207-218, and issues of Electronic Design for, Nov. 15, 1984, pp. 289-300, Nov. 29, 1984, pp. 257-266, Dec. 13, 1984, pp. 217-226, and Jan. 10, 1985, pp. 349-356.
The synchronous vector processor (SVP) of the present invention is in the class of single instruction multiple data (SIMD) general purpose digital signal processors. As such the same instruction set is shared by each processor in the array. Accordingly, operation of the core processors is parallel. In many processing applications, such as real time video signal processing, there is a desire to distribute globally to the core processors one or more variables. In most cases, there variables must be received by the processing elements simultaneously. This can be achieved in accordance with the present invention by modifying the SVP controller. It should be apparent that a distribution technique that maintains or enhances the real time computational attributes of the processor array would be beneficial to the art of the synchronous vector processing.

Distribution of global variables in synchronous vector processor


A method and system for determining an extent of matter removed from a targeted anatomical structure are disclosed. The method includes acquiring an initial representation of a targeted anatomical structure and then removing matter from the targeted anatomical structure. An instrument is then navigated within the targeted anatomical structure. The instrument includes a tracking array, and a relative position of the instrument within the targeted anatomical structure is determined by the tracking array. The method includes recording the relative position of the instrument within the targeted anatomical structure to determine a final representation of the targeted anatomical structure. Finally, the method includes determining an extent of matter removed from the targeted anatomical structure by comparing the initial representation of the targeted anatomical structure with the final representation of the targeted anatomical structure. Indicators are provided to convey the extent of matter remaining within the targeted anatomical structure.

Certain surgical procedures require a surgeon to remove matter, i.e. bone or tissue, from a patient. During spinal implant surgeries, a surgeon typically must first remove a disk, including primarily ligament and cartilage, from the patient's spine to provide a clear installation site for attaching an implant or replacement disk to the spine. Surgeons typically perform this removal process without the aid of any real-time indicator to demonstrate how much matter remains in the patient's targeted anatomical structure. The surgeon must develop a tactile feel for how an instrument navigates through the targeted anatomical structure, and rely on this tactile feel to make a determination regarding how much matter remains in the targeted anatomical structure. The surgeon must also develop a mental image or map of the targeted anatomical structure based on how the instrument feels while being navigated through the targeted anatomical structure. Due to potential "blind spots," the surgeon can navigate an instrument through the targeted anatomical structure and mistakenly conclude that the proposed installation site is clear of extraneous bone or tissue. This false conclusion can result in the surgeon proceeding with attempting to install an implant despite the installation site not being sufficiently cleared. Alternatively, the surgeon may begin the installation procedure, only to realize that the installation site is not cleared, causing the installation procedure to be delayed until additional matter is removed from the installation site.
It would be desirable to provide a more dependable way for a surgeon to ensure that a targeted anatomical structure is sufficiently clear of matter following a targeted removal procedure.

Method for recording probe movement and determining an extent of matter removed


An information processing device includes a picture image inputter configured to acquire a picture image imaged by a camera and at least one processor configured to execute a program stored in a memory. The at least one processor detects, from the picture image acquired by the picture image inputter, light emitted by a light-emission device, acquires, based on brightness of the detected light emitted by the light-emission device, set brightness information indicating an appropriate brightness for light to be emitted by the light-emission device, and transmits the acquired set brightness information to the light-emission device.

Technology is mentioned in International Publication No. WO 2005/124687 in which multiple cameras image a marker that is a light source (transmitter) that emits light, and a three-dimensional position of the marker is determined.
However, the technology of the aforementioned International Publication No. WO 2005/124687 is sometimes unable to accurately measure the three-dimensional position of the marker due to excessive brightness of the marker caused by darkness in at the periphery of the marker, excessively low marker brightness caused by a bright periphery of the marker, or the like.

Information processing device, information processing method, and recording medium