Each network-connected information processing apparatus stores restriction information defined for each agent in order to restrict the operation of the agent which moves to the self apparatus and runs. When the agent is to move from the first information processing apparatus as one of the information processing apparatuses to the second information processing apparatus as another information processing apparatus, the first information processing apparatus receives restriction information corresponding to the agent from the second information processing apparatus. The first information processing apparatus selects at least one of the components in correspondence with the second information processing apparatus on the basis of the restriction information, and moves the agent holding the selected component to the second information processing apparatus.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mobile agent system in which an agent moves between, e.g., network-connected information devices and performs processing.
2. Description of the Related Art
A mobile agent system has conventionally been known as a technique of moving between network-connected information devices, and integrating and processing pieces of information on the information devices. The agent is an autonomous software processing unit which is constructed by data in an executable form, its executable state, and data used for execution. In the mobile agent system, such an agent processes information on a given information device.
The mobile agent moves and operates between a plurality of information devices. The operation authority which defines processes the agent performs on each device is determined from the type of agent and the settings of each information device. The operation authority of the agent is controlled by a method of laying a specific interface unique to each information device open to the agent and restricting the agent operation to only ones via the interface. The operation authority is fixed for each information device.
Each of the information devices between which the agent moves has a platform which provides an environment where the agent operates, e.g., one which provides an environment where an agent constructed on the Operating System (OS) of a computer or the like operates.
A destination information device to which the agent is to move determines whether to accept the agent on the basis of identification information of the agent. An agent whose security cannot be determined from identification information is inhibited from moving to the device. Even an agent which is permitted to move uniformly performs only permitted operations regardless of the identification information of the agent.
In this manner, the operation of the agent accepted by the destination device is restricted.
When movement of an agent or the operation of the agent at a destination are to be restricted, the prior art imposes only uniform, fixed restrictions on the basic identification information of the agent and predetermined operations permitted in the destination information device regardless of the type or function of the agent.


Xerographic photoreceptor life is improved while maintaining output print quality by adjusting the AC charging actuator of a xerographic machine to a point at which photoconductor life is optimized while maintaining output print quality. Where the actuator is voltage, the actuator is set a predetermined amount above the knee voltage of the photoreceptor surface potential versus peak-to-peak voltage curve, which is determined during operation of the machine. Instead of determining the knee voltage, calibration sheets can be generated for various values of the actuator, the best sheet with the least possible actuator value is selected, and the AC charging actuator is set to the value corresponding to the best sheet. The sheets can be evaluated by a user, or an optical array sensor can be used to scan the sheets so that the controller can compare the sheets to stored criteria to automatically select the best sheet and set the actuator. Alternatively, the optical array sensor can scan calibration images directly from the intermediate transfer belt or other image bearing member, thus eliminating the use of paper for calibration.

Xerographic reproduction apparatus use a photoreceptor in the form of a drum or a belt in the creation of electrostatic images upon which toner is deposited and then transferred to another belt or drum, or to paper or other media. Once the toner image is transferred, most xerographic apparatus clean the photoreceptor in ways that can abrade the surface, changing the thickness of the photoreceptor over time. Even without such abrasion, the thickness of the photoreceptor will decrease through use over time, typically through contact friction with various other devices in the system, such as the transfer roller. See, for example, the "Nominal" curve in FIG. 6, which shows a graph of charge transport layer thickness reduction versus print count. Because of the nature of the photoreceptor, a change in its thickness will result in a change in its electrostatic performance.
After enough of the surface layer of the photoconductor has been worn away, print quality defects will typically begin to appear. For example, with organic photoconductor drums, charge depleted spots (CDS) can appear in the output prints after enough of the photoconductor outer layer, which is the charge transport layer (CTL), has been worn away. To avoid these sorts of defects, some xerographic devices use a page counter and simply stop using the photoconductor, or at least signal that the photoconductor should be replaced, after a predetermined number of prints have been made. Since photoconductors are typically somewhat expensive to replace, the life of these devices can have a significant impact on the overall run cost of the print engine. In fact, this can be one of the largest contributors to the parts costs for many tandem color xerographic machines.
Many xerographic engines, particularly color xerographic engines, make use of contact and/or close proximity AC charging devices, such as biased charging rollers (BCRs), such as seen in FIGS. 1-3. Contact and/or close proximity type charging devices typically use an AC waveform with a DC offset bias to exceed the required threshold voltage for air breakdown, VTH, which varies with the particular geometry of the print engine, thereby generating the desired photoreceptor charging behavior. Although the device itself may contact the photoreceptor, contact is not a necessary condition for the corona to contact or reside in close proximity to the photoreceptor and lead to high rates of photoreceptor wear. Therefore, charging devices with air gaps between the surface of the device and the photoreceptor can also benefit from embodiments disclosed herein.
A typical response of the photoconductor potential as a function of the AC peak-to-peak voltage charging actuator is shown in FIG. 4. The location of the actuator saturation point in this curve is typically referred to as the "knee" of the charge curve (the point at which further increases in the actuator do not significantly affect the output photoconductor charge voltage). Typically, non-uniform print quality is obtained for AC charging devices when the AC peak-to-peak actuator is operated below this knee value. In addition, under certain conditions, some print quality defects may occur for actuator value close to, but still slightly above, the knee of the charge curve. One type of defect that can occur is a light and dark spots pattern (similar to a salt-and-pepper noise) that occurs between the charging knee and a Vp-p value known as the background disappearing point ("BDP"). The speckles that appear as a result of the BDP defect are typically referred to as BDP spots. To prevent BDP spots from occurring, it is necessary to maintain the AC charging actuator at a value safely above the BDP. Thus, in most xerographic engines that make use of contact and/or close proximity AC charging devices, the charging actuator is operated at a value sufficiently far above the knee of the curve to ensure acceptable output print quality despite variations in the process.
While the BDP spots defect appears to cease to occur after a number of prints have been run, on the order of several thousand or more, depending on the particular xerographic engine and/or photoconductor, eliminating the defect from the first print is preferred. The age related effect means that, while it is necessary to steer the AC actuator slightly higher than the BDP value early in the life of the photoconductor, it is possible to reduce the AC charging actuator toward the knee of the charging curve once a particular threshold in print count has been reached.
In xerographic systems using contact and/or dose proximity AC charging devices, the rate of wear of the photoconductor is accelerated as a result of positive ion deposition onto the photoconductor surface by the charging device. These positive ions are believed to interact with the surface of the photoconductor, thereby making it more susceptible to abrasion and wear. The greater the number of positive ions deposited onto the surface of the photoconductor during charging, the more quickly the photoconductor surface material will wear. In addition, the larger the amount by which the charge knee voltage is exceeded, the larger the amounts of both positive and negative ions that will be produced during each cycle of the charging waveform. This is illustrated, for example, in FIG. 5, which shows simulation results indicating the amount of positive charge deposition onto a photoconductor as the charger actuator voltage increases above the knee value. Thus, the magnitude of the AC charging voltage applied to the charging device can significantly affect the amount of positive charge deposition that occurs on the photoconductor surface. For a given DC offset voltage, larger peak-to-peak amplitudes for the applied AC voltage above the charging knee will typically lead to larger amounts of positive charge deposited onto the PC surface for each charging cycle. Once again, the larger the amount of positive charge deposited onto the photoconductor surface by the charging device, the faster the PC surface will wear. Thus, it is highly desirable to minimize the distance of the charging actuator above the knee of the charge curve at all times.
In many xerographic systems that make use of a contact and/or close proximity AC charging device, the AC charging actuator is not actively adjusted. The AC charging actuator is typically the amplitude of the AC voltage waveform for constant voltage mode charging, or the AC current setting for constant current mode charging. However, the DC offset voltage for the AC charging device is, in many engines, adjusted as part of the normal process controls to help maintain consistent output The AC charging actuator value of many xerographic print engines is determined and set as part of the initial design of the engine. The AC charging actuator thus remains fixed and is not actively adjusted during normal operation. Since print quality defects are known to occur for charging actuator values close to or below the knee, larger design values for the AC actuator are typically chosen to ensure that variations in the process behavior will not result in variations in the charging output voltage. However, these larger actuator values result in more positive ions being deposited onto the photoconductor's surface during each charging cycle (each cycle of the AC waveform). Once again, the wear rate of the photoconductor is related to the amount of positive charge deposition onto its surface, where an increase in positive charge deposition results in a decrease in the expected life of the photoconductor. Thus, a tradeoff is made at design time between the print quality latitude of the charging actuator and the amount of excess positive charge deposited onto the photoconductor surface, and therefore the expected wear rate of the device.
In an effort to limit the amount of positive charge deposited onto the surface of the photoconductor while maintaining acceptable output print quality, some prior methods have attempted to design different AC waveform shapes. Another technique modulates the AC waveform in different ways, and other approaches have been used. However, each of these approaches has focused on altering the design of the AC charging waveform at design time, not making any active adjustments to the AC actuator during normal operation of the print engine.
Instead, to address the need for longer life photoconductor devices in systems with contact and/or close proximity AC charging, many prior methods have focused on materials related solutions. These types of approaches can include such things as improved overcoats on the photoconductors to make them more durable. Unfortunately, these types of solutions are somewhat difficult to develop and can, in fact, cause other problems in the system. For example, creating a harder photoconductor surface in a xerographic system with a blade cleaning device shifts the wear to the cleaner blade, which can lead to reduced cleaning blade lives, which might not allow a significant gain in system run cost to be realized through such a materials based solution.
Still other methods have looked at using non-contact charging devices or other subsystem changes to reduce the abrasion of the photoconductor surface. For example, a non-contact charging device, such as a scorotron, applies high voltage to a wire or pin coronode located a distance, such as about 500 μm or more, from the photoreceptor surface. The charge generating corona discharge is localized around the coronode is such devices, not touching, but in relatively close proximity to the photoreceptor.
Some prior methods, such as, for example, that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,024,125, have suggested mechanisms for adjusting the charging actuator in an active fashion. However, these prior methods are limited in the information that they use to adjust the charging actuator. Such methods are typically limited to measurement of a current as a mechanism for measuring the charge level of the photoconductor. Unfortunately, for some devices, such as biased-transfer rolls, the measurement of a current using a constant voltage mode of operation can be quite noisy. For example, if the impedance of any component changes, this can have a detrimental effect on the current measurement. In addition, prior methods typically do not make use of image quality information in their adjustment of the charging actuators. Rather, these prior systems are limited to measurements only of the underlying process parameters, namely the location of the charging knee, or threshold voltage, through measurement of a downstream current flow. Thus, there is a need for a xerographic system with an active adjustment scheme that will optimize photoconductor life in a robust fashion while ensuring that charging related print quality defects do not occur.
Embodiments significantly improve the life of a photoconductor in a xerographic engine by actively adjusting the AC charger settings for contact and/or close proximity charging devices used in the engine based on measurements of the charging threshold Vknee and also possibly based on measurements of print quality related parameters. Embodiments actively adjust the AC charging actuator (peak-to-peak voltage or AC current) to reduce the amount of positive charge deposited onto the surface of the photoconductor, thereby extending its life, as illustrated by the "Reduced BCR" curve of FIG. 6 while also maintaining an acceptable distance between the actuator setting and the knee of the charging curve and/or the required print quality defect thresholds to minimize the possibility of charging related print quality defects.
The selection of the contact and/or close proximity AC charging actuator operating value (the actuator) is very important from a photoconductor device life point of view since positive charge deposition onto the PC surface drives the PC wear rate in many xerographic systems with contact and/or close proximity AC charging devices. The charging actuator operating value is the peak-to-peak voltage value of the charging waveform for constant voltage charging devices and is the AC current value for constant current charging devices. Another concern regarding the choice of the AC charging actuator setting is the uniformity of the resultant charged voltage, Vhigh, on the photoconductor. Non-uniformities in Vhigh can translate to undesirable non-uniformities in the output of the xerographic apparatus. Too low of an AC charging actuator value tends to result in these types of non-uniformities in the Vhigh output from charging. Thus, choosing appropriate values of the AC charging actuator according to embodiments can prevent print quality defects from occurring in addition to extending photoconductor life.
To achieve embodiments, a measure of the photoreceptor surface potential is useful. Surface potential can be measured using electro-static voltmeters (ESVs) and/or the thickness of the photoconductor can be estimated using measurements from the BCR or BTR, high voltage power supply, such as with the techniques disclosed in U.S. patent Ser. No. 11/644,277, filed concurrently herewith and incorporated by reference above. However, ESVs can be costly to implement in engines that do not already include ESVs, particularly in color xerographic apparatus including multiple photoreceptors and/or marking engines. U.S. Pat. No. 6,611,665 to DiRubio et al., as well as U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/644,277, incorporated by reference above, discloses a method and apparatus using a biased transfer roll as a dynamic electrostatic voltmeter for system diagnostics and closed loop process controls. While the techniques disclosed in the '665 patent are useful, they can suffer inaccuracies due to unpredictable aging effects of the elastomers used in the BTR, as well as other factors. Such measurements are more accurate than those obtained by prior methods, such as that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,024,125 discussed above, which employs a constant voltage mode operation. Thus, the method of using a biased charging roller as disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/644,277, incorporated by reference above, is preferred for accuracy when possible. Using the measures of photoreceptor surface potential (VPC), the knee location can be determined, and embodiments can adjust the AG actuator accordingly. The routine of embodiments can be run periodically, such as during cycle-up or cycle-down or every so many prints, to ensure consistent output of the xerographic apparatus in which it is used.
To achieve embodiments, a measure of the occurrence and/or level of charging related print quality defects is also useful These measurements can be obtained using a variety of techniques and sensors. For example, in situ scan bar sensors can be used in the xerographic printing engine to detect structured image print quality defects, such as CDS and BDP defects. These sensors could be used to detect the occurrence, size, and other properties related to such print quality defects.

Photoconductor life through active control of charger settings


Drilled cuttings are disposed of by solidification by drilling with a drilling fluid containing blast furnace slag, thereby producing drilled cuttings and other solid wastes, concentrating the wastes and then solidifying the concentrated wastes. Drilling wastes solidified by blast furnace slag are hard and unleachable and the blast furnace slag is compatible with both oil and water based drilling muds and drilled cuttings. Drilling fluids therefore do not have to be removed from the drilled cuttings prior to solidification in a mud pit.

Reducing both the creation of solid wastes and the cost of solid waste disposal has become very important in drilling of oil and gas wells. Stiffer environmental regulations, "cradle to grave" liability for solid wastes, and increased landowner restrictions have contributed to considerable increases in the cost of disposal of solid wastes. Generally, wastes such as drilling wastes have been disposed of by burial, solidification, landfarming, annular injection and commercial disposal. Each of these methods has drawbacks.
Commercial disposal of drilling wastes is very expensive, and can be only a temporary disposition for solid wastes because the originator can be found liable for remediation of disposal sites at a later time.
Burial, solidification and landfarming typically require that drilling fluids be removed from the drilled solids. Removal of drilling fluids from drilled cuttings is particularly important when oil based or emulsion drilling fluids are used due to the contamination by the oil component. Removal of the drilling fluids in turn results in generation of other forms of wastes.
Solidification of wastes is disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,880,468 and 4,338,134. Patent '468 discloses combining hygroscopic material and a cementitious binder to material with drilling wastes to solidify drilling wastes The cementitious binder is a Portland cement. Patent '134 discloses fixation of wastes with hydraulic mortar to enable easier disposal of the wastes. Injection of drilling wastes into an injection well is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,942,929. Larger drilled cuttings are recovered, washed and used as construction gravel and smaller solids are separated from drilling fluids and pumped into a formation through the injection well.
Solidification also typically requires removal of residual drilling fluids from drilled cuttings because drilling fluids and cements are usually incompatible. Most water based drilling muds will either cause instant setting of the cement or act as retarders of the cement setting. Strength of the set cement is also adversely affected by the presence of most drilling fluids.
Solidification of the drilled solids in cement can fix contaminants and greatly reduce the expense of disposal, but solidification within cements has not been widely practiced due to the expense of cementing materials and the expense of removing incompatible drilling fluids.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,168,139 and 3,499,491 disclose the conversion of drilling fluids to wellbore cement slurries. Conversion of drilling fluids to cement slurries eliminates the need to dispose of used muds and eliminates the need to provide some additives that are already present in the drilling fluids, such as fluid loss and free water control additives. U.S. Pat. No. 5,058,679 discloses a process to convert fluid to a wellbore cement slurry by adding blast furnace slag to acceptable drilling fluids. The use of blast furnace slag instead of Portland cement provides for a slurry that is very compatible with the original drilling fluid resulting in many significant technical advantages. The use of the blast furnace slag as the cementitous compound also significantly reduces the cost of converting the drilling fluids to cement compared to the use of Portland cement as the cementitous compound.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a method to fix leachable materials in drilling solid wastes contaminated with drilling fluids by solidification wherein removal of drilling fluids from the drilling cuttings prior to solidification is not necessary. It is an additional object to provide a method to solidify drilled cuttings wherein the cementitous compound is blast furnace slag. It is another object of the present invention to provide a method of incorporating blast furnace slag into the drilled wastes by adding slag to drilling fluids used for drilling a wellbore.


A control apparatus includes a communication unit for conducting the data communication. Identification information is assigned to the control apparatus. The control apparatus further includes a storage unit having an identification information table storing information containing the identification information and the identification information of other control apparatuses, which are connected to and communicate with the control apparatus.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a control apparatus and a control system, and more particularly to a control apparatus having a communication unit for conducting the data communication, and a control system including a plurality of control apparatuses connected to communicate with each other.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, a vehicle is mounted with various control units including an engine control unit for controlling the fuel injection or ignition timing of the engine, an ABS control unit for controlling an anti-lock brake system (ABS), and an air bag control unit for controlling the expanding operation of an air bag.
Also, a control system equipped with a so-called vehicle LAN in which these control units are connected via a communication line has been introduced. For example, a sensor signal detected by the engine control unit is sent via the communication line to another control unit (ABS control unit, etc.), which then can conduct efficient control utilizing the received sensor signal.
By the way, many of troubles in the control units occurs intermittently while driving or don't continue. Usually, these control units have a function of storing content of the trouble in a memory through the self-diagnosis.
In a service factory of dealers, when a trouble occurs, a specific reader is connected to a control unit to read a self ID code or a trouble code stored in the memory of the control unit, and read an exchange and repair history of the control unit or diagnose the trouble content with reference to a database for ID code or trouble code possessed by the dealers.
However, because the general used vehicle shops that are not the dealers could not refer to the above database, there was a problem that the information of exchange and repair history of individual control apparatuses mounted on the vehicle could not be directly confirmed.
Also, the information of the ID code regarding the control apparatus, which is mounted to a vehicle at present, is only stored in the memory of the control apparatus. Thus, when a new control apparatus is mounted due to a failure, the information about the control apparatus previously mounted necessarily disappeared without leaving information that the control apparatus was exchanged. As a result, there is a problem that the exchange and repair history cannot be correctly grasped.
Also, because the information of the exchanged control apparatus in the memory might be rewritten incorrectly by a dedicated writing device, there is a problem that the correct exchange and repair history is difficult to grasp.


Lettuce can be commercially harvested by removing the bottom portion of a head of lettuce to obtain only the top portion of the head. After the top portion of the head is obtained, a center section of the top portion of the head is removed to leave a cup-shaped portion of the head. The bottom portion of the head is removed and the center section of the top portion is removed in the field in which the head is harvested.

1. Field
The present application relates to commercial lettuce harvesting, and, more particularly, to commercial lettuce harvesting for cup-shaped portions of heads.
2. Related Art
The commercial lettuce industry is a multi-billion dollar industry. Lettuce is produced and shipped year round in the U.S. with the source of supplies changing with the seasons, with California and Arizona dominating U.S. production.
Three types of lettuce dominate commercial production: iceberg, leaf lettuce, and romaine lettuce. Of these three types, iceberg lettuce makes up the majority of the commercial lettuce production in the U.S.
Lettuce is commercially planted as seeds or seedlings in rows in a field. Because lettuce heads tend to be somewhat irregular and delicate, commercial harvesting of lettuce is a manual process.
In conventional commercial lettuce harvesting, teams of field workers harvest lettuce in the field by hand. In particular, field workers referred to as cutters manually cut the stems of the lettuce using hand held harvesting knives. Field workers referred to as packers then pack the harvested whole heads into cardboard boxes, which are more commonly referred to as cartons. The cartons of whole heads are then placed on pallets, vacuum cooled, and then shipped to destination markets, where they are ultimately shipped to end users.
Certain end users, such as restaurants, may use only a portion of a whole head. This can result in various types of waste and costs associated with having shipped the whole heads to the end user. For example, there is waste disposal cost to the end user associated with the unused portions of the whole heads. There is the cost associated with shipping the whole heads to the end user, which included the cost of shipping the unused portion of the whole heads. Additionally, the end user incurs labor costs associated with processing of the whole heads. For an end user that uses a large volume of lettuce, such as a restaurant, the amount of waste and costs can be substantial.

Lettuce harvesting for cup-shaped portions of heads


Apparatus and methods for dynamically adjusting radio frequency circuitry in a wireless communication device are disclosed. The wireless communication device can receive downlink communication using carrier aggregation through a primary component carrier and a secondary component carrier. When carrier aggregation is not enabled, the wireless communication device adjusts the radio frequency circuitry based on default values. When carrier aggregation is enabled, the wireless communication device evaluates radio frequency conditions for the primary and secondary component carriers and adjusts the radio frequency circuitry based on whether uplink and/or downlink communication is power constrained. When uplink communication is power constrained, the wireless communication device adjusts the radio frequency circuitry for optimal performance via the primary component carrier, and when uplink communication is not power constrained, the wireless communication device adjusts the radio frequency circuitry for optimal performance via the combination of the primary and secondary component carriers used for carrier aggregation.

Fourth generation (4G) cellular networks employing newer radio access technology systems that implement the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Long Term Evolution (LTE) and LTE Advanced (LTE-A) standards are rapidly being developed and deployed within the United States and abroad. The LTE-A standard includes modes for aggregation of multiple component carriers (CCs) to provide for meeting the bandwidth requirements of multi-carrier systems that cumulatively achieve data rates not possible by predecessor LTE versions. Wireless communication devices include configurable radio frequency (RF) circuitry that can transmit and/or receive radio frequency communications using multiple component carriers in multiple radio frequency bands. Fixed settings for the configurable radio frequency circuitry, e.g., adjusted to maximize communication using only a primary component carrier can provide less than optimal performance when carrier aggregation via multiple component carriers is used.
As such, there exists a need for solutions that adapt settings of the configurable radio frequency circuitry in wireless communication devices based on monitoring radio frequency conditions including performance metrics to provide for both downlink communication performance and for uplink communication performance. In this regard, it would be beneficial to dynamically tune radio frequency circuitry coupled to one or more antennas in a wireless communication device operating within LTE-A networks employing carrier aggregation.

Dynamic antenna tuner setting for carrier aggregation scenarios


An optical emission spectrometer system includes a light source and a dichroic beam combiner. The light source emits first light in a first direction and second light in a second direction different from the first direction. The dichroic beam combiner receives the first light via a first light path and the second light via a second light path, reflects a portion the first light into an entrance aperture of a light detection and measurement apparatus, and transmits a portion of the second light into the entrance aperture, enabling analysis and measurement of both first and second light characteristics simultaneously. The portion of the first light reflected into the entrance aperture predominately has wavelengths in a first range of wavelengths and the portion of the second light transmitted into the entrance aperture predominately has wavelengths in a second range of wavelengths, different from the first range of wavelengths.

Conventional optical emission spectrometers may include inductively coupled plasma (ICP) light sources for spectrochemical analysis. Generally, selecting light emitted along an axis of an ICP light source (axial viewing) for detection and measurement provides increased signal-to-background ratios, and consequently improved limits of detection, as compared to selecting light emitted along a direction perpendicular to the axis of the ICP light source (radial viewing). This advantage is particularly important for certain elements, such as arsenic (As), selenium (Se), lead (Pb) and others having optical emission lines in the ultraviolet region of the spectrum. However, under certain circumstances, selecting the light emitted perpendicular to the axis of the inductively coupled plasma source is advantageous, in that it enables measurement of a greater range of concentrations and allows optimization of the position of light selection to minimize inter-element interference effects. This may be particularly important for easily-ionized elements, such as potassium (K), sodium (Na), lithium (Li) and others having optical emission lines in the visible region of the spectrum. In addition, axial viewing generally provides high sensitivity and poor linearity, while radial viewing generally provides lower sensitivity and better linearity.
Attempts have been made to enable selection of light emitted along or perpendicular to the axis of an inductively coupled plasma source. For example, light for detection and measurement may be selected as required from either light emitted along the axis or light at right angles to the axis of the light source, but not both at the same time. That is, only one mode of viewing may be selected at any time. Accordingly, when a modern simultaneous spectrometer is used, for example, it is necessary to take separate measurements (e.g., separated in time) in each of the axial and radial viewing modes to obtain best performance for each element of interest. In order to achieve simultaneous axial viewing and radial viewing of the light, one spectrometer must be used for axial viewing and another spectrometer must be used for radial viewing. In other words, conventional systems require either two separate views using one spectrometer (increasing analysis time and sample consumption), or two simultaneous views, using separate spectrometers for each view (a very costly alternative).

Optical emission system including dichroic beam combiner


There is provided a system comprising: a storage device having a storage portion comprising a plurality of bitcells coupled to respective first signal lines and second signal lines and control logic to alter a memory state of the plurality of bitcells via the first signal lines and second signal lines; a memory controller coupled to the storage device to transmit one or more initialisation signals to the storage device; wherein the storage device is to initialise the storage portion over a clock cycle in response to the one or more initialisation signals.

The present disclosure relates to techniques for accessing memory in computing systems, and particularly, but not exclusively, to techniques for initialising bits in memory.
In a computing system, different applications (or processes) may use the same memory, whereby it is possible for a subsequent application to access or recover data from memory that was used by a previous application, and whereby the recovered data may include sensitive/security information. Such access may occur, for example, in systems with persistent memory after rebooting from power failures.
To prevent such access, the memory, or a portion thereof, may be initialised before access by an application, or to increase the efficiency of an application (e.g. a cryptographic operation).
Such initialisation may include Kernel zeroing for initialization so data will not be leaked to another process.
Furthermore, Linux performs lazy initialising when the pages are being written to, i.e. "Copy-on-Write", whilst FreeBSD does eager initialisation, by initialising a plurality of pages of memory over multiple clock cycles and maintaining a memory pool for allocation. Userspace applications are required to initialise heap memory pages after allocation by memset as in C, or initialised implicitly by constructors as in C++ or C#.
Furthermore still, hypervisors initialise physical pages over multiple clock cycles before allocating those pages to another machine, e.g. for inter-virtual machine security/data privacy.
However, initialisation is becoming an increasingly time- & power-consuming process as memory capacity and application demand grows. Thus, there is a need for improved methods for implementing initialisation.
Like numbering used will be used to describe like features throughout the specification.


Two semicylindrical bodies, each mounted on a respective end of one member of a pair of pivotally interconnected blades, are closed to form a cylindrical body having a first end in which a frustoconical surface is arranged to guide a wire into a central bore, and a second end communicating with bore and in which a semi-spherical cavity is shaped to receive a bone end. The wire insertion guide is particularly applicable to procedures such as resectional arthroplasties requiring K-wire fixation, Hoffman-Clayton type rheumatoid forefoot reconstructive procedures, and procedures relating to finger reconstruction.

1. Technical Field
This invention relates generally to a device for positioning a wire on a bone end preparatory to inserting the wire into the bone and to a method of using the wire insertion guide device for pinning at least two elongated bones, or bone portions together, and more particularly to such a wire insertion guide that has a first end adapted to guide the wire through a central bore of the device and a second end shaped to receive a bone end, and to a method wherein the wire is inserted through the bone end and through a central canal of an elongated bone, such as a bone of a toe or finger.
2. History of Related Art
Many surgical procedures such as resectional arthroplasties and Hoffman-Clayton type rheumatoid forefoot reconstructive procedures where the metatarsal head is resected along with the resectional arthroplasty of the proximal phalanx, generally require that the proximal phalangeal and metatarsal bones are held in straight alignment with the aid of a Kirshner's wire (K-wire). Heretofore, the K-wire has been inserted through the distal end of the phalanges and moved through the phalanges to the metatarsal, and then through the central canal of the metatarsal. A common problem with the procedure is guidance of the K-wire into the end of the metatarsal so that the wire is aligned to follow the central aspect of the metatarsal bone. In order to carry out the procedure, it was necessary to maintain the phalanges in precise alignment with the metatarsal while inserting the K-wire. Because of the small diameter of the K-wire and the limited space between the bones, it was often difficult to determine whether or not the advancing end of the K-wire was aligned, both laterally and vertically, with the central canal of the metatarsal.
Similar problems with guiding a wire during insertion into elongated digital bones are found in procedures involving of bones in a finger.
The present invention is directed to overcoming the problem set forth above. It is desirable to have a simple, manually operable device that guides a wire from the end of a first bone toward the end of a second bone, while simultaneously aligning the wire so that it is directed in a desired orientation with respect to the second bone. It is also desirable to have a method for pinning two bones together, using the wire insertion guide embodying the present invention, so that the wire is accurately positioned and guided during insertion of the wire through the second bone.

Wire insertion guide and method of use in pinning bones


A method and apparatus for decoding signals received from a network and distributing the decoded signals to multiple users. A bulk decoder coupled to a network decodes data received from the network and transmits the decoded data to an interconnect for distribution to a plurality of users. The number and type of bulk decoders may be adjusted in accordance with system load.

Computers and computer networks are used to exchange information in many fields such as media, commerce and telecommunication. One form of information that is commonly exchanged is video data (or image data), i.e., data representing a digitized image or sequence of images. A video conferencing feed is an example of telecommunication information which includes video data. Other examples of video data include video streams or files associated with scanned images, digitized television performances, and animation sequences, or portions thereof, as well as other forms of visual information that are displayed on a display device. Video information may be synthesized by artificially rendering video data from two or three-dimensional computer models.
Another form of information that is commonly exchanged is audio data (i.e., data representing a digitized sound or sequence of sounds). Voice telephone transmissions and video conferencing feeds are examples of telecommunication information which include audio data. Other examples of audio data include audio streams or files associated with digitized music, radio and television performances, or portions thereof, though audio data may be associated with any type of sound waveform. It is also possible to synthesize sound waveforms by artificially generating audio data having desired magnitude and frequency characteristics.
The exchange of information between computers on a network can be described in terms of between a "transmitter" and a "receiver." In video applications, the information being exchanged contains video data and the services provided by the transmitter are associated with the processing and transmission of the video data. Similarly, in audio applications, the information being exchanged contains audio data and the services provided by the transmitter are associated with the processing and transmission of the audio data. Conventionally, multiple services provided by one or more transmitters may provide data using different protocols. The use of different protocols increases the complexity of the receivers because of the need to accommodate the various protocols. In addition, the amount of data associated with the applications may be very large. Thus, transmission of such large amounts of data over a network may cause bandwidth utilization concerns.
FIG. 1 illustrates a conventional network system 100 comprising multiple transmitters 102, 104 and 106 for sourcing data over network 108 to a single receiver 110. Receiver 110 is equipped with one or more output devices for providing video/audio output associated with received data. Transmitters 102, 104 and 106 are coupled via network 108 which may be, for example, a local area network (LAN). Each transmitter transmits data using a different protocol. For example, transmitter 102 transmits data along network connection 112A using protocol A; transmitter 104 transmits data along network connection 112B using protocol B; and transmitter 106 transmits data along network connection 112C using protocol C.
Receiver 110 may receive data over network connection 114 from network 108 under any of protocols A, B or C, as well as any other protocols used by other transmitters connected to network 108, or used by multiple services embodied within one of transmitters 102, 104 and 106. As such, receiver 110 needs to be equipped with different cards (i.e., specialized hardware for data processing) or software plug-ins to support each protocol. The need to accommodate different protocols increases the complexity of receiver 110 and necessitates hardware or software upgrades when new protocols are developed.
In a network architecture, where multiple receivers may receive data having different protocols from the network and where decoders are often specific to certain protocols, providing data decoding resources at each receiver to accommodate each type of protocol often requires multiple decoders which may be very expensive. Furthermore, the data decoding resources associated with a particular receiver may be under-utilized when a receiver (or desktop unit) is not in use.
In cases where data processing hardware is centralized, for example, at a server, adding hardware into a general purpose computer may be impractical because of the lack of physical space (e.g., slots) at the general purpose computer. In addition, centralization produces a single point of failure. For example, the server would not be available to users while decoding hardware is being inserted into the system or if the decoder fails.


A radar sensor having a corresponding evaluation and control device, which has a measuring mode for locating radar targets and a blindness detection device, which is configured to detect blinding of the radar sensor with the aid of the signals received by the radar sensor itself; wherein the evaluation and control device has a test mode, in which the radar sensor is controlled on the basis of parameters that are different from the parameters for the measuring mode and optimized for the blindness detection device, and the evaluation and control device has a switching device for switching over between the measuring mode and the testing mode.

Motor vehicles are increasingly being equipped with driver assistance systems, e.g., for automatically controlling proximity (ACC, adaptive cruise control) or for warning of imminent collisions and, optionally, for initiating measures for averting the collision or for mitigating the effects of the collision (PSS; predictive safety system). In these driver assistance systems, a radar sensor is used for monitoring the surrounding traffic and, in particular, for locating other vehicles. Since the driver generally relies on the operability of the assistance system, it is necessary, for reasons of safety, that functional impairment of the radar sensor during continuous operation be detected and be able to be signaled to the driver.
For this reason, radar sensors for motor vehicles are equipped with a blindness detection device, which evaluates the received radar signals in a special manner while the radar sensor is operated in the measuring mode, in order to thus generate one or more blindness indicators that indicate functional impairment of the radar sensor, all the way up to complete blinding.
An obvious criterion for blinding consists in that the radar sensor does not receive any radar echoes at all. However, this criterion alone is not very meaningful, since it cannot rule out that no radar targets are actually in the locating range of the sensor.
In general, though, a radar sensor installed in a vehicle always receives certain reflections of ground irregularities. These reflections are referred to as "ground clutter." The absence of this ground clutter is a relatively reliable indication of blinding.
Heavy rain that reflects and attenuates the radar beam and thereby reduces the sensitivity of the sensor may also be a possible cause of blinding of the radar sensor. For its part, though, the reflection of the radar beam results in a detectable signal, the so-called rain clutter. Thus, in principle, it is possible to detect heavy rain and the functional impairment of the radar sensor accompanying it by purposefully searching for this rain clutter.
Another possible cause of blinding is a layer of dirt or a film of water on the surface of the radar lens or of the radome. Such a layer results in reflection and attenuation of the radar signal and, therefore, in a loss of sensitivity. However, in this instance as well, in principle, the reflection caused by the layer of dirt constitutes, for its part, a detectable signal, with the aid of which the blinding could be detected. Generally, the distance between the layer of dirt and the radar antenna is so short, that it is normally outside of the distance range that may be monitored with the aid of the radar sensor.
Finally, a special form of blinding is the so-called angular blindness, which may be caused by a layer of ice on the radar lens or the radome. To be sure, such an ice layer does not result in significant reflection and attenuation of the radar beam but, due to refraction effects, causes a change in direction of the radar beam, which, in the case of radar sensors having angular resolution, may result in the angle data of the located objects no longer being reliable. The term "blindness detection" is to be understood in a comprehensive sense and shall also include such cases of angular blindness.
The object of the present invention is to provide a radar sensor, in particular for motor vehicles, which renders possible more reliable blindness detection.

Radar sensor having a blindness detection device


A semiconductor material and a method for forming the same, the semiconductor material having fabricated by a process comprising irradiating a laser beam or a high intensity light equivalent to a laser beam to an amorphous silicon film containing therein carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen each at a concentration of 5.times.10.sup.19 atoms.multidot.cm.sup.-3 or lower, preferably 1.times.10.sup.19 atoms.multidot.cm.sup.-3 or lower, without melting the amorphous silicon film. The present invention provides thin film semiconductors having high mobility at an excellent reproducibility, the semiconductor materials being useful for fabricating compact thin film semiconductor devices such as thin film transistors improved in device characteristics.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor material, e.g., containing silicon as the major component. More particularly, the present invention relates to a thin film silicon semiconductor material improved in properties and a process for fabricating the same. The semiconductor material according to the present invention enables fabrication of thin film semiconductor devices such as thin film transistors having excellent device characteristics.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Non-crystalline semiconductor materials (the so-called amorphous semiconductors) and polycrystalline semiconductor materials have been heretofore used for the fabrication of thin film semiconductor devices such as thin film field effect transistors and the like. The term "amorphous materials" as referred herein signifies not only the materials having a structural disordering in the strict sense of atomic level, but also includes those having a short range ordering for a distance of about several nanometers. More concretely, "amorphous materials" include silicon materials having an electron mobility of 10 cm.sup.2 /V.multidot.s or lower and materials having a carrier mobility lowered to 1% or less of the intrinsic carrier mobility of the corresponding semiconductor material.
The use of an amorphous semiconductor such as amorphous silicon (a-Si) and amorphous germanium (a-Ge) in the fabrication of a semiconductor device is advantageous in that the process can be conducted at a relatively low temperature of 400.degree. C. or even lower. Thus, much attention is paid now to a process using an amorphous material, because such a process is regarded as promising for the fabrication of liquid crystal displays and the like, to which a high temperature process cannot be applied.
However, a pure amorphous semiconductor has an extremely low carrier mobility (electron mobility and hole mobility). Thus, pure amorphous semiconductors are seldom applied as they are, for example, to channel-forming areas of thin film transistors (TFTs). In general, the pure amorphous semiconductor materials are subjected to the irradiation of a high energy beam such as a laser beam or a light emitted from a xenon lamp, so that they may be once molten to recrystallize and thereby be modified into a crystalline semiconductor material having an improved carrier mobility. Such a treatment of high energy light beam irradiation is referred hereinafter collectively to as "laser annealing". It should be noted, however, that the high energy beam not necessary be a laser beam, and included in the high intensity beam is, for example, a powerful light emitted from a flash lamp which has a similar effect on the semiconductor material as the laser beam irradiation.
Generally, however, the semiconductor materials heretofore obtained by laser annealing are still low in the carrier mobility as compared with those of single crystal semiconductor materials. In the case of a silicon film, for example, the highest reported electron mobility is 200 cm.sup.2 /V.multidot.s at best, which is a more one seventh of the electron mobility of a single silicon, 1350 cm.sup.2 /V.multidot.s. Moreover, the semiconductor characteristics (mainly mobility) of the semiconductor material thus obtained by the laser annealing process suffers poor reproducibility and also scattering of the mobility values over the single film. Those disadvantages lead to a low product yield of semiconductor devices having a plurality of elements fabricated on a single plane.

Thin film transistor and semiconductor device including a laser crystallized semiconductor

Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.


The invention provides a method of industrially producing high-quality polyethylenepolyamines, which exerts high decolorizing effect and is economical, comprising the steps that hydrogen halide is added to a mixture of polyethylenepolyamines and heated, then distillation is performed to fractionate components each having a boiling point not higher than that of triethylenetetramine, next alkali metal hydroxide is added to that residual liquor after distillation to neutralize, and distillation is performed again to fractionate components each having a boiling point not lower than that of tetraethylenepentamine.

The present invention relates to a method of producing high-quality polyethylenepolyamines, in particular, decolorized high-quality polyethylenepolyamines.
Polyethylenepolyamine is a useful amine compound to be used for paper strength resin, epoxy-curing agent, lubricating oil additive, surfactant, etc. in large quantities.
Polyethylenepolyamines (hereinafter abbreviated as polyamines) are produced through a reaction between ethylene dichloride (hereinafter abbreviated as EDC) and ammonia and/or relatively lower ethyleneamines such as ethylenediamine (hereinafter abbreviated as EDA) or a reaction between ethanolamines and ammonia and/or relatively lower ethyleneamines such as EDA.
The polyamines obtained through these producing processes are usually mixtures and fractionated by distillation, but their distilled fractions have yellowish brown to dark brown color. This is considered to be due to the impurities, leading to decreased commercial value, if left as they are.
As the measures for solving this coloring problem, a lot of decolorizing methods of polyamines have been proposed.
For example, methods of using metal or its salt such as a method of treating polyamines with potassium hydroxide (specification of U.S. Pat. No. 3,595,921), a method of adding reducible metal like zinc, tin or aluminum and sodium hydroxide or potassium hydroxide to polyamines to treat under heat (Japanese Patent Publication No. Sho 44-2209), a method of adding Zinc and water to polyamine at room temperature to 150.degree. C. to treat (Japanese Patent Publication No. Sho 44-4768) and a method of simply adding zinc alone to treat under heat (Japanese Patent Publication No. Sho 45-33163) are disclosed, moreover methods of using activated carbon or ion exchange resin such as a method of treating polyamine with activated carbon at high temperature (specification of U.S. Pat. No. 3,723,529) and a method of treating with-sulfonic acid type cation exchange resin (specification of U.S. Pat. No. 4,731,165) are disclosed, and further methods of hydrogenating with catalyst such as a method of treating with acidic zeolite (specification of U.S. Pat. No. 4,737,243) and a method of hydrogenating using nickel, cobalt, palladium or ruthenium as a catalyst (Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. Sho 63-101421), and the like are disclosed.
However, all of these methods exert no sufficient decolorizing effect and are not satisfied industrially.
Namely, in the methods of using metal or its salt, expenses for metal run up, leading to disadvantage economically, metal or its salt accompanies with polyamines, thus requiring removal thereof , polyamines are contaminated reversely with metal dissolved out, and the like, hence they cannot be said to be industrial methods. In the methods of using activated carbon or ion exchange resin, deactivation thereof is significant and it is needed in large quantities, which are uneconomical. Also, in the methods of hydrogenating with catalyst, deactivation of catalyst is significant and it is needed in large quantities, which are uneconomical, and there is a danger of lowering the quality of polyamines by decomposed products, hence these also cannot become industrial methods.
For this reason, decolorizing methods of adding hydrochloric acid are proposed. For example, in Japanese Patent Publication No. Sho 50-20047, a method of distilling polyamines in the presence of their hydrochloride is disclosed, and, in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. Sho 57-171939, a method of treating polyamines with their hydrochloride under heat in the presence of water followed by flush evaporation is disclosed.
However, despite that the method described in Japanese Patent Publication No. Sho 50-20047 is relatively economical and decolorizing effect is also not insignificant, large quantities of hydrochloric acid are needed and salt is produced in large quantities as well by neutralization, hence it is not a satisfiable method industrially. Also, the method described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. Sho 57-171939 exerts relatively high decolorizing effect, but coexistence of low-boiling point water at high temperature brings about high pressure, thus requiring a device endurable pressure. In addition, polyamines obtained by flush evaporation are not of single component and much of low-boiling point components and high-boiling point-components are accompanied, hence they cannot become merchandise if left as they are, requiring to distill again for separation, which cannot be said to be economical method.
As descried above, all of the conventional methods are not ones that effectively and efficiently decolorize polyamine and produce high-quality polyamine, hence they were not satisfiable.
The invention was made in view of the subjects aforementioned, and the purpose is to provide an industrial producing method that exerts high decolorizing effect and affords high-quality polyamines economically.
The inventors investigated diligently on a method of producing high-quality polyamines, concretely on an economical and industrial decolorizing method.
As a result, it was seen that, for economically obtaining high-quality polyamine, concretely, sufficiently decolorized polyamine, a decolorizing method adding-hydrochloric acid was effective. When obtaining polyamines by distillation, however, high-boiling point polyamines could not be decolorized sufficiently, though low-boiling point polyamines were decolorized sufficiently.
There, as a result of further investigations, it was seen that, at the point of time when low-boiling point polyamines had been separated by distillation, alkali metal hydroxide was added to residual liquor after distillation to once neutralize hydrochloric acid existing in the residual liquor after distillation and then distillation was performed again to separate high-boiling point polyamines, thereby all polyamines from low-boiling point polyamines to high-boiling point polyamines could be obtained in the state of being sufficiently decolorized.
Moreover, it was seen that, when using halogen acids such as hydrobromic acid and hydroiodic acid in place of hydrochloric acid to be added, same or higher decolorizing effect than that with hydrochloric acid could be obtained.
From the investigation results as above, it has been found that the subjects aforementioned can be solved and the goal can be accomplished by treating polyamine under heat in the presence of halogen acid, then performing distillation to separate low-boiling point polyamines, next, adding alkali to the residual liquor after distillation to neutralize and performing distillation again to separate high-boiling point polyamines, leading to the completion of the invention at last.

Method of producing high-quality polyethylenepolyamines


The present invention relates to magnetic fine particles having immobilized thereto a polymer having an upper critical solution temperature, and a process for producing the same, a method of separating or concentrating a microorganism, a method of purifying, detecting, or concentrating a nucleic acid, a separating agent, a method of separating a biological substance, and a method of converting a substance.

Applied. Microbiol. Biotechnol., 1994, Vol. 41, pp. 99-105 and Journal of fermentation and Bioengineering, 1997, Vol. 84, pp. 337-341 have disclosed stimuli-responsible magnetic fine particles wherein polyisopropylacrylamide having a lower critical solution temperature (hereinafter referred to as "LCST") are immobilized to magnetic fine particles having a particle size of about 100 to 200 nm.
Since the stimuli-responsible magnetic fine particles have a small particle size of about 100 to 200 nm, the particles can be well dispersed in water. When an aqueous solution of the stimuli-responsible magnetic fine particles is heated to raise the temperature to the LCST or higher, the stimuli-responsible magnetic fine particles precipitate and aggregate. Since the aggregate can be easily recovered by magnetism, there are attempts to separate a variety of biological molecules and microorganisms using the stimuli-responsible magnetic fine particles to which an antibody or antigen is immobilized.
However, in the case of separating a biological molecule or the like by the above-mentioned method, it is necessary to raise the temperature of a solution containing the objective substance and the stimuli-responsible magnetic fine particles. Depending on the LCST of the stimuli-responsible magnetic fine particles to be used and also thermal stability of the objective substance, the biological substance or the like as the objective substance may be damaged or inactivated in some cases.

Magnetic fine particles and process for producing the same

National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology


A retractable steering column assembly includes a retractable portion. Also included is an electric actuator mechanism for translating and/or tilting the retractable portion. Further included is a latch moveable between a latched condition and an unlatched condition, the unlatched condition allowing manual adjustment of the retractable portion, the latched condition preventing manual adjustment of the retractable portion.

The embodiments described herein relate to retracting steering column assemblies and, more particularly, to a system and method associated with a clutch device latching system.
As autonomously driven vehicles are developed, a number of opportunities will evolve related to comfort, entertainment and functionality for drivers. Steering wheels are commonly limited to standard driving positions due to the need for a driver to handle the steering wheel during operation of the vehicle. These limitations may be unnecessary during an autonomous driving mode of a vehicle. For example, a steering wheel may be retracted to a stowed position to enlarge the space available for a driver.
An automated, electromechanical system is often relied upon to translate the steering column between an extended position and a retracted position. Some systems also allow manual adjustment of the steering column, but a clutch device and nut in a power column currently require a driver to wait until the column extends away from a retracted (also referred to as stowed) position before manual adjustment is available.

Clutch device latching system and method

Steering Solutions IP Holding Corporation


An apparatus for An apparatus for generating excimer radiation is provided. The apparatus includes a housing having a housing wall. An electrode is configured within the housing. A tubular body is around the electrode. The tubular body includes an outer wall and an inner wall. At least one inert gas is between the outer wall and the inner wall, wherein the housing wall and the electrode are configured to excite the inert gas to illuminate an excimer light for curing.

The present invention relates generally to methods and apparatus of semiconductor manufacturing process. More particularly, the invention provides methods and apparatus for excimer curing.
Materials such as silicon oxide (SiOx), silicon carbide (SiC) and carbon doped silicon oxide (SiOCx) films find widespread use in the fabrication of semiconductor devices. One approach for forming such silicon-containing films on a semiconductor substrate is through the process of chemical vapor deposition (CVD) within a chamber. For example, chemical reaction between a silicon supplying source and an oxygen supplying source may result in deposition of solid phase silicon oxide on top of a semiconductor substrate positioned within a CVD chamber. As another example, silicon carbide and carbon-doped silicon oxide films may be formed from a CVD reaction that includes an organosilane source including at least one Si—C bond.
Water is often a by-product of the CVD reaction of organosilicon compounds. As such, water can be physically absorbed into the films as moisture or incorporated into the deposited film as Si—OH chemical bond. Either of these forms of water incorporation are generally undesirable. Accordingly, undesirable chemical bonds and compounds such as water are preferably removed from a deposited carbon-containing film. Also, in some particular CVD processes, thermally unstable organic fragments of sacrificial materials need to be removed.
One conventional method used to address such issues is a thermal anneal. The energy from such an anneal replaces unstable, undesirable chemical bonds with more stable bonds characteristic of an ordered film thereby increasing the density of the film. Conventional thermal anneal steps are generally of relatively long duration (e.g., often between 30 min to 2 hrs) and thus consume significant processing time and slow down the overall fabrication process.
Another technique to address these issues utilizes ultraviolet radiation to aid in the post treatment of CVD silicon oxide, silicon carbide and carbon-doped silicon oxide films. The use of UV radiation for curing and densifying CVD films can reduce the overall thermal budget of an individual wafer and speed up the fabrication process. A number of various UV curing systems have been developed which can be used to cure films deposited on substrates.
Usually, an UV curing system has either mercury vapor lamps or metal halide doped mercury lamps powered by microwave generator. UV lamps generate light across a broad band of wavelengths from 170 nm to 600 nm. However, UV lamps usually have a short lifetime and provide low output of radiation at wavelength less than about 400 nm. Furthermore, particularly at wavelength less than 250 nm, the power output of UV lamps declines with the increasing use of the UV lamps.
Accordingly, improvements to existing UV curing systems and methods are desirable.


Systems and methods are provided for controlling a purging operation of a fuel vapor canister in a boosted engine. One method comprises purging stored fuel vapors from the fuel vapor canister to an inlet of the compressor via an ejector while bypassing a canister purge valve, the ejector being fluidically coupled to the fuel vapor canister by a distinct passage coupled upstream of the canister purge valve, where motive flow through the ejector may be regulated by a shut-off valve. The shut-off valve may be adjusted based on whether or not the engine is boosted.

Vehicle fuel systems include evaporative emission control systems designed to reduce the release of fuel vapors to the atmosphere. For example, vaporized hydrocarbons (HCs) from a fuel tank may be stored in a fuel vapor canister packed with an adsorbent which adsorbs and stores the vapors. At a later time, when the engine is in operation, the evaporative emission control system may allow the vapors to be purged into an engine intake manifold for use as fuel.
The purging of fuel vapors from the fuel vapor canister may involve opening a canister purge valve coupled to a conduit between the fuel vapor canister and the intake manifold. During a purge operation, vacuum or negative pressure in the intake manifold may draw air through the fuel vapor canister enabling desorption of fuel vapors from the canister. These desorbed fuel vapors may flow through the canister purge valve into the intake manifold. As such, the canister purge valve may regulate the flow of fuel vapors into the intake manifold via a sonic choke positioned in series with the canister purge valve. Accordingly, the sonic choke may function as a flow restrictor in the purge path between the valve and the intake manifold.
In boosted engines, during boost conditions when the compressor is operative, the intake manifold may have a positive pressure. Herein, an ejector coupled in a compressor bypass passage may generate vacuum that can be used to draw stored fuel vapors from the fuel vapor canister. However, purge flow through the ejector may be lower because the sonic choke in the canister purge valve may excessively restrict canister purge flow to the suction port of the ejector. Accordingly, a performance of the ejector in terms of purging the fuel vapor canister may be severely diminished by the presence of the sonic choke in the flow path.
An example approach demonstrating an improved purging operation is shown by Stephani in DE 011084539. Herein, an ejector coupled in the compressor bypass passage directly communicates with the fuel vapor canister such that fuel vapors are purged to the ejector from the fuel vapor canister without flowing through a canister purge valve. By directly coupling the fuel vapor canister to the ejector, the metering effect of the sonic choke in the canister purge valve may be circumvented. A diverter valve in the compressor bypass passage regulates flow through the ejector and therefore, purging of the fuel vapor canister.
The inventors herein have identified potential issues with the above approach. The approach in DE 102011084539 is primarily used during non-idle conditions when the ejector can generate a vacuum to draw purged fuel vapors. Thus, boost levels must be high enough to generate a sufficient vacuum at the ejector for drawing purged fuel vapors. As such, during lower boost levels, the purging efficiency may be reduced. Accordingly, manifold vacuum during idle conditions may not be availed for canister purging.
The inventors herein have recognized the above issues and identified an approach to at least partly address the issues. In one example approach, a method may comprise: during boosted conditions, generating vacuum by recirculating compressed air through an ejector coupled in a compressor bypass passage, applying a first portion of the vacuum on a purge line downstream of a canister purge valve, and applying a second, remaining portion of the vacuum on the purge line upstream of the canister purge valve.
The method may additionally or alternatively comprise adjusting a ratio of the first portion of vacuum relative to the second portion of vacuum applied based on one or more of a canister load, a time since a previous purge, intake manifold vacuum level, and boost level. Adjusting the ratio may in some examples include, as the canister load increases, increasing the first portion of the vacuum applied on the purge line downstream of the canister purge valve relative to the second portion of the vacuum applied on the purge line upstream of the canister purge valve.
In another representation, a method for a boosted engine may comprise: during a first condition, flowing stored fuel vapors from a canister into an intake manifold via a canister purge valve, during a second condition, flowing stored fuel vapors from the canister into a suction port of an ejector coupled in a compressor bypass passage, the stored fuel vapors flowing through a bypass passage circumventing the canister purge valve, and during a third condition, flowing stored fuel vapors from the canister into each of the suction port of the ejector and the intake manifold via the canister purge valve, the stored fuel vapors flowing into the suction port of the ejector via each of the canister purge valve and a check valve.
In some examples, during the first condition, the stored fuel vapors may not flow through a bypass valve coupled in the bypass passage or the check valve, during the second condition, the stored fuel vapors may not flow through the purge valve or the check valve, and during the third condition, the stored fuel vapors do not flow through the bypass valve. Additionally, the first condition may include engine operation with natural aspiration, and each of the second and third conditions may include engine operation with boost, a boost level during the second condition being higher than the boost level during the third condition.
In this way, the amount of fuel vapors that may be purged from a fuel vapor canister during boosted conditions in a turbocharged engine may be increased. Further, the amount of fuel vapors that may be purged from a fuel vapor canister during shallow intake manifold vacuum levels may be increased. By coupling the ejector to the fuel vapor canister via two separate flow paths, one through a canister purge valve, and the other through a bypass valve, the canister purge valve may be circumvented and a purge flow rate to the compressor inlet may be enhanced during boosted conditions where manifold vacuum is lower. Further, by controlling compressor bypass flow and ejector vacuum via an ejector shut-off valve based on engine conditions, engine performance may be enhanced. Overall, vehicle fuel economy and emissions compliance may be improved.
It should be understood that the summary above is provided to introduce in simplified form a selection of concepts that are further described in the detailed description. It is not meant to identify key or essential features of the claimed subject matter, the scope of which is defined uniquely by the claims that follow the detailed description. Furthermore, the claimed subject matter is not limited to implementations that solve any disadvantages noted above or in any part of this disclosure.

System and method for improving canister purging


With the availability of huge amount of data, it has becoming difficult to identify and manage duplicate data, especially when the data is in a plurality of columns. A method and system for identifying duplicate columns using statistical, semantics and machine learning techniques have been provided. The system provides a design framework to compare huge datasets at column level and identify potential duplicate columns, not based on the column title, but based on all of its values. The disclosure has ability to compare values in multiple columns and identify potential duplicate columns wherein comparison of values is not only for the exact match, but for semantic match, smart match, fuzzy match, and match after UOM conversion etc. using Statistical, semantics and machine learning techniques.

In today's scenario, information is very important and organizations are in quest for data that provides meaningful insights and help them make better business decisions, both tactically and strategically. The objective of an IT manager is to capture data from every possible source, store it in its simplest form, retrieve efficiently and manage it throughout its life cycle.
As storage costs are becoming cheaper day-by-day, IT managers prefer to store as much data as possible, even if it is duplicate in some form or other. However, the challenge to organizations is not the cost involved in storing Petabytes of data, but the effectiveness of the insights that comes out, while analyzing this data. While plenty of data is good, at times, it harms too. A fine balance is required to be maintained between managing lots of data fearing that they would lose some useful data versus managing the IT spend optimally.
The IT manager can choose one of available two options, with respect to handling duplicate data. First, store duplicate data on arrival, and handle it while processing the data and generating insights. Second, identify duplicate data on arrival, handle it and store without redundancy. While first option is more favorable as compared to second, it increases the chance of errors in the generated insights. However, with second option, there is an additional overhead of identifying and eliminating duplicates before storing. This can affect velocity of incoming data. Thus, it is necessary to remove duplicates from the input data.
There are two formats of data duplication, row level duplicates and column level duplicates. Plenty of tools are available in the prior art, which identify duplicates across rows, and tag the duplicates for further clean up. However identifying duplicates across columns continues to pose a challenge.
Capturing, storing, processing of duplicate data (any master data management systems) impacts the quality, cost, time and resources. Ability to identify column level duplicates will help organizations to de-duplicate them and save huge on cost, time, resources and improve the quality of data deliveries. Comparing of values in different columns by human is a tedious process and have limitations.

Method and system for identifying duplicate columns using statistical, semantics and machine learning techniques


A loudspeaker of the present invention includes a diaphragm; a voice coil for driving the diaphragm; and a magnetic circuit including a yoke, a magnet provided on the yoke, and an upper plate provided on the magnet, for producing a magnet field that is perpendicular to the voice coil. The upper plate has a surface configuration such that when reflecting sound waves created by the diaphragm, the upper plate diffuses the sound waves.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a loudspeaker, and more particularly to a microspeaker having a good sound quality.
2. Description of the Related Art
Small loudspeakers (so-called "microspeakers") have been used for playing ringtones on mobile phones, for example. Typically, a microspeaker has a structure as illustrated in FIG. 5. Specifically, a microspeaker 50 includes a diaphragm 51, a voice coil 52 for driving the diaphragm 51, and a magnetic circuit 53 for producing a magnet field that is perpendicular to the voice coil 52. The periphery of the diaphragm 51 is supported by a wall portion of a frame 54. One end of the voice coil 52 is coupled to the diaphragm 51, and the other end thereof is located in the magnetic gap of the magnetic circuit 53. Note that although not shown, both ends of a coil section of the voice coil 52 are extracted to the side of the frame 54 and are connected to a sound input signal section through which a sound signal is input from the outside. The magnetic circuit 53 includes a yoke 56, and a magnet 57 provided on the yoke 56, and an upper plate 58 provided on the magnet 57, and produces a magnet field that is perpendicular to the voice coil 52.
In a microspeaker as described above, a resin film is used as the material of the diaphragm, and the distance between the diaphragm and the upper plate (pole piece) forming a part of the magnetic circuit is very small. As a result, distortion is exaggerated in a particular frequency range, whereby a satisfactory sound quality cannot be obtained.
In order to solve this problem, other microspeakers have been proposed, as illustrated in FIG. 6 and FIG. 7. In the loudspeaker of FIG. 6, a sound absorbing material 69 is provided between a diaphragm 61 and an upper plate 68. In the loudspeaker of FIG. 7, an upper plate 78 is shaped so as to conform to the shape of the diaphragm. These loudspeakers aim to suppress the reflection of sound waves between the diaphragm and the upper plate so as to improve the frequency characteristic and to reduce the harmonic distortion.
However, in either one of the loudspeakers of FIG. 6 and FIG. 7, there is little improvement on the audible sound quality, although the peak/dip in the frequency characteristic is reduced.
In view of the state of the art as described above, there is a strong demand for a small loudspeaker having a good sound quality.


A single pass simulated moving bed apparatus and methods are described for continuously separating a target molecule from a liquid mixture, using a simulated moving bed system. The simulated moving bed system includes a plurality of filter cartridge modules in serial fluid communication. Each filter cartridge module includes a volume of stationary phase particulates adjacent a porous substrate layer. The volume of stationary phase particulates has a bed height of less than 1 centimeter.

The present invention relates to methods and apparatus for separating a target molecule from a liquid mixture using a simulated moving bed including a plurality of cartridge filter modules.
Target molecules such as, for example, biomacromolecules are constituents or products of living cells and include, for example, proteins, carbohydrates, lipids, and nucleic acids. Detection and quantification as well as isolation and purification of these materials have long been objectives of investigators. Detection and quantification are important diagnostically, for example, as indicators of various physiological conditions such as diseases. Isolation and purification of biomacromolecules are important for therapeutic purposes such as when administered to patients having a deficiency in the particular biomacromolecule or when utilized as a biocompatible carrier of some medicament, and in biomedical research. Biomacromolecules such as enzymes which are a special class of proteins capable of catalyzing chemical reactions are also useful industrially; enzymes have been isolated, purified, and then utilized for the production of sweeteners, antibiotics, and a variety of organic compounds such as ethanol, acetic acid, lysine, aspartic acid, and biologically useful products such as antibodies and steroids.
In their native state in vivo, structures and corresponding biological activities of these biomacromolecules are maintained generally within fairly narrow ranges of pH and ionic strength. Consequently, any separation and purification operation must take such factors into account in order for the resultant, processed biomacromolecule to have potency.
Chromatography is a separation and purification operation that can be performed on biological product mixtures. It is a technique based on the interchange of a solute between a moving phase, which can be a gas or liquid, and a stationary phase. Separation of various solutes of the solution mixture is accomplished because of varying binding interactions of each solute with the stationary phase; stronger binding interactions generally result in longer retention times when subjected to the dissociation or displacement effects of a mobile phase compared to solutes which interact less strongly and, in this fashion, separation and purification can be effected.
Most current capture or purification chromatography is done via conventional column techniques. These techniques have severe bottlenecking issues in downstream purification, as the throughput using this technology is low. Attempts to alleviate these issues include increasing the diameter of the chromatography column, but this in turn creates challenges due to difficulties of packing the columns effectively and reproducibly. Larger column diameters also increase the occurrence of problematic channeling. Also, in a conventional chromatographic column, the absorption operation is shut down when a breakthrough of the desired product above a specific level is detected. This causes the dynamic or effective capacity of the adsorption media to be significantly less than the overall or static capacity. This reduction in effectiveness has severe economic consequences, given the high cost of some chromatographic resins.

Single pass method and apparatus for separating a target molecule from a liquid mixture


A direct current motor for use in a closed-loop control system is disclosed that includes a rotating commutator having a plurality of slots, a plurality of windings, the number of windings that conduct current corresponding to one less than the number of slots of the commutator, and a plurality of brushes that are configured so that application of a direct current voltage across the brushes results in a current flow in at least one of the windings which causes the commutator to rotate. Continuous application of the direct current voltage across the brushes causes the current to flow in a varying number of the current conducting windings as the commutator continues to rotate, the number periodically varying from all of the current conducting windings to the at least one current conducting winding.. A closed-loop control system is also disclosed that includes a direct current voltage source, a direct current motor including an imbalanced winding and a shaft, a motor position signal source that generates a motor position signal for rotating the shaft of the direct current motor to a desired position, and a feedback circuit that corrects for any error in the desired position of the shaft of the direct current motor.. A printing mechanism having a direct current motor that generates a position feedback signal is additionally disclosed.. Further disclosed is are methods of controlling a position of a shaft of a direct current motor in a closed-loop feedback control system, the motor having an imbalanced winding.

The present invention relates generally to motors, and more particularly to a direct current (dc) motor with at least one imbalanced winding that generates a time-varying signal for closed-loop feedback control.
Motor control systems may be used in a variety of applications including those such as computers, printing mechanisms, video cassette recorders (VCRs), automobiles, and stereos. These applications include VCR head motors, spindle motors for computer flexible disks, spindle motors for compact disks, tape drive capstans for tape drives, and automobile seat positioning motors. Motor control systems may be used in printing mechanisms for such things as moving the print carriage, moving the print media, and moving elements of the inkjet printhead service station.
Both stepper motors and direct current (dc) motors may be used in such motor control systems. Stepper motors are typically used in an open-loop configuration in which the stepper motor receives a command signal which causes a shaft of the stepper motor to rotate in a predetermined direction for a predetermined number of degrees. The command signal may be in the form of one or more pulses from a microprocessor which is programmed to generate the one or more pulses to rotate the shaft of the stepper motor in the predetermined direction for the predetermined number of degrees to perform a specified function (e.g., actuating a service station to cap an inkjet printhead). The polarity and/or phasing of multiple signals may be used to control the direction of stepper motor shaft rotation. The open-loop system is also capable of tracking the position of the stepper motor shaft by, for example, noting the initial shaft position and counting the number of pulses already transmitted. The open-loop stepper motor control system provides accurate motor control and positioning of controlled devices.
DC motors may be used in either an open-loop or a closed-loop configuration. In an open-loop configuration, a shaft of a dc motor rotates as long as a dc voltage control signal is applied and for a period after the signal is removed until the inertia of the rotating shaft is dampened. The direction of rotation of the shaft of the dc motor is controlled by the polarity of the control signal. Accurate motor control and positioning of controlled devices is difficult with such open-loop dc motor control systems because the shaft does not rotate a predetermined amount each time a control signal is applied, as with stepper motors. An advantage, however, to control systems that utilize dc motors is that a dc motor based control system utilizes power more efficiently, and is thus less expensive to operate, than an open-loop stepper motor because power isn't disrupted to turn the dc motor shaft as in a stepper motor. DC motors are also currently less expensive than stepper motors.
Various solutions have been offered to deal with this positioning problem, including the use of stops and the use of a closed-loop dc motor control system. Stops are fixed structures that are placed in the path of a controlled device that prevent further movement of the device in a particular direction. Closed-loop dc motor control systems utilize a feedback device, such as an encoder, a switch, or tachometer, to track the actual position of a shaft of the direct current motor or of the controlled device. The actual position is fed back and compared with the desired position. Any difference between the two is corrected by sending a further signal to the motor to rotate the shaft until it properly positions the controlled device. This design provides accurate motor control and positioning of controlled devices, comparing favorably with open-loop stepper motor control systems. A drawback to such closed-loop systems is that these feedback devices are expensive. This added expense may result in the cost of this closed-loop dc motor control system approaching or exceeding that of an open-loop stepper motor control system.

Direct current motor with imbalanced winding for closed-loop feedback control


A wireless transmit receive unit (WTRU) may be operated in a first scheduling mode for device-to-device communication. In the first scheduling mode, a network entity may schedule resources to be used by the WTRU for device-to-device communications. The WTRU may detect that a radio link failure (RLF) timer is running or has been started. The WTRU may switch from the first scheduling mode for device-to-device communication to a second scheduling mode for device-to-device communication in response to detecting that the radio link failure timer is running or has been started. In the second scheduling mode, the WTRU may select a resource from a resource pool for the WTRU to use for one or more device-to-device communications.

Direct device-to-device (D2D) communications may be used in wireless networks. D2D communications may refer to wireless communication transmission exchanged directly between two or more wireless transmit/receive units (WTRUs) without the communications being routed through wireless communication infrastructure such as base stations or access points (e.g., although the wireless infrastructure may be used for configuring a D2D session and/or scheduling D2D transmissions). D2D communications may be used to provide proximity-based service (Pro-Se) among WTRUs. D2D communications may provide support for commercial, social, and public safety communications. A D2D infrastructure may provide consistency in user experience, for example including reachability and mobility aspects. D2D may provide network offloading in high traffic cells. For example, D2D may provide support for various services and/or applications when network coverage is limited or unavailable.
With respect to supporting public safety communications, there may be a need to harmonize the radio access technology across jurisdictions and lower the cost of radio-access technology to public safety (PS) officials. For example, first responders may require communications in areas that may not be under radio coverage of an LTE network. For example, a WTRU may be out of coverage in tunnels, basements, or areas where network service is disrupted due to natural disasters, terrorist attacks and the like. D2D communications may be supported for PS. For example, D2D may provide direct push-to-talk services to first responders who may be handling time sensitive emergencies.
D2D communications may be available for commercial uses, for example utility companies or the like. For example, D2D communication techniques may be used for enhancing communications in areas that may have poor coverage from network infrastructure. Commercial and social users may request D2D communications, for example, to assure the consistency of their user experience. For example, a user may request D2D communications to improve the user's reachability and/or mobility.


An electrical smoking system includes a lighter having a plurality of electrical heater elements and a system for electrically actuating the heater elements. The lighter is adapted to receive a cigarette with the heater elements at least partially superposing a portion of the cigarette. The lighter further includes an electromagnet arranged in proximity to magnetic portions of the heater elements, with the electromagnet being actuable to selectively repulse or attract the heater elements.

Traditional lit-end cigarettes are consumed by lighting an end of a wrapped tobacco rod and drawing air predominantly through the lit end by suction at a mouthpiece end of the cigarette. Traditional cigarettes deliver smoke as a result of combustion, during which a mass of tobacco is combusted at temperatures which often exceed 800° C. during a puff. The heat of combustion releases various gaseous combustion products and distillates from the tobacco. As these gaseous products are drawn through the cigarette, they cool and condense to form a smoke containing the tastes and aromas associated with smoking. Traditional cigarettes produce sidestream smoke during smoldering between puffs. Once lit, they must be fully consumed or be discarded. Relighting a traditional cigarette is possible but is usually an unattractive proposition to a discerning smoker for subjective reasons, such as flavor, taste and odor.
Commonly assigned U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,060,671, 5,388,594 and 5,692,525 disclose electrical smoking systems and methods of manufacturing a cigarette, and are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties. U.S. Pat. No. 5,388,594 describes an electrical smoking system including a novel electrically powered lighter and a novel cigarette that cooperates with the lighter. A plurality of metallic heaters are disposed in a configuration that slidingly receives a tobacco rod portion of the cigarette. The cigarette comprises a tobacco-laden tubular carrier, a cigarette paper overwrapped about the tubular carrier, an arrangement of flow-through filter plugs at a mouthpiece end of the carrier and a filter plug at the free (distal) end of the carrier. The cigarette and the lighter are configured such that when the cigarette is inserted into the lighter, and as individual heaters are actuated for each puff, localized charring occurs at spots about the cigarette in the locality where each heater is bearing against the cigarette (hereinafter referred to as a "heater footprint" or "char zones"). Once all the heaters have been actuated, the cigarette is pulled from contact with the heaters, removed from the lighter and discarded.

Electromagnetic mechanism for positioning heater blades of an electrically heated cigarette smoking system


This invention addresses the problem of providing a press-fit structure and a press-fit method capable of improving the durability of a gear which press-fits into a ring part. As such, the embodiment of this invention is that, while one end side in the central axis direction of the ring gear abuts against a protrusion formed protruding on the outer side of the radial direction of the ring part from the outer circumferential surface of the ring of the ring part, and wherein the press-fit structure press-fits the inner circumferential surface of the gear into the outer circumferential surface of the ring part, when the inner circumferential surface of the gear is press-fitted into the outer circumferential surface of the ring part, there is a tensile strength reduction mechanism reducing the tensile strength generated in the lower portion of the gear teeth in at least the position of the aforementioned end side of the gear.

As the above type of technique, conventionally, Patent Document 1 discloses a press-fit structure for press-fitting a ring gear onto a flange provided in a differential case until the ring gear comes into contact with a stopper of the flange. After the ring gear is press-fitted on the flange, an entrance portion of a press-fit portion is caulked to fasten the ring gear to the differential case.

Press-fit structure and press-fit method