Provided herein is a process for producing bundles of fibers useful for testing of various physical properties of said bundles. The bundles include fibers attached to one another at one of their ends by various means, said means employed being selected dependent upon the type of physical testing intended for the fibers. The fibers may be keratin fibers.

TECHNICAL FIELD
This invention relates to providing bundles of fibers and particularly to a method for producing bundles of fibers which are to be used in evaluating the physical properties of the fibers after various chemical treatments. The fibers may be of various composition and include keratin fibers, i.e., human hair.

Process for evaluating effects of chemicals on fibers


Disclosed Is a process for the fabrication of rare earth or rare earth alloy materials in the form of fine wires for refrigeration regenerator applications. The wire is a composite consisting of a metal core and a metal sheath. The core material is comprises of at least a 20 atomic percent portion of rare earth metal as a pure metal, an alloy with other rare earth metals, or an intermetallic compound alloy with one or more non rare earth metals. The sheath material is essentially immiscible with the rare earth in the core, has no magnetic phase transitions in the temperature range for the intended operation, and has good corrosion and oxidation resistance. The sheath material is typically a small portion of the total composite wire cross section. The composite wire is fabricated from the co-reduction of an assembled billet by conventional wire processing techniques.

Active magnetic regeneration refrigeration (AMRR) uses a magnetic material both as a regenerator material (to absorb and to reject heat) and as the working material creating the thermal cycle. A regenerator is a high efficiency heat exchanger which transfers heat from the part of the refrigeration cycle going from the hot to the cold heat sink to the part going from the cold to the hot heat sink. In AMRR, the magnetic materials are both the cooling agent and the regenerative medium. The active magnetic regenerator works in the same manner for heat pump applications, where the objective is to add heat to the hot sink, instead of refrigeration's interest in removing heat from the cold sink. Magnetic refrigeration technology promises high efficiency because the magnetization and demagnetization cycle on which it is based is nearly perfectly reversible. Efficiency gains are potentially large for refrigeration just below room temperature, and even larger for refrigeration requirements at lower temperatures. Materials comprising rare earth metals, rare earth/rare earth alloys, and rare earth/transition metal compounds have the highest known cooling power densities for Active Magnetic Regenerative Refrigeration technology. The optimal rare earth materials for cooling over a specific temperature range are chosen based upon the material's magnetocaloric effect (the adiabatic temperature change upon magnetization or demagnetization), the volumetric heat capacity, fabricability, and cost considerations.
The invention is also applicable to conventional gas compression cycle based refrigeration, which may also benefit in terms of efficiency and output from the incorporation of a high specific heat passive regenerator (not a working material as in active regenerators). The same rare earth containing materials preferred for magnetic refrigeration are also preferred for a passive regenerator because the magnetic phase transition creates a very high volumetric specific heat.
Magnetic refrigerators are based on the magnetocaloric effect (MCE) of certain materials to achieve cooling. The magnetic refrigerator concept was first proposed in 1925 and successfully implemented in 1933 to reach temperatures of 0.5 K, W. F. Giauque, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 49, p. 1870, (1927), Debye, Ann. Phys. (Leipzig), 81, p. 1154, (1926), W. F. Giauque and D. P. MacDougall, Phys. Rev., 43, p. 768, (1933). In the magnetic cycle, magnetic material is magnetized in a magnetic field and placed in thermal equilibrium with a high temperature source. The material is adiabatically demagnetized, and the magnetocaloric effect reduces the material's temperature. The material is then placed in contact with a cold source and allowed to absorb heat and reach temperature equilibrium with the cold source. The material is then magnetized again and the cycle repeated. This magnetization and demagnetization can be made nearly perfectly reversible, and therefore cycles with near Carnot efficiencies are possible. As a comparison, most conventional gas cycle refrigerators are on the order of 20-30% of Carnot efficiency, C. Reid, Cryofuel Systems, Inc., private communication, (1994)., C. B. Zimm, Astronautics Technology Center, private communication, (1994), whereas a model AMRR heat pump efficiency is predicted to be approximately 63%, W. A. Steyert, J. Appl. Phys., 49, pp. 1216-1226, (1978).
Modeling has been done to show that efficient refrigeration is economically possible near room temperature when rare earth metals or rare earth containing compounds are used as the working material in a magnetic cycle, W. A. Steyert J. Appl. Phys., 49, pp. 1216-1226, (1978), G. V. Brown, J. Appl. Phys., 47, pp. 3673-3680, (1976), W. A. Steyert, J. Appl. Phys. 49, pp. 1227-1333, (1978). Unlike the very low temperature magnetic refrigerators (<1.5 K) which operate in a single magnetic cycle, the cycle for refrigeration at higher temperatures can be effective at frequencies of .about.1.0 Hz. Helium gas, water, or some other suitable fluid (depending on the temperature range) can be used as a medium to transport heat from the cold to the hot heat sink. The active magnetic regenerative materials employed in such cycles are the key to implementing this technology. Only yttrium and/or rare earth containing materials have a large enough magnetocaloric effect to provide sufficient enthalpy per unit volume to make practical magnetic refrigeration possible.
The literature indicates that a given rare earth material has its strongest MCE over a temperature range of about 10-40 K centered just above the Curie temperature of the material. An example is gadolinium which has a Curie temperature of 293 K. The MCE of Gd causes an adiabatic temperature change of approximately 14 K or a isothermal heat absorption of 4 kJ/kg by the application of a 7 T magnetic field as reported by Brown, J. Appl. Phys. 47, pp. 3673-3680, (1976). Most materials will have little temperature change or heat absorption under similar conditions. This large temperature change can make magnetic refrigeration possible. For any given rare earth material, the most efficient working temperature range is restricted to approximately 40 K or less. For this reason, the highest efficiencies are realized in refrigerators covering a large temperature span when a series of rare earth containing compounds are employed. Magnetic refrigeration can be accomplished most efficiently by using different rare earth materials for different temperature ranges. A review of the literature indicates that a general consensus is forming for the preferred materials at specific temperature ranges. Some of these are summarized in Table 1 below. Choices for the optimal rare earth or alloy to use are based upon the material's magnetocaloric effect, the magnetic transition temperature, costs, and fabricability.
TABLE 1 ______________________________________ Optimal Temp. Material Range (K) ______________________________________ Gd 270-320 Gd.sub.0.6 Dy.sub.0.4 235-270 Tb 220-240 Dy 170-185 GdNi.sub.2 65-90 (Dy.sub.0.5 Er.sub.0.5)Al.sub.2 25-60 Er.sub.3 Ni 4-20 Nd 4-20 ______________________________________
The magnetic ordering near the rare earth material's Curie temperature also results in an unusually large specific heat. For example, the volumetric heat capacity of lead, neodymium, and Er.sub.3 Ni, at approximately 7 K are 0.05, 0.30 and 0.39 J/K cm.sup.3, respectively, as reported by Aprigliano, Green, Chafe, O'Connor, Biancanello, and Ridder, Adv. in Cry. Engr., vol. 37B, pp. 1003-1009, (1992). The enhancement of the heat capacity and heat absorbed or rejected due to the magnetocaloric effect is dependent on the temperature range and the material compound of interest. The enhanced heat capacity feature is advantageous for both active and passive regenerator applications.
To obtain rapid and efficient transfer of heat, the regenerator magnetic material must have a high surface area to volume ratio. The packing density of the material must also be homogeneous to allow uniform and complete heat transfer to the fluid as well as provide a uniform fluid pressure drop to minimize turbulence losses in the fluid.
Because of the above constraints, magnetic regenerator materials for AMRR's are required to be subdivided very uniformly on a size scale on the order of 50-200 .mu.m diameter (10,000-40,000 m.sup.2 /m.sup.3 surface area per unit volume) to provide adequate heat transfer at frequencies on the order of 1 Hz, C. Reid, Cryofuel Systems, Inc., private communication, (1994). The packing density should be on the order of 60% for efficient utilization of the high magnetic field volume created by a superconducting magnet.
Conventional gas cycle refrigerators working at cryogenic temperatures can also benefit from the incorporation of a magnetic regenerator, because these materials have the highest known specific heats in the temperature range near their magnetic ordering temperature. In this application, the regenerator is passive, i.e., the regenerator is only used to absorb and reject heat and is not a working material. High efficiency Gifford McMahon (GM) type cryocoolers have been already built incorporating Er.sub.3 Ni, T. Kuriyama, R. Hakamada, Y. Tokai, M. Sahashi, R. Li., O. Yoshida, K., Matsumoto, and T. Hashimoto, Adv. in Cry. Engr., Vol. 35, pp. 1261-1269, (1990) and Nd, Superconductor Week, vol. 18, no. 8, pp. 1-2, Jun. 6, (1994), as passive magnetic regenerators. The passive regenerator issues of the regenerator geometry, heat capacity, stability, fabricability, cross section uniformity, and cost are similar to the active magnetic regenerators situation. Further enhancements in the GM refrigerator performance are possible with the use of regenerator materials in fine wire form.
Many rare earth metals possess considerable ductility in pure form. Rare earth/rare earth alloys are often ductile, particularly alloys comprised of metals that are close in atomic radius. Alloys of rare earths with transition metals of interest for AMRR materials are frequently intermetallic line compounds with almost no ductility. Processes to date for manufacturing some AMRR materials have involved crushed granular materials and melt solidification of droplets.
Crushed granular materials are only applicable to intermetallic compounds which are very brittle. The process involves melting and casting of a regenerator compound of the desired composition and mechanically crushing the brittle material until it passes through an appropriate sized sieve. Material made in this fashion is not uniform in particle diameter, E. M. Ludeman and C. B. Zimm, Adv. in Cry. Engr., 37B, pp. 989-994, (1992). These particles are irregularly shaped and do not pack to a homogeneous density. As a result, the heat transfer from the regenerator material to the helium gas is less than perfect and the efficiency of a resulting regenerator is compromised.
Another means of fabricating particles of regenerator material is by forming them directly from a melt by the quenching of droplets. Centrifugal atomization processes involve the flow of liquid metal of the desired composition for a regenerator onto a disk for atomization and quenching in a bath, M. G. Osborne, I. E. Anderson, K. A. Gschneider, M. J. Gailoux, and T. W. Ellis, Adv. in Cry. Engr., 40, pp. 631-638, (1994). Low velocity jet particulation involves the solidification of liquid droplets during free fall, E. M. Ludeman and C. B. Zimm, Adv. in Cry. Engr., 37B, pp. 989-994, (1992). Several other process variations of forming particles from a melt exists, all with similar limitations. While these processes can result in powders of quite uniform spherical shape, they are limited by rather slow production rates and by reactivity of the rare earth containing material during their fabrication, as well as subsequent handling during sieving, compacting of the powders, and assembly into the regenerator.
Another problem with both the crushed granular and melt solidification type processes is the very low yield of product of an acceptable size range. It is common for the majority of the resulting powders to be too big or too small for use in a regenerator system. The out of size particles may not be recyclable due to oxygen, carbon, and nitrogen pickup. Osborne et al, M. G. Osborne, I. E., Anderson, K. A. Gschneider, M. J. Gailoux, and T. W. Ellis, Adv. in Cry. Engr., 40, pp. 631-638, (1994), report yields of 27% and 43% respectively for Nd and Er.sub.3 Ni material made by centrifugal atomization. The high cost of rare earth raw materials makes any low yield process unacceptable in terms of cost.
The fine wire form for a regenerator material provides for several potential variations in its final configuration. Theoretical modeling of regenerator materials indicate that one of the preferable configurations is in the form of wire cloth screens. Screens require the development of processes to fabricate regenerator materials in the form of fine wires. A configuration similar to a screen can also be made from expanded sheet.
The patent prior art contains several patents on magnetic refrigeration materials. U.S. Pat. No. 4,849,017 covers a compound with 50 to 75% rare earth and the remainder from one or more of the metals Co, Al, or Ni. The claims also mention sintered bodies of these compounds with densities of at least 5 g/cm.sup.3.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,985,072 covers a fine particulate morphology compound of a rare earth metal and either Al, Ni, Co, Fe in a metallic binder. The binder may be up to 80% by volume and the preferred composition mentioned is one of the elements Ag, Au, or Cu.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,213,630 and its related U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,124,215 and 4,829,770 cover magnetic refrigeration materials with compositions RE(T).sub.2 where RE is a rare earth element and T is one or more of the elements Al, Ni, Fe, or Co in a sintered body. This art describes the placing of these materials in a series of 3 or more compounds in stages to allow each stage to work at a particular temperature range and the device to cover a wide temperature range.

Composite wires and process of forming same


An application executing on a computing device may invoke a function call of a first function. The computing device may support a bundled application library of functions and a native library of functions. It may be determined that code for executing the first function exists in both the bundled application library and the native library, and the application may execute the first function using the code in the native library. While the application continues execution on the computing device, the application may invoke a function call of a second function. It may be determined that, of the bundled application library and the native library, the code for executing the second function exists in the bundled application library. The application may execute the second function using the code in the bundled application library.

Computing devices may incorporate one or more processors that execute machine code, including code that implements an operating system (OS). Machine code executed by a computing device may also include both application code developed either by the provider of the computing device or by a third party. To aid the development of applications, application developers may use a software development kit (SDK) and/or one or more application programming interfaces (APIs) that can be integrated into or accessed by applications that the developers create. An SDK may include a native library that provides the basic programming language functions on which application developers may rely.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Application access to native and bundled libraries


Disclosed is an assay device to determine the presence of at least one analyte of interest in a liquid sample, the device comprising means for generating a first signal (the ‘test’ signal) which indicates the presence and/or amount of analyte of interest in the sample; and means for generating a second signal, the generation of which second signal indicates both (a) the test has been successfully conducted, and that (b) sufficient time has elapsed following contact of the assay device with the liquid sample for the test to be read and the first signal to have been properly generated.

Assay devices which employ immunochromatographic principles are well known. Particularly common are "lateral flow" assay devices. In devices of the lateral flow type, a labelled specific binding reagent is releasably immobilised on a strip of porous material. A liquid sample is applied to one end of the porous strip and the capillary properties of the strip transports the liquid sample along the strip, releasing the labelled specific binding reagent, which binds specifically to the analyte of interest (at a first binding site thereof), if present, in the sample. The labelled binding reagent is then generally captured at a test zone by a second reagent having specific binding for a second binding site of the analyte of interest. Excess labelled binding reagent is then typically captured at a control zone, downstream of the test zone by a control reagent which binds specifically to the labelled reagent. Assay devices of this type are described in further detail in, for example EP 0 291 194.
In a known lateral flow assay device (of the sort disclosed in EP 0 291 194 and EP 0 560 411), such as the Clearblue® pregnancy test kit (available from Unipath Ltd, Bedford UK), which works by detecting the presence of hCG in a urine sample applied to the test device, two visible signals may be generated. One signal is a 'control' signal, and is formed by the localization of derivatised blue latex beads: the latex beads are coated with an immunoglobulin molecule and are captured by a capture antibody, deposited in a line on the test stick generally perpendicular to the direction of sample flow, the capture antibody having specific binding activity for the immunoglobulin carried on the beads. The generation of this signal informs the user that:    (i) neither the immunoglobulin on the latex bead, nor the capture antibody on the test stick, have been sufficiently denatured or otherwise degraded during manufacture or storage of the test kit significantly to interfere with the specific binding between the two molecules; and    (ii) sufficient liquid sample has been applied to mobilise the releasably immobilised latex beads and to transport them along the test stick at least as far as the "control" zone, in which the capture antibody is located.
The significance of (i) is that the immunoglobulin on the test stick is one which binds specifically to the analyte of interest. The control signal indicates that the capture antibody and the latex-bound antibody are still capable of associating, which implies that other immunoglobulin-based reagents (such as an analyte-specific immunoglobulin reagent) in the test kit should equally have retained their specific binding activity. The significance of (ii) is that the 'control' zone is located downstream of the 'test zone', in which the analyte is bound (together with any specifically-associated latex-labelled immunoglobulin) by a further analyte-specific immunoglobulin, deposited in a line on the test stick, generally perpendicular to the direction of flow of the sample. The line of immobilised analyte-specific immunoglobulin in the test zone is substantially parallel to, but upstream of, the line of immobilised antibody in the control zone.
In this way, a urine sample containing hCG contacted with the test stick in a correctly-performed assay, will cause the deposition of latex beads in both the control zone and in the test zone, resulting in the formation of two blue lines visible to the user, one line in the control zone and one line in the test zone.
The instructions provided with the kit direct the user to read the assay result 1 minute after removing the test stick from contact with the sample. Accordingly it is necessary for the user to have access to an external timer in order to read the assay result after the correct time interval has elapsed.
The label is generally a direct label, which is readily visible to the naked eye, so that a visual signal is generated wherever the labelled reagent accumulates in sufficient amount.
A problem with this type of assay device is that it takes a little while, after removing the assay device from contact with the liquid sample, for the test signal to appear. Clearly the user would like to read the result of the assay as soon as possible but, equally, the user requires confidence that sufficient time has elapsed for the proper assay result to have been obtained and that the test is not being read too early, without having to wait an inordinately long period.
In order to address this problem, it is known to incorporate a "timer" into an assay device, as described in EP 0 826 777. In particular, EP 0 826 777 discloses an assay device which comprises, in addition to the usual assay reagents, a variety of components which interact a pre-determined time interval after application of the sample to the test device, to create a detectable colour change. These additional 'timer' reagents are deposited in a 'timer' section of the test strip and, upon hydration by the sample, interact to produce a colour change.
In addition, the 'timer' reagents are also said to perform quality-control function. It is generally undesirable if assay devices are exposed to moisture. However, since the timer reagent when hydrated produces a coloured product, the timer will reveal if the device has been exposed to moisture. The 'quality control' function is however very limited, as it indicates only that the device has been exposed to an unquantified amount of moisture. The arrangement disclosed in EP 0 826 777 cannot indicate, for example, whether the test reagents have retained their specific binding properties, which can deteriorate with time, especially if the assay device has been stored in conditions of temperature, for instance, which are sub-optimal.


An oscillator including a substrate and a resonant tunneling diode including a gain medium provided on the substrate. The gain medium includes at least two quantum well layers and plural barrier layers for separating the quantum well layers from each other. The quantum well layers each have one of a compressive strain and a tensile strain. The plural barrier layers that sandwich the quantum well layers having the strain have a strain in a direction opposite to the direction of the strain of the quantum well layers.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a current injection type electromagnetic wave oscillator. In particular, the present invention relates to a current injection type oscillator in a frequency region ranging from millimeter wave to terahertz wave (30 GHz to 30 THz). Still more particularly, the present invention relates to a current injection type oscillator having a resonant tunneling diode structure.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, nondestructive sensing techniques using an electromagnetic wave having frequencies of at least a part of a frequency region ranging from millimeter-wave to terahertz-wave (30 GHz to 30 THz) (hereinafter, simply referred to as terahertz wave) have been developed. Examples of such techniques, which have been developed in application fields of the electromagnetic wave of this frequency band, include an imaging technique using a safe fluoroscopic apparatus in place of an X-ray fluoroscope, and a spectral technique for obtaining an absorption spectrum or complex dielectric constant of a material to examine physical properties such as a bonding state. In addition, a technique for analyzing biomolecules, a technique for evaluating a carrier concentration or mobility, and the like have also been developed.
Examples of terahertz wave generating units include a unit for emitting a femtosecond laser beam to a photoconductive device to generate a pulse and a parametric oscillation unit for emitting a nanosecond laser beam to a nonlinear crystal to generate a specific frequency. However, each of the units is based on photoexcitation, so there is a limit on a reduction in size or power consumption.
Therefore, for example, a structure using a quantum cascade laser and a structure using a resonant tunneling diode (resonant tunneling diode type) have been studied for the current injection type device that operates in the terahertz wave region. In particular, the latter resonant tunneling diode type is expected for a device that operates at around 1 THz at room temperature (see Japanese Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 44, 2005, pp.7809-7815). The resonant tunneling diode type typically includes a quantum well with a lattice-matched system InGaAs/InAlAs which is formed on an InP substrate by epitaxial growth. In order to thin a barrier layer to improve current density, an AlAs structure has been studied. With respect to a voltage-current (I-V) characteristic and an oscillation characteristic of the AlAs structure, as illustrated in FIG. 12, a negative resistance is exhibited and an oscillation in the vicinity of a region corresponding to the negative resistance is observed.
However, in this case, the oscillation output is limited by a gain resulting from the negative resistance in an active layer and an injectable current density. Therefore, in order to obtain a high power output, it is necessary to improve the structure of the active layer and the structure of the resonator. That is, it is desirable to increase the peak current density and the gradient in the negative resistance region (negative differential conductance) shown in FIG. 12.
An example of the disclosed structure for improving the current density to increase the gradient in the negative resistance region is a structure for improving the current density using a strain system (compressive strain), in which an In composition of an InGaAs well layer is increased (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2004-200286).
Incidentally, in order to reduce propagation loss of a transmission line of a resonator in an oscillator, it is desirable to thicken the active layer. Therefore, a method of providing a triple barrier structure to thicken the active layer without reductions in gain and current density is expected.
However, when the triple barrier structure is to be provided using the strain well structure described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2004-200286 to improve the characteristics including an oscillation output of the oscillator, because there is a critical film thickness due to the use of the strain well structure, the thickness cannot be increased above a certain level. Therefore, it is not easy to reduce a resonator loss using the resonant tunneling diode structure and to improve the current density and the gain to thereby increase the oscillation output.

Oscillator and imaging apparatus utilizing resonant tunneling diode structure


A system and method of using voice to access information in a call center is disclosed. Providing a voice response server to handle requests from local and remote administrators allows a call center to be managed even when administrators are physically distant from the call center. The voice response server may adhere to VoiceXML to process requests for call center information from administrators.

Call centers are typically used as a means of distributing customer contacts such as facsimiles, e-mails, video, internet voice, telephone calls, etc. among a group of call center agents of an organization. As customer contacts are directed to the organization from the public switched telephone network (PSTN) or other communication networks, an automatic call distributor (ACD) directs the customer contacts to its call center agents based upon some algorithm. For example, the ACD may recognize a telephone call target based upon an identity of an incoming trunk line and route the call accordingly.
Call center administrators manage and ensure the proper performance of the call center. To manage the call center efficiently, it is important for the call center administrator to have access to the call center wherever the administrator is. For example, if the administrator is called away to another building, it is important for the administrator to be able to check the performance, configuration and attributes of the call center while the administrator is away. Further, administrators who must travel are often away from the call center that they manage and thus require access to the call center to determine whether the call center is properly functioning.
Currently, an administrator who is away from the call center has two options: 1) call a person who is in charge and ask that person for a status of the call center or 2) dial in to the call center by using a portable computer and checking the status of the call center.
The first solution requires that the administrator depend upon another person to get required information. This solution may not be optimal if the person answering the telephone call is not well skilled or trustworthy. The second solution is also not optimal, as it requires the companies that use call centers to purchase a portable computer and modem for every administrator in the company. In a large company with many call centers, this solution requires many portable computers. Further, the administrator must be able to locate a telephone line for which the administrator may be able to dial up to connect to the call center. Finding a telephone line to which the administrator may connect the portable computer may be difficult if the administrator is in a location that does not have such access, such as travelling in a car. Further, this solution requires the company to install the appropriate number of dial up lines so that administrators are not disconnected or put on hold because the dial up lines are unavailable. Both solutions are less than optimal. As a consequence, the performance of the call center may degrade or be impaired when an administrator is away.
Accordingly, a need exists for a better way of allowing the call center administrator to access the call center when the administrator is physically remote from the call center.

System and method of using a phone to access information in a call center


A TFT LCD array substrate and manufacturing method thereof are provided. In the TFT LCD array substrate, a part of the drain electrode of the thin film transistor that is connected with the pixel electrode is overlapped with the common electrode that is formed to increase the storage capacity for the respective pixel area. The TFT LCD of the present invention increases the aperture ratio of the pixel area.

Among the various flat panel displays, the TFT LCD is dominating the flat panel display market due to lower power consumption, relatively low manufacturing cost, and no radiation. The TFT LCD device is formed by assembling an array substrate and a color filter substrate with a liquid crystal layer interposed therebetween.
FIG. 1A is a top plan view of one pixel of a conventional amorphous silicon TFT LCD array substrate, and FIG. 1B is a cross-sectional view taken along the line A-A in FIG. 1A. This array substrate comprises: a plurality of gate lines 1 and a plurality of data lines 5 perpendicular to the gate lines 1. The adjacent gate lines and data lines define a pixel area. Each pixel area comprises a TFT as a switching device, a transparent pixel electrode 10, and a part of the common electrode 11. The TFT employs a bottom gate structure by a back channel etched as shown. The TFT comprises a gate electrode 2, a gate insulating layer 4, an active layer 3, a source electrode 6, and a drain electrode 7, as shown in FIG. 1B. A passivation layer 8 covers the above-mentioned components, and a passivation layer via hole 9 is formed in the passivation layer 8 over the drain electrode 7. The transparent electrode 10 is connected with the drain electrode 7 of the TFT via the passivation layer via hole 9. The source electrode 6 is connected with one of the data lines 5. The part of the common electrode 11 forms a storage capacitor with the pixel electrode 10 by overlapping with the pixel electrode 10 (the projection portion in the pixel area). In order to further lower the light leakage within the pixel area, light blocking bars 12 are formed on both sides of the pixel electrode 10 parallel to the data lines 5 in the pixel area. The TFT device can reduce the light-induced leak current in the channel. The light blocking bars 12 are made of the same material as the gate electrode 12 in the same process.
The 5-Mask (photolithography) process as shown in FIG. 2 is a typical manufacturing technology for TFT LCD array substrate at present and mainly comprises the following five steps:
1). forming a gate electrode and gate line, and optionally forming light blocking bars and/or common electrodes simultaneously;
2). forming a gate insulating layer and an active layer;
3). forming a source electrode, a drain electrode, and a data line;
4). forming a passivation layer; and
5). forming a pixel electrode.
Each of the steps comprises three main processes, namely, thin film deposition, forming of the etching mask pattern (coating a photoresist layer, exposing with a mask plate, and developing), and etching. Each of the five steps uses a mask plate to pattern the respective deposited layer. The above process is typical for 5-Mask technology. Other 5-Mask technologies could also be employed by changing the mask plate design and the process flow.
In the TFT LCD array substrate shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B, since the drain electrode is always located in the pixel area, a part of the aperture ratio is always sacrificed, causing a decrease in the aperture ratio. A common method of improving the aperture ratio is to reduce the area occupied by the other components.

Beijing BOE Optoelectronics Technology Co., Ltd.


A computer system and computer program product executing a method for consistent and efficient management of program configuration and customizing data for a business application program. According to one method, an existing or newly created version of a global switch configuration is provided in a cache shared by one or more other programs. The cached switch configuration provides a configuration for a switch framework that governs access to one or more program functions of a business application. The cached switch configuration is then attached to the business application to provide an attached version of the switch configuration. Compatibility between the attached version of the switch configuration and the business application is determined. If compatibility exists, the business application program is executed in accordance with the attached version of the switch configuration.

This document relates configuration and customizing data for executing multiple, independent instances of business application programs.
In a simplified model of executing a computer program such as a business application, there are three categories of information needed: the program code to be executed (operations); the application data to be processed (input and output data); and often additional configuration data (customizing data). Configuration data configure the application by fixing pre-defined properties of the program, such as the set of available functions, the way implemented functions behave, the user interface, or general user-specific settings (such as number and date/time format etc.). Configuration data make an application more flexible by changing certain properties or parameters of the application without modifying and recompiling the application.
In terms of abstraction configuration data lie somewhere between program code and application data. Configuration data can thus be classified and viewed as being more related to program operations (e.g., meta data that describes certain functional aspects of an application) or more related to application data (e.g., master data like units, ISO codes, or exchanges rates). Hence configuration data can be handled and processed in different ways: they can be evaluated during program compilation to optimize the coding according to the specific configuration settings, or they can be evaluated at program runtime in order to be used dynamically or to determine the program flow. Sometimes both approaches are used simultaneously to complement each other, exemplified by the kind of configuration data described in this document.
Business application programs are typically written and compiled according to a business application programming language such as the Advanced Business Application Programming (ABAP) language developed by SAP AG (Walldorf, Germany). The programming language ABAP features some mechanisms to support modification of the standard business coding necessary to integrate industry-specific or customer-specific requirements. This framework—known as the Enhancement and Switch Framework—has been used to retrofit industry-specific modifications back into the ERP standard coding, and to activate or deactivate those modifications dynamically to achieve industry-specific behavior of the business applications.
Within the ABAP switch framework, the ABAP modification code snippets—called "enhancements"—can be added to existing ABAP code at certain positions in the coding. Additionally, these enhancements can be switched on or off by setting separately stored switches. Depending on the switch setting, the corresponding enhancements are pre-processed by the ABAP compiler at compile-time and evaluated at run-time to decide whether or not the enhancement is to be executed. Accordingly, the switch settings serve to configure an application program dynamically. Generally speaking the switch values are configuration data for the business applications.
Those switch settings need to be adequately managed. The most significant requirements for the management of those switch settings include consistency and robustness of program execution, i.e. changes of switch settings must not influence running transactions, and all implicit and explicit accesses at runtime must deliver identical results. On the other hand time and space efficiency is very important. In particular, the time overhead for switch state queries must be as little as possible and should not have measurable effects on the performance of the business transaction. For reason of optimization, the switch settings can be evaluated statically at compile-time in order to adapt or prepare the target program code according to the switch settings.
This approach to managing any kind of configuration data originated within the switch framework which manages those switch settings as a special kind of configuration data. Within a typical software product portfolio, a large amount of configuration data for business applications—called "customizing data"—are used. Those customizing data can have very different characteristics and thus be processed in different ways, as discussed above. But for most kinds of configuration data this method can be applied.
Currently, customizing data are often simply read directly from a database at runtime of the application. There is no versioning, and the applications are not prevented from accessing modified customizing data which may lead to inconsistencies and adverse effects. Accordingly, robustness and consistency of business applications are suffering from modifying customizing data at runtime. Additionally, database access operations significantly decrease time efficiency. On the other hand if the configuration data is stored into the current program context identical configuration data is redundantly stored in every program instance because there is no sharing.

Method for consistent and efficient management of program configuration and customizing data


An image segmenting unit (401) in the stereo image processing device (100) extracts M (a natural number between 2 and N, inclusive) number of segmented target images wherein a first partial area within a target image has been segmented into N (a natural number of 2 or more), and also extracts M number of segmented reference images wherein a second partial area within a reference image has been segmented into N. An image concatenating unit (402) serially concatenates M data strings, each comprising a intensity value from each segmented target image, to form a first image data string and also serially concatenates M data strings, each comprising a intensity value from each segmented reference image, to form a second image data string. A filtering unit (403) and a peak position detection unit (104) calculate the disparity between the standard images and the reference images.

There are known stereo image processing apparatuses that compute image shifts based on two images (a target image and a reference image) of an object taken by a stereo camera, and compute the distance to the object based on that shifts. Applying of stereo image processing apparatuses to vehicle-mounted apparatuses is being considered, where the distance to a vehicle or a pedestrian is measured based on stereo images including the vehicle or the pedestrian, for example. However, due to the reduction in the sizes of cameras (e.g., vehicle-mounted cameras) in recent years, camera separations are also becoming smaller, as a result of which disparities between stereo images are also becoming smaller. Accordingly, accurate disparity computation functionality is beginning to be demanded of stereo image processing apparatuses.
As an accurate stereo matching (disparity computation in stereo image processing) scheme, a one-dimensional phase-only correlation (POC) scheme has been proposed, for example (see Patent Literature 1, for example). In a one-dimensional POC scheme, partial images (one-dimensional image data sequences) are extracted from a target image and a reference image using the Hann window. The extracted partial target image and partial reference image undergo a one-dimensional Fourier transform, and are combined. The combined image data has its amplitude components normalized, and undergoes a one-dimensional inverse Fourier transform. Thus, phase-only correlation coefficients are computed, and the shift between the images (i.e., the disparity) is computed based on a correlation peak of the phase-only correlation coefficients.

Stereo image processing device and stereo image processing method

PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CO., LTD.


An integrated guidance system is disclosed. The integrated guidance system includes a position determination system adapted for determining a current position. Additionally, the integrated guidance system further includes a lightbar device adapted for providing a visual representation of the deviation of the current position from a desired path to guide movement along the desired path. Furthermore, the integrated guidance system has a data input device, and a display device for displaying text and graphics. Moreover, the integrated guidance system includes a user interface system adapted for facilitating user interaction by integrating operation of the position determination system, the lightbar device, the data input device, and the display device. In an embodiment, the user interface system comprises a processor and processor-executable instructions for implementing a user interface.

1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present invention generally relate to guidance systems. More particularly, embodiments of the present invention relate to integrated guidance systems.
2. Related Art
Guidance systems were developed to guide an operator of a mechanical system that is capable of movement, such as, for example, a vehicle, in traveling along a desired path, whereas the guidance system alerts the operator when he deviates from the desired path (which is predefined) and provides the corrective action that the operator needs to perform to continue on the desired path. These guidance systems provide a variety of functions. Typically, the variety of functions is dependent on the number of different types of guidance components possessed by the guidance system. Some guidance systems are designed to be handheld by the operator while driving the vehicle. More importantly, each of these guidance systems generally is a collection of separate guidance components that are coupled together with cables. Moreover, while one guidance system may have two separate guidance components, another guidance system may have less or more of these separate guidance components.
In particular, guidance systems are widely being utilized in agriculture. Guidance systems provide agricultural equipment operators with precise, parallel swath guidance for driving straight rows or following curves during tasks such as, for example, field preparation, seeding, harvesting, product applications to the fields, and field mapping. Hence, improved productivity, improved yield, and improved safety are realized through use of guidance systems.
Unfortunately, guidance systems that are a collection of separate guidance components that are coupled together with cables and handheld guidance systems create several problems. The guidance systems that are a collection of separate guidance components that are coupled together with cables are prone to a variety of cable related problems (e.g., damage by accidental pulling of a cable, misplacement of a cable, incompatibility of cables, etc.) and can interfere with the operator's control of the agricultural equipment, such as, for example, a tractor, since the cab of the tractor is generally small. Moreover, handheld guidance systems distract the operator while driving the tractor since the operator has to look periodically at the handheld guidance system instead of looking in front of the tractor as it moves. Furthermore, these guidance systems provide a data input device that has a large number of buttons or keys that make it difficult for the operator to interact with these guidance systems as he drives the tractor.


A quartz crystal resonator includes a quartz crystal resonator element, a thermistor, a second layer including a first principal surface and a second principal surface, and a third layer having a through hole. internal terminals are provided on the first principal surface side, and electrode pads are provided in a portion exposed from the through hole on the second principal surface side. The quartz crystal resonator element is attached to the internal terminals, and the thermistor is attached to the electrode pads. Two mounting terminals are provided on a first diagonal line on the third principal surface side of the third layer, and two mounting terminals are provided on a second diagonal line. At least one of the two electrode pads is connected to any one of the two mounting terminals on the second diagonal line through a first conductive film provided on an inner wall of the through hole.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a package, a resonation device, an oscillator including the resonation device, an electronic device, and a moving object.
2. Related Art
Hitherto, as a resonation device, a piezoelectric device has been known which includes a piezoelectric resonation element, a temperature-sensitive component, and a container that has a first accommodation portion accommodating a piezoelectric resonation element and a second accommodation portion accommodating a temperature-sensitive component (for example, see JP-A-2013-102315).
The container of the piezoelectric device includes a first insulating substrate and a second insulating substrate. The first insulating substrate has a through hole constituting the second accommodation portion and includes a plurality of mounting terminals formed in the bottom thereof. The second insulating substrate has a back face being laminated on and fixed to a surface portion of the first insulating substrate. A front face of the second insulating substrate is provided with a first electrode pad for mounting a piezoelectric resonation element. The back face of the second insulating substrate is provided with a first wiring pattern that allows electrical conduction between amounting terminal and the first electrode pad, a second wiring pattern that allows electrical conduction between the mounting terminal and a temperature-sensitive component, and a second electrode pad for mounting the temperature-sensitive component.
In accordance with the demands of the market, the piezoelectric device may be configured such that the pair of mounting terminals electrically communicating with the piezoelectric resonation element and another pair of mounting terminals electrically communicating with the temperature-sensitive component are disposed respectively on diagonal lines of the bottom of the first insulating substrate.
Thus, in the piezoelectric device configured in the above-described manner, the routing of the first wiring pattern and the second wiring pattern in the back face of the second insulating substrate (see FIG. 3B in JP-A-2013-102315) becomes complicated, as compared with the routing in a configuration in which the pair of mounting terminals are disposed respectively at adjacent corner portions of the bottom rather than being disposed on the diagonal lines of the bottom (see FIG. 9B in JP-A-2013-102315).
As a result, in the piezoelectric device configured in the above-described manner, there is a concern that a further reduction in a planar size may be hindered due to restrictions (a wiring rule such as a pattern width, a gap between patterns, a distance between a contour and a pattern) of the routing of the first wiring pattern and the second wiring pattern.
Consequently, as a countermeasure to the above-described problem, a configuration is considered in which the first wiring pattern is routed on the front face of the second insulating substrate and the second wiring pattern is routed on the back face of the second insulating substrate, as shown in FIG. 4 of JP-A-2013-102315.
However, in this configuration, since the first wiring pattern and the piezoelectric resonation element are close to each other, a parasitic capacitance is generated between an excitation electrode of the piezoelectric resonation element and the first wiring pattern, and thus there is a concern that resonation characteristics of the piezoelectric resonation element may be degraded.

Package, resonation device, oscillator, electronic device, and moving object


A street sweeper system is used typically in a motorized vehicle. The sweeper utilizes a cylindrical brush rotating about an axis that is typically perpendicular to the vehicle's direction of motion. A conveyor belt catches debris thrown forwards and upward by the brush and moves the debris to a hopper. A conveyor lip is mounted on a lower edge of the conveyor to improve sweeping performance. The conveyor lip covers a space between the lower edge of the conveyor and the ground. The lip's lower edge is angled towards the brush to deflect debris back towards the brush to recirculate the debris.

Automated street sweeping vehicles are essential equipment for commercial and government organizations. The vehicles are used for cleaning debris from roadways, walkways, parking lots, runways, and many other ground surfaces.
For streets and highways, large sweepers are primarily used. The large sweepers are motorized (typically diesel powered) and can be custom-made or built upon a commercial truck chassis. The large sweepers typically include large main brushes which direct debris onto a paddled conveyor that moves the debris into a large-capacity debris hopper. The large hoppers allow the sweepers to cover greater distances without the need for emptying the hopper. The large brushes allow the sweeper to pick up larger debris (e.g. rocks, tire treads, wood pieces), thus avoiding the need for multiple passes of the sweeper or manual retrieval of the debris.
Although effective, such street sweepers often miss a certain percentage of the debris, even when the sweeper passes directly over the debris. In some cases, the debris bounces around between the brush and conveyor, and can be ejected out from underneath the vehicle. This is especially problematic with larger debris, as it may not get launched upwards with enough force to hit the conveyor and is more likely to bounce around the conveyor paddles.
During operation, such sweepers can also generate a dust cloud when sweeping. Typically suction is used on side brushes and on the conveyor to control this dust. However, a significant amount of dust is ejected into the atmosphere during sweeping. Besides being a nuisance, the dust is a source of particulate air pollution. In some localities particulate air pollution is a major problem, and municipalities are under government mandates to reduce particulate air pollution.
What is needed is a sweeper that can pick up a higher percentage of road debris, especially large items. Further, the sweeper should reduce the amount of dust ejected into the air. The present invention fulfills these and other needs, and addresses other deficiencies of prior art implementations.

Conveyor lip for motorized street sweeper


A fuel cell separator is molded from a resin composition containing specific amounts of graphite, thermosetting resin and internal release agent. The graphite is a synthetic graphite powder prepared by graphitizing lump coke. The thermosetting resin is a mixture of phenolic novolac, benzoxazine and polycarbodiimide resins. The molded separator does not need to be machined, has a significantly improved electrical conductivity, heat resistance and mechanical strength, and even when very thin is resistant to breakage during molding and fuel cell assembly.

Fuel cells are devices which convert chemical energy directly into electrical energy by placing a pair of electrodes in mutual contact through an intervening electrolyte, feeding a fuel to one of the electrodes and an oxidant to the other electrode, and carrying out oxidation of the fuel electrochemically within the cell. There are several types of fuel cells, depending on the electrolyte used. Solid polymer fuel cells in which the electrolyte is a solid polymer electrolyte membrane have attracted considerable attention recently for their ability to achieve a high energy output.
As shown in FIG. 1, such solid polymer fuel cells are composed of a stack of from several tens to several hundreds of unit cells. Each unit cell has a pair of fuel cell separators 1, 1 with a plurality of ribs 1a on either side thereof. Between the separators 1 are disposed a solid polymer electrolyte membrane 2 and a pair of gas diffusing electrodes (a fuel electrode and an oxidant electrode) 3, 3.
Of the components making up this type of fuel cell, the fuel cell separator has the distinctive shape of a thin plate provided on one or both sides thereof with a plurality of flow channels 4 for the supply and removal of gases. The separator plays several important roles, one of which is to separate the fuel gas, oxidant gas, and cooling water flowing through the fuel cell to keep them from mingling. In addition, it carries away electrical energy generated by the cell, and dissipates to the exterior heat that has formed within the cell. Accordingly, a need has been strongly felt for fuel cell separators which, in addition to having gas barrier properties, electrical conductivity and corrosion resistance, also have sufficient mechanical strength to resist cracking and breaking of the separators from the tightening of bolts and nuts during fuel cell assembly, and which moreover are endowed with excellent vibration and impact resistance when the fuel cell is used as a mobile power supply such as in automobiles.
Known methods for manufacturing such fuel cell separators include processes in which the separator is fabricated by:    1) molding a thermosetting resin, heat-curing the molded resin, then machining;    2) machining dense carbon that has been impregnated with a thermosetting resin;    3) laminating and pressing together carbon fiber nonwoven fabrics impregnated with an electrically conductive coating;    4) working together a carbon powder and a phenolic resin, then molding the resulting blend under heat and pressure;    5) blending together a carbon powder, a phenolic resin and carbon fibers, then compression molding the blend.
However, when a heat-cured resin product or resin-impregnated dense carbon is machined, the costs of machining are high. Moreover, separators having a small thickness are subject to breakage during machining and fuel cell assembly. In prior-art processes that involve molding a conductive coating-impregnated carbon fiber nonwoven fabric, the nonwoven fabric interferes with the shaping of grooves.
In processes which involve molding a mixture of graphite powder and resin, increasing the proportion of conductive filler so as to enhance the electrical conductivity lowers the moldability and mechanical strength. On the other hand, increasing the proportion of binder resin to improve moldability and mechanical strength lowers the electrical conductivity. Methods for producing separators from a mixture of graphite powder, phenolic resin and carbon fibers do enhance the strength, but the resulting separators have a very high flexural modulus, making them subject to breakage when thin.

Fuel cell separator and method of manufacture


A light-emitting device comprising a lamp casing, a heat dissipation element and a light-emitting module is provided. A first opening and a second opening are formed on an upper end and a lower end of the lamp casing respectively. An edge of the lamp casing adjacent to the first opening is bended inward to form a bending portion. The heat dissipation element has several carrying portions separated from each other and arranged in radial-shape, and several fins perpendicular to the carrying portions. Each fin is bended downward and vertically from an edge of the carrying portions and extended toward the second opening. The light-emitting module comprises a substrate and several light-emitting elements. An edge of the substrate leans against the bending portion, such that the light-emitting module is sandwiched between the carrying portions and the bending portion.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates in general to a light-emitting device, and more particularly to a light-emitting device having several air holes.
2. Description of the Related Art
Accompany with the increase in the awareness of environmental protection, light-emitting diode (LED) lamps have attracted people's attention and been widely used. LED lamps have the advantages of high luminous efficiency, low power consumption and long lifespan, and are capable of emitting color lights. LEDs generate heat during a luminescence process. In order to dissipate the heat generated by the LEDs, the lamp casing of an LED lamp is normally formed by a heat conductive material for effectively convecting the heat to the exterior.
As the brightness of LED increasing, conventional lamp casing is no longer applicable. Therefore, how to design a lamp casing having better heat dissipation efficiency has become a prominent task for the industries.


Exemplary systems and methods implement an exemplary visual perception model. This model can be implemented in such applications as imaging, compression, denoising, annotation of hi-fidelity images, etc. In one implementation a perceptual filter estimates an entropy statistic and a standard deviation statistic associated with each pixel of an image, then mixes the entropy statistic and the standard deviation statistic to map an estimation of human perceptual tolerance to noise or alteration in parts of the image. In one application, metadata may be added to an image via a system of synergistic watermarks, in which the watermarks strengthen each other and are placed according to the noise tolerance of the pixels in order to maintain hi-fidelity of the image.

Conventional visual models concerned with image fidelity focus on establishing a function over the visual features of two images to establish how similar they are, or how closely they appeal to the human eye. While simple heuristics such as mean squared error (MSE) and peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR) are easy to compute and integrate in optimization scenarios, they have been largely abandoned in favor of quality assessment—of high-quality images.
Some newer, sophisticated models try to focus on combining feature statistics since standard techniques such as MSE and PSNR have not been matched well to perceived visual quality. Some of the main trends in the image quality arts are at an intersection between cognitive sciences understanding the workings of the visual cortex—and adhoc heuristics. For example, one class of algorithms separates images into subbands (channels) that are selective for spatial and temporal frequency and orientation. Sophisticated channel decompositions analyze the neural responses in the primary visual cortex of the brain.
Alternatively, many metrics try to use simpler transforms such as the DCT or separable wavelet transforms to achieve the same goal. Channel decompositions based upon temporal frequencies have also been used for video quality assessment.
One of the most difficult aspects of the problem is to arrive at its definition: what constitutes a hi-fidelity image? Once resolved, analytical progress is likely to follow rapidly. For example, certain distortions may be visible but not considered of poor fidelity suggesting that the correlation between image fidelity and perceived visual quality is arguable or subjective. One approach combines several visual models that are typically mixed using the Minkowski norm, which inherently assumes spatial independence. Thus, visual masking models have been proposed to account for the interdependence of image coefficients.
What is needed is a visual perception model that allows an image to be altered while reliably maintaining the human perception of hi-fidelity in the image. At the same time the visual perception model would lend itself to broad practical application via speedy and simple computations.

Visual perception model for hi-fidelity image watermarking


The present invention relates to an additive comprising a blend of an alkyl ester copolymer, preferably an ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer, and naphthenic oil. The invention further relates to the use of such alkyl ester copolymers for improving the flow properties of mineral oils. Most preferably, the additive is employed in manual transmission oils, axle factory fill oils, and extended drain oils, when used in conjunction with driveline oil filtration. The additive of the present invention prevents filter blockage of such a filter due to wax formation.

The present invention relates to a filterability improver comprising a blend of an ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer and naphthenic oil, useful in eliminating mineral oil base fluid effects having a significant impact on filterability performance of an oil.
Mineral oil products used in the transportation industry, for example, in engine oils, contain various amounts of dissolved long-chain paraffins (waxes), depending on their origin. At low temperatures, these paraffins precipitate as platelet-shaped crystals, sometimes with the inclusion of oil. This considerably impairs the flow properties of the mineral oil. Deposits of solids occur, which often lead to problems in the use of such mineral oil products.
In the cold season, for example, blockages occur in the filters of diesel engines which prevent reliable metering of the fuels and ultimately can even result in an interruption of the supply of fuel. The ability of mineral oil to flow is impaired in winter by the precipitation of paraffin crystals.
It is known that the undesirable crystal growth can be suppressed by suitable additives, so that the tendency of the viscosity of the oils to increase is minimized. Such additives, which are known pour-point depressants or agents which improve flow, change the size and shape of the wax crystals and, in this way, counteract increases in the viscosity of the oils.
Typical agents for improving the flow of mineral oils are copolymers of ethylene with carboxylic acid esters of vinyl alcohol. German Patent No. DE 11 47 799 B1, for example, sets forth oil-soluble copolymers of ethylene and vinyl acetate, having molecular masses between about 1,000 and about 3,000 g/mol, that are added to petroleum distillate propellants or fuels. Copolymers that contain about 60% to 99% by weight of ethylene and about 1% to 40% by weight of vinyl acetate are preferred. They are particularly effective if they have been prepared by free-radical polymerization in an inert solvent at temperatures of about 70xc2x0 C. to about 130xc2x0 C. under pressures of 35 to 2,100 atmospheres gauge, as set forth in German Patent No. DE 19 14 756 B2.
Other polymers employed as agents which improve flow contain, for example, 1-hexene, as set forth in EP 184,083 B1, or diisobutylene, as set forth in EP 203,554 B1, in addition to ethylene and vinyl acetate. Copolymers of ethylene, alkenecarboxylic acid esters, vinyl esters and/or vinyl ketones are also used as pour-point depressants and for improving the flow properties of crude oils and middle distillates as disclosed in EP 111,883 B1.
Additives that have a wide range of application, i.e. that effectively suppress precipitation of paraffins from mineral oils and mineral oil fractions of differing origin, have since become available. Nevertheless, there are cases in which they prove to be of little or even no value, either because they contribute little toward increasing the flow properties at low temperatures, they impair the filterability of mineral oil distillates above the cloud point, and/or they can be handled only unsatisfactorily.
There is, therefore, a need for novel additives for improving the flow properties of petroleums or petroleum fractions in which the additives of the prior art have little or even no effect. There is also a need of novel additives that provide adequate filterability of petroleum distillates above the cloud point, and that are usable without problems.
The invention relates to an additive comprising a blend of an alkyl ester copolymer, preferably an ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer, and naphthenic oil. The invention further relates to the use of such alkyl ester copolymers for improving the flow properties of mineral oils. The invention further relates to the use of the additive comprising a blend of an alkyl ester polymer in a fluid filter system. In particular, the novel additive is used to improve filterability of heavy base oils containing wax materials. Further, the novel additive is used to promote extended drain of gear oil lubricants in connection with 5 xcexcm filtration systems.
According to the present invention, the additive can be employed for improving flow both in crude oils and in the products of further processing obtained from the crude oil by distillation. However, its use in mineral oil distillates is preferred. Most preferably, the additive according to the present invention is employed in manual transmission oils, axle factory fill oils, and extended drain oils when used in conjunction with driveline oil filtration. Such an example is used in a fill-for-life gearbox system utilizing a 5 xcexcm filtration system in the sump. The filter is used to extend the life of the gearbox by removing any foreign matter of significant size from the lubricant and by minimizing the potential for abrasive corrosion that has a catalytic effect on wear leading to gear failure. The additive of the present invention prevents filter blockage of such a filter due to wax formation.


A back light module where one of the top and bottom surfaces of the light guide contain a micro Fresnel lens array which is off-axis so that a portion of the light won't initially escape from the back light module. The light is reflected down the length of the light guide, spreading the light across the back light module. In one embodiment, the Fresnel lens array is designed to have its efficiency vary across the back light. A smaller percentage of the light is directed out of the module near the light source, with most of the light being directed down the light guide. In an LED embodiment, the LED is mounted on the top or bottom edge of the light guide with a diffraction structure on the opposite side to diffract the light down the light guide.

The present invention relates to light guides for Liquid Crystal Displays (LCDs), and in particular to the use of a Fresnel lens to redirect light from a light source.
LCD displays are used in televisions, computer monitors, mobile phones and other devices. LCD displays use a back light module to illuminate the LCD display. There are two popular methods for the placement of the light source. For large screens the light source is placed behind the LCD display. For smaller screens the light source is placed on the side of a light guide. The most common light source used in television is CCFL (cold cathode fluorescent lamp), which requires a high voltage source. A more energy efficient light source is the Light Emitting Diode (LED). However, there are obstacles to using LEDs.
One of these obstacles is illustrate in FIG. 1. An array of LEDs 102 is mounted on a printed circuit board (PCB) 101 and is placed behind the LCD screen 103. Due to the divergence angle of the LED light source, the LCD screen 103 must be placed at a distance from the LED in order to have uniform illumination of the LCD screen. This defeats the goal of having a thin display.
One approach to making a thinner display is to use side illumination, as illustrated in FIG. 2. A typical back light module for LCDs used in desktop and laptop computer displays have side illumination as shown in FIG. 1. Side illumination is used rather than having the LEDs behind the screen in order to reduce the thickness of the display. However, the current method of coupling LED light into a light guide is not efficient enough for their use in a large screen television. Thus, fluorescent light (CCFL) is typically used for large screen TVs, while smaller displays, such as mobile phones, can use LEDs.
As shown in FIG. 2, a light source 110 injects light into a light guide (waveguide) structure 112, which is typically a clear slab of plastic or acrylic. Light source 110 can be a cold cathode fluorescent lamp (CCFL) or a light bar with a number of LEDs. Light source 110 can be enclosed by a cylindrical reflector 114 to focus the light into the light guide 112. Due to the higher index of the light guide material, a light ray such as ray 116, which is incident on the top surface of the light guide with an angle larger than the critical angle, is reflected and propagates toward the bottom of the light guide. Light ray 118, which is incident at an angle smaller than the critical angle, will leak out of the light guide. In order to facilitate the coupling of light out of the waveguide, some structures are put on the bottom surface 120 of the light guide.
FIG. 3 shows an example of the structures 201 used on surface 120 of FIG. 1. The circles 202, 203 indicate the locations of highly reflective particles on the bottom surface of the light guide. These particles can be made either of reflective paint or structures such as hemispheres. In order to achieve uniform distribution of the light emitting from the light guide, fewer particles are placed on the side closer to the light source. Otherwise, too much light would be reflected out from the side close to the light source, leaving too little light to propagate to the right and be reflected out the far side of the light guide. The size and density of the circles in FIG. 2 symbolically illustrates a variation of the reflective particles on the bottom surface. Unfortunately, with the light source placed at the side of the light guide, most of the light coupled out from the waveguide propagates almost parallel to the top surface of the light guide. This is highly undesirable, since the viewer is looking in a direction normal to the surface of the light guide.
FIG. 4 illustrates one of the techniques to overcome this difficulty in a structure with a light source 301, cylindrical reflector 302 and reflector 303. A diffuser 304 is put on top of the light guide. Light rays incident on the diffuser are scattered over a larger cone angle 305. Hence there will be more light propagating closer to the normal direction of the light guide. This diffuser also makes the light emerging from the waveguide more uniform. However, even with the diffuser, the light emerging from the light guide is still not quite normal to the display surface.
FIG. 5 shows a structure with two light sources 501, one at each end of the light guide structure, each with its own cylindrical reflector 502. A reflector 503 and diffuser 504 are shown. A prism film 505 is added to the light guide structure. The prism film only allows light rays within certain angles to be passed through. The light rays emerging from the prism film will be within +/−30 degree with respect to the normal of the light guide surface, as shown by light rays within angle 506. As can be seen, such an illumination system is highly light inefficient and expensive in cost due to the multiple layers of film needed to correct for the illumination distribution. In order to provide sufficient illumination, often light sources on the two sides are used as shown, although alternately a light source on a single side can be used, such as for a smaller display.
There are many examples of improvements on this basic back light module. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,392,199 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,647,655 show a reflecting plate below a light guide, and a diffusion layer above it. The ends of the cylindrical reflector around the light source are bonded to the light guide. U.S. Pat. No. 5,779,337 shows a light guide with a plurality of projections or grooves arrayed on the light emitting (top) surface to cause more light to be emitted. U.S. Pat. No. 6,115,058 shows an LCD using polarizing filters and a Fresnel lens 201 bonded to the back of the LCD. U.S. Pat. No. 6,710,829 shows a press to generate a plurality of recesses of different sizes on the illuminating plate of a back light plate. U.S. Pat. No. 7,160,018 shows a back light plate with an array of prisms on the front or top, and reflective dots on the bottom surface. U.S. Pat. No. 7,270,466 shows a bottom reflecting surface with different sized and spaced protrusions on the two sides of the reflecting surface.
A number of other patents and published applications discuss the use of a Fresnel lens structure in a backlighting application. Such a lens can be used to disperse light from an LED into a light guide for the backlight. US Published Application No. 2006-0256578 describes a Fresnel structure for reflecting light from an LED into a light guide. This is also shown in U.S. Pat. No. 6,935,764. US2007-041215 shows a Fresnel lens for corners. U.S. Pat. No. 5,579,134 shows a Fresnel lens for a top surface. US2002093742 shows a microfresnel lens array on top of a light guide, with an array of reflective protrusions below, with the protrusions reflecting light from the side to the microfresnel lens array on axis (straight on). U.S. Pat. No. 6,935,764 shows a Fresnel lens for dispersing the LED light where it enters the light guide. U.S. Pat. No. 6,883,934 shows a Fresnel lens over the LED. U.S. Pat. No. 5,851,062 and U.S. Pat. No. 7,018,088 show a prism above (in front of) the LCD. U.S. Pat. No. 7,226,196 shows deformities on the top and bottom layers of a light guide.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,196,691 describes a single, ruled diffraction structure on the bottom of the light guide to couple light out. The diffractive structure has a constant period.
It is an objective of this invention to provide an efficient way to couple light into a light guide for use in large screen television. This same method can also be used in small screen displays such as the ones used in mobile phones or other personal devices. It is also an objective to remove the need for the multiple layers, with their added expense and size, such as the prism and diffuser layers.

Back light module with micro Fresnel lens


A speech search method performed by a display device, the method including outputting media data including audio data, receiving a speech search command for additional data about the outputted media data from a user, the speech search command including at least one query word, determining whether the at least one query word matches a query term that is full and searchable, when the at least one query word matches the query term that is full and searchable, performing a search for the additional data using the query term, and when the at least one query word does not match the query term that is full and searchable, determining the query term from a predetermined amount of the audio data prior to receiving the speech search command and performing the search for the additional data using the query term.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a display device and more particularly, to a speech search method for a display device.
Discussion of Background Art
As network technology has improved, users can easily search a variety of information. Especially, the users can search for digital contents at the same time they view the digital contents using a display device. They can search for not only information about the contents themselves but also detailed information about a part of the contents that they are viewing or the object of the contents.
Searching for information about contents can be performed in various ways. Previously, the users inputted their search words by using additional input devices such as a keyboard. However, due to the improvements of the recent voice recognition technology, the users can input various voice commands to a device in order to control the device. Therefore, the users can search for information about contents using their voice commands at the same time they are viewing the contents.

Displaying additional data about outputted media data by a display device for a speech search command


A small form-factor pluggable (SFP) transceiver is detected to be plugged into an SFP port of the network router following a bootup of the network router. Information on one or more device features of the SFP transceiver is obtained from the SFP transceiver plugged into the SFP port of the network router. Subsequently, a port configuration policy that corresponds to the one or more device features of the SFP transceiver and one or more router parameters of the network router is applied to the SFP port of the network router.

Network routers are used by a variety of networks to route and distribute network data traffic between network endpoints. For example, a wireless carrier network may use a backhaul network that is equipped with multiple network routers to transport network data traffic between a radio access network (RAN) and a core network of the wireless carrier network. Network routers may be connected to each other via wired connections that plug into physical ports of the network routers. In some instances, the wired connection may be implemented using copper-based cables that plug into ethernet ports of the network routers. However, in other instances, network routers may be equipped with small form-factor pluggable (SFP) ports that accept SFP network interface modules. These SFP network interface modules are also known as SFP transceivers.
An SFP transceiver is a device that converts electrical signals into optical signals and vice versa. For example, a first SFP transceiver installed at an SFP port of a network router may convert an electrical signal outputted at an SFP port of a network router into an optical signal for transport using a fiber optic cable to a second SFP transceiver installed at the SFP port of another piece of network equipment. In turn, the second SFP transceiver may convert the optical signal back into the electrical signal for use as input by the network equipment. Likewise, an electrical signal outputted at the SFP port of the network equipment may be similarly converted by the first and second SFP transceivers to an optical signal and then back to an electrical signal for input to the network router. Further, the SFP ports of a network router are capable of dynamically supporting different data speeds. For example, depending on the data transmission speed capability of an inserted SFP transceiver, an SFP port of the network router may support data speeds such as 1.0 gigabits/per second (Gbps), 10 Gbps, 25 Gbps, 40 Gbps, 100 Gbps, etc.

Dynamic port configuration for network routers


A drawing apparatus, including a placement section including a placement surface on which a printing target object having a printing target surface that curved along one direction is placed, a drawing head in which at least one drawing tool having a tip portion at one end thereof is loaded and performs drawing by making the tip portion contact with a drawing position of the printing target surface, the tip portion having a shape including a first axis as a central axis; and a control unit which tilts the first axis of the tip portion to one of a first tilt direction and a second tilt direction selectively according to the drawing position of the printing target surface.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a drawing apparatus and a drawing control method thereof.
2. Description of Related Art
Conventionally, there have been known nail print apparatuses which perform nail printing by printing nail designs on nails. Such nail print apparatuses are described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2003-534083, for example.
By using such nail print apparatuses, nail designs can be enjoyed casually without visiting nail salons and such like.
The nail print apparatus described in the above document uses an ink-jet system which makes ink be in the form of micro droplets and sprays the ink droplets from a print head.
On the other hand, there have been known plot type drawing apparatuses which include writing tools (pens) for drawing and perform drawing by making pen tips which are tip portions of the writing tools contact drawing targets.
Since such plot type drawing apparatuses use pens, it is possible to use various types of ink which is difficult to use in the ink jet system, such as ink including pigment (color material) with a large particle diameter, lame and such like, ink with high viscosity and such like. Thus, in a case where such drawing apparatus is adopted as a nail print apparatus, it is possible to achieve nail print having a finish close to nail art provided at nail salons or the like.
However, nails which are drawing targets for the nail print apparatuses generally have curved shapes that the central portions in the width direction are high and relatively flat and the portions closer to the both ends in the width direction are lower and slanted more.
Thus, in a case where the writing tool has a felt-like pen tip, when drawing is performed for each of the end portions in the width direction of a nail which are largely slanted, a side of the pen tip sometimes contacts the nail to make the drawing line thicker. Alternatively, in a case where the writing tool has a ballpoint pen type pen tip, when drawing is performed for each of the end portions in the width direction of a nail, the ball part which is a tip of the pen tip is difficult to contact the nail surface to make the line blur or broken, and the drawing cannot be performed successfully.
For the above reasons, the finish quality of nail print is deteriorated at both end portions in the width direction of the nail in some cases.

Drawing apparatus for highly accurate drawing on finger and toe nails


The use of motion capture data for analyzing an individual's performance on certain exercises, and more particularly relates to comparison of movement data for an individual with a database of recorded motions for a population in order to generate a training regimen for the individual, and to monitor the individual's progress when carrying out the training regimen.

Motion capture technologies have improved in recent years so that it is now possible for a computer to recognize the human form and to recognize and record a person's motion in three dimensions, as well as identify and track other objects in a person's environment. See, for example, www.primesense.com/solutions/technology/.
Sports medicine has for long been interested in developing metrics to facilitate diagnosis and treatment of motion-related disorders and impediments.
There has been a growing use of motion capture technology in medicine, though mostly this has been in a clinic, laboratory, or hospital setting, and in conjunction with assessment by a physician. For example, Jintronix uses motion capture to record a patient's movements in physical rehabilitation and relay them to a healthcare provider to provide for ongoing monitoring. See, e.g., www.jintronix.com/our-system/. West Health Institute has developed a product, Rehabilitation Management Tool, that allows a physical therapy patient to utilize Microsoft's Kinect to monitor whether exercises are being performed correctly. See, e.g., www.westhealth.org/institute/our-innovations/reflexion.
Motion capture technology has also been used in training and performance measurement in a sports setting. For example, Ikkos Training provides an application for allowing an athlete in training to replicate the movements of a professional. Information about the athlete's performance can also be viewed by medical personnel. See, e.g., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. US2010-0173274. In another example, Ubisoft uses Microsoft's Kinect product (e.g., www.xbox.com/en-US/KINECT) to assist an individual in practicing a work-out regime: see, e.g., www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0—4YEx07rw. Vicon uses optical marker data to monitor and analyse movements of athletes in a laboratory setting in order to quantify injuries or identify potential injuries. See, e.g., www.vicon.com/applications/life_sciences.html. Qualisys also uses motion capture based on optical tracking to monitor and analyse movements of athletes in a laboratory setting. See, e.g., www.qualisys.com/applications/biomechanics/gait-analysis-and-rehabilitation/. However, none of these technologies are used to direct training programs.
Nike has used motion capture technology in the generation of performance metrics, such as speed and endurance, but does not utilize a biomechanical analysis and does not assist an individual in identifying and improving upon movement pathologies. See, for example, nikeplus.nike.com/plus/support#answers/detail/article/nkt-settings, and: www.nike.com/us/en_us/c/training/nike-plus-kinect-training.
In sum, a way of monitoring an individual's biomechanics with motion capture technology in conjunction with providing to that individual suggested improved training regimens, outside the clinic, for example from within the comfort of the individual's home, has yet to be disclosed.
The discussion of the background herein is included to explain the context of the technology. This is not to be taken as an admission that any of the material referred to was published, known, or part of the common general knowledge as at the priority date of any of the claims found appended hereto.
Throughout the description and claims of the application the word "comprise" and variations thereof, such as "comprising" and "comprises", is not intended to exclude other additives, components, integers or steps.

Generation of personalized training regimens from motion capture data


Human MELK genes are identified as modulators of the RAC pathway, and thus are therapeutic targets for disorders associated with defective RAC function. Methods for identifying modulators of RAC, comprising screening for agents that modulate the activity of MELK are provided.

Cell movement is an important part of normal developmental and physiological processes (e.g. epiboly, gastrulation and wound healing), and is also important in pathologies such as tumor progression and metastasis, angiogenesis, inflammation and atherosclerosis. The process of cell movement involves alterations of cell-cell and cell-matrix interactions in response to signals, as well as rearrangement of the actin and microtubule cytoskeletons. The small GTPases of the Rho/Rac family interact with a variety of molecules to regulate the processes of cell motility, cell-cell adhesion and cell-matrix adhesion. Cdc42 and Rac are implicated in the formation of filopodia and lamellipodia required for initiating cell movement, and Rho regulates stress fiber and focal adhesion formation. Rho/Rac proteins are effectors of cadherin/catenin-mediated cell-cell adhesion, and function downstream of integrins and growth factor receptors to regulate cytoskeletal changes important for cell adhesion and motility.
There are five members of the Rho/Rac family in the C. elegans genome. rho-1 encodes a protein most similar to human RhoA and RhoC, cdc-42 encodes an ortholog of human Cdc42, and ced-10, mig-2 and rac-2 encode Rac-related proteins. ced-10, mig-2 and rac-2 have partially redundant functions in the control of a number of cell and axonal migrations in the worm, as inactivation of two or all three of these genes causes enhanced migration defects when compared to the single mutants. Furthermore, ced-10; mig-2 double mutants have gross morphological and movement defects not seen in either single mutant, possibly as a secondary effect of defects in cell migration or movements during morphogenesis. These defects include a completely penetrant uncoordinated phenotype, as well as variably penetrant slow-growth, vulval, withered tail, and sterility defects, none of which are seen in either single mutant.
MELK (maternal embryonic leucine zipper kinase) is a member of the evolutionarily conserved KIN1/PAR-1/MARK kinase family which is involved in cell polarity and microtubule dynamics.
The ability to manipulate the genomes of model organisms such as C. elegans provides a powerful means to analyze biochemical processes that, due to significant evolutionary conservation, have direct relevance to more complex vertebrate organisms. Due to a high level of gene and pathway conservation, the strong similarity of cellular processes, and the functional conservation of genes between these model organisms and mammals, identification of the involvement of novel genes in particular pathways and their functions in such model organisms can directly contribute to the understanding of the correlative pathways and methods of modulating them in mammals (see, for example, Dulubova I, et al, J Neurochem 2001 April; 77(1):229-38; Cai T, et al., Diabetologia 2001 January; 44(1):81-8; Pasquinelli A E, et al., Nature. 2000 Nov. 2; 408(6808):37-8; Ivanov I P, et al., EMBO J 2000 Apr. 17; 19(8):1907-17; Vajo Z et al., Mamm Genome 1999 October; 10(10):1000-4). For example, a genetic screen can be carried out in an invertebrate model organism having underexpression (e.g. knockout) or overexpression of a gene (referred to as a "genetic entry point") that yields a visible phenotype. Additional genes are mutated in a random or targeted manner. When a gene mutation changes the original phenotype caused by the mutation in the genetic entry point, the gene is identified as a "modifier" involved in the same or overlapping pathway as the genetic entry point. When the genetic entry point is an ortholog of a human gene implicated in a disease pathway, such as RAC, modifier genes can be identified that may be attractive candidate targets for novel therapeutics.
All references cited herein, including patents, patent applications, publications, and sequence information in referenced Genbank identifier numbers, are incorporated herein in their entireties.

MELKS as modifiers of the Rac pathway and methods of use


A flexible memory interface system includes a control module, instruction memory, a command processing unit, an address processing unit, and a data processing unit. The control module controls storing and retrieving of a command portion, an addressing portion, and data of an instruction to access memory to and from the instruction memory and the command processing unit, the address processing unit, and the data processing unit, respectively. The command processing unit is operably coupled to process a command portion of an instruction to access memory. The address processing unit is operably coupled to process an addressing portion of the instruction to access the memory. The data processing unit is operably coupled to process data conveyance to or from the external memory based on the instruction to access the memory.

Technical Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to portable electronic equipment and more particularly to a multi-function handheld device and a battery-optimized system-on-a-chip used therein.
Description of Related Art
As is known, integrated circuits are used in a wide variety of electronic equipment, including portable, or handheld, devices. Such handheld devices include personal digital assistants (PDA), CD players, MP3 players, DVD players, AM/FM radio, a pager, cellular telephones, computer memory extension (commonly referred to as a thumb drive), etc. Each of these handheld devices includes one or more integrated circuits to provide the functionality of the device. For example, a thumb drive may include an integrated circuit for interfacing with a computer (e.g., personal computer, laptop, server, workstation, etc.) via one of the ports of the computer (e.g., Universal Serial Bus, parallel port, etc.) and at least one other memory integrated circuit (e.g., flash memory). As such, when the thumb drive is coupled to a computer, data can be read from and written to the memory of the thumb drive. Accordingly, a user may store personalized information (e.g., presentations, Internet access account information, etc.) on his/her thumb drive and use any computer to access the information.
As another example, an MP3 player may include multiple integrated circuits to support the storage and playback of digitally formatted audio (i.e., formatted in accordance with the MP3 specification). As is known, one integrated circuit may be used for interfacing with a computer, another integrated circuit for generating a power supply voltage, another for processing the storage and/or playback of the digitally formatted audio data, and still another for rendering the playback of the digitally formatted audio data audible.
Integrated circuits have enabled the creation of a plethora of handheld devices, however, to be "wired" in today's electronic world, a person needs to posses multiple handheld devices. For example, one may own a cellular telephone for cellular telephone service, a PDA for scheduling, address book, etc., one or more thumb drives for extended memory functionality, an MP3 player for storage and/or playback of digitally recorded music, a radio, etc. Thus, even though a single handheld device may be relatively small, carrying multiple handheld devices on one's person can become quite burdensome.
Further, such handheld devices use a battery (or batteries) to supply power to the circuitry of the device. The more power the circuitry consumes, the shorter the battery life (i.e., how long the device can be operated before having to replace or charge the battery). Several techniques have been developed to reduce power consumption of battery-powered circuitry. One technique is to turn off circuitry that is not needed to support the present function and to put the device in a "sleep" mode when the entire device is not in use. Another technique relates to improvements in integrated circuit fabrication, which allow for smaller devices to be developed and to operating at lower voltages, thus consuming less power. For example, 0.18 micron CMOS integrated circuit technology is currently the most popular process, which uses supply voltages of 1.8 volts. Just a few years ago, however, 0.35 micron and 0.50 micron CMOS IC technology were the most popular processes, which used supply voltages of about 3.3 volts. In the near future, 0.10 and 0.13 micron CMOS IC technology will most likely become the technology of choice, which use supply voltages of about 1.0 volts. While these techniques work to reduce power consumption, they are not optimized on a chip-by-chip basis, but are designed based on worst-case operation of the integrated circuit. As such, a majority of the integrated circuit circuits are consuming more power than necessary, since the power reducing techniques are worst-case based and not individually established.
Yet further, many handheld devices include an external memory interface to couple to external memory, such as a memory stick, flash memory, etc. The memory interface typically includes a state machine that is programmed to process the reading to and writing from the external memory in accordance with a standardized memory access protocol. As is known, many external memory devices use a standardized memory access protocol, however, recently some manufacturers have deviating from the standardized memory access protocol. The non-standard external memories offer some advantages over the standardized memories, thus are desirable for use with the handheld devices. However, the memory interface state machine is not capable of processing the memory access requests for non-standard memory. Thus, a handheld device would require multiple state machines to process memory access requests with standard and non-standard memories.
Therefore, a need exists for an integrated circuit that provides multiple functions for handheld devices including flexible external memory interfacing.

Flexible memory interface system for independently processing different portions of an instruction