A computer software construct has a plurality of components and is built based on an architecture designed for the construct. The architecture includes a number of partitions and dependency rules, where each partition is for having at least one component associated therewith. Each dependency rule specifies whether a component of one partition may refer to any component of another partition. The method enforces the dependency rules of the architecture on each component of the construct as built. A command is received to build a particular component of the software construct based on corresponding build instructions, and the dependency rules are also received. Thereafter, it is determined whether the particular component of a particular partition violates any dependency rule by improperly referring to another component of another partition. The particular component of the software construct is built only if the particular component violates none of the dependency rules.

Computer applications, and relatively large-scale computer applications in particular, typically are constructed according to an architectural partitioning design that conceptually divides the application into logical groupings. As may be appreciated, such groupings serve to help in understanding the application in broad terms. As an example of such architectural partitioning, it may be the case that an application is divided into groupings, partitions, or areas of focus that include a user interface (UI), application logic, data storage, and the like.
Notably, an architectural partitioning design of a particular application may specify not only a number of partitions, but may also specify whether and how components of the application in each specified partition may refer to components of the application in other specified partitions. As may be appreciated, a reference within a first component to another, second component creates a dependency in the first component to the second component. As may also be appreciated, such references or dependencies may be useful and even necessary, but also may have the effect of tying together the components of the application in an unwanted and/or unwise manner. Thus, an architectural partitioning design for the application may specify that the first component if in a first partition can refer to the second component if in a second partition, but not to the second component if in a third partition.
As should be understood, by employing architectural partitioning according to logical groupings, and particularly in modular systems, adherence to the defined groupings and allowed dependencies allows for configuration agility. For example, and as may be appreciated, if application logic in an application is partitioned to be separate from the user interface in such an application, components that are employed to provide the application logic may more readily be employed in another application that may perhaps be similar in nature but that has a different user interface. Thus, and as a dependency rule, a component in an application logic partition should not depend on a component from a user interface partition for the reason that such a dependency would prevent the application logic from being employed with another user interface.
The theory and use of architectural partitioning is well-established with regard to a computer application. However, it is also well-established that given the opportunity to do so, a developer developing one or more components for the computer application may violate the architectural partitioning defined for the application, either intentionally or unintentionally. That is, applications, and especially the aforementioned relatively large-scale computer applications, tend to fall out of accordance with and diverge from the architectural partitioning that has been defined therefor.
In one typical example of such a divergence, an architectural partitioning design of a particular application may specify a rule that components in a first partition may refer to/depend on components in a second partition, but not components in a third partition. However, despite such a dependency rule, a developer developing the application in fact either intentionally or unintentionally violates same by developing a component in the first partition that refers to/depends on a component in a third partition. Put simply, placing a reference from one component to another is typically a simple thing to do, and no safeguards presently exist to inform the developer that a particular reference may violate a dependency rule and create a divergence.
In general, divergences occur primarily for the reason that the architecture of an application is typically designed and maintained separately from the application itself. Put simply, such architecture is not typically embodied in source code or any other memorialized form that could be used to actually build the application. Moreover, it is oftentimes the case that the architecture application is defined by one person or group of people and developed by another person or group of people. Thus, if a divergence occurs between an application as developed and the architecture defined for the application, no method or mechanism exists to identify the divergence, or to halt building of an application that has diverged from the architecture defined for such application.
Accordingly, a need exists for a method and mechanism that enforces the architectural partitioning defined for an application. In particular, a need exists for a method and mechanism that in fact identifies a divergence between an application as developed and the architecture defined for the application. Likewise, a need exists for a method and mechanism for halting building of an application that has diverged from the architecture defined for such application.

Build-time enforcement of architectural partitioning in computer application


A power system is provided for a mobile machine. The power system may have a traction motor configured to propel the mobile machine during a driving operation and to generate electricity during a braking operation. The power system may also have an aluminum-air battery connected to the traction motor. The power system may further have a circuit fluidly connected to the aluminum-air battery and configured to circulate electrolyte and aluminum hydroxide particles produced by the aluminum-air battery. The power system may also have a crystallizer connected to the circuit and configured to crystallize and separate the aluminum hydroxide particles from the electrolyte. The power system may also have a heating chamber configured to heat the aluminum hydroxide particles and produce aluminum oxide separated from the electrolyte, wherein the heating chamber is powered by electricity generated by the traction motor during the braking operation.

Aluminum-air batteries have the potential to produce power that operates mobile machines (e.g., automobiles). Aluminum-air batteries consume aluminum anodes as fuel and have an energy density that surpasses conventional battery technologies (e.g., lithium-ion batteries). When used to power a mobile machine, aluminum air batteries have a travel range comparable to vehicles powered by an internal combustion engine. However, aluminum-air batteries are not electrically rechargeable like many conventional batteries. Instead, aluminum-air batteries must be mechanically recharged by replacing the aluminum anode. The consumed aluminum anodes are converted into aluminum hydroxide by the electrochemical reaction taking place in the aluminum-air batteries. The aluminum hydroxide produced may be collected and recycled back into aluminum. The recycling process involves heating (i.e., calcining) the aluminum hydroxide to form aluminum oxide, mixing the aluminum oxide with various salts, and regenerating the aluminum oxide to aluminum by electrolysis.
Recycling the aluminum hydroxide can reduce the overall cost of aluminum-air batteries. However, the heating step (e.g., calcining) of the recycling process requires a significant amount of energy. In addition, even though aluminum-air batteries have an energy density greater than that of convention battery technology, limiting the footprint of the aluminum-air batteries and corresponding system is a challenge for mobile machine applications where space is limited.
One article analyzing the use of aluminum-air batteries in electric vehicles was written by Shaohua Yang & Harold Knickle, and is titled Design and Analysis of Aluminum/Air Battery System for Electric Vehicles. The article was published in 2002 by the Journal of Power Sources, at pages 162-173. The article discusses the fuel cost and efficiency of aluminum-air batteries, as well as the recycling process. The article compares aluminum-air batteries to lead/acid batteries and nickel-metal hybride battery. Although the article breaks down the cost, efficiency, and recycling process for aluminum-air batteries, it does not put forth solutions for reducing the high energy needs for aluminum hydroxide recycling or reducing the footprint of the aluminum-air battery system.
The aluminum-air battery power system of the present disclosure is directed to overcoming one or more of the problems set forth above.

Mobile aluminum-air battery power system


A device for mounting an action camera to a protrusion includes a fastener and a mounting arm configured to be secured to the action camera. The mounting arm has a first opening configured to accommodate a fastener. An upper bracket has a second opening positioned to be aligned with the first opening and configured to accommodate the fastener. A lower bracket is configured to be selectively secured to the upper bracket. The upper bracket and the lower bracket are configured to surround and frictionally engage the protrusion.

Action cameras such as the GoPro® Hero® (www.gopro.com) are ruggedized, high performance point and shoot style cameras that sometimes are configured to capture images upon demand, at set intervals, or to capture continuous or periodic video recordings. These action cameras have become very common and are used by many to record activities where non-ruggedized cameras would likely be damaged by water, impact, vibration or other conditions for which they are not adequately designed. Action cameras are frequently designed to accommodate an accessory enclosure or mount which permits their attachment to the bodies of those participating in sporting or recreational activities, for example. Other attachment points for such mounts include helmets, animals, bicycles, sports equipment, goal posts, other fixed structures, vehicles, equipment, and the like. The previous list is intended to illustrate some of the applications for action cameras but is not intended to be comprehensive.
A common feature of many mounts for action camera, and for action cameras in general, is the use of an adjustable mounting system that permits the action camera to be mounted in a manner which permits the action camera to be directed at one or more desired points of focus. These action camera mounts frequently use a series of articulated joints that are held in position by interlocking teeth and the compressive force of a fastener. These mounts are generally made of a plastic material. In order to adjust the focal point of the camera, a user must generally loosen a fastener, adjust a joint of the mount, and retighten the fastener. Generally, the fasteners for action camera are designed with a knurled end or knob that is designed to permit a user to grasp the knob for tightening. Because of their intended use, action cameras are frequently subject to high levels of shock and vibration. In order to reduce this vibration, users frequently tighten the mounting fasteners to the point of failure, stripping the threading of the mounting fasteners, damaging the mounting points, or both.
What is needed is a mounting system and associated hardware that permits a user to securely mount an action camera to various structures in a manner that prevents or minimizes vibration of the action camera. An embodiment of the inventive device may comprise one or more robust joint structures which allow adjustments across several axes of adjustment, so as to permit a user to align the action camera such that a desired image or video may be captured. Also needed is a fastener that is sufficiently robust to be tightened in a way which minimizes the movement of the action camera mount. An embodiment of such a fastener may be configured so as to allow for finger tightening, tool-based tightening or to allow tightening and adjustment using a flat structure such as, but not limited to, a coin.
The brief summary presented above is intended only to familiarize the reader with certain aspects and contexts of embodiments of the present disclosure without limitation to the claimed subject matter. Further features and advantages of the devices and systems disclosed herein, as well as the structure and operation of various aspects of the present disclosure, are described in detail below with reference to the accompanying figures.


The manufacture of housing parts of a hearing apparatus and in particular a hearing device is to be simplified. To this end, provision is made to also efficiently use a so-called tumbling process for the surface treatment of housing. On account of this, a closure element is proposed for closing openings of housing parts for a hearing apparatus of this type during a tumbling process. The closure element has a disk-like center part, a first column section, which protrudes from the one side of the disk-like center part and has a first swelling on its free end, and a second column section, which protrudes from the other side of the disk-like center part and has a second swelling on its free end. A closure element of this type allows openings of housing parts, which are attached to the column sections, to be closed and protected for a tumbling process.

Hearing devices are wearable hearing apparatuses which are used to assist the hard-of-hearing. In order to accommodate numerous individual requirements, various types of hearing devices are available such as behind-the-ear (BTE) hearing devices and in-the-ear (ITE) hearing devices, for example also concha hearing devices or completely-in-the-canal (ITE, CIC) hearing devices. The hearing devices listed as examples are worn on the outer ear or in the auditory canal. Bone conduction hearing aids, implantable or vibrotactile hearing aids are also available on the market. The damaged hearing is thus stimulated either mechanically or electrically.
The key components of hearing devices are principally an input converter, an amplifier and an output converter. The input converter is normally a receiving transducer e.g. a microphone and/or an electromagnetic receiver, e.g. an induction coil. The output converter is most frequently realized as an electroacoustic converter e.g. a miniature loudspeaker, or as an electromechanical converter e.g. a bone conduction hearing aid. The amplifier is usually integrated into a signal processing unit. This basic configuration is illustrated in FIG. 1 using the example of a behind-the-ear hearing device. One or a plurality of microphones 2 for recording ambient sound are built into a hearing device housing 1 to be worn behind the ear. A signal processing unit 3 which is also integrated into the hearing device housing 1 processes and amplifies the microphone signals. The output signal for the signal processing unit 3 is transmitted to a loudspeaker or receiver 4, which outputs an acoustic signal. Sound is transmitted through a sound tube, which is affixed in the auditory canal by means of an otoplastic, to the device wearer's eardrum. Power for the hearing device and in particular for the signal processing unit 3 is supplied by means of a battery 5 which is also integrated in the hearing device housing 1.
An ITE hearing device adjusted to a user generally consists of a lower part (shell) and an upper part (face plate and/or casing). After assembling the shell and/or casing with corresponding hearing device components, the casing and/or the upper part is adhered to the shell. It is necessary for both parts to rest closely against one another so that no foreign objects can enter the hearing device.
Hearing device shells, but also casings, are frequently produced using stereolithography methods (SLA). However, after this production step, they have to be smoothed, i.e. grinded or polished, but also coated if necessary. These method steps can be implemented in a so-called tumbling machine. In this way, the entire surface of the work piece is treated. Surfaces and edges are thus also abraded, which is undesirable in these cases. However, following their manufacture, the openings for components, but also the openings to which the housing parts are added, are in particular no longer allowed to be damaged or destroyed.
DE 10 2005 013 834 A1 discloses a method for producing a hearing aid component and a corresponding hearing aid component in which a stereolithography method is used for production purposes.
According to internal sources, only the lower parts, i.e. the shells, are currently produced using stereolithography methods. Here the cutting edge, to which the shell with the casing is added, is reinforced with material, so that various polishing and smoothing methods can be carried out without any problem. In a subsequent manual work step, the surplus material must then be removed.
The upper part, namely the faceplate, is currently typically manufactured as an injection-molded plate. No tumbling process is needed here. After adhering the casing and/or the face plate to the shell, protruding parts of the casing must be cut off manually. This represents a very high outlay in respect of the production of a hearing device.

Closure element for housing openings during a tumbling process


An instrument training device for use with a stringed instrument includes a plurality of training members. Each training member is constructed of a flexible material and includes opposed ends. Each end includes complementary fastening material such as hook and loop fasteners for securing a respective training member about a fret board of a stringed instrument by releasably fastening the opposed ends together. Each training member includes indicia on a front portion thereof corresponding to chord sets or tuning schemes. The front portion is constructed of a resilient or elastic material that may be stretched across the front surface of the fret board such that the indicia thereon is situated directly beneath predetermined strings. This enables each training member to be used on stringed instruments of different sizes or widths. Each training member includes an identifier for positioning the training member at a predetermined position along a fret board.

The present invention relates generally to instrument training devices and, more particularly, to a training device having training members that elastically extend across the fret board of the instrument and identify correct finger placement. The training device, therefore, is useful for training proper finger placement on a variety of types and sizes of stringed instruments.
Leaning to play a stringed instrument such as the guitar can be a difficult and sometimes frustrating undertaking for both the teacher and student. Students often look for shortcuts or other training aids to speed up this difficult process. Although various devices have been proposed in the art for assisting in the training of a guitar student, the existing proposals may not be easily used on instruments of various sizes, may damage an instrument's surface upon attachment, or are otherwise not easily attachable or readable.
Therefore, it is desirable to have an instrument training device for stringed instruments that may be quickly and easily attachable about the instruments fret board without damaging an instrument surface. Further, it is desirable to have an instrument training device having training members that may be stretched across freeboards of various widths and that still show correct finger placement. Still further, it is desirable to have an instrument training device having training members with multiple types of indicia for instant clarity and instruction.

Instrument training device for stringed instruments


A high density land grid array test socket comprises a leadless component contact socket assembly and a fixture. The contact socket assembly can be assembled with a variety of contact terminal end configurations and adapted for a desired mode of circuit board interface. In one embodiment, the test socket fixture includes a latching mechanism and a hinged lid assembly which allow quick and reliable manual installation of a device under test (DUT). An alternative embodiment includes snap latches, extension springs and alignment bushings which permit robotically controlled insertion and removal from the test socket. A bias clip or spring is incorporated in the test sockets for assuring proper alignment of the chip carrier with the contact socket assembly. The test socket creates reliable contacts with short electrical paths for low signal distortion and reduced chip loading.

Leadless chip carrier sockets are known for removably socketing leadless chip carriers or packages which have no protruding electrical leads but which have contact sites or pads to which electrical contact must be made. However, such known leadless chip carrier sockets are not satisfactory in terms of contact reliability, especially where sophisticated packaging results in increasing pin densities and consequently in greater numbers of contacts.
Former technology used plated through-holes or surface mounted IC chips soldered directly to the board. With today's density of chip carriers, these techniques are not easy to achieve. If an IC chip becomes defective, replacing a soldered chip becomes more difficult than using a socket. Plastic IC chip carriers with high pin count have relatively small leads that are more difficult to solder to a printed circuit board. Extra cost is added to protect IC chip carriers during handling and transportation.
Today's high numbers of closely spaced contacts make it important to protect the leads of the IC chip carrier to maintain their proper position. Damage or misalignment of the chip carrier leads can cause an unreliable electrical connection. With higher speeds of systems, the chip carriers require shorter lead lengths to reduce capacitance and inductance. Current package styles may have no leads. Thus, difficulties arise in socketing leadless components in printed circuit boards and in test fixtures.
As it is very difficult to remove high density leadless chip carriers that have been installed on a printed circuit board, it is desirable to socket such devices, prior to installation, to exercise internal circuitry. A suitable socket is needed for functional and accelerated life testing.


A hermetically sealed package for an optoelectronic device such as a diode laser comprises a side wall welded to a thermally conductive heat sink mount, and a lid welded to the side wall. Testing and alignment of the device are performed before the attachment of the side wall to the mount. Feedthroughs for optical fibers and electrical connections run through the side wall. The feedthrough seals are established within projections extending away from the side wall, to protect the seals from melting during welding steps. A high-resistivity piece is present at the interface between the side walls and the base, to provide heating localized to the interface, and thereby reduce the heating of the laser during welding. The mount is pressed into a receiving structure, which is attached to an external heat sink. The bottom surface of the mount protrudes from the receiving structure, and is in direct contact with the external heat sink. In an alternative embodiment, the optoelectronic device and optical fiber are encapsulated in epoxy after optical and electrical testing and alignment.

Packages for coupling optoelectronic components to optical fibers are subject to numerous design constraints. It is in general desirable that such packages be hermetically sealed, compact, and easily manufacturable. It is also desirable that such packages provide efficient cooling of the optoelectronic components, and allow access to optical elements within the package during the alignment of various optical elements. It is important that high-temperature manufacturing steps not damage heat-sensitive package components. In addition, it is desirable that the package manufacturing process include as few thermal processing steps as possible. Thermal processing steps, such as soldering, typically require heating the entire package and significantly increase manufacturing costs.
In a commonly used design approach for a diode laser package, a diode laser is mounted within a hermetically sealed housing having a base, side walls, and a lid. Heat dissipated by the laser is transferred to an external heat sink through the base. The housing has a feedthrough for an optical fiber, and electrical feedthroughs for electrical connections to the laser. Typically, the electrical feedthroughs run through the base, while the optical feedthrough runs through the lid.
For examples of packages for optoelectronic devices see U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,119,363, 4,752,109, 5,029,968, and 5,430,820, which are herein incorporated by reference. The packages disclosed in the above-incorporated patents have relatively poor thermal conductivities, or cannot be easily assembled. In addition, the soldering processes used in assembling the packages place significant restrictions on the package manufacturing, since soldering typically requires heating the entire package to a temperature that can damage optoelectronic components.

High-thermal-conductivity sealed package for fiber optic coupling to an optoelectronic device


A process for reducing the production of biomass during activated sludge treatment of pulp and paper mill effluents, involving a conditioning of the recycled activated sludge (RAS) prior to its return into the aeration tank is described. The conditioning is typically performed within the sludge return line and involves RAS exposure to a waste acidic effluent originating from bleach plants of kraft, sulphite mills or other mill sources.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to the reduction of biomass production during activated sludge treatment of pulp and paper mill effluents. The present invention further relates to conditioning the activated sludge with an acid effluent.
2. Description of Prior Art
Biological sludge is an activated sludge produced by degradation and biosynthesis of dissolved organics, is known to be viscous and difficult to dewater. The present practice in mill sludge dewatering is to combine the biological or secondary sludge with the fibrous primary sludge, in order to improve dewatering rate and dryness of sludge cake. Decreases in primary sludge generation at the mill through improved reclamation of rejects, as well as the extensive use of activated sludge treatment systems in the industry, have resulted in an overall decrease in the weight proportion of primary to secondary sludge. This adversely affects efficiency of the dewatering process.
A pulp mill producing 750 tons of pulp per day will typically have a total effluent flow of 25 million US gallons/day which would produce 250,000 US gallons of sludge having a consistency of 1%, and requiring dewatering and disposal.
Sludge handling and disposal represent a substantial part of the activated sludge treatment costs. Approaches to reduce sludge production might include manipulation of the food to microorganisms (F/M) ratio and/or sludge retention time (SRT) in the biological system. For instance, pilot plant studies with bleached sulphite/groundwood effluent showed that about 60% of the BOD removed was converted to biomass when the activated sludge plant was operated at SRT between 4 and 5 days, as described by Lamorie, J. et al., "Activated Sludge Treatment of Market Sulphite and Newsprint Effluent at Stora Forest Industries Limited", Proceed. 1990 CPPA/TS Annual Meeting, Montreal, Quebec, January 1992. The subsequent adjustment to an extended aeration mode (SRT, 20 days) reduced biomass production by half (BOD conversion to sludge, 30%). However, in most cases the activated sludge plants are not designed to operate at high SRT. The disadvantages of such operation are low settleability of sludge and a potential for development of filamentous growth.
Degree of sludge biosynthesis can also be affected by the effluent composition. It was observed by Lee et al., Aerated Lagoon Treatment Upgrade, Proceed. 1985 TAPPI Environ. Conf., Mobile, Ala., April 1985, p. 97, that the biosynthesis coefficient decreased historically from 0.40 to 0.24 kg sludge/kg BOD removed, as a result of lesser availability of low-molecular weight carbohydrates due to an improved collection of black liquor at a bleached kraft mill.
Sludge lysis by mechanical means has been recently studied by Springer et al., Feasibility Study of Sludge Lysis and Recycle in the Activated Sludge Process, Proceed. 1993 TAPPI Environ. Conf., Boston, Mass., March 1993, p. 761. This approach is based on high-shear disintegration of waste activated sludge (WAS), in order to break the cell membranes and convert a part of the biomass into soluble substrate. The lysed sludge was to be returned into the aeration basin to redigest the released BOD components. When operated in extended aeration mode, the proposed process was expected to operate free of excess sludge. In terms of operating costs, Springer et al. estimated savings of about 30%, compared to a conventional activated sludge plant. A possible drawback of this process might be the formation of non-biodegradable cell debris which could be difficult to clarify in the subsequent biosynthesis stage. Consequently, elevated levels of COD in the treated effluent could occur.
A complete sludge digestion of WAS especially under alkaline conditions at elevated temperatures and pressures has been described by Lee, E. G., et al., Pulp Pap. Can., 77(6), 88 (1976). The process has yet not been used on a full scale.
Anoxic zones have been used as complementary treatment stages during the treatment of municipal wastewater. In practical terms this is achieved by splitting the aeration into two or more oxic stages, which allows for insertion of one or more anoxic i.e. non-aerated stages. For example, ammonia can be removed from municipal wastewater by a nitrification-denitrification processes which alternates oxic and anoxic treatment conditions as described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,173,531 and 5,137,636. Such treatments were also found effective at removing phosphate as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,183,808. Phosphate can be also removed by air stripping of biological sludge in the activated sludge process as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,956,094. The exposure of wastewater to anoxic and anaerobic conditions has been shown to enhance BOD and TSS removal in U.S. Pat. No. 5,128,040. UV irradiation has been proposed for sterilization of effluent streams in U.S. Pat. No. 5,174,898. However, the above uses of anoxic stages, as well as UV irradiation pertain to the improvement of municipal wastewater treatment efficiency, rather than to the reduction of sludge generation by the activated sludge process.
A process using intense aerobic/anaerobic digestion (HRT of 30 days, thermophilic temperatures) to hydrolyse a portion of waste primary and secondary sludge has been described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,915,840. This process aims to reduce the total mass of waste sludge by recycling the hydrolysed fraction of WAS back to the activated sludge process.
An exposure of the RAS to anaerobic environment for a period between 1-7 hours has been found to significantly reduce the WAS fraction in an activated sludge process in U.S. Pat. No. 3,235,487. The application of UV irradiation in a sludge biolysis unit to reduce the amount of biological sludge has been proposed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,591,491. A modification of the latter patent, using heat or vacuum instead of UV irradiation, has been described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,718,582.

Process for reducing production of biomass during activated sludge treatment of pulp and paper mill effluents

Pulp and Paper Research Institute of Canada


The present disclosure relates to a trench MOSFET and a method for fabricating the same. The method comprises: providing a substrate with an epitaxy layer; forming a trench in the epitaxy layer; forming a first insulating layer, a first gate, a second insulating layer, and a second gate successively in the trench by deposition and etching; forming a well and a source region at both sides of the trench by ion implantation, and forming a trench-type contact and a metal plug. By forming the first gate and the second gate which are separated from each other, the first insulating layer between a lower portion of the first gate and the epitaxy layer has a thickness larger than that of the second insulating layer between the second gate and the well and the source region. The two separate gates are connected with each other by the metal plug. The resultant MOSFET has an increased breakdown voltage and stable performance while its manufacturer cost is lowered because the manufacturer process is simplified.

The performance of a metal-oxide-semiconductor field effect transistor (MOSFET) is evaluated in terms of its response speed, on-off current ratio, threshold voltage, and the like. To increase the response speed and the on-off current ratio and decrease the threshold voltage of the MOSFET, the MOSFET should have a gate oxide layer with a decreased thickness. However, the thinner the gate oxide layer is, the more easily the gate oxide layer is broken down by charge accumulated at a gate electrode when a gate voltage is relatively high, resulting in failure of the MOSFET.
To increase a breakdown voltage of the MOSFET while maintaining a relatively high response speed, a relatively large on-off current ratio and a relatively low threshold voltage, the charge accumulating at the gate should be eliminated to avoid breakdown of the gate oxide layer.
A conventional MOSFET typically exhibits a large gate-drain capacitance Cgd because a gate oxide layer below a gate has a small thickness. Consequently, a large amount of electric charge may be easily accumulated on the gate electrode of the device to break down the gate oxide layer, and hence the performance of withstanding high voltage of the MOSFET is poor. As an improved prior art, there is provided a MOSFET structure as shown in FIG. 1, in which the MOSFET is formed in an N− epitaxy layer 1 on N+ substrate 2. The bottom of the N+ substrate 2 is covered with a metal stack of Ti/Ni/Ag as a drain metal 8. A trench 3 extends into the N− epitaxy layer 1 from an upper surface of the N− epitaxy layer 1. A lower portion of the inner surface of the trench 3 is covered with a first insulating layer 4, and an upper portion of the inner surface of the trench 3 is covered with a second insulating layer 5, as a gate oxide layer. The first insulating layer 4 has a thickness larger than that of the second insulating layer 5. A polysilicon protection electrode 6 is formed at an upper portion of the inner surface of the trench 3, with a side wall surrounded by the second insulating layer 5 and a bottom contacting the first insulating layer 4. A gate 7 is formed in the trench 3 and surrounded by the polysilicon protection electrode 6. A lower portion of the gate 7 is located below the polysilicon protection electrode 6 and surrounded by the first insulating layer 4. An upper portion of the gate 7 is adjacent to the polysilicon protection electrode 6 and surrounded by the second insulating layer 5. That is, the protection polysilicon electrode 6 is located between the gate 7 and an upper portion of the inner surface of the trench 3. In this structure, the polysilicon protection electrode 6 is added between the gate 7 and the N− epitaxy layer 1 which is used as a drain. The protection electrode is connected to a source, and thus is an actual source of the device.
This structure is proposed for converting a gate-drain capacitance Cgd into a gate-source capacitance Cgs and a drain-source capacitance Cds, so that an effect of the gate-drain capacitance Cgd on the device is reduced and a breakdown voltage of the device is improved. However, the gate 7 and the polysilicon protection electrode 6 should be well insulated in this structure, which means many difficulties in the process. Consequently, the device has variable breakdown voltage and poor reliability, and the manufacture process for the structure includes complex steps, resulting in increased manufacture cost.

Trench MOSFET and method for fabricating the same

Silergy Semiconductor Technology (Hangzhou) Ltd.


A method and apparatus for the dissemination of non-routing information to nodes of a network is provided. A new type of IS-IS packet (called a NRI IS-IS packet) is described that exclusively carries non-routing information. When the NRI IS-IS packet is received by a router, the router may send the NRI IS-IS packet to an appropriate component responsible for processing non-routing information, without analyzing, verifying, and validating the information carried in each TLV and sub-TLV of the NRI IS-IS packet. Advantageously, the time it takes for routers of the network to achieve convergence is decreased since a IS-IS packet reader need not analyze, verify, and validate information not related to network topology and IP routing. Therefore, when NRI IS-IS packets are received, there is no impact in the convergence time of nodes in the network.

The approaches described in this section could be pursued, but are not necessarily approaches that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated herein, the approaches described in this section are not prior art to the claims in this application and are not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
In computer networks such as the Internet, packets of data are sent from a source to a destination via a network of links (communication paths such as telephone or optical lines) and nodes (usually routers directing the packet along one or more of a plurality of links connected to it) according to one of various routing protocols.
In the network, some nodes represent end systems (such as printers, fax machines, telephones, PC's etc) whereas other nodes represent network devices (e.g. switches, routers etc). The data packets are sent around the network from a source to a destination in accordance for example with routing information shared among the nodes of the network. As the network comprises a plurality of interconnected nodes, the network is fairly robust. Should a node or link fail for any reason, the network dynamically configures to re-route data so as to avoid the failed node. When a node or link comes into existence on a network, for instance through repair or by addition of a new node, the network dynamically converges to a so-called converged state wherein all the routers of the network have common routing information.
One class of routing protocols that rely on shared information is the link state protocol. Examples of link state protocols are the Intermediate System-to-Intermediate System (IS-IS) protocol and the Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) protocol. The IS-IS protocol is specified in ISO 10589, with extensions for supporting IPv4 specified in RFC 1195.
A link state protocol relies on a routing algorithm resident at each node of a network. Each node of the network advertises, throughout the network, links to neighboring nodes and provides a cost associated with each link that can be based on any appropriate metric such as link bandwidth or delay and is typically expressed as an integer value. A link may have an asymmetric cost, that is, the cost in the direction AB along a link may be different from the cost in a direction BA.
Based on the advertised information in the form of a link state packet (LSP), each node constructs a link state database (LSDB), which is a map of the entire network topology, and from that constructs generally a single optimum route to each available node. A link can be thought of as an interface on a router. The state of the link is a description of that interface and of its relationship to its neighboring routers. A description of the interface may include, for example, the IP address of the interface, the mask, the type of network it is connected to, the router connected to that network and so on. The collection of all link states for the whole network forms the link-state database.
Each LSP is composed of a fixed header and a number of tuples, each consisting of a type, a length, and a value. Such tuples are commonly referred to as TLVs. Specialized tuples may also be used, which are referred to as sub-TLVs. TLVs and sub-TLVs may be used to encode information in a flexible and extensible format.
Link state protocols use a link state algorithm to build and calculate the shortest path to all known destinations. The algorithms for determining a shortest path are complicated but the following provides a simplified view of the steps of a link state algorithm. Upon initialization or due to any changing routing information, a router generates an advertisement LSP. This advertisement represents the collection of all link states on that router. All routers exchange LSPs by means of flooding. Each router that receives a link state update stores a copy in its link state database and then rapidly propagates the update to other routers. After the database of each router is completed, each router calculates the shortest (lowest cost) path to all designations and uses this information to form an IP routing table. In some instances two or more routers of equal cost present themselves, termed an "equal cost path split." One appropriate algorithm is a shortest path first (SPF) algorithm.
As a result, a "spanning tree" is constructed, rooted at the node and showing an optimum path including intermediate nodes to each available destination node. Conversely, a "reverse spanning tree" can be constructed showing the optimum path to a given node from all nodes from which it is reachable. Because each node has a common LSDB (other than when advertised changes are propagating around the network) any node is able to compute the spanning and reverse spanning tree rooted at any other node. The results of the SPF are stored in a routing table (also known as a routing information base (RIB)) and, based on these results, the forwarding information base (FIB) or forwarding table is updated to control forwarding of packets appropriately.
In link state protocols, when a link or a node fails and is subsequently repaired, or there is some other change to the network such as a change of link cost, the routers involved with the repaired part of the network then have to re-establish convergence. This is achieved by the router(s) advertising themselves or the change throughout the network area. However, during topology change, there is a short period of time in which LSDBs, RIBs and FIBs across a network become inconsistent as information about a change is propagated through the network. Routes generated during this period of inconsistency may result in routing loops, which persist until the databases have converged, at which point there should be no loops, by definition. Consequently, it is advantageous to minimize the amount of time necessary for a set of routers to achieve convergence, which is the time when the LSDBs, RIBs and FIBs of the routers involved are consistent which each other.
As explained above, the IS-IS protocol may be used to carry routing information. Routing information, as used herein, refers to information describing the link state of a link of a network used in converging the nodes of a network. For example, the routers of a network may exchange routing information to ensure that each router's LSDBs, RIBs and FIBs are consistent which each other.
In recent years, many extensions have been made to the IS-IS protocol to allow IS-IS packets (packets that conform to the IS-IS protocol) to carry non-routing information in addition to routing information. Non-routing information, as used herein, refers to information that does not qualify as routing information, which may be used to provide additional services beyond that of strictly routing packets. For example, non-routing information may be used by a multi-protocol label switching-traffic engineering (MPLS-TE) component of a router in order to create, signal, and establish TE tunnels. Non-routing information may include Traffic Engineering (TE) information. TE information describes the resources associated with each link, e.g., TE information may describe the available bandwidth not being consumed on a particular link. Thus, an IS-IS packet may carry both routing information and non-routing information in TLVs and sub-TLVs.
With the increase of MPLS-TE development and deployment, IS-IS packets are carrying more non-routing information, especially TE information. When a router receives a new LSP, the router determines if the state of any links in the network has changed, e.g., a new link may be available or a particular link may be unavailable. This determination requires that the router read, parse, and process all information contained within each TLV and sub-TLV in the LSP, including any non-routing information, even though the non-routing information is not used in updating a router's LSDBs, RIBs and FIBs. As a result, the time it takes for routers of the network to achieve convergence may be increased beyond an acceptable threshold, and the performance of the router is negatively impacted.
Based on the foregoing, there is a clear need for an improved method for the dissemination of non-routing information to nodes of a network.

Method for dissemination of non-routing information using the IS-IS protocol


Aqueous electrophoretic lacquer capable of being deposited cataphoretically, containing    A) an aqueous dispersion of cationically modified polyurethane (meth)acrylates (a1) with terminal, ethylenically unsaturated (meth)acrylic double bonds, and reactive thinner (a2) with at least two ethylenically unsaturated (meth)acrylic double bonds, the (meth)acrylic double bonds of the mixture of (a1) and (a2) corresponding to a bromine number of 20 to 150 g bromine/100 g solids, and    B) photoinitiators and optionally free-radical initiators capable of thermal activation,            the terminal, ethylenically unsaturated (meth)acrylic double bonds of the polyurethane (meth)acrylates being bonded with the anionically modified polyurethane prepolymer via urethane, urea, amide or ester groups,        and optionally conventional auxiliary substances and additives, pigments and/or fillers.

The invention relates to aqueous electrophoretic lacquers capable of being deposited cataphoretically, which are curable by high-energy radiation and have the advantage of a good full cure even with high film thicknesses, and give good mechanical properties and, in particular, high resistance in an industrial gas atmosphere. It also relates to their production and use for the lacquering of electrically conductive substrates, e.g. of metal, electrically conductive plastic, e.g. metallised plastic, or electrically conductive coatings.
Coatings applied by the electrophoretic lacquer process have the advantage that they contain only a small quantity of residual water. The coating obtained does not therefore have to be pre-dried after rinsing off any bath material still adhering, but can be cured by high-energy radiation after possibly blowing off droplets of water.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,039,414, compositions for the electrophoretic lacquer process are described containing a photoinitiator, dispersed in an ethylenically unsaturated polymer, dispersed in an aqueous phase, which can be deposited at a cathode and cured with TV radiation. In general, a number of acrylated polymers are mentioned, among which, as the only polyurethane acrylate, one that uses toluylene diisocyanate and polyether polyols as structural components is described. Lacquers on this basis have a tendency towards severe yellowing and towards early signs of degradation caused by weathering, leading to cracking, reduction in gloss and chalking, and also prove relatively brittle.
The invention was therefore based on the object of providing aqueous electrophoretic lacquers capable of being deposited cataphoretically, which do not exhibit these defects, which cure fully by high-energy radiation, even in high film thicknesses, and give lacquer films with improved properties compared with the prior art, particularly with regard to resistance in an industrial gas atmosphere, improved flexibility and good adhesion to the substrate.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Aqueous electrodeposition paints and the production and use thereof


A filter device is provided which is low in power loss, small in size and operates in wide bands. The filter device includes a first signal-side resonator having an input signal electrode, an output signal electrode, a first piezoelectric film, an input electrode film, and a common electrode film being commonly used by a second signal-side resonator and sandwiching the first piezoelectric film using the input electrode film, a second signal-side resonator having a second piezoelectric film formed in layers on the first piezoelectric film, an output electrode film, a common electrode film sandwiching the second piezoelectric film using the output electrode film and being acoustically coupled to the first signal resonator, and a ground-side resonator connected between the common electrode film and a ground electrode and operating in a specified resonant frequency and in an anti-resonant frequency almost conforming to resonant frequencies in which the first and second signal-side resonators operate.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a filter device made up of a piezo-resonator and a branching filter using the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, a mobile telecommunication terminal including a portable cellular phone as a typical example is rapidly developing. It is desirable that, in order to meet a demand for its portability, au& the terminal is small in size, lightweight, and power-thrifty in particular. To make such the telecommunication terminal be small in size, lightweight, and power-thrifty, it is necessary that a filter device being used for the telecommunication terminal is also small in size, lightweight, and low in power loss. Moreover, to satisfy a demand for high-speed and large-capacity communications, it is also required that such the filter device has a wide passing bandwidth.
In response to this request, an SAW (Surface Acoustic Wave) filter and a filter device using the SAW filter are widely used.
In the SAW filter, a cross finger-shaped electrode in which electrode fingers each having a width being about one fourth of a wavelength of a surface acoustic wave to be propagated are alternately arranged is formed on a piezoelectric substrate so that the surface acoustic wave is received in an excited state. A line width of an electrode finger of the SAW filter being used in a system operating in a frequency band of 2 GHz is about 0.4 μm. In order to be used in a system operating in a higher frequency, an electrode having its line width of 0.4 μm or less has to be fabricated with high accuracy, which, however, has a probability that manufacturability is remarkably lowered. Therefore, it is thought that, achievement of operations in a further higher frequency by using the SAW filter has a difficulty.
In such the circumstance, a filter device using a piezoelectric thin film being one type of a device operating by employing a BAW (Bulk Acoustic Wave) filter comes into wide use. An operating frequency of the BAW device is determined by a thickness of a piezoelectric film being sandwiched between input/output electrodes. Since ceramic or quarts is conventionally used as a material for the piezoelectric film, it was difficult to fabricate the thin piezoelectric film with high accuracy using such the material and, therefore, the filter using the piezoelectric film has not been used in high frequency applications. However, in recent years, it is made possible to form a piezoelectric film by a depositing apparatus using a sputtering method or a like and, as a result, a piezoelectric film having a desired thickness can be obtained and the BAW device has now come to hold superiority in use in the high frequency applications. Moreover, an electrode that uses the RAW device serving as a thin film resonator filter is a plate electrode in which, unlike in the case of the SAW filter, use of a slender electrode is not required, thus making it possible to process signals having large power.
The conventional BAW device is constructed by forming one layer of a piezoelectric film on a substrate and arranging resonators in which the piezoelectric film is sandwiched between upper and lower electrodes so as to be plane and then electrically connecting each of the resonators by a ladder-connection method.
Moreover, technology to achieve a wide passing bandwidth in the ladder-type filter is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. Hei 10-93375 in which an inductance element is connected to a parallel arm or in which a difference is given between a resonant frequency of each of resonators formed on a serial arm and an anti-resonant frequency of each of resonators formed on a parallel arm.
However, the conventional filter device has problems. That is, since the filter device generally uses 5 to 7 pieces of resonators, a chip area being no more than an area obtained by multiplying the number of resonators by a resonator area cannot be realized in the filter device having configurations described above.
Moreover, as the BAW device, an SCF (Stacked Crystals Filter) in which a resonator having two or more stacked piezoelectric films is arranged stereoscopically and/or a CRF (Coupled Resonator Filter) are known. The SCF, since it is a filter that operates in a narrow band, is not suitable for a filter that should operate in a wide band. The CRF, since it uses multiple modes, is suitable for a filter that should operate in a wide band, however, it suffers larger insertion loss due to its operational principles when compared with the case of the conventional ladder-type filter and, therefore, is not suitable for a filter that should be low in power loss.
Furthermore, when the ladder-type filter is to be realized by using a layer-stacked structure, since there is a bar that a characteristic is degraded due to mutual interference between serial-arm resonators or parallel-arm resonators being arranged in a layer-stacking direction, this fear must be removed when the ladder-type filter is constructed. If so, an advantage of using the layer-stacked structure is lost in the end.

Filter device utilizing stacked resonators and acoustic coupling and branching filter using same


The present invention relates to novel compounds, particularly to compounds comprising a photoactive unit, said novel compounds being particularly suitable for compositions and ophthalmic devices as well as to compositions and ophthalmic devices comprising such compounds.

Cataract is a general term for an affection of the eye that leads to a loss of vision and in the extreme to blindness by clouding of the normally clear lens of the eye. It is the major cause of blindness in the world, affecting more than 100 million people. Due to the fact that its major cause is age and the population's average age is increasing, it is expected that the number of cataracts will continue to increase substantially in the future.
Effective treatment of cataract is only possible by surgical intervention, whereby the natural lens of the eye is removed through an incision in the cornea and replaced with an artificial lens, often also referred to as "intraocular lens". In preparation of surgery current state-of-the-art surgical methods employ eye mapping so as to approximate the refractive power best suited to the respective patient.
Even though cataract surgery is one of the most widely used and safest surgical procedures it is not without specific post-surgery problems. It frequently happens that the refractive power of the implanted intraocular lens (IOL) is insufficient for restoring good vision. Such problems may, for example, be caused by changes in eye geometry as consequence of the surgery as well as irregular wound healing and positioning errors that result in the artificial lens not having the optimal optical properties. As a result the patient will still require corrective vision aids, e.g. glasses, to be able to see correctly. In some cases the resulting refractive power of the implanted artificial lens is so far removed from the required refractive power that further surgery will be required. Particularly for aged persons this is not desirable because the body's capability for healing is reduced with increasing age. Furthermore, there is the risk of attracting endophthalmitis, an inflammation of the eye, which can even lead to a complete loss of vision or worse, loss of the eye.
There is therefore a need in the health sector for optically active devices, and particularly for artificial intraocular lenses, that would allow for non-invasive adjustment of refractive power after implantation of the lens, thereby preferably further reducing the need for post-surgery vision aids.
Some developments in this sense have already been made, as for example evidenced by WO 2007/033831 A1, WO 2009/074520 A2 or US 2010/0324165 A1.
M. Schraub et al, European Polymer Journal 51 (2014) 21-27 describes the photochemistry of 3-phenyl-coumarin containing polymethacrylates.
C. H. Krauch et al, Chemische Berichte Jahrg. 99, 1966, 1723 describe photochemical reactions on coumaron.
A. Bouquet et al, Tetrahedron, 1981, vol. 37, 75 to 81 describe the photochemical behavior of several benzo[b]thiophenes in neutral solutions or in the presence of primary and tertiary amines.
David L. Oldroyd et al, Tetrahedron Letters, 1993, vol. 34, no. 7, 1087-1090 describe photochemical dimerization reactions of N-acylindoles.
4-Alkyl-3-phenyl-2H-1-benzopyran-2-ones and related compounds as potential pesticides are described in Sangwan et al, Indian Journal of Chemistry, 1990, 29B, 294-296.
In order to change the optical properties and particularly the refractive power of the intraocular lens it is exposed to irradiation. The irradiation induces a photochemical reaction, converting unsaturated coumarin moieties to cyclobutane dimers as shown in FIG. 1.
The Schmidt criterion for topochemical reactions states that only neighbouring double bonds separated by translation axis in the order of 4 Å can undergo cyclodimerization (Pure Appl. Chem. 1971, 27, 647-678).
Therefore the molecular arrangement plays an important role for photodimerizations of coumarins to occur.
A molecular design which forces non-substituted coumarin derivatives to aggregate into a short-distance packing (4.2-3.5 Å) enhances the speed and yield of coumarin photodimerization (J. Mater. Chem., 2010, 20, 6688-6695).
However, the compounds disclosed so far suffer from having no optimized short-distance packing and/or being too stiff and too brittle so that they can't be rolled or folded and are thus not fit to be implanted by state of the art cataract surgical methods, particularly by state of the art micro-incision cataract surgical methods.
Consequently, it is an objective of the present application to provide for novel compounds suitable for ophthalmic devices.
It is also an objective of the present application to provide for compounds, the optical properties of which may be changed, preferably by non-invasive techniques.
It is a further objective of the present application to provide for novel compounds having advantages over currently known compounds, preferably in combination with being suitable for ophthalmic devices.
Advantages such as better flexibility or enhanced efficiency of the necessary photoreaction and objectives of the compounds of the present application will be evident to the skilled person from the following detailed description as well as from the examples.


When the studied motion is periodic, such as for a beating heart, it is possible to acquire successive sets of two dimensional plus time data slice-sequences at increasing depths over at least one time period which are later rearranged to recover a three dimensional time sequence. Since gating signals are either unavailable or cumbersome to acquire in microscopic organisms, the invention is a method for reconstructing volumes based solely on the information contained in the image sequences. The central part of the algorithm is a least-squares minimization of an objective criterion that depends on the similarity between the data from neighboring depths. Owing to a wavelet-based multiresolution approach, the method is robust to common confocal microscopy artifacts. The method is validated on both simulated data and in-vivo measurements.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to the field of confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) and in particular cardiac medical imaging.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) has emerged as a popular method for high resolution imaging of fluorescent labels, particularly in thick or scattering samples. By placing a pinhole in the conjugate optical plane, before the detector, out-of-focus light from above and below the focal plane is rejected from the image, enhancing the axial resolution. By collecting images from defined optical slices at successive depths, the three-dimensional arrangement of fluorescently-labeled structures can be derived. In traditional point scanning confocal systems, images are collected in a pixel-by-pixel manner and acquisition speeds for sequences with frame size 512×512 pixels are on the order of only a few frames per second.
Recent advances in beam shaping, the availability of fast CCD line detectors, and the implementation of efficient hardware for data transmission have made possible the development of a fast laser scanning microscope, the LSM 5 LIVE. A blade-shaped beam focused to a line (instead of a single point for conventional CLSM) permits the parallel acquisition of a whole line of pixels and reduces the scanning dimensionality to one direction. This microscope allows for the acquisition of two dimensional image-sequences (512×512 pixels) at frame rates of up to 120 frames per second (fps). This opens new avenues for a variety of fields.
In developmental biology, one major goal is to gain a better understanding of the mechanisms that influence the development of the cardiovascular system. In particular, it is desirable to assess the influence of genetic as well as epigenetic factors such as blood flow, heart wall forces, shear stress, etc. While the frame rates of typical confocal microscopes are suitable to study many dynamic processes occurring in living systems (e.g. cell migration, division, etc.), cell motions in the cardiovascular system (e.g. heart-wall motions, blood flow, etc.) typically occur at several millimeters per second, 2-3 orders of magnitude faster than cell migration. The significant improvement in frame rate offered by parallel scanning systems now makes it possible to collect image data from single optical sections of fast-moving structures.
However, resolving rapid three-dimensional motions in real-time still remains a challenge because it is not currently possible to scan the z-direction as fast as the xy plane. Other imaging modalities such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), computerized tomography (CT), or ultrasound (US) suffer from similar limitations. However, if the imaged body undergoes the same deformation at regular intervals and the acquisition is always triggered at a particular phase in the cycle, it is possible to assemble the data to recover a whole volume over one full period. For larger organisms (from mice to humans), it is relatively easy to gate the acquisition with respect to electrocardiograms (ECG) or respiratory signals, a technique known as prospective gating or triggering, and reconstruct volumes at a fixed moment in the cycle. Remaining motion artifacts may then be reduced by the use of various elastic registration procedures that warp the spatial data. In cases where gating is not possible or unreliable, nongated dynamic datasets have been registered by a variety of methods and for various purposes. For instance, in nuclear medicine, noise reduction may be performed through temporal averaging of nongated signals. For example, some researchers have used the imaging data from flow-encoded MRI to retrospectively perform the gating.
Using specific modifications to conventional MRI pulse sequences, it is also possible to generate and extract a signal which varies in synchrony with the cardiac cycle for later reconstruction. For CT, various methods have been developed, either to recover an imaged volume of the heart in a defined motion state at a single time point or for four dimensional imaging, by tracking the projection's center of mass. ECG-free algorithms have also been used for US imaging.
What is needed is an apparatus and method that make it possible to reconstruct dynamic three dimensional volumes of microscopic objects that are periodically moving, using currently available CLSM technology.

Four-dimensional imaging of periodically moving objects via post-acquisition synchronization of nongated slice-sequences


A writing instrument having a writing leg having a writing tip extending from an end of the writing leg; a gate leg; a joint between the writing leg and the gate leg, wherein the joint is proximate to the writing tip and is to be grasped between a forefinger and thumb, and a third leg attached at one end to the second leg and at another end to the writing leg at a location distal to the writing tip, wherein said writing, second and third legs define an aperture sufficiently large to receive five fingers of a hand grasping the second leg.

This invention relates to the field of writing instruments and, in particular, to integral attachment and removable attachment devices and handles for personal writing instruments.
Personal writing instruments are devices such as pencils, pens, markers, pen-type data entry devices instruments, crayons, chalk holders, electronic data recording devices, styluses for computers, e.g., personal digital assistants (PDA), and other similar devices. These writing instruments are typically held by the hand of a person when writing. A writing instrument is generally grasped between the thumb and forefinger(s) of the hand. The shape of a writing instrument should provide a comfortable grasp for the hand and facilitate writing.
Clasps, latches, lanyards, gates and other attachment devices are commonly used to secure a writing instrument to a person, fixture or device. Many of the attachment devices do not reliably secure the writing instrument. For example, the clasp on a pen holds the pen in a shirt pocket, but allows the pen to slide out of the pocket and become lost. Many other conventional attachments for writing instruments tend to be separate or detachable from the writing instrument. For example, writing instruments have been attached by a lanyard to a carabiner. While the carabiner on a lanyard provides a secure and locking attachment for the writing instrument, it has several difficulties including: the writing instrument is not protected by the carabiner; the writing instrument may swing in a pendulum manner from the lanyard or carabiner; the writing instrument and carabiner become tangled with each other and other devices; the carabiner and writing instrument form an unattractive and awkward assembly; the carabiner interferes with the instrument during writing, and the writing instrument and carabiner are not easy to hold, especially by persons not able to grasp the instrument between their fingers and thumb. Accordingly, there is a long-felt need for a clasp, gate or other attachment device for a writing instrument that overcomes these difficulties without sacrificing a comfortable grip on the writing instrument.

Writing instrument with enclosing structure


The present invention discloses a labor-saving pivotal shaft structure, comprising a fixed part and a movable part, wherein the movable part and the fixed part produce a frictional torque therebetween to provide the movable part with the functions of rotating, arresting, and positioning relative to the fixed part; and a torsion rod which is a rigid rod, whose one end is mounted onto the fixed part; such that the fixed part is connected to a main frame and the movable part as well as the other end of the torsion rod are respectively connected to a cover frame, and thus when the cover frame is being closed down, the fixed part is in a fixed condition and the torsion rod and the cover frame rotate together, leading to the torsion rod being in a twisted condition of storing energy; whereas when the cover frame is being opened up, the stored energy of the torsion rod is released to provide an auxiliary force.

Consumer electronics with flip covers, such as portable computer, electronic dictionary, portable audio/video player, flip mobile phone, generally have a main body on the bottom, which is pivotally connected with the cover body on the top, such that the cover body may swing open or close with respect to the main body. Consequently, the rotating shaft is key to the quality of the products described above. In fact, the design for a good rotating shaft shall not only demand a necessary arresting effect to prevent loose joint after repetitive operations, but also prevent abnormal sound from occurring to annoy users.
Take the in-line axial friction pivotal shaft for example; the U.S. Pat. No. 5,190,391 (corresponding to ROC Patent 73784) held by the present inventor is the most prominent example. The advantage of the axial friction lies in that packing may be adjusted to press against the elastic body and in turn to change frictional torque, avoiding the loosening effect caused by repetitive operation. However, the frictional torque remains unchanged during the rotation of the pivotal shaft. For example, the opening up of the cover (the display panel) of a notebook computer often poses a difficulty for females or children. Consequently, it is necessary to design a pivotal shaft providing an auxiliary force without scarifying the arresting and locating functions.


A headwear piece having a crown with a surface defining an opening for receiving the head of a wearer, a bladder having first and second layers defining a space therebetween for containing a displaceable fluid, structure for connecting the first and second layers to each other to divide the bladder space into first and second chambers with their being a communication path through the bladder space between the first and second chambers, and structure for connecting the bladder to the crown so that the bladder defines a deformable cushion layer to conform to the head of a wearer.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to headwear and, more particularly, to a headwear piece with a cushion layer around a crown opening to facilitate conformance of the crown opening to the head of a wearer.
2. Background Art
The inventor herein recently made a significant improvement to conventional headwear. That improvement is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,031,246 ("the '246 patent").
The invention in the '246 patent is directed to a headwear piece with a bladder on the crown that provides a deformable cushion layer between the crown and the wearer's head. The bladder and at least a portion of the crown are deformable to conform to the wearer's head. In one aspect of the invention in the '246 patent, the bladder can be selectively inflated and deflated to alter the effective diameter of the head-receiving opening on the headwear piece.
In commercially producing headwear according to the '246 patent, the inventor has encountered certain problems which the present invention overcomes. One such problem involves the bladder formation. The use of a plurality of small bladders in fluid communication with each other through small tubes, as described in the '246 patent, results in good conformity of the headwear piece to the head of a wearer. However, it is a relatively costly and complicated process to provide individual bladders and interconnect the bladders so as to allow communication of the fluid therebetween.
One alternative to providing separate bladder sections is to define the bladder using a continuous, flexible tube. The problem with a continuous tube is one that can be identified by attempting to reconfigure an inflated bicycle tube. The tube tends to resist a change from a circular shape, such as a change to oval which approximates the shape of a wearer's head. By forcing the tube into an oval shape, it will normally kink in different locations. With such a bladder incorporated into a headwear piece, uneven pressure may be applied around the circumference of the wearer's head as the bladder reconfigures. There also may be a tendency of the headwear piece to squeeze off of the wearer's head.
Another problem encountered by the inventor is that of securely connecting the bladder to the crown in a cost effective manner. While the sweatband is readily sewn onto the crown, the bladder portion confining the displaceable fluid cannot be punctured by a connecting thread to allow stitching. While the bladder connecting arrangement in the '246 patent does function effectively, there is room for improvement, particularly to facilitate production of headwear pieces on a high volume basis.
Further, the one way valve disclosed in the '246 patent, while fully functional as disclosed in that patent, does not lend itself to economical production on a commercial basis.

Headwear piece with deformable cushion layer


Provided are a video recommendation method and apparatus. The video recommendation method comprises obtaining a related video of a target video and a video cover associated with the related video, obtaining a video cover set, and sending to a server. The server can add different video covers to the target video on the basis of the video cover set, and recommend the target video to different user groups.

With the rapid development of Internet technologies, more and more users are beginning to use videos to record their lives and share the videos with other users.
Video covers, as signs of displaying video content, allow the users to have a general understanding of the video content, and their importance is self-evident.

Video recommendation method and apparatus

BEIJING DAJIA INTERNET INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.


A parallel decompressor capable of concurrently generating in parallel multiple portions of a deterministic partially specified data vector is disclosed. The parallel decompressor is also capable of functioning as a PRPG for generating pseudo-random data vectors. The parallel decompressor is suitable for incorporation into BIST circuitry of ICs. For BIST circuitry with multiple scan chains, the parallel decompressor may be incorporated without requiring additional flip-flops (beyond those presence in the LFSR and scan chains). In one embodiment, an incorporating IC includes boundary scan design compatible with the IEEE 1194.1 standard. Multiple ones of such ICs may be incorporated in a circuit board. Software tools for generating ICs with boundary scan having BIST circuitry incorporated with the parallel decompressor, and for computing the test data seeds for the deterministic partially specified test vectors are also disclosed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to testing of integrated circuits (IC) and more particularly relates to generation of deterministic partially specified test vectors for built-in-self-test of ICs.
2. Background Information
An unprecedented proliferation of very large scale integrated (VLSI) circuits is accompanied by quickly increasing cost of their testing which in many areas became a major or even predominant component of the overall costs associated with manufacturing and shipping of integrated circuits. This is largely because contemporary test system technologies continue to follow traditional methodologies in which test vectors are applied and test responses are analyzed by means of an expensive external testing equipment. With rising off-chip frequencies and chip pad counts being highly unbalanced by increasing complexity of circuits, there is an indispensable need to use lower-priced test systems enhancing the traditional test methods in terms of reduced dependency on physical probes, at-speed test capabilities, increased test portability, and significantly reduced test costs.
In built-in self-test (BIST) approach, now an emerging means of testing and alternative for conventional techniques, on-chip hardware both generates test patterns and evaluates output data. Test patterns are typically generated by a test pattern generator, and output data evaluation usually consists of a test response compaction, in which multiple-input signature registers (MISRs) compact output sequences of a circuit under test (CUT) into a few-bit signature. The general state of the art in this well established area can be illustrated by, for example, V. D. Agrawal, C. R. Kime, and K. K. Saluja, "A Tutorial on Built-In Self Test. Part 1: Principles", IEEE Design and Test of Computers, March 1993, pp. 73-82, and V. D. Agrawal, C. R. Kime, and K. K. Saluja, "A Tutorial on Built-In Self-Test. Part 2: Applications", IEEE Design and Test of Computers, June 1993, pp. 69-73.
An efficient test pattern generator which guarantees complete fault coverage while minimizing test application time, area overhead, and test data storage is essential for a successful BIST scheme. Many different generation schemes have been proposed to accomplish various tradeoffs between these parameters. The solutions range from pseudo-random techniques that do not use any storage but take a long application time and often do not detect some faults, to deterministic techniques that may require significant test data storage but achieve complete fault coverage in a relatively short time. Pseudo-random test patterns are typically generated using pseudo-random pattern generators (PRPG), such as Linear Feedback Shift Registers (LFSR) constituted with flip-flops and XOR gates. Again, the aforementioned literature items provide a good reference point to the state of the art in this area.
Mixed-mode test pattern generation is an attractive alternative to the above scenarios. It uses pseudo-random patterns to cover easy-to-test faults and, subsequently, deterministic patterns to target the remaining hard-to-test faults. As opposed to other approaches, such as test point insertion, mixed-mode techniques can reach complete fault coverage without imposing circuit modifications and causing performance degradation. Moreover, it is possible to obtain different trade-offs between test data storage and test application time by varying the relative number of deterministic and pseudo-random patterns. However, the overall efficiency of BIST scheme resting on mixed-mode generators strongly depends on the methods employed to reduce the amount of test data.
There are two main approaches to reduce the quantity of test data: (1) reduction of the number of deterministic patterns by using dynamic compaction algorithms that target several single faults with a single pattern; and (2) compression of deterministic test cubes by exploiting the fact that frequently they feature a large number of unspecified positions. One of the methods to compress test cubes is based on the reseeding of LFSR and has been originally proposed by B. Koeneinann in the paper entitled "LFSR-Coded Test Patterns for Scan Designs", in Proc. European Test Conf, Munich 1991, pp. 237-242. A comprehensive analysis of this scheme as well as a new reseeding scenario based on Multiple Polynomial Linear Feedback Shift Registers (MP-LFSRs) has been provided by S. Hellebrand, J. Rajski, S. Tamick, S. Venkataraman and B. Courtois in the paper entitled "Built-In Test for Circuits with Scan Based on Reseeding of Multiple-Polynomial Linear Feedback Shift Registers", IEEE Trans. on Computers, vol, C44, Feb. 1995, pp. 223-233. A similar technique has been also discussed by S. Hellebrand, B. Reeb, S. Tarnick, and H.-J. Wunderlich in the paper entitled "Pattern Generation for a Deterministic BIST Scheme", in Proc. ICCAD, November 1995, pp. 88-94. An MP-LFSR is a LFSR whose XOR gates are selectively controlled e.g. by AND gates, depending on the characteristic polynomial to be represented. Using this method, a concatenated group of test cubes with a total of s specified bits is encoded with approximately s bits specifying a seed and a polynomial identifier. The content of the MP-LFSR is loaded for each test group and has to be preserved during the decompression of each test cube within the group. Accordingly, the implementation of the decompressor may involve adding many extra flip-flops, even if flip-flops of the LFSR are used for the first k bits, in order to avoid overwriting the content of the MP-LFSR during the decompression of a group of test patterns,
An alternative to concatenation was proposed by N. Zacharia, J. Rajski, and J. Tyszer in the paper entitled "Decompression of Test Data using Variable-Length Seed LFSRs", Proc. VLSI Test Symposium, Princeton 1995, pp. 426-433. The underlying idea rests on the concept of variable-length seeds. Deterministic patterns are generated by an LFSR loaded with seeds whose lengths may be smaller than the size of the LFSR. Allowing such "shorter" seeds yields high encoding efficiency even for test cubes with varying number of specified positions. The decompression hardware is loaded for each test pattern. Hence, it is possible to implement the decompressor by using flip-flops of the scan chain, as the state of the decompressor can be overwritten between applications of test cubes. This is in contrast to the former technique which cannot share flip-flops with the scan chain, because the content of the MP-LFSR has to be preserved between decompressions of test cubes. As a result, the decompressor can be implemented without adding extra flip-flops, i.e. using the flip-flops of the LFSR and some of the flip-flops of the scan chain.
Since many ICs designed for testability include multiple scan chains, thus it is desirable to be able to extend the above described variable length reseeding technique to ICs designed to be tested with multiple scan chains.
Furthermore, one of the major advantages of BIST is its ability to operate at different levels of a circuit's architectural hierarchy. However, in order to invoke the BIST procedures and facilitate their correct execution at the board, module or system level, certain design rules must be applied. In 1990, a new testing standard was adopted by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc., and is now defined as tine IEEE Standard 1149.11 IEEE Standard Test Access Port and Boundary-Scan Architecture. Its overview can be found in The Test Access Port and Boundary-Scan Architecture by C. M. Maunder and R. E. Tulloss, IEEE Computer Society Press, 1990. The basic architecture of boundary-scan is incorporated at the integrated circuit level and essentially consists of a protocol by which various test functions can be carried out. In particular, the standard defines four (or optionally, five) new pins forming the Test Access Port (TAP): two of them (Test Clock TCK and Test Mode Select TMS) are used to control the protocol, while the remaining two pins (Test Data In TDI and Test Data Out TDO) are employed to serially shift data into and out of the circuit. The standard also specifies a simple finite state machine called the TAP controller which is driven by TCK and TMS.
Every chip designed according to the standard contains a boundary-scan Instruction Register and associated decode logic. It is used to set the mode of operation for selected data registers by means of boundary-scan instructions which always place data registers between TDI and TDO. Two registers must be always present; the Bypass Register and the Boundary Register. Several additional registers are allowed under the optional clause of the 1149.1, and they can be selected by sending the proper control sequences to the TAP controller.
Thus, it is further desirable if the variable reseeding technique can be extended to ICs designed to be tested with multiple scan chains in a manner that is compatible with the above described IEEE boundary scan architecture.

Parallel decompressor and related methods and apparatuses


A semiconductor structure with an improved metal structure is described. The semiconductor structure can include a substrate having an upper surface, an interconnect layer over the upper surface, and an additional structure deposited over the interconnect layer. The interconnect layer can include a patterned seed layer over the substrate, at least two metal lines over the seed layer, and a dielectric material between adjacent metal lines. A barrier layer can be deposited over the at least two metal lines. Methods of making the semiconductor structures are also described.

In important aspect of semiconductor structures, such as integrated circuits, is the ability to interconnect various components both on the same layer and in different layers of the integrated circuit. As integrated circuits and other semiconductor structures get smaller, the size of the relevant interconnects also decreases. Conventional interconnect deposition techniques include damascene processes of patterning the interconnect within another structure, such as a dielectric. The damascene process has been used for hundreds of years to produce jewelry and various other ornamental objects. However, with the continued reduction of integrated circuit size it becomes more difficult to utilize conventional techniques for forming interconnects and vertical interconnect accesses ("vias"), especially when high-aspect ratio structures are involved. This significantly limits the ability to continue using conventional interconnect deposition techniques.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd.


The invention relates to a vehicle roof with a cover (14) having a transparent area, the transparency of which can be controlled by applying a voltage to it. The transparent area has an outwardly arched pane (16) and a flat inner pane (20) located under the outer pane and provided with an electrochromic element (22).

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a transparent cover for a vehicle roof whose transparency can be controlled by applying voltage.
2. Description of Related Art
Such a vehicle roof is known, for example, from German Patent No. DE 36 14 547 C2. In this known device, the surface of a transparent glass cover has a bottom electrode, an inorganically reducing, color-forming layer, an electrolytic layer with a spacer containing electrolytic solution, an organically oxidizing, color-forming layer, a top electrode and a transparent cover glass laminated or applied on it. This multilayer pane forms the cover of a sun roof and the light incidence in the vehicle interior can be controlled by selectively changing the voltage on the electrodes. For aerodynamic reasons, vehicle roofs are generally made arched outward. Consequently, the transparent area must also be arched. The drawback in the known vehicle roof is that the multilayer cover must be made with the electrochromic area arched, which requires great expense, on the one hand, and, on the other hand, leads to a strong tendency to interference during further processing. Glass breakage leads to a large amount of waste, which makes the costs rise so much that series production was prevented up to now.
Similar vehicle roofs are known from published German Patent Application Nos. DE 36 43 690 C2 and DE 196 30 813 A1, and Published European Patent Application No. EP 0 436 283 A2.


A cryogenic liquid turbine is provided, wherein, impeller end of the rotor and nozzle assembly are received into cavity of volute, and main part of the volute is put into perlite cold box; insulation pad is used between the volute and machine housing to insulate heat; impeller outlet is connected to diffuser pipe. A nozzle assembly is connected to the machine housing by a nozzle compression flange; a nozzle compression plate adjusts a compactness of nozzle vanes by a disc spring; a nozzle turntable is connected on a nozzle chassis, and adjusts the nozzle vane stagger angle by adjusting mechanism passing through the volute; impeller shroud side seal is axially fixed on the nozzle compression flange, and a shaft seal is axially fixed to a seal gas part; the seal gas part and an oil seal are axially fixed to the machine housing by a bolt.

Field of Invention
The present invention belongs to the wasted pressure recovery technology in fields of cryogenic liquefaction and cryogenic air separation, relates to a radial-axial type cryogenic liquid turbine, and more particularly to a cryogenic liquid turbine for throttling and decompressing low-temperature and high-pressure liquefied gases.
Description of Related Arts
Energy saving is the main part of and guarantee for the sustainable development strategy of global economy, and can effectively relieve the restriction of the energy bottleneck, so as to help to establish the energy-saving society. Recovering industrial wasted energy in large-scale energy consumption apparatuses is one of key measures of the energy saving, and has great social benefit and economic value. Cryogenic liquid turbine is a substitute product of liquid Joule-Thomson valve in the energy intensive low temperature cycle apparatuses of air separation, liquefied natural gas (LNG), etc. When satisfying a requirement that the pressure needs to be reduced in the technological process, the cryogenic liquid turbine can effectively suppress vaporization, avoid the destruction generated by cavitation and the irreversible loss of the energy of high-pressure liquefied gases, and use high-level pressure head recovered to generate electricity, which has considerable economic benefits.
In patent applications published in recent years, "rotor of expander for throttling high-pressure liquefied gases", whose patent application number is CN200810150526.2; "liquid expander", whose patent application number is CN200910023562.7; and "submerged liquid turbine for decreasing pressure of liquid natural gas" developed by Japanese Ebara company, whose patent application number is US2006/0186671A1 are related to the radial-axial type cryogenic liquid turbine. "Rotor of expander for throttling high-pressure liquefied gases" discloses a rotor of expander for throttling high-pressure liquefied gases, wherein, the rotor is in a horizontal structure with impeller cantilever for meeting the strict requirements of the media flow rate and the braking generators in the conventional liquid expander. The rotor is able to be braked by a conventional generator, pump, or air blower, and is appropriate for decreasing pressure of media with any flow rate. However, an oil slinger is used in the structure of the rotor, i.e., a rotating part is added in the structure so as to decrease the mechanical property of the rotor. "Liquid expander" discloses a single liquid phase expander for throttling liquid, which can solve problems of pressure-head loss and cavitation destruction that are caused by Joule-Thomson valve used in the conventional air separation process. However, "Liquid expander" has disadvantages as follows. 1) the cold loss of the liquid expander is relatively large, wherein one side of the nozzle chassis of the liquid expander is directly exposed in the air, and the other side thereof is the low temperature liquid refrigerant. Therefore, the cold loss through the nozzle chassis is very large, which decreases the efficiency of the liquid expander. In addition, the liquid expander uses the nozzle adjusting mechanism that gets through the nozzle chassis, which also increases the cold loss of the liquid expander and causes a result that the nozzle adjusting mechanism cannot be operated normally. 2) the nozzle cover plate is connected to the nozzle chassis only by the pin, and the compression margin of the compression spring of the nozzle cannot be adjusted, which increases the difficulty of orientation and installation in the axial direction while the precision is difficult to be guaranteed. 3) the diffuser tube of the impeller outlet and the nozzle assembly are manufactured as a whole, which increases the difficulty of axially orientating the complete machine. 4) the impeller outlet does not use any effective device for decelerating high-velocity media and subsequently raising its pressure, so at the impeller outlet, media velocity is high and the flow loss is large. The submerged liquid turbine developed by Japanese Ebara Company has disadvantages as follows. 1) the structure that turbine rotor and generator rotor are coaxial is used, so the impeller is of the same size as the generator and the volume of the complete machine is relatively large, which is only appropriate for applications of large flow rates; 2) the generator is completely immersed in low temperature media, so the requirement of cable materials of the generator, the requirement of the sealing performance of the generator, and the requirement of the insulating property of the generator are stringent; 3) the braking method is not flexible, wherein only electrical generator may be utilized for braking, and the submerged liquid turbine is not appropriate for using air blower and pump to brake.


A decontamination device (10) including a housing (12) and a chamber (16) for receiving articles to be decontaminated by at least one of washing, disinfecting and sterilizing. A control pad (20) for an operator to input control instructions for controlling decontamination cycles to which the articles are subjected. The control pad being disposed adjacent an exterior of the housing and being accessible to the operator through an opening (24) in the housing (12). A door (30) covering the opening (24) and being hingedly attached to the decontamination device by a mechanism (26) disposed entirely within the housing when the door is in a closed position. The mechanism (26) can be a leaf spring (36) having a first end connected with a pivot pin (42) to the door (30) and a second end secured to an internal region (40) of the housing (12). During opening and closing of the door, the lower edge (48) of the door, in cooperation with the outer panel of housing (12), provides a cam type action which causes bending of the leaf spring (36) and allows travel of a longitudinal axis of the pivot pin (42) outwardly and inwardly relative to the housing (12) as the door (30) is opened and closed respectively, and allows about 180.degree. of rotation of the door between open and closed positions. The door can include a horizontal slot (34) through which a paper tape (32) of a printer (22) is fed.

The present invention relates generally to the decontamination art. It finds particular application in the sterilizing and disinfecting apparatus typically employed with medical, dental, veterinary, mortuary, and laboratory instruments and equipment and will be described with particular reference thereto. It will be appreciated, however, that the invention may be applicable to a wide variety of apparatus used in sanitary environments.
Medical, dental, surgical, veterinary, and laboratory equipment and instruments are often sterilized by steam and/or reagent treatments. More particularly, an apparatus is provided which isolates the equipment and instruments in these respective environments for a sufficient period of time to complete decontamination. The steam autoclave devices of the type described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,193,818; 4,226,642; and 4,601,300 and the reagent sterilization devices as described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,731,222; 5,037,623; and 5,391,360 represent decontamination apparatus with which the present invention is particularly suited. Each of these patents is herein incorporated by reference.
Often, decontamination apparatus are provided with a primary, frequently used control panel and a secondary, infrequently used control panel, each allowing an operator to input information to a microprocessor based control. In addition, decontamination apparatus often include a paper printout of sterilization parameters to allow a permanent record or receipt for each sterilization procedure to be printed. To provide easy access to the control panels, a printer paper roll and the printer itself, these elements are located on the exterior of the decontamination apparatus. Although the primary control panel is often left exposed for easy access, the other elements are preferably covered by a door to prevent unintentional contact and/or damage.
Historically, a conventional hinge has been used to allow the door to be manually opened. To allow the door to open adequately, the hinge has been positioned on an outer wall of the decontamination apparatus. Moreover, to obtain 180.degree. of rotation of the door, the pivot axis provided by the hinge was outside the plane of the apparatus' outer wall. This is aesthetically undesirable and has often led to the use of small, less visible hinges that possess an inherently low strength. Furthermore, these exposed hinges and their attachments are prone to being damaged and have proven difficult to clean because most surfaces of the hinge are not readily accessible.
The present invention contemplates a new and improved door assembly which overcomes the above-referenced problems and others.