A method of making a cosmetic applicator assembly is described. The cosmetic applicator assembly includes an applicator head comprising an applicator front portion having at least a first surface, a second surface, and a multiplicity of apertures extending between the first surface and the second surface, at least one applicator component protruding from the at one least aperture and attachable to the applicator front portion, and an applicator back portion fixed to the applicator front portion so as to cover the second surface of the applicator front portion.

Cosmetic applicators are well known and are used to apply various cosmetic products. Mascara is typically applied to keratinous fibers using a cosmetic applicator brush such that the mascara product is brushed over and adheres to the keratinous fibers of a user's eyelashes. A well known mascara applicator brush is the standard twisted wire applicator brush which is made up of a twisted central wire having bristles protruding therefrom. Traditionally, the bristles used in such twisted wire applicator brushes are thin fiber bristles that are entrapped by the wire when twisted.
An alternative applicator brush is manufactured by injection of a plastic material in such a way as to form a central core along the axis of the brush and protrusions arranged around the core in an array, typically as rows of protrusions in the axial direction. The protrusions of these plastic injected brushes may not be able to achieve the same fine dimensions of the fiber bristles of a twisted wire brush, but have the advantage of being able to arrange the protrusions in arrays not achievable with twisted wire brushes.
The twisted wire and injected plastic applicator brushes both have pros and cons when it comes to the make-up effect achieved and to the ease of application of the mascara as perceived by the consumer. In order to combine the advantages of both applicator types some attempts have been made over recent years to produce a hybrid applicator, referred to below as the injected plastic strip applicator brush.
In the injected plastic strip applicator brush, injected plastic strips, having plastic protrusions arranged in a longitudinal comb-like arrangement thereon, are assembled to the twisted wire applicator brush after its manufacture. The plastic protrusions are thicker than the traditional fiber bristles and they facilitate application where a volumising effect, for example, is required. Cosmetic applicators of this type can therefore provide a dual application effect, combining the make-up application effect created by the traditional fibers bristles together with the effect created by the plastic protrusions and as such cosmetic applicators of this type are becoming more and more popular with consumers. Unfortunately, manufacturing cosmetic applicators of this type involves a laborious non-automated assembly process which involves first manufacturing the standard twisted wire applicator brush, trimming the bristles of the applicator brush, manufacturing the plastic strips and then fitting the plastic strips to the standard twisted wire applicator brush. As such manufacturing cosmetic applicators of this type tends to be expensive and time consuming.
Furthermore, due to the constraints associated with the assembly process, there are limitations as to the possible bristle and protrusion configuration on the cosmetic applicator. The twisted wire applicator defines the configuration of the fiber bristles and the structure of the plastic strips defines the configuration of the protrusions. As such, it is not possible to have diverse and different configurations in respect of fiber bristles and plastic protrusions, or to have interspersion of fiber bristles and plastic protrusions.


A fiber optic link for platforms with data sources including, e.g., sensors, cameras, radars and antennas. An array of optical transmitter/receiver pairs is coupled to an integrating network of the platform. Data modules are each coupled to certain ones of the data sources and include a receiver for detecting control data, and a modulator for modulating a light signal according to signals from the module's data sources. At least one optical fiber is coupled between a given transmitter/receiver pair of the array, and a corresponding data module. A laser source associated with each transmitter supplies a light signal with the control data to a corresponding data module downstream over an optical fiber. The light signal is modulated by the signals from the module's data sources, and the modulated light signal is returned to an array receiver upstream over an optical fiber.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an architecture for a bi-directional fiber optical link.
2. Discussion of the Known Art
The aerospace operating environment is hostile and it imposes many constraints on the engineering and design of avionics systems. Most critical is the stringent operational temperature range of from −55° C. to +125° C. Optical devices are especially susceptible to temperatures that might lead to a link failure or other catastrophic loss, and the use of cooling or heating units only increases system size, weight and power (SWAP), as well as cost. As a result, advanced jet fighters like the F35 still use IEEE 1394B protocols for electrical data distribution over copper (Cu) wire in their flight and mission control systems.
Optical networking technologies are expected to revolutionize next generation avionics and naval communication systems. Optical systems offer substantial improvements over Cu wire systems in reliability, size, weight, power efficiency, cost, security, immunity to electromagnetic interference, and networking capability. Skyrocketing fuel prices and an ever increasing demand for bandwidth make it necessary to build avionics platform networks with reduced SWAP but are nevertheless flexible, scalable and upgradeable with minimal installation and lifetime operation costs. With reduced SWAP, an air fighter can carry more fuel and ordinance over greater distances.
Optical networks are potentially capable of meeting all of the above requirements. A so-called Requirement of Optical Networks in Avionics (RONIA) program at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) estimates a total backbone capacity of about 1.4 Tb/s with about 400 nodes and over 500 links for an air fighter. The data rate per node is expected to be 1 Gb/s or greater. For example, a significant weight reduction may be achieved by eliminating heavy Cu cables. Optical data networks also offer a large suite of other benefits including resistance to electromagnetic interference (EMI) and unauthorized tapping, very large bandwidth, protocol transparency, low loss, low crosstalk with more than 40 dB isolation, corrosion resistance, and no radiation, fire ignition or electrocution hazards.
Despite their widespread use in commercial and residential deployments, optical networks currently deployed in avionics largely comprise point-to-point multimode fiber links operating at a 850 nm wavelength and use so-called Fiber Channel protocols for storage. As a result, electronic communications are still carried out mainly over Cu wiring employing ARINC 429, Avionics Full Duplex Switched Ethernet (AFDX), IEEE 1394 and US MIL-STD-1553B Standards. The IEEE 1394 protocol is used on the Joint Strike Fighter for vehicle management systems, and it supports a 400 Mb/s data transfer rate. AFDX, which is ARINC 664 (Part 7), presently supports a 100 Mb/s data rate.
Current aerospace optical fiber back plane networks can be complicated and costly to maintain and repair, and typically require built in tests (BIT) and fault diagnosis procedures in their construction. Ideally, there should be a minimal number of different spare parts needed to service the network, and replacements should preferably be carried out at a module level with ease of access.
System sensors, radar, RF antennas and cameras are the eyes and ears of an aircraft. They are sources of raw signals or data that need to be processed by an integrated core processor (ICP) located remotely from the various sources, and analyzed by the flight crew and/or other subsystems. FIG. 1 shows typical communication networks and systems within an airborne platform. The networks include, for example, networks for navigation, RF communications, tactical response, munitions control, identification and surveillance, electronic warfare, and storage. The platform also typically has a flight control and vehicle management system. Each network or system may use a different communication protocol and operate essentially independently. Communications to and from the platform are typically carried by RF waveforms, while flows of data within the platform between the various sources and the ICP may be either RF or digital baseband, with increasing movement toward the latter. The data may be continuous, random, or bursty.
In a data centric system, the core of an integration of the various platform systems should preferably be a unified network or data bus that will support transparent operation of a variety of otherwise incompatible protocols of the different systems. Optical networks can support the various protocols whether analog or digital. The ability of a core integrating network to support both analog and digital signals would provide a significant gain in SWAP by eliminating the present need for a separate RF cabling infrastructure.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2004/0062553 (Apr. 1, 2004) describes a bidirectional optical link between first and second data units using a single optical source. In the disclosed embodiment, the first data unit is a transmit/receive unit associated with an aircraft. The second data unit is a ground terminal including a modulator/optical receiver system. A splitter element in the optical receiver system receives a modulated optical signal from an optical source in the first data unit. The incoming optical signal is split into a received portion and an outgoing portion. The received optical portion is detected and converted to an electrical signal. A return modulator element modulates the outgoing optical portion and transmits same to the first data unit. The modulation of the outgoing optical portion allows the link to use a single shared optical source, according to the '553 publication.
A full-duplex optical transmission link is disclosed in L. D. Westbrook et al., "Simultaneous bi-directional analogue fiber-optic transmission using an electro-absorption modulator", Electronics Letters, vol. 32, no 19 (Sep. 12, 1996), at pages 1806-07. A downlink laser transmitter and a photodetector receiver are provided at the head end of an optical link consisting of a downlink fiber and an uplink fiber. A single electro-absorption (EA) device is used as a simultaneous photodetector receiver and modulator-transmitter at a remote end of the link. A duplexer is coupled to the EA device at the remote end, and full-duplex communication between the transmitters and the receivers at both ends of the link may be accomplished, as reported in the article.

Bi-directional optical link between multiple data sources and a processing node in an avionics platform

BAE Systems Information and Electronic Systems Integration Inc.


Chair convertible into chaise-longue, comprising a stationary base structure, a first support section fixed relative to the base structure, a second support structure movable relative to the base structure and able to be moved from a substantially horizontal position to an inclined position in which the second support section forms an upward extension of the first support section, and a movable support element having a third and a fourth support section, fixed relative to each other and mutually inclined. The movable support element is movable relative to the base structure between a first and a second position. In the first position, the third support section is parallel and opposite to the first support section and the fourth support section extends upwards starting from the third support section. In the second position, the third support section is inclined relative to the first support section and extends upwards starting from a lower end of the first support section and the fourth support section extends downwards starting from an upper end of the third support section.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a chair convertible into chaise-longue. A chaise-longue is an armchair with anatomical shape that enables the user to assume a semi-reclined position.
2. Description of the Related Art
A chaise-longue is traditionally formed by three portions with different inclinations: a backrest portion, an intermediate portion and a footrest portion. When the user is seated on a chaise-longue, his/her knees are usually at a greater height than his/her hips and feet.


This invention is a support carrier for attaching a smaller format disk drive into a chassis bay sized for receiving a larger disk drive, the support carrier includes a heat-sink surface with pin fins for conducting and removing heat from the smaller disk drive.

Computer systems may include different resources used by one or more host processors. Resources and host processors in a computer system may be interconnected by one or more communication connections. These resources may include, for example, data storage systems, such as the Symmetrix™ or CLARiiON™ (also referred to herein as Clariion) family of data storage systems manufactured by EMC Corporation. These data storage systems may be coupled to one or more host processors and provide storage services to each host processor. An example data storage system may include one or more data storage devices, such as those of the Symmetrix™ family, that are connected together and may be used to provide common data storage for one or more host processors in a computer system.
The data storage systems are also known as data storage arrays because they typically contain a plurality of disk drives, each of which generates a significant amount of heat which must be removed from the disk drive and the surrounding circuitry in an expedient fashion. Failure to do so has been shown to lead to reduced reliability or component failure. Fans are typically employed to create forced air to remove such heat from the system. As the disk drives get smaller and their storage capacity increases, the crowding of components and the mechanical and electrical activity associated with storing and retrieving data in such tightly compacted environments has lead to challenges in maintaining adequate drive temperatures.
It may be necessary to continue using larger disk drives while smaller drives are being phased in and in so doing the various geometries due to the different sizes may create a non-uniform impedance to air flow that could adversely affect the temperatures of some of the drives. It would be an advancement in the art to provide a way for removing heat from a data storage system including a plurality of disk drives, including disk drives of various sizes, such as smaller ones being used along side of larger ones, for example 2.5 inch format disk drives along side of 3.5 disk format disk drives.

Support carrier for a disk-drive with integrated heat-sink


The present invention relates to a satellite signal transmitter, and in particular, to a satellite signal transmitter with a dual-input DC power control switch.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a very small aperture terminal (VSAT), and in particular, to a VSAT with a dual-input DC power control.
2. Description of the Related Art
A VSAT satellite communicator transmits and receives signals through a mini-antenna, transferring video and audio information through high bandwidth connections provided within range of the satellite signal. Currently satellite networking services are highly developed so that various application services are popular. Portable satellite communication devices are widely used, with the result that low power consumption is a priority.
Although signal transfer systems in electronic circuits are minimized, considerable power is required to enable radio transmission. Thus a power amplifier provides amplification necessary for the minimized circuits to provide radio waves of sufficient power.
The power amplifier magnifies an input signal for output, such that power used is often several times larger than that in electronic circuits. Thus, reducing power consumption of the power amplifier and control thereof by a power switch, is desirable.
A low noise high frequency signal source is used in uplink design, whereby a phase lock loop oscillator (PLO) stabilizes an inaccurately operating high-frequency signal. In comparison to a frequency multiplier, PLO has lower cost and higher performance.
In addition, a mechanism for controlling VSAT operations is required.

Very small aperture terminal with dual-input DC power control


An illumination arrangement for a shoe includes a power supply and an electro-luminescent element which can be mounted on a surface of an upper portion of the shoe, or with a transparent area of the bottom portion of the shoe. The power supply, which includes a generator arranged to output power in response to motion of the shoe, may be mounted in the bottom of the shoe.

This invention relates to lighted shoes, and in particular to lighted shoes with electro-luminescent (electro-luminescent) lighting elements. Lighted shoes, such as shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,893,247 and 3,946,505 have been provided in the past that include a flashing light. When an individual wearing the shoes moves back and forth, as during dancing or even while walking, a circuit provides certain functions such as flashing on and off. Such shoes are very useful and provide enhanced safety for many situations, but the conventional light sources are not as versatile or attractive as electro-luminescent lighting elements, which can have a variety of colors and can have a variety of shapes and configurations, including flat panels and three-dimensional fiber-like elements.
However, electro-luminescent lighting elements cannot simply be used in the conventional lighted shoes because of different electrical requirements. The conventional power supplies, such as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,158,922, which discloses a three position switch with different functions for triggering a light by D.C. power, lack components such as a transformer to supply A.C. power suitable for use in electro-luminescent applications, and thus the previous arrangements cannot easily be adapted for use with electro-luminescent lighting elements.
In addition, the use of batteries in the prior shoes is inconvenient in many situations, since batteries have a short lifespan and present a disposal problem.

Shoe with an electro-luminescent lighting element


A long-term implantable arterio-venous shunt device is provided that can be used as a therapeutic method. The shunt device is implanted between an artery and a vein, preferably between the aorta and the inferior vena cava. The shunt device decreases the systemic vascular resistance and allows a blood flow rate through the shunt device of at least 5 ml/min after the implantation. The blood flow rate could be controlled either via an open loop or a closed loop control means. The shunt device could also be a self-adjustable shunt device to self-adjust its structure to control the blood flow rate through its lumen. Based on the effects of the shunt device to the respiratory, cardiac and circulatory system, the implantable shunt device could be beneficial as a therapy to patients with problems or conditions related to these systems.

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is a syndrome that may be caused by a number of different diseases, all of which damage the alveoli and bronchioles, leading to impaired lung function. These diseases include including asthmatic bronchitis, chronic bronchitis (with normal airflow), chronic obstructive bronchitis, bullous disease, and emphysema. About 11% of the population of the United States has COPD, and according to the Mayo Clinic, COPD kills about 85,000 people a year in the United States. As the alveoli and bronchial tubes are destroyed, the remaining healthy lung tissue must work harder to provide the required amount of blood oxygenation. This need for more air leads to lung over-inflation. As the lung over-expands, it gradually enlarges, completely filling the chest cavity and causing a sense of shortness of breath. The lung eventually looses its elasticity, and the combination of a larger, less elastic lung and damaged, nonfunctioning tissue leads to a slower air flow into and out of the lung, resulting in the feeling of an obstructed airway.
The present standard of care is oxygen therapy, which requires a patient to remain near a stationary oxygen source or carry a bulky portable oxygen source when away from home or a treatment facility. It is easy to appreciate that such oxygen therapy has many disadvantages.
Lung reduction surgery has recently been proposed for treating patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Such surgery, however, is not a panacea. It can be used on only a small percentage of the total patient population, requires long recovery times, and does not always provide a clear patient benefit. Even when successful, patients often continue to require supplemental oxygen therapy.
It is desirable to provide improved approaches, including both devices and methods, for treating patients suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and other related conditions.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University


Provided is a semiconductor device including electronic components electrically joined to each other via a metal nanoparticle sintered layer, wherein the metal nanoparticle sintered layer has formed therein a metal diffusion region in which a metal constituting a metallization layer formed on a surface of one of the electronic components is diffused, and in which the metal is present in an amount of 10 mass % or more and less than 100 mass % according to TEM-EDS analysis, and wherein the metal diffusion region has a thickness smaller than a thickness of the metallization layer.

In recent years, there has been developed a semiconductor device using a semiconductor element made of, for example, silicon carbide (SiC) or gallium nitride (GaN), which is capable of being operated at high temperature. In such semiconductor device, it is required that electronic components, for example, a semiconductor element and a circuit board be joined to each other with a high joint strength. As a technology for forming a joint portion excellent in joint strength, there has been known a method of joining electronic components to each other by heating and pressurizing through use of a metal nanoparticle joint material.
For example, in Patent Document 1, there is disclosed a method of manufacturing a semiconductor module, the method including the steps of: applying a paste containing silver-based metal powder having two peaks in a particle size distribution and a solvent to a surface of a conductor layer of a wiring board having the conductor layer on a surface of a base material, to thereby form a paste layer; drying the solvent of the paste layer to form a retention layer for the silver-based metal powder on the wiring board; heating the wiring board having the retention layer to join particles of the silver-based metal powder constituting the retention layer to each other, to thereby form a silver porous body layer in which open cells are dispersed; impregnating the silver porous body layer with an organic silver complex solution to form an organic silver complex-impregnated silver porous body layer; and placing a semiconductor element on the organic silver complex-impregnated silver porous body layer, and heating the wiring board having the organic silver complex-impregnated silver porous body layer to reduce the organic silver complex solution, to thereby form a joint layer.
In Patent Document 2, there is disclosed a method of manufacturing an electronic component having a joint layer configured to electrically connect two electrodes, the method including a step of applying a joint material containing cupric oxide, a hydrate of a copper salt, and a solvent to a part to be joined on a surface of an electrode made of pure gold or a gold alloy, and thermally decomposing the hydrate of a copper salt by heating, to thereby reduce the cupric oxide.
In Patent Document 3, there is disclosed a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device, the method including: placing a joint material between electronic components to be joined to each other, the joint material containing Ag nanoparticles each having a particle surface coated with an organic substance and metal X nanoparticles each having a particle surface coated with an organic substance and having a hardness higher than that of Ag; and subjecting the joint material to heat treatment to sinter the Ag nanoparticles and the metal X nanoparticles, to thereby form a joint layer in which the metal X is dispersed in a Ag matrix.
Further, as described in Patent Document 2 and Patent Document 3, in this technical field, it has been considered to be desired that a metal diffusion region be actively formed in the vicinity of a joint interface in order to join the electronic components to each other with a higher joint strength.

Semiconductor device comprising electronic components electrically joined to each other via metal nanoparticle sintered layer and method of manufacturing the same


The present invention concerns a metal powder composition for the powder metal industry, wherein the metal powder is selected from the group consisting of an atomized iron-based powder or a sponge iron powder, and a lubricant composition comprising glyceryl stearate.

In industry the use of metal products manufactured by compacting and sintering iron-based powder compositions is becoming increasingly widespread. A number of different products of varying shapes and thickness are being produced. One processing technique for manufacture the products from the base powders is to charge the powder into a die cavity and compact the powder under high pressures. The obtained compact is then removed from the die cavity and sintered.
The quality requirements of the products are continuously raised, and in this context one important factor is that the manufactured products have high and consistent density. Much effort is put into research to develop such products and one field within this research concerns lubrication, which is used i.a. to avoid excessive wear on the die cavity during compaction. Lubrication is accomplished by spraying a liquid dispersion or solution of the lubricant onto the die cavity surface (external lubrication) or by blending a solid lubricant powder with the iron-based powder (internal lubrication). In some cases, both lubrication techniques are utilized.
The use of external, die wall lubricants can reduce or eliminate the need for an internal lubricant, but problems accompany external lubrication techniques. First, the film thickness within the die cavity has a tendency to vary, and the lubricant dispersion is known to drip out of the die cavity during processing. Also, aqueous dispersions are a source of rust formation on the die cavity. Another problem is that various external lubricant compositions are not necessarily sufficient to adequately lower ejection forces, especially at higher compaction pressures. Finally, as a technique, the die wall lubrication does not permit high productivity in comparison with internal lubrication.
Lubrication by means of blending a solid lubricant into the iron-based powder composition has also disadvantages. One problem is that the lubricant generally has a density of about 1-1.2 g/cm3, as compared with the density of the iron-based powder, which is about 7-8 g/cm3. Inclusion of the less dense lubricant in the composition lowers the green density of the compacted part. Second, internal lubricants are generally not sufficiently effective for reducing the ejection pressures when manufacturing parts having part heights in excess of about 2.5-5 cm. Another problem is, when the particles of internal lubricant burn off during sintering, pore spaces can be left in the compacted part, providing a source of weakness for the part. Many presently used lubricants also have the disadvantage of requiring high energies for ejecting the green compact from the die.
Another disadvantage with presently used lubricants is that they often include zinc stearate. This is due to the fact zinc stearate imparts good flow properties to metal powder compositions including this stearate. In reducing atmospheres, the zinc oxide remaining after initial decomposition of the stearate is reduced to zinc, which readily volatilises because of its low boiling point. Unfortunately, on contacting the cooler parts of the furnace or the outside atmosphere, the zinc tends to condense or reoxidise. A consequence of reactions is that the production has to be interrupted as the furnace has to be cleaned regularly.
The problems associated with zinc stearate can be avoided by the use of completely organic materials such as waxes. The wax most widely used in powder metallurgy is ethylene-bisstearamide, EBS, (available under the name Acrawax™ C or Licowax™). This material has a high melting point (140° C.) but it burns off at relatively low temperatures and leaves no metallic residue. The most serious disadvantage is its poor flow behaviour in metal powders.
The present invention is particularly directed to iron based compositions with internal lubrication and wherein the lubrication is provided by a new lubricant composition including glyceryl stearate.
An additional field of application of the glyceryl stearate compositions or mixtures according to the present invention is as binders for pulverulent additives to the metal powder which makes it possible to produce non dusting powder mixtures that are also free from segregation.
Glyceryl stearate has been mentioned in connection with iron-based metal powders for the PM-industry in U.S. Pat. No. 5,518,639 and the related U.S. Pat. No. 5,538,684 which discloses lubricant compositions containing a solid phase lubricant, such as graphite, molybdenum disulfide, and polytetrafluoroethylene in combination with a liquid phase lubricant that is a binder for the solid phase lubricant. The binder can be chosen from various classes of compounds including polyethylene glycols, polyethylene glycol esters, partial esters of C3-6 polyhydric alcohols, polyvinyl esters, and polyvinyl pyrrolidones. The binder is solubilized in an organic solvent. This lubricant composition is applied to the surface of a die cavity prior to compaction of the metal powder composition. The glyceryl stearate is thus known use as a binder in connection with external lubrication and, in contrast to the lubricant according to the present invention, it is not mixed with the iron-based powder and optional additives before the compaction.
Furthermore, the U.S. Pat. No. 5,432,223 discloses that glyceryl stearate can be used as a plastiziser in polyvinylpyrrolidone, which is a binding agent which may be used in metal powder compositions.
Another patent which mentions glyceryl stearate in connection with metal powders is the U.S. Pat. No. 6,187,259. In this patent glyceryl stearate is mentioned together with a wide variety of other substances as an agent for providing hydrofobicity in rare earth alloy powders for the production of granules.
The U.S. Pat. No. 5,641,920 mentions the use of glyceryl monostearate as a plasticizer/compatibilizer in powders for injection moulding. In an article "Thermal extraction of binders and lubricants in sintering" by German in Advances in Powder Metallurgy & Particulate Materials, 1996 glyceryl monostearate is also mentioned.
In the recently published WO 03/015962 glycerol monostearate is mentioned in lubricant systems in combination with different guanidine compounds. The systems actually tested in combination with metal powders do however not include glyceryl stearate. No beneficial effects with guanidine compounds have been observed in connection with the present invention, a reason why such guanidine compounds are not included in the lubricant/binder system according to the present invention.

Metal powder composition including a bonding binder/lubricant


Solids which are soluble in a common solvent or solvent mixture, possibly containing a common high-boiling substance of common marker liquids for writing instruments with a common capillary feeder opening, with a melting point .gtoreq.30.degree. C. and a molecular weight .ltoreq.1000 daltons, and which, when they are the sole ingredient in the solvent or solvent mixture, crystallize on the feeder opening, forming outwardly growing crystallites, can be used as antiblocking additives for such marker liquids in a proportion of at leat 1% in weight, relative to the final composition of the marker liquid, for protective and anti-evaporating closure of the capillary feeder opening when it is unprotected and not in use.

It is known that the capillary outlet openings of writing instruments, recording instruments, drawing instruments and printers as well as of marking pencils and plotters (said instruments are referred to from now on as writing instruments) are clogged or plugged due to the drying of the marking fluid. The outlet openings of such writing instruments are therefore normally covered by a sealing cap which hinders the evaporation of the volatile components of the marking fluid. In particular the evaporation of the solvent or the solvent mixture is stopped by such a cap in a more or less effective manner.
In case no such caps are put on the capillary outlet opening the marking fluid dries very quickly and plugs the capillary outlet opening.
In order to avoid a fast drying of the marking fluid at the capillary outlet opening or in said capillary outlet opening, respectively, of writing instruments it is known to add liquid additives, to said marking fluids having a low vapour pressure and being hardly volatile. Due to said liquid additives, it is possible after evaporation of the other liquid components of the marking fluid to reuse the writing instruments and to start writing with them again.
Said marking fluids, which are admixed with said known liquid additives, have, however, the disadvantage that they dry very badly on non-absorbing supports or pads, such as foils, glass or metal. A further considerable disadvantage is the fact that the properties of the marking fluid with respect to the surface tension and the viscosity have changed after the more volatile components of the marking fluid have evaporated at the capillary opening of the writing instruments. Consequently the quality of the recording, such as the sharpness of the edge, the penetration of the marking fluid to the backside of the support and the wipe resistance, are reduced after starting writing again until the original mixture of the marking fluid reaches the outlet opening again and flows out of said outlet opening.

Use of solids as antiblocking additives for marker liquids


A method can include: acquiring, via one or more sensors disposed in a vehicle, one or more engine operation parameters relating to operation of an internal combustion engine disposed along a coolant flow path in the vehicle; calculating at least one target coolant temperature according to the one or more engine operation parameters; and controlling a valve actuator to regulate flow of a coolant through the coolant flow path via an electric coolant valve operatively coupled to the valve actuator such that a temperature of the coolant changes in accordance with the at least one target coolant temperature.

Many modern vehicles are equipped with a thermal management system (TMS) or a thermal management module (TMM) for controlling the operating temperature of an internal combustion engine as well as ancillary systems (e.g., engine oil heat exchanger, heater core, radiator, etc.). A TMM generally utilizes electronically controllable actuators in place of a conventional mechanical thermostat, which is limited to a fixed operating temperature, to regulate the flow of coolant and other fluids and thereby improve engine temperature tracking over most operating ranges. By actively controlling the engine operating temperature, the TMM can enable the ideal operating temperature to be reached in the shortest possible time. Various benefits can be achieved as a result, such as enhanced fuel economy, accelerated engine and cabin warm-up, and reduced carbon dioxide emissions.
The TMM often uses an electric coolant valve to modulate coolant flow through the vehicle's engine cooling circuit. In some cases, coolant flow modulation can be achieved by controlling a position of the electric coolant valve via an electric motor attached to the valve. When controlled efficiently, the electric coolant valve can manage the temperature balance inside the drivetrain in a manner which allows the engine and transmission to reach an optimum temperature quickly.

Methods of controlling electrical coolant valve for internal combustion engine


A neat-fuel direct-injected compression ignition engine having a thermal barrier coated combustion chamber, an injection port injects fuel that satisfies a stoichiometric condition with respect to the intake air, a mechanical exhaust regenerator transfers energy from exhaust gas to intake compression stages, an exhaust O2 sensor inputs to a feedback control to deliver quantified fuel, a variable valve actuation (VVA) controls valve positions, an exhaust gas temperature sensor controls exhaust feedback by closing the exhaust valve early according to the VVA, or recirculated to the chamber with an exhaust-gas-recirculation (EGR), heat exchanger, and flow path connecting an air intake, a load command input, and a computer operates the EGR from sensors to input exhaust gas according exhaust temperature signals and changes VVA timing, the load control is by chamber exhaust gas, the computer operates a fuel injector to deliver fuel independent of exhaust gas by the O2 signals.

Neat alcohols as alternative fuels for Diesel engines have been under investigation for several decades. In one attempt, commercial engine development was addressed in the early 1980's with the production of a methanol-fueled, compression-ignited (CI) engine. The combination of low cetane number and large enthalpy of vaporization was addressed by retaining hot combustion products within the cylinder to create sufficient ignition conditions near top dead center (TDC) with a relatively high compression ratio, up to 23:1. The engine operated in a direct-injection, two-stroke fashion, and the amount of exhaust gas removed during the scavenging process was controlled for stable combustion. Glow plugs were used for cold-start operation only. Particulate measurements from the engine were non-negligible, and this was attributed in large part to burned engine oil since the particulate matter (PM) emissions did not increase with fuel to air ratio.
In another attempt, testing was conducted with a single-cylinder, four-stroke engine operating on neat methanol, as well as wet methanol and methanol blended with higher alcohols. In order to achieve consistent autoignition, a compression ratio of 18.9:1 with intake air preheating to 138° C. was required, which was interpreted as the simulation of turbocharging without intercooling. The reported smoke data is very low across the load range tested, which remained below stoichiometric conditions.
A low heat rejection (LHR) engine has been used to investigate emissions and performance for direct-injection, spark-assisted combustion of methanol and ethanol as compared to Diesel fuel. In this study, a single-cylinder engine with a compression ratio of 16.5:1 was outfit with an insulated piston face and head. The measurements of Bosch smoke number were reported being essentially zero for both alcohols, as compared to the Diesel-fuel baseline. The apparent heat release rate data indicated that the increase in compressed air temperature due to LHR surfaces allowed combustion to occur in two phases: that initiated by the spark plug, and that attributed to autoignition.
Ethanol has been researched in a partially premixed combustion (PPC) approach. Here, a significant amount of fuel-air mixing is desired before combustion, although a separate late injection is used for phasing control. The tested equivalence ratios approached, but did not meet, stoichiometric conditions. Peak temperatures were limited by the overall lean combustion and the use of exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) for nitrogen oxides (NOx) avoidance. Measurements from the PPC split injection strategy show low soot emissions, as expected from the large amount of pre-mixing. In this attempt, intake boosting and intake air preheating were required for ignition.
The inherent nature of low soot emissions from oxygenated fuels was previously analyzed in detail. It was shown experimentally that if the oxygen mass fraction of a fuel is greater than 30%, the measured smoke number is nearly zero. This may be achieved through the use of either neat or blended fuels. From this perspective, it is clear that both methanol (50% oxygen mass fraction) and ethanol (35% oxygen mass fraction) are attractive choices, and are expected to emit low levels of soot. Similarly, dimethyl ether (DME) has the same atomic composition as ethanol and is also expected to form little soot.
The intermolecular bonding of DME is different than ethanol, with the oxygen atom located between two methyl groups. As a result, its properties are different. Most notably, it has a Diesel-fuel-like cetane rating, in the range of 55-60. Its early use in Diesel engines was investigated as an ignition improver for DI methanol in a compression ignition engine. The DME was admitted into the intake air, and the direct injection of methanol was sufficiently ignited. It was believed that the lean DME-air mixture combusted during the compression stroke, thus raising the ambient gas temperature to a level that was acceptable for methanol ignition delay. As a neat DI fuel, DME has been tested and shown to enable clean and efficient operation of a Diesel engine. It is noteworthy that DME requires storage at several bar above atmospheric pressure in order to remain a liquid.
The use of neat alcohols, namely methanol and ethanol, in direct-injection, compression-ignited engines is difficult, most notably due to their poor ignitability. What is needed is a high temperature combustion strategy that enables the used of oxygenated and inherently low-sooting fuels for heavy-load applications.

Stoichiometric high-temperature direct-injection compression-ignition engine


Location graph-based derivation of user attributes is disclosed. In various embodiments, location data associated with a user, such as a current and/or past location at which the user has been, is received. A user attribute data associated with the location data is determined and used to update a user profile associated with the user.

Computer "cookies" have been used to track which websites a computer user has visited, e.g., using a browser. Browsing history information gathered using cookies has been used to select for display to the computer user, e.g., in a banner or pop-up ad, advertising content that may have been selected based at least in part on attributes of pages the user has visited. For example, a computer user who has visited web pages associated with automobiles may be more likely to have a car ad selected for display to the user.
Attempts have been made to target ads to a mobile device user based on the user's current geographic location. For example, an ad "request" sent by and/or on behalf of a mobile app being used by a mobile user may include GPS or other current location information (e.g., latitude/longitude), and an attempt may be made to serve to the mobile user for display in the context of the mobile app an ad that has been selected based on the current location information included in the ad request, for example an ad for a business that is located at or near the user's current location.
Ads also have been selected based on the content of a site the user is currently visiting or an app the user is using, and based on analyses of social media content associate with a user, such as the user's own feed or that of the user's friends, etc.

Location graph based derivation of attributes


A highly reliable polymer electrolyte fuel cell includes an anode-side separator plate and a cathode-side separator plate that are provided with an anode-side sealing member and a cathode-side sealing member, respectively. The anode-side and cathode-side sealing members seal the cell in cooperation with a polymer electrolyte membrane at sealing parts where the anode-side and cathode-side sealing members are opposed to each other, thereby preventing gas from leaking out of gas flow channels. One of the anode-side and cathode-side sealing members has a pointed rib that comes in contact with the sealing parts in a linear manner, and the other sealing member comes in contact with the sealing parts surface to surface.

The present invention relates to polymer electrolyte fuel cells for use in portable power sources, electric vehicle power sources, domestic cogeneration systems, or the like.
A fuel cell including a polymer electrolyte membrane generates electric power and heat simultaneously by electrochemically reacting a fuel gas containing hydrogen with an oxidant gas containing oxygen, such as air. The fuel cell includes a polymer electrolyte membrane that selectively transports hydrogen ions and a pair of electrodes (anode and cathode) formed on both sides of the polymer electrolyte membrane. The electrode includes a catalyst layer formed on each side of the polymer electrolyte membrane and a gas diffusion layer formed on the outer face of the catalyst layer. The catalyst layer is composed mainly of a carbon powder carrying a platinum group metal catalyst, and the gas diffusion layer has excellent gas permeability and electronic conductivity.
Around the electrodes, gas sealing materials or gaskets are arranged so as to sandwich the polymer electrolyte membrane, in order to prevent the supplied fuel gas and oxidant gas from leaking out and mixing together. The gas sealing materials or gaskets are combined integrally with the electrodes and the polymer electrolyte membrane beforehand. This combined structure is called an electrolyte membrane-electrode assembly (MEA).
Disposed outside the MEA are conductive separator plates for mechanically securing the MEA and connecting adjacent MEAs electrically in series. The separator plates have a gas flow channel for supplying a reactive gas to the electrode surface and discharging generated gas and surplus gas. Although the gas flow channel may be provided independently of the separator plate, grooves are usually formed in the surface of the separator plate to provide the gas flow channel.
In order to supply the reactive gas to the grooves, it is necessary to use a piping jig which, depending on the number of separator plates, branches off from the supply pipe of the reactive gas into the grooves of the respective separator plates. This jig is called a "manifold," and the above-described type of manifold, connecting the supply pipe of the reactive gas with the grooves of the respective separator plates, is called an "external manifold." A manifold having a simpler structure is called an "internal manifold." The internal manifold includes through-holes that are formed in the respective separator plates with the gas flow channel. The throughholes are connected to the inlet and outlet of the gas flow channel so that the reactive gas is supplied directly from these holes to the gas flow channel.
Since the fuel cell generates heat during operation, it is necessary to cool the fuel cell with cooling water or the like, in order to keep the cell under good temperature conditions. A cooling section for flowing cooling water therein is usually provided for every group of one to three cells. The cooling section is often provided by forming a cooling water flow channel in the backside of the separator plate. The MEAs and the separator plates are alternately stacked to form a stack of 10 to 200 cells, and a current collector plate and an insulator plate are attached to each end of the cell stack. The resultant stack is sandwiched between end plates and clamped with clamping bolts from both ends. This is the structure of a typical fuel cell.
The gaskets, used in such a polymer electrolyte fuel cell, seal in gas while allowing the separator plate to contact the electrode, so the gaskets are required to have high dimensional accuracy, sufficient elasticity, and sufficient interference. To meet such requirements, sheet-like gaskets made of resin or rubber and O-rings made of rubber have been used in the related art.
Also, attempts have recently been made to decrease the load applied to the gaskets, in order to reduce the clamping load of the stack and achieve weight reduction, simplification and cost reduction of the constituent members. One such attempt is to employ gaskets having a triangular or semicircular cross section in addition to the O-ring gaskets (e.g., Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2002-141082). Other attempts to mount the gaskets on the separator plates, not the MEAs, have also been made for ease of assembly (e.g., Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2002-231264).
FIG. 13 is a longitudinal sectional view of the vicinity of O-ring gaskets of a related art fuel cell. O-rings 236 and 246 are fitted into O-ring grooves 236a and 246a formed in an anode-side separator plate 210 and a cathode-side separator plate 220. The O-ring 236 presses an electrolyte membrane 231 against the cathode-side separator plate 220, and the O-ring 246 presses the electrolyte membrane 231 against the anode-side separator plate 210. As a result, the gaps between the electrolyte membrane and these anode-side and cathode-side separator plates are sealed by the O-rings 236 and 246. Reference character 232a represents an anode, 232b a cathode, 212b a fuel gas flow channel, and 223b an oxidant gas flow channel.
In this way, since the sealing is performed at two locations by the O-ring gaskets, this related art sealing method has a problem of requiring a large sealing space.
Also, with internal-manifold-type separator plates, the gas sealing section extends from the manifold to the electrode section, so the electrolyte membrane needs to be large enough to cover the manifold, which leads to high costs. Further, as the membrane size increases, the handling of the membrane becomes more difficult during the assembly, because the membrane has a thickness of approximately 25 to 50 μm.
On the other hand, when the membrane size is decreased to reduce costs and improve handling and strength, the electrolyte membrane is covered with a somewhat rigid protective film. If a unit cell includes such a downsized electrolyte membrane, the thickness of the electrolyte membrane creates a difference in height around the electrodes, thereby posing a problem of degradation in sealing characteristics. Further, when the above-mentioned O-rings are used as the gaskets, it takes considerable time to fit the O-rings, which are thin and not rigid themselves, without twisting them during the assembly of the cell stack, thereby presenting a problem of high manufacturing costs.
Also, since the separator plates are made of a conductive material, inclusion of conductive foreign matter in an assembling process may lead to short-circuits between the separator plates sandwiching the MEA. Warpage or distortion of the separator plates, distortion resulting from the assembly of a fuel cell, or the like may also lead to short-circuits between the separator plates. Further, inclusion of conductive foreign matter between the assembled fuel cell and a heat insulator may lead to short-circuits.
Moreover, when the O-rings are used for sealing, a fuel cell is assembled by stacking the components of the fuel cell, for example, placing an MEA on a separator plate, and then, placing thereon another separator, or a gasket and another separator. In this assembling process, the gasket or the separator plate to be placed on the MEA is assembled along the guide pins of an assembling jig. However, since these components have dimensional errors, they cannot be assembled efficiently and successfully, unless the clearance between the gasket and the MEA is large enough to accommodate the dimensional errors. Thus, reactive gas passes through the resultant clearance between the gasket and the electrode, bypassing the gas flow channel of the separator plate.
Due to assembling errors of the MEA and the gasket and other factors, the size of the clearance between the electrode and the gasket varies from cell to cell, resulting in variations in pressure losses in the respective cells. The varied pressure losses in the respective cells cause variations in the flow rate of reactive gas, because the reactive gas flows into the respective cells of a fuel cell in amounts depending on the varied pressure losses in the respective cells. As a result, the respective cells exhibit performance variations, which involve such detrimental effects as deterioration in generated voltages, durability and low-output-operation stability, etc. These detrimental effects are remarkable on the anode side, where the reactive gas utilization is comparatively high.
Also, reducing the clearance between the gasket and the electrode requires an improvement in the accuracy of dimensions of the components, thereby inviting a decrease in yield and an increase in component costs. Further, when the clearance is reduced, the assembly of the components becomes difficult, and the assembling reliability lowers. Thus, sealing failure is caused, for example, by part of the electrode overlapping the sealing section, and a tensile stress and a shearing stress are excessively applied to the electrolyte membrane, inducing breakage of the electrolyte membrane, a decline in durability, and the like.
Recently, it has been requested to heighten the degree of humidification of the supplied gases, in order to enhance cell performance. On the oxidant gas side, water is generated by the reaction, and the water should be discharged from the electrode promptly and stably. If the clearance between the gasket and the electrode is reduced, or substantially removed, to prevent the above-described bypass of reactive gas while using the related art gasket, a large pressure is necessary for discharging the water from the electrode, inviting a problem of system efficiency degradation. Moreover, decreasing the clamping force of the sealing section is also a problem to be solved, for the purposes of weight reduction, size reduction and cost reduction of clamping members of the stack. Under such situations, there is a demand for simple and effective sealing configurations.

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


A device for selecting a storage cell, includes a first electrode, a second electrode and an oxide layer disposed between the first electrode and the second electrode, wherein the oxide layer is doped with a first element from column IV of the periodic table.

Non-volatile memories are memories that conserve information even when they are no longer supplied electrically. There exist several types of commonly used non-volatile memories, such as flash type memories. However, these memories have drawbacks such as long writing times and a low integration density. In addition, they require working at high supply voltages, of the order of 10 to 15V.
More recently, other types of non-volatile memories have appeared, based on an active material, such as CBRAM (Conductive Bridging Random Access Memory) type memories, which comprise an ionic conduction material, OxRAM (Oxide resistive Random Access Memory) type memories, which comprise a metal oxide material, and PCRAM (Phase Change Random Access Memory) type memories, which comprises a phase change material. These memories are resistive random access memories, the active material being capable of reversibly switching between a low resistance state and a high resistance state. These two resistance states thereby make it possible to encode an information bit.
Resistive random access memories have sufficiently high operating speeds to aspire to replace current non-volatile memories such as flash type memories. In addition, resistive random access memories operate at lower supply voltages. Resistive random access memories also have the interest of being able to be integrated with a high density, in particular with a crossbar type architecture. Such an architecture comprises several access lines distributed in bit lines and word lines which are perpendicular to each other. At the level of each intersection between a bit line and a word line, a memory cell is arranged between the lines. Each memory cell can thus be addressed individually by selecting the appropriate bit line and word line.
However, since all the memory cells of a bit line, and of a word line, are electrically connected to each other, it is possible to observe parasitic leakage currents passing through the memory cells adjacent to the addressed memory cell. These leakage currents can perturb the reading of the addressed memory cell up to preventing discriminating its resistance state, in particular in the unfavourable case where the adjacent memory cells are in the low resistance state.
To overcome this problem, it is known to connect in series with each memory cell a selection device making it possible to attenuate parasitic currents. The use of a transistor as selection device is widespread but increases the complexity of the integration, on the one hand because the transistor has large dimensions in comparison with those that can reach the memory cell, and on the other hand because the transistor cannot be integrated with the memory cell within the crossbar architecture. Consequently, the density and the integration capacity, notably in three dimensions, are limited.

COMMISSARIAT A L'ENERGIE ATOMIQUE ET AUX ENERGIES ALTERNATIVES


A painting device for applying a paint product and that includes a frame with a handle end and a support end and that has one and another sides. The one side of the support end of the frame includes spaced apart flanges that retain therebetween a paint roller and the another side of the support end of the frame includes a wall member and opposed end wall surfaces that together retain a paint pad device.

At the present time there exists a number of different implements for assisting in painting, particularly in the interior of housings or buildings. These existing devices include, for example, a standard roller arrangement or a separate pad structure that is sometimes used for edging. However, a more universal painting device does not exist at the present time that can readily incorporate both the roller and pad functions.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved painting device and in particular one that integrally arranges for the use of both a roller and a pad structure.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an improved painting device that is relatively simple in construction, that is relatively easy to manufacture and that can be manufactured relatively inexpensively.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide an improved painting device that includes a preferred single handle and yet can be readily moved into different positions for either a roller action or a pad action.


Systems and methods improve the performance of a network that has converged such that the gradient of the network and all the partial derivatives are zero (or close to zero) by splitting the training data such that, on each subset of the split training data, some nodes or arcs (i.e., connections between a node and previous or subsequent layers of the network) have individual partial derivative values that are different from zero on the split subsets of the data, although their partial derivatives averaged over the whole set of training data is close to zero. The present system and method can create a new network by splitting the candidate nodes or arcs that diverge from zero and then trains the resulting network with each selected node trained on the corresponding cluster of the data. Because the direction of the gradient is different for each of the nodes or arcs that are split, the nodes and their arcs in the new network will train to be different. Therefore, the new network is not at a stationary point.

Machine learning is a process implemented by computers to self-learn algorithms that can make predictions on data through building models from sample data inputs. There are many types of machine learning system, such as artificial neural networks (ANNs), decision trees, support vector machines (SVMs), and others. These systems first have to be trained on some of the sample inputs before making meaningful predictions with new data. For example, an ANN typically consists of multiple layers of neurons. Each neuron is connected with many others, and links can be enforcing or inhibitory in their effect on the activation state of connected neurons. Each individual neural unit may have a summation function which combines the values of all its inputs together. There may be a threshold function or limiting function on each connection and on the neuron itself, such that the signal must surpass the limit before propagating to other neurons. The weight for each respective input to a node can be trained by back propagation of the partial derivative of an error cost function, with the estimates being accumulated over the training data samples. A large, complex ANN can have millions of connections between nodes, and the weight for each connection has to be learned.
ANNs are trained on training data until they converge to a minimum in the error cost function. Once ANNs are trained to convergence, no techniques currently exist to further improve the performance of the network without making changes to the structure of the network. Furthermore, there is no systematic way to make changes in the network that will improve performance. This can be problematic because there is a constant desire to make ANNs perform more efficiently, especially as they grow larger and more complex.

Data splitting by gradient direction for neural networks


A flat sheet of woven material includes warp yarns and weft yarns interlaced at substantially right angles to each other. A graft material is cut from the flat sheet of woven material such that the graft material includes a graft material longitudinal axis and the warp yarns are disposed at an angle relative to the graft material longitudinal axis. The warp yarns and weft yarns are not parallel to or perpendicular to the graft material longitudinal axis. The graft material is formed into the shape of an endoluminal prosthesis, such as by rolling opposing edges towards each other and securing the opposing edges to each other. The endoluminal prosthesis thus includes warp yarns disposed at an angle relative to the prosthesis longitudinal axis.

Vascular aneurysms are the result of abnormal dilation of a blood vessel, usually from disease or a genetic predisposition, which can weaken the arterial wall and allow it to expand. Aneurysms can occur in any blood vessel, but most occur in the aorta and peripheral arteries, with the majority of aneurysms occurring in the abdominal aorta. An aneurysm is at risk of rupture resulting in extravasation of blood into, for example, the peritoneal cavity or into tissue surrounding the diseased artery.
Aneurysms, especially abdominal aortic aneurysms, are commonly treated in open surgery procedures in which the diseased vessel segment is bypassed and repaired with an artificial vascular graft. While open surgery is an effective surgical technique in light of the risk of a fatal abdominal aortic aneurysm rupture, the open surgical technique suffers from a number of disadvantages. The surgical procedure is complex, requires a long hospital stay, requires a long recovery time, and has a high mortality rate. Less invasive devices and techniques have been developed to avoid these disadvantages.
In particular, aneurysm exclusion devices, such as endoluminal vascular prostheses and stent grafts, may be positioned and deployed within the affected artery through insertion catheters by percutaneous procedures in a less or minimally invasive procedure than open surgical procedures. The tubular endoluminal prosthesis is introduced in a small diameter crimped condition and expanded at the aneurysm. Aneurysm exclusion devices are used to exclude vascular aneurysms and provide a prosthetic lumen for the flow of blood. Although often referred to as stent grafts, these tubular endoluminal prostheses differ from covered stents in that they are not used to mechanically prop open natural blood vessels. Rather, they are used to secure an artificial lumen in a sealing engagement with the vessel wall without further opening the abnormally dilated natural blood vessel.
Stent grafts for use in aneurysms typically include a support structure supporting a woven graft material. Examples of textile graft materials are woven, braided, or knitted polymer or metallic materials, e.g., polyester, polytetrafluoroethylene, polypropylene, stainless steel, or nitinol. The graft material is secured to the inner or outer diameter of the support structure, which supports the graft material and/or holds it in place against a luminal wall. The stent graft is generally secured to a vessel wall above and below the aneurysm. A proximal spring stent of the stent graft can be located above the aneurysm to provide a radial force which engages the lumen wall and seals the stent graft at the lumen wall.
As noted above, the graft material in a conventional stent graft is commonly a woven textile structure. Weaving involves the interlacing of two sets of threads or yarns at right angles to each other: the warp or end yarns and the weft, fill or pick yarns. The warp yarns are held taut and in parallel order, typically by means of a loom. The loom is warped (or dressed) with the warp yarns passing through heddles on two or more harnesses. The warp yarns are moved up or down by the harnesses creating a space called the shed. The weft yarns are inserted into the shed at an angle perpendicular to the warp yarns in a process called filling. There are different types of filling mechanisms, including, for example and not by way of limitation, shuttles, rapiers, and projectiles. There are different types of weaves, including, for example and not by way of limitation, plain weaves, twill weaves, and satin weaves.
Textile structures or patterns are distinguished from other structures by the manner in which they are made. For example, a braided structure or pattern is formed by intertwining three or more strands of flexible material such as textile fibers or yarns. Compared to the process of weaving a wide sheet of cloth from two separate, perpendicular groups of strands (warp and weft), a braid is usually long and narrow, with each component strand functionally equivalent in zigzagging forward through the overlapping mass of the others.
As shown in FIGS. 1-2, a conventional stent graft 100 includes a graft material 102. Graft material 102 is generally a woven textile product, constructed in a tubular configuration, by means of a shuttle loom, resulting in end or warp yarns 104 that run longitudinally and parallel to longitudinal axis 110 and fill or weft yarns 106 that run circumferentially. Braided textile materials are generally not suitable for stent grafts because braided materials tend to be unstable and generally too porous due to the lack of interaction between yarns. However, conventional stent grafts 100 with stent graft material 102 having warp yarns 104 running longitudinally and weft yarns 106 running circumferentially may lack flexibility in certain performance characteristics.
Accordingly, a woven graft material and method of forming an endovascular prosthesis using such a woven graft material that permits improved performance characteristics the prosthesis is needed.

Method of making an endoluminal vascular prosthesis


The present disclosure is directed to ball assignment schemes for ball grid array packages in integrated circuits with increased signal count. The ball assignment scheme includes an array of electrical contacts. The array has a first diagonal including a pair of signal contacts adjacent to a pair of first-type voltage supply contacts. The array further includes a crossing diagonal having a pair of adjacent second-type voltage supply contacts, which crosses the first diagonal between the pair of signal contacts such that the pair of second-type voltage supply contacts oppose one another relative to the first diagonal.

A "flip chip" refers to an integrated circuit that includes at least one semiconductor die, which is bonded circuit-side down to a substrate, with direct electrical interconnection between the die and the substrate. Because the die is connected directly to the substrate, traditional bond wires are eliminated. The substrate can be a passive carrier such as a printed circuit board, or it can be another semiconductor chip. The substrate is normally bonded directly to a motherboard. Other flip chips and other integrated circuits employing a variety of more traditional packages such as lead frame packages, surface mounts, pin grid arrays and the like can also be mounted to the motherboard.
One purpose that the substrate serves is to allow the input-output (I/O) signals on the die to "escape" the die onto the motherboard. Die are usually quite small, and contain as many as hundreds of I/O signals, as well as numerous power and ground connections. There can be "bumps" (e.g., solder spheres) on the surface pads of the die to facilitate electrical connections to the substrate. These bumps are densely packed together onto the small die. It may not be practical to attempt to bond such tightly packed bumps to a motherboard. The substrate serves the purpose of spreading out these densely packed bumps to a much less dense spacing, so that these I/O signals and power and ground connections can then be connected to the motherboard.
When the die is bonded to the substrate, the bumps on the die are the points of physical and electrical contact between the die and the substrate. The bumps carry electrical signals including power and ground to and from the die. The substrate has a surface, typically the surface opposite the die, which has a plurality of contacts called pads or lands. A solder ball is typically attached to each land for soldering to the motherboard. The solder balls are collectively referred to as a ball grid array, because they are usually arranged in a grid pattern. A "ball assignment scheme" is a pattern in which the I/O signals, power and ground balls are assigned on the substrate.
Each bump in the die bonding area is electrically connected to a corresponding ball in the ball grid array through conductive segments called "traces" along one or more of the layers in the substrate and through one or more "vias" between the layers.
The I/O signals being routed through the substrate for communication between the die and motherboard can include many different types of signals, such as single-ended signals and differential signal pairs. A differential signal pair consists of two adjacent I/O contact pads within the die bonding area, which are routed to two adjacent balls in the package. Ideally, the routing for the two traces in each differential pair should be identical in terms of the length of the routes, the number of vias in the routes and the planes between which the traces are routed.
As more and more functionality is being programmed into integrated circuits, chip manufacturers are being compelled to come up with innovative ways to satisfy the higher signal count requirement on the die and on the package. Chip manufacturers often do not prefer to increase the package size to accommodate the increase in functionality because of the associated expenses involved with manufacturing larger packages. Chip manufacturers would prefer instead to increase the number of available I/O signals in a given body size, i.e., increase signal density, to accommodate for the increased chip functionality. In order to increase signal density, chip manufacturers would prefer to increase the signal-to-power and signal-to-ground ratios on the package, thereby increasing the signal count by converting some the previously power and ground balls to I/O signals.
Higher I/O signal to ground and I/O signal to power ratios call for a new ball assignment scheme that includes improved features to suit the improved functionality. But simply increasing signal count can unfortunately lead to electrical performance degradation and increased electrical noise. Also, new ball assignment schemes can increase printed circuit board costs, and complicate trace routing on the substrate and the printed circuit boards.

Ball assignment schemes for integrated circuit packages


A cap nitride stack which prevents etch penetration to the HDP nitride while maintaining the electromigration benefits of HDP nitride atop Cu. In one embodiment, the stack comprises a first layer of HDP nitride and a second layer of a Si—C—H compound disposed over the first layer. The Si—C—H compound is for example BLoK, or N-BLoK (Si—C—H—N), and is selected from a group of materials that has high selectivity during via RIE such that RIE chemistry from the next wiring level does not punch through. Carbon and nitrogen are the key elements. In another embodiment, the stack comprises a first layer of HDP nitride, followed by a second layer of UVN (a plasma nitride), and a third layer comprising HDP nitride disposed over the second layer.

The invention relates to semiconductor device fabrication and, more particularly, to techniques for capping interlevel dielectric (ILD) layers of interconnect structures such as damascene interconnect structures.
An integrated circuit (IC) device (also referred to as a semiconductor chip) can contain millions of transistors and other circuit elements that are fabricated on a single silicon crystal substrate (wafer). For the IC device to be functional, a complex network of signal paths will normally be routed to connect the circuit elements distributed on the surface of the device. Efficient routing of these signals across the device can become more difficult as the complexity and number of circuit elements are increased. Thus, the formation of multi-level or multi-layered interconnection schemes such as, for example, dual damascene wiring (interconnect) structures, have become more desirable due to their efficacy in providing high speed signal routing patterns between large numbers of transistors and other circuit elements on a complex IC.

International Business Machines Corporation


Methods for providing augmented shopping information to a user of a mobile terminal in a store include providing a shopping list identifying a plurality of items and obtaining information regarding physical locations of respective ones of the items in the store. The location of the mobile terminal in the store is established. An image of a view from the location is obtained. An item having an associated location in the obtained image is identified based on the obtained information regarding physical locations. A position within the image corresponding to the respective physical location of the identified item is determined. A graphic indication of the identified item is added to the obtained image at the determined position within the image to provide an augmented image of the view that is displayed to the user on a display of the mobile terminal.

The present invention relates to electronic devices and, more particularly, to electronic devices, methods and computer program products for use when shopping.
The use of electronic devices, such as computers and other processor based devices continues to expand. In particular, many users carry wireless mobile terminals, such as cellular telephones, with them routinely during their daily routines. Increasingly, these devices are "smart" devices, with high quality displays, cameras, extensive memory and application execution capability. Furthermore, these devices not only support voice communications but also have extensive data communications capabilities using various protocols, such as the Internet Protocol (IP).
There has been an increasing amount of interest in various forms of Virtual Reality (VR) recently. In its purest form, VR involves interaction among participants in a purely virtual world such as Linden Labs' Second Life. However, there exists a continuum between VR and pure real-world experience where various mixtures of real and virtual elements make up the user's experience. Augmented Reality (AR) is one point whereby the user's real-world experience or perception is enhanced by virtual elements.

Systems methods and computer program products for providing augmented shopping information


An error correction processing circuit, includes: a division circuit that divides input data into a plurality of pieces of a predetermined data length; a plurality of operation circuits that are provided in parallel, and that perform operations of error correction for the plurality of pieces of data divided by the division circuit, respectively; a multiplexing circuit that multiplexes the plurality of pieces of data for which the operations have been performed by the plurality of operation circuits; and an output circuit that outputs the data multiplexed by the multiplexing circuit.

Optical Transport Network (OTN: ITU-T G.709), which employs optical paths and the like suitable for Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM) communication, has been standardized through development of optical technology. In the OTN, error correction according to Forward Error Correction (FEC) is used to secure quality of transmission paths in optical transfer networks.
Moreover, increased transmission capacity requests higher capacity communication at OTN rates such as OTU1 (2.5 [G]), OTU2 (10 [G]), OTU3 (40 [G]) and OTU4 (100 [G]). Accordingly, processing adapted to achieve the higher capacity communication is requested, for example, also in the FEC.

Error correction processing circuit and error correction processing method


The method for fabricating the semiconductor device includes the step of forming a photoresist film 84 over a substrate 10, the step of exposing interconnection patterns to the photoresist film 84, the step of exposing to the photoresist film 84 hole patterns of a plurality of holes positioned at ends or bent portions of the interconnection patterns where holes to be connected to the interconnection patterns are to be formed, and the step of developing the photoresist film 84 with the interconnection patterns and the holes patterns exposed to. Thus, the insufficient exposure energy at the ends or the bent portions of the patterns due to optical proximity effect is compensated to prevent the shortening at the pattern ends or the rounding at the pattern bent portions. The contacts with the contact plugs connected to the pattern ends or the pattern bent portions can be ensured.

The present invention relates to a method for fabricating a semiconductor device and an exposure mask, more specifically, a method for fabricating a semiconductor device which suppresses pattern deformations due to optical proximity effect, and an exposure mask used in the method for fabricating the semiconductor device.
The downsizing of semiconductor devices is realized by shortening the light source wavelength of the exposure systems used in photolithography. Presently, as the light source, argon fluoride (ArF) excimer lasers having wavelength of 0.193 μm have come to be used, and the rule of semiconductor devices has reached the level of not more than 0.1 μm, which is shorter than said wavelength.
In transferring patterns thus exceeding the resolution limit of the exposure wavelength onto a substrate, the positions and the shapes of the ends of the patterns formed on the substrate are changed, and differences are generated between the dimensions of the mask patterns and the dimensions of the patterns transferred on the substrate.
For example, when patterns are transferred onto a substrate with an exposure mask having the patterns 102, 104 as shown in FIG. 23A, the resolution limit takes place at the ends of the patterns, and the transferred patterns 102′, 107′ have the ends shortened as shown in FIG. 23B. This phenomenon is called shortening. The shortening takes place more conspicuously as the pattern width is smaller.
Then, various methods for suppressing such optical proximity effect have been proposed. As one of them, the method for correcting the optical proximity effect called OPC (Optical Proximity Correction) is disclosed in, e.g., Reference 1 (Japanese published unexamined patent application No. Hei 10-289861), Reference 2 (Japanese published unexamined patent application No. 2001-356465) and Reference 3 (Japanese published unexamined patent application No. 2002-250999), etc. The OPC is a method for correcting shapes and dimensions of patterns transferred on a substrate by locally widening mask patterns in advance or laying out dummy patterns in directions opposite to directions of deformations of patterns taking place when the mask patterns are transferred onto the substrate.
Specifically, patterns called hummer heads, which have assist patterns 102a on both sides of the ends of mask patterns 102 as exemplified in FIG. 24A, or as exemplified in FIG. 24B, assist patterns 102b extending the ends of the mask patterns by the same length are laid out, whereby shape changes of the transferred patterns, such as shortening, etc., can be suppressed.
The other related arts are disclosed in, e.g., Reference 4 (Japanese published unexamined patent application No. Hei 10-092714), etc.
However, when mask patters are proximate to each other at the ends, the assist patterns cannot be allowed to be sufficiently large. This is because with the assist patterns being proximate to each other, the transferred patterns become continuous due to the optical proximity effect at the parts where the assist patterns have been added (see FIG. 24C). Accordingly, the assist patterns cannot sufficiently suppress the shortening.
Usually, interconnections have contacts at the ends, and when the shortening takes place in the interconnection patterns, the overlap of the interconnections over the hole patterns becomes insufficient. Accordingly, the contact between the interconnections and the contact plugs buried in the holes becomes insufficient, and, in the worst case, disconnections often take place.

Method for fabricating semiconductor device and exposure mask


A sensing system is provided for sensing the position of a manual gear select lever in an automatic transmission. The sensing system includes a plate member movable in response to movement of a shift lever and has a contact surface having a predetermined pattern of electrically conductive and non-conductive areas. An electrical sensing unit is mounted in the transmission so as to communicate with the contact surface of the plate member. A plurality of electrical contacts extend from the sensing unit to contact the conductive and non-conductive areas on the contact surface and generate binary codes in accordance with the position of the shift lever. Combinations of binary codes are provided for the operating modes and require at least two bit changes therebetween. In addition, transition codes are provided between each of the operating modes. The binary codes are provided to a transmission controller which determines the predetermined operating mode and transition modes therebetween.

1. Field Of The Invention
The present invention relates generally to an automatic transmission primarily intended for motor vehicle use and, more particularly, to a sensing system for generating codes which represent the position of a manual gear select lever in an automatic transmission.
2. Description Of Related Art
In recent years, advanced forms of transmission control have been proposed which offer the possibility of enabling an automatic transmission to adapt itself to changing conditions. In this regard, U.S. Pat. No. 3,956,947, issued on May 18, 1976 to Leising, et al, sets forth a fundamental development in this field. Specifically, this patent discloses an automatic transmission design which features an "adaptive" control system that includes electronically operated solenoid-activated valves for controlling certain fluid pressures.
Currently, there exists a comprehensive four-speed automatic transmission system which features fully adaptive electronic control. A thorough discussion of such a transmission control system is contained in U.S. Pat. No. 4,998,450 issued on Mar. 12, 1991 to Nogle and entitled "Neutral Start Switch To Sense Shift Lever Position", which is commonly owned by the assignee of the present application. This patent is hereby incorporated by reference. The transmission control system includes a microcomputer-based controller which receives input signals indicative of engine speed, turbine speed, output speed (vehicle speed), throttle angle position, brake application, predetermined hydraulic pressures, driver selected gear and operating conditions (PRNODDL), engine coolant temperature, and/or ambient temperature. This controller generates command or control signals for causing the actuation of a plurality of solenoid-actuated valves which regulate the application and release of pressure to and from the frictional units of the transmission system.
The above transmission control system further discloses a neutral start switch for sensing the position of a manually operated shift lever to select between a plurality of predetermined operating modes. With reference to FIGS. 4B and 19 of the Nogle patent, a plate member moves in response to a shift lever and provides a cam surface at the edge with electrically conductive and non-conductive areas. A pair of separate sensors are mounted in the transmission such that an electrical contact pin of each sensor communicates with the cam surface. The signal from the electrical contact pin of each sensor combine to generate a binary code indicative of the shift lever position. Each sensor has a first contact and a second contact. The first contact travels on the cam surface while the second contact closes whenever the first contact is extended within a groove. However, this technique eliminates some of the possible binary code combinations since the first contact generally does not conduct with the second contact closed. As a result, changes between some of the manual shift lever operating positions involve single bit changes between the respective binary code combinations.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide for an improved sensing system which generates binary codes in response to the position of the manual gear select lever in an automatic transmission.
In particular, it is one object of the present invention to provide for a sensing system which generates combinations of binary codes which require two or more bit changes between any selected operating modes.
It is another object of the present invention to provide for improved transition codes between the operating modes of the transmission.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide for an easily installable sensing unit which has low manufacturing tolerance and good electrical contact sensing capability.


Technology for forming carrier aggregation timing advance groups in a heterogeneous network (HetNet) is disclosed. One method comprises assigning at least a first component carrier cell to one of a first timing advance group and a second timing advance group. At least a second component carrier cell is assigned to one of the first timing advance group and the second timing advance group. A separate timing advance index value is selected for each of the first and second timing advance groups. The timing advance index value is used to refer to the timing advance group in signaling in the HetNet.

As the use of mobile wireless devices, such as smart phones and tablet devices, becomes more ubiquitous, the demands on the limited amount of radio frequency spectrum used by those devices also increases, resulting in wireless network congestion in the licensed spectrum. In addition, the increased use of high bandwidth applications such as audio and video streaming can increase demands beyond the capability of the available spectrum. This is especially true in high density and high use locations such as large cities and universities. One projection estimates a growth of 20 times in mobile internet traffic from 2010 to 2015.
One way of increasing bandwidth in wireless devices is through the use of heterogeneous wireless networks (HetNet), in which multiple nodes are co-located to provide increased data throughput to mobile devices communicating with one or more nodes within a cell. A cell is typically defined as the geographic area over which a macro base station, such as an enhanced Node B (eNode B) is configured to communicate with a mobile device. A macro base station can be one node located within the cell. Additional low power nodes can also be located in a cell.
A cell is often depicted as a circular area with a predefined radius. However, the actual shape of radiation patterns for antennas in a base station can differ from the predefined radius. Moreover, the use of beam forming and/or Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) systems enables a cell to communicate at distances greater than a typical predefined radius in certain instances. The actual radiation pattern of a base station antenna can result in areas within the cell that have relatively low signal strength which can result in slow data connections and dropped phone calls.
Low power nodes in the HetNet can be used to provide access to mobile devices located in areas having low signal strength. In addition, low power nodes can also be used to increase the density of mobile device communication in a defined area.
However, transmitting and receiving over different paths can create a number of challenges. For example, signals communicated from mobile devices may travel different paths between the wireless device and the nodes located within a cell. The distinct propagation paths between different carriers can create timing differences in the reception of the signals. This can be disadvantageous in wireless systems that combine data for multiple devices in a single signal, such as in systems that use Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA).
Reference will now be made to the exemplary embodiments illustrated, and specific language will be used herein to describe the same. It will nevertheless be understood that no limitation of the scope of the invention is thereby intended.

Forming carrier aggregation timing advance groups in a heterogeneous network