This is a braided tubular device used in the occlusion of various lumen or cavities in the body. In particular, it may be used to form an endovascular occlusion. Most desirably, it is braided of a majority of super-elastic alloy ribbons and therefore is both inherently non-stretching and most difficult to permanently deform. It may be deployed using an electrolytically severable joint. A radio-frequency modulated current may optionally be applied to the device after its placement in the body. The elongated device preferably is insulated along its length to optimize its occlusive activity without harm to the body.

A wide variety of medical procedures are facilitated by occluding such body lumens and cavities as the arteries, veins, vascular aneurysms, various vascular malformations (e.g., AVM's), fallopian tubes, vas deferens, ureters, and the like. For instance, an extravascular approach to treatment of aneurysms involves surgically exposing or stereotaxically reaching an aneurysm with a probe. The wall of the aneurysm is then perforated from the outside and various techniques are used to occlude the interior in order to prevent it from rebleeding. The techniques used to occlude the aneurysm include electrothrombosis, adhesive embolization, hog hair embolization, and ferromagnetic thrombosis. These procedures are discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,122,136 to Guglielmi et al., the entirety of which is incorporated by reference.
A still further approach is the least invasive and is additionally described in Guglielmi et al. It is the endovascular approach. In this approach, the interior of the aneurysm is entered by use of a catheter such as those shown in Engelson (Catheter Guidewire), U.S. Pat. No. 4,884,575 and also in Engelson (Catheter for Guidewire Tracking), U.S. Pat. No. 4,739,768. These procedures utilize endovascular guidewires and catheters, introduced quite remotely, to access the aneurysm. Specifically by the use of catheters having very flexible distal regions and guidewires which are steerable to the region of the aneurysm, embolic devices which may be delivered through the catheter are an alternative to the extravascular and extra-intravascular approaches.
The endovascular approach typically includes two major steps. The first step involves the introduction of the catheter to the aneurysm site using devices such as shown in the Engelson patents. The second step often involves filling the aneurysm in some fashion or another. For instance, a balloon may be introduced into the aneurysm from the distal portion of the catheter where it is inflated, detached, and left to occlude the aneurysm. In this way, the parent artery is preserved. Balloons are becoming less in favor because of the difficulty in introducing the balloon into the aneurysm sac, the possibility of an aneurysm rupture due to overinflation of the balloon within the aneurysm, and the risk associated with the traction produced when detaching the balloon.
A highly desirable occlusive device which may be introduced to a selected body site using endovascular placement procedures, is found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,994,069, to Ritchart et al. There is described a device--typically a platinum/tungsten alloy coil having a very small diameter--which may be introduced to the selected site through a catheter such as those described in Engelson above. These coils are often made of wire having a diameter of 2-6 mils. The coil diameter may be 10-30 mils. These soft, flexible coils may be of any length desirable and appropriate for the site to be occluded. For instance, the coils may be used to fill a berry aneurysm. Within a short period of time after the filling of the aneurysm with the embolic device, a thrombus forms in the aneurysm and is shortly thereafter complemented with a collagenous material which significantly lessens the potential for aneurysm rupture.
Coils such as found in Ritchart et al. may be delivered to the vasculature site in a variety of ways including, e.g., mechanically detaching them from the delivery device as is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,250,071, to Palermo or by electrolytic detachment as is shown in Guglielmi et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 5,122,136) as was discussed above.
Guglielmi et al. shows an embolism-forming device and procedure for using that device. Specifically, Guglielmi et al. fills a vascular cavity such as an aneurysm with an embolic device such as a platinum coil which coil has been endovascularly delivered. The coil is then severed from its insertion tool by the application of a small electric current. Desirably, the insertion device involves a guidewire which is attached at its distal end to an embolic device by an electrolytic, sacrificial joint. Guglielmi et al. suggests that when the embolic device is a platinum coil, the platinum coil may be 1-50 cm. or longer as is necessary. Proximal of the embolic coil is a guidewire, often stainless steel in construction. The guidewire is used to push the platinum embolic coil, obviously with great gentleness, into the vascular site to be occluded. The patent shows a variety of ways of linking the embolic coil to the pusher guidewire. For instance, the guidewire is tapered at its distal end and the distal tip of the guidewire is soldered into the proximal end of the embolic coil. Additionally, a stainless steel coil is wrapped coaxially about the distal tapered portion of the guidewire to provide column strength to the guidewire. This coaxial stainless steel wire is joined both to the guidewire and to the embolic coil. Insulation may be used to cover a portion of the strength-providing stainless steel coil. This arrangement provides for two regions which must be electrolytically severed before the embolic coil is severed from the guidewire.
A further variation of the Guglielmi detachable coil is one in which the distal tip of the stainless steel guidewire is not soldered to the proximal end of the embolic device. A simple conical stainless steel wire is included from the stainless steel guidewire to the embolic coil.
A further variation found in Guglielmi et al. includes a thin, threadlike extension between the guidewire core and the proximal end of the embolic coil. In this way, the guidewire does not extend to the embolic coil, but instead relies upon a separately introduced extension.
A continuation-in-part application to the Guglielmi et al patent discussed above, U.S. Pat. No. 5,354,295, "IMPROVEMENTS IN AN ENDOVASCULAR ELECTROLYTICALLY DETACHABLE WIRE AND TIP FOR THE FORMATION OF THROMBUS IN ARTERIES, VEINS, ANEURYSMS, VASCULAR MALFORMATIONS AND ARTERIOVENOUS FISTULAS" issued Oct. 11, 1994, describes the use of mechanically detachable embolic devices as well as those which are electrolytically detachable. The embolic devices may be augmented with attached filaments.
Dr. Taki has devised a variation of the Guglielmi detachable coil using a copper link between the guidewire and the coil.
None of these devices utilize an electrolytically detachable braid element which comprises a majority of super-elastic alloy ribbons, a radio-opaque marker element, and an outer insulative layer.

Electrolytically deployable braided vaso-occlusion device


Techniques for message forwarding based on a relationship between a sender and a recipient are described herein. In one embodiment, a process includes, but is not limited to, in response to a message from a sender over a network, identifying a list of candidate recipients to handle the message based on roles of the candidate recipients within an organization in view of the sender, and forwarding the message to a recipient selected from the list of the candidate recipient to enable the selected recipient to handle the message. Other methods and apparatuses are also described.

While a customer from one region gives a call to a call center by accessing a common telephone number (e.g. an 800 area code phone number), the call should be accepted by the dedicated service desk employee who is responsible for that region. Other people, who are not responsible for the service to the dedicated region, should not receive the call and see the attached data of the customer who is associated with the dedicated region. Conventional methods and systems have not effectively addressed these issues.

Message forwarding based on sender and recipient relationship


A pellicle pasting system and method pastes a pellicle on a mask. The system includes a washing apparatus to wash the mask; a first mask transport apparatus to transport the mask washed by the washing apparatus; a first inspection apparatus to inspect whether foreign objects are attached to the mask received from the first mask transport apparatus; a second mask transport apparatus to transport the mask when the first inspection apparatus determines that the foreign objects are substantially absent from the mask; and a pellicle pasting apparatus to paste the pellicle on the mask received from the second mask transport apparatus.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a pellicle pasting system and a pellicle pasting method, and more particularly to a pellicle pasting system and method to paste pellicle on a mask (reticle).
2. Discussion of the Related Art
In recent years, integrated circuit (IC) manufacturing has become finer and more advanced. Accordingly, the prevention of foreign objects, such as minute dust and dirt, from attaching to surfaces during manufacturing has become extremely important.
As a result, a pellicle pasted mask having a light transmitting thin film called pellicle (foreign object prevention film) is used widely today to prevent attachment of foreign objects on the mask before a circuit pattern is formed on the mask. The pellicle is then transferred onto an exposed substrate using an exposure apparatus during a photo-lithography step in the IC manufacturing process.
In this way, attachment of foreign objects on the mask is prevented beforehand by spreading the pellicle on a pellicle frame, fixing the pellicle frame and the mask by bonding, and mounting the pellicle frame to cover the mask surface. In this case, if foreign objects are attached to the pellicle, even if the mask is free of foreign objects, the foreign objects will fall on the mask and attach on the circuit pattern surface of the mask, thereby causing an image of the foreign objects to be transferred to the exposed substrate. Thus, defective products and decreased yields result. Hence, it is vital that the mask and the pellicle are free from the foreign objects.
A conventional pellicle pasting method for a conventional pellicle pasting apparatus will now be described with reference to FIG. 6.
To begin with, the pellicle pasting apparatus, after washing the mask during a mask washing step 1 of a mask washing unit, determines whether foreign objects larger than 0.5 .mu.m, such as dust and dirt (hereafter, the first foreign objects), which do not transmit light are attached on the mask during the first mask inspection step 2 of the first mask inspection unit, and if the first foreign objects are attached on the mask, the mask is washed again in the mask washing step 1 in the mask washing unit.
If the first foreign objects are not attached on the mask during the first inspection step 2 of the first inspection unit, the pellicle pasting apparatus pastes the pellicle on the mask during the pellicle pasting step 3 using the pellicle pasting unit. Here, the pellicle is inspected beforehand by the worker's eye to determine whether foreign objects are attached on the pellicle. Next, the pellicle pasting apparatus inspects whether the first foreign objects are attached on the pellicle pasted mask during the second inspection step 4 using the first inspection unit. If the first foreign objects are not attached on the pellicle pasted mask, the pellicle pasted mask is stored in a special mask case.
However, if the first foreign objects are attached on the pellicle pasted mask, the process steps from the mask washing step to the second mask inspection step 4 are repeated. Moreover, because the first inspection step of the first inspection unit and the second inspection step of the first inspection unit are actually the same inspection, the second inspection step is executed in the first inspection unit.
The pellicle pasting system comprises a mask washing unit, a first inspection unit and a pellicle pasting unit, wherein each processing unit is independent from the other. Hence, in the pellicle pasting system, the mask moves sequentially from the mask washing unit (mask washing step) to the first inspection unit (the first inspection step), to the pellicle pasting unit, to the first inspection unit (the second inspection step), and to the mask washing unit. After each step, a worker must store the mask or the pellicle pasted mask in the special mask case and carry the case to the subsequent process unit or to the previous process unit.
However, because the worker moves the mask or the pellicle pasted mask to the subsequent process step and to the previous process step, the probability of foreign objects attaching to the mask or the pellicle pasted mask increases even though the mask or the pellicle pasted mask is carried in the special mask case. Hence, it is difficult to maintain low contamination levels in the pellicle pasting system.
A proposed pellicle pasting system to resolve such problems moves the mask and the pellicle pasted mask from the first inspection unit to the pellicle pasting unit, and moves the mask and the pellicle pasted mask from the pellicle pasting unit to the first inspection unit automatically using a mask transport apparatus. In such pellicle pasting apparatus, all the mask movements except for movement between the mask washing unit and the first inspection unit are executed by the mask transport apparatus, thereby substantially reducing the possibility of foreign objects attaching to the mask and the pellicle pasted mask.
Also, the foreign objects which attach to the mask and the pellicle pasted mask and which are targeted as ones preventing improved yields are larger than 0.5 .mu.m which do not transmit light as described above. Hence, the first and the second inspection steps of the first inspection unit concerns with the attachment of such first foreign objects on the mask and the pellicle pasted mask. However, as mentioned above, integrated circuits are becoming increasingly finer in recent years. Thus, foreign objects, such as oil and the like which are semi-transparent, flat, partially light-transmitting foreign objects (hereafter, referred to as the second foreign objects), which previously were not the primary source problems when attached to the mask and the pellicle pasted mask, are beginning to be a large source of problems. Moreover, the traditional inspection by eye cannot detect the second foreign objects described above. Accordingly, a need has become apparent for automatic inspection using a specific inspection apparatus to determine whether foreign objects are attached to the pellicle.
Hence, a pellicle pasting apparatus has been proposed wherein a specific inspection apparatus is used to inspect foreign objects on the pellicle in addition to execution of the first inspection step to inspect to determine whether the first foreign objects are attached to the mask and the second inspection step to determine whether any second foreign objects are attached to the mask before and after the pasting of the pellicle on the mask. The process of this pellicle pasting method using a conventional pellicle pasting system will now be described with reference to FIG. 7.
To begin, the pellicle pasting system, after washing the mask during a mask washing step 10 of a mask washing unit, inspects whether any first foreign objects are attached to the mask in the first mask inspection step 11 using the first mask inspection unit. If first foreign objects are attached to the mask, the mask is washed again in the mask washing step 10. If first foreign objects are not attached to the mask, the apparatus moves to the second inspection step 12 using the second inspection unit.
During the second inspection step 12 inspection unit, the pellicle pasting system determines whether any second foreign objects are attached to the mask. If the second foreign objects are attached to the mask, the mask washing step 10 of the mask washing unit and the first inspection step 11 are repeated. The pellicle pasting system then pastes the pellicle on the mask during the pellicle pasting step 13 using a pellicle pasting unit if the second foreign objects are not attached to the mask.
As far as the foreign object inspection of the pellicle is concerned, the inspection is executed using a specific inspection apparatus during the pellicle inspection step 14 of the pellicle inspection unit. Then, the pellicle, which is determined not to have foreign objects, is moved to the pellicle pasting unit. Next, the pellicle pasting system determines whether any first foreign objects are attached to the pellicle pasted mask during the third inspection step 15 of the first inspection unit. Then, the pellicle pasting system determines whether any second foreign objects are attached to the pellicle pasted mask during the fourth inspection step 16 of the second inspection unit.
Here, the first inspection step 11 of the first inspection unit and the third inspection step 15 of the first inspection unit are the same type of inspections, and the second inspection step 12 of the second inspection unit and the fourth inspection step 16 of the second inspection unit are the same type of inspections. Hence, the third inspection step and the fourth inspection step are actually executed in the first inspection unit and the second inspection unit, respectively.
Moreover, each processing unit of the pellicle pasting system described above operates so that the mask stored in the original position of a mask storage case 17, such as the one shown in FIG. 8. For example in practice, a worker hand carries the case 17 after washing is completed by the mask washing unit to the first inspection unit, where the next process step takes place. In this case, two mask storage cases 17, one to supply the mask at each processing unit and the other to store processed mask are provided.
Moreover, during the first inspection step 11 of the first inspection unit, the mask for which the first foreign objects are determined to be attached is stored with the mask for which the first foreign objects are determined not to be attached in the original position of the mask storage case 17 and the worker is to separate the mask with foreign objects and carries them in separate storage case to the mask washing unit.
In the pellicle pasting system described above, mask movement from the first inspection unit to the second inspection unit and from the second inspection unit to the pellicle pasting unit is automatically done using a specific transport apparatus and not manually. The movement of the mask and the pellicle pasted mask other than between these processing units and from pellicle inspection unit to pellicle pasting unit is performed manually.
However, in the pellicle pasting system, the number of processing steps has increased compared to the pellicle pasting apparatus described earlier by the second inspection step and the fourth inspection step. Thus, the number of movements of the mask and the pellicle pasted mask increases by the same amount. Hence, the possibility that the foreign objects attach to the mask and the pellicle pasted mask increases with the increased the number of mask transfers and the pellicle pasted mask, thereby resulting in further difficulties in managing the degree of cleanliness for the pellicle pasting system. Accordingly, a which, in turn, causes substantial decline in yield of the pellicle pasted mask results.


A bottleneck in the Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) workflow is the quantification of libraries for accurate pooling and loading of the sequencing instrument flow cell or chip. Disclosed herein are methods that improve performance and reduce time compared to existing methods.

To maximize high-quality next-generation sequencing (NGS) data, loading the sequencing instrument with a precise quantity of library DNA is essential. Loading an insufficient quantity of library DNA will result in low cluster density (Illumina)/low template-positive ISPs (Ion Torrent) and reduced sequencing output while an overabundance of library DNA will result in chimeric clusters (Illumina)/polyclonal ISPs (Ion Torrent) and result in reduced data of lower quality. When libraries are pooled for multiplex sequencing, inaccurate quantification leads to unbalanced sequence data, where under-quantified libraries are over-sequenced and over-quantified libraries are under-sequenced. For these reasons, accurate quantification of the number of sequenceable library molecules is a critical step in the NGS workflow. Accurate library quantification is also necessary when pooling libraries to create multiplex pools for hybridization-capture. Current methods for library quantification include chip electrophoresis (e.g. Agilent Bioanalyzer), fluorometric methods for dsDNA (e.g. Qubit), and qPCR (various commercially available kits). Both chip electrophoresis and fluorometric methods can only accurately quantify PCR amplified libraries enriched for fully adapted library molecules because these methods cannot distinguish functional (fragments containing both NGS adapters) from non-functional (fragments containing only 1 or no NGS adapters) molecules that exist in PCR-free library preparations. qPCR is widely used in the NGS workflow because it allows accurate quantification of functional library molecules but the protocol involves multiple pipetting steps and takes a substantial amount of time. Each library must be serially diluted and qPCR assays run in triplicate along side a standard curve, followed by qPCR data analysis. The qPCR quantification procedure takes almost 2 hours with at least 45 minutes of hands-on time. Finally, all of these methods require manual concentration adjustment for each NGS library when pooling samples. Additionally, all current library quantification methods are dependent on the library insert size to convert mass to molarity, and if libraries have a broad size distribution or an undefined size, molar quantification will not be accurately determined.

Normalization of NGS library concentration


A package particularly for packaging food products, comprising an inner package sheet, which individually wraps each product of the package and is composed of a coextruded film constituted by two outer layers of a styrene-butadiene copolymer resin and by a central layer chosen among polyethylene, polypropylene and other plastic material, and an outer package sheet, which wraps around a set of products contained in their respective inner packages and is composed of a high-barrier film coupled to a paper film.

The present invention relates to a package particularly but not exclusively for packaging food products.
As is known, candies are currently usually packaged in sticks with a double package: an outer one and an inner one.
The outer package can be tubular or shaped like a parallelepiped and is normally constituted by a lamination of paper and aluminum (i.e., composed of individual films of paper and aluminum that are mutually coupled by lamination), in which the edges are made to overlap (by means of folds or contoured portions) and heat-sealed (by means of inside-to-outside thermal bonding) and the end edges are folded and heat-sealed, or in which the edges, including the end edges, are subjected to inside-to-inside thermal bonding and then folded and heat-sealed.
The heat seals are provided in various manners by way of thermal bonding lacquers, waxes or others.
In any case, the following performance is generally required:
good fold retention in order to facilitate closure;
structural rigidity in order to produce the shape;
tearability in order to facilitate opening;
good heat-sealing strength.
For the internal package, which is provided for each individual candy, typically a single film (biaxially oriented polypropylene, cellophane or others) or paper (waxed paper or paper subjected to other treatments) is used instead, but in some cases paper/aluminum laminations are also used.
Currently, the market shows an increasing demand for packaged candies arranged loosely in containers made of light cardboard that is coated internally with polythene and is wrapped externally and sealed with a cellophane film (in a cigarette-like fashion).
However, this type of packaging is unsuitable for milk-based candies or candies manufactured with ingredients that are easily perishable or can easy adhere to each other when they are in contact.
For these candies, the trend is to maintain the conventional stick-like shape, although an attempt is made to provide the longitudinal and end closures by mating the edges in an inside-to-inside fashion and heat-sealing, instead of resorting to folding with inside-to-outside mating and corresponding heat-sealing with thermal bonding lacquer or wax.
Since the inside-to-inside heat-seal is continuous, it should ensure full closure of the tubular element, providing barrier conditions that reduce the inflow of oxygen and water valor or the outflow of aromas.
However, difficulties in disposing and recycling laminates manufactured with aluminum films, the increasing sensitivity of consumers to these problems, and the dissuasive measures taken in some countries against the use of laminates with aluminum films, as well as cost saving, are leading to forced replacement of conventional packages that contain aluminum.

Package particularly for packaging food products


An absorbent article such as a diaper can include three or more absorbent core structures for improved acquisition speed, reduced bulkiness, increased retention capacity, and improved dryness, including over multiple insults. The three or more absorbent core structures can at least partially overlap in a stacked or layered configuration in an insult zone of the article. At least one of the core structures can include an absorbent polymer or airlaid material. The absorbent polymer can be located primarily in the insult zone, and one or more of the absorbent core structures can extend beyond the insult zone. In an example, each of the at least three absorbent core structures has a different body-side surface area.

An incontinent adult, child, or infant can use an absorbent article, such as a diaper, that is capable of absorbing or containing human waste products. Diapers can have various shapes and sizes, and are generally configured to be worn between an individual's legs and secured about the waist. Some diapers are reusable and include a washable woven cloth material that can be worn in combination with a fluid-impervious outer garment. Some diapers are disposable and are intended to be discarded after a single use. Such diapers can be configured with a fluid-impermeable or fluid-impervious outer layer (back sheet) and an absorbent inner portion (core).
Some diapers are configured like traditional cloth underwear products and include an elastic waistband instead of, or in addition to, one or more fasteners. Such underwear or brief-style diapers can have front and back panels that are permanently joined together at the sides or hips of the wearer. In an example, the front and back panels can be coupled using an ultrasonic weld that fuses the side edges together. Such diapers are configured to be drawn up over the wearer's legs when the wearer puts on the diaper. These diapers can include absorbent members that are positioned between the wearer's legs and are configured to absorb body fluids.
Some absorbent articles for the incontinence market, such as overnight briefs, are configured for extended wear and high absorbency. In some examples, incontinent individuals can wear the same absorbent article for twelve hours or more. Such high-absorbency products are generally large or oversized, and can be heavy compared to a daytime or regular absorbency article. A high absorbency article can weigh about 150 grams, and its absorbent core can include a relatively large amount of super-absorbent polymer (SAP).


A radiative cooling device and a radiative cooling method that effectively suppress ultraviolet light absorption. The radiative cooling device includes an ultraviolet reflection layer that reflects ultraviolet light UV, a light reflection layer that reflects visible light and infrared light, and an infrared radiative layer that radiates infrared light IR. Infrared light IR is radiated form a radiative surface. The ultraviolet reflection layer, the infrared radiative layer and the light reflection layer are laminated in this order as viewed from the side of the radiative surface.

Radiative cooling refers to a phenomenon in which a temperature of a substance is reduced as the substance radiates (emits) an electromagnetic wave such as infrared radiation to its surroundings. This phenomenon, if effectively utilized, can be used as a "cooling device" that cools an object without consumption of energy such as electricity.
Patent Document 1 discloses a radiative cooling device in which an ultraviolet reflection layer of silicon dioxide or hafnium oxide is formed on a sunlight reflection layer (light reflection layer) made of silver, and on this ultraviolet reflection layer, there is formed an infrared radiative layer made of silicon dioxide and hafnium oxide in a thickness of several μm.
The radiative cooling device of this Patent Document 1 is configured such that ultraviolet light contained in the received sunlight is reflected by the ultraviolet reflection layer and the other lights are reflected mainly by the sunlight reflection layer (light reflection layer) to be released out of the system. Also, a part of the infrared light contained in the received sunlight and heat inputted from the atmosphere, a cooling object, etc. are converted into an infrared light having a predetermined wavelength range through the infrared radiative layer to be released out of the system.

Radiative cooling device and radiative cooling method


A vehicle navigation system includes a road-between-guidance-target-points configuration determining unit (9) for determining a configuration of a road between two successive guidance target points whose information is extracted from information stored in a guidance target point storing unit (8). A continuous guidance threshold distance setting unit (10) sets a threshold distance for continuous guidance based on the road configuration by using a table or the like. A distance-between-guidance-target-points calculating unit (11) calculates a distance between the two successive guidance target points. When the calculated distance between the two successive guidance target points is shorter than the set threshold distance for continuous guidance, a route guidance unit (12) provides continuous guidance for users through a guidance unit (16).

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a navigation system for vehicle and a route guidance method that enable a driver who is driving a vehicle on a road to safely and smoothly pass through guidance target points such as intersections.
2. Description of Related Art
A prior art navigation system for vehicle has a function of continuously providing guidance for a driver who is driving a vehicle on a road. When the vehicle has to continuously make a right-hand turn or left-hand turn two or more times while traveling within a region located at a predetermined distance from the current position of the vehicle, by using the continuously guidance function, the prior art navigation system provides guidance on a first guidance target point and simultaneous guidance on a second guidance target point, such as "Make a right-hand turn 100 m ahead and then make a left-hand turn", before the vehicle reaches the first guidance target point. In this case, the prior art navigation system determines whether or not a distance between two successive guidance target points is equal to or less than a threshold distance and, when the distance is equal to or less than the threshold distance, provides such continuous guidance.
The above-mentioned threshold distance can be arbitrarily set. However, when the threshold distance is set to a long one, the prior art navigation system may often provide continuous guidance needlessly and therefore redundant guidance can cause the driver to have momentary lapses of attention for the first guidance target intersection at which the driver has to make a turn. In contrast, when the threshold distance is set to a short one, essentially needed continuous guidance cannot be provided and the driver may often have an inconvenience of being forced to make a sudden lane change or right or left hand turn after the vehicle has passed through the first guidance target intersection.
Thus, the setting of the threshold distance for continuous guidance is important and it is therefore desirable that the set threshold distance complies with the road on which the vehicle is traveling. In accordance with a prior art method of providing continuous guidance in consideration of the suitability of the threshold distance for the road on which the vehicle is traveling, the threshold distance for continuous guidance is properly preset according to a difference between "general road" and "highway", each of which can be an attribute of the road between the two successive guidance target intersections (for example, refer to Japanese patent application publication (TOKKAI) No. 2000-39330).
Thus, the prior art continuous guidance method has the step of using the threshold distance for continuous guidance that is properly set according to a difference between "general road" and "highway". However, in accordance with this prior art continuous guidance method, the threshold distance for continuous guidance is kept at constant for the road on which the vehicle is traveling, and is not set so that it suits with conditions of the road. For example, a problem with the prior art continuous guidance method is that when the vehicle is traveling on a general road, the setting of the threshold distance cannot be implemented in consideration of the configurations of various intersections on the general road. A further problem is that even when the vehicle is traveling on a highway, the setting of the threshold distance cannot be implemented in consideration of a configuration of the highway.

Vehicle navigation system and route guidance method


A system for producing a raster image derived from coded and non-coded portions of a hybrid data structure from an input bitmap including (1) a data processing apparatus, (2) a recognizer which performs recognition on an input bitmap to the data processing apparatus to detect identifiable objects within the input bitmap, (3) a mechanism for producing a hybrid data structure including coded data corresponding to the identifiable objects and non-coded data derived from portions of the input bitmap which do not correspond to the identifiable objects, and (4) an output device capable of developing a visually perceptible raster image derived from the hybrid data structure. The raster image includes raster images of the identifiable objects and raster images derived from portions of the input bitmap that do not correspond to the identifiable objects. This includes a method for producing a hybrid data structure for a bitmap of an image having the steps of: (1) inputting a signal comprising a bitmap into a digital processing apparatus, (2) partitioning the bitmap into a hierarchy of lexical units, (3) assigning labels to a label list for each lexical unit of a predetermined hierarchical level, where labels in the label list have an associated confidence level, and (4) storing each lexical unit in a hybrid data structure as either an identifiable object or a non-identifiable object.

The present invention relates generally to the display of digitally stored and/or processed images, and more particularly to a method and apparatus for displaying images on raster display devices such as laser printers and computer monitors.
Digital images can be efficiently stored, edited, printed, reproduced, and otherwise manipulated. It is therefore often desirable to convert an image, such as on a piece of paper, into a digital representation of the image by a process known as digitization. Digital representations of an image can be primitive and non-coded (e.g., an array of picture elements or "pixels") or may contain higher level descriptive coded information (e.g., ASCII character codes) from which a primitive representation may be generated. Generally, high level coded digital representations are more compact than primitive non-coded ones.
Optical character recognition (OCR) encompasses digitization and a method for transforming text in bitmap representation to a high level coded representation, such as ASCII character codes. In OCR digitization, text characters on a printed surface such as a sheet of paper are typically scanned by an optical scanner, which creates a bitmap of the pixels of the image. A pixel is a fundamental picture element of an image, and a bitmap is a data structure including information concerning each pixel of the image. Bitmaps, if they contain more than on/off information, are often referred to as "pixel maps."
Other types of processes can also digitize real-world images. Devices such as digital cameras can be used to directly create bitmaps corresponding to a captured image. A computer system can recreate the image from the bitmap and display it on a computer display or send the bitmap to a printer to be printed. Bitmap generators can be used to convert other types of image-related inputs into bitmaps which can be manipulated and displayed. Incoming facsimile (fax) data includes low-resolution bitmaps that can be manipulated, recognized, printed, etc.
Once a bitmap is input to a computer, the computer can perform recognition on the bitmap so that each portion or object of the input bitmap, such as a character or other lexical unit of text, is recognized and converted into a code in a desired format. The recognized characters or other objects can then be displayed, edited, or otherwise manipulated using an application software program running on the computer.
There are several ways to display a recognized, coded object. A raster output device, such as a laser printer or computer monitor, typically requires a bitmap of the coded object which can be inserted into a pixel map for display on a printer or display screen. A raster output device creates an image by displaying an array of pixels arranged in rows and columns from the pixel map. One way to provide the bitmap of the coded object is to store an output bitmap in memory for each possible code. For example, for codes that represent characters in fonts, a bitmap can be associated with each character in the font and for each size of the font that might be needed. The character codes and font size are used to access the bitmaps. However, this method is very inefficient in that it tends to require a large amount of peripheral and main storage. Another method is to use a "character outline" associated with each character code and to render a bitmap of a character from the character outline and other character information, such as size. The character outline can specify the shape of the character and requires much less memory storage space than the multitude of bitmaps representing many sizes. A commonly-used language to render bitmaps from character outlines is the PostScript.RTM. language by Adobe Systems, Inc. of Mountain View, Calif. Character outlines can be described in standard formats, such as the Type 1.RTM. format by Adobe Systems, Inc.
OCR processes are limited by, among other things, the accuracy of the digitized image provided to the computer system. The digitizing device (such as a scanner) may distort or add noise to the bitmap that it creates. In addition, OCR processes do not perfectly recognize bitmap images, particularly if they are of low resolution or are otherwise of low quality. For example, a recognizer might misread ambiguous characters, characters that are spaced too closely together, or characters of a font for which it had no information.
Imperfect recognition can present problems both at the time of editing a recognized image and when printing or displaying the image. Misrecognized images may be printed incorrectly, and images that are not recognized at all may not be printed at all, or may be printed as some arbitrary error image. This reduces the value of the OCR process, since the recognized document may require substantial editing.

Method and apparatus for producing a hybrid data structure for displaying a raster image


An array substrate includes a plurality of pixel units, each of the pixel units includes a pixel electrode and a common electrode that are insulated from each other, and a conductive layer that is electrically connected in parallel to the common electrode. A double-layer metal layer is deposited on the common electrode at an opaque region of the pixel electrode to form a ring structure around a transparent region of the pixel electrode, thus reducing the resistances of the common electrodes. The ring structure can be U-shaped, half-ring shaped, or full-ring shaped.

At present, in the Thin Film Transistor-Liquid Crystal Display (TFT-LCD) field, a large-scale LCD panel is developing quickly with continuous updating of technologies. A Touch Panel (TP), as an input medium, is integrated with a display screen to form a touch display screen which plays an important role in the display field. Particularly, a capacitance touch panel is popular because of high sensitivity thereof. A mutual capacitance touch panel is commonly employed because of its advantages, such as high sensitivity and multi-touch detection capability.
At present, according to combination methods of the touch panel and an LCD device, there are two kinds of the touch panels, i.e., an on-cell touch panel and an in-cell touch panel. The on-cell touch panel and the display device are manufactured separately and then are assembled together. In this way, the thickness of the display screen will be increased. In addition, the transmittance and the contrast of the display will be reduced because multiple layers of transparent glasses or thin films are provided additionally. Further, the manufacturing cost is high with this method. Therefore, current research focuses on in-cell touch panel technology which integrates the TP into a touch liquid crystal display Panel (LCD Panel) because of its low production cost, high transmittance, and thin thickness, etc.
In a mutual capacitance touch panel, X-direction coordinates of touch points are determined by touch driving electrodes, and Y-direction coordinates of the touch points are determined by touch sensing electrodes. A touch driving voltage is applied to the touch driving electrodes. A constant voltage is applied to the touch sensing electrodes. For detecting a touch point, a progressive scanning is performed on the X-direction touch driving electrodes. When each row of the touch driving electrodes is scanned, the signal on each column of the touch sensing electrodes is read. Intersections of each row and each column can be scanned through a round of full-screen scanning to obtain X*Y signals. The coordinates of multiple touch points can be determined with this touch location detection method, and thereby the multi-touch detection can be realized.
FIG. 1 shows an equivalent circuit of a mutual capacitance touch panel, which includes a signal source 101, a touch driving electrode resistance 103, a mutual capacitance 102 between the touch driving electrode and the touch sensing electrode, a parasitic capacitance 104 between the touch driving electrode and a common electrode or between the touch sensing electrode and a common electrode, a touch sensing electrode resistance 105, and a touch point detection circuit 106. A part of the current of the circuit flows into a touch object (e.g., a finger) when the touch panel is touched by the touch object, resulting in a change of the value of the mutual capacitance 102 between the touch driving electrode and the touch sensing electrode. The touch point detection circuit converts the weak current changes caused by the mutual capacitance 102 into a output voltage signal Vout.
The touch driving electrode and the touch sensing electrode are both disposed on the LCD panel, and the distance between the TP and the common electrode of the LCD panel is very short. Thus, the parasitic capacitance 104 between the touch driving electrode and a common electrode or between the touch sensing electrode and the common electrode is very large, such that the TP is affected greatly by noises generated by the LCD panel. In this case, current signals detected by the touch point detection circuit are difficult to be detected due to the noises, and thus touch resolution is poor, as a consequence, the touch panel may not operate accurately.
In addition, considering conventional touch display panels, a signal current is small and easy to flow from the driving electrode to the sensing electrode when the touch signal strength is weak. Thus, a signal delay exists between a peripheral side and the center of the common electrode, which will cause the signal at the center of the TP to be weaker than that at each of the four sides thereof. In this case, the signal detection of the TP is affected, and there is a problem that the touch signal will not be detected.

Array substrate, touch liquid crystal display panel and manufacturing method thereof

Shanghai Tianma Micro-Electronics Co., Ltd.


Methods and systems are presented of presenting false and/or decoy content to an intruder operating on a computer system by obfuscating critical files on a computer storage device with data that directs subsequent infiltration and propagation to designated decoy hosts and decoy applications.

1. Field of the Art
The technology described here generally relates to computer networking, and, more specifically, to computer file obfuscation using file system filter drivers at the operating system-level.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventional computer data security involves the deployment of firewalls, content inspection gateways, authentication and encryption schemes, in addition to network and host-based intrusion detection systems.
Such reactive approach has had limited success against the newer types of intrusion commonly known as Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs. Another approach is to use hosted decoys or more commonly known as honeypot systems populated with varying degrees of realism, some going as far as populating such honeypot hosts with believable data for the intruder to stay connected and remain active.
"Digital bread crumbs" refers to a host of clues left behind by a hacker, as mentioned in Jayanthi, Sridhar "Digital Bread Crumbs: Seven Clues To Identify Who Is Behind Advanced Cyber Attacks," InformationWeek, Jul. 19, 2013, at http://www.informationweek.in/security/13-07-19/digital_bread_crumbs_seven_clues_to_identify_who_is_behind_advanced_cyber_attacks.asp x. Conversely for the purpose of counter intelligence, clues can be deliberately left on a computing device to attract an intruder to lead him to take certain actions which will reveal themselves and subject their actions to scrutiny and containment.
More efficient network protection from hackers is sought. There is a need to protect the computer networks against advanced persistent threats and other attacks.

Alternate files returned for suspicious processes in a compromised computer network

Abstract: Method and systems are provided for selectively presenting different contents to different viewers/users of application resource files for the purpose of preventing the valuable content from being read, tampered with, exfiltrated, or used as a means to perform subsequent attacks on network resources.


A process for reducing the likelihood of runway incursions wherein the major components of an aircraft are individually tracked by radar instead of tracking only the overall image of the aircraft to more accurately predict possible runway incursions due to the rapid and accurate indication of any change in aircraft orientation during each sweep of the radar.

It is recognized that the most dangerous of conditions at an airport is where there is danger of high speed collision involving an aircraft landing or taking off. This condition is called a runway incursion (RI) which, by definition is "any occurrence at an airport involving an aircraft, vehicle, or person on the ground that creates a collision hazard or results in loss of separation with an aircraft taking off, intending to take off, landing, or intending to land." The frequency of these RIs has been increasing in recent years, along with the increased traffic load at airports. Although the incidences are still relatively rare, they are still very dangerous and collisions have occured with disastrous results in terms of injuries, loss of life and property.
There is a continuous effort by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), as well as by individuals and private companies, to improve airport safety and enhance the performance of air traffic controllers at United States airports. The primary safety mission of air traffic controllers is to prevent runway incursions. Runway incursions occur when aircraft or other vehicles enter a runway on which an aircraft has been cleared for landing or take off. A primary goal of the FAA initiative is to be able to automatically detect the occurrence of a runway incursion, and alert the responsible air traffic controller. Ideally, the safety system would automatically predict when a runway incursion is imminent and generate an alert prior to the intrusion.
The primary radar for surveillance and monitoring the movement of airport ground or surface traffic, is a special purpose, high-resolution surface radar known as the Airport Surface Detection Equipment (ASDE-3) radar. The ASDE-3 radar employs frequency agility and circular polarization to achieve significant improvement in aircraft detection during adverse weather conditions. The 60 revolution per minute digitally scan converted radar provides a display to a range of 5.5 kilometers, with a range resolution of approximately 3.7 meters and an azimuth beamwidth of 0.25 degrees.
Because of the ratio of target size to radar range, a jetliner can return energy in a very large number of range and bearing sample bins. Moreover, because of differences in reflectivity, the target may actually appear in the data as two or more smaller returns rather than one large one. In some cases, the radar image may look very much like the plan view of the aircraft itself, while, in others it may not.
The current method of tracking in the Airport Movement Area Safety System (AMASS) program involves detecting a region of greater radar return in the (.rho.,.phi.) of the radar signal and then computing a centroid from all the reflected energy of the target. That centroid location is then tracked using an Alpha-Beta tracker. Because different components of the aircraft can reflect energy differently, depending on aspect, the radar can miss portions of the aircraft on any one sweep. This can cause the centroid to exhibit significant jumps, which tends to confuse the tracker, especially during aircraft turns. This phenomena might result in the erroneous generation of an alert if the tracker output were being used to predict runway incursions. Such false alarms tend to limit the usefulness of the system and degrade the confidence of the user. Targets such as trucks, buses, and smaller aircraft that have smaller radar cross-sections do not exhibit the kinds of tracking anomalies produced by large jets.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved radar tracking system that reduces the likelihood of runway intrusions.
Another object of the present invention is a process of detecting and tracking the components of an aircraft rather than its center.
Another object of the present invention is a radar tracking system combining images from several aircraft components rather than from the aircraft center alone.
A further object of the present invention is a stick-figure tracker employing radar data extraction to measure the range and bearing of various individual aircraft components and tracking each individual component separately.
An additional object of the present invention is a data extraction process that measures the range and bearing of each tracked aircraft component and predicts the precise locations of critical aircraft physical components to give instantaneous information of any change in aircraft bearing between radar sweeps.


To provide a diagnostic drug which binds specifically to an amyloid aggregate and/or an amyloid deposit, to thereby realize imaging and quantification of a disease caused by amyloid aggregation and/or deposition.

Amyloid is a specific protein having a fibrous structure. Amyloid exhibits weak acidophilic characteristics in hematoxylin-eosin staining, and assumes homogeneous and amorphous. Amyloid stains orange-red with alkaline Congo red staining, and shows green birefringence under a polarizing microscope. As observed under an electron microscope, amyloid is composed of non-branching fibrils having a width of 7 to 15 nm. Although amyloid seems to have a single morphology, amyloid is conceived to be composed of at least 20 types of proteins. Such proteins, in a monomeric state, do not exhibit toxicity, but cause organ dysfunction when aggregated. A common feature of aggregates of these proteins resides in that they are rich in β-sheet structure and are hard to dissolve.
Amyloidosis is a group of diseases in which dysfunction is caused by extracellular deposition or accumulation of amyloid fibrils in various organs in the whole body. As described below, amyloidosis is classified into systemic and localized forms according to the new classification by the Specified Disease Research Group of the Japanese Ministry of Health, labor and Welfare.
I. Systemic Amyloidosis
1. Immunocytic Amyloidosis
Deposition of immunoglobulin-derived (X- or K-light-chain-derived, or heavy-chain-derived) amyloid in organs of the whole body.
2. Reactive AA Amyloidosis (Secondary Amyloidosis)
Secondary to chronic inflammatory diseases (e.g., rheumatoid arthritis, tuberculosis, leprosy, and bronchiectasis), and deposition of amyloid derived from serum amyloid A (SAA), which is an acute-phase protein.
3. Familial Amyloidosis (Hereditary Amyloidosis)
Familial amyloid polyneuropathy (classified into types I to IV) causes specific sensory disorder or dyskinetic neuropathy, or autonomic neuropathy (variant transthyretin). Other examples of familial amyloidosis include familial Mediterranean fever and Muckle-Wells syndrome.
4. Dialysis Amyloidosis
Some long-term dialysis patients may exhibit β2-microglobulin-derived amyloidosis.
5. Senile Amyloidosis
Accumulation of wild-type transthyretin in the heart, and pulmonary or gastrointestinal vascular walls.
II. Localized Amyloidosis
1. Cerebral Amyloidosis
Alzheimer's disease, Down syndrome, cerebrovascular amyloidosis, hereditary cerebral amyloid angiopathy, British familial dementia, and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.
2. Endocrine Amyloidosis
Amyloidosis associated with medullary thyroid cancer, type-II diabetes/insulinoma, and localized atrial amyloidosis.
3. Cutaneous Amyloidosis
4. Localized Nodular Amyloidosis
Since amyloid can accumulate in any organ of the body, systemic amyloidosis causes a variety of symptoms. In an early stage, systemic amyloidosis causes non-specific initial symptoms, including general malaise, weight loss, edema, and anemia. Known symptoms during the course of systemic amyloidosis include congestive heart failure, nephrotic syndrome, malabsorption syndrome, peripheral neuropathy, orthostatic hypotension, carpal tunnel syndrome, and enlarged liver. In a clinical examination of systemic amyloidosis, amyloid-constituent proteins are detected through a hematological and serological assay. Meanwhile, 99mTc-pyrophosphate scintigraphy is effective, but not specific for detection of cardiac amyloid, since 99mTc-pyrophosphate may also accumulate in an ischemic site.
Established diagnosis of amyloidosis requires collection, through biopsy, of a tissue from an organ suspected of having amyloid deposition, followed by confirming amyloid deposition. After a pathological examination of the tissue collected by biopsy, an amyloid precursor protein is specified through combination of an immunohistological test, a serological test, and a genetic test, leading to established diagnosis. Diagnosis of amyloidosis requires determination of a site where a large amount of amyloid is accumulated, and biopsy for collecting tissue from the site. Therefore, such a diagnosis may require a highly invasive test at a certain biopsy site.
Now will be described reactive AA amyloidosis, which is a typical example of systemic amyloidosis. Reactive AA amyloidosis is a disease caused by deposition of amyloid derived from serum amyloid A (SAA) (i.e., an acute-phase reactive protein), and is secondary to a chronic inflammatory disease. For example, rheumatoid arthritis, whose prevalence is 0.3 to 0.8% of the population in Japan, is a primary disease of AA amyloidosis, and complication occurs in about 10% of AA amyloidosis cases. This amyloidosis is a disease (complication) with very poor prognosis, in which various organ dysfunctions are caused by extracellular deposition of amyloid, and the 50% survival time of patients with this disease is two to four years. In general, diagnosis of the disease is limited to only a method for confirming amyloid accumulation through biopsy. Although this method targets the kidney or the gastrointestinal tract where AA amyloid is accumulated, the method is invasive, and is particularly difficult to perform in the kidney. Recently, imaging of peripheral amyloid accumulation has been successfully performed by use of SAP (serum amyloid P component) labeled with 123I (Non-Patent Document 1). However, SAP, which is a glycoprotein having a molecular weight of 250 kDa, cannot pass through the blood-brain barrier (BBB), and thus imaging of cerebral amyloid accumulation fails to be performed. As has been reported, SAP is accumulated specifically in the liver, the spleen, the kidney, the adrenal glands, the bone marrow, or joints, but is not accumulated in the heart.
Alzheimer's disease is a type of localized amyloidosis, and has become a serious social issue with aging of the population. In Japan, the number of dementia patients has been rapidly increasing in accordance with aging of the population, and thus treatment and care of dementia patients are imminent issues which must be rapidly solved from the viewpoint of health economics. The number of dementia patients is estimated to reach three million in 2050, and patients with Alzheimer's disease are expected to account for the majority of the dementia patients. In the United States, the number of Alzheimer's disease patients is currently four million, whereas in Japan, the number is estimated to be one million. Alzheimer's disease is a poor-prognosis disease which is associated with continuous progression and results in certain death; i.e., a half of Alzheimer's disease patients die within three to eight years after the onset of the disease.
Diagnostic imaging is an important examination for differentiating Alzheimer's disease from another amyloid disease. However, no evidence is obtained through contrast between autopsy and imaging. Attempts have been made to diagnose Alzheimer's disease in its early stage by means of CT or MRI for detecting cerebral atrophy, or PET or SPECT for measuring change in glucose metabolism or cerebral blood flow, so as to provide typical findings of Alzheimer's disease. However, such findings are not necessarily obtained from some Alzheimer's disease patients.
Established diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease requires pathological diagnosis, which is generally based on distribution of senile plaques, or Alzheimer neurofibrillary tangle; for example, according to CERAD (Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer's Disease), or the staging by Braak, et al. Of these, in CERAD pathological diagnostic criteria, the number of typical senile plaques stained with silver impregnation is semi-quantified, followed by classification into "sparse" (2/mm2), "moderate" (6/mm2), and "frequent" (35/mm2) at the neocortex with the most severe Alzheimer's lesion; and the level of Alzheimer's disease is evaluated as being "definite," "probable," or "normal" through comparison with the number of senile plaques normalized according to stratification of age.
As described above, established diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease requires data on distribution of senile plaques in the brain, or neurofibrillary tangle. Particularly, senile plaques are considered to have been accumulated for several decades before the onset of Alzheimer's disease, and detection of this amyloid accumulation meets the purpose of early diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease. In recent years, attempts have been made to capture such senile plaques in the form of an image. A nuclear medicine technique employing nuclear magnetic resonance or a radioisotope is considered a technique for in vivo imaging of cerebral senile plaques. Particularly, attempts have been made to directly image senile plaques through a nuclear magnetic resonance technique in APP-overexpressed transgenic mice (Tg mice). However, such a technique requires a high magnetic field of 7 T or higher, and provides low contrast with respect to senile plaques.
Furthermore, attempts have been made to develop a drug which binds specifically to amyloid for imaging thereof, for the purpose of enhancing sensitivity by increasing contrast between the normal tissue and amyloid. Recently, Higashi, et al. have developed a drug which passes through the blood-brain barrier (BBB) and binds to amyloid (Patent Document 1). However, clinical application thereof requires a ligand exhibiting higher activity.
Many attempts have been made to visualize amyloid aggregates by binding a radionuclide to a ligand which binds to the amyloid aggregates, and reconstituting an image by means of a γ-ray-detecting apparatus. Imaging of senile plaques in the brain of an Alzheimer's disease (AD) patient was first successfully performed in the world by use of [18F]-FDDNP, which is a radioactive drug developed by a group of UCLA. This drug realizes imaging of both senile plaques and neurofibrils (Patent Document 2). In addition, a significant difference was observed in retention time of the drug in the brain between AD patients and control subjects, and the retention time was found to be correlated with cognitive function. However, as shown in an image obtained in a late stage after administration of the drug, only a small difference (about 10 to about 30%) is found in radioactivity retention in the brain of an AD patient between the cerebral cortex where many senile plaques are present and the pons where few senile plaques are present; i.e., a large background is provided.
A new amyloid imaging agent having a thioflavin structure has been developed in the University of Pittsburgh, and is named Pittsburgh Compound-B (11C-PIB) (Patent Documents 3 and 4). As has been reported, when 11C-PIB is administered to a mild AD patient, considerable retention of the agent is observed in an amyloid-accumulated cortex region, as compared with the control, and thus the agent realizes clear distinction between an Alzheimer's disease patient and a normal subject. However, a difference in retention of 11C-PIB between AD patient groups is at most about two-fold. Therefore, demand has arisen for a diagnostic drug which can achieve a higher contrast for examining the degree of amyloid accumulation in more detail. Such a drug is essential for determining whether or not a patient with a symptom which is more difficult to diagnose (e.g., mild cognitive impairment (MCI)) will develop Alzheimer's disease. As has also been reported, when 11C-PIB is administered to mice in which APP is overexpressed so as to generate amyloid aggregates (PS1/APP mice), and then the mice are tested by means of an animal PET scanner, no difference is observed in retention time of 11C-PIB between PS1/APP mice and normal mice; i.e., 11C-PIB exhibits considerably low affinity to amyloid aggregates of PS1/APP mice, and thus imaging of amyloid accumulation fails to be attained in vivo animal experiments by use of 11C-PIB. Furthermore, 11C, which is a labeling nuclide of 11C-PIB, has a half-life of 20 minutes. In general, such a positron-emitting nuclide employed for imaging has a very short half-life. In view that a compound is labeled with a radionuclide produced by means of a cyclotron, the compound must be capable of being labeled within a short period of time, and the cyclotron must be placed in the vicinity a PET apparatus. In addition, the thus-labeled compound must be under strict quality control, since the compound is administered in vivo. Therefore, in Japan, there are only a few facilities which can perform labeling with a positron-emitting nuclide, as well as imaging of amyloid in vivo.
Commercially suppliable and industrially useful means is a drug product labeled with a nuclide which has a longer half-life (about 6 to about 72 hours) and emits γ-rays. Examples of the nuclide which meets this requirement include 123I and 99mTc. The University of Pennsylvania has reported that 123I-IMPY, which has been studied for the purpose of 123I labeling, exhibits high affinity to amyloid accumulated in the brain of AD patients or Tg mice (Patent Document 5). The amyloid-binding probe having a thioflavin skeleton labeled with a radioisotope has an N-alkylamine structure. In general, an N-alkylamine structure undergoes in vivo metabolism. Therefore, an N-dealkylated radioactive ligand metabolite having no amyloid-binding property and exhibiting lipid solubility passes through the blood-brain barrier, and enters the brain, whereby the metabolite is accumulated therein regardless of amyloid (Non-Patent Document 2). Therefore, keen demand has arisen for development of a derivative, a metabolite of which is not detected in the brain.
Conceivably, a substance which inhibits aggregation and/or deposition of amyloid (including amyloid protein and amyloid-like protein) is effective for prevention or treatment of amyloidosis. Prevention or treatment of cerebral amyloidosis (e.g., Alzheimer's disease) requires a diagnostic drug or therapeutic drug which can pass through the blood-brain barrier.
Patent Document 1: WO 2005/042461 pamphlet
Patent Document 2: Japanese Kohyo Patent Publication No.
Patent Document 3: WO 2004/083195 pamphlet
Patent Document 4: Japanese Kohyo Patent Publication No.
Patent Document 5: Japanese Kohyo Patent Publication No.
Non-Patent Document 1: Hawkins P. N., Lavender J. P., Pepys M. B., N. Engl. J. Med. 1990 Aug. 23; 323(8): 508-13.
Non-Patent Document 2: Kung M. P., Hou C., Zhuang Z. P., Cross A. J., Maier D. L., Kung H. F., Eur. J. Nucl. Med. Mol. Imaging. 2004 August; 31(8): 1136-45. Epub 2004 March 9.

Diagnostic and remedy for disease caused by amyloid aggregation and/or deposition

Abstract: The invention provides a compound represented by formula (1):

Abstract: (wherein X1 represents an optionally substituted bicyclic heterocyclic group;                X2 represents a hydrogen atom, a halogen atom, or a chelate-forming group;        ring A represents a benzene ring or a pyridine ring; and        ring B represents an optionally substituted 5-membered aromatic heterocyclic group which is bonded to the benzene ring or the pyridine ring via a carbon atom of ring B), a salt thereof, a solvate of any of these, or a transition metal coordination compound of any of these, and a diagnostic, preventive, or therapeutic drug containing the same.


A process for photo-plating only a light-irradiated portion of a dye layer formed on a substrate comprises: forming a dye layer on the surface of a substrate; immersing the substrate with the dye layer into an electroless plating solution comprising a sacrificial reagent for supplying electrons by irreversible oxidative decomposition, and at least one of copper ions, nickel ions, cobalt ions, and tin ions; and irradiating the surface of the dye layer with light having an energy higher than the excitation energy of the dye in the dye layer. A thick coating containing at least one of copper, nickel, cobalt, and tin can be formed with excellent adhesion strength only on the light-irradiated portion of the dye layer formed on the substrate.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a photo-plating process which enables formation of a thick coating containing at least one of copper, nickel, cobalt, and tin in an electroless plating solution, the coating being tightly adhered only to the light-irradiated portions of a dye layer formed on a substrate. The present invention also relates to an article having a coating formed thereon by photo-plating. Accordingly, the present invention is useful for, e.g., forming electric circuit patterns on a printed circuit board.
2. Description of the Related Art
There is known a photo-plating process which takes advantage of a radiant energy of light to selectively deposit a metal only on the light-irradiated portions of a substrate. More specifically, in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 205388/1990 and in Japanese Patent Publication No. 2950/1990 is disclosed a process which comprises using a photo-oxidation-reduction reaction of a semiconductor on absorbing light, thereby depositing a metal selectively only on the light-irradiated portions of a substrate having a semiconductor provided thereon. In this process, an aqueous metal-ion solution containing a reducing agent such as an alcohol and formaldehyde is used as the plating solution. Referring in more detail to the known process, the mechanism of the reaction for depositing a metal on the substrate is believed as follows. On irradiating ultraviolet (UV) light to a semiconductor such as TiO.sub.2 provided on a substrate and being immersed in an aqueous solution containing metal ions and a reducing agent, electrons which generate in the conduction band of the semiconductor reduce metal ions in the aqueous solution to form metal deposits on the semiconductor. The reducing agent supplies the electrons to the holes formed by the UV radiation in the valence band of the semiconductor, thereby preventing the holes from coupling with the electrons in the conduction band. The processes using conventional solutions, however, are disadvantageous in that the metal deposition to a thickness of several thousand angstroms or more on the surface of the semiconductor prevents the irradiated light from reaching the semiconductor, thereby ceasing further deposition of the metal. Thus a thick metal coating could not be obtained.
Another drawback is the poor adhesion strength of the film to the semiconductor, because the sites for initiating the reaction were limited to coarse semiconductor particles on the substrate.


The present invention provides an electrolyte component containing one or more salts including lithium bis(oxalate)borate (LiBOB), a solvent, propylene carbonate (PC) and a crystallizable polymer wherein said LiBOB is present as a weight percentage of 0.5% or more, said propylene carbonate is present as a weight percentage of between 5% and 90% and the crystallizable polymer is present at a weight percentage of greater than 1%. It also provides a galvanic cell formed from the above and a process for forming same.

The most commonly used electrolytes are fluid liquids which comprise solutions in a liquid solvent of solute ionic species. Such fluid liquid electrolytes, on incorporation into a galvanic cell, permit migration of ions between the electrodes of the cell and, as a consequence, the provision of electric energy to a closed external circuit. Despite their widespread use, such electrolytes nonetheless suffer from several disadvantages. They are often corrosive, leading to leakage from cells and they do not provide a firm barrier between the electrodes when required to assist in stabilizing the inter-electrode distance and in preventing physical loss of electrode material from the electrode surface.
In order, in part, to overcome the disadvantages inherent in fluid liquid electrolytes, particularly in relation to galvanic cells, considerable effort has been expended in attempts to provide solid or highly viscous polymeric electrolytes which contain salts which display mobility, under appropriate conditions, of at least some of the ionic species present. The solid polymeric electrolytes are capable of acting in thin film form as electrode separators and in solid-state cells can deform while maintaining good contact with the electrodes, thus minimizing problems arising from mechanical strain arising either from mechanical stresses during use or volume changes during the charge/discharge cycle. A particular area of importance is in cells that do not depend upon water as a component of the electrolyte, such as lithium cells where water and other materials capable of reacting with lithium are undesirable. The potential uses for such materials are not limited to batteries but include, inter alia, sensor devices and thermoelectric energy convectors.
A prominent polymeric material for this purpose has been poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO), in which certain salts are soluble and can form complexes. The electrical and mechanical properties of such polymer electrolyte materials, although encouraging, require further enhancement before commercialisation can be envisaged. Improvements in the properties have been obtained using graft copolymers in which short poly(ethylene oxide) chains are present as pendant units attached to a long main chain. Such materials have been described In GB-A-2161488. Another means of improving the mechanical properties is to use block copolymers in which short poly(ethylene oxide) chains alternate with other units such as polysiloxane. Yet another means is to cross-link a poly(ethylene oxide) with an epoxy compound. In each case the polymer electrolyte contains a suitable salt complexed with the polymer to provide the ionic species required for conductivity. In all these cases the conductivities reported at 25° C. or at room temperature are at best about 10−4 Siemens per cm. These values are an order of magnitude less than a commonly cited target for commercial realization of 10−3 Siemens per cm.
It is also possible to provide polymer electrolytes which consist of a mixture of a polymer, preferably of high molecular weight, with a compound of low molecular weight that is a solvent for the polymer in the range of temperatures in which the electrolyte is to be used, together with an appropriate salt that is soluble in the polymer and in the compound of low molecular weight. For example, as disclosed in GB-A-2212504 and 2216132, polymer electrolytes consisting of poly-N,N-dimethylacrylamide or closely related poly-N-substituted acrylamide of high molecular weight plasticized with dimethylacetamide together with lithium trifluoromethane sulphonate (lithium triflate) as the salt component have been evaluated and found to exhibit good conductivities together with good mechanical properties. These polymer electrolytes are gel-like in character, but the compound of low molecular weight must not exceed a certain limiting concentration above which the system loses its gel-like character and begins to flow. The ionic conductivity is higher at the higher concentrations of the compound of low molecular weight, but the material becomes increasingly more flexible. Conductivities of 7×10−3 S cm1 at 20° C. are obtainable but this requires at least 60% or more of the low molecular weight compound and at this level the mechanical properties are poor. It has proved possible by cross-linking the polymer to improve the mechanical properties to a useful level with as much as 80% of the low molecular weight compound present, and thus to obtain conductivities at 20° C. exceeding 10−3 Scm1. These products may prove of commercial interest, but the process for making the cross-linked polymer electrolyte film is somewhat complex for convenient incorporation into a process for cell manufacture.
However it is well established that with electrolytes containing propylene carbonate (PC) as the liquid component in whole or in part, for most anode electrode systems, particularly those comprising graphite, exfoliation of the electrode occurs. This exfoliation continues throughout the charge-discharge process, resulting in extensive capacity loss on the first cycle and progressive capacity loss in subsequent cycles. For liquid cells the industry therefore favours a combination of aprotic organic solvents other than PC, eg. EC, DEE, EMC etc. many of which are much more volatile than PC. These can be used in cell manufacture which takes place at ambient temperatures.
The use of volatile organic liquids is generally problematic for the formation of polymer gel electrolytes (PGE) by extrusion lamination at high temperatures. High boiling point solvents such as ethylene carbonate (EC) (bp 244° C.) and PC (bp 240° C.) are required in the major proportion for the formation of the PGEs. But EC has a high melting point (36° C.) and a non-trivial proportion of PC (mp −55° C.) is required to prevent the gel from freezing at ambient temperatures. EC and PC are benign non-toxic materials which are easy to handle. Other higher boiling point solvents from which PGEs could be formed (eg. Dimethyl formamide (DMF) or NMP) are more hazardous and often toxic. Gels composed of EC and more volatile components are generally of poorer quality mechanically than those with substantial quantities of PC. PGEs formed with PC either alone or in conjunction with EC are of the highest quality.
Thus at present there is a balance to be obtained between the aprotic solvents used, their ratio and the choice of anode composition and construction.
There are anode compositions incorporating different forms of graphite which can be used with PC with minimal exfoliation and capacity loss, but their use is restrictive. Hitherto there has not been an effective additive agent in surpressing this exfoliation and loss of capacity. Such an agent, working on all graphitic anodic materials would greatly enhance the PGE extrusion-lamination process with the unrestricted use of PC.
More recently a new lithium salt, lithium bis(oxalate)borate (LiBOB) has become available and has been proposed for use with graphitic anodes. By the addition of LiBOB at as low as 5% molar, exfoliation in the graphitic anode has been shown to be effectively prevented.
It is now proposed that the addition of LiBOB to the polymer gel electrolyte itself, generally in conjunction with the extrusion lamination procedure, will greatly extend the range of materials available for the fabrication of electrical components (particularly galvanic cells) and greatly enhance the performance of these components.


A gate valve cleaning method that can clean a gate valve that brings an atmospheric transfer chamber and an internal pressure variable transfer chamber that transfer a substrate into communication with each other or shuts them off from each other without bringing about a decrease in the throughput of a substrate processing system. Before the gate valve brings the atmospheric transfer chamber and the internal pressure variable transfer chamber into communication with each other, the pressure in the internal pressure variable transfer chamber is increased so that the pressure in the internal pressure variable transfer chamber can become higher than the pressure in the atmospheric transfer chamber.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a gate valve cleaning method and a substrate processing system, and more particularly to a method of cleaning a gate valve that brings an atmospheric transfer chamber and an inner pressure variable transfer chamber into communication with each other or shuts them off from each other.
2. Description of the Related Art
A substrate processing system that subjects wafers as substrates to plasma processing is comprised of a process module that houses wafers and subjects them to plasma processing, a load-lock module that transfers each wafer into the process module, and a loader module that removes each wafer from a container housing a plurality of wafers and transfers the wafer to the load-lock module.
In general, the load-lock module of the substrate processing system has a chamber in which a wafer is housed. The load-lock module has a function of opening a gate valve on the loader module side, receiving a wafer in the chamber at atmospheric pressure from a transfer chamber of the loader module, closing the gate valve on the loader module side, evacuating the interior of the chamber to a predetermined pressure, opening a gate valve on the process module side, transferring the wafer into the process module, transferring the wafer out of the process module upon completion of processing, closing the gate valve on the process module side, returning the pressure in the chamber to atmospheric pressure, opening the gate valve on the loader module side, and passing the wafer into the loader module (see, for example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 2006-128578).
In the load-lock module, however, there may be a case where, in order to improve the throughput of the substrate processing system or due to a problem concerning accuracy of a pressure gauge, the gate valve on the loader module side is opened to pass a wafer without completely returning the pressure in the chamber to atmospheric pressure, i.e. when the pressure in the chamber is lower than the pressure (atmospheric pressure) in the transfer chamber of the loader module. In this case, the atmosphere in the transfer chamber of the loader module flows into the chamber of the load-lock module.
Meanwhile, as shown in FIG. 8A, a conventional gate valve 70 that is disposed between a loader module and a load-lock module and is opened and closed so that the loader module and the load-lock module can be brought into communication with each other or shut off from each other is comprised of a wafer transfer port 71, and a valve element 72 that is driven vertically as viewed in FIG. 8A by a valve element driving mechanism (not shown) so as to open and close the wafer transfer port 71.
In the gate valve 70, in opening and closing the wafer transfer port 71 via the valve element 72, particles 74 produced through rubbing of the valve element 72 against a member 73 that defines the wafer transfer port 71 become attached to, in particular, the valve element 72 (FIG. 8B). As a result, as described above, when the wafer transfer port 71 is opened via the valve element 72 when the pressure in the load-lock module is lower than the pressure in the transfer chamber (atmospheric pressure) of the loader module, the atmosphere inside the loader module flows into the chamber of the load-lock module (FIG. 8C), and the particles 74 attached to the valve element 72 are scattered away through, for example, a disturbance caused by viscous force of the atmosphere, and the scattered particles 74 enter into the chamber of the load-lock module (FIG. 8D). The particles 74 having entered into the chamber of the load-lock module become attached to and accumulated on surfaces of wafers to be transferred, and the particles 74 attached to and accumulated on the wafer cause defects of patterns formed on the wafers. Thus, if the particles 74 enter into the chamber of the load-lock module, the yield and reliability of devices ultimately manufactured from the wafers are decreased.
Conventionally, to prevent the particles 74 from entering into the chamber of the load-lock module, the particles 74 attached to the gate valve 70, in particular, the valve element 72 have been removed in advance through cleaning such as wiping by an operator. However, operation of the substrate processing system has to be stopped for an operator to carry out cleaning such as wiping, and this has significantly decreased the throughput of the substrate processing system.

Gate valve cleaning method and substrate processing system


Conventionally, for a product accompanied by supplies such as a copy machine or a printer, the demand figures relating to the supply which such a main machine consumes have been determined empirically from the transition of the past sales records of the supply, the trends of the market, and a sales scheduled figures of the main machine. Therefore, the forecasted values of the demand figures differ in accordance with the skills or experiences of individuals carrying out the forecasting, and necessarily, the accuracy of the forecasted values deteriorates. Further, a demand forecast method relating to the supplies of a product has not been realized due to the large number of parameters, the complexity of calculation, and the difficulty of a systematic approach for solving problems.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a supply demand forecasting device, method, and program, and in particular, to a supply demand forecasting device, method, and program for forecasting the demand of supplies which a main machine consumes before and after a product accompanying supplies (hereinafter, "main machine") is sold on the market.
2. Related Background Art
Conventionally, with respect to a product, such as a copy machine or a printer, accompanying supply (hereinafter, "main machine"), the demand figure relating to a supply which such a main machine consumes is determined empirically from changes in the past sales records of the supply, trends of the market, and sales schedule figures of the main machine.
In this way, because the forecast of the demand figure (hereinafter, "demand forecast") depends on rules learned by experience or know-how, the forecasted value of the demand figure differs in accordance with the skills and experience of an individual carrying out the forecast, and necessarily, the accuracy of the forecasted value deteriorates. In this way, a demand forecast method relating to supplies for a product has not been realized due to the large number of parameters, the complexity of calculation, and the difficulty of a systematic approach for solving problems.

Demand forecast device, method, and program product

Abstract: In order to overcome the above-described problems, the invention of the present application forecasts consumption figures of a supply for outputting an outputted matter in the future, on the basis of inputted output figures of an outputted matter outputted by a product and sales figures of the supply.


Telephone terminals directly implement an automatic call back feature by establishing a logical channel between two telephone terminals when a calling telephone terminal is unable to complete a call to a called telephone terminal. Via the logical link, the called telephone terminal communicates to the calling telephone terminal any change in state that is related to its ability to receive a call. When both telephone terminals are idle, the calling telephone terminal recalls the called telephone terminal to set up a call. The logical link is established on user-user temporary signaling or D channel facilities of ISDN links. Since the interconnecting networks are not part of providing the automatic call back service, the telephone terminals can be interconnected by any combination of telephone networks that provide ISDN service.

The automatic call back feature allows a calling party to actuate a button on the calling telephone terminal when a busy signal is received back from the called telephone terminal. When the called telephone terminal finishes the present call, a call is then set up between the calling telephone terminal and the called telephone terminal. In the prior art, the automatic call back feature has long been provided by customer telecommunications switching systems (often referred to as PBX). However this feature is very complex when provided by a network of customer telecommunication switching systems, since it requires each of the customer telecommunication switching systems to be specially programmed for this feature. Because of this complexity, this feature is not provided across the public telephone network. U.S. Pat. No. 5,012,466 discloses the provision of automatic call back services utilizing a network of telecommunication switching systems. Another such system is set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 4,899,374.
Another method for providing automatic call back is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 4,899,374. This discloses the use of a separate control system with a telephone to provide the automatic call back feature. If the user is unable to complete the call when originally dialed, the control system repeatedly tries at predefined intervals to complete the call. The problem with that method is that the control system is repeatedly placing calls thus tying up the telecommunication switching system and further the predefined interval has to be reasonably long to avoid the problem of tying up the telecommunication system. The called party may hang up from one telephone call and start a second telephone call before the control system redials to attempt to do the automatic call back.
The problem of providing automatic call back service becomes even more complex when trying to perform this service for multi-media calls. The method proposed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,899,374 would constantly be utilizing large amounts of bandwidth each time a call was attempted. When the control system attempts to place the call, it needs to request the necessary bandwidth to support a multi-media call. A similar problem exists in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,899,374 and 5,12,466. In addition, the facilities and bandwidth required for the call when it is finally completed by automatic call back may have changed from when the original call was made. Finally, if the call was made through a combination of private and public networks, providing the call back can be very difficult.
What is needed is the ability to be able to determine when both telephone terminals are idle so that the automatic call back service can be performed without tying up substantial networks facilities in performing the automatic call back service.

Automatic call back under control of a telephone terminal


A rollator having an auto brake system made of a rigid frame assembly, a pair of forward facing swivel wheels, a pair of rearward facing non-swivel wheels, a pair of support handles, a pair of momentary electrical switches, a seat member, a back-rest member and a pair of electro-mechanical brake assemblies. The electro-mechanical brake assemblies are mounted on the frame assembly just above each rearward facing non-swivel wheel. The momentary electrical switches are mounted on the support handles. The brake assembly is actively engaged when the momentary electrical switches are not pressed and unengaged when the momentary electrical switches are pressed by the user. A preferred embodiment includes a pair of LED lights mounted on the front end of each the support handle, the LED lights being aimable by the user.

Rollators are mobility assisting devices that people use who need support during normal walking activity. Rollators typically have four wheels—two non-swivel wheels in the rear and two swivel wheels in the front. A frame assembly supports the wheels and also includes support handles that the user holds onto while walking forward or backward.
Whereas, a walker type mobility device includes two forward facing wheels and two rearward facing friction pads to limit and control forward motion, a rollator mobility device typically employs four rolling wheels. A result of this design is if a user accidentally falls forward and does not have time to engage the bicycle type hand grip brakes, he or she will continue to fall forward thereby incurring possible serious injury. In fact, this type of fall is common enough that many senior living facilities ban the use of rollators altogether.
It would therefore be an advantage to incorporate an automatic braking system that engages the instant that a user loses control of the rollator.


The present disclosure relates to a controller apparatus for regenerating a particulate matter sensor. The controller apparatus includes a sensing module configured to detect a soot loading on a particulate matter sensor and generate a regeneration request indicating a desired regeneration temperature and a heating module configured to receive the regeneration request and send a heating command signal to a heating element based on the regeneration request. The controller apparatus also includes an electrical resistance module configured to detect an electrical resistance in the heating element, a calibration module configured to determine an actual temperature of the heating element based on a resistance-to-temperature model, and a temperature feedback module configured to modify the heating command signal according to the difference between the desired regeneration temperature and the actual temperature.

Various components and devices are employed in conventional exhaust gas aftertreatment systems to reduce the emission of harmful pollutants. One specific component that is often included in exhaust gas aftertreatment systems is a particulate matter filter. Particulate matter filters trap pollutants, such as unburned hydrocarbons, soot, and other particulates. As particulates accumulate on the filter, the flow path of exhaust gas through the filter becomes more restrictive, thus increasing the pressure drop across the filter and increasing backpressure on the engine. In order to determine when a particulate filter requires cleaning (also known as regeneration or reactivation), conventional engine systems often monitor the pressure drop across the particulate filter and initiate a regeneration procedure when the pressure reaches a certain level.
However, if a particulate filter in an exhaust stream has cracks or leaks, the pressure measurement will not accurately reflect the level of particulate loading on the filter. Further, as emissions standards become more stringent, pressure monitoring control systems are generally inadequate in accurately determining the level and degree of particulate accumulation on a filter. Conventional solutions to this problem include implementing a particulate matter sensor in the exhaust gas flow. Particulate matter sensors, used to measure soot and other particulate matter, typically consist of a non-conductive substrate, most often alumina, with a screen-print pattern of conductive material. The conductive material, which may be a precious metal in order to withstand the temperature of exhaust gas streams, functions as a sensing element to determine the level of particulate accumulation. In some instances the particulate matter sensor will also have a heating element to heat the soot sensor during a sensor regeneration procedure.
The sensing element (conductive material) of the particulate matter sensor generally has two electrodes with inter-digitized 'fingers' that maximize a perimeter between the two electrodes. When soot from the exhaust gas is deposited onto the sensor, the carbon component of the soot creates a high resistance short between the electrodes, which effectively lowers the resistance. The more soot that accumulates on the sensing element, the lower the resistance. Once a predetermined amount of soot is on the sensing element, it is often desirable to clean off the soot from the sensor. Accordingly, the heating element on the particulate matter sensor may be activated to oxidize the soot and regenerate the sensor. The temperature of the heating element is often an important factor in the sensor regeneration process. If the regeneration temperature is too low, then not enough soot will be removed from the sensor or the sensor regeneration procedure will take an excessive amount of time. If the temperature is too high, the various components of the sensor may be damaged due to the high temperatures. While conventional solutions involve implementing a temperature sensor to monitor the temperature of the heating element, the addition of temperature sensors adds cost and complexity to the aftertreatment system. Further, some temperature sensors fail to accurately account for how the fluctuating exhaust gas conditions affect the accuracy of the temperature detection.

Temperature compensation for particulate matter sensor regeneration