The semiconductor device comprises a lower interconnection part 12 which is formed on a silicon substrate 10 and includes an inter-layer insulation film 36 formed of a low-k film 32 and a hydrophilic insulation film 34 formed on the low-k film 32, and an interconnection layer 44a, 44b buried in interconnection trenches 38a, 38b formed in the inter-layer insulation film 36 and having an interconnection pitch which is a first pitch; and an intermediate interconnection part 14 which is formed on the lower interconnection part 12 and includes an inter-layer insulation film 142 formed of low-k films 136, 140, an interconnection layer 152a, 152b buried in interconnection trenches 146a, 146b formed in the inter-layer insulation film 142 and having an interconnection pitch which is a second pitch larger than the first pitch, and an SiC film 154 formed directly on the low-k film 140 and the interconnection layer 152a, 152b.

The present invention relates to a semiconductor device having a multilayer interconnection structure and a method for fabricating the semiconductor device, more specifically a semiconductor device having a multilayer interconnection structure using low dielectric constant (low-k) films as the inter-layer insulation films and a method for fabricating the semiconductor device.
The recent increasing micronization of semiconductor devices requires decrease of the interconnection resistance and interconnection capacitance of the semiconductor devices.
To meet such requirement, the main material of the interconnections is shifting from Al (aluminum) to Cu (copper) having lower relative resistance and better electromigration characteristics. Accompanying the shift of the major material of the interconnections to Cu, the process for forming the interconnections is shifting from the processing of depositing the interconnection materials and patterning them by lithography and dry etching as of RIE (Reactive Ion Etching) or others to the so-called damascene process (refer to, e.g., Japanese Patent Application Unexamined Publication No. 2001-298084). In the damascene process, trench patterns and hole patterns are formed in the interconnection insulation films, and the interconnection material is buried in the trenches and holes. The shift of the forming process to the damascene process accompanying the shift of the interconnection material to Cu is because Cu is difficult to process by RIE, while Al is not.
As the materials of the inter-layer insulation films for the insulation between the interconnections, SiO2, FSG (fluorinated silicate glass), etc. have been so far used.
As a countermeasure to the interconnection delay due to the recent micronization, decrease of the interconnection resistance and interconnection capacitance is required. However, it is difficult to further lower the resistance of the interconnections formed of Cu as the major material. It is being studied to use as the inter-layer insulation films low-k films whose dielectric constants are lower than silicon oxide film and silicon nitride film to thereby decrease the interconnection capacitance.
As semiconductor elements are increasingly micronized, a number of transistors to be mounted on a chip is on increase and is even 100M pieces. The interconnection layers interconnecting the transistors and supplying power sources are required to have various functions. That is, the source interconnections are required to be the interconnections of low resistance for making the voltage decreases small. The interconnections interconnecting short distances are required to be micronized interconnections for higher circuit densities. The interconnections interconnecting circuit blocks are required to have lower resistance than the micronized interconnections and have pitches whish are more micronized than the upper interconnection layers.
In the multilayer interconnection structure of semiconductor devices, in order to satisfy such various requirements of these interconnection layers, interconnection layer parts each formed of a plurality of layers and divided in functions, such as a lower layer interconnection which can define micronized pitches, an intermediate layer interconnection used as the interconnections among circuit blocks, and an upper layer interconnection used as source interconnections, clock interconnection, etc., are put together.
FIG. 17 is a sectional view of a semiconductor device having the conventional multilayer interconnection structure, which shows the structure thereof.
A device isolation film 302 for defining a device region is formed on a silicon substrate 300. A MOS transistor including a gate electrode 304 and source/drain diffused layers 306 is formed in the device region of the silicon substrate 300.
An inter-layer insulation film 310 with a contact plug 308 buried in is formed on the silicon substrate 300 with the MOS transistor formed on.
On the inter-layer insulation film 310 with the contact plug 308 buried in, an inter-layer insulation film 312 is formed of a silicon nitride film and one of a silicon oxide film or an FSG film laid on the silicon nitride film. In the region of the inter-layer insulation film 312, which includes the contact plug 308, an interconnection layer 314a of a barrier metal layer of a Ta (tantalum) film and a Cu (copper) film is buried, connected to the contact plug 308. An interconnection layer 314b of the barrier metal layer of the tantalum film and the Cu film is buried in the other region of the inter-layer insulation film 312.
On the inter-layer insulation film 312 with the interconnection layers 314a, 314b buried in, an inter-layer insulation film 316 is formed of a silicon nitride film and one of a silicon oxide film or an FSG film laid on the silicon nitride film. An inter-layer insulation film 318 is formed of a silicon nitride film and one of a silicon oxide film or an FSG film laid on the silicon nitride film. In the regions of the inter-layer insulation films 316, 318 on the interconnection layer 314a, an interconnection layer 320a of a barrier metal layer of a tantalum film, and a Cu film is buried, connected to the interconnection layer 314a with the via portion buried in the inter-layer insulation film 316 and with the interconnection portion buried in the inter-layer insulation film 318. In the region of the inter-layer insulation film 318 over the interconnection layer 314b, an interconnection layer 320b of a barrier metal layer of a tantalum film, and a Cu film is buried.
On the interconnection layer 318 with the interconnection layers 320a, 320b buried in, an inter-layer insulation film 322 is formed of a silicon nitride film and one of a silicon oxide film or an FSG film laid on the silicon nitride film. On the inter-layer insulation film 322, an inter-layer insulation film 324 is formed of a silicon nitride film and one of a silicon oxide film or an FSG film laid on the silicon nitride film. In the regions of the inter-layer insulation films 322, 324 on the interconnection layer 320a, an interconnection layer 326a of a barrier metal layer of a tantalum film, and a Cu film is buried, connected to the interconnection layer 320a with the via portion buried in the inter-layer insulation film 322 and with the interconnection portion buried in the inter-layer insulation film 324. In the region of the inter-layer insulation film 324 over the connection layer 320b, an interconnection layer 326b of a barrier metal layer of a tantalum film, and a Cu film is buried.
On the interconnection layer 324 with the interconnection layers 326a, 326b buried in, an inter-layer insulation film 328 is formed of a silicon nitride film and one of a silicon oxide film or an FSG film laid on the silicon nitride film. On the inter-layer insulation film 328, an inter-layer insulation film 330 is formed of a silicon nitride film and one of a silicon oxide film or an FSG film laid on the silicon nitride film. In the regions of the inter-layer insulation films 328, 330 on the interconnection layer 326a, an interconnection layer 332a of a barrier metal layer of a tantalum film, and a Cu film is buried, connected to the interconnection layer 326a with the via portion buried in the inter-layer insulation film 328 and with the interconnection portion buried in the inter-layer insulation film 330. In the region of the inter-layer insulation film 330 over the connection layer 326b, an interconnection layer 332b of a barrier metal layer of a tantalum film, and a Cu film is buried.
Thus, the lower interconnection part having the four-layer multilayer interconnection structure of the interconnection layers 314a, 314b, the interconnection layers 320a, 320b, the interconnection layers 326a, 326b and the interconnection layers 332a, 332b is formed on the silicon substrate 300.
On the interconnection layer 330 with the interconnection layers 332a, 332b buried in, an inter-layer insulation film 334 is formed of a silicon nitride film and one of a silicon oxide film or an FSG film laid on the silicon nitride film. On the inter-layer insulation film 334, an inter-layer insulation film 336 is formed of a silicon nitride film and one of a silicon oxide film or an FSG film laid on the silicon nitride film. In the regions of the inter-layer insulation films 334, 336 on the interconnection layer 332a, an interconnection layer 338a of a barrier metal layer of a tantalum film, and a Cu film is buried, connected to the interconnection layer 332a with the via portion buried in the inter-layer insulation film 334 and with the interconnection portion buried in the inter-layer insulation film 336. In the region of the inter-layer insulation film 336 over the connection layer 332b, an interconnection layer 338b of a barrier metal layer of a tantalum film, and a Cu film is buried.
On the interlayer insulation film 336 with the interconnection layers 338a, 338b buried in, an inter-layer insulation film 340 is formed of a silicon nitride film and one of a silicon oxide film or an FSG film laid on the silicon nitride film. On the inter-layer insulation film 340, an inter-layer insulation film 342 is formed of a silicon nitride film and one of a silicon oxide film or an FSG film laid on the silicon nitride film. In the regions of the inter-layer insulation films 340, 342 on the interconnection layer 338a, an interconnection layer 344a of a barrier metal layer of a tantalum film, and a Cu film is buried, connected to the interconnection layer 338a with the via portion buried in the inter-layer insulation film 340 and with the interconnection portion buried in the inter-layer insulation film 342. In the region of the inter-layer insulation film 342 over the connection layer 338b, an interconnection layer 344b of a barrier metal layer of a tantalum film, and a Cu film is buried.
Thus, the upper interconnection part having the two-layer multilayer interconnection structure of the interconnection layers 338a, 338b and the interconnection layers 344a, 344b having interconnection patterns of a larger pitch than the interconnection layers 314a, 314b, the interconnection layer 320a, 320b, the interconnection layer 326a, 326b and the interconnection layers 332a, 332b of the lower interconnection part is formed on the lower interconnection part.
On the inter-layer insulation film 342 with the interconnection layers 344a, 344b buried in, an inter-layer insulation film 346 is formed of a silicon oxide film laid on a silicon nitride film. Contact plugs 348 are buried in the inter-layer insulation film 346.
On the region of the inter-layer insulation film 346 containing the contact plugs 348, an electrode 350 is formed, connected to the interconnection layer 344a through the contact plugs 348.
On the inter-layer insulation film 346 with the electrode 350 formed on, a cover film 352 is formed of a silicon nitride film 352a formed on a silicon oxide film 352b. An opening 354 is formed in the cover film 352 down to the electrode 350.
In the case that the interconnection layers are divided in terms of functions as described above, the structures of the respective interconnection layers are changed in accordance with required characteristics.
For example, the lower layer interconnections are formed at small pitches, and to decrease the interconnection capacitance, film thicknesses of the interconnection layers are made small. In order to decrease the interconnection capacitance, materials of the inter-layer insulation films must be low-k materials.
On the other hand, the upper layer interconnections are formed at larger interconnection pitches so as to allow the interconnections to be formed in a thicker thickness. The interconnection capacitance does not critically matter in the upper interconnection layers, which permits silicon oxide film to be used as the inter-layer insulation films.
The intermediate layer interconnections are required to have characteristics which are middle between the lower layer interconnections and the upper layer interconnections described above. At this time, the intermediate layer interconnections, which interconnect the circuit blocks, have the interconnection length larger than the lower layer interconnections, and the resistance must be made low. Accordingly, the thickness of the interconnection is larger than the lower layer interconnections, and the pitch of the interconnections is larger. The interconnection capacitance increase due to the thick interconnections must be suppressed, and to this end, low-k materials must be used as the material of the inter-layer insulation films.
However, when low-k films are used as the inter-layer insulation films in place of silicon oxide film, etc. for the end of decreasing the interconnection capacitance in the lower layer interconnections and the intermediate layer interconnections, an inconvenience that defects easily take place in the interconnections, which lowers the yield, and others have happened.

Semiconductor device and method for fabricating the same


The invention is drawn to a method for purifying membrane-bound proteins expressed in recombinant insect cells using N-laurosarcosine. The invention is particularly suited for expressing cadherin-type receptors cloned from Ostrinia nubilalis, European Corn Borer, and expressed in Sf9 insect cells. The method is optionally adapted for use with 6-his tag proteins.

Membrane receptor proteins located in epithelial cells of insect midguts are target sites for the action of crystalline protein toxins (cry toxins) produced by Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt). Activated cry toxins bind to insect receptor proteins on insect midgut epithelial cells and cause toxicity and death to specific insect pests. The specific interactions between the receptor and toxin are key events in discerning the structure-activity relationships and modes of action of these cry toxins. Being able to measure such interactions is greatly facilitated by the recombinant over production and purification of these receptor proteins to produce sufficient quantities and to reduce the level of non-specific interactions from host impurities. Using purified, functional receptor proteins in biochemical studies allows the measurement of binding affinities and specificities of the receptors in interactions with a range of Bt toxins. However, the membrane receptor proteins are typically hydrophobic, and thus are not soluble in common buffers that are suitable for most protein extractions. A specific purification protocol is described here that maximizes the solubility of hydrophobic insect membrane-bound proteins while preserving their function as receptors to toxins.
There are many reports of purifying membrane-bound proteins from recombinant hosts using N-laurylsarcosine (N-Dodecyl-N-methylglycine). See, for example, references [1-4]. However, none describes the use of a 1.0% to 0.1% gradient which the inventors found to be surprisingly effective at maximizing the solubility and activity of some hydrophobic membrane-bound receptors found in insect intestinal cell that are produced in recombinant Spodoptera frugiperda (Fall Armyworm) Sf9 insect cells. This method maximally solubilizes membrane receptor proteins for high yield, promotes column binding, and blocks protease cleavage. The purified receptors through this method have high purity and have retained biochemical and biological activity.

Methods for purifying insect membrane-bound receptor proteins from recombinant production hosts


Device for driving a tool (4) positioned on a pivotable part (2). The device comprises a combustion engine (5) or the like which is arranged stationary, such that the extension of the motor drive shaft (6) is perpendicular to and crosses the pivot axis (22) of the pivotable parts (2). The motor drive shaft drives a transmission shaft (26) by means of a bevel gear transmission (15, 16, 17). The transmission shaft is supported by the pivotable part (2) in such a way that the extension of the axis (36) of the transmission shaft is also perpendicular to and crosses the pivot axis (22). The wheel (16) that is located between the wheel (15) which is directly driven by the motor drive shaft (6) and the wheel (17) on the transmission shaft (26) has been mounted on a wheel shaft (18), the axis (21) of which coincides with the pivot axis (22) of the pivotable part (2).

The invention relates to a device for driving a tool positioned on a pivotable part. The device comprises a combustion engine or the like and coupling means between this engine and the tool.
In one example, a pump is positioned on a ladder of a suction dredger. The ladder is pivotably mounted to the dredger vessel. The lower end of the ladder, where the pump is located, can be operated at great depths beneath the water surface. The pump serves for suction of material from beneath the water and for pumping it into the vessel or to another place.
The engine for driving the pump is typically arranged on the ladder. It is positioned at the upper end of the ladder in order to obtain, the greatest possible distance above the water surface as possible. A shaft for transmitting the power produced by the motor to the pump extends along the ladder between the motor and the pump.
Here, power transmission is effected in a direct and simple way. However operating the motor and supplying it fuel are laborious. Also, the ladder will be exposed to loads and vibrations exerted on it by the motor. The ladder will have to be designed with a view to this environment and thus be made heavier. Therefore, pivoting the ladder will require more power than optimal. It is also possible that with fierce beating of the waves, water can sweep over the motor.
Another disadvantage is that the motor experiences position changes on pivoting the ladder. Therefore, the lubrication of the motor can be endangered. This will in particular occur in larger engines, with a relatively high pump power.

Device for driving a tool positioned on a pivotable part


The invention relates to a device for determining the position of a first shaft (10) and of a second shaft (12) that is joined to the first shaft by means of a coupling (14), with respect to each other, having a first measurement unit being placed on a circumferential surface of the first shaft and a second measurement unit being placed on a circumferential surface of the second shaft, wherein at least one of the two measurement units has means (20) for producing at least one light beam bundle (22) and at least one of the two measurement units has detection means (24, 25, 26) in order to detect the impingement position of the light beam bundle on at least one detection area (24, 25, 26).

The invention relates to a device and a method for determining the position of a first shaft and of a second shaft that is joined to the first shaft by means of a coupling, with respect to each other, having a first measurement unit being placed on a circumferential surface of the first shaft and a second measurement unit being placed on a circumferential surface of the second shaft. At least one of the two measurement units has means for producing at least one light beam bundle, and at least one of the two measurement units has detection means for detecting data relating to the impingement position of the light beam bundle on at least one detection area. Furthermore, at least one of the two measurement units is provided with at least one sensor for detecting the angle of rotation of the shaft. The parallel offset as well as the horizontal or vertical angular offset of the two shafts can be determined from the impingement positions of the light beam bundle determined in a plurality of measured positions, that is, in a plurality of angle-of-rotation positions, this being performed typically by curve fitting.
An overview of such shaft alignment measurement devices may be found in U.S. Pat. No. 6,434,849 B1, for example, with a data analysis by means of curve fitting to an ellipse also being described.
Described in DE 33 20 163 A1 and DE 39 11 307 A1 are shaft alignment measurement devices in which the first measurement unit emits a light beam, which is reflected back by a mirror prism of the second measurement unit onto a biaxial optical detector of the first measurement unit.
Known from DE 38 14 466 A1 is a shaft alignment measurement device in which the first measurement unit emits a light beam, which impinges on two biaxial optical detectors of the second measurement unit that are arranged in optical succession in the axial direction.
Described in DE 33 35 336 A1 is a shaft alignment measurement device in which both the first and the second measurement unit each emit a light beam and have a biaxial optical detector, with the light beam being directed in each case onto the detector of the other measurement unit. A shaft alignment measurement device operating according to this principle is also described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,873,931 B1, whereby the two measurement units are each provided with two biaxial acceleration sensors for automatically detecting the angle of rotation of the shaft.
Described in EP 2 093 537 A1 is a measurement device in which the first measurement unit emits a fanned light beam, which impinges on two optical strip detectors of the second measurement unit, these detectors being arranged with a lateral spacing parallel to each other, with the longitudinal direction of the detectors being arranged perpendicular to the fan plane of the light beam; not only the determination of the alignment of the shafts with respect to each other but also the determination of the coupling play is described.
Known from WO 2010/042309 A1 is a shaft alignment measurement device in which each of the two measurement units is provided with a camera arranged in a housing, with the side of the housing facing the other unit being provided with an optical pattern that is recorded by the opposite-lying camera. Here, the side of the housing provided with the pattern is provided with an aperture in each case, through which the opposite-lying pattern is imaged. In an alternative embodiment, one of the two units is provided only with a camera, but not with a pattern, whereas the other unit has no camera, but is provided with a three-dimensional pattern.
Described in EP 1 211 480 A2 is a shaft alignment measurement device in which the first measurement unit is provided with a light source, which directs a light beam onto the second measurement unit provided with a matte screen; the side of the matte screen facing away from the first measurement unit is imaged on an image detector, likewise constituting a part of the second measurement unit, by means of appropriate optics.
Described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,981,333 B2 is how vibrations that occur during measurement are determined by means of gyroscopic sensors when the alignment of shafts is measured, so as to prevent insofar as possible any erroneous readings of the alignment measurement owing to such vibrations.
Described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,980,094 is a shaft alignment measurement method in which, as in DE 33 35 336 A1, the two measurement units direct a light beam onto a biaxial optical detector of the other respective measurement unit, with the radial component of the point of impingement of the light beam being plotted versus the angle of rotation for analysis of the data for each of the two detectors and a sine curve being fitted to the measurement data in each case. In this case, a confidence factor, based on the number of measured points and the angular distribution of the measured points, is determined for the set of data that is being determined and analyzed. It is further proposed in this case to eliminate suspicious data points from the determined set of data either manually or automatically, with a new curve fitting then being performed on the basis of the set of data that has been reduced in this manner and with it being checked whether the confidence factor has increased owing to the reduction in the set of data. However, it is not mentioned how the suspicious data points can be identified, apart from the confidence factor being increased through elimination of these suspicious data points. A similar alignment method is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,263,261.

Device and method for determining the position of two coupled shafts with respect to each other


Systems and methods are disclosed for providing transportation or delivery services using a fleet of mixed vehicles. A computer-implemented method of providing services using a fleet of mixed vehicles includes receiving at a server a request for a service, determining parameters for the service, selecting by the server a vehicle from a fleet of mixed vehicles to perform at least a portion of the service based on the determined parameters, and transmitting a message to the selected vehicle to perform the at least a portion of the service. The fleet of mixed vehicles includes at least two of: a semi-autonomous vehicle, a fully-autonomous vehicle, a vehicle remotely operated by a human, or a human driven vehicle.

The field of fully-autonomous and/or semi-autonomous robots is a growing field of innovation. Robots are being used for many purposes including warehouse inventory operations, household vacuuming robots, hospital delivery robots, sanitation robots, and military or defense applications.
In the consumer space, handling and delivery of items by autonomous vehicles could improve society in many ways. For example, rather than spending time driving to/from a store, wandering through the store to locate desired items, and waiting on lines to pay for the items, a customer can instead engage in productive work, entertainment, and/or rest while waiting for an autonomous vehicle to deliver the items to them. Accordingly, there is continuing interest in developing technologies for handling and delivering items or for transporting passengers by autonomous robot vehicles.

Systems and methods for a mixed fleet transportation service


Analyzing patterns in a volume of data and taking an action based on the analysis involves receiving data and training the data to create training examples, and then selecting features that are predictive of different classes of patterns in the data stream, using the training examples. The process further involves training in parallel a set of artificial neural networks (“ANNs”), using the data, based on the selected features, and extracting only active nodes that are representative of a class of patterns in the data stream from the set of ANNs. The process continues with adding class labels to each extracted active node, classifying patterns in the data based on the class-labeled active nodes, and taking an action based on the classifying patterns in the data.

With the advent of high-dimensional stored big data and streaming data, what is needed is machine learning on a very large scale. It would be advantageous for such machine learning to be extremely fast, scale up easily with volume and dimension, be able to learn from streaming data, automatically perform dimension reduction for high-dimensional data, and be deployable on massively parallel hardware. Artificial neural networks (ANNs) are well positioned to address these challenges of large scale machine learning.

Method and apparatus for large scale machine learning

Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of Arizona State University


A projection type liquid crystal display apparatus includes at least three transmission type liquid crystal display panels and a four-division dichroic prism. The three liquid crystal display panels are driven by image signals of three primary colors respectively and the three liquid crystal display panels are illuminated by three primary color lights respectively so as to obtain transmission image lights having three channels whose luminances are modulated. The dichroic prism is used so as to synthesize the transmission image lights and the synthesized image light is projected via a projecting lens. One channel of the transmission image lights passes through the dichroic prism, and the other two channels are reflected by the dichroic prism, so that the transmission image lights are synthesized, and a polarization axis of the transmission image light of one channel passing through the dichroic prism is set to a first axis, the polarization axes of the transmission image lights of the other two channels reflected by the dichroic prism are set to a second axis, and the first and second polarization axes are made perpendicular to each other.

The present invention relates to a projection type liquid crystal display apparatus which uses three transmission type liquid crystal display panels as, for example, a light valve.
Heretofore, for example, such a projection type liquid crystal display apparatus has been proposed wherein three transmission type liquid crystal display panels are used as the light valve. The transmission type liquid crystal display panels are illuminated by three primary color illuminating lights and transmission light images of three channels whose luminance is modulated by a liquid crystal display panel are re-combined by using a four-division dichroic prism so as to be projected by a projecting lens.
FIG. 1 shows an example of such an optical system. Referring to FIG. 1, a red modulating transmission type liquid crystal display panel 51R, a blue modulating liquid crystal display panel 51B and a green modulating liquid crystal display panel 51G are disposed. Image signals of three primary colors, that is, a red (R), a blue (B) and a green (G) are supplied to the liquid crystal display panels 51R, 51B, 51G, respectively.
Furthermore, polarizing plates 52R, 52B, 52G, each having a vertical polarization axis, are located at the outgoing sides of the liquid crystal display panels 51R, 51B, 51G, respectively, so that each outgoing light may be a vertical polarized light. The reason why the outgoing light from each liquid crystal display panel is a vertical axis is that the polarization axis of a light beam comprising the vertical axis makes the shielding character of the dichroic prism better.
For example, after the luminance of a red illuminating light 53R is modulated by the red modulating liquid crystal display panel 51R, a vertical polarized red outgoing light which passes through the polarizing plate 52R is incident on a four-division dichroic prism 54 comprising bonded glass blocks 54a, 54b, 54c and 54d. A red band alone of the incident light is selectively reflected by red light reflecting surfaces 55a, 55b formed on the glass blocks 54a, 54b, and then projected by a projecting lens 56.
Furthermore, after the luminance of a blue illuminating light 53B is modulated by the blue modulating liquid crystal display panel 51B, a vertical polarized blue outgoing light which passes through the polarizing plate 52B is incident on the four-division dichroic prism 54. A blue band alone of the incident light is selectively reflected by blue light reflecting surfaces 55c, 55d formed on the glass blocks 54c, 54d, and hence projected by the projecting lens 56.
Furthermore, after the luminance of a green illuminating light 53G is modulated by the green modulating liquid crystal display panel 51G, a vertical polarized green outgoing light which passes through the polarizing plate 52G is incident on the four-division dichroic prism 54. The incident light passes through the red light reflecting surfaces 55a, 55b, whereby a long wave length component thereof is attenuated. The incident light passes through the blue light reflecting surfaces 55c, 55d, whereby a short wave length component thereof is attenuated. As a result, the green band alone is selectively penetrated.
Thus, red, blue and green transmission image lights are composed of one another, and then the composed light is projected and displayed by the projecting lens 56. The reason that the shielding characteristic of the reflecting surface of the dichroic prism 54 is constructed to have the green band as a transmission channel is that a whole transmittance of the dichroic prism can be increased. An arrangement of the channel will be described below.
By the way, according to the projection type liquid crystal display apparatus shown in FIG. 1, the transmission characteristic of a blue light passing through the red light reflecting surfaces 55a, 55b of the dichroic prism 54 is shown by, for example, a curved line 61 in FIG. 2. Furthermore, the transmission characteristic of a red light passing through the blue light reflecting surfaces 55c, 55d is shown by a curved line 62 in FIG. 2.
When the green illuminating light having the band shown by a curved line 63 in FIG. 2 is incident on the dichroic prism 54, as shown in a hatched portion 64 in FIG. 2, among the long wave length components of the green illuminating light 63, some light components are reflected by the red light reflecting surfaces 55a, 55b having the transmission characteristic shown by the curved line 61.
The reflected lights become a leaked light from a green channel to a blue channel, and the leaked light illuminates a transistor element formed at the outgoing side of the blue modulating liquid crystal display panel 51B. Thus, a current leakage of the transistor or the like occurs, whereby a deterioration of an image quality such as a contrast or the like is caused.
Similarly, as shown by a hatched portion 65 in FIG. 2, among the short wave length components of the green illuminating light 63, the leaked light component reflected by the blue light reflecting surfaces 55c, 55d having the transmission characteristic shown by the curved line 62 illuminates the transistor at the outgoing side of the red modulating liquid crystal display panel 51R. Accordingly, the deterioration of the image quality such as the contrast or the like is caused.
On one hand, in order that the leaked light component at the long and short wave length sides of the green illuminating light may not illuminate the outgoing side of the blue and red modulating liquid crystal display panels, the following systems are proposed. That is, as shown in FIG. 3, a blue transmission filter 57B is disposed at the back of the polarizing plate 52B at the outgoing side of the blue modulating liquid crystal display panel 51B, or a red transmission filter 57R is disposed at the back of the polarizing plate 52R at the outgoing side of the red modulating liquid crystal display panel 51R. However, in any system, since the light transmittance is reduced, an amount of projected light is reduced.
Furthermore, in order that the leaked light component of the green illuminating light may not illuminate the outgoing side of the liquid crystal display panels for two other channels, the band of the green illuminating light is considerably reduced so that the leaked light component may not be generated. However, since the amount of green component light is reduced, the amount of projected light is reduced.
Furthermore, according to the above apparatus, the red light reflecting surfaces 55a, 55b are formed on different glass blocks 54a, 54b, and also the blue light reflecting surfaces 55c, 55d are formed on different glass blocks 54c, 54d. Accordingly, due to the difference between the characteristics of the reflecting surfaces, a tint of the green transmission light at the right side of a projecting screen is different from that at the left side, resulting in the deterioration of the image quality such as a color uniformity or the like.

Projection type liquid crystal display apparatus with green polarization different than red and blue polarizations


A stability control agent composition for foamable polyolefin compositions comprising at least one compound that is a partial ester of fatty acid with polyol, and at least one compound selected from the group consisting of higher alkyl amines, fatty acid amides and/or complete esters of higher fatty acids.

It is well known how to prepare olefin polymer foams by heat plastifying a normally solid olefin polymer resin, admixing such heat plastified resin with a volatile blowing agent under heat and pressure to form a flowable gel and, thereafter, extruding the gel into a zone of lower pressure and temperature to activate the blowing agent and expand and cool the gel to form the desired solid olefin foam product.
A problem frequently encountered is shrinkage or expansion of such foam products in fresh or partially cured form (i.e. prior to aging to permit substantially complete release and/or outgassing of the blowing agent from within the cellular structure of the foam). During the aging or curing period, the blowing agent employed gradually diffuses out of the cells in the foam product and air gradually diffuses into the cells in place thereof. There was a time when it was believed that only a halogenated hydrocarbon blowing agent, namely dichlorotetrafluoroethane, was capable of providing sufficient dimensional stability during the curing period to permit the commercially viable manufacture of low density foams of ethylenic polymer resins. That is, only dichlorotetrafluoroethane was believed to diffuse out of the foam cells slowly enough to prevent cell wall collapse while air was slowly diffusing into the cells when the foam was processed without a permeability modifier or stability control agent.
Heretofore permeability modifiers or stability control agents were developed for incorporation into the polyolefin in an attempt to slow the diffusion of blowing agents out of polyolefin foam cells and thereby minimize shrinkage of the foam cells. For purposes of this application, the terms "permeability modifier" and "stability control agent" will be used interchangeably.
As discussed in the following patents, there are several different types of stability control agents used for minimizing cell shrinkage or cell collapse in foam.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,644,230 discusses a method for preventing post extrusion cell collapse in polyolefin foams by the incorporation of a small amount of partial esters of a long chain fatty acids with polyols.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,755,208 discusses a method for preventing post extrusion cell collapse in vinyl copolymer foams by the incorporation of a small amount of partial esters of long chain fatty acids with polyols.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,214,054, discusses the production of polyolefin foams utilizing volatile hydrocarbon blowing agents. Permeability modifiers such as saturated higher fatty acid amides, saturated higher aliphatic amines, and complete esters of saturated higher fatty acids are incorporated into the polyolefin composition prior to foam expansion.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,217,319 discusses the use of a volatile organic as a blowing agent to expand a polyolefin with an ester of a long chain fatty acid and a polyhydric alcohol as a permeation modifier or stability control agent to prevent shrinkage of the expanded polyolefin.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,331,779, discusses ethylenic polymer foams having a copolymer of ethylene with an unsaturated carboxylic acid as a stability control agent.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,347,329, discusses the use of a fatty acid amide such as stearamide for use in polyolefin foams as a stability control agent. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,368,276 & 4,395,510 further discusses the use of fatty acid amide stability modifier agents to produce polyolefin foams having improved elevated temperature dimensional stability.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,640,933; 4,633,361; 4,694,027 discuss the use of a fatty acid amide such as stearamide as a stability control agent for use in polyolefin foams blown with blowing agents selected from the group consisting of (i) isobutane, (ii) a mixture of from 5%-95% isobutane on a molar basis with from 95%-5% of a physical selected from the group consisting of chlorofluorocarbons and fluorocarbons and (iii) a mixture of at least 70% isobutane with other hydrocarbons, chlorocarbons and chlorofluorocarbons.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,424,016 discusses the use of permeability modifiers, such as fatty acid amides and esters, in a quantity sufficient to prevent substantial shrinkage of the foam structure.
The use of such permeability modifiers permit the use of a wider variety of volatile blowing agents. In most cases, the more inexpensive blowing agents, such as isobutane, can only produce viable foams when employed in conjunction with stability control agents.
Although the stability control agents discussed in these patents may be helpful in minimizing the shrinkage of the polyolefin foams blown with volatile organics, neither the foam systems nor the stability control agents heretofore address the problem of post-cooling expansion. For the purposes of this application, the term "post-cooling expansion" will refer to expansion of the foam, in atmospheric conditions, after the foam has cooled. While not wanting to be held to any particular theory, it has been said that post-cooling expansion results from the residual blowing agent releasing from the polymer structure defining the cells into the open area of the cell at a rate faster than it is able to diffuse from the cell.
The post-cooling expansion contributes to a multitude of problems. The post foaming processing of the foam is effected by the change in dimensions and stress resulting from this post-cooling expansion. In particular, whether the foam is extruded into planks, sheets or some other forms, a dimensional change in the foam results in inconsistency and unpredictability in articles formed therefrom. This effect is particularly acute in laminated forms where the post-cooling dimensional change in the foam may provide a cumulative change.
When the foam is wound as sheet on a roll, the layers of foam on the outer portion of the roll tend to expand in turn compressing the inner layers so that a significant amount of the foam is less than its extruded thickness. As an example, a sheet extruded at a 0.250" thickness and wound as a roll may grow to a thickness of about 0.300" in the outer layers, while the inner layers will be compressed to a thickness of about 0.200". Depending on the particulars of the foam type, there may be as much as 50 to 60% of the roll compressed to a thickness below the cooled extruded foam thickness. This variation in thickness and stress in the rolled foam adversely effects the processing of sheets cut from the roll. Specifically, after the foam is freed from the roll and cut, it may tend to grow, shrink and/or relax resulting in changes in thickness, width and/or length of the cut sheet.
Accordingly, the need still exists in the art for relatively low density polyolefin foams that exhibit a high degree of post-cooling dimensional stability with minimal shrinkage and expansion. This, and other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description and the appended claims.

Stability control agent composition for polyolefin foam


An exhaust gas purifying catalyst has a catalytic component including copper, ZSM-5, and β zeolite. This exhaust gas purifying catalyst reduces nitrogen oxides even from low temperature range and exhibits durability even under a thermal load of high temperature.

Generally a catalyst for purifying exhaust gases from an internal combustion engine comprises a catalyst in which noble metal components, such as Pt, Pd, and Rh, are deposited on an activated alumina. This catalyst is capable of simultaneously removing hydrocarbon (HC), carbon monoxide (CO) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) and, therefore, has been designated as "three way catalyst".
This catalyst serves effectively under conditions nearby the theoretical air fuel ratio (A/F), but, has a problem that NOx removal is not sufficient under lean conditions such as an oxygen-rich exhaust gas from a diesel engine.
An attempt for removing NOx under such lean conditions has been proposed which adds a reducing agent, such as ammonia, into the exhaust gases. The use of this process in an automobile, namely a mobile source of noxious exhaust gas, however, has been of no practical use.
Alternatively, a NOx decomposition catalyst has been proposed in which copper is ion-exchanged with zeolite to form a Cu-deposited zeolite catalyst (JP-A-60-125250). This catalyst, however, has a problem that the NOx conversion thereof is low after a high temperature durability test for example at 600° C.
Then, for solving the durability problem a catalyst having copper deposited on β type zeolite has been proposed (JP-A-5-220403). This catalyst, however, has problems that the NOx purification thereof is low at high temperatures (more than 450° C.) and a temperature window range thereof during purification become narrow.

Exhaust gas purifying catalyst and process for purification of exhaust gas


Systems and methods for segmenting an image using a convolutional neural network are described herein. A convolutional neural network (CNN) comprises an encoder-decoder architecture, and may comprise one or more Long Short Term Memory (LSTM) layers between the encoder and decoder layers. The LSTM layers provide temporal information in addition to the spatial information of the encoder-decoder layers. A subset of a sequence of images is input into the encoder layer of the CNN and a corresponding sequence of segmented images is output from the decoder layer. In some embodiments, the one or more LSTM layers may be combined in such a way that the CNN is predictive, providing predicted output of segmented images. Though the CNN provides multiple outputs, the CNN may be trained from single images or by generation of noisy ground truth datasets. Segmenting may be performed for object segmentation or free space segmentation.

Image segmentation is often used as a method for partitioning an image into different segments, or super-pixels, to provide a more meaningful representation of the image. As one example, an image may be segmented so as to uniquely identify objects within the image.
Image segmentation can be used in a number of different applications. Considering an image of a scene in an environment, a segmented image associated with the scene may contain a representation of every object located in the environment. The presence and/or locations of the objects contained in the segmented image may, in turn, be used for obstacle avoidance, object detection and tracking, or the like in systems using some aspects of machine vision.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Spatial and temporal information for semantic segmentation


A new and distinct cultivar of Astilbe plant named ‘Lucy’, characterized by its compact, broadly upright and mounding plant habit; vigorous growth habit; dark green-colored leaves; freely and uniformly flowering habit; purplish red-colored flowers arranged in compact inflorescences and borne on red-colored, upright and strong peduncles; and good container and garden performance.

The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Astilbe, botanically known as Astilbe arendsii and hereinafter referred to by the name 'Lucy'.
The new Astilbe plant is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventor in Nieuwe Wetering, The Netherlands. The objective of the breeding program was to create new uniform and freely flowering Astilbe plants with attractive leaf and flower coloration.
The new Astilbe plant originated from an open-pollination in 2014 in Nieuwe Wetering, The Netherlands, of an unnamed proprietary selection of Astilbe arendsii, not patented, as the female, or seed, parent with an unknown Astilbe arendsii seedling selection as the male, or pollen, parent. The new Astilbe plant was discovered and selected by the Inventor as a single flowering plant from within the progeny of the stated open-pollination in a controlled greenhouse environment in Nieuwe Wetering, The Netherlands during the summer of 2015.
Asexual reproduction of the new Astilbe plant by vegetative divisions in a controlled nursery environment in Nieuwe Wetering, The Netherlands since December, 2015, has shown that the unique features of this new Astilbe plant are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.


It is disclosed a sensor system (10, 58) and a method therefore for providing quality data to a network node. The sensor system comprises two or more populations (12a, 12b, 56a, 56b) of sensors, each population having a plurality (11i, 11j, 52a, 52i, 200) of single-purpose slave sensors distributed over a geographical area and at least one master sensor (14a, 14b, 54). Based on the data quality received (302) from each single-purpose slave sensor, a master sensor may perform discretionary management (320, 322) and terminate (322) single-purpose slave sensor not meeting data quality standards. The sensor system provides a possibility to deploy master sensors and single-purpose slave sensor networks in remote or inaccessible areas without large network planning expenditures, for example by “carpet-bombing” an area with slave sensors and master sensors from the air.

Current techniques for sensor-based measurement and monitoring systems have large operational costs. These require end-less support maintaining the system, in the form of, for example, sensor repair, replacement, and de-activation. In these sensor-based networks, individual sensors are regarded as vital parts of each network.
Operational costs grow to unsustainable levels when sensor systems, in which individual sensors are regarded as vital parts, are scaled to thousands of sensors. Tracking faults to individual sensors accentuates the problem and drives up maintenance costs.
There is a need for a sensor system capable of providing high quality data and where each sensor is not regarded as a vital part of the sensor system.

Sensor system of master and slave sensors, and method therein


Disclosed herein is an electrical-charging/discharging control apparatus composing an electric-power accumulation facility in conjunction with an electric-power accumulation battery and including: a communication section configured to receive a command to carry out either of electrical charging and discharging operations on the electric-power accumulation battery from an electric-power management apparatus for managing the electrical charging and discharging operations carried out on the electric-power accumulation battery; a control section configured to control the electrical charging and discharging operations carried out on the electric-power accumulation battery on the basis of the command; and a power conditioner for supplying electric power from an electric-power network to the electric-power accumulation battery and transferring electric power accumulated in the electric-power accumulation battery to the electric-power network in accordance with control carried out by the control section.

The present disclosure relates to an electrical charging/discharging control apparatus, an electric-power management apparatus, an electric-power management method and an electric-power management system. To put it in detail, the present disclosure relates to an electrical charging/discharging control apparatus installed in a facility for accumulating electric power, an electric-power management apparatus, an electric-power management method adopted by the electric-power management apparatus as well as an electric-power management system employing the electrical charging/discharging control apparatus and the electric-power management apparatus.
At the present day, introduction of electric-power accumulation facilities in business enterprises and ordinary homes is making progress. The electric-power accumulation facility has an electric-power accumulation battery subjected to electrical charging operations and electrical discharging operations. The electric-power accumulation battery is capable of accumulating electric power generated by a natural-energy generator or electric power purchased from an electric-power company.
Electric power accumulated in an electric-power accumulation facility includes electric power to be consumed by the owner of the electric-power accumulation facility and extra electric power which is purchased by an electric-power company at the present day. In the future where the electric-power accumulation facility will probably become more popular, however, with progress of liberation of electric power, electric power will conceivably be sold and purchased in an electric-power transaction market and the number of facility owners participating in transactions of electric power as owners of electric-power accumulation facilities will also conceivably increase as well. If it is quite within the bounds of possibility that, by participating in the electric-power transaction market, an owner of an electric-power accumulation facility is capable of gaining a profit, the number of persons each making an attempt to introduce an electric-power accumulation facility for itself and participate in the electric-power transaction market will conceivably increase.
Thus, there has been proposed an electric-power accumulation system in which changes of the price of electric power are predicted in accordance with an algorithm. Then, if the present price of electric power is low, electric power is purchased from an electric-power transaction market and accumulated in an electric-power accumulation facility. If the present price of electric power is high, on the other hand, electric power accumulated in an electric-power accumulation facility is sold to the electric-power transaction market. In this way, a profit can be gained. For more information on the proposed electric-power accumulation system, the reader is advised to refer to Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 2002-233053 (hereinafter referred to as Patent Document 1).

Electrical charging/discharging control apparatus, electric-power management apparatus, electric-power management method and electric-power management system


A seal assembly for dividing an annular space defined between an inner and an outer pipe in a double-walled pipeline. The seal assembly comprises an annular member fitted within the annular space and at least one longitudinal conveyor passing through the annular member, wherein the longitudinal conveyor communicates with the annular space on either side of the seal assembly. The longitudinal conveyor may comprise for example an electrical conductor or an optical fiber.

Pipelines carrying heavy or crude oil need to be thermally insulated as heavy oil tends to solidify during transport from a subsea production well to the surface due to heat losses in the submerged pipeline. Thermal insulation is also required to avoid the formation of hydrates which can occur for certain crude oil compositions when the crude oil cools down, for example, when there is a breakdown in production flow rate.
Production lines which require a high level of thermal insulation typically use a double-walled pipe structure, for example a pipe-in-pipe system. A pipe-in-pipe system comprises an internal pipe within an external pipe separated by an annulus volume. In such a structure, the annular space can be filled with thermal insulation material. This structure has the advantage that the external pipe keeps the annular space dry and so, for example, in subsea pipelines, the thermal insulation material is protected from water. A further advantage of this structure is that the pressure in the annulus can be different from that outside the external pipe and that inside the internal pipe. This is important if the insulating material has a particular pressure requirement or if a vacuum or partial vacuum is to be used for insulating purposes. For example, the annulus can be at atmospheric pressure while the hydrostatic pressure experienced by the external (or carrier) pipe and the internal pressure of the fluid in the internal pipe (flowline) are different. Furthermore it is interesting to lower the pressure in the annulus in order to increase the thermal insulation performance.
One of the problems associated with such pipelines is that of safeguarding the annular space against the ingress of water, for example due to leaks in the external or carrier pipe. Water in the annular space will conduct heat from the inner flowline to the carrier pipe thus destroying the effectiveness of the insulation. This problem has been approached in prior art pipe-in-pipe systems by compartmentalising the annular space by means of permanent seals (GB 2 317 934, U.S. Pat. No. 2,930,407, WO 00/09926).
Such prior art seals or waterstops are useful for compartmentalisation of the annulus in the longitudinal direction so that it can remain partially dry in case of a leak in the carrier pipe. However, such an arrangement has a major drawback when it is desired to combine passive thermal insulation with an active heating system which may require the use of electrical cabling or hoses with heat transfer fluid. Waterstops create discontinuities and block passage of any equipment running along the length of the production line, such as that which may be required for an active heating system.

Seal assembly for dividing an annular space in a double-walled pipeline


A method and apparatus for decoding two-level scanned transform coefficients corresponding to a transform unit (TU) are disclosed. The TU is divided into sub-blocks and the transform coefficients of the TU are scanned across the sub-blocks according to a first scan pattern, and each sub-block is scanned according to a second scan pattern. In one embodiment, the sub-blocks of the transform coefficients received from the variable length decoding are stored in an inverse scan buffer (or TC buffer) and the transform coefficients are retrieved from the inverse scan buffer row-by-row or column-by-column in a selected direction after a corresponding row or column of the transform coefficients is fully received. In a system incorporating an embodiment of the present invention, at least a leading row or a leading column of the transform coefficients is available in the selected direction before a last sub-block of the transform coefficients arrives.

HEVC (High Efficiency Video Coding) is an advanced video coding system being developed under the Joint Collaborative Team on Video Coding (JCT-VC) Group of TU-T Study Group. In HEVC, the core of its coding layer is a coding tree block (CTB) or largest coding unit (LCU). The size of CTB or LCU can be 64×64, 32×32 or 16×16 for the Luma component. Each CTB or LCU can be divided into coding unit(s) (CU) using quad-tree partition. Each CU can be further split into one or more prediction units (PUs) for performing prediction. After the prediction process is performed on each CU, the prediction residues are coded using block-based transforms. A transform unit (TU) has its root at the CU level, where the TU size can be of 32×32, 16×16, 8×8, or 4×4. A TU can be divided into multiple 4×4 sub-blocks for TU size larger than 4×4. Quantization and entropy coding are applied to the TU to generate compressed data corresponding to the residues.
FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary block diagram for decoding process of a CU. The compressed data is decoded by entropy decoder 110, such as a variable length decoder (VLD) to recover the coded transform coefficients. The quantized transform coefficients are stored in a transform coefficient buffer (TC buffer) 120 for performing inverse scan (IS) 130. IS can be implemented by "rearrange 1" 140, "rearrange 2" 150, or both. The inverse scan is required due to the processing order of the transform coefficients at the encoder side. After IS, transform coefficients are processed by inverse quantization (IQ) 160 and inverse transform (IT) 170 to generate the reconstructed residues. The reconstructed residues are then used by motion compensation (MC) 180 to generate a reconstructed CU. While FIG. 1 illustrates one exemplary configuration of decoding process, other system configuration may also be used. For example, instead of having IS between entropy decoding and IQ as shown in FIG. 1, IS can be located between IQ and IT.
In HEVC, the transform coefficients are scanned in a two-level fashion. Each TU is divided into sub-blocks. For the first level, the scanning is performed over the sub-blocks of a TU. For convenience, the first level scan is also referred to as level-1 scan or inter sub-block scan. The second scan is applied to transform coefficients within each sub-block. For convenience, the second level scan is also referred to as level-2 scan or intra sub-block scan. The scan orders (also called scanning patterns in this disclosure) in level 1 and level 2 depend on the TU size and the prediction mode.
FIG. 2A and FIG. 2B illustrate exemplary scan orders adopted by HEVC for a 32×32 TU. The 32××32 TU is divided into 4×4 sub-blocks. The level-1 scan order (i.e., inter sub-block scan order) is shown in FIG. 2A and the level-2 scan order (i.e., intra sub-block scan order) is shown in FIG. 2B. As shown in FIG. 2A, the level-1 scan runs through the 64 sub-blocks in the 225-degree diagonal direction starting from the sub-block at the lower-right corner and ending at the sub-block at the upper-left corner (i.e., from rear to front of the TU, or sub-blocks 1→2→3→4→ . . . →64). During the level-1 scan, if the 4×4 sub-block contains at least one nonzero transform coefficient, further information for this 4×4 sub-block will be transmitted to convey the nonzero transform coefficient(s) in the level-2 scan as shown in FIG. 2B. The level-2 scan (i.e., the intra sub-block scan) runs through the 16 transform coefficients of the 4×4 sub-block in the 225-degree diagonal direction starting from the transform coefficient at the lower-right corner and ending at the transform coefficient at the upper-left corner (i.e., from rear to front of the sub-block, or transform coefficients 1→2→3→4→ . . . →16). On the other hand, during the level-1 scan, if the 4×4 sub-block does not contain any nonzero transform coefficient, no further information needs to be transmitted for the 4×4 sub-block. For a 16×16 TU, the level-1 scan order has the same scanning pattern as the 32×32 TU.
After two-level scanning is applied to transform coefficients of a TU, the scanned transform coefficients are coded by entropy coding, such as variable length coding. At the decoder side, entropy decoding such as variable length decoding (VLD) is used to recover the scanned transform coefficients. The scan order of the transform coefficients for the TU is the same as that shown in FIG. 2A and FIG. 2B. While the transform coefficients of a TU are scanned using two-level scanning, the IS output provided to the input to IQ/IT is according to a column by column order in a reference HEVC decoder. FIG. 3 illustrates the IS output order for a 32×32 TU, where the left-most column (i.e., column 0) is outputted first and right-most column (i.e., column 31) is outputted last. In other words, the transform coefficients from IS to IQ/IT are in the column scan order from front to rear, i.e., columns 0→1→ . . . →31. Within each column, the transform coefficients may be scanned from top to bottom. However, the scan order of the 32 transform coefficients from top to bottom within each column is not mandatory.
For the reference HEVC video decoder mentioned above, the last column (i.e., column 31) includes data for the first sub-block. Therefore, the processing of the first sub-block cannot start until the last column is received. Consequently, the TC buffer size will be equal to or larger than the biggest TU size for performing IS. For example, the biggest TU size in the HEVC main profile is 32×32. Therefore, the TC buffer size will have to be able to hold at least 64 sub-blocks of transform coefficients, i.e., 32×32× transform_coefficient_bitwidth (TC_bitwidth) bits. Furthermore, in order to achieve high system throughput, VLD to IS and IS to IQ/IT may have to be performed in parallel. The system may have to be configured in a ping-pong design and the TC buffer size will become twice as large. If the TC buffer is implemented using on-chip storage, such as DRAM or RAM, the TC buffer size will have direct impact on the chip cost. The cost associated with the TC buffer will become much higher if the largest TU size goes to 64×64 or even 128×128. It is desirable to develop an inverse scan method that can reduce the TC buffer requirement.

Method and apparatus for inverse scan of transform coefficients in HEVC


A pump housing that contains a pump that draws fuel from an underground storage tank containing fuel to deliver to fuel dispensers in a service station environment. The pump is coupled to a double-walled fuel pipe that carries the fuel from the pump to the fuel dispensers. The double-walled fuel piping contains an inner annular space that carries the fuel and an outer annular space that captures any leaked fuel from the inner annular space. The outer annular space is maintained through the fuel piping from the pump to the fuel dispensers so that the outer annular space can be pressurized by a pump to determine if a leak exists in the outer annular space or so that fuel leaked from the inner annular space can be captured by a leak containment chamber in the pump housing.

In service station environments, fuel is delivered to fuel dispensers from underground storage tanks. The underground storage tanks are large containers located beneath the ground that contain fuel. A separate underground storage tank is provided for each fuel type, such as low octane gasoline, high octane gasoline, and diesel fuel. In order to deliver the fuel from the underground storage tanks to the fuel dispensers, a pump is provided that draws the fuel out of the underground storage tank and delivers the fuel through a main fuel piping conduit that runs beneath the ground in the service station. The pump may be a "submersible turbine pump." An example of a submersible turbine pump can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 6,223,765 assigned to Marley Pump Company. Branch conduits from each fuel dispenser are coupled to the main fuel piping conduit so that fuel from the branch conduit can be delivered to the fuel dispenser.
Due to regulatory requirements governing service stations, the main conduit fuel piping is usually required to be double-walled piping. Double-walled piping contains an inner annular space that carries the fuel. An outer annular space surrounds the inner annular space so as to capture and contain any leaks that occur in the inner annular space. An example of double-walled fuel pipe can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,527,130, incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
It is possible that the outer annular space of the double-walled fuel piping could fail thereby leaking fuel outside of the fuel piping if the inner annular space were to fail as well. Fuel sump sensors that detect leaks are located underneath the ground in the submersible turbine pump sump and the fuel dispenser sumps. These sensors detect any leaks that occur in the fuel piping at the location of the sensors. However, if a leak occurs in the double-walled fuel piping in between these sensors, it is possible that a leak in the double-walled fuel piping will go undetected since the leaked fuel will leak into the ground never reaching one of the fuel leak sensors. The submersible turbine pump will continue to operate as normal drawing fuel from the underground storage tank; however, the fuel may leak to the ground instead of being delivered to the fuel dispensers.
Therefore, there exists a need to be able to monitor the entire double-walled fuel piping system to determine if there is a leak in the double-walled fuel piping that could cause fuel to leak outside of the double-walled fuel piping.


The present invention relates to a round and spherical titanium dioxide scouring media and a method for producing the media. The scouring media is effective in removing titanium dioxide buildup on the walls of a titanium dioxide reaction vessel. The method consists of forming green titanium dioxide pellets in a high intensity mixer by mixing commercially available titanium dioxide dust and water. The high intensity mixer produces substantially round and spherical green pellets which are subsequently sized and sintered in a kiln to form round and spherical titanium dioxide sintered pellets that are suitable as a scouring media. The high intensity mixer allows the operator to closely control the size and shape of the pellets during the forming process to produce substantially round and spherical green pellets. Because the sintered titanium dioxide pellets are substantially round and spherical in shape, they are much less abrasive to the walls of the reaction vessel. Furthermore, as the pellets themselves abrade away, they do not contaminate the titanium dioxide product, and they can even be reprocessed into round and spherical scouring media.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a titanium dioxide scouring media. Generally, the invention relates to substantially round and spherical sintered titanium dioxide pellets, and the method used involves pelletizing titanium dioxide dust and sintering the green pellet to form the scouring media.
2. Description of the Related Art
The production of titanium dioxide through the vapor phase oxidation of titanium tetrachloride has become a commonly used process in the production of titanium dioxide pigment. During this process, titanium tetrachloride vapors react with oxygen or air or both at high temperatures in an oxidation reactor. The resultant stream of hot oxidation products exiting the reactor contains titanium dioxide in a finely distributed form suspended in gaseous constituents. The freshly formed titanium dioxide particles, which are present at first as very reactive particles, grow together to form small aggregates of sizes below 0.15 mm. Some of these small aggregates grow larger in size and partly sinter to form larger, hard and unshapely aggregates above 0.15 mm in size. These larger aggregates tend to form in a layer and deposit on the surfaces of the hot reaction zone of the oxidation reactor. Continued use of the oxidation reactor and the hot reaction products which pass over it constantly regenerate this layer. Not only does this layer regenerate with continued use of the reactor, but often pieces of this layer break off and are carried away in the reaction mixture. These large particles are not suitable for pigment production and serve to contaminate the reaction mixture. Different processes have attempted to reduce the formation of these unwanted particles but none have been completely successful.
To prevent the formation of this layer of titanium dioxide particles, scouring media consisting of chemically inert scrubbing solids have been added to the reaction mixture at appropriate locations. Numerous substances have been used as scouring media to include aluminum oxide, zirconium silicate, and silica sand. One of the most commonly used scouring media is silica sand. However, there are disadvantages to the use of silica sand as a scouring media in an oxidation reactor.
Silica sand is somewhat angular in shape. This angular shape is effective in scouring the walls of the reactor, but it also severely wears the inner walls of the reactor. Eventually, the silica sand generates holes in the reactor which require repairs or in some cases replacement. The replacement time could be a matter of weeks, thus severely hampering production. Furthermore, these silica sand particles crush easily. The crushed silica sand contaminates the reactor mixture and must be removed from the mixture. If not removed, the silica sand will reduce the quality of the resultant product. Therefore, there exists a need for a scouring media that will be strong and dense enough to effectively scour the titanium dioxide reactor walls but is round and spherical and less abrasive to reduce or eliminate reactor wear. There is also a need for a scouring media that is sized properly to provide adequate separation and recycle and would reduce the potential for contamination of the reactor mixture.
Titanium dioxide has been used as a scouring media to address the disadvantages to using commonly known scouring media. However, the titanium dioxide previously produced for use as scouring media has not eliminated all of the problems associated with other scouring media. In the process described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,784,841, titanium dioxide scouring particles are produced by vapor phase oxidation of titanium tetrachloride. The particle aggregates initially formed which are above 0.15 mm are separated, admixed with alkaline hydroxides, calcined and returned to the process. This process produces particle aggregates of sizes between 0.2 to 2.0 mm for use as scouring aggregates for the prevention of deposit formation on the heat exchanger. This process fails to control the sizes and shape of the aggregates formed, thus failing to reduce the possibility of damage to the reactor walls and failing to maximize separation and recycle/reuse efficiency.
In the process described in U.S. Pat. No. 2,721,626, course scouring solids of sizes between 0.15 and 6.35 mm are admixed with a hot reaction mixture and after cooling separated from the reaction products and used again as scouring solids. The dry separation of the course scouring titanium dioxide particles from the finely particulated titanium dioxide is inefficient. Thus, there is always a percentage of course scouring solids in with the final product thereby reducing the overall efficiency of the process.

Titanium dioxide scouring media and method of production


[Problem] To provide to a reagent composition used in quantitative measurement of lithium in aqueous solutions such as biological specimens and environmental liquid samples by a simple colorimeter or ultraviolet-visible light spectrophotometer immediately, a reagent composition which permits to measure a concentration of lithium by visual observation, and a method and apparatus for measuring lithium ion by using the reagent.

It is known that lithium-containing drugs are effective in feeling stabilization and anti-depression, so that they are used widely as feeling-stabilizer and antidepressant drugs. Tablets of lithium carbonate (for oral administration) are generally prescribed as a feeling stabilizer as well as a drug for bipolar disorder (circulatory psychosis) or anti-depressive drug.
However, when such lithium-containing drug is administrated to patients, it is necessary to control or adjust the concentration of lithium in serum within a proper range. In fact, the lithium carbonate (Li2CO3) has such a characteristic that its administration effect is exhibited only when the concentration of lithium in blood arrives at nearly a "lithium poisoning level". In other words, when the drug is administrated, the therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) is indispensable so as to monitor the lithium concentration in blood, since a therapeutic range is very near to the poison level.
In practice, it is necessary to control or limit the concentration of lithium in a patient blood sample within a limited range of generally from 0.6 to 1.2 mEq/L. In fact, when the lithium concentration in serum is lower than 0.6 mEq/L, no anti-depressive effect is expected. On the contrary, excess administration over 1.5 mEq/L of the concentration in plasma will result in the lithium poisoning. Overdose result in a fatal cause of symptoms of poisoning including tremor, alalia, nystagmus, renal disturbance and convulsion. Therefore, when a sign of latently dangerous symptoms of lithium-poisoning is observed, treatment with such lithium-containing drug must be stopped and the concentration in plasma must be re-measured so as to take a necessary measurement and to ease the lithium-poisoning.
Thus, the lithium salt is an effective medicine in the treatment of depressive patients, but overdose result in serious troubles. Therefore, when a lithium-containing anti-depressive drug is administered, it is indispensable to monitor the concentration of lithium in serum and to assure that the concentration is always kept with a limited range of from 0.6 to 1.2 mEq/L. Therefore, the quantitative measurement of lithium in serum is necessary in the treatment of depression patient.
Several liquid reagent compositions that permit colorimetric determination of lithium for the clinical laboratory test have been developed.
Patent Document 1 discloses a reagent composition used to measure the concentration of lithium in a biological sample by using primary color body cryptideinofa.
Patent Document 2 discloses an analytical reagent which reacts with lithium ion, comprising a macrocyclic compound having a pyrrole ring and eight bromine (Br) atoms combined at β position of the pyrrole ring.
Non-Patent Document 1 discloses that lithium ion can be detected by a compound in which all hydrogen bonded to carbons of tetraphenylporphyrin are replaced by fluorine.

Lithium reagent composition and method and device for determining lithium ion amount using same

Abstract: [Solution] A reagent composition for measuring lithium comprising F28 tetraphenylporphyrin compound as chelating agent, including further a water-soluble organic solvent, a pH modifier and a stabilizer, and a method and apparatus for measuring lithium ion by using the reagent.


Systems and methods provide for on-the-fly adaptation of a send rate for content sent to a client based on a detected read rate of the client system for data previously sent. The system and method work within the bounds of simple, existing, open protocols and the media files served are playable by standard media playback clients. The method is driven by a request for media content from a client, in response to which the server provides portions of the media content and monitors the reception rate of the content as it is sent to the client. This method allows for dynamic modification of the send rate of the content after the server has calculated an adjustment to correct for the difference between the reading rate and sending rate, thereby allowing for a send rate most compatible with the client.

The present invention relates to display and modification of streaming and downloading media content, and more specifically, to serving media content dynamically modified to the client device.
Methods are known for streaming and downloading media content, for example, across the Internet from a server to a client device in response to a client request for media content. Existing technologies use a traditional static file serving interface, in which a complete file or a client-requested byte range of files is served to a client. The file is usually stored or cached on the server for playback. Typically, if a user wants to view media content in this manner, a specialized client player application for playing the media content must be downloaded and installed on a client system. The server and client player application then use specialized protocols, file formats, and video encodings to transmit, decode and playback the media content. Normally, the media server can determine the nominal speed of its connection to the client. However, the media server has no knowledge of the actual read rate of the client device, which may differ considerably from the connection speed. As a result the media server cannot control the transmission of the media file to allow the user to fully control the how the media file is being played back.

Media article adaptation to client device


A sign assembly includes a fixture capable of being attached to a sign support structure. The sign assembly also includes a canopy which can slideably engage the fixture to provide cover for the sign support structure. The canopy can be foldable and can include lights to illuminate a sign held by the sign support structure. The lights can be provided power through contacts which are engaged when the canopy is attached to the fixture.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to signage, and, more particularly, lighting and canopy structures for use with signposts.
2. Related Art and Prior Art Statement
Real estate signs are often used to advertise the sale or lease of a particular piece of property. Typical real estate signs include a vertical post with a horizontal cross-arm which holds an advertising panel displaying information about the sale or lease. This information can include contact information such as the name of the person handling the lease or sale of the property. For effective advertising, the sign should be readable from a distance under different lighting conditions and should catch the prospective buyer or leaser's attention.
Some real estate signs include lighting fixtures positioned over the cross-arm to illuminate the sign. However, these lighting fixtures typically include high power lighting systems which can quickly use up the power from a battery. If they are powered by solar cells, then more are needed to provide more power, which increases costs.
These lighting fixtures also tend to be bulky and difficult to attach and remove from the cross-arm. The bulkiness is a problem because real estate signs are often stored and transported from one location to another. The difficulty in attaching and removing the lighting fixture is a problem because this procedure is often performed by one person. Hence, a bulkier lighting fixture requires more storage space to transport and store it and is also more difficult to assemble and disassemble.

Lighting canopy for advertising sign post


An electronic device (100), the electronic device (100) comprising a substrate (101), a convertible structure (102) arranged on and/or in the substrate (101), being convertible between at least two states by heating and having different electrical properties in different ones of the at least two states, wherein the convertible structure (102) has a first portion having a first width (w1), and has a second portion having a second width (w2), the second width (w2) being smaller than the first width (w1), and a protrusion (108) protruding through the convertible structure (102) to thereby narrow the second portion of the convertible structure (102) from the first width (w1) to the second width (w2).

In the field of non-volatile memories, flash memory scaling beyond a 45 nm node has become a real issue. Technologies to face this challenge are ferroelectric, magnetic and phase change memories, the latter one being promising for the replacement of flash and showing characteristic that may allow replacement of other types of memories such as DRAM. Phase change memories are a possible solution for the unified memory being an important step in the electronics art. OTP ("on time programmable") and MTP ("multiple times programmable") memories open a field that may present a great opportunity for phase change memories as well.
Phase change memories are based on a reversible memory switching using, for instance, chalcogenide materials. So termed "nucleation dominated" material GeTe—Sb2Te3 tie line, such as Ge2Sb2Te5, may be used in ovonic unified memory (OUM) devices. In this concept, the phase change material may be in contact with a bottom-resistive electrode to switch reversibly to a small volume of phase change material. In another application the active part of a memory device may be a phase change line formed in between two electrodes formed in the back end of line processing (BEOL) of a CMOS-based front end of line (FEOL).
Thus, phase change materials may be used to store information. The operational principle of these materials is a change of phase. In a crystalline phase, the material structure is, and thus properties are, different from the properties in the amorphous phase.
The programming of a phase change material is based on the difference between the resistivity of the material and its amorphous and crystalline phase. To switch between both phases, an increase of the temperature is required. Very high temperatures with rapid cooling down will result in an amorphous phase, whereas a smaller increase in temperature or slower cooling down leads to a crystalline phase. Sensing the different resistances may be done with a small current that does not cause substantial heating.
The increase in temperature may be obtained by applying a pulse to the memory cell. A high current density caused by the pulse may lead to a local temperature increase. Depending on the duration and amplitude of the pulse, the resulting phase will be different. A fast cooling and large amplitude may quench the cell in an amorphous phase, whereas a slow cooling down and a smaller amplitude pulse may allow the material to crystallize. Larger pulse amplitudes, so-called RESET pulses, may amorphize the cells, whereas smaller pulse amplitudes will SET the cell to its crystalline state, these pulses are also called SET pulses.
EP 1,469,532 discloses a process for manufacturing a phase change memory cell, comprising the steps of forming a resistive element, forming a delimiting structure having an aperture over the resistive element, forming a memory portion of a phase change material in the aperture, the resistive element and the memory portion being in direct electrical contact and defining a contact area of sub-lithographic extension. The step of forming a memory portion further includes filling the aperture with the phase change material and removing from the delimiting structure an exceeding portion of the phase change material exceeding the aperture.
However, programming conventional memory cells may require high power consumption.

Electronic device, and method of manufacturing an electronic device


Calphostin C is used to treat subjects for cancer which is resistant to treatment by other forms of chemotherapeutic drugs, for example breast or uterine cancer, or other cancers characterized by tumor cells that have a defect in an apoptotic regulatory pathway which renders said cells resistant to at least some other forms of chemotherapeutic treatment. The other chemotherapeutic drug used with calphostin C is selected from the group comprising taxanes and anthracyclines, such as paclitaxel or doxorubicin. The use may take the form of administering calphostin C and then subjecting the patient to photodynamic therapy (PDT).

A variety of in vitro and clinical studies have shown that cancer cells can exhibit resistance to chemotherapeutic drugs, including two drugs commonly used for chemotherapeutic treatment of breast cancer, particularly, paclitaxel and doxorubicin. Moreover, long-term exposure of tumor cells to one chemotherapeutic agent can often result in cross-resistance to a variety of structurally unrelated drugs. This phenomenon is termed multidrug resistance (MDR) [1, 2]. The development of multidrug resistance in tumor cells is believed to be a major obstacle to the treatment of cancer by chemotherapy. One of the most well characterized mechanisms for multidrug resistance in tumor cells involves the increased expression of a superfamily of ATP-binding cassette (ABC) drug transporters. These include such well known proteins as P-glycoprotein (P-gp or ABCB1), the multidrug resistance proteins MRP1 (ABCC1) and MRP2 (ABCC2), and the breast cancer resistance protein (BCRP or ABCG2) [3-9]. These ABC transporters actively transport a variety of structurally unrelated chemotherapeutic drugs out of the cells or into vesicles, thereby decreasing intracellular drug accumulation and inhibiting drug-induced cytotoxicity [10, 11]. Multidrug resistance can also stem from a variety of additional mechanisms [12, 13] including enhanced expression of glutathione-S-transferase or glutathione peroxidase [14], reduced topoisomerase II expression [15, 16], cell adhesion to extracellular matrix proteins [17] and the inhibition of drug-induced apoptosis [18-20].
Attempts have been made to overcome multidrug resistance by inhibiting the expression of genes involved in this phenomenon [21], or by blocking P-gp function using cyclosporin A [22], valspodar (PSC-833) [23-26], or verapamil [27]. These P-gp inhibitors increase cellular drug accumulation in drug-resistant cells by competing for drug-binding sites on P-gp, allowing less drug to be extruded by the transporter [28-30]. P-gp inhibitors may improve the outcome of chemotherapy for some cancers by enabling drugs to remain in tumor cells where they can exert their cytotoxic effects. However, this approach appears to be drug and/or cell type specific. For example, cyclosporin A was able to inhibit multidrug resistance by disturbing P-gp function in doxorubicin-resistant human myeloid leukemia cells [22], daunorubicin-resistant human T-lymphoblastoid cells [1] and vincristine-resistant K562/MDR leukemia cells [31], while having no effect on the cytotoxicity of 6-mercaptopurine or mitomycin C in HeLa or Hvr100-6 cells selected for resistance to these agents [32]. Similarly, valspodar can completely restore the cytotoxicity and intracellular accumulation of paclitaxel in doxorubicin-resistant NCI-ADR cells while having no effect on 5-fluorouracil cytotoxicity and uptake [33]. In addition, valspodar could only partially restore doxorubicin cytotoxicity in doxorubicin-resistant MCF-7 cells, while fully restoring paclitaxel cytotoxicity in paclitaxel-resistant MCF-7 cells.
Thus, there remains a need to identify other agents that have the potential to kill a variety of drug-resistant tumor cells, particularly breast cancer cells. The mechanism of action of these agents would preferably be in a P-glycoprotein-independent manner. An agent which could kill breast tumor cells resistant to the anthracycline doxorubicin or the taxane paclitaxel (even in P-gp-expressing cells) would be highly desirable, considering that these drugs are widely used in the treatment of breast cancer and approximately half of patients respond to taxanes after anthracycline chemotherapy [34].
Calphostin C, a highly specific photoactivatable inhibitor of phorbol-responsive protein kinase C (PKC) isoforms [35], is one such agent which has shown some promise in killing drug resistant tumor cells including daunorubicin-resistant tumor cells [36]. Calphostin C has also been employed as an agent to treat non-drug resistant MCF-7 breast cancer cells [77]. Cell death induced by calphostin C has been shown to be independent of the p53, pRb and p16 status of the cells, suggesting that the mechanism of cell death caused by this reagent is likely unaffected by common genetic alterations in cancer [37, 38]. However, it was not previously known whether calphostin C would be useful as chemotherapeutic agent for multi-dug resistant tumor cells, in particular breast cancer tumors resistant to taxane or anthracycline drugs.

Use of calphostin C to treat drug-resistant tumor cells


An automatic matching method and system which can initially automatically match a category and an original query, and then perform a search within a designated category when matching a subsequent query, and thereby enable a more accurate query matching is provided. According to the present invention, there is provided an automatic matching method and system which can automatically match a category and an original query prior to matching a query and thereby can more exactly match the query within a designated category.

1. Field
The present invention relates to an automatic matching method and system which can initially automatically match a category and an original query, and then perform a search within a designated category when matching a subsequent query, and thereby enable a more accurate query matching.
Also, the present invention relates to an automatic matching method and system which can exclude a stopword, which is repeatedly utilized without any direct relation to a registration requested product, and can match an optimal category for the product based on a query from which the stopword is excluded.
2. Discussion of the Related Technology
Generally, a shopping mall relay service indicates a service of informing a product purchaser about shopping malls that enter a predetermined relay website through a contract with a service provider. Specifically, the shopping mall relay service categorizes and introduces products, being sold in the shopping malls, and then provides the product purchaser with various types of information, such as a price comparison for each shopping mall with respect to the identical product, and the like.
As described above, the shopping mall relay service introduces products of the shopping malls to the product purchaser using various types of methods. When the product purchaser selects a particular product which is being sold at a particular shopping mall, the shopping mall relay service connects the product purchaser and the selected shopping mall, so that the affiliated shopping mall may substantially sell the product.
Product information registered in each of the shopping malls should be registered in a shopping mall relay server for the shopping mall relay service. Usually, product registration procedures should be performed, the procedures including: 1) registering product information, which a product registrant desires to sell, in a shopping mall server, 2) transmitting the registered product information from the shopping mall server to the shopping mall relay server, 3) a department section in charge of the shopping mall relay server, matching and arranging a product model name of the transmitted product information through a manual operation, and 4) registering the arranged product information in the shopping mall relay server.
Accordingly, the product registration procedure needs a great amount of time for the product registration and matching operation. Also, there is some constraint on operation resources. As an example, a ratio of unprocessed product information may exceed the ratio of registered product information.
Also, with an expansion of a marketplace, products also increase. In this situation, if the product registration procedure is utilized, the limitation of operation resources may be worsened.
Also, a database search system generally outputs only search results which accurately include an original query inputted from a user or another system. Specifically, the database search system cannot utilize a plurality of processes of various search logics on the original query and output a predetermined number of search results that may match the original query.
However, since a shopping mall relay server generally includes the above-described general database search system, 1) it may be difficult to retrieve a matching product model when a product registrant registers an incorrect product name in an affiliated shopping mall server, or a model name field of the product is blank, 2) since a search is not performed using a keyword registered in a product model, it may be difficult to retrieve a matching product model when the product name is registered as a particular keyword, 3) since a search is not performed using a search engine, it is not easy to perform the search using a Hangul product name, and 4) it may be difficult to retrieve a product model when a mistyped or omitted character is included in the product name registered in the affiliated shopping mall server by the product registrant.
Also, the shopping mall relay server searches all categories for a desired product model, and thus consumes a great amount of time and system resources. However, although a great amount of system resources are consumed, comparatively incorrect search results may be outputted and thus reliability may be deteriorated.

Automatic matching method and automatic matching system