A novel heterostructure acoustic charge transport (HACT) device is disclosed which displays both electron and hole transport. The device includes a transducer fabricated on a substrate structure that launches surface acoustic waves. An optional reflector is formed in the substrate structure at an end portion adjacent to the transducer for reflecting the surface acoustic waves. Also included is an electrode configured with the transport channel at an end thereof distal to the transducer for generating electrical signal equivalents of the propagating electrode charge. The device makes use of both the conduction band quantum well to transport electrons and the valance band quantum well to transport holes. In this manner the sampling, processing and detection frequencies of the device can be doubled.

Acoustic charge transport (ACT) phenomena in III-V semiconductor material has only recently been demonstrated. Such devices have applications as high speed analog signal processors. Delay lines have been fabricated in gallium arsenide (GaAs) devices comprising a surface acoustic wave (SAW) transducer that launch a surface acoustic wave along an upper layer of a GaAs structure that has a transport channel formed therein. An input electrode sources charge to be transported by the propagating electric potential wells and an electrode is present for receiving a signal for modulating that charge. Spaced down the transport channel are one or more nondestructive sensing (NDS) electrodes for sensing the propagating charge. There is also an ohmic output electrode for removing the charge.
Initial acoustic charge transport devices were comprised of a thick epilayer (TE-ACT), with vertical charge confinement accomplished by means of an electro-static DC potential applied to metal field plates on the top and bottom surfaces of the GaAs substrate. The field plate potentials are adjusted to fully deplete the epilayer and produce a potential maximum near the mid-point thereof. Consequently, any charge injected into the channel is confined to the region of maximum DC potential.
Lateral charge confinement (Y direction) has been achieved in several ways. Typically, a mesa is formed to define a charge transport channel. However, for thick epilayer acoustic transport devices, the mesa must be several microns in height, a fact which presents problems in fabrication. Blocking potentials extending down both sides of the delay line have also been used to define the transverse extent of the channel, as has proton bombardment to render the material surrounding the channel semi-insulating.
A heterostructure acoustic charge transport (HACT) device (HACT) has been fabricated using a GaAs/AlGaAs heterostructure that is similar to that of quantum well lasers and heterostructure field effect transistors FET (e.g. HFET, MODFET, HEMT and TEGFET devices). A HACT device is comprised of a sequence of epitaxial layers and vertically confines mobile carriers through the placement of potential steps that result from band structure discontinuities. Besides providing for inherent vertical charge confinement, the HACT devices are thin film devices whose layers have a total thickness of approximately 0.25 microns, excluding a buffer layer. A cap layer is provided with a HACT device both to protect an upper (AlGa)As layer and to permit fabrication of low resistance ohmic contacts and low leakage Schottky metalization.
Prior ACT and HACT devices display only electron transport. For example, a GaAs ACT structure characterized by thick epitaxial material is only capable of electron transport if constructed using n-type thick (5 micron) GaAs layers. In single electron carrier transport device, only half of the acoustic wavelength is used for signal sampling, processing and detection. This fact reduces the sampling frequency and processing bandwidth of the device to one half the frequency of the surface acoustic wave. It would be advantageous to have a acoustic charge transport device which would support both electron and hole transport by the propagating surface acoustic wave, thereby allowing for increased sampling speed and improved device performance. The present invention is drawn towards such a device and also applies to the use of hole transport only.

Heterostructure acoustic charge transport device having electron and hole transport


A camera provided with an automatic light adjusting device comprises a flash apparatus for performing a preliminary flash before a main flash, a light metering device for at least metering a light which is emitted from the flash apparatus and reflected by a photographic field, a light metered value correcting device for correcting a light metered value upon the preliminary flash by eliminating a component of stationary light excluding the light emitted from the flash apparatus and reflected by the photographic field, from the light metered value upon the preliminary flash which is metered by the light metering device, and a light adjusting device for adjusting the main flash of the flash apparatus based on the light metered value corrected by the light metered value correcting device.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a camera provided with an automatic light adjusting device capable of use of flash apparatus which carries out a preliminary flash before a main flash.
2. Related Background Art
There has been proposed such a camera provided with an automatic light adjusting apparatus capable of use of flash apparatus which carries out a preliminary flash before a main flash (see for example, commonly assigned U.S. Ser. No. 560,745). In a camera of such type, a plurality of segmented photometric areas are used to meter a reflection light from a field to be photographed upon a preliminary flash in order to know a distribution and an intensity of reflection light from various objects in the photographic field based on photometric or light metering signals, thereby performing proper light adjustment upon the main flash.
In the above camera, a stationary light component such as natural light is also metered together with the reflection light component of preliminary flash emitted from a flash apparatus and reflected by the photographic field, upon light metering of preliminary flash. This results in inaccurate knowledge of the distribution and the intensity of reflection light from the photographic field, causing a problem of improper light adjustment upon the main flash. The influence becomes intensified as the brightness of background increases with increase in stationary light component.

Camera with automatic light adjusting device


A magnetic resonance imaging apparatus is provided. The apparatus includes an imaging unit applying a gradient magnetic field and a radio frequency pulse to an inspection body in an magnetostatic field and generating a magnetic resonance signal, a bed having a top panel for placing the inspection body thereon and sliding the top panel in a longitudinal direction, a radio frequency coil for detecting the magnetic resonance signal, a display unit displaying a positioning image, a determining unit determining an ROI (a region of interest) on the basis of designation on the positioning image, a comparing unit comparing the ROI with an available FOV (a field of view) defined by the magnetostatic field, a calculating unit calculating a plurality of FOVs including the ROI when the comparing unit determines that the size of the ROI is greater than that of the available FOV, and a control unit controlling the imaging unit, the bed, and the radio frequency coil so as to perform an imaging operation on each of the FOVs.

1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a magnetic resonance imaging apparatus in which an image related to a range of interest designated by an operator is obtained.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a known magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) apparatus, positioning of a field of view (FOV) is performed by determining a range of interest (ROI) which is designated on a reference image for positioning. Since the FOV available in a single imaging operation is limited in the MRI apparatus, it is only possible to designate the ROI in a range that does not exceed the available FOV.
Recently, a method in which a plurality of images obtained through a plurality times of imaging operations are connected to each other so as to obtain a wider range of image has been contemplated. In this case, the operator has to determine the FOV by designating the ROI at every imaging operation.
Examples of an FOV setting method are disclosed in JP-A-1-166750, JP-A-2003-250775, JP-A-2004-97826, JP-A-2000-308627, JP-UM-A-6-66629, and JP-T-2004-527301, for example.
However, in the known MRI apparatus described above, when the operator desires to image a sectional region exceeding the FOV available in a single imaging operation, the operator has to suitably designate the ROIs in correspondence with the desired sectional region. As the number of the imaging operation increases, the accompanying workload increases accordingly, thereby complicating the work.

Magnetic resonance imaging apparatus and imaging method in the same


A one piece combination guitar string pick and shoulder strap lock that engages and retains a guitar shoulder strap upon one or more anchor posts affixed to the guitar. The combination pick and strap lock is not a part of the shoulder strap, and is used after the shoulder strap is affixed to the guitar body using standard shoulder strap clasps. The present invention then slides over the anchor post head using the clasp arm assembly and pressing the anchor post past the clasp assembly pinch point until the anchor post head snaps against the back of the anchor post channel in the body member and the anchor post stem is then held firmly by the clasp arm assembly. Another embodiment of the invention supports adding decorative figurines for novelty. Another embodiment supports semi-permanently affixing the present invention to the anchor post with a bolt extension.

1. Field of the Invention
People who play the guitar or similar stringed instrument want the musical instrument to be positioned conveniently in front of them for play with hands and guitar string pick. Thus, the state of the art has been to use a shoulder strap temporarily affixed to either end of the guitar and placed over the shoulder or looped around the neck of the player. In order to afford both easy release of the shoulder strap when done playing and a secure lock to the anchor of the guitar during play, there have been a number of proposed solutions.
2. Prior Art
The prior art in affixing a shoulder strap to the guitar has several variations. In one variation, U.S. Pat. No. 4,271,999, Jun. 9, 1981 registered to David M. Stravitz, discloses a Guitar Strap Connector. The patent teaches a body member having a slot for connecting to the web shoulder strap and a generally key hole shaped opening consisting of two interconnected holes, one hole being large enough for the post on the guitar to fit through it and then for the post to slide into the smaller hole and lock the guitar post in the smaller hole opening.
A subsequent patent, U.S. Pat. No. 4,993,127, Feb. 19, 1991, registered to Larry J., Mechem, et. al., discloses a Locking Attachment for Guitar Straps and the Like. The patent teaches a body member having a slot for connecting to the web shoulder strap and a single large hole with a connecting slot to receive a post mounted on the guitar. Once the guitar post is inserted through the hole in the body member, it slides to the end of the slot and is held in that position with a head button that locks on the top of the post.
A subsequent patent, U.S. Pat. No. 5,880,384, Mar. 9, 1999, registered to Richard Beck, discloses a Connecting Device for Attaching Shoulder Strap to Stringed Instrument. The patent teaches an attachment device consisting of a looped portion designed to fit under the guitar strings at the stringed end of the guitar neck, and to then be affixed to the shoulder strap at the neck end with an attaching bolt mechanism. At the other end of the strap, a single opening with a slot in flexible material enables pressing the opening over the guitar post, where it remains so long as the end portion does not receive too much outward pressure to cause it to slip off the guitar mounting post.

Combination guitar pick and shoulder strap lock


The recording medium 12 is radiated with light beam from the second light source to obtain servo signal from the reflected light. At least one of the relay lenses 8 in the relay optical system is moved perpendicularly to the optical axis according to the servo signal to follow-up moving direction of the recording medium. The light beam from the second laser light source merges with an optical system from the first laser light source to the recording medium 12 between at least one of the relay lenses 8 and the spatial light modulator 3.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical information recording-reproduction apparatus, and in particular, to an optical information recording-reproduction apparatus which records information on a recording medium on which information is recorded using holography and reproduces information from the recording medium on which information is recorded.
2. Description of the Related Art
When holography is used to record information, light with image information and reference light are superposed inside a recording medium and interference fringes produced thereby are recorded on the recording medium. When the recorded information is reproduced, the recording medium is radiated with the reference light to reproduce image information by diffraction attributable to the interference fringes. A holographic memory has drawn attention as a super high-density data storage in a practical application area in recent years.
Attention is attracted particularly by an optical disc memory in which image information is developed into two dimensional digital pattern information, then the information is recorded on disc-like recording medium such as CD and DVD using holography and reproduced from the recording medium.
The following literature introduces a recording-reproduction apparatus using a collinear holographic memory as such a technique: "Holographic Memory/Measurement & Nano Control Technologies for Brlostering HVD™", Proceedings of 35th Meeting on Lightwave Sensing Technology, June 2005, p. 75-82, and "Holographic medium soon taking off to realize 200G bytes in 2006," NIKKEI ELECTRONICS, Jan. 17, 2005, pp. 105 to 114.
The system is characterized in that information light and reference light are produced by the same spatial light modulator, transmitted along the same optical axis and converged on the recording medium with an objective lens to record hologram thereon. The system is also characterized in that producing only the reference light by the spatial light modulator and converging it on the recording medium enable information light to be reproduced by diffraction from the recorded hologram.
In such an optical disc memory, focus servo and tracking servo to radial runout of the tracks are normally conducted as is the case with CD and DVD.
Furthermore, the above optical disc memory requires a very high output light source such as a Q-switched laser to record information on a rotating recording medium in a short time. When a light source whose output is on the order of that of a typical semiconductor laser is used, a position radiated with light requires to be changed according to rotation to secure energy supplied for recording.
As a device in which a position radiated with light follows up rotation as described above, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2005-032306 discloses a device in which a collimator for a recording light source is moved perpendicularly to the optical axis to cause a position radiated with light to follow-up rotation.
FIG. 7 shows a conventional optical information recording-reproduction apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2005-032306.
Light from a recording and reproducing light source 1 passes through a first collimator lens 2, a polarization beam splitter 4, a spatial light modulator (information representing means) 35, a pair of relay lenses 6 and 8, a dichroic mirror 10, a ¼ wavelength plate 38, an objective lens 11 and reaches a recording medium 12. On the other hand, light from a servo reading device 13 advances into a second collimator lens 42 and the dichroic mirror 10. A photo detector 5 receives the reproduced light to reproduce the recorded information.
The servo reading device 13 detects positional information of the recording medium 12 and causes driving means 44 to move the first collimator lens 2 while following-up the movement of the recording medium 12. This is to record information at and reproduce information from a normal position while following-up the movement of the recording medium 12 by changing the angle of recording light incident on the polarization beam splitter 4 to shift the position of light incident on the recording medium 12.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-022083 discloses a device in which two galvano mirrors disposed in an optical system are used to perform tracking servo and rotation follow-up of a position radiated with light orthogonal thereto.
The above conventional examples, however, involve the following problems.
In general, a moving speed in a rotating direction at a position radiated with light changes according to radial runout even at a constant-speed rotation while a recording medium with eccentricity is rotated.
On the other hand, in conventional examples in which the above recording light source collimator is moved perpendicularly to the optical axis to cause the position radiated with light to perform rotation follow-up, light emitted from a servo reading device merges into a place nearer to the recording medium than the recording light source collimator.
For this reason, in the above conventional examples, the movement of the recording light source collimator does not exert any effect on light emitted from the servo reading device, which does not enable detecting change in moving speed according to radial runout, causing a problem in that accuracy in rotation follow-up is degraded.
In the above conventional examples in which two galvano mirrors disposed in an optical system are used to perform tracking servo and rotation follow-up of a position radiated with light orthogonal thereto, a mirror existing near the recording medium requires rotating. This causes a problem in that an apparatus is increased in size in the vicinity of the recording medium because positional interference needs to avoid against driving means for focus servo.
Alternatively, another mirror device requires providing in the optical system, which causes a problem with the restriction of optical design.

Optical information recording-reproduction apparatus


A new and distinct cultivar of Ipomoea plant named ‘Kyuikukan 4’, characterized by its compact and outwardly trailing growth habit and dark green-colored foliage.

The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Ipomoea, botanically known as Ipomoea batatas, and hereinafter referred to by the name 'Kyuikukan 4'.
The new Ipomoea is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventors in Miyazaki, Japan. The objective of the breeding program is to create new compact Ipomoea cultivars with attractive foliage shape and coloration.
The new cultivar originated from an open-pollination made by the Inventors in September, 2000 of a proprietary selection of Ipomoea batatas identified as code number KOP98211-2, not patented, as the female, or seed, parent with an unknown selection of Ipomoea batatas as the male, or pollen, parent. The cultivar Kyuikukan 4 was discovered and selected by the Inventors as a single plant within the progeny of the stated open-pollination in a controlled environment in Miyazaki, Japan.
Asexual reproduction of the new Ipomoea by terminal cuttings in a controlled environment in Miyazaki, Japan since December, 2005, has shown that the unique features of this new Ipomoea are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.


A headlight, especially a headlight for a vehicle, includes a light source with a reflector in front thereof and a fiber-optic light guide which is embodied as an elongated light decoupling element, which is at least partially adjacent to one end of the reflector. A light exiting surface faces away from the reflector. The inner side of the reflector facing towards the light source is at least partially embodied in such a way that it forms a first focal point in the position of the light source and reflects light radiated from the light source to an incident light surface of the light decoupling element facing way from the light exiting surface.

The invention relates to a headlight, particularly a vehicle headlight, having a light source disposed in front of a reflector, and having a fiber-optic waveguide. As an elongated light decoupling element which, at least in areas, is adjacent to an edge of the reflector, the waveguide is constructed with a light exiting surface facing away from the reflector.
From European Patent document EP 0 900 694 A2 and from German Patent Document DE 100 40 302 A1, vehicle headlights are known, which have a light source for generating the light of a headlight. For example, FIG. 6 shows a front perspective view of a set of headlights as might appear on one side of the front of a vehicle, and FIG. 7 shows a front perspective view of a single headlight with a reflector and a light source in the center. The light source is disposed in front of a reflector. The known headlights have a fiber-optic waveguide which, as an elongated light decoupling element, is adjacent, at least in areas, to an edge of the reflector.
In the case of the known vehicle headlights, a light source disposed in front of the reflector generates the light of a headlight, such as daytime driving light or low-beam light or high-beam light. By way of a second light source, light is coupled into the fiber-optic waveguide, which light is emitted or decoupled as a signaling light.
As a result of the coupling-in by way of the faces of the fiber-optic waveguide or by way of special coupling-in elements, relatively high losses of light occur so that, although the fiber-optic waveguide is suitable for generating a signalling light, the emitted light does not have a sufficient intensity for a use as a daytime driving light or a low-beam light, and has a relatively inhomogeneous and undesirable light intensity distribution. While a relatively undirected light distribution is not necessarily a disadvantage for a signalling light, relatively high demands are made on the light of a headlight, for example, a low-beam light or daytime driving light, with respect to a homogeneous luminance and a directed light distribution.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to improve the known headlights with the decoupling of light by way of an elongated fiber-optic waveguide such that a homogenous luminance of a high light intensity with a formable or directed light distribution is permitted, as required, for example, for generating a daytime driving light.
This object is achieved according to the invention by providing a headlight, particularly a vehicle headlight, having a light source disposed in front of a reflector, and having a fiber-optic waveguide which, as an elongated light decoupling element which, at least in areas, is adjacent to an edge of the reflector, is constructed with a light exiting surface facing away from the reflector. The interior side of the reflector facing the light source is, at least in areas, constructed such that it forms a first focal point at the site of the light source and reflects light emitted from the light source to a light entering surface of the light decoupling element, which light entering surface faces away from the light exiting surface.
The light of the light source is guided from the reflector to the light entering surface of the fiber-optic waveguide or the light decoupling element, so that the fiber-optic waveguide is virtually transilluminated along its entire length. The relatively high optical losses as a result of the coupling-in, the propagation, and the deflection, are thereby virtually eliminated or are considerably reduced. In addition, as a result of the uniform light distribution on the back side or the light entering surface of the fiber-optic waveguide, a reduction of the light intensity because of a temperature-limited coupling-in is avoided. Thus, a high light intensity can be achieved with a formable and homogeneous light distribution. This achieves the high efficiency which is important for the daytime driving light or the low beam light or the high beam light.
According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the interior side of the reflector is constructed as a section of a rotational solid whose contour is a result of a rotation about a headlight axis of an ellipse set in the beaming direction with respect to a headlight axis at an angle of less than 90°, whose first focal point F1 is arranged at the site of the light source and whose second focal point F2 is arranged adjacent to the light entering surface of the light decoupling element and, because of the rotation, forms a ring-shaped focal line. In this case, the fiber-optic waveguide expediently has a ring-shaped construction.
Thus, all light of the light source or of the reflector is guided in a targeted manner to the light entering surface of the fiber-optic waveguide. By way of the light entering surface, the light can couple into the fiber-optic waveguide and, in a correspondingly directed manner, can exit again from the light exiting surface. This contributes to a further increase of the efficiency of the headlight. By a corresponding selection of its surfaces—as optical surfaces—, the fiber-optic waveguide may be used for the further modification of the light distribution.
According to another preferred embodiment of the invention, the fiber-optic waveguide has a light coupling-in point with a second light source on the input side, for the reflecting-in of light.
When the daytime driving light is switched off, the fiber-optic waveguide can, therefore, be used as signalling light in a manner known per se. As a result, a dual function of the headlight may be achieved in a simple manner.
According to another preferred embodiment of the invention, the fiber-optic waveguide is constructed as a first light decoupling element, which changes into a second light decoupling element of an adjacent headlight. In this case, the light decoupling element is constructed such that a portion of the light coupled into the first light decoupling element may be decoupled by way of the second light decoupling element. A second light decoupling element of an adjacent headlight can thereby be supplied with a light current by way of the first light decoupling element.
According to another embodiment of the invention, the light emitted by the fiber-optic waveguide may be used as a parking light or position light by dimming the light source. As a result of the dimming, a dual function of the headlight may therefore also be achieved in a simple manner.
According to another preferred embodiment of the invention, the area enclosed by the fiber-optic waveguide may be used for additional light functions. By means of the utilization of the central area, another light function can be achieved in a space-saving manner.
According to another preferred embodiment of the invention, the light source has a first light element, such as a helix or a filament as part of the light element, at the first focal point, for generating the light to be coupled into the fiber-optic waveguide, and a second light element, also such as a helix or a filament as part of the light element disposed in front of the first light element in the beaming direction, for generating light for another light function. In this case, a lens for the additional light function can be arranged in the area enclosed by the fiber-optic waveguide. The light of the second light element can be beamed directly into the lens. The use of a light source with two light elements results in an additional cost reduction and simplifies the lamp exchange. The reflector construction can thereby also be simplified. If required, it is also contemplated to shield the second light element toward the reflector or toward the first light element, or to arrange two separate light sources or lamps behind one another which, if required, are fastened on a common lamp carrier. As a result, special lamps would be avoided.
According to another preferred embodiment of the invention, the lens is constructed and/or arranged with respect to the second light element such that it generates a laterally deflected cornering light. Particularly when the lens axis is offset with respect to the headlight axis and/or contains prisms on the lens surface, a superimposable cornering light/turn light can be generated in a simple and cost-effective manner.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the invention when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Bayerische Motoren Werke Aktiengesellschaft


A method of manufacturing insulators with excellent high-voltage performance having a core member, a sheath arranged on an outer surface of the core member and a shed arranged on an outer surface of the sheath is disclosed. In a first aspect of the invention, a method includes the steps of arranging the sheath made of non-cured polymer materials on an outer surface of the core member, arranging a plurality of the sheds made of cured polymer materials on an outer surface of the sheath, and curing the sheath to connect the sheath to the sheds. In a second aspect of the invention, a method includes the steps of arranging the sheath made of cured polymer materials on an outer surface of the core member, arranging a plurality sheds made of cured polymer materials on an outer surface of the sheath, and connecting the sheath to the sheds by using adhesives. In both aspects, a small diameter portion in which a diameter becomes gradually smaller is arranged on all or a part of an inner circumferential surface of the shed to which the sheath is connected, and a securing force of the shed with respect to the sheath is largest at a minimum diameter portion of the small diameter portion as compared with the other portions.

(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing insulators having excellent high-voltage performance such as polymer insulators or polymer hollow insulators used in an open-air space, especially relates to a method of manufacturing insulators which prevent a generation of electric defects such as voids at a boundary between a sheath arranged on an outer surface of a core member and a shed arranged on an outer surface of the sheath.
(2) Description of Related Arts
As insulators having an excellent high-voltage performance, polymer insulators using a solid core member and polymer hollow insulators using a hollow core member are known. These insulators have a construction such that an outer surface of the core member is covered with the sheath made of polymer materials and a plurality of sheds made of polymer materials are arranged equidistantly on an outer surface of the sheath.
The shed prevents generation of flashovers on an outer surface of the sheath. The flashover is caused by electric water passage generated on an outer surface of the sheath due to rain,for example. Therefore, the shed and the sheath must be connected tightly so as not to generate defects such as voids therebetween. This is because, if the defects such as voids are generated at the boundary between the sheath and the shed, a dielectric strength of the insulator is decreased due to the electric water passage. Particularly, a dielectric fracture is liable to be generated at an inner portion of the shed. Moreover, corona discharge due to the void causes radio wave interference, and thus voids are not preferred.
It is understood that a reason for void generation at the boundary mentioned above is as follows. When the sheath and the shed are connected by curing, a water component or a gas component included in non-cured polymer materials is closed in the boundary. When they are connected by adhesives, a water component or the like included in the adhesives is closed in the boundary.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 61-181015 discloses a method of connecting the sheath and the shed. In this publication, there is disclosed (1) a method of connecting the sheath made of non-cured polymer materials and the shed made of cured polymer materials by curing the sheath, and (2) a method of connecting the sheath made of cured polymer materials and the shed made of cured polymer materials by using adhesives in such a manner that the shed is adhered to a recess arranged on an outer surface of the sheath.
In the method (1) in which the connection is performed by curing the sheath, since a securing force F at the connecting portion 13' is uniform along an inner surface of the shed 5' as shown in FIG. 6, a rubber flow 12' of the sheath 3? at the connecting portion 13' is moved inwardly. Therefore, a water component or a gas component included in the non-cured polymer materials of the sheath 3', which are moved together with the rubber flow 12', is flowed also inwardly, so that it is closed in the connecting portion 13' or in the sheath 3' close to the connecting portion 13'. As a result, the defects such as voids are generated in the connecting portion 13'. Particularly, since a water component or a gas component included in an outer surface of the sheath 3', to which a center portion 10' of the shed 5' is faced, has a long way for degassing, there is an extremely high possibility such that a water component or a gas component is closed in the connection portion.
On the other hand, in the method (2) in which the connection is performed by using the adhesives, since the securing force at the connecting portion is uniform as is the same as the method (1), a moving direction of the adhesives is not fixed in the case of a connecting operation. Therefore, there is an extremely high possibility such that a water component or the like included in the adhesives is closed in the connecting portion.
In order to eliminate the residual water component or gas component in the connecting portion, the inventors further discussed the methods (1) and (2) mentioned above. As a result, the inventors found it preferable that, in both methods, a flow of a water component or a gas component in the non-cured rubber and a movement of the adhesives are controlled in a predetermined direction by adjusting the securing force of the shed with respect to the sheath.


Methods and systems are provided for propelling a vehicle. In an embodiment, by way of example only, a method includes flowing a decomposed hydroxylammonium nitrite (HAN)-based propellant into a chamber, introducing an aspirated non-polar fuel into the chamber, and combusting the decomposed HAN-based propellant and the aspirated non-polar fuel to produce an exhaust gas.

Propulsion systems are used to generate thrust to achieve or maintain flight, or to control in-flight direction of vehicles, such as rockets, missiles, spacecraft, and/or aircraft. In many cases, a propulsion system may include a vessel that defines a combustion chamber in which fuel is loaded and combusted to generate high-energy combustion gas. A nozzle may be in fluid communication with the combustion chamber to receive the high-energy combustion gas and exhaust the gas out of the vessel to generate a thrust.
Conventionally, the fuel used for generating the thrust is stored external to the combustion chamber until system operation is desired. One commonly-used fuel is a monopropellant material made up of hydrazine. The monopropellant material is stored in a storage tank and is ignited by a rapid decomposition of the fuel by exposure to an iridium based catalyst. Another storable chemical propulsion system may include two hypergolic chemicals, such as monomethylhydrazine and nitrogen tetraoxide. When mixed together in a combustion chamber, the two chemicals may react to ignite and produce a hot gas (e.g., gases having a temperature greater than 1400° C.) and a desired thrust.
Although the aforementioned systems are adequate for use in many circumstances, they may be improved. In particular, some propellants may be suitable for use and/or storage on space vehicles, but they may not be useful on vehicles in which environmental considerations may be of concern, such as on naval vessels or aircraft. In other cases, monopropellants that may be considered "environmentally friendly" may have low energy density resulting in larger storage tanks that may add unwanted weight and/or may undesirably occupy space. In other cases, environmentally-friendly solid propulsion systems may not have capabilities that liquid bi- and mono-propellants provide, such as shut off capabilities and/or throttleability. Additionally, the aforementioned systems may not provide adequate thrust for propelling certain types of vehicles, and thus, uses of the systems may be limited. Moreover, although environmentally-friendly bi-propellants may have improved energy density compared to monopropellants, they may not include hypergolic chemicals. Thus, they may not be as reliable to rapidly startup and/or to operate in some altitudes as in others.
Accordingly, it is desirable to have an improved, environmentally-friendly liquid propulsion system and/or method of propelling a vehicle that may be relatively inexpensive and simple to implement. In addition, it is desirable to have a liquid propulsion system that provides improved thrust and is more lightweight than conventional environmentally-friendly liquid systems. Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics of the inventive subject matter will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description of the inventive subject matter and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and this background of the inventive subject matter.

Rocket motor having a catalytic hydroxylammonium (HAN) decomposer and method for combusting the decomposed HAN-based propellant


Metrics associated with computer code files within a codebase may be analyzed to identify bug-prone files. Functions of the method or system may determine metrics corresponding to each file of a plurality of codebase files within an application codebase. The functions may also store the metrics corresponding to each codebase file in a record of a database table, rank order the plurality of codebase files according to at least one metric, and flag each codebase file having a ranking over a threshold value of the metric. The codebase file metrics may describe fault-inducing characteristics of the plurality of codebase files and include both a total number of previous faults and a total number of changes that are associated with each codebase file.

The background description provided herein is for the purpose of generally presenting the context of the disclosure. Work of the presently named inventors, to the extent it is described in this background section, as well as aspects of the description that may not otherwise qualify as prior art at the time of filing, are neither expressly nor impliedly admitted as prior art against the present disclosure.
Complex software applications often require massive collections of source code files organized within codebases. Codebases are usually created by engineers, software developers, and other technicians who write individual code files describing the application's modules, methods, functions, etc. These files are included within the application's codebase. To keep the files organized, the codebase may be conceptually maintained in a tree structure maintained by a version control system. Within the code tree, a branch generally describes a version of an application module that was changed, but does not include any new features, while a trunk may include a module with new features. Teams of engineers design, develop and deploy software across distant locations. Multiple versions of software files are often deployed from these different locations while other developers work on updates to the same files. Errors or "bugs" may only be present in certain versions, therefore to locate and fix any bugs, particular versions of the software must be located and tested to determine which version(s) are causing the problem.
During the lifetime of an application, software developers commit or merge multiple file versions, patches, edits, etc., to the codebase. These commit operations tell the version control system that a group of changes will be made final and available to all users. That group of changes is typically maintained in a change list. Each group of changes in a single commit action includes a unique change list ID.
Of course, whenever a software developer performs a commit action, he or she also possibly introduces bugs to the codebase. To counter the inevitable introduction of bugs, most software development teams are complimented by a quality assurance team to perform automated and manual testing of the files within the codebase. Ideally, quality assurance teams perform tests on the submitted files until the codebase reaches a confirmed level of code maturity and stability. However, because the complex development and execution relationships between the various files in the code tree, it is difficult to measure an exact level of quality assurance. For example, development of an application follows numerous paths along the code tree including various branches and trunks during the development cycle. Accounting for and writing tests for every possible code path in a complex application would consume a significant amount of resources and time. Further, it has been observed that bugs are not distributed linearly within a codebase, but rather, bugs occur in "bursts" where a single bug causes multiple, other bugs in a cascading effect throughout the code base. Thus, testing a percentage of the total amount of code within the codebase will not account for an equal percentage of the total number of bugs that are present in the codebase (i.e., scanning fifty percent of the total amount of code within the codebase will not account for fifty percent of the total bugs in the codebase).
Some techniques to identify and analyze bugs within a codebase have focused on providing a Boolean indicator of whether a particular piece of the codebase was more or less likely to include a bug. For example, cache techniques may rank files within a codebase according to the number of lines of code within the file. Then, each of the ranked files and its closest relatives may receive a "hit" if it had been changed to fix a bug. Files that have been fixed most recently may remain in the cache, while those that have been changed less recently may be removed from the cache. These techniques allow a "hit or miss" identification of fault-prone files within a cache selection of the codebase.

System and method for identifying fault prone computer code files


With a lean premix burner (1), a plurality of preferably V-shaped, closely spaced fuel channels (12) is formed into the circumferential fuel-supplied film application surface (8) of the atomizer lip (9) in the direction of flow, in order to achieve a better heat transfer to the fuel due to the uniform fuel distribution and a transverse flux in the plurality of small fuel flows caused by the Marangoni effect, to completely converse the fuel by early vaporization and improved spraying, to reduce nitrogen oxide emission and to suppress combustion-driven pressure oscillations.

This invention relates to a lean premix burner for the combustion chamber of a gas-turbine engine which has an annular central body which connects to a fuel line and employs a circumferential atomizer lip and a fuel-supplied film application surface provided thereon for the generation of an airflow-impinged fuel film.
Combustion chambers of gas-turbine engines can be provided with lean premix burners in order to enable a fuel-air mixture with high content of air to be burned in the combustion chamber at low combustion temperature and with correspondingly reduced formation of nitrogen oxide. In order to ensure ignition of the lean air-fuel mixture under any condition, for example also at low ambient temperatures and correspondingly adverse vaporization behavior, it is further known to combine the lean burner (main burner) with a supporting burner centrally integrated therein. On the burner of this type known from Specification EP 0 660 038 B1, swirler elements are arranged in the annular air feed channels for the supporting burner and the main burner to achieve strong air swirl and maximum mixture of the air with the fuel supplied downstream of the swirler elements. It has already been proposed to provide these swirler elements also in the form of aerodynamic air guide vanes to effect, at increased air mass flow, an even more intense mixture of fuel and air and uniform issue of the fuel-air mixture into the combustion chamber.
Furthermore, burners with an atomizer lip, also termed film applicator, are known, for example from Specification U.S. Pat. No. 6,560,964 B2. The annular atomizer lip, on which a continuous fuel film impinged by a concentric air flow is to be generated, significantly improves the atomization effect and the mixing of fuel and air. However, combustion and pressure oscillations may occur on lean premix burners with film applicators which are disadvantageous for the combustion process in the combustion chamber. To remedy this disadvantage, expensive passive dampers (Helmholtz resonators) are, for example, employed in the combustion chamber.

Lean premix burner with circumferential atomizer lip


The invention concerns a method for continuous long term dosing of CO2 in biologically used media, comprising the steps below:

The present invention concerns a dosing method for the controllable and continuous generation of carbon dioxide (CO2) and its issue in biologically used systems as well as a set and a reequipment set which make possible the implementation of this method.
In various fields of the maintenance of biological systems there is a need for an even and targeted supply of CO2 over a lengthy period. For example, this is the case in the cultivation or preservation of plants in closed premises, such as for example in greenhouses, and in particular in aqueous systems, for example in ponds or aquaria.
To supply ponds or aquaria with CO2, various processes are known in the prior art.
For example, the supply can be carried out by gas dosing systems from gas cartridges which are pressure charged with CO2. But this method has the drawback that with decreasing gas pressure in the cartridge, the amount of CO2 which is supplied per unit of time continuously decreases without later control of the dosing system. In addition, a CO2 dosing system requires a large amount of space when using gas cartridges and is aesthetically unsatisfactory. This is disadvantageous, especially in the case of ornamental pools and aquaria.
A further known method is the in situ generation of CO2 from a carbonate due to the influence of a mineral acid, which is usually hydrochloric acid in a Kipp""s apparatus. However, such a device can only be operated suitably outside the water which is to be supplied, and it is therefore linked with the same spatial and aesthetic inadequacies as the method which was described above. In addition, the handling of mineral acids such as hydrochloric acid by inexperienced users is not without its problems.
In addition, a method was suggested in which from an effervescent tablet of sodium hydrogen carbonate and citric acid CO2 is released in doses by the slow addition of water. The disadvantage of this method is that with a slow supply of water in a short time an impermeable citrate layer is formed on the effervescent tablet, which impedes a further reaction. Thereby the continuous generation of CO2 can only be ensured for a short period of a few days.
To overcome the problems named above, a method is made available which makes possible the controlled generation of CO2 which is constant over a long period, i.e. a method for the .continuous long term dosing of CO2 in media which are used biologically, comprising the steps below:
i) expulsion of an aqueous acid solution from a storage container by means of a chemical reaction generating gas pressure,
ii) dripping the acid solution into a solid and/or liquid carbonate or hydrogen carbonate composition, and
iii) supplying the resultant CO2 to the medium in use biologically.
In addition, the object above is achieved by the set made available in accordance with the invention for implementation of the process, which comprises a storage container (1), a unit amount of a carbonate or hydrogen carbonate or a mixture of two or more such compounds and a storage container (2) to be placed thereon or therein for the aqueous acid solution with an exit aperture, which permits the dripping into the (hydrogen) carbonate or its solution; and which is charged with a composition which comprises (i) a solid water soluble acid, (ii) a water soluble and preferably solid compound, which can be catalytically decomposed with the development of gas, and (iii) a catalyst.
In addition, a reequipment set is used to solve the problem above, which comprises the necessary initial substances for carrying out the method as well as replacement parts of the apparatus which is used. More precisely, the reequipment set of the present invention comprises a unit amount of a carbonate or hydrogen carbonate or a mixture of two or more such compounds and a storage container (2) for the aqueous acid solution with an exit aperture, which permits the dripping into the carbonate solution, and which is charged with a composition, which comprises (i) a water soluble acid, (ii) a compound which can be decomposed catalytically with the development of gas, and (iii) a catalyst.
Additional aspects and preferred features of the invention are defined in the appended claims. It will be appreciated that where a preferred feature is described or defined with respect to one aspect of the invention, it is equally applicable to other aspects of the invention without requiring explicit mention thereof.
The method in accordance with the invention for the continuous dosing of CO2 has the following steps:
i) expulsion of an aqueous acid solution from a reserve container by means of a chemical reaction which generates gas pressure,
ii) dripping the acid solution into a solid and/or liquid carbonate or hydrogen carbonate composition and
iii) supplying the resultant CO2 to the biologically used medium.
The following advantageous effects are achieved by this method and by the sets and reequipment sets which are used for its implementation:
the release of CO2 is carried out economically and in the smallest space.
A large amount of CO2 can be stored in the initial substances and can be issued over a lengthy period.
The generation of CO2 can be adjusted in accordance with the requirement of the user and it is constant over a long period.
In aquaria, the CO2 can be issued into the water without hose connections, and without impurities with other substances resulting.
The reference to xe2x80x9ccarbonatexe2x80x9d or to xe2x80x9ccarbonate solutionxe2x80x9d also includes in following hydrogen carbonates and all their solutions, to the extent that nothing else is stated.
The above named aqueous solution of an acid can be a solution of any discretionary acid, which is in a position to form an adequately stable aqueous solution, and which is also suitable to release CO2 by reaction with a carbonate or its aqueous solution. Preferably the acid which is used is a solid compound in its pure form, from which the aqueous solution is only produced directly before use.
Equally it is preferred that due to the reaction of the acid with the carbonate, a salt is formed, the solubility of which is so high that it does not precipitate out of the aqueous mixture, which is formed by dripping the acid solution into the carbonate or its solution. Moreover, mixtures of two or more acids can be used.
The carbonate in which or in the solution of which the aqueous acid solution is dripped is a discretionary carbonate or hydrogen carbonate compound. As stated above, it is preferable that the salt which results from the reaction with the acid which is dripped in remains dissolved. Mixtures of two or more carbonate compounds can also be used.
In addition, preferably both the initial compounds as well as the resultant salt should be unproblematic as to health and ecology, and the amount of CO2 which can be released therefrom, based on the weight of the initial substances, should be as large as possible.
Carbonate compounds which are to be used for preference are the carbonates and hydrogen carbonates of the alkali metals, and special preference is given to sodium hydrogen carbonate.
An acid used with special preference is citric acid.
The named components have moreover the advantages that they are economically obtainable and are easy to store and to transport.
The gas pressure generating reaction which is used to expel the acid solution from the storage container is the reaction of a compound which is dissolved or suspended in the aqueous acid solution with the release of a gaseous reaction product. Preferably this concerns the decomposition of a metastable compound, e.g. a peracid compound, such as hydrogen peroxide or derivates thereof. Mixtures of two or more compounds which are compatible with each other can also be used.
The decomposition can be catalyzed by a suitable catalyst. Due to suitable dosing of the catalyst, the amount of the gas volume which is generated can be adjusted per unit of time and therefore the expulsion speed of the acid solution can be exactly adjusted within a broad range. Here it must be taken into consideration that the temperature of the surrounding system has an influence on the reaction speed of the catalyzed reaction. Therefore in warmer environments, such as, for example, tropical aquaria, smaller amounts of catalyst are necessary to achieve the same amounts of gas per unit of time than in colder media.
In addition it is also possible to introduce the catalyst totally or partially directly before the use in the acid container. Thereby the output speed of the acid solution and thereby the amount of CO2 generated per unit of time can be adjusted individually by the user.
Any of the compounds which are known in the prior art as decomposition catalysts are suitable as the catalysts, which A have the effect of catalytic decomposition of the above named compounds, with the generation of gaseous products. When using H2O2 or peroxide compounds, MnO2 or platinum is a preferred catalytic material, with special preference for ceramically bound MnO2. Mixtures of two or more catalysts which are compatible with each other can also be used.
Preferably the composition of the components in the storage container is adjusted at the start of the process in accordance with the invention so that the gas volume which results from the reaction which generates the gas pressure is adequate to expel the entire aqueous acid solution from the storage container. At the same time, the amount of the component which is to be decomposed to form the gaseous products should be dimensioned so that the total acid solution is issued at almost constant expulsion speed from the storage container. The amounts which are necessary and/or suitable for this purpose can be varied depending on the specific form of the system which is used. However, mix ratios of 0.01 to 0.03 mole of the compound to be decomposed to 1 mol of the acid to be expelled have been found to be suitable.
The gaseous CO2 which results from dripping the acid solution into the carbonate or its solution, is supplied via suitable gas line devices to the media which are used biologically. In the case of aqueous biological media such as, for example, ponds or aquaria, the CO2 can preferably be in contact with the water surface by means of a diving bell and can be diffusively dissolved in the water via this bell. What is meant here by the water surface is both the surface of the water to be supplied as well as an artificially generated water surface within the water below the diving bell, which is in contact with the gas volume of a device which is suitable to carry out the method in accordance with the invention.

Method and set for continuous long-term dosing of CO2

Abstract: i) expelling an aqueous acid solution from a storage container by means of a chemical reaction which generates gas pressure,

Abstract: iii) supply of the corresponding CO2 to the medium which is used biologically,

Abstract: as well as a set and a reequipment set for carrying out this method.


A data converter for a padded protocol interface performs, on a first data sample, decoding operations requiring data from second and third data samples, while buffering the second data sample without buffering the third data sample. A state machine controlling the decoding operation waits an additional clock cycle, until the second sample has become the current sample and the third sample has become the second sample and thus is available.

This invention relates to circuitry for handling communication of digital information to which bits are added periodically for synchronization or the like, and more particularly to an interface having reduced area as compared to previously known such interfaces.
A communication protocol that is increasingly of interest is known as "64b/66b encoding." This is a protocol in which 64 bits of data are scrambled (e.g., to achieve balance between the number of binary ones and the numbers of binary zeros that need to be transmitted so that there is no net direct current in the transmission) and two additional bits having one or more particular sequences are transmitted with each 64 bits as synchronization information. Thus for every 64 bits of information that need to be sent, 64 information bits and two SYNC bits are transmitted. The SYNC bits may be the sequence "10" or "01". Extra bits of this kind may sometimes be referred to herein as "padding." At the receiver end, the encoded "padded" data are decoded to remove the padding bits.
Serial communication of padded information can be a challenge because of possibly complicated clocking issues. For example, 66 bits of information may need to be transmitted in the time in which the data source produces 64 bits of real data. Similarly, the receiver circuitry needs to receive 66 bits in the time in which it will subsequently pass on the 64 bits of real data in that 66-bit transmission.
Circuitry for solving this problem, and allowing the different data widths to operate at different rates, so that the total number of bits transferred during a single clock cycle matches, is known, and is commonly referred to informally as a "gearbox."
Thus, at the transmitter end, the data—e.g., 64 bits, are encoded to add in the two padding bits. The padded—e.g., 66-bit—groupings are then passed through a transmitter gearbox, where the larger number of padded bits used for processing—e.g., 66 bits—must be converted to the smaller number of bits—e.g., 64 bits (generally a power of 2 to be compatible with standard serializer-deserializers)—for transmission.
At the receiver end, the smaller—e.g., 64-bit—groupings of transmitted padded data are run through a receiver gearbox, where the smaller, but still padded, number of bits used for transmission—e.g., 64 bits—must be converted to the true, larger number—e.g., 66 bits—of padded data, which then can be decoded to remove the padding bits and restore the original unpadded—e.g., 64-bit—data.
In accordance with IEEE Standard 802.3ae-2002, published Aug. 30, 2002, such decoding at the receiver has heretofore been performed under control of a state machine set forth in that standard. That state machine requires knowledge of a current sample to be decoded, as well as the two following samples. Accordingly, a receiver for such a padded protocol—e.g., 64b/66b encoding—has heretofore had to include buffering for two samples, each of which is 66 bits wide.
It would be desirable to be able to provide such receiver decoding circuitry with reduced buffering requirements, so that the chip area occupied by such a receiver could be reduced.

Reduced-area architecture for padded-protocol interface


A cutting element has a cutting face at an opposite axial end from a base, a side surface extending from the base to the cutting face, an edge formed at the intersection between the cutting face and the side surface, and an elongated protrusion formed at the cutting face and extending between opposite sides of the edge, wherein the elongated protrusion has a geometry including a border extending around a concave surface and sloped surfaces extending between the border and the edge, and wherein the concave surface has a major axis dimension measured between opposite sides of the border and a minor axis dimension measured perpendicularly to the major axis dimension and ranging from 50 percent to 99 percent of the major axis dimension.

Cutting elements used in down-hole drilling operations are often made with a super hard material layer to penetrate hard and abrasive earthen formations. For example, cutting elements may be mounted to drill bits (e.g., rotary drag bits), such as by brazing, for use in a drilling operation. FIG. 1 shows an example of a fixed cutter drill bit 10 (sometimes referred to as a drag bit) having a plurality of cutting elements 18 mounted thereto for drilling a formation. The drill bit 10 includes a bit body 12 having an externally threaded connection at one end 14, and a plurality of blades 16 extending from the other end of bit body 12 and forming the cutting surface of the bit 10. A plurality of cutters 18 are attached to each of the blades 16 and extend from the blades to cut through earth formations when the bit 10 is rotated during drilling. The cutters 18 may deform the earth formation by scraping, crushing, and shearing.
Super hard material layers of a cutting element may be formed under high temperature and pressure conditions, usually in a press apparatus designed to create such conditions, cemented to a carbide substrate containing a metal binder or catalyst such as cobalt. For example, polycrystalline diamond (PCD) is a super hard material used in the manufacture of cutting elements, where PCD cutters typically comprise diamond material formed on a supporting substrate (typically a cemented tungsten carbide (WC) substrate) and bonded to the substrate under high temperature, high pressure (HTHP) conditions.
A PCD cutting element may be fabricated by placing a cemented carbide substrate into a container or cartridge with a layer of diamond crystals or grains loaded into the cartridge adjacent one face of the substrate. A number of such cartridges are typically loaded into a reaction cell and placed in the HPHT apparatus. The substrates and adjacent diamond grain layers are then compressed under HPHT conditions which promotes a sintering of the diamond grains to form a polycrystalline diamond structure. As a result, the diamond grains become mutually bonded to form a diamond layer over the substrate interface. The diamond layer is also bonded to the substrate interface.
Such cutting elements are often subjected to intense forces, torques, vibration, high temperatures and temperature differentials during operation. As a result, stresses within the structure may begin to form. Drag bits for example may exhibit stresses aggravated by drilling anomalies during well boring operations such as bit whirl or bounce often resulting in spalling, delamination or fracture of the super hard material layer or the substrate thereby reducing or eliminating the cutting elements efficacy and decreasing overall drill bit wear life.

Cutting element with nonplanar face to improve cutting efficiency and durability


A method for transmitting data to a receiver comprises the steps of transmitting a pre-conditioning signal to the receiver, and beginning to transmit at least one data packet to the receiver within a given period after beginning transmission of the pre-conditioning signal. The preconditioning signal is separate from a leader of the data packet to be transmitted.

The use of infrared radiation (IR) communications for the transmission of audio, video, data and control signals is rapidly growing. Applications using infrared transmission include remote controls for television, cable set top boxes, videocassette recorders (VCRs), digital versatile disk (DVD) players, compact disk changers and the like, remote keyboards, wireless LAN networks, video-conferencing equipment, computer peripherals, medical equipment, and personnel and equipment locating monitors.
In IR communications, commands and keystrokes are conveyed serially in IR packets via an IR transmission channel. The transmitted packet(s) include modulated data pulses preceded by a leader. The leader is much wider than a data pulse. The leader marks the beginning of the packet, and initiates a gain adjustment by an automatic gain control (AGC) circuit in the corresponding IR Receiver, for optimum data detection and subsequent decoding.
Before the rapid growth in functionality of IR remote control devices, a remote control had relatively few keys, and performance of the IR channel was not an issue. The user performed simple operations, such as: switch channel, adjust audio volume, toggle mute switch, and the like. These manual key operations were relatively slow. During a key press, a remote control device typically entered an autorepeat mode and emitted several copies of the same IR packet in a row, usually separated by an autorepeat interval. The repetition of IR Packets raised the IR channel reliability. Excess auto-repeated packets were discarded by the receiving device.
The appearance of more complex audio-video systems and interactive television (ITV)—in which the user utilizes an IR wireless keyboard—caused rapid saturation of the IR control channel. To meet performance requirements, typed keystrokes are now buffered in the transmitting device and are transmitted as a series of distinct IR Packets. Complex remote controls and keyboard with a multitude of keys, and pointing devices (e.g.: mouse) encode some keystrokes as a single IR packet and encode other keystrokes as a combination of several distinct IR Packets.
Such complex systems have been observed to suffer the problem of data loss in the same lighting conditions where simpler devices or functions still function as before. The proliferation of fluorescent lamps as a cost effective source of ambient light further degrades the reliability of the IR communication channel.
Loss of data in the IR communication channel causes the user to repeat operations (commands, keystrokes), or choose to sit in a less desirable position much closer to the IR receiver. Errors during keyboard typing often cause marker (cursor) repositioning and necessitate retyping of lost letters on the screen. This considerably slows down typing in comparison to a (wired) computer keyboard input, drastically diminishing customer satisfaction. Some important operations are rendered difficult or impossible, e.g.: secure password entry.
An apparatus and method for increasing reliability without taxing performance of IR channel is desired.

Method and system for enabling detection of signals in the presence of noise


An optical time domain reflectometry (OTDR) system is configured to detect Rayleigh backscatter reflected from a multimode sensing optical fiber. The system includes a single spatial mode filtering system to select a single speckle of the Rayleigh backscatter produced in response to an optical pulse launched into the multimode fiber. The detected single speckle may be used for distributed disturbance (vibration) detection.

Coherent Rayleigh noise (CRN) acquisition is a technique usable in an optical time domain reflectometry (OTDR) system which allows very small changes in the length and/or temperature of an optical fiber to be detected. As changes in the length of the optical fiber may be related to strain and/or a disturbance imparted on the fiber, a CRN acquisition system can be particularly useful to measure parameters indicative of a problem or potential problem with an elongate structure in proximity to the optical fiber, such as an energy cable, a pipeline, etc. As one example, CRN can be used to detect an encroachment, on an energy cable, for example caused by inadvertent or deliberate digging in the vicinity of the cable. In addition, it could be used to detect partial discharge (PD) through either the vibration induced by PD or the heat generated. Because partial discharge occurs in energy cables prior to complete installation failure, the vibration caused by the partial discharge can be detected via a CRN technique, thus enabling remedial action to be taken prior to damage or failure occurring. CRN also has applications in intrusion detection, as well as in the detection of acoustic events, such as flow-induced noise. Yet further, when used in conjunction with a distributed temperature sensor (DTS) system, data obtained from DTS installations may be refined based on a distributed measurement of vibration or disturbance obtained from the CRN measurement.
To our knowledge, no commercial installations exist where DTS and CRN are used simultaneously. The most common approach to DTS has been Raman OTDR, with some suppliers also offering Raman optical frequency-domain reflectometry (OFDR). Traditionally, DTS measurements over moderate distances (e.g., up to 10 km) have been carried out on multimode fiber, owing to the higher backscatter factor in these fibers, i.e. the higher ratio of usable Raman signal returned to the energy launched into the fiber. There are many thousands of DTS installations worldwide using multimode fiber.
In contrast, it has hitherto been thought that CRN measurements required a single mode fiber to provide a high contrast as a result of a single spatial mode. However, the use of single-mode fiber for DTS measurements degrades the performance (relative to that obtainable on multimode fiber) in Raman systems, at least over moderate distances. Thus an installation requiring DTS and CRN in the same region of interest would generally require two separate fibers: a multimode fiber for DTS measurements and a single-mode fiber for CRN measurements. The installation of separate fibers, however, is not particularly desirable, particularly in terms of cost, as well as in terms of the engineering required to install additional fibers. Alternatively, because the use of multimode fibers for CRN measurements has been avoided since multimode fibers do not produce Rayleigh backscatter that has sufficient contrast for phase changes to be detected by a data acquisition system, a single single-mode fiber could be employed for both DTS and CRN measurements. However, such an arrangement will result in a compromise in the DTS performance. Because of these limitations, pre-existing DTS installations using multimode fiber have been unavailable to use for CRN measurements because of the nature of the fiber in place.

Distributed vibration sensing system using multimode fiber


Provided are a method, system, and program for deriving and using data access control information to determine whether to permit requested derivations of data elements. Data access control information is initialized for each of a plurality of data elements, wherein the data access control information for each associated data element includes a user access list indicating authorized users and a data access list indicating at least one data element that may be subject to a derivation operation with the associated data element. A request is received from one user to subject a first data element and a second data element to a derivation operation. The data access control information for one of the first and second data elements is processed to determine whether the user access list and data access list in the processed data access control information permits the user to perform the requested derivations of the first and second data elements.

Data may be stored in data warehouses or databases that are several terabytes large, with the size increasing over time. Data mining is a process used to discover interesting patterns in different groups of data stored in the data warehouse. For instance, a data mining tool may aggregate information on customers and their purchases to determine patterns that may provide information that may be used in making marketing decisions to the customers. Data mining tools may extrapolate from aggregated data to predict trends and behaviors to provide knowledge to decision makers.
One concern with processes such as data mining is protecting confidentiality and privacy that may be comprised when a data mining tool is able to aggregate different data elements and derive confidential information or privacy information from the aggregation. In the data mining context, there is the "data inference" problem, where confidential information may be derived by discovering discernible patterns in data, even if the individual data elements alone are not confidential or secured. The pattern discovered from the data combination/aggregation may reveal highly sensitive and confidential information that needs to be protected. Another concern is that there is currently no systematic method to assure that derived data (including those data automatically generated along the path of an Enterprise Data Warehouse (EDW) pipeline) have the appropriate access control level. An EDW integrates data spread across transactional systems into a central repository, against which users may perform business analytics.

Deriving and using data access control information to determine whether to permit derivations of data elements


Thermal breaker or thermal barrier structures are disclosed for use in connection with roof decking assemblies wherein the thermal breaker or thermal barrier structures effectively prevent the respective transmission of heating gradients from the interior or exterior building environments to the exterior or interior building environments by thermal conductivity so as to render buildings more energy efficient.

Steel fasteners, clips, and other means, used for securing external structural component parts to internal component parts wherein the external structural component parts are exposed to hot or cold weather conditions, allow heat to escape from the thermally heated interior region of, for example, a building or dwelling, or alternatively, allow heat to effectively invade the thermally cooled or air-conditioned interior region of the building or dwelling, by thermal conductivity. For example, a conventional PRIOR ART clip and tab assembly, for fixedly securing roofing panels to an underlying roofing substructure, is disclosed within FIG. 1 and is generally indicated by the reference character 10. More particularly, it is seen that the conventional PRIOR ART clip and tab assembly 10 comprises a substantially L-shaped clip 12 comprising a vertically oriented long leg component 14 and a horizontally oriented short leg component 16. The horizontally oriented short leg component 16 is adapted to be seated upon and fixedly connected to a joist member of the underlying roofing substructure by means of, for example, screw fasteners, while the upper end portion of the vertically oriented long leg component 14 is provided with a pair of laterally spaced lugs 18,18 bent at an angle of substantially 90° with respect to the vertically oriented long leg component 14 so as to be disposed substantially parallel to the horizontally oriented short leg component 16, and a centrally located lug 20 which is also bent at an angle of substantially 90° with respect to the vertically oriented long leg component 14, so as to likewise be disposed substantially parallel to the horizontally oriented short leg component 16, the lugs 18, 20 extending in opposite directions. Taken together, the lugs 18,20 effectively define shelf, ledge, or support surfaces upon which mating crest portions of adjacent roofing panels, forming the roof decking, are adapted to be respectively seated.
A tab member 22 is fixedly mounted upon the vertically oriented long leg component 14 of the clip 12 by means of a dimpled detent 24 or the like for permitting the tab member 22 to be retained at the central position upon the clip 12 but nevertheless movable toward the left or right as viewed in the drawing figure, while the horizontally oriented leg component 16 of the clip 12 is adapted to be fixedly connected to a joist member, not shown, of an underlying roofing substructure. The upper end portion of the tab member 22 is provided with a substantially arcuate portion 26 which is adapted to internally accommodate an upstanding portion of one of the mating adjacent roofing panels while the upstanding portion of the other one of the mating adjacent roofing panels is adapted to be disposed upon the external surface region of the arcuate portion 26 of the tab member 22 such that the two upstanding portions of the mating adjacent roofing panels form with the arcuate portion 26 of the tab member 22 a three-piece sandwich or laminated structure. In this manner, when such sandwich or laminated structure, comprising the pair of upstanding portions of the mating adjacent roofing panels and the arcuate portion 26 of the tab member 22, is subsequently rolled and crimped, the mating adjacent roofing panels are fixedly secured to the joist member of the underlying roofing substructure through means of the clip and tab assembly 10. An outwardly projecting portion 28 of the tab member 22, disposed within the slot 30 of the vertical leg 14 of the clip 12 permits the tab member 22, and the adjacent roofing panels connected thereto, to undergo lateral movement in accordance with expansion and contraction conditions attendant the roofing panels. With the aforenoted clip and tab assembly 10, it can readily be appreciated, however, that a thermal flow path is directly established or defined between the joist member, which is disposed internally within the building structure, and the roofing panels which are disposed externally of the building structure through means of the clip 12 and the tab member 22, as well as the screws securing the clip 12 to the underlying joist member. Accordingly, heat from the heated environment disposed or contained internally within the building structure can effectively escape to the outside cold weather environment, or alternatively, heat from the outside hot weather environment can effectively invade the cooled or air-conditioned environment disposed or contained internally within the building structure. A need therefore existed in the art for effectively breaking or interrupting the aforenoted thermal flow path so as to terminate or prevent the egress or ingress of the heat or thermal energy out from or into the building structure.
Accordingly, the thermal breaker or thermal barrier assembly, as disclosed within FIG. 2 and generally indicated by the reference character 110, was developed in an attempt to address and resolve the aforenoted problems or deficiencies characteristic of the clip and tab assembly 10 disclosed within FIG. 1. More particularly, the thermal breaker or thermal barrier assembly 110 is seen to comprise a thermal breaker or thermal barrier member 112 which is fabricated from a suitable plastic material by means of an injection molding process, and it is seen that the thermal breaker or thermal barrier member 112 comprises a horizontally disposed lower base portion 114 and an upper domed portion 116. The lower base portion 114 is adapted to be seated upon and secured to a joist member 118 of the underlying roofing substructure, and the upper domed portion 116 is seen to have a substantially diamond-shaped cross-sectional configuration. More particularly, it is seen that the upper domed portion 116 has oppositely disposed inclined surface regions 120,122, as well as an upper substantially planar surface region 124 which is disposed substantially parallel to the horizontally oriented lower base portion 114.
In this manner, side edge portions of a pair of adjacent roofing panels 126,128 can be supported upon the oppositely disposed inclined surface regions 120,122, as well as upon the upper substantially planar surface region 124, of the thermal breaker or thermal barrier member 112 so as to be mated and connected together. The central region of the upper domed portion 116 of the thermal breaker or thermal barrier member 112 is provided with a slot 130 having a substantially inverted T-shaped cross-sectional configuration, and a clip 132, having a substantially T-shaped cross-sectional configuration, is disposed in an inverted mode such that the head portion 134 of the clip 132 is disposed internally within the transverse portion of the slot 130 while the opposite free end portion 136 of the clip 132 projects outwardly from the thermal breaker or thermal barrier member 112 so as to be operatively crimped together with the side edge portions of the pair of adjacent roofing panels 126,128, thereby fixedly securing the pair of adjacent roofing panels 126,128 to the joist member 118 of the underlying substructure.
While the aforenoted thermal breaker or thermal barrier 110 ostensibly appears to resolve the problems noted hereinbefore with respect to the conventional PRIOR ART clip and tab assembly 10 as disclosed within FIG. 1, in that a thermal breaker or thermal barrier is in fact effectively interposed between the joist member 118 and the pair of mated roofing panels 126,128, the thermal breaker or thermal barrier assembly 110 nevertheless still poses or exhibits some undesirable operational and fabrication characteristics. For example, since the thermal breaker or thermal barrier member 112 is fabricated by injection molding techniques, and since the volume encompassed by means of the thermal breaker or thermal barrier member 112 is substantial, in that the thermal breaker or thermal barrier member 112 has a length dimension of eight inches (8.00″) and a height dimension of two inches (2.00″), the thermal breaker or thermal barrier member 112 is costly to manufacture due to material costs and injection molding cycle time. In addition, even though the thermal breaker or thermal barrier member 112 is in fact fabricated from a suitable plastic material, it is noted that a predetermined axially located region of the thermal breaker or thermal barrier member 112 has its complete undersurface portion of the base portion 114 disposed in contact with the underlying joist member 118, while the upper domed region 116 of the thermal breaker or thermal barrier member 112 has its inclined surface portions 120,122, and its upper planar portion 124, disposed in complete surface contact with the pair of mated adjacent roofing panels 126,128.
Accordingly, since the roofing panels 126,128 are exposed, for example, to cold external atmospheric air, while the joist member 118 is exposed to an internally heated environment, or alternatively, since the roofing panels 126,128 are exposed, for example, to hot external atmospheric air, while the joist member 118 is exposed to an internally cooled or air-conditioned environment, the thermal path extending between the interior of the building structure and the external atmospheric environment remains intact whereby heat loss or egress of thermal energy out from the interior of the building structure, or the ingress of thermal energy into the building structure, can effectively continue at an undesirable rate. Still yet further, it is noted that the clip 132 is fabricated as a single sheet member which is effectively folded in a predetermined manner, and along predetermined fold lines, so as to effectively form the final clip structure. It is noted, however, that the folded and mated regions of the clip are not in fact fixedly secured with respect to each other. Accordingly, wind uplift forces can cause the clip 132 to fail in view of the fact that the wind uplift forces will not be evenly impressed upon or evenly distributed throughout the various sections or regions of the clip 132.
A need therefore exists in the art for a new and improved thermal breaker or thermal barrier assembly which is capable of being manufactured in a cost-effective manner, which effectively rectifies the deficiencies characteristic of the conventional PRIOR ART thermal breaker or thermal barrier structures so as to in fact significantly reduce the amount of heat loss or egress of thermal energy out from the interior of the building structure, or the ingress of thermal energy into the building structure, and which comprises a clip member, for effectively connecting together the edge portions of the adjacent roofing panels, which is rigidified in a predetermined manner so as to effectively reinforce itself and thereby be capable of resisting wind uplift forces such that the clip member does not exhibit failure under wind uplift force conditions.

Thermal breaker structures for use with roof decking assemblies


Examples herein describe a vehicle seating system. The vehicle seating system may include a rail mounted to a vehicle roof and supported by a vehicle frame. The vehicle seating system may include an anchor system movable along the rail, the anchor system including: a locking device that locks the anchor system in a position along the rail; and a heating, vacuuming, and air conditioning (HVAC) port in communication with a HVAC duct within the vehicle roof. The vehicle seating system may include an interchangeable seat module that connects to the anchor system to suspend the seat module above a floor of the vehicle, wherein the seat module connects to the HVAC port.

The subject matter disclosed herein relates to vehicle seating and, more particularly, to suspended seating.
Conventional passenger vehicles include driver-side and passenger-side front seats normally oriented facing a forward direction of travel. Vehicle seats generally include controls for adjusting the position of the seat. More advanced vehicle seats include power movement, adjustable lumbar support, adjustable side bolsters, seat and back heating, sound systems, and ventilation systems.
Passenger vehicle seating, however, is typically limited to fixed locations for each seat. For example, seats are arranged in forward facing rows. Even special purpose vehicles such as limousines typically have a fixed seating arrangement. In an autonomous vehicle, however, a fixed location for driver and/or passenger seats may not be necessary.
In view of the foregoing, a seating system including suspended modular seating units in a vehicle is provided. Further advantages will become apparent from the disclosure provided below.


A thin-film light-emitting diode chip with a layer stack having a first emission surface and an opposite second emission surface, so that the thin-film light-emitting diode chip has at least two main emission directions. Measures for improving the outcoupling of the light generated in the layer sequence are provided on both the first and the second main emission surface. A method is disclosed for manufacturing a thin-film light-emitting diode chip.

A semiconductor chip and a method for its manufacture are described in publication Application DE 100 40448 A1. A composite layer consisting of an active layer and a base layer is arranged on a substrate. In addition, a reinforcement layer and an auxiliary carrier layer, which are applied to the base layer galvanically before the substrate is detached, are added to the composite layer. For manipulating the semiconductor chip formed from the composite layer, a film is laminated on the side of the detached substrate.
A semiconductor chip is known from Utility Patent DE 202 200 258 U1 that comprises a semiconductor layer that is grown on a substrate, separated with a pulsed laser from a substrate and bonded to a carrier with its side that was detached from the substrate.

Thin-film light emitting diode chip and method for producing a thin-film light emitting diode chip


Systems and methods for rapid importation of data including temporally tracked object recognition. One of the methods includes receiving datasets each indicating information associated with one or more objects. Information indicating unique identifying information associated with the objects is accessed, and an updated dataset joining information from datasets that is associated with each object is generated. The updated dataset is maintained to include most recent versions of each of the datasets, with one or more datasets being replaced with more recent versions, and with one or more other datasets being propagated to be the most recent versions. Queries received from clients are responded to, with the queries indicating requests for specific information related to objects.

A corporation may generate large quantities of information, such as logs indicating user access, virtual private network (VPN) connections, information associated with employees, and so on, and may store this information in numerous databases. These logs may include tables of information, and may include millions, hundreds of millions, billions, and so on, rows of disparate items of information with the logs including little useful contextual information. While the corporation may have a need to ask complex questions whose answers are contained in combinations of this data, being able to parse and process the information presents large technical hurdles. For example, a corporation may have an immediate need to rapidly identify computer systems that conform to a set of constraints (e.g., particular applications execute on the computer systems, particular users have utilized the computer systems, the computer systems are located in particular physical areas, and so on).
Since disparate systems can, with some regular frequency, generate logs, this mass of logs can pile up leaving the corporation with little daylight into the information. As an example, a domain controller may generate logs associated with security authentication requests. As another example, logs may automatically be generated that specify user access rights, for example based on an access control list. Both of these types of logs may include information, which in combination, can be useful to a reviewing user.
Additionally, incorporating new types of logs, updated logs, modified logs, and so on, can result in deep-rooted errors that can propagate through analyses being performed based on the logs. Without systems and processes to rapidly ingest and process logs, this log information can be of limited use.

Rapid importation of data including temporally tracked object recognition


A hydrocarbon (HC) trap positioned in an intake conduit of an engine is provided. The HC trap includes a stack of consecutively layered polymeric sheets with at least a portion of the sheets impregnated with a HC vapor adsorption/desorption material, the stack of sheets extending from a first exterior surface to a second exterior surface.

Hydrocarbon (HC) vapors may emanate from the interior of an engine and escape through the engine's intake system. Therefore, HC traps are used in internal combustion engines to capture hydrocarbon vapors which may be otherwise leaked into the environment surrounding the engine. HC traps therefore reduce emissions (e.g., evaporative emission) from the engine.
US 2005/0145224 discloses an evaporative emission storage device having HC adsorption/desorption material positioned between porous polymeric layers. Hydrocarbon vapors may flow through the porous polymeric layers and into the HC adsorption/desorption material where the vapor is stored. The Inventors have recognized several drawbacks with the evaporative emission storage device disclosed in US 2005/0145224. Firstly, filling the area between the porous polymeric layers with adsorption material may involve a complicated and costly manufacturing process, increasing the cost of the vehicle. Additionally, the polymeric layers surrounding the adsorption material may limit the flow rate of the HC vapor into and/or out of the adsorption material. As a result, the amount of HC vapors captured by the storage device may be reduced, which may increase emissions (e.g., evaporative emissions). Furthermore, the profile of the HC trap may be increased when the polymeric material is used to enclose adsorption material. Still further, it may be difficult to provide a desired amount of rigidity to the storage device via the porous polymeric layers while at the same time providing the desired adsorption and/or desorption rate of the HC vapor in the storage device. Therefore, tradeoffs between desired characteristic in the storage device disclosed in US 2005/0145224 may be necessitated.
The Inventors herein have recognized the above issues and developed a hydrocarbon (HC) trap for an intake system of an engine. The HC trap includes a stack of consecutively layered polymeric sheets at least a portion of the sheets impregnated with a HC vapor adsorption/desorption material, the stack of sheets extending from a first exterior surface to a second exterior surface.
The polymeric sheets serve multiple uses, providing structural integrity to the HC trap and providing HC adsorption via the adsorption/desorption material embedded within the sheets. Consequently, the adsorption and/or desorption rate of HC vapors in the HC trap may be increased when HC adsorption material is integrated into the polymeric sheets. Moreover, the profile of the HC trap may be reduced, if desired, when the sheets provide both structural integrity as well as adsorption/desorption functionality. Furthermore, the cost of the HC trap may be reduced when the polymeric sheets serve multiple purposes.
In one example, there may be no intervening adsorption/desorption material positioned between the sheets, such as carbon pellets. In this way, the cost of the HC trap may be reduced via a reduction in materials in the trap. It will be appreciated that the manufacturing cost of the HC trap may be reduced when the sheets are impregnated with HC vapor adsorption/desorption material and there is no adsorption/desorption material positioned between the sheets, due to the elimination of a step of filling the area between the sheets with loose adsorption/desorption material.
The above advantages and other advantages, and features of the present description will be readily apparent from the following Detailed Description when taken alone or in connection with the accompanying drawings.
It should be understood that the summary above is provided to introduce in simplified form a selection of concepts that are further described in the detailed description. It is not meant to identify key or essential features of the claimed subject matter, the scope of which is defined uniquely by the claims that follow the detailed description. Furthermore, the claimed subject matter is not limited to implementations that solve any disadvantages noted above or in any part of this disclosure. Additionally, the above issues have been recognized by the inventors herein, and are not admitted to be known.

Hydrocarbon trap and method for manufacture


Print media (28) having a plurality of radio frequency data storage devices (88) passes through a print media pathway (110) of a printer assembly (14). The devices (88) can be programmed using groups (142, 144) of antennas which are arranged about the print media pathway (110) such the simultaneous programming of multiple devices (88) can be achieved. A data programming device (94) consisting of multiple reader/programmers (94a, 94b, 94c) can be utilized in combination with one or more RF multiplexers (152, 154) to reduce the time necessary to program the devices (88) separately.

Inkjet and laser printers have become commonplace equipment in most workplace and home computing environments. Today, many printers are multi-functional assemblies capable of printing on a large array of print media such as, for example, letterhead, envelopes and labels. A recent innovation in the printing industry involves the manufacturing of print media with embedded radio frequency signatures such as is possible with Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags. These tags, sometimes called "Smart Labels", may be used with a variety of existing printing methods and the embedded tags may be programmed with information that is of use to the user.
Such print media generally comprises a backing material (sometimes referred to as the "web") upon which a label is applied, with a RFID tag sandwiched in between the label and the backing material. There may be one or more labels on the web and the sheet, as presented, may be part label and part plain paper. In some cases, there may be more than one tag arrayed across the width and down the length of the media such that multiple columns and/or rows of tags are contained on the print media.
One of the benefits of printing labels on a cut-sheet printer such as a laser or inkjet printer is that the relatively wide format allows for multiple columns of labels to be used. The use of multiple columns improves the overall rate at which the labels can be printed. For labels with embedded RFID tags, this efficiency can also be attained if the RFID tags can be programmed at a rate that will not adversely effect printing speed.
Although existing RFID protocols allow for multiple tags within range of a single reader antenna, the programming of these tags is still performed one at a time. Since programming a single RFID tag takes a relatively significant amount of time, the task of efficiently programming multiple tags on a sheet of print media becomes the limiting factor in maintaining throughput in an RFID label printing system.
For these reasons and others, it is desirable to improve throughput when programming an array of tags using a radio frequency data programming system. A means of efficiently writing data to a plurality of radio frequency storage devices, such as multiple RFID tags, contained on print media would be advantageous.

Systems and apparatus for writing data to multiple RF tags contained on print media