A TLB receives an access request with respect to a first address and access authorization assigned to the request from an arithmetic operation control unit, translates the first address to a second address, determines the suitability of the access authorization, and outputs the access request with respect to the first address when the access authorization is not suitable. An MMU receives the access request with respect to the first address output from the TLB, translates the first address to the second address, determines the suitability of the access authorization, and outputs a notification of access prohibition to the arithmetic operation control unit when the access authorization is not suitable.

A processor functioning as an arithmetic processing device has a virtual memory for convenience of software. The virtual memory is a technology for defining, for example, virtual memory space that is greater than the capacity of a real memory included in a system and using a part of the virtual memory space by mapping the space into the real memory. The CPU can allow software to use the memory space that is greater than the real memory space by executing the software by switching the mapping with respect to the virtual memory space.
The processor performs a translation process for translating addresses in order to associate a virtual address that is the address of the virtual memory space used by the software with a physical address that is the address of the real memory space that is physically present. Because a penalty is large in processing time of address translation including a process for reading from a main storage device performed multiple times, a translation lookaside buffer (TLB) is used to speed up the processing time. The TLB is a cache mechanism constituted by hardware in which sets of physical addresses associated with virtual addresses that have been translated once are registered.
If a subsequent command accesses to a virtual address registered in a TLB, it is possible to acquire a physical address corresponding to a translation result without passing through a memory management unit (MMU). When a TLB is used in this way, a translation process is shortened and thus it is possible to speed up the address translation.
To speed up the address translation by shortening the address translation is the first purpose for the TLB; however, in addition to this, the TLB also performs exception handling. Here, access authorization violation will be described as an example of the exception handling. In order to protect highly confidential information, such as passwords, in memory space, authorization of software that can be accessed is defined for each area. This authorization is generally represented by privilege levels. If software attempts to access a memory area that is not authorized for the privilege level given to the software, hardware detects an authorization violation and generates an exception without reading a value of the protected memory.
To execute the exception handling, the TLB has an access authorization judgement circuit that holds information on privilege levels that enables to access the subject area in addition to the physical address and that compares the information with the privilege level given to the software that requests an access to the subject area. Then, conventionally, the TLB judges access authorization and, if the TLB detects an authorization violation, the TLB performs exception handling that reports an exception. If malicious software accesses a protected area, reading of the value stored in the protected memory attempted by the software is prohibited due to the occurrence of an exception of authorization violation.
Furthermore, as a technology for address translation, there is a conventional technology for storing error information in a content-addressable memory at the time of miss hit of the content-addressable memory and detecting, if a hit occurs in the error information next time, an access right violation by reading out the error information.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 01-228037
In the conventional TLB, if an associated set of a target subject physical address and a virtual address has been registered, because a cached value is read, the process of address translation is completed fast. However, if an association set of the target subject physical address and the virtual address has not been registered, after having performed the address translation, the TLB again performs a search and thus the process of the address translation is delayed. In contrast, in the conventional TLB, as described above, the process of the exception handling is completed fast.
Based on this, it is possible for malicious software to perform a timing attack on an arithmetic processing device. The timing attack is a technique for randomly accessing virtual memory space; observing, based on the relationship between presence or absence of the occurrence of an exception with respect to an access and the time taken to perform a process, a TLB registration area used by software having a high privilege level; and using the observed area as the clue for an attack. Namely, in the conventional TLB, a problem occurs in a security vulnerability in which software having a lower privilege level can observe an area used by software having a higher privilege level. Furthermore, because software in which an access authorization violation occurs is usually software having bugs, performing exception handling by using a TLB at a high speed is not generally considered as an advantage.
Furthermore, in the conventional technology for detecting an access right violation by using error information acquired when a miss hit occurs, because a processing time difference between at the time of exception handling and miss hit, the possibility that a timing attack is performed is not decreased and thus it is difficult to improve the safety of the system.

Arithmetic processing device, information processing apparatus, and method for controlling arithmetic processing device


Briefly, the disclosure describes embodiments of methods or apparatuses for processing, such as smoothing, a set of labeled measurements at a variety of scale levels. In one or more non-limiting embodiments purely for illustrative purposes, relatively fine details of labeled measurements may be displayed utilizing a relatively low-scale map, such as a map showing individual towns and/or villages. For display utilizing a relatively higher scale map, such as a map showing larger geopolitical areas, for example, relatively fine details may be omitted.

1. Field
This disclosure relates to processing labeled measurements using smoothing functions to create a visual representation of a region identified by the labeled measurements.
2. Information
In many applications, it may be useful to display measurements using computer-assisted graphics to display measurements in a manner that may be more easily interpreted by, for example, researchers, scientists, investigators, students, and/or others. For example, a medical researcher investigating the spread of an illness or disease across a region, may find that computer-assisted images representing the geographical distribution of the illness or disease may be a useful tool in determining locations at which disease-fighting resources may be positioned. Such positioning may facilitate, for example, more efficient and/or effective deployment of healthcare assets in a manner that may reduce incidence of cases of affliction as well as increase an ability to treat those already afflicted.
In another example in which display of computer-assisted graphics may be useful, a social sciences researcher may study measurements of labels associated with photographs in a database in an effort to study regional and/or national trends. In one possible example, trends among certain age groups may be evaluated by studying types of photographs taken by individuals of certain age groups and/or locations at which photographic images are captured, for example. This research may be used, for example, to uncover factors contributing to trends so that, for example, ramifications of elections, political and/or economic decisions, etc., may be better understood. To facilitate investigation, computer-generated graphics, for example, may be used to assist a researcher in visualizing trends and/or assessing how trends may propagate within a society, region, nation, etc.
Unfortunately, contemporary computer visualization tool sets may not be capable of assisting in epidemiological or social sciences investigations, for example. Thus, various types of epidemiology and/or social science research may be hindered by an inability to comprehensively and/or accurately visualize various phenomena. Researchers, for example, may be constrained to using less-effective and/or manual tools, which may be slow and/or cumbersome to manipulate. Further, communication of results of investigations to an audience, perhaps by way of computer-assisted imagery, may be less effective or even impaired. This may, for example, lessen the benefit of conducting the investigation.
Reference is made in the following detailed description to accompanying drawings, which form a part hereof, wherein like numerals may designate like parts throughout to indicate corresponding and/or analogous components. It will be appreciated that components illustrated in the figures are not necessarily drawn to scale, such as for simplicity and/or clarity of illustration. For example, dimensions of some components may be exaggerated relative to other components. Further, it is to be understood that other embodiments may be utilized. Furthermore, structural and/or other changes may be made without departing from claimed subject matter. It should also be noted that directions and/or references, for example, up, down, top, bottom, and so on, may be used to facilitate discussion of drawings and/or are not intended to restrict application of claimed subject matter. Therefore, the following detailed description is not to be taken to limit claimed subject matter and/or equivalents.

Identifying regions characterized by labeled measurements


An upper limb training apparatus includes a training apparatus main body that includes a base frame, and an operation rod to be operated by a trainee by hand. A chair is positioned in a right or in a left arm training position relative to the training apparatus main body. A monitor stand extends upward from the base frame. A monitor arm is provided in the monitor stand, and supports the monitor such that the position of the monitor can be adjusted in both right and left directions.

An upper limb training apparatus has been conventionally known that provides rehabilitation to a patient whose motor function of the upper limb (particularly, arm) is damaged due to disabilities such as a cerebrovascular accident and a spinal damage (refer to Patent Document 1). The conventional upper limb training apparatus includes a frame, an operation rod, and an extension and contraction driving section. The frame includes a fixed frame that can be placed on the floor surface, and a movable frame that can tilt relative to the fixed frame. The movable frame is supported by the fixed frame such that the movable frame can tilt in all directions from the tilting center. The operation rod is connected to the movable frame such that the operation rod can tilt. The operation rod can extend and contract vertically. The movable frame can tilt with an electric driving. The operation rod is extended and contracted by the extension and contraction driving section disposed in the middle portion. The operation rod has an upper end portion to which an attachment corresponding to the types of the training is removably attached.
In the conventional upper limb training apparatus, a patient grabs the attachment attached to a top portion of the operation rod by the mobility-impaired arm or fixes the upper limb to the attachment, and moves or tries to move the operation rod, or the arm is moved by the operation rod for rehabilitation.
The doctor and the occupational therapist comprehensively determine the purpose of the training to be provided, height of the patient, height of the shoulders of the patient, movable range of the mobility-impaired upper limb and/or types of the attachments, and appropriately sets set the length and movable length of the operation rod. Although the rod length of the operation rod is set according to the patients, some of the patients perform a function recovery training by operating the operation rod in the extension and contraction direction.    Patent Citation 1: Laid-Open Japanese Patent Publication 2007-50249    Patent Citation 2: US Patent Publication 2006/0293617


The invention relates to a method for measuring and analyzing the performance of a control circuit in an industrial process. Different parameters (indices) illustrating the state of the control circuit are combined in an intelligent manner such that each combination of index (VI, IAE, CTI, OI) values represents a specific example state of the control circuit. The indices and combinations of their values are selected in advance on the basis of expert knowledge and process research. A momentary state of the control circuit is deduced by computing the performance indices on the basis of the measurement data illustrating the control loop operation and by examining which (one) of the predetermined index value combinations best correlate(s) with the corresponding reference combination values. The reference state representing the best correlating combinations is then deduced to be the momentary state of the control circuit.

Process control systems control industrial processes by means of various field devices connected to the process, such as regulating devices, control devices, transducers, transmitters, and the like. A typical field device is a control valve provided with a valve controller. Devices known as intelligent field devices are equipped with control logic or software which make it possible to control the field device locally, for example by means of a suitable control algorithm, to collect both status and measurement data, and/or to communicate with an automation system or a field device management system. A field device, such as an intelligent control valve, is typically controlled by a process controller applying a suitable control algorithm on the basis of the measurement results (feedback) obtained from the process and the set values. Thus, a so-called control loop is formed. A large industrial process may include a plurality, even hundreds, of such control loops.
Control loops (control circuits) are tuned during installation to produce a desired process operation as well as possible, and they can be controlled when process performance is to be upgraded, or for some other reason. There are a variety of indices and measurements representing the performance of a control system and a process. They all illustrate this important matter from different points of view. In each specific situation, suitable indices and measurements should be selected to describe the process performance in question. Performance indices are also interdependent, and the upgrading of performance on the basis of one index may weaken the performance when assessed according to some other performance index. Further, when a large number of control circuits and control loops are used, it is difficult for a control room personnel to perceive and analyse the effect of different process controls and the real performance of a control loop or a sub-process in relation to the desired performance.
A prior art method for monitoring control circuit performance is a simple control error measurement and monitoring. Data related to the control operations are collected on a substantially on-line basis, and different summaries are computed during the monitoring period on the basis of the control errors. These summaries include control error absolute value, control error square, variability, etc. Such methods are commonly used.
Another known solution for monitoring control circuit performance includes methods that aim at detecting control circuit oscillation. This kind of method is described for example in U.S. Pat. No. 5,719,788.
A third prior art method is to compare control circuit performance with a minimum variance control, which allows stochastic disturbances to be eliminated quicker than with other methods. In other words, an index is obtained that indicates how much better the control could operate in theory if a customized minimum variance control were in use. The user enters a process delay as a parameter, the delay being in theory an element restricting the speed of the control operation.
The above methods measure a single dimension of control performance. No information is obtained of the total condition of the circuit. For example, the above described control error measurement and monitoring fails to explain the type of the problems occurring in the control, even in the case of a major error. A major control error may occur for example because the control is saturated, there is a load disturbance or a change of mode, or because the circuit is operated in manual mode. On the other hand, certain control problems, such as individual measurement disturbances and noises or actuator oscillations do not appear unambiguously in a control error.
The detection of control circuit oscillation is a valuable piece of information as such, but similarly as control error measurement, it is an indicator that only detects a small portion of poorly functioning control circuits.
A comparison with minimum variance control does not take into account the fact that control circuits have individual speeds and different control circuits have highly differing target speeds. In addition, the speed of minimum variance control is fairly theoretical. In practice, delay is not the only factor restricting control speed.

Method and system for analyzing control circuit performance in industrial process


Provided to a transgenic tree induced by RabG3bCA and a use thereof. The transgenic tree serves to control xylem growth through RabG3b of Arabidopsis thaliana, and this function is involved in the growth of poplars. Particularly, the transgenic tree is valuable for industrial use since the increase in length of a fiber cell, which is the most important factor of determining pulp quality, is confirmed.

It is reported that carbon-based plants present in the Earth reach 10 times of the world oil consumption and 5 times of all kinds of energy consumption. Biomass products used in the world are sequentially rice straw, wheat straw, corn stover, and bagasse, and the total amount of the biomass products is 1,549 trillion kg. Recently, to stably produce plant bio energy attracting attention as the next generation environmentally friendly energy source capable of replacing fossil fuel, attention to development of biomass plants having high productivity is increasing. Raw materials of alternative energy bioethanol which now become the biggest issue are roughly classified into saccharides (sugar cane, sugar beet, etc.), starches (corn, potato, sweet potato, etc.), and lignocelluloses (lumber from thinning, waste wood, rice straw, etc.). All of commercialized bioethanol-producing techniques use food resources such as saccharide-based and starch-based biomasses as raw materials, and have a very close relationship with food supply for humans. A technique using a lignocellulosic biomass called the second generation biomass that is cheaper and has a less problem in supply of raw materials is actively being developed to overcome the above-described problems in the long term. As representative lignocellulosic biomass plants, poplars and eucalyptuses are used, and woods of these trees have attracted attention as an important material for producing various products such as papers, pulps, or fibers, and bioethanol. Due to such economic importance, studies for increasing the quantity and quality of woods are progressing, and thus a study for a synthesis pathway and a mechanism of controlling synthesis of woods is very important. A wood layer of a tree is composed of a secondary xylem, which is usually composed of a vessel element and fibers. In the angiosperm such as a poplar or eucalyptus, wood, that is, the secondary xylem, is formed in a vascular cambium, and completed through formation of a secondary cell wall and development of programmed cell death. Recently, the poplar is a model tree for study, and becomes an important plant for study as a tree for a biomass. Particularly, construction of various molecular biological databases and system establishment including decoding of gene sequence of the poplar, EST, microarray data accumulation, development of a molecular marker, and establishment of transforming technology become important bases for activating studies on poplars.
To develop the tree for a biomass, quantitative and qualitative increases in wood, that is, a xylem should be carried out. To this end, based on the understanding of a molecular mechanism of xylem development, it is essential to study the formation of a secondary cell wall and a process of the programmed cell death. The study on the formation of the secondary cell wall is very actively progressing, but relatively, the study on the programmed cell death is insignificant. Phenomenologically, the process of the programmed cell death sequentially includes vacuole collapse, secretion and activation of various lyases, and degradation of a cytoplasm, and thus formation of a xylem is observed. However, specific molecular mechanisms or critical regulatory factors are not mostly known. In the laboratory, autophagy is considered to be an important process to control the programmed cell death, and for the past several years, studies on the autophagy and the programmed cell death mechanism have been performed. Meanwhile, in the year of 2000, according to Fukuda Laboratory, probability of relating autography during the programmed cell death to differentiation of a vessel element has been disclosed, but there was no subsequent study thereon. To define a mechanism of xylem development derived from a vascular cambium, particularly, in addition to a molecular-level study on vessel element differentiation, during the vessel element differentiation, studies on the function of the autophagy and interrelation between the programmed cell death and the autophagy should be essentially performed. Accordingly, as the xylem development is stimulated and the qualitative and quantitative increases of wood layers are induced, development of lignocelluloses biomass plants ultimately useful in the industry can be successfully carried out.
To establish a "sugar platform" including various liquid fuels such as ethanol and butanol or value-added products in various ranges including a monomer of a raw polymer such as polylactic acid produced from fermentative sugar such as glucose, lignocellulose-derived biorefineries such as crude oil refineries now receive attention as a promising industry [Kamm, B., Kamm, M. 2004. Principles of biorefineries. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol, 64(2), 191 137-45; Lynd, L. R., Wyman, C. E., Gerngross, T. U. 1999. Biocommodity Engineering. Biotechnol 198 Prog, 15(5), 777-93]. Development of materials offering high cost efficiency is one of the main challenges for industrialization, and various studies relating to the development of an exclusive lignocellulose biomass are still progressing in the world including the U.S. and Europe. Due to a high growth rate and short-term circulation, the poplar is a representative biomass product in the art [Sannigrahi, P., Tuskan, G. A., Ragauskas, A. J. 2010. Poplar as a feedstock for biofuels: a 200 review of compositional characteristics. Biofuels Bioprod Bioref, 4, 209-226]. In addition, such a perennial tree is enriched with the main components for sugar turnover (conversion), which are cellulose and hemicelluloses, and does not need an input of large amounts of chemical products, and thus smaller investment in cultivation is needed [Baucher, M., Halpin, C., Petit-Conil, M., Boerjan, W. 2003. Lignin: genetic engineering and 166 impact on pulping. Crit Rev Biochem Mol Biol, 38(4), 305-50]. Until now, since the conversion into a lignocellulose is dependent on a specific gravity of wood and contents of lignin and cellulose, some studies relating to genetic engineering modifications have been performed. Details relating to genetic engineering improvement of poplars can be confirmed from the following literatures [Chen, F., Dixon, R. A. 2007. Lignin modification improves fermentable sugar yields for 168 biofuel production. Nat Biotechnol, 25(7), 759-61; Dinus, R. J. 2001a. Genetic improvement of poplar feedstock quality for ethanol production. 170 Appl Biochem Biotechnol, 91-93, 23-34; Sannigrahi, P., Tuskan, G. A., Ragauskas, A. J. 2010. Poplar as a feedstock for biofuels: a 200 review of compositional characteristics. Biofuels Bioprod Bioref, 4, 209-226]. In fact, the improvement of poplars through genetic modifications caused by 50% reduction of lignin was reported in 1999 [Service, R. F. 2007. Cellulosic ethanol. Biofuel researchers prepare to reap a new harvest. 204 Science, 315(5818), 1488-91]. However, until now, there is no study practically showing a systematic approach for utilizing genetically-modified plants including poplars to produce sugar.
The present inventors perform a study on differentiation of a vessel element as a representative cell layer of a xylem. Particularly, a small GTP-binding protein, RabG3b, which is found by analysis of secretive protein of Arabidopsis thaliana, is concerned, involved in the autophagy and vessel element differentiation, and probability of involving the autophagy in the vessel element differentiation is considered. Through various molecular-biological and cellular studies, it is known that the RabG3b is involved in vessel element differentiation in plants, that is, the xylem development, which is a mechanism performed by a function of the RabG3b to control the autophagy. Moreover, it is defined that the autophagy is an important process in the vessel element differentiation. When RabG3bCA is overexpressed in Arabidopsis thaliana, it is seen that both of length growth and thickness growth are increased compared to those of a wild-type plant, and it is confirmed that such growths are stimulated by the xylem development [Korean Patent Application No. 2010-0085609].

Transgenic tree induced by RABG3BCA and use thereof

KOREA UNIVERSITY RESEARCH AND BUSINESS FOUNDATION


High quality linear polyester resin is prepared by reacting in a first step or zone 2,6-naphthalene dicarboxylic acid with a molten prepolymer derived from a glycol and 2,6-naphthalene dicarboxylic acid to form a low molecular weight product of the first step or zone; reacting this resultant product with a glycol in at least two successive steps or zones of glycol addition to form prepolymer; and polymerizing at least a portion of the resulting prepolymer to form polyester resin which exhibits midpoint glass transition temperatures above about 123.degree. C. The resulting prepolymer is particularly suitable for reaction with the 2,6-naphthalene dicarboxylic acid in the first step or zone. Advantageously, at least a portion of the prepolymer is, therefore, returned to the first step or zone.

In preparing linear polyesters such as polyethylene terephthalate, a prepolymer consisting of bis(2-hydroxyethyl) terephthalate and/or higher ethylene terephthalate oligomers is polycondensed under vacuum to remove glycol liberated as prepolymer is condensed. The bis-(hydroxy-ethyl) terephthalate is usually prepared by either transesterification of dimethyl terephthalate with ethylene glycol or by direct esterification of highly purified terephthalic acid with excess ethylene glycol at the normal boiling point of the glycol.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,496,220 describes an esterification process in which hydroxyl-ended oligomer, said to be suitable for polycondensation to high molecular weight linear polyesters, is prepared by reacting terephthalic acid with performed hydroxyl-ended oligomer to from a carboxyl-ended oligomer which is then reacted with glycol in successive reaction zones to obtain the hydroxyl-ended oligomer. While it is stated that succinic, pimelic, adipic cyclohexane dicarboxylic, diphenyl dicarboxylic, and isophthalic acid might be used, this esterification process is illustrated only by means of embodiments utilizing the reaction of terephthalic acid with ethylene glycol and formation of the resulting hydroxyl-ended oligomer. No polycondensation of any oligomer is reported.
U.K. Patent Specification No. 1,445,034 describes a process for continuous production of polyester from purified terephthalic acid which polyester is said to have a molecular weight range of 17,500 to 18,500. In this process a slurry of terephthalic acid and excess of ethylene glycol (1.4 mole ratio) along with a conventional esterification catalyst is to be fed into a heated first reactor continuously. Introduction of excess glycol later in the esterification by additional ethylene glycol injection into process streams between successive reactors is said to facilitate completion of esterification.
J. S. Chung in "Acid-Base and Catalytic Properties of Metal Compounds in the Preparation of Poly(ethylene terephthalate)" J. Macromol. Sci.-Chem., A27(4), pp. 479-490 (1990), describes catalytic activity of metal complexes for both transesterification of dimethyl terephthalate and polycondensation of bis(2-hydroxyethyl) terephthalate. Chung reports that some metal ions showing higher activity in the polycondensation reaction also catalyze side reactions which can cause discoloration of the final poly(ethylene terephthalate) polymer. For many commercial uses, such as films and fibers, color is, however, a critical property of poly(ethylene terephthalate) resins.
Preparation of high molecular weight poly(ethylene terephthalate) by means of procedures used for the preparation of polyethylene terephthalate by either transesterification of dimethyl terephthalate with ethylene glycol or by direct esterification of highly purified terephthalic acid fail to produce resins with thermal properties required in applications of commercial interest.
Preparation of poly(ethylene-2,6-naphthalate) from 2,6-naphthalene dicarboxylic acid has, for example, been plagued with problems. These problems are, to a great extent, due to the insolubility of 2,6-naphthalene dicarboxylic acid, the small particle size of 2,6-naphthalene dicarboxylic acid generally available, and a molecular weight of 2,6-naphthalene dicarboxylic acid which is greater than the molecular weight of terephthalic acid. These factors serve to limit the minimum mole ratio of ethylene glycol to 2,6-naphthalene dicarboxylic acid ratio to values greater than two. Under these conditions substantial oligomerization of ethylene glycol occurs in the esterification stage of the preparation. Oligomerization results in a diglycol ether by-product which becomes incorporated into the polyester chain lowering its melting point and generally adversely affecting other properties of the resultant polymer. There is, therefore, a need for and improved process for manufacture from 2,6-naphthalene dicarboxylic acid of high quality polyester resin exhibiting improved thermal properties.

Process for manufacture of high molecular weight polyester resins from 2,6-naphthalene dicarboxylic acid


A coated base fabric for use in an automotive airbag is provided. The coated base fabric includes a substrate of woven nylon or polyester which is overcoated with a porosity blocking layer of polyamide material. The porosity blocking layer of polyamide material is present at a level of about 0.6 ounces per square yard or less. A method for producing the coated fabric of the present invention is also provided.

Airbags for motor vehicles are known and have been used for a substantial period of time. A typical construction material for airbags has been a polyester or nylon fabric, coated with an elastomer such as neoprene, or silicone. The fabric used in such bags is typically a woven fabric formed from synthetic yarn by weaving practices which are well known in the art.
The coated material has found acceptance because it acts as an impermeable barrier to the inflation medium. This inflation medium is generally a nitrogen gas generated from a gas generator or inflator. Such gas is conveyed into the cushion at a relatively warm temperature. The coating obstructs the permeation of the fabric by such hot gas, thereby permitting the cushion to rapidly inflate without undue decompression during a collision event.
Airbags may also be formed from uncoated fabric which has been woven in a manner that creates a product possessing low permeability or from fabric that has undergone treatment such as calendering to reduce permeability. Fabrics which reduce air permeability by calendering or other mechanical treatments after weaving are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,921,735; U.S. Pat. No. 4,977,016; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,073,418 (all incorporated herein by reference).
The coating of a fabric with an elastomer such as neoprene typically requires the application of that elastomer from a solution in a volatile solvent. This solvent must then be evaporated and the elastomeric system cured. Typical dry coating weights for neoprene have been in the range of about 1 ounce per square yard or greater. Silicone coatings typically utilize either solvent based or complex two component point of application reaction systems. Dry coating weights for silicone have been in the range of about 0.7 ounces per square yard or greater. As will be appreciated, high add on weights substantially increase the cost of the base fabric for the airbag as well as making the eventual sewing of the fabric into an airbag structure more difficult.
The use of certain polyurethanes as coatings as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,110,666 to Menzel et al. (incorporated by reference) permits low add on weights reported to be in the range of 0.1 to 1 ounces per square yard but the material itself is relatively expensive and is believed to require relatively complex compounding and application procedures due to the nature of the coating materials. It will, of course, be readily appreciated that complex solvent-based curing systems generally add expense to the process due to the need to closely control the curing operation.
In light of the background above, it can be readily seen that there exists a need for an airbag base fabric which provides controlled low permeability through use of a coating which provides an effective barrier to air permeability while nonetheless avoiding the inherent complexity and cost of materials which have heretofor been utilized. The present invention is believed to address these and other needs through use of a coating in the form of a water borne dispersion of finely divided polyamide which can be effectively applied at dry coating weights of about 0.6 ounces per square yard or less across a polyester or nylon substrate. Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent upon reading the following detailed description.
While the invention will be described and disclosed in connection with certain preferred embodiments and practices, it is in no way intended to limit the invention to those specific embodiments, rather it is intended to cover equivalent structures structural equivalents and all alternative embodiments and modifications as may be defined by the scope of the appended claims and equivalence thereto.


A fuel cell assembly including a porous tubular substrate made from a fluid-permeable material, and a plurality of elongated flexible polymer electrolyte fuel cells wound in side by side relation onto the substrate. Each elongated cell includes a central proton exchange membrane, a cathode element mounted on one side of said membrane and an anode element mounted on the other side of said membrane. In a preferred arrangement, the anode element of a first elongated wound fuel cell is in electrical contact with the cathode element of an adjacently wound fuel cell.

Fuel cells are electrochemical energy conversion devices which have been considered as an alternative for the conversion of energy to heat engines which are limited by their inherent thermodynamics. The concept of fuel cells has been generally known since the early 1960's when fuel cells were introduced as energy storage devices in the Gemini portion of the NASA space program.
A typical fuel cell consists of three components- two electrodes; that is, a cathodic element and an anodic element, and a bridging electrolyte which is sandwiched therebetween. Historically, fuel cells have been classified by means of the electrolyte utilized. To date, five classifications of fuel cells are known: Polymer Electrolyte Membrane (also referred to as Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells (PEM), Alkaline Fuel Cells (AFC), Phosphoric Acid Fuel Cells (PAFC), Molten Carbonate Fuel Cells (MCFC), and Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFC).
PEM-type fuel cells are particularly advantageous over the remaining types of fuel cells for various reasons. One advantage is the solid nature of the electrolyte used in the cell which minimizes the operational complications arising from the liquid electrolytes that are found in PAFCs and AFCs. Moreover, the nature of PEM-type fuel cells allow operation at relatively low temperatures (80 degrees C.) when compared to other fuel cell types, most particularly MCFCs and SOFCs which can only operate at much higher temperatures. In addition, PEM-type fuel cells are generally more efficient, have longer working lives and can maintain higher power densities than other forms of fuel cells.
PEM-type fuel cells, however, have not been commercially successful due to limitations found in currently known designs. The majority of these designs utilize flat plate geometries which are assembled in a parallel arrangement--the so-called "plate and frame" approach. These designs employ rather complex, and expensive "reactant flow plate" designs.
Another disadvantage of current "plate and frame" approaches is that these fuel cells assemblies must be manually manufactured by skilled artisans, making assembly expensive and time-consuming.
Still another disadvantage are the rigidity and bulkiness of the structures which are produced using "plate and frame" fuel cell designs. That is, in order to produce adequate power, a series of plates must be assembled together and then retained in a rigid and large enclosure. Such enclosures can not be retained easily in portable applications; for example, lap-top computers.
Finally, current fuel cell designs require thermal management for efficient operation. Although plate and frame designs for heat exchangers are commonly known, this type of fuel cell construction has a competing concern in that electrical and heat loads must be concurrently managed. The result is that often a separate cooling circuit is required, requiring additional cooling plates, making the design additionally bulky as well as expensive.
Presently known PEM-type fuel cells individually produce a small amount of voltage. To produce a significant amount of energy, the cells must be electrically connected in some manner. A disclosed way of electrically interconnecting fuel cells is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,338,623 in which the fuel cells are stacked one upon another. Plate and frame approaches utilize a similar approach, making fuel cells of this type quite bulky. To date, known tubular fuel cell constructions, such as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,336,570, are subject to large power losses due to the requirement of a large transverse sectional area which is wound on a substrate.
Finally, fuel cells in general utilize ion transfer through the membrane to produce desired electrochemical reactions. For these reactions to occur, reactants (usually hydrogen gas at the anode and oxygen from ambient air at the cathode) must be separately supplied from each electrode side of the membrane from an external source or tank.

Tubular fuel cell assembly and method of manufacture


Embodiments of systems and methods for providing search term suggestions in a search system are disclosed. Embodiments as disclosed may utilize the sound of an original search term to locate candidate terms based on the sound of the candidate terms and the frequency of appearance of the candidate terms in the corpus of documents being searched. A set of search term suggestions can then be determined from the candidate terms and returned to the user as search term suggestions for the original search term.

A search system (often referred to as a search engine) is a computer system used to index electronically stored information and search the indexed electronic information to return electronically stored information responsive to a search. In a conventional search engine, a user submits a query and the search engine selects a set of results from the corpus based on the terms of the search query. The terms of search queries usually specify words, phrases, logical relationships, metadata fields to be searched, synonyms, stemming variations, etc.
In such a conventional search engine, search index may specify which documents contain which terms. When a user submits a search, the search terms may be evaluated against the search index to determine results (e.g., documents of the corpus) responsive to the search. Generally, there are two basic methods for selecting a set of results from a corpus based on a search query. In the first method, a document that meets the explicit search terms of the search query will be selected as responsive. In the second method, for some types of search applications, the set of results selected is constrained (or further constrained) by a relevance measure. In particular, results selected by evaluating a search query as an explicit query are further scored and ordered by some criteria, and only the highest results are selected.
One problem that occurs in conjunction with the use of these types of search engines is that a searching user may enter a search term that may not necessarily be the keyword that will obtain a desired search result. For example, the user may misspell a search term. Accordingly, some search systems may provide suggestions to a searching user for additional, different or substitute search terms based on the search terms the user enters. By allowing a user to select additional or substitute terms, higher quality (e.g., more relevant or responsive) search results may be returned in response to a search.
Typically, these search systems may utilize a conventional spell checker to determine if the user has misspelled any search terms and provide correctly spelled words as search term suggestions. Edit distance algorithms may also be used to provide search term suggestions, whereby terms that are less than a certain edit distance from a search term may be provided as suggestions to a user. While this approach accounts for some misspellings, the use of edit distance is also problematic, at least because edit distance isn't necessarily reflective of terms that may have similar sounds or pronunciation. Thus, like the user of other types of spell checking algorithms, the use of edit distance may not serve to address the certain instances of incorrectly spelled or utilized terms. Moreover, the edit limit distance that may be effectively utilized is usually quite small (e.g., usually less than two), as the use of larger edit distances may adversely affect the performance of such algorithms (e.g., the search for similar terms becomes longer as the edit distance increases).
What is desired, then, are search systems which can provide high quality suggestions for alternative search terms to a searching user.

System and method for recommendation of terms, including recommendation of search terms in a search system


The turning amount of a turning unit is controlled based on the steering amount of a steering unit mechanically uncoupled from the turning unit, and the change amount of the steering reaction force relative to the change amount of the self-aligning torque in a steering reaction force characteristic is increased as a curvature of a white line is increased when the steering reaction force corresponding to the self-aligning torque is applied to the steering unit based on the steering reaction force characteristic corresponding to the self-aligning torque such that the larger the self-aligning torque, the larger the steering reaction force.

Japanese Patent Application Publication No. H11-78938 discloses a technology of applying a steering reaction force to a steering wheel according to a self-aligning torque in turning in such a manner that the larger the curvature of the turning, the smaller the steering reaction force for the purpose of achieving smooth passing through a curve. However, in this conventional technology, as the curvature becomes larger, the steering angle changes more largely with a change in a maintained steering torque. Hence, a vehicle is highly sensitive to a steering torque, which leads to a problem of making it difficult for a driver to perform course correction.


A method for supporting VP/VC groups in asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) switching systems that implement ATM automatic protection switching (APS). A source (SA) transmits traffic substantially continuously on two paths and a destination (SB), or sink, selects at any time one of the traffic from only one of the paths for further processing. The method includes creating a groups table having an entry for each of the two instances of every active VP/VC group's member set. Each entry indicates whether the cells for that instance of the member circuits of that VP/VC group should be forwarded or discarded. Each entry references a corresponding entry in the groups table by means of a pointer. The method includes accessing a relevant entry in the groups table when a cell for that circuit arrives, discarding the cell if the accessed value is “discard,” and forwarding the cell as specified in the specific lookup table entry for that circuit if the accessed value is otherwise. Protection switching for a group requires only changing the value of the corresponding two entries in the groups table, a single operation regardless of the number of member circuits in the group.

ATM APS is described in the 1.630 specification of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU-T). ATM APS provides a mechanism for quick recovery from physical faults, akin to APS mechanisms used in synchronous optical networks (SONETs). The protected entity in this case is an ATM VP or VC circuit. A description of ATM APS as specified by ITU-T specification 1.630 will aid in understanding the invention.
Referring to FIG. 1, consider an ATM network with arbitrary topology, and an ATM circuit (either VPC or VCC) extending from a node A to a node B, where node A is connected to a switching system SA and node B is connected to a switching system SB. In the context of traffic flow from A to B, the protection domain for this circuit extends from SA to SB. SA is sometimes referred to as the source for the protection domain of the circuit. SB is sometimes referred to as the sink for the protection domain of the circuit. Other nodes on the paths between source and sink are sometimes referred to as intermediate nodes along the protected circuit.
ITU-T specification 1.630 describes two different types of protection, so-called "1+1" protection, in which the source transmits (multicasts) the traffic constantly on both paths and the sink selects at any time one of the incoming traffic streams and forwards it to the egress, and so-called "1:1" protection, in which the source transmits the traffic on only one of the paths. When that path becomes disconnected, the source switches to transmit on the alternate path. An intermediate node that senses a problem on its associated path notifies the sink node using the AIS operations and maintenance (OAM) cell. The sink then effects a protection switch (1+1 protection) or notifies the source that the source should switch to the alternate path (1:1 protection).


A switching circuit for switching between a main power supply and a battery power supply includes a comparator, a p-channel battery power transfer transistor, a p-channel main power transfer transistor and an inverter. The comparator operates on the main power supply and is connected on input to the main power supply and to the battery power supply. The comparator compares the voltage level of the main power supply with the voltage level of the battery power supply and provides a selection signal which is low when the voltage level of the battery power supply is higher than the voltage level of the main power supply. The p-channel battery power transfer transistor is controlled by the selection signal and transfers the battery supply signal to a switched power supply node. The inverter operates on the battery power supply and inverts the voltage level of the selection signal. The p-channel main power transfer transistor is controlled by the inverter and transfers the main power supply to the switched power supply node.

Integrated circuits require a power supply to operate. When the circuit is not operating, the power supply is typically shut off. However, there are certain circuit elements for whom some level of power (such as battery power) is required at all times, even if the main power is shut down. For example, volatile random access memory (RAM) arrays, also known as "static RAMs" or SRAMs require some power to maintain the information stored therein, if such is necessary.
Power supply switches which select between a main power supply and a battery backup supply are well known in the art. These switches continually compare the voltage levels of the two supplies and switch to the battery supply when the voltage of the main power supply falls below the level of the battery supply. The switch switches to the main supply once its voltage level is above that of the battery supply.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,730,121 to Lee et al. describes one battery backup switching circuit which, in addition to the switching circuit, includes circuitry for receiving a reset or isolation signal. If the isolation signal is active, when the main power falls, the circuit will be isolated from both power sources.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,315,549 to Scherpenberg et al. describes a memory controller which supplies backup battery power when the main power supply fails.
There are some logic elements, particularly those of the switching circuit and often other elements as well, which must continually receive some level of power. The switching circuit elements require the power in order to independently determine when the main power has returned. The other logic elements may require power in order to provide logic signals during battery power operation.
Unfortunately, the continually operative logic elements continually pull power from the battery, reducing the life of the battery. Accordingly, integrated circuit designers work to reduce the number of parts which utilize battery power.
It is possible that the part with the VLSI circuit will operate on battery power for a significant length of time, particularly when the part is stored in inventory, prior to be used for the first time. The battery might then be significantly rundown even before the part is ever utilized.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,908,790 to Little et al. describes a backup battery switching circuit which selectively connects the backup battery only when it is desired to preserve the data in the RAM. The microcomputer to which the RAM is connected controls the switching circuit of Little et al. and commands whether or not the backup battery is to be utilized.


Methods and apparatus provide for: testing a static random access memory (SRAM) to obtain performance data on the SRAM; and using the performance data as at least a basis of a identification number.

The present invention relates to methods and apparatus for generating identification numbers.
The use of identification numbers, for example, in processing systems is becoming common and essential, particularly where secure communications functionality is desired. For example, a processing system may employ an identification number in order to permit a processor to create secure modes of communication or to provide authentication and/or verification for receiving content. For example, verification techniques are often used to permit a processor to download content (software programs, data, OS upgrades, etc.) over a network, such as the internet from an administrative entity or content provider. A verified identification number from the processor may provide at least part of the necessary information to prove the authenticity of the user and the processor.
The problems associated with prior art techniques for generating an identification number is that they require an undesirable amount of additional circuitry in order to achieve the desired functionality, which circuitry may be compromised. Thus, there is a need in the art for new ways of achieving identification number generation, preferably that makes use of existing circuitry in the system in which it is employed.

Methods and apparatus for producing an IC identification number


A plasma generating apparatus includes a container defining a hermetic process room. The container is connected to an exhaust for exhausting an interior of the process room and setting the interior of the process room to a vacuum, and a supply for supplying a process gas into the process room. First and second coils are wound on the outer surface of the container and disposed coaxially in order to generate in the process room an electric field for converting the process gas into a plasma. The first and second coils are connected to first and second RF power supplies for respectively applying first and second RF powers. The first and second RF powers respectively have first and second frequencies. The first and second frequencies are both 2 MHz or more, and a difference between them is set to fall in a range of from 1 kHz to 2 MHz. Hence, mutual interference of the first and second RF powers generates a synthesized wave having a periodically changing amplitude. This synthesized wave generates in the process room a synthesized wave electric field to which ions in the plasma can follow.. The synthesized wave electric field is utilized for controlling progress of dissociation of the process gas in the plasma.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a plasma generating apparatus and method and, more particularly, to an apparatus and method for generating a plasma used for the purpose of conducting a process, e.g., etching or film formation in, e.g., semiconductor device manufacturing processes.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, a large-scale integrated circuit (LSI) obtained by integrating a large number of elemental devices, e.g., transistors and resistors, on one chip is often employed in the important portion of a computer or communication equipment. Hence, the performance of the entire equipment is closely related to the performance of the LSI. An improvement in performance of a single LSI can be realized by increasing the integration degree, i.e., by micropatterning the elemental devices.
An example of the technique effective for micropatterning the elemental devices includes plasma-assisted techniques, e.g., reactive ion etching and plasma CVD (Chemical Vapor Deposition) For example, with reactive ion etching, ions in the plasma can be vertically radiated on the etching target substrate. Thus, etching can be imparted with anisotropy, enabling formation of a micropattern.
Of LSIs, however, semiconductor devices expected to have a further increase integration degree in the future, such as a 256-Mbit or 1 Gbit DRAM of a next-generation, are coming to require a design rule of quarter micron (0.25 .mu.m) or less. Thus, in formation of a gate electrode constituting a transistor or in trenching for forming a device isolation region or a memory capacitor, etching capable of realizing microprocessing and a high aspect ratio is required. Conventional reactive ion etching is unlikely to satisfy these requirements.
FIG. 15 is a schematic diagram briefly showing the arrangement of a conventional inductive coupling plasma etching apparatus (Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 5-206072).
As shown in FIG. 15, a susceptor 207 for placing a target substrate 206 thereon is provided in a process chamber 201. An RF (radio frequency) bias power supply 208 applies an RF bias to the susceptor 207. A quartz cylinder 202 for generating a plasma therein is provided on the process chamber 201. A coil 203 is wound on the outer surface of the quartz cylinder 202.
The process chamber 201 and the quartz cylinder 202 are integrally formed to constitute an etching room.
The coil 203 is connected to a first variable capacitor 205a and a second variable capacitor 205b to a parallel resonance circuit. One terminal of each of the first and second variable capacitors 205a and 205b is connected to an RF power supply 204. The RF power supply 204 supplies an RF power to the parallel resonance circuit.
The process chamber 201 is connected to a turbo-molecular pump 212 through a variable conductance valve 211. The process chamber 201 is provided with a pressure gauge 209. The opening degree of the variable conductance valve 211 is adjusted by using the pressure gauge 209, so that the pressure in the etching room can be set to a desired level.
A gas inlet pipe interposed with a massflow meter 210 is connected to the upper wall of the quartz cylinder 202. With the use of the massflow meter 210, a reactive gas can be introduced into the etching room at a desired flow rate.
An etching method using the plasma etching apparatus having the above arrangement will be described.
By using the massflow meter 210, a fluorocarbon-based process gas (e.g., CF.sub.4, C.sub.2 F.sub.6, C.sub.3 F.sub.8, or C.sub.4 F.sub.8) is introduced into the etching room at a predetermined flow rate.
By using the pressure gauge 209, the interior of the etching room is held at a predetermined pressure of about several Pa. In this state, the RF power supply 204 supplies RF power to the coil 203 to generate a plasma in the etching room.
By using the RF bias power supply 208, an RF voltage is applied to the susceptor 207. Thus, ions in the plasma are caused to be vertically incident on the surface of the etching target substrate 206 (silicon oxide film) to anisotropically etch it.
However, the conventional plasma etching apparatus of this type has problems as follows.
For example, when a small contact hole (a hole for connecting a wiring layer on the silicon oxide film with the silicon substrate under the silicon oxide film) is formed in the silicon oxide film, etching rate, etching selectivity (ratio of the etching rate of the silicon oxide film with respect to the etching rate of the silicon substrate) and the planar uniformity of etching anisotropy sometimes exceed the allowable ranges for manufacturing a semiconductor device. In particular, decreases in etching rate and etching selectivity become conspicuous at the central portion of the target substrate. If a stronger RF power is applied to increase electron density thereby increasing ion current incident onto the target substrate, the etching rate tends to be decreased and the planar uniformity of the etching selectivity tends to be worsened.
Generally, where a stronger RF power is applied, the etching rate and etching selectivity of a silicon oxide film are decreased. Furthermore, sometimes the etching rate may be changed depending on the hole diameter of the contact hole and, when the contact hole has a hole diameter on the order of sub-half micron, etching may be stopped midway in a silicon oxide film.
These phenomena may be caused by the following mechanism. That is, as the RF power is increased, the electron density is increased, and dissociation of the process gas is promoted. Then, ions of fluorocarbon of a low fluorine number are incident on the target substrate 206 and attach to the surface of an opening hole. This decreases the etching rate of the silicon oxide film, thereby decreasing the etching selectivity.
A portion of the quartz cylinder 202 close to the coil 203 during use is mainly eroded (erosion via SiO.sub.2). Chipped quartz is discharged into the plasma in the form of Si, SiOx, O, and the like. Accordingly, when plasma electric discharge is continued for a long period of time, e.g., for 100 hours or more by using CF.sub.4, the quartz cylinder 202 may cause fracture. Application of a strong RF power described above also poses the problem of promoting fracture of the quartz cylinder 202.
Fracture of the quartz cylinder 202 is caused because the closer to the coil 203, the more intensive electric field is formed. More specifically, the electric field near the sheath (sheath electric field) between the plasma and the quartz cylinder 202 increases, so that the high-energy ions in the plasma are adsorbed in the surface of the inner wall of the quartz cylinder 202, thereby causing erosion. When the wall thickness of the quartz cylinder 202 is decreased, the sheath portion further enters the intensive electric field region. Then, erosion progresses fast, and fracture of the quartz cylinder 202 progresses in an accelerated manner.


A radar device has a plurality of receiving antennas which receive, as a reception wave, a radar wave sent in a predetermined reference direction and reflected by a target; a phase difference detection unit which detects a first phase difference of the reception wave received by a first receiving antenna pair that is spaced by a first gap, and a second phase difference of the reception wave received by a second receiving antenna pair that is spaced by a second gap smaller than the first gap; and an angle detection unit which performs a first process of determining, as a detection angle, an angle of the target relative to the reference direction being a mutually coincident angle from among a plurality of first angles corresponding to the first phase difference and a plurality of second angles corresponding to the second phase difference. The radar device allows expanding an angle detection range without reducing the resolution of the angle corresponding to the second phase difference.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a radar device for sending a radar wave in a predetermined reference direction, receiving as a reception wave the radar wave reflected by a target, and detecting the angle of the target relative to the reference direction. More particularly, the present invention relates to a radar device and a target angle detection method in which the above-mentioned angle is detected on the basis of a first phase difference of the reception wave received by a first receiving antenna pair that is spaced by a first gap, and a second phase difference of the reception wave received by a second receiving antenna pair that is spaced by a second gap smaller than the first gap.
2. Description of the Related Art
Known vehicle control systems for vehicle collision response include control systems in which the surroundings of a cruising vehicle are scanned by an on-board radar device, and the vehicle control system accelerates/decelerates the vehicle and/or activates safety devices when a collision with an obstacle is predicted. Examples of such on-board radar devices include, for instance, phase monopulse radar devices such as the one disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2001-51050, in which the angle of a target is detected on the basis of the phase of radar waves.
FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 are diagrams for explaining a method for detecting the angle of a target in a phase monopulse radar device. As illustrated in FIG. 1, a phase monopulse radar sends a radar wave W1 in a reference direction that corresponds to the front direction F of the radar device. In the phase monopulse radar device, a receiving antenna pair A1 constituted by two receiving antennas 11, 12 receives a radar wave W2, reflected by a target T, in the form of two reception waves W21, W22.
Herein, the gap d1 between the receiving antennas 11, 12 is very small compared to the distance to the target T, and hence the target T may be regarded as being at infinity. Such being the case, the incoming directions of the reception waves W21, W22 in the receiving antennas 11, 12, which give the angle θ of the target T (hereinafter, simply angle of the target) relative to the front F, which is the reference direction of the radar device, are identical. In consequence, the resulting difference Δd1 between the propagation distances of the reception waves W21, W22 is proportional to the gap d1 between the two receiving antennas. A phase difference arises as a result between the two reception waves. The angle θ of the target T can be obtained on the basis of equation 1 below, in which λ denotes the wavelength of the reception waves W21, W22 and Φ1 is the above-mentioned phase difference.θ=arcsin(λ·Φ1/(2Π·d1))  Equation 1
The relationship of Equation 1 is illustrated in FIG. 2A. In FIG. 2A, the axis of ordinate represents the phase difference of the reception waves and the axis of abscissa represents the angle of the target, with 0 degrees as the reference direction. Herein, an angle θ1 corresponding to the phase difference Φ1 is uniquely determined within a −10 degree to +10 degree range on the basis of the straight line L1, which corresponds to Equation 1.
The slope of the straight line L1 is proportional to the gap d1 between the receiving antennas 11, 12. Therefore, the slope of the straight line L1 becomes less steep, as illustrated by the broken line the figure, as the gap d1 decreases. In turn, the angle variation relative to variation in the phase difference Φ1 becomes greater; i.e. angle resolution decreases. Accordingly, the gap d1 between the receiving antennas 11, 12 is established in such a manner so as to obtain a slope of the straight line L1 that affords an adequate angle resolution. On the basis of the straight line L1 of FIG. 2A, however, the angle can only be determined within a −10 degree to +10 degree range. Therefore, the phase difference Φ1 may be replicated beyond ±Π in order to expand the detection range but without reducing angle resolution.
In such a case, as illustrated in FIG. 2B, an angle θ1 corresponding to the phase difference Φ1, an angle θ2 corresponding to a phase difference Φ1+2Π and an angle θ3 corresponding to a phase difference Φ1−2Π are determined on the basis of the phase difference Φ1, within a wider angle range than −10 degree to +10 degrees. However, the angle cannot now be uniquely specified on the basis of the phase difference Φ1.
Returning to FIG. 1, the phase monopulse radar device is provided with a receiving antenna pair A2 having a receiving antenna gap smaller than that of the receiving antenna pair A1. Specifically, the receiving antenna pair A2 is constituted by the receiving antenna 11 and a receiving antenna 13 spaced apart from the receiving antenna 11 by a gap d2.
The relationship between the angle of the target and a phase difference Φ2 of the reception wave at the receiving antenna pair A2 is given by a straight line L2, illustrated in FIG. 2C, having a shallower slope than the straight line L1. Angle θ1 corresponding to the phase difference Φ2 can be uniquely determined on the basis of the straight line L2 within a range from −20 degrees to +20 degrees. Although the angle can now be specified uniquely within a wider range than for the straight line L1, the angle resolution decreases in this case. The phase monopulse radar device, therefore, checks a plurality of angles θ1, θ2, θ3 determined with high angle resolution on the basis of the phase difference Φ1, against an angle θ1 determined with low angle resolution on the basis of the phase difference Φ2, and specifies the angle of the target by using the coinciding angle θ1 as the detection angle.
By virtue of its use for scanning obstacles around the vehicle, the above-described phase monopulse radar device should desirably have a wider target angle detection range. In the above-described method, though, the target angle detection range is restricted to an angle range that corresponds uniquely to the phase difference Φ2, namely a range from −20 degrees to +20 degrees, as illustrated in FIG. 2C. Expanding the angle detection range by making the slope of the straight line L2 yet shallower, however, is undesirable, since doing so results in lower angle resolution. Also, modifying to that end the gap between receiving antennas 11 and 13 involves substantial overhaul costs of the radar device when the latter is already fitted in the final product.

Radar device and target angle detection method


A combination of pistol and flashlight is provided, comprising a frame including a front portion, a trigger guard, a root positioned adjacently to the front portion and to the trigger guard. The root is treated as follows: removing on both sides of the frame an approximately 2 mm layer of material, defining a number of outer surfaces, and forming two lateral fixation cavities. The combination includes a saddle defining a number of inner surfaces, configured to releasably snug-fit onto the outer surfaces, and two fixation tabs configured to releasably snug-fit into the cavities. The saddle secures the flashlight by suitable fixation means. In embodiments, the flashlight is divided into a lighting portion secured to the saddle and power source portion arranged on the bearer's body. Optionally, the saddle is also placeable on a bearer's finger. The combination has less weight and size, but greater support for the saddle than known constructions.

In the prior art there are known several constructions of flashlight attachments to pistols. For instance, a number of flashlight attachments to pistols and handguns are disclosed in U.S. patents, e.g. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,628,555; 6,641,277; 7,194,836, etc.
Particularly, U.S. Pat. No. 5,628,555, for example, teaches "a switch actuation apparatus for a firearm-mounted flashlight having a switch mechanism." The aforesaid apparatus includes a flashlight carrier, attached below the pistol's handle. The construction requires substantial modification of the existing pistol handle to adapt it to the apparatus, and causes certain inconvenience when used.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,641,277 teaches: "The tactical light incorporates structure that facilitates a two hand full combat grip on a weapon, such as a pistol or revolver, while using the tactical light." The device is specifically described as follows: "Tactical lights embodying the present invention have a light control switch which can be placed in the off position, in the on position for a constant light beam or in the switch position for intermittent use with a touch-pad switch. When the operator wishes to assume a full combat grip, the support hand is simply brought up to the strong hand and the strong hand knuckles fit into a ridged cantilever handle provided on the tactical light in accordance with the present invention. With the full combat grip, the support hand index finger controls the touch-pad switch which allows the operator to choose whether tactical lights embodying the present invention are on or off." Such a solution necessitates occupying two hands of the weapon bearer, increases the weight and size of the flashlight attachment, and therefore the corresponding size of the holster.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,194,836 teaches a gun attachment that "is rigidly attached to the subframe of the handgun without substantially modifying the same." "The gun attachment adapted to be fitted to a handgun having a vertical, longitudinal and lateral axis, a subframe and a slide. The handgun has a laterally extending member and a trigger guard. The gun attachment comprises a locking system having an extension member, such as a set screw in one form, having a forward surface that is adapted to engage the trigger guard of the handgun, a slotted surface defining an open region adapted to engage the subframe of the handgun, and a forward member extending vertically having a forward engagement surface adapted to have an external force applied thereto and transfer the energy of said force to the subframe of the handgun. The extension member such as a set screw in one form is adapted to move with respect to the base region and forcefully engage the trigger guard to provide a positive movement whereby the slotted surface forcefully engages the subframe and the gun attachment adapted to be rigidly attached to the handgun." The above-described construction increases the width of the pistol and its weight.
The S.W.A.T. magazine (www.swatmag.com) in its December 2003 issue published an article called "Kimber's Interim CQB Pistol" mentioned "A number of lights . . . were tested. The SureFire lights (several models) were head and shoulders above the rest."
American Rifleman (official journal of the National Rifle Association of America) issued in April 2003 in its article "The Go-to Gun" by Daniel T. McElrath in particular says: "Each officer is issued two Kimber pistols, one with and one without a gun-mounted SureFire flashlight. As the lights are not quickly detachable, officers carry the light-enhanced guns when they know that they'll be operating in a low-light environment and the plain pistols supplemented with hand-held lights for general duty. Light is now widely acknowledged as a "force level option" in law enforcement, thanks largely to the powerful units produced by SureFire and the techniques developed by the SureFire Institute." The article contains photographs of the pistol with the flashlight attached thereto by means of rail.
One of the known Kimber's models is the Custom TLE/RL II, which comprises a tactical accessory rail, usable for attachment of a flashlight: "Integral universal tactical rails allow the quick, secure installation of accessories such as lights—an advantage that has been repeatedly proven by the tactical community." The width of supporting surface for the flashlight in this case is about 0.84″. Approximately the same width has the supporting surface of similar Glock's pistols. Naturally, such rails lead not only to enlargement of sizes, but inevitably to an essential increase of the pistol's weight. To provide enough power for the flashlight, it encapsulates a required number of batteries, which substantially adds to the total weight that worsens the overall operability of the bearer.

Pistol adaptation with flashlight attachment


A platinum supported catalyst is disclosed for the anode in a PEM fuel cell with high resistance to poisoning by carbon monoxide. The catalyst contains the noble metals platinum and ruthenium on a finely divided, conductive support material. The two noble metals are not alloyed with each other and are present in highly dispersed form on the support material, wherein the crystallite size of the platinum is less than 2 nm and that of the ruthenium is less than 1 nm.

The present invention relates to a platinum supported catalyst for the anode of a PEM fuel cell with high resistance to poisoning by carbon monoxide. The catalyst contains the noble metals platinum and ruthenium on a finely divided, conductive support material. It is particularly suitable for use as an anode catalyst in fuel cells with a polymer electrolyte membrane.
Fuel cells are in principle gas-operated batteries, in which the energy obtained from the reaction of hydrogen and oxygen is converted directly into electrical energy. The present invention describes the preparation of catalysts for fuel cells, in particular the preparation of supported catalysts based on platinum and platinum alloys for PEM fuel cells (PEM=polymer electrode membrane). This type of fuel cell is becoming increasingly important, due to its high energy density and robust structure, for use in the vehicle industry, i.e. for providing electro-traction in motor vehicles.
The advantages of a car running on fuel cells are the very low emissions and the high degree of efficiency as compared with conventional internal combustion engines. If hydrogen is used as the fuel gas, water is produced as the only emission on the cathode side of the cell. The vehicle is then a so-called ZEV (zero emission vehicle). However, hydrogen is still too expensive at the moment and there are problems with the storage and refuelling of vehicles. For this reason the alternative, producing hydrogen directly on board the vehicle by reforming methanol is growing in importance. The methanol stored in the vehicle fuel tank is converted in a steam reforming process at 200 to 300.degree. C. to a hydrogen-rich fuel gas with carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide as secondary constituents. After converting the carbon monoxide by a shift reaction, preferential oxidation (PROX) or another purification process, this fuel gas is supplied directly to the anode side of the PEM fuel cell. Theoretically the reformate gas consists of 75 vol. % hydrogen and 25 vol. % carbon dioxide. In practice, however, this gas also contains nitrogen, oxygen and, depending on the degree of purity, varying amounts of carbon monoxide (up to 1 vol. %).
Supported catalysts based on platinum and platinum alloys are used as catalysts on the anode and cathode sides of PEM fuel cells. These consist of fine, noble metal particles which are deposited onto a conductive support material (generally carbon black or graphite). The concentration of noble metal is between 10 and 40 wt. %, the proportion of conductive support material is thus between 60 and 90 wt. %. The crystallite size of the particles, determined by X-ray diffraction (XRD), is about 2 to 10 nm.
Traditional platinum catalysts are very sensitive to poisoning by carbon monoxide, therefore the CO content of the fuel gas must be lowered to <10 ppm in order to prevent power loss in the fuel cells due to poisoning of the anode catalyst. This applies in particular to a PEM fuel cell which is especially sensitive to CO poisoning as a result of its low operating temperatures of 70 to 100.degree. C.
The present invention is concerned with the preparation of supported catalysts based on platinum and ruthenium which have a high resistance to poisoning by carbon monoxide. CO concentrations of more than 100 ppm in the reformate gas should be possible and should not lead to a noticeable drop in performance of the PEM fuel cell. As a result of using this new type of catalyst on the anode side of the PEM fuel cell the number of process steps to remove carbon monoxide from the fuel gas is reduced. This leads to a considerable decrease in the cost of the system, to an improvement in the efficiency of the system and to a reduction in the size of the overall system. The new catalysts are therefore of great significance with regard to introducing PEM fuel cells into the vehicle industry.
The problem of poisoning of platinum catalysts by carbon monoxide has been recognized for a very long time. CO is adsorbed at the surface of the platinum due to its special molecular structure and thus blocks the access of hydrogen molecules in the fuel gas to the catalytically active platinum centers.
Adsorbed carbon monoxide can be oxidized to carbon dioxide by adding water and can then be removed from the catalyst surface. It is also known that the tolerance of platinum to poisoning by carbon monoxide is improved by alloying or doping the platinum with ruthenium.
L. W. Niedrach et. al. (J. Electrochemical Techn. 5, 1967, page 318) describe the use of Pt/Ru catalysts as CO-tolerant anode catalysts for sulphuric acid fuel cells. These materials consist of fine Pt/Ru alloy powders with high specific surface areas. They are prepared by the so-called ADAMS process from a molten material consisting of platinum chloride, ruthenium and sodium nitrate at 500.degree. C. As a result of the high temperatures during preparation, these catalysts are present as Pt/Ru alloys. The materials are not fixed on a support and are therefore not supported catalysts. Also no information is provided relating to their use in PEM fuel cells.
Pt/Ru supported catalysts have also been available commercially for some time. Thus ETEK Inc., Natick, Mass. (USA) offers corresponding materials for use as anode catalysts in PEM fuel cells.
The catalysts in this case are Pt/Ru alloy catalysts with noble metal concentrations between 5 and 40 wt. % and a Pt/Ru atomic ratio of 1:1. This catalyst has a uniform alloy phase, detectable by XRD. However, it demonstrates unsatisfactory tolerance to carbon monoxide, in particular at concentrations of carbon monoxide of more than 100 ppm and with residual oxygen in the fuel gas.
In a recent paper, M. Iwase and S. Kawatsu report on the production of a CO-tolerant anode catalyst (M. Iwase and S. Kawatsu, Electrochemical Society Proceedings, Vol. 95-23, page 12). In this paper the best results were produced with a Pt/Ru alloy catalyst which was prepared via a special annealing process for producing an alloy. However, the voltage drop with a current density of 0.4 amps/cm.sup.2, at a CO concentration of 100 ppm, is still about 200 mV. This is still too high for practical use. With an unalloyed Pt/Ru system, on the other hand, still poorer results were obtained so it can be assumed from these data that only alloyed Pt/Ru supported catalysts produce the best results for CO-tolerance in a PEM fuel cell.
An object of the present invention is to provide supported catalysts which have an improved tolerance to carbon monoxide, in particular at concentrations of more than 100 ppm. Another object of the present invention is to provide catalysts suitable for use with carbon monoxide, nitrogen and oxygen-containing fuel gases that exhibit the lowest possible voltage drop with high current densities.

Co-tolerant anode catalyst for PEM fuel cells and a process for its preparation


Disclosed herein are methods and apparatuses designed to reduce the power usage of a hearing prosthesis. To reduce the power usage of the prosthesis, an external portion may transmit a signal having a plurality of transmission parameters to an internal component. The external portion receives an indication of an implant power parameter associated with the plurality of transmission parameters. After receiving the indication, the external portion adjusts at least one transmission parameter. After adjusting at least one parameter, the external portion transmits a signal to the internal component based on the adjusted parameters and responsively receives an indication of an implant power parameter associated with the adjusted parameters. Based on the received indication of the implant power parameter for a plurality of transmissions, the external portion determines a preferred set of transmission parameters. Finally, the external portion is operated based on the preferred set of transmission parameters.

Various types of hearing prostheses may provide people having different types of hearing loss with the ability to perceive sound. Hearing loss may be conductive, sensorineural, or some combination of both conductive and sensorineural. Conductive hearing loss typically results from a dysfunction in any of the mechanisms that ordinarily conduct sound waves through the outer ear, the eardrum, or the bones of the middle ear. Sensorineural hearing loss typically results from a dysfunction in the inner ear, including the cochlea, where sound vibrations are converted into neural signals, or any other part of the ear, auditory nerve, or brain that may process the neural signals.
People with some forms of conductive hearing loss may benefit from hearing prostheses, such as acoustic hearing aids or vibration-based hearing aids. An acoustic hearing aid typically includes a small microphone to detect sound, an amplifier to amplify certain portions of the detected sound, and a small speaker to transmit the amplified sound into the person's ear. Vibration-based hearing aids typically include a small microphone to detect sound, and a vibration mechanism to apply vibrations corresponding to the detected sound to a person's bone, thereby causing vibrations in the person's inner ear, thus bypassing the person's auditory canal and middle ear. Vibration-based hearing aids include bone-anchored hearing aids, direct acoustic cochlear devices, or other vibration-based devices.
Persons with certain forms of sensorineural hearing loss may benefit from cochlear implants, auditory brainstem implants, or other prostheses. For example, cochlear implants can provide a person having sensorineural hearing loss with the ability to perceive sound by stimulating the person's auditory nerve via an array of electrodes implanted in the person's cochlea. A component of the cochlear implant, such as a microphone, detects sound waves. The sound waves are converted into a series of electrical stimulation signals that are delivered to the implant recipient's cochlea via the array of electrodes. Auditory brainstem implants can use technology similar to cochlear implants, but instead of applying electrical stimulation to a person's cochlea, auditory brainstem implants apply electrical stimulation directly to a person's brain stem, bypassing the cochlea altogether. Electrically stimulating auditory nerves in a cochlea with a cochlear implant or electrically stimulating a brainstem may enable persons with sensorineural hearing loss to perceive sound. Further, some persons may benefit from hearing prostheses that combine one or more characteristics of acoustic hearing aids, vibration-based hearing devices, cochlear implants, auditory brainstem implants, or other prostheses to enable the person to perceive sound.
In some hearing prosthesis systems, a prosthesis has a power source located in the external portion. For example, the external portion may contain a battery. The internal portion may also contain a power source, such as a battery or capacitor. The external portion may couple power wirelessly to the internal portion to charge its power source.

Reduced power usage for a hearing prosthesis having transcutaneous power and data transfer


A method for ensuring completeness and quality of a project or proposed change to a complex system including modeling the system as a plurality of nodes and storing the nodes in a database, each node being representative of a component or sub-system of the complex system, identifying relationships among the nodes, loading each node with a plurality of questions relating to the component represented by each node, and generating a listing including the questions, answers thereto and a time associated with accomplishing the proposed change or project. An apparatus for implementing the method is also described.

The present invention relates generally to computer systems, and more particularly to computer systems that ensure completeness and quality of a project.
The human memory is imperfect. Most people are unable to remember everything they have learned. And, even if a particular person has an especially good memory, he may nevertheless be unable to quickly and to accurately retrieve all relevant information related to a particular project. In view of the foregoing, people often rely on various devices to help retain and retrieve knowledge. For example, a baker uses recipes to help him bake a variety of bread, cookies, and cakes. Each recipe contains a list of ingredients and a set of baking procedures. By using these recipes, the baker can be sure that he will not leave out an ingredient or overcook the food, thereby producing baked goods of consistent quality.
A more sophisticated example of a memory assistance device is a checklist typically used by automobile insurance claim specialists. There are many types of vehicles in the market today, and each type of vehicle has different models and each model has thousands of parts. Relying on memory alone, it would be virtually impossible for a claim specialist to provide a reasonably accurate xe2x80x9cparts and laborxe2x80x9d estimate for a particular vehicle model. Thus, the claim specialist needs a checklist that contains, among other things, a list of parts which require replacement, parts costs, and time periods to install those parts. With the checklist, even a relatively inexperienced claim specialist can provide a reasonably accurate parts and labor estimate.
While a recipe is helpful to a baker and a checklist to an insurance claims specialist, such devices are inadequate for ensuring completeness and quality of a more complex project that requires involvement of many people of different skills. For example, the above-described memory devices are inadequate to assist an automobile manufacturer who relies on a team of mechanical engineers, electronics engineers, designers, metallurgists, materials scientists, psychologists, marketers and lawyers, to design and build an automobile that performs as desired, sells, and meets regulatory requirements. It is clearly impossible for the automobile manufacturer to rely on human memories alone to determine how, for example, changes made to the fuel system of an automobile might affect the exhaust system, the emission system, and the ignition system of that automobile. This xe2x80x9cmemoryxe2x80x9d problem is exacerbated since it is not uncommon for skilled employees to leave the company thereby losing individual and institutional knowledge.
Consider a very simple scenario in which the automobile manufacturer plans to redesign the fuel system of one of its automobile models. The automobile manufacturer needs to know what factors must be considered and how many hours will be required to redesign the fuel system for that particular automobile model. The first group of people the automobile manufacturer likely consults for implementing the redesign is the fuel system engineers group. In addition to providing the time estimate and factors to consider, the fuel system engineers group, under ideal circumstances, notifies the automobile manufacturer that it (the manufacturer) should also consult engineers from the emission, exhaust, ignition, and power output groups because changes made to a fuel system typically require redesigning these other systems as well. The automobile manufacturer preferably then consults the other engineering groups as suggested. If each engineer of each team properly remembers both the necessary actions and the time required to implement those actions to redesign each system, the automobile manufacturer will obtain a reasonably accurate project description and time estimate. But the reality is that one or more xe2x80x9ckeyxe2x80x9d engineers may no longer be with the company, or those with the company may provide inaccurate descriptions of xe2x80x9cnecessary actionsxe2x80x9d or time estimates thereby leading to poor project management plans. Further, one or more of the engineers might employ in work descriptions acronyms and ambiguous words, making it difficult for the automobile manufacturer to accurately predict the true scope of a proposed design change.
Another example of a complex system where a change to one component might require changes to other components is a complex billing system, and more particularly, a computerized billing system of a telephone company. As mobile telephone systems, data lines and other services provided by the telephone company have become more common, billing individual customers for such services has become increasingly complex and requires hundreds of programmers and managers to ensure efficient and accurate billing.
Existing software products, such as CBR Express, available from Inference Corporation of Novato, Calif., which are directed primarily to individual case retrieval do not provide the aforementioned functionality as they are not designed to enumerate and analyze all combinations or permutations of all potential impacts of a project.
There are also other products that are related to document version management, such as DOORS , available from Quality Systems and Software of Mt. Arlington, N.J. These products assign version numbers, e.g., xe2x80x9c1.0xe2x80x9d to a first document and when subsequent changes are made to that document, the version is automatically updated to xe2x80x9c1.1,xe2x80x9d xe2x80x9c1.2,xe2x80x9d etc., along with annotations and dates with respect to who made the changes and why. However, such products also are unable to accomplish the tasks enumerated above.
Also known are xe2x80x9cexpert systems.xe2x80x9d These systems typically are designed as either rule-based or case-based. With either type, however, it is necessary to program all of the rules and/or all of the possible case scenarios that might be encountered. Unfortunately, it is not always clear, at a given time, what changes or modifications to a system might be effected at a future time, thereby defeating the usefulness of both types of systems. Moreover, these systems require extensive programming and maintenance.
The Requirements Expert of the present invention fills the need for an experienced, meticulous, and detail-oriented analyst. The Requirements Expert is a dynamic, flexible tool, which uses a knowledge base that is created by one or more users. The Requirements Expert gains additional knowledge each time it is used. The Requirements Expert helps its user to determine what the scope or requirements are for a particular project. It also gives its user an estimate of time required to complete the project. The Requirements Expert further ensures that its user considers every factor associated with that project by systematically asking the user a series of questions.
In a preferred embodiment, the Requirements Expert (xe2x80x9cR.E.xe2x80x9d) is implemented in a computer system which has a central processing unit (xe2x80x9cCPUxe2x80x9d), a memory and input (e.g., keyboard) and output (e.g., monitor and/or printer) systems. The computer system is programmed with a relational database and algorithm which facilitates entry, manipulation and retrieval of information from the database. The database can be implemented in any general purpose relational database application such as MICROSOFT ACCESS(trademark) and the algorithm can be written in any suitable application such as VISUAL BASIC(trademark). The information stored in the database is knowledge regarding a particular project or complex system. The complex system preferably is represented as a logical model consisting of nodes and links where each node represents a particular component of the system and the links connecting the nodes represent relationships between any two nodes. Each node, i.e., system component, is further supplied with a list of questions pertaining to that node and information with respect to how that node might affect other nodes. The output of the Requirements Expert preferably is used to provide a listing or printed document of the analysis performed by the Requirements Expert.
Before using the Requirements Expert, a user preferably first provides the Requirements Expert with information about each system component and how changes to each component might impact other components. This information preferably is entered in the form of questions to be directed to a user. Once the nodes and links are defined, and at least some questions for each node are stored in the database, the Requirements Expert is ready for use. When the algorithm is executed, the Requirements Expert queries the user to identify which of the nodes is to be considered to analyze a particular project. Upon obtaining the response, the Requirements Expert asks the questions associated with that node, and provides the user with other relevant information about that node, such as how long it might take to accomplish a proposed change. The Requirements Expert also asks questions, or presents queries, associated with related effected nodes, consistent with the logical model represented in the database. The Requirements Expert also records, or stores, responses to the questions along with definitions for any detected acronyms or ambiguous words. Finally, the Requirements Expert provides the user with a document listing the questions, answers to the questions, and, as available, a listing of recommended actions to be taken to accomplish the proposed change. Other relevant information, such as the time associated with accomplishing the proposed change is also provided, as available.
Thus, in the preferred embodiment of the present invention the Requirements Expert has the following characteristics or objectives:
1. It helps its user to retain and retrieve knowledge.
2. It ensures that the user considers every detail of a project or complex system.
3. It assists a company in retaining its institutional expertise even when key employees leave the company.
4. It describes to the user the nature of each component as that component is encountered.
5. It informs the user how one component or portion of the complex system impacts other components or portions.
6. It queries the user with a series of questions about each component or portion of the system and records answers to those questions.
7. It detects acronyms and requires the user to provide a definition for each acronym detected.
8. It detects ambiguous words and requires the user to replace each ambiguous word with a more definite term or phrase.
9. It provides a time estimate for performing the project.
10. It provides an output document, free of ambiguous words and undefined acronyms, that lists each impacted component, list of questions and answers to the questions about each component, and an estimate of the time required to complete the project.
The Requirements Expert is also unique in that its emphasis is on requirements acquisition, not only requirements management. That is, the Requirements Expert of the present invention assists the user to develop new action or project plans, including accurate projected time for carrying out those plans. This is different from conventional requirements management where a system or person is responsible for ensuring that predetermined requirements are met.

Method and system for ensuring completeness and quality of a multi-component project

BellSouth Intellectual Property Corporation