A method that builds column statistics utilizing at least one skew value. The column statistics built using skew values, instead of column statistics built only through random sampling, may be used to more accurately reflect skew values across join networks, and thus enable a query optimizer to better select an access plan that is optimal under current runtime conditions.

Databases are used to store information for an innumerable number of applications, including various commercial, industrial, technical, scientific and educational applications. As the reliance on information increases, both the volume of information stored in most databases, as well as the number of users wishing to access that information, likewise increases. Moreover, as the volume of information in a database, and the number of users wishing to access the database, increases, the amount of computing resources required to manage such a database increases as well.
Database management systems (DBMS's), which are the computer programs that are used to access the information stored in databases, therefore often require tremendous resources to handle the heavy workloads placed on such systems. As such, significant resources have been devoted to increasing the performance of database management systems with respect to processing searches, or queries, to databases.
Improvements to both computer hardware and software have improved the capacities of conventional database management systems. For example, in the hardware realm, increases in microprocessor performance, coupled with improved memory management systems, have improved the number of queries that a particular microprocessor can perform in a given unit of time. Furthermore, the use of multiple microprocessors and/or multiple networked computers has further increased the capacities of many database management systems. From a software standpoint, the use of relational databases, which organize information into formally-defined tables consisting of rows and columns, and which are typically accessed using a standardized language such as Structured Query Language (SQL), has substantially improved processing efficiency, as well as substantially simplified the creation, organization, and extension of information within a database.
Furthermore, significant development efforts have been directed toward query "optimization," whereby the execution of particular searches, or queries, is optimized in an automated manner to minimize the amount of resources required to execute each query. A query optimizer typically generates, for each submitted query, an access plan. In generating an access plan, a query optimizer typically creates multiple potential access plans, and selects the best among those potential access plans based upon the "cost" of each plan. The cost of each plan represents the amount of resources expected to be utilized by the plan (typically expressed in the expected amount of time to execute), and as such, selecting the plan with the lowest cost typically results in the most efficient (and quickest) execution of a query.
Database statistics are often used by a query optimizer to estimate the cost of potential access plans. For example, some optimizers rely on Frequent Value Lists (FVL's), which identify the most populous values of a column of a table. A FVL may also simply identify a certain number (N) of the most populous values, instead of all the populous values in the column of a table. Among other benefits, a FVL may be used to identify skew values, i.e., values that are represented more times in a column than an average value. Typically, skew values are among the most populous values of a column since skew values are represented more times in the column than an average value. Therefore, when a FVL is built for the column, the skew values are typically included in the FVL.
In many queries, there is often a join operation that is performed between columns of tables. A join is typically an operation used to combine data from two or more different tables according to some criteria. Many different types of joins exist. An inner join typically returns only those rows from the tables that match according to the criteria. An outer join, however, typically returns both the rows that match and the rows that do not have a match.
In many systems, separate FVL's are generated for each column of a join. During optimization, the FVL's of the columns in the join may be combined to estimate a join fanout, which is an estimate of the number of rows that will be returned or joined after the join operation completes. Therefore, FVL's are also beneficial in estimating the number of rows that will join, and thus ultimately what access plan will operate most efficiently given the estimated number of rows. Skew values are important for the join fanout calculation because a join that has columns with skew values will likely join with more rows than a join that has columns without skew values. Therefore, in order to accurately estimate join fanout, it is important to ensure that any skew values present in a column are considered when estimating the join fanout. Otherwise, when skew values are missing in any of the FVL's, this may lead to an underestimated join fanout when the FVL's are merged during optimization. As a result, the number of rows that will likely join may be underestimated. Moreover, the cost associated with the amount of time and resources required to carry out the join may also be underestimated and may mislead the optimizer to believe that the cost of an access plan is lower than it actually will be.
It has been found, however, that the FVL's of a join that contains a unique column may introduce a problem when attempting to estimate a join fanout during optimization. A unique column is a column that contains each unique value exactly once, whereas non-unique columns may contain values that are repeated in multiple rows. In particular, when one of the columns in the join is unique, the FVL of the unique column in the join may not properly reflect any skew values for the join as a whole. Typically, a skew value in a non-unique column stands out and will appear in the FVL of a non-unique column as one of the N most populous values. However, that same value may not stand out in a unique column. As a result, a value in a unique column that is a skew value in the column of a foreign table of the join, but that is not a skew value in the local table, is often omitted from the FVL of the unique column.
Conventional optimization techniques do not provide a way to ascertain the skew values in a foreign table. Moreover, since particular values in a unique column may not stand out, many designs arbitrarily or randomly sample values from a unique column to build the FVL for the unique column. Thus, using conventional techniques, the probability that the skew value of a foreign table is randomly chosen from the unique column to build the FVL is often low. The probability depends upon the value of N and the quantity of records in the unique column. Given that the quantity of records can range from tens of records to millions of records, the unpredictable nature of the conventional techniques typically results in FVL's for unique columns that do not reflect skew values across the join.
In some systems, a cardinality formula may be used to increase the join fanout estimate and account for some of the rows that will join but are not reflected in the FVL's. However, the estimates typically resulting from the cardinality formula may still underestimate the number of rows that will be joining. Therefore, it is desirable for FVL's to reflect as accurately as possible any skew values across the join. Without a better reflection of the skew values in the FVL's, the FVL's may lead to an underestimated join fanout, underestimated costs, the selection of a suboptimal access plan under the current runtime conditions by the query optimizer, and performance problems.
A need therefore exists in the art for an improved manner of building database statistics that more accurately reflects skew values in foreign tables, thus, resulting in statistics that more accurately reflect skew across joins and leading to the selection of better access plans and improved performance.

Building database statistics across a join network using skew values

International Business Machines Corporation


An object of the present invention is to provide an optical element which can suppress a production cost, has good heat resistance, uniformly maintains the fixed orientation of a liquid crystal polymer in a wide temperature range, shows a low haze with reliability, and can maintain desired birefringence property with reliability. The present invention relates to an optical element formed by forming, on an upper surface of a base material having light transmittance, at least a birefringence layer having a structure obtained by fixing liquid crystal monomers each having a polymerizable group at a terminal thereof in a state where the monomers are homeotropically oriented, and by removing an additive layer formed on the upper surface of the birefringence layer.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical element having a birefringence functional layer. More specifically, the present invention relates to an optical element having a birefringence functional layer including a birefringence layer obtained by orienting and fixing a liquid crystal molecule, a member for a liquid crystal display device using the optical element, and liquid crystal display device.
2. Description of the Related Art
A liquid crystal display device has found use in a variety of fields such as a television and medical equipment because the device has such advantages that the thickness and the weight of the device can be readily reduced, power consumption can be reduced, and a flicker hardly occurs. On the other hand, the device involves a problem which causes light leak or a tone reversal phenomenon depending on the angle at which a user views a liquid crystal display screen, that is, a problem referred to as a narrow viewing angle.
In order to solve the problem, there has been proposed a liquid crystal display device provided with an optical element that controls an outgoing light emitted from a liquid crystal cell and an incident light entered into the liquid crystal cell.
For such the liquid crystal display device, there has been proposed an optical element having a film obtained by orienting and fixing a liquid crystal molecule in a specific direction as well as a film obtained by subjecting a triacetylcellulose (TAC) film to uniaxial stretching or biaxial stretching.
JP 05-142531 A proposes a viewing angle compensation film composed of a nematic liquid crystal polymer whose molecular chain is oriented in a normal direction of the film surface and which has a positive intrinsic refractive index. JP05-142531 A discloses that the viewing angle compensation film may be obtained by: forming a vertical alignment layer on the surface of a glass substrate or the like by using an alkylsilicone-based or fluoroalkylsilicone-based surface treating agent to produce a cell; sealing liquid crystal molecules into the cell; and subjecting the liquid crystal molecules to photopolymerization.
JP2002-174724 A proposes a method of producing a liquid crystal layer in which a polymerizable liquid crystal compound is homeotropically oriented, the method involving applying the liquid crystal compound to a vertical alignment layer formed on a substrate. The method involves the use of a long-chain alkyl-type dendrimer derivative as an agent for forming a vertical alignment layer. In addition, JP 2002-174724 A discloses that a film including a homeotropically oriented liquid crystal film can be obtained by means of the method, and that the film can be used for an optical film such as a retardation film.
JP 2002-174725 A proposes a method of producing a homeotropically oriented liquid crystal film involving: applying, to a substrate provided with no vertical alignment layer, a side-chain type liquid crystal polymer containing a monomer unit containing a liquid crystal fragment side chain and a monomer unit containing a non-liquid crystal fragment side chain; further homeotropically orienting the liquid crystal polymer in a liquid crystal state; and fixing the polymer while the oriented state is maintained.
JP 2003-121852 A proposes a method of producing a homeotropically oriented liquid crystal film involving: forming, on a substrate provided with no vertical alignment layer, a binder layer and an anchor coat layer in the stated order from the side of the substrate; applying a side-chain type liquid crystal polymer to the anchor coat layer for homeotropic orientation; and fixing the polymer while the homeotropically oriented state is maintained. The method involves the use of a polymer as a side-chain type liquid crystal polymer capable of forming a homeotropically oriented liquid crystal layer on a substrate provided with no vertical alignment layer.

Optical element obtained by homeotropically orienting liquid crystal molecule, member for liquid crystal display device using the same, and liquid crystal display device


A process is disclosed for reducing alcohol in a fermented beverage without heat damage and without degrading the original flavor profile of the fermented beverage. The process generally includes the steps of: (i) removing aromatics from the wine; (ii) removing alcohol from the wine; (iii) refluxing a portion of the alcohol removed from the wine to increase the alcohol concentration of the alcohol vapor and return at least a portion of the condensed/recovered water to the wine; and (iv) condensing the aromatics removed from the wine and returning at least a portion thereof to the wine.

The present invention relates to a process and apparatus for the reduction of alcohol in fermented beverages. More particularly, the present invention relates to a process and apparatus for reducing the alcohol (i.e. ethanol) content of wine.
The challenge when reducing the alcohol content of wine is to:    1. not cause heat damage to the wine;    2. cause minimal water loss from the wine during the alcohol reduction process; and    3. retain in, or return to the wine as much aromatics and flavour components as possible.
In most wine producing countries, it is illegal to dilute wine with water. It is generally not illegal to adjust the taste of wine by removing constituents like acids. Except for a few countries, it is generally not illegal to remove alcohol from wine. It has become standard practice in hot climates, where grapes develop high sugar levels (and therefore, high alcohol content), to practise alcohol reduction techniques on the wine produced.
A variety of processes for removing select component parts from beverages are known. For example, evaporation technology is generally used to remove water from fruit juice and thereby concentrate the fruit juice. However, no feedback loop to re-introduce water evaporated from the feedstock fruit juice back into the evaporation chamber exists, causing the feedstock fruit juice to concentrate, and the operating temperature in the evaporation chamber consequently to rise. Drawbacks of evaporation chambers are that they result in significant water loss from the feedstock juice and their operating temperatures would cause heat damage to a wine feedstock.
Other technologies directed specifically at the removal of alcohol are also known. An example is the membrane processes, which extracts an alcohol-rich permeate stream from wine under pressure. Drawbacks of this process are that: the equipment is expensive; the membranes have a limited lifespan; and the high pressure required makes this process energy intensive. A further example is the spinning cone column used by ConeTech, in which the wine is subjected to low-pressure heating in a column equipped with fast-rotating cones to drive off a portion of the alcohol. A drawback of this process is that, in addition to removing alcohol, many of the flavour components are also removed from the wine and need to be recovered and added back to the wine if the original flavour profile of the wine is to be retained. Another drawback is the inability of the ConeTech technology to concentrate the alcohol stream removed from the wine, resulting in undesirable loss of water from the de-alcoholised wine. A further drawback of the ConeTech technology is that its column includes many internal moving parts rotating at high speed, making the equipment expensive and energy and maintenance intensive.
The process and apparatus according to the present invention aims to address the above drawbacks and challenges.

Process and apparatus for the reduction of alcohol in fermented beverages


Systems and methods for generating a representation of a video media asset for inclusion in a media asset listing for the video media asset is considered. User emotional responses that occur while the video media asset is presented to the user are monitored using a processor. A user emotional response selection criterion is retrieved from a storage device, and based on the retrieved user emotional response selection criterion, one of the monitored user emotional responses is selected. An identification is made of the portion of the video media asset presented to the user when the selected one of the user emotional response occurred, and a representation of the identified portion is generated for the video media asset for inclusion in a media asset listing for the video media asset.

A media guidance application provides media guidance data to users through an interface that allows users to efficiently navigate content selections to identify media content that they may desire. For example, a media asset listing may provide graphical representations such as cover art, still images and video clip previews to indicate the content described by the media guidance data in the listing. Such graphical representations can be produced as part of and distributed together with media assets by a content provider.
In creating media asset representations for use by a media guidance application, conventional systems often rely on general population statistics collected through reviews or surveys to identify the most popular characters or scenes, without taking into account variations in individual user interests in different portions of a media asset.

Systems and methods for generating media asset representations based on user emotional responses


An arrangement for driving a trackbound traction unit and being self-adjusting in both the forward and rearward directions. The arrangement includes at least two drive wheels with associated transmissions, two carrier arms whose longitudinal axes substantially parallel with the longitudinal direction of the traction unit and on one end of which the drive wheels are journalled, a holder in which the other end of the carrier arms is pivotally journalled by means of spherical bearings, a hydraulic piston-cylinder device which is connected to the first-mentioned ends of the carrier arms, and a rail which is fixedly mounted to the chassis in the center of the track. The carrier arms are substantially perpendicular to the geometric axes of the drive wheels and are intended to swing the drive wheels into pressured abutment with the center rail through the medium of the hydraulic piston-cylinder device. The arrangement includes a substantially elongated rectangular frame from which the holder projects, resilient devices from which the frame is pivotally suspensed on the chassis of the traction unit, coupling devices for resilient coaction between the frame and the chassis, and hydraulic holding piston-cylinder devices for mutually the coupling the coupling devices when the traction unit is driven.

The present invention relates to an arrangement intended for driving a trackbound traction vehicle with carriages coupled thereto and with track inclinations of up to 1:4, and particularly to a drive arrangement which is self-adjusting in both the forward and rearward directions.
The Swedish Patent Application No. 8700667-2 teaches an arrangement of a similar kind intended for driving a trackbound traction unit with carriages at such track inclinations, although this arrangement is only self-adjusting in the forward direction of the traction unit. Consequently, when this known traction unit is driven in reverse, the drive wheels and the center rail of the drive arrangement are subjected to considerable wear and the pressure and/or driving force exerted by the drive wheels of the arrangement is reduced, and the risk of the traction unit being derailed is increased when, for instance, there is a fault in the tracks or rails or when the center rail of the drive arrangement is warped or twisted.

Forwardly and rearwardly self-adjusting arrangement for driving a trackbound towing unit


An electric arc ion plating apparatus to coat a metal material on an object includes: (a) an vacuum chamber; (b) an electric arc bombardment chamber in the vacuum chamber, comprising an anode, a cathode target, and an arc triggering electrode to generate metal particles when a voltage is applied on the anode and the cathode, and on the arc triggering electrode; and (c) a magnetic coil having a longitudinal axis. The magnetic coil emanates from the electric arc bombardment chamber and encloses at least a part of the electric bombardment chamber. The magnetic coil contains a constant-diameter section enclosing and immediately emanating from the electric arc bombardment chamber to guide the metal particles away from the cathode and toward the object, and a varying-diameter section away from the electric arc bombardment chamber to provide optimum distribution of the metal particles before they reach the object surface. The varying-diameter section can be a diverging section for effectively coating relatively large objects, or a converging section for efficiently coating a relatively small object.

Arc ion plating is a well-known technique which achieves its plating purpose through the deposition of metal particles evaporated by an electric arc in a vacuum. The electric arc is characterized by the formation of a cathode spot on the cathode surface, which contains the metal to be vaporized and deposited on an object or a part. In the arc ion plating terminology, the cathode surface is called a "target". An electric voltage above a threshold is required to sustain the electric arc between the anode and the cathode. During the arc ion plating process, the temperature at the cathode spot is approximately equal to the boiling point temperature of the depositing metal so as to allow substantial vapor pressure to be developed for the depositing metal which forms the cathode surface. The vapors produced from the cathode spots are then used to coat objects placed within the vacuum chamber and to sustain the arc ignited between the cathode and the anode. An inert ionizable gas can be introduced into the vacuum chamber to, in conjunction with the use of a triggering electrode, improve the generation as well as stabilizing of the electric arc. Likewise, a reactive gas can be introduced in the vacuum chamber to cause the precipitation of desired compound on the surface of the object being electric arc plated.
As the arc ion plating technique gets fine-tuned, several problems have surfaced. One of the most noticeable problems is the existence of macro particles, which, after they are deposited on the object, often cause the formation of locally roughened film surface. Such a roughened film surface not only projects a defective appearance, more importantly, it can also result in degradations in the mechanical properties of the finished product. For example, the product with roughened film surface tends to crack more easily.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,793,179, which discloses an apparatus for metal evaporation coating, taught many of the fundamental principle of the arc ion plating technique. The content thereof is incorporated herein by reference.
Several other subsequent prior art references have discussed modifications to improve the arc ion plating technology. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,673,477, the content thereof is incorporated herein by reference, discloses an apparatus for vacuum arc deposition of material on a surface of an object using a vacuum chamber accommodating the active surface of the cathode and an anode, wherein a power supply is connected to the anode and the cathode to establish an electric arc. The track of the arc is controlled with a magnetic field established with a permanent magnet that is moved in a closed path relative to the cathode.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,298,136, the content thereof is incorporated herein by reference, discloses an apparatus for controlled arc coating of substrates utilizing relatively thick cathodes (i.e., targets). The thick targets are capable of use by controlling and steering the arc in a desired path to produce coatings of the desired compositions using magnetic fields generated to provide arc path control and modulation for efficient cathode utilization.
The above-mentioned prior art references involved improvements in an efficient generation of the vaporized metal ions from the target (i.e., the cathode) surface by controlling the formation of and the disposition of the electric arc. At the present time, the metal particle generating component, i.e., the cathode-anode component, of the arc ion plating apparatus cannot effectively accommodate a very large object. The exit of the art ion generating chamber must be comparable in dimension with respect to the object so as to minimize inhomogeneity between the center and the two ends of the object. On the other hand, for a relatively small object, the metal particle generating component with a fixed dimension may at times cause unnecessary waste and result in loss in efficiency. Furthermore, while the prior art references discussed options to minimize the occurrence of macro particles, they involve relatively complicated design and may not be cost-effective.

Industrial Technology Research Institute


A method of processing a video signal is disclosed. The present invention includes receiving prediction mode information of a current block, generating a half pel using an integer pel of a neighbor block, and generating a predictor of the current block using the half pel and the prediction mode information.

Generally, compression coding means a series of signal processing techniques for transferring digitalized information via communication lines or storing digitalized information in a format suitable for a storage medium. Targets of compression coding include audios, images, characters, etc. In particular, a technique of performing compression coding on images is called video compression. Video is generally characterized in having spatial redundancy and temporal redundancy.

Method and an apparatus for processing a video signal


Systems for reducing magnetic coupling in integrated circuits (ICs) are disclosed. Related components and methods are also disclosed. The ICs have a plurality of inductors. Each inductor generates a magnetic flux that has a discernible axis. To reduce magnetic coupling between the inductors, the flux axes are designed so as to be non-parallel. In particular, by making the flux axes of the inductors non-parallel to one another, magnetic coupling between the inductors is reduced relative to the situation where the flux axes are parallel. This arrangement may be particularly well suited for use in diplexers having a low pass and a high pass filter.

I. Field of the Disclosure
The technology of the disclosure relates generally to integrated circuits (ICs), and particularly to reducing magnetic coupling between components in an IC.
II. Background
Mobile communication devices have become common in current society. The prevalence of these mobile devices is driven in part by the many functions that are now enabled on such devices. Demand for such functions increases processing capability requirements and generates a need for more powerful batteries. Within the limited space of the housing of the mobile communication device, batteries compete with the processing circuitry. The competition for space for components and other factors contribute to a continued miniaturization of components within the circuitry.
Miniaturization of the components impacts all aspects of the processing circuitry including the memory transistors and other reactive elements in the processing circuitry. While miniaturization of components in mobile communication devices is easy for the consumer to appreciate as phones become smaller and lighter and have longer battery times, miniaturization pressures are not limited to mobile communication devices. Other computing devices such as desktop computers also try to increase available memory and processing power through miniaturization.
Concurrently with the miniaturization goals, the wireless communication industry continues to work towards providing as much bandwidth to consumers as possible. To this end, many wireless carriers have adopted carrier aggregation policies for current generation communications. That is, a wireless carrier such as AT&T® may own rights to two frequency bands (e.g., around 700 MHz and 2 GHz) in a particular geographic area. To maximize available bandwidth, the wireless carrier may use both frequencies simultaneously for a single communication stream. While using both frequency bands for a single communication stream does increase the amount of data that can be provided to the end user, there are complications in that each of the frequencies used to transmit data creates noise at the harmonic frequencies. In the AT&T® example, the 700 MHz transmissions create harmonics at 2.1 GHz that may interfere with data being broadcast at the 2 GHz frequencies. In such situations, a diplexer can be provided to process signals carried in a carrier aggregation system. In a chipset for a device using such a carrier aggregation system, the diplexer is usually inserted between an antenna and a tuner (or a radio frequency (RF) switch) to provide isolation between frequency bands to ensure high performance. Usually, a diplexer design includes inductors and capacitors for providing filtering. Diplexers can attain high performance by using inductors and capacitors that have a high quality (Q) factor. Diplexer performance may be quantified, by measuring the insertion loss and rejection (e.g., quantities expressed in decibels (dB)) at certain frequencies.
When miniaturization goals are applied to elements containing more than one inductor, such as diplexers, the inductors are frequently positioned in close proximity to each other. The close proximity of these inductors may result in magnetic coupling between the inductors. In most cases, this magnetic coupling results in a reduction in isolation and performance of the circuit.

Systems for reducing magnetic coupling in integrated circuits (ICS), and related components and methods


An image forming apparatus includes a rotating member that is rotatable, a communication medium, and a receiving unit. The communication medium that is attached to an outer circumference of the rotating member stores therein information on the rotating member and relays the information on the rotating member via wireless communication. The receiving unit receives the information on the rotating member from the communication medium.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus and a wireless communication device.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, color image forming apparatuses that perform color processing on images have been widespread. In such a color image forming apparatus, a single-color toner image is formed from each of colors, such as cyan, magenta, yellow, and black, and then these single-color toner images are sequentially transferred onto a recording medium, thereby forming a full-color image on the recording member. The toner for use in image formation is supplied from removable toner bottles. Thus, in order to prevent each toner bottle from being placed at a wrong position, a technology has been generally known in which an RFID (radio frequency identification) tag, which is a non-contact communication storage medium, is placed at a fixing unit of the toner bottle, and an RFID reader on an apparatus body side receives information from the tag to check the set position, thereby preventing the toner bottle from being wrongly set. In this technology, since the RFID reader has to be placed at an apparatus body side for each RFID tag placed at each toner bottle, the number of RFID readers to be placed is disadvantageously large.
To solve the problems, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2003-271042 discloses an image forming apparatus in which an RFID reader is provided between RFID tags placed at fixing units of two toner bottles. In such an image forming apparatus, all what is required is to place one RFID reader for two toner bottles, thereby reducing the number of RFID readers to be placed.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2005-234499 discloses an image forming apparatus in which an RFID tag is placed on a side surface of a rotating member of a process cartridge.
However, in the technology disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2003-271042, each RFID tag has to be placed on the side surface of the fixing unit of the toner bottle including a toner supplying unit. This restricts the position where the RFID tag is to be placed, and also restricts the set position of the RFID reader to be placed so as to correspond to the RFID tags.
Moreover, the RFID tags have to be placed at the fixing units of the toner bottles so as to face the RFID reader placed between the toner bottles. Therefore, the toner bottles placed on right and left sides of the RFID reader have different structures on right and left sides, and therefore there is a problem in which the toner bottles cannot be used in common among respective colors. Furthermore, when the toner bottles are recycled, since each toner bottle has a different shape for each color, there is a problem in which the toner bottle used for each color cannot be recycled for use as a common toner bottle.
Also, in the technology disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2005-234499, the RFID tag is attached onto the side surface of the member in a cylindrical shape, such as a photosensitive member. Therefore, in order to make RFID tags face the RFID reader, an RFID reader has to be placed for each RFID tag. Thus, there is a problem in which, in the first place, the number of RFID readers to be placed cannot be reduced.

Image forming apparatus and wireless communication device


A method for the continuous production of esters of thermally unstable acids by the esterification, with or without a catalyst, of the acids with alcohols is provided. The method involves esterification at temperatures of approximately 80.degree. C. to approximately 130.degree. C., essentially in a single reaction zone, to which the acid and an excess of alcohol are continuously supplied and from which a vapor stream containing alcohol and water produced by the esterification reaction are removed, while at the same time removing an ester-rich liquid reaction mixture from the single reaction zone, from which the ester is obtained.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for the continuous production of esters of thermally unstable acids in essentially only one reaction zone in the liquid phase that is capable of providing high quantities of the esters.
2. Discussion of the Background
Various esters of thermally unstable acids are important intermediate products for the production of other valuable substances. For example, cyanoacetic acid esters are needed for the syntheses of heterocycles. 4-Chlorobutyric acid serves as a starting material for the synthesis of cyclopropane derivatives. A continuous esterification method is desired for the production of the needed technical quantities of these and other esters.
Gas phase esterification methods (see, for example, Ullmann, Encyclopedia of Technical Chemistry, 3rd Edition, 1967, Volume 18, p. 69) cannot be used because of the thermal sensitivity of the acids. DD 127 117 describes a continuous method that works in the liquid phase, wherein the acid is esterified in three successive stages in the presence of a catalyst--in the first stage in a cocurrent flow, in the second stage in a counterflow, and in the third stage, again in a counterflow. This method suffers from the following disadvantages: (1) it requires an additional entrainer for the removal of water generated during reaction, (2) it is expensive with regard to the apparatus used because of its three esterification stages, (3) it requires a considerable measurement and control technical outlay because of the different parameters in the three esterification stages, and (4) it tends to be otherwise troublesome to carry out.
In the production of cyanoacetic acid, the temperatures in the three esterification stages are 75.degree. C. (column 4), 130.degree. (column 1), and 110.degree. C. (column 2), with conversions of 10 to 15%, 70 to 80% and 10 to 15%, respectively. This procedure takes into consideration the fact that cyanoacetic acid already begins to decompose beyond approximately 80.degree. C. Accordingly, the temperature is increased step by step, and the end temperature of 100.degree. is attained in a stage when only a small amount of unesterified cyanoacetic acid remains in the reaction mixture.

Method for the continuous production of esters of thermally unstable acids


When texts recognized by an OCR are registered and those texts are searched by a search word, a state in which the search cannot be performed depending on an error recognition at the time of the recognition by the OCR is eliminated. It is an object of the invention to realize a process such that no burden is exerted on an operator or an apparatus by the above state. There are provided an OCR processor for recognizing stored image information and outputting a recognition result while switching the number of candidate characters to be outputted as a recognition result in accordance with a degree of a likelihood; and a document searcher for forming character trains for search from the recognition result and for registering as a search file.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to information processing method and apparatus for converting input image information to a text by a character recognizing function such as an OCR or the like.
The invention also relates to information processing method and apparatus which can form a search data base from a text obtained by converting input image information by a character recognizing function such as an OCR or the like and which can search desired data.
2. Related Background Art
Hitherto, when an input image is recognized by an OCR or the like and is converted to a text, with respect to an input character in which only a candidate character of a low similarity was obtained, as a countermeasure for an erroneous recognition, a fact that the similarity is low is notified to the operator and he judges that whether the candidate word is correct or wrong. When it is wrong, the operator is urged to manually correct the wrong character and input a correct character.
According to such a method, however, the operator must not only input an image to be converted to a text but also perform the correcting operation, so that there is a drawback such that the operator feels a burden.
There is also a method whereby not only a result of a character recognition is outputted but also a candidate character obtained by the character recognition is compared with a word dictionary or a knowledge base, thereby correcting an erroneously recognized character without a help of the operator.
According to the above methods, however, there are drawbacks such that the word dictionary or knowledge base has to be held in a memory for the correcting process and, further, such a correcting process using them is complicated and takes a long time and becomes a burden on the apparatus.


The present invention generally relates to human feature analysis. Specifically, embodiments of the present invention relate to a system and method for utilizing one or more overlay grids in conjunction with imagery of a human face or breast area in order to analyze beauty and attractiveness of the face or breast area in the underlying imagery. In an exemplary embodiment, the system utilizes computerized image capture features and processing features to analyze a human face or breast area in relation to a plurality of overlay grids in order to identify and empirically measure beauty and attractiveness based on the alignment of said overlay grids with specific features of the human face or breast area and whether a successful fit exists with specifically defined facial or breast grids or by how close the individual's features align with specifically defined facial or breast grids.

Beauty and attractiveness at first glance may appear to be subjective qualities that lie solely in the eye of the beholder. However, empirical research and data has shown time and again that there are certain quantifiable aspects that can be measured and determine with a high probability the actual attractiveness of an individual. Even as far back as ancient Greece, early mathematicians were able to deduce a relationship between two linear distances, known as the "golden ratio" or "golden proportion" (used interchangeably herein), that has been shown to produce aesthetically pleasing results. This golden ratio has been used to produce works of exceptional aesthetic qualities in everything from art to architecture. Some believe that many of the architectural proportions of the famous Greek Parthenon are alleged to exhibit golden ratio relationships to create this beautifully balanced architectural masterpiece.
While useful in artwork and architecture, the golden ratio has also been shown to be useful in determining the attractiveness of individuals as well. Ancient Greeks found the golden ratio may apply to the certain ratios related to the human body, such as ratios between the height of an individual and various points on the individual's body. Leonardo da Vinci's illustrations of polyhedra in De divina proportione and his views that some bodily proportions exhibit the golden ratio have led some scholars to speculate that he incorporated the golden ratio into his paintings. It has been suggested that even his famous Mona Lisa and Vitruvian Man, for example, possibly employ golden ratio proportions.
While much research has been done, there is still much left unanswered about application of the golden ratio to various aspects of aesthetics when it comes to human facial or breast analysis and empirical determination of beauty and attractiveness of a human face or breast area.
Therefore, there is a need in the art for a system and method that allows for the analysis of a human face or human breast area in order to analyze beauty and attractiveness of the face or breast area. These systems and methods may be best engaged and practiced through the use of modern computing and imaging systems in order to capture and analyze the underlying imagery, such as through the use of overlays comprising grid lines, for the purpose of analyzing the beauty and attractiveness of a human face or breast area. These and other features and advantages of the present invention will be explained and will become obvious to one skilled in the art through the summary of the invention that follows.

System and method of analyzing features of the human face and breasts using one or more overlay grids


Near-Field Communication (NFC) test systems, apparatus and processes enable consumers to thoroughly and easily test the NFC circuitry and short range communications software of their mobile devices. In an embodiment, a processor of a consumer's mobile device receives input to initialize an NFC test application and displays a prompt on a display screen for the consumer to position his or her mobile device to communicate with an NFC-enabled device. When the processor receives input indicating a correct communication position, a shared identity is exchanged with the NFC-enabled device and transmitted to a central server computer. Next, the processor receives a plurality of NFC test instructions, communicates in a transaction mode of operation and then in a terminal mode of operation with the NFC-enabled device, and transmits NFC test data to the central server computer. In some embodiments, the processor receives NFC test results from the central server computer and displays an indication of the NFC test results on a display screen.

Payment cards such as credit cards, debit cards and/or prepaid cards are ubiquitous and have been used by consumers for decades. Such cards typically include a magnetic stripe which stores the relevant account number and other data. To initiate a typical purchase transaction with such a card, the card is swiped through a magnetic stripe reader that is part of a point-of-sale (POS) terminal and the reader reads the account number and other data from the magnetic stripe. The account number is then used to route a transaction authorization request that is initiated by the POS terminal. The authorization request is typically routed from the merchant's acquiring financial institution (the "acquirer") to a server computer operated by or on behalf of the issuer financial institution that issued the payment account (the "issuer"), and the issuer's server computer provides a response. If the authorization response indicates that the issuer authorized the transaction, the transaction is consummated at the POS terminal.
Payment cards have been developed that allow the account number to be automatically read from the payment card by radio frequency communications. In particular, a "proximity reader" which, for example, is incorporated with the POS terminal, is configured to read the account number and/or other transaction information from the payment card. Such payment cards are often referred to as "proximity payment cards" or "contactless payment cards", and conventionally include a radio frequency identification (RFID) integrated circuit (IC, often referred to as a "chip") embedded in the payment card body. A suitable antenna is also embedded in the payment card body and is connected to the RFID chip to allow the chip to receive and transmit data by RF communication via the antenna. In typical arrangements, the RFID chip is powered from an interrogation signal transmitted by the proximity reader and received by the payment card antenna. In some embodiments, the payment card account number and other information may be uploaded from the IC payment card to the POS terminal during a purchase transaction. Authorization and clearing may then proceed in substantially the same manner as for a transaction initiated with a magnetic stripe payment card (putting aside additional security measures that may be implemented by using the processing capabilities of the IC payment card). An example of a contactless payment card standard is the "PayPass™" payment card system established by MasterCard International Incorporated, the assignee hereof. Wireless exchanges of information via NFC (Near Field Communication) have been developed for contactless or proximity payment applications.
The capabilities of a contactless payment card have been incorporated into a mobile device, such as a mobile telephone or smartphone, which turns that mobile device into a contactless payment device or payment-enabled mobile device. Since NFC technology complements many popular consumer level wireless technologies by utilizing key elements in existing standards for contactless card technology (for example, ISO/IEC 14443 A&B and JIS-X 6319-4), NFC-enabled mobile devices, such as NFC-enabled Smartphones, are manufactured and are compatible with existing contactless card infrastructure. Such an NFC-enabled mobile devices enables consumers to utilize one device across different systems (for example, as a mobile telephone, as a contactless payment device, and as a contactless identification device which can be used to gain access to buildings and/or to access transportation services and the like). In order to utilize an NFC-enabled mobile device as a contactless payment device, a payment card account number and other account or device-specific information is loaded into the mobile device by a process typically referred to as "personalization." Personalization of the mobile device may occur in an over the air (OTA) personalization process. Persons skilled in the art understand that "personalization" refers to the process by which consumer or user- and/or account-specific information is loaded into and/or otherwise applied to a payment-enabled mobile device. The account-specific information may include a consumer identifier, a payment card account number associated with a payment card account, and other consumer financial account information that may be provided by an issuer financial institution (FI) computer to the mobile device and loaded into a secure memory.
Mobile devices, such as mobile telephones, are manufactured and distributed by the mobile handset industry independently from the distribution channels typically utilized by the financial services industry. Consequently, the NFC functionality of the payment application running on a mobile device cannot be readily subjected to the same kind of testing that contactless payment cards typically undergo. Therefore, if a problem is reported by a consumer after purchase of a mobile telephone, logistical problems arise with regard to transporting a mobile telephone/contactless payment device to a test facility for troubleshooting. In addition, mobile telephones are expensive pieces of equipment and cannot just be replaced with a new device upon request by a consumer.
Many reasons can be provided to explain why a payment-enabled mobile device (for example, a mobile telephone or smartphone that has been personalized so as to be capable of engaging in purchase transactions) does not work correctly or is non-functional when presented at a reader device or proximity reader, for example, in a retail store. Moreover, although mobile telephone sales representatives in retail stores have experience troubleshooting radio frequency problems (related to making wireless telephone calls), they typically have little or no experience with NFC problems that may occur (related to making purchase transactions). Thus, the first assumption that the consumer (owner of the mobile device) typically makes is that the payment hardware (the NFC circuitry) or the payment software of the mobile device is defective. Since it is not practical for the consumer to return his or her mobile device to a repair facility or to ship it back to the device supplier, the consumer typically seeks support from the mobile device supplier and/or manufacturer.
As the NFC technology in the consumer's mobile device represents only short range communication functionality, the consumer must be physically present at a payment terminal (such as a cash register or other point-of-sale (POS) device) in order to test the NFC functionality of the mobile device. If the consumer is no longer in a merchant's retail store then he or she cannot use the mobile device to attempt to make another purchase (or a further purchase) to retry and/or test the NFC circuitry and/or payment software. Moreover, it may be difficult for the consumer to remember, and therefore follow, any directions provided on a website, or provided verbally via telephone from a customer service representative of the mobile device supplier at their next visit to a Merchant retail store location, at which the consumer can attempt to again use their mobile device at a payment terminal. Thus, consumers may be directed to ship the mobile device to a testing facility, which may be at the manufacturer's or device supplier's expense. In some cases, the consumer is provided with a replacement mobile device. In addition to the shipping costs and mobile device replacement costs, additional costs may be incurred by the mobile device manufacturer or distributor (such as a mobile phone retailer), such as costs associated with employing test personnel. In addition, the consumer who purchased the mobile device with NFC circuitry (such as an NFC-enabled mobile telephone) may be unhappy and/or dissatisfied because he or she may be left without a functioning mobile device for some period of time (until a replacement arrives), which may result in the loss of that person as a customer.
The inventors therefore recognized that an opportunity exists for providing simple, cost effective and accurate systems and/or processes that can be utilized by consumers to test the functionality of the short range communications hardware (for example, NFC circuitry or other type of contactless communications circuitry) of their mobile devices.

Systems, apparatus and methods for consumer testing of an NFC-enabled mobile device


Improved intelligent personal assistant (IPA) software agents are disclosed that are configured to interact with various people, service providers, files, and/or smart devices. More particularly, this disclosure relates to an improved Natural Language Processing (NLP) Intent Determination Service (IDS) that is able to determine the likely best action to take in response to generic user commands and queries. The improved NLP IDS disclosed is said to be ‘search-based’ because, rather than attempt to parse incoming user commands and queries up front, the incoming user commands and queries are searched against a pre-generated database of exemplary user commands (e.g., having associated action or parsing identifiers) to determine the most relevant search result(s). The associated system actions and known grammar/parsing rules of the most relevant search result(s) may then be used to process the incoming user command or query—without having to actually parse the incoming user command or query from scratch.

Intelligent personal assistant (IPA) software systems comprise software agents that can perform various tasks or services on behalf of an individual user. These tasks or services may be based on a number of factors, including: spoken word or verbal input from a user, textual input from a user, gesture input from a user, a user's geolocation, a user's preferences, a user's social contacts, and an ability to access information from a variety of online sources, such as via the World Wide Web. However, current IPA software systems have fundamental limitations in natural language processing, natural language understanding (NLU), and so-called "intent determination" in practical applications.
For example, in some systems, language context and action possibilities gleaned from user commands may be constrained 'up front' by identifying the specific service that the user is sending the command to before attempting to perform any NLP/NLU—thus increasing the accuracy of results and significantly reducing the amount of processing work needed to understand the commands. However, this strategy may not provide a satisfactory user experience in the context of AI-enabled IPAs, wherein the user may often engage in macro-level 'conversations' with his or her device via a generic query to a single IPA 'persona' that is capable of interacting with many third-party services, APIs, file, document, and/or systems. In such situations, it becomes more complex and challenging for the IPA to reliably direct the user's commands to the appropriate data, interface, third-party service, etc.—especially when a given command may seemingly apply with equal validity to two or more known third-party interfaces or services that the IPA software agent is capable of interfacing with. For example, the command, "Send {item}." may apply with seemingly equal validity to a native text messaging interface, a native email client, a third-party messaging interface, a flower delivery service, etc.
Moreover, it is quite computationally expensive to attempt to parse the grammar of each incoming user command or query 'up front,' i.e., to attempt to determine the intent of the user's command and/or which specific services, APIs, file, document, or system the user intends for his command to be directed to. Computationally-expensive parsing may also be used to determine how certain words or phrases in the user's command depend on, relate to, or modify other words or phrases in the user's command, thereby giving the system a greater understanding of the user's actual intent.
NLP systems may be used to attempt to glean the true intent of a user's commands, but the success of such systems is largely dependent upon the training set of data which has been used to train the NLP system. NLP also requires computationally-intensive parsing to determine what parts of the user's command refer to intents, which parts refer to entities, which parts refer to attributes, etc., as well as which entities and attributes are dependent upon (or are modifying) which intents.
The subject matter of the present disclosure is directed to overcoming, or at least reducing the effects of, one or more of the problems set forth above. To address these and other issues, techniques that enable a more computationally-efficient, so-called 'search-based,' NLP intent determination system are described herein.

Search-based natural language intent determination


A semiconductor device is disclosed. Embodiments relate to a semiconductor device which includes an active region including a source region, a drain region, and a channel region. A gate electrode, source electrodes, and a drain electrode are formed around the active region. A plurality of gate fingers diverge from the gate electrode into the channel region. A plurality of source fingers diverge from the source electrodes into the source region, the source fingers being disposed between the gate fingers in a predetermined pattern, the source fingers having at least two finger lines connected to each other via at least one grid line. A plurality of drain fingers diverge from the drain electrode into the drain region, the drain fingers being disposed between the gate fingers where the source fingers are not disposed.

Various characteristics are measured to evaluate radio frequency (RF) performance of a semiconductor device, e.g., a metal oxide semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET). Important characteristics include maximum oscillation frequency (fMAX) and cut-off frequency (fT). The fMAX and fT are characteristics related to the operational frequency of a device. Specifically, fMAX is a characteristic at which the operational frequency is evaluated in terms of electric power, and the fT is characteristics at which the operation frequency is evaluated in terms of electric current.
FIG. 1 is a view illustrating a semiconductor device 20 mounted over a substrate 10 having a ground signal ground (GSG) electrode structure. FIG. 2 is a plan view illustrating a finger type electrode structure of the semiconductor device 20. To improve fMAX and fT in RF applications, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the semiconductor device is manufactured with a finger type structure.
Referring to FIG. 1, six electrodes 11-1 to 11-4, 12-1, and 12-2 are formed over the substrate 10. The four electrodes 11-1 to 11-4, which are formed at four corners of the substrate, respectively, are used as ground electrodes. The two electrodes 12-1 and 12-2, which are located between the corresponding ground electrodes, are used as signal electrodes.
The ground electrodes 11-1 to 11-4 and the signal electrodes 12-1 and 12-2 are connected to each other via conductive patterns 13 and 14. The semiconductor device 20 is mounted over the center of the substrate 10 such that the semiconductor device 20 is electrically connected to the conductive patterns 13 and 14.
Referring to FIG. 2, the semiconductor device 20 is constructed with the bodies of four electrodes 21, 22, and 23 disposed around an active region 24. Finger type electrodes diverge from the bodies of the respective electrodes 21, 22, and 23 into the active region 24. The two source electrodes 21 are formed at opposite sides of the active region 24. Fingers 21-1 of the source electrodes 21 and fingers 22-1 of the drain electrode 22 are alternately disposed between fingers 23-1 to 23-4 of the gate electrode 23.
The two ground electrodes 11-1 and 11-2 located at the upper side of the substrate 10 shown in FIG. 1 are bonded to the upper source electrode 21 of the semiconductor device 20. The two ground electrodes 11-3 and 11-4 located on the lower side of the substrate 10 are bonded to the lower source electrode 21 of the semiconductor device 20. The gate electrode 23 of the semiconductor device 20 is bonded to the left signal terminal 12-1 of the substrate 10. The drain electrode 22 of the semiconductor device 20 is bonded to the right signal terminal 12-2 of the substrate 10.
However, in the structure of each finger electrode of the semiconductor device 20, a single metal line diverges from the corresponding body, limiting improvements in RF performance, i.e., fMAX and fT.


The present invention relates to methods of reducing chemical fertilizer usage and greenhouse gas nitrous oxide emission and to methods of improving plant growth rate and seed productivity in agriculture through the application of a novel artificially manufactured formula containing a nitrogen-fixing bacterium that efficiently colonizes non-legume plants in aerial parts and the root system. The bacteria inocula and methods are particularly suitable for plants in the genera Jatropha, Sorghum, Gossypium, Elaeis, Ricinus, Oryza and Manihot.

The present invention relates to methods of reducing chemical fertilizer usage and greenhouse gas nitrous oxide (N2O) emission and to methods of improving plant growth rate and seed productivity in agriculture through the application of a novel artificially manufactured formula containing a nitrogen-fixing bacterium that efficiently colonizes non-legume plants in aerial parts and the root system. The bacteria inocula and methods are particularly suitable for plants in the genera Jatropha, Sorghum, Gossypium, Elaeis, Oryza, Ricinus and Manihot.
The rapid rise in fossil fuel price, the fast diminishment of global fuel and the concern about rapid global warming resulted from the accumulation of atmospheric greenhouse gas have served as the three catalysts in the recent biofuel boom (Chang, 2007). The environmental benefit of biofuel consumption is attributed from the widely believed outcome of reduced greenhouse gas (CO2) emission.
Recently, a new issue that has been brought up for debate regarding the benefit of biofuels. Nitrous oxide is produced naturally in the soil during the microbial processes of nitrification and denitrification. A significant percentage of the nitrogen fertilizer used in biofuel production is converted to reactive nitrogen N2O, a greenhouse gas which has 310 times the ability to trap heat in the atmosphere (Barton and Atwater, 2002). The benefit of CO2 mitigation through biofuel consumption will be cancelled out if the use of N-fertilizer is not controlled (Galloway et al., 2008; Melillo et al, 2009; Crutzen et al., 2008).
Application of nitrogen fertilizer has become an essential practice in modern agriculture as it is vital to maintain competitive crop productivity. It has been well known that legumes require much less input of nitrogen fertilizer owing to the presence of nitrogen-fixing structure called nodules, in which nitrogen-fixing microorganisms (diazotrophs), mostly belonging to species in the Rhizobium, Sinorhizobium, Mesorhizobium and Bradyrhizobium genera (Jourand et al., 2004; Kaneko et al., 2000; Stacey et al., 1991; Gottfert et al., 2001), form a mutually beneficial symbiotic relationship with the bacteria supplying nitrogen source to the plants while drawing carbon source from the plants cells (Long, 1996; Young and Johnston, 1989). Some exception has been found recently. For example, Methylobacterium nodulans is the root nodule-inducing agent for some species in the genus Crotalaria, a leguminous plant (Renier et al., 2011; Jourand et al., 2005) and nitrogen-fixing nodules may develop in stem tissues of some legumes (Eaglesham and Szalay, 1983; Dreyfus and Dommergues, 1981). Frankia, Gram-positive soil bacteria also induce the formation of nitrogen-fixing root nodules in a few species in the Rosaceae family (Moir et al., 2011).
The formation of symbiotic nodules involves with complex genetic and chemical interactions between the diazotroph and host. For example, the symbiosis between Sinorhizobium meliloti and its plant hosts begins when the plant secretes an array of betaines and flavonoids into the rhizosphere: 4,4′-dihydroxy-2′-methoxychalcone, chrysoeriol, cynaroside, 4′,7-dihydroxyflavone, 6″-O-malonylononin, liquiritigenin, luteolin, 3′,5-dimethoxyluteolin, 5-methoxyluteolin, medicarpin, stachydrine, trigonelline. These compounds attract S. meliloti to the surface of the root hairs of the plant where the bacteria begin secreting nodulation factor (Peters et al., 1986; Maxwell et al., 1989). As a consequence, symbiotic nodule-forming nitrogen-fixation is found almost exclusively in legume species. Bradyrhizobia and rhizobia share characteristics with plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR). Nodule inducing bacteria, like other PGPR, are capable of colonizing the roots of non-legume plants (Antoun et al., 1998).
Diazotrophs have been found in free-living bacteria, among which Azotobacter vinelandii is the best studied. An increasingly number of diazotrophic species, e.g., Azospirillum, Herbaspirillum, Burkholderia, Gluconacetobacter, have been reported to form atypical symbiotic relationship with plants (Zehr, 2011; Radiers et al., 2004; Pedraza, 2008). They often grow on the surface root system (rhizobacteria) although some are able to infect plant tissues (endophytic bacteria) and perform nitrogen fixation, which is also able promote plant growth. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 7,393,678 B2 describes strains of Klebsiella pneumonia, which colonize the root surface (Liu et al., 2011), are able to promote growth of cereals (wheat and corn) either in the presence or absence of chemical nitrogen application. However, only specially isolated mutant strains of Klebsiella pneumonia were able to perform satisfactory plant growth promoting function as the nitrogen-fixation activity is low in majority of strains. Perhaps, the best examples of endophytic nitrogen-fixation can be found in sugarcane and wild rice, with Herbaspirillum, Gluconacetobacter, Enterobacter, Azospirillum, Swaminathania and Acetobacter being the possible contributors of nitrogen-fixing species (Pedraza, 2008; Boddey et al., 1995; Baldani et al., 2002; Elbeltagy et al., 2001; Saravanan et al., 2008). Photosynthetic Bradyrhizobia are the natural endophytes of the African wild rice Oryza breviligulata while the intercellular colonization and growth-promoting effects of a Methylobacterium sp. was observed in common rice Oryza sativa L. Cv CO-43 although the later was believed to resulted from phytohormone secretion of the bacterium (Senthilkumar et al., 2009; Chaintreuil et al., 2000).
A study of Azospirilla indicates that, similar to nodulation and nitrogen-fixation in legumes, the endophytic colonization process is genetically controlled and exopolysaccharide production inhibits both endophytic colonization and nitrogen fixation in common wheat seedlings (Kennedy et al., 1997). In addition, a mutation that blocks exopolysaccharide synthesis prevents nodulation of peas by Rhizobium leguminosarum but not of beans by R. phaseoli (Borthakur et al., 1986). Therefore, the ability of a diazotroph to promote plant growth via nitrogen-fixation is not predictable from its performance in other plants.
Jatropha curcas is a small woody plant belonging to the Euphorbiaceae family. Several unique characteristics make it an ideal plant for biodiesel production (Fairless, 2007; Gaydou et al., 1982; Openshaw, 2000). These include the ability to grow on marginal land; low requirement for water; a non-food crop status and fast oil production in 0.5-2 years after planting compared to more than 3 years for oil palm. Accordingly, several Asian countries, particularly Indonesian and India, have made ambitious plans to promote jatropha plantation. Several other plants have also attracted strong interest as alternative crop for biofuel production. These include castor bean, sorghum, and sweet sorghum.
As Jatropha is targeted to marginal land where soil nutrient is low, the requirement for nitrogen fertilizer will be higher than other crops. Therefore, any technology that reduces nitrogen fertilizer usage will be highly desirable. Today there is little research on naturally occurring diazotrophs in Jatropha nor the application of these microbes for improvement of plant productivity. Similar situations can be found in other crops, such as Sorghum, castor bean and cassava.

Nitrogen-fixing bacterial inoculant for improvement of crop productivity and reduction of nitrous oxide emission

TEMASEK LIFE SCIENCES LABORATORY LIMITED


In this rolling guide unit, a slider is provided on a track rail so that the slider can be moved slidingly in a linear direction, and a circular bore is formed in a casing constituting the slider. A cross-sectionally V-shaped outer annular raceway surface is formed on the circumferential surface of the circular bore, and a rotary body consisting of lower and upper rotary bodies is fixed rotatably in the same circular bore. The casing constitutes a common part having both a function of making a linear movement and a function of making a rotational movement. This enables the height of the rolling guide unit to be reduced to as great an extent as possible, and an accumulated error due to an assembling operation to be minimized, so that a highly accurate guide machine can be provided.

1. Field of the Invention:
This invention relates to a rolling guide unit adapted to be used for the sliding and rotary portions of a machine tool, various kinds of precision machining apparatuses and a testing apparatus.
2. Description of the Prior Art:
A conventional linear motion rolling guide unit consists of a track rail having raceway grooves in the longitudinally extending both side surfaces thereof, a slider saddled on the track rail and having raceway grooves therein, and a plurality of rolling elements adapted to roll between the opposed raceway grooves, and an apparatus of comparatively large weight is placed on the slider, the rolling guide unit being adapted to guide highly precise longitudinal movements of the apparatus over a comparatively long distance (refer to Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 112021/1989).
FIG. 4 is a perspective view of an example of a conventional linear motion rolling guide unit. As shown in FIG. 4, the linear motion rolling guide unit has two rows of parallel-extending track rails 2 fixed on a bed 20, a plurality of sliders 1 moving slidingly on each track rail 2 in a track rail-saddling state, and a slide table 4 fixed on four sliders 1, one of various kinds of apparatuses placed on the slide table 4 being moved linearly in the longitudinal direction of an arrow G. In this linear motion rolling guide unit, the raceway grooves 5 are formed in the longitudinally extending both side surfaces 21 of the track rails 2, and the slider 1 is mounted on the track rails 2 so as to be slidable thereon in a rail-saddling state (refer to, for example, Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 23233/1992).
The slider 1 described above is formed as shown in, for example, FIG. 5. FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing an example of a conventional linear motion rolling guide unit. The linear motion rolling guide unit consists mainly of a track rail 2 having raceway grooves 5 in the longitudinally extending both side surfaces 21 thereof, and a slider 1 adapted to be moved linearly on the track rail 2. The slider 1 is placed in a saddled state on the track rail 2, and adapted to be slided freely via a plurality of rolling elements 13 circulating along the raceway grooves 5 in the track rail 2. The slider 1 has a casing 3 provided with raceway grooves 54 in the portions thereof which are opposed to the raceway grooves 5, a plurality of rolling elements 13 fitted between the opposed raceway grooves 5, 54 and consisting of a plurality of circulatingly rollable balls, and end caps 6 attached to both of the longitudinal end portions of the casing 3. The end caps 6 are provided with side seals 50 which attain the sealing of the contact portions of the track rail 2 and slider 1, and a grease nipple 55 for supplying a lubricant to slide surfaces between the track rail 2 and slider 1. In order to prevent the rolling elements 13 from falling from the casing 3, retainer straps 51 are fixed to the casing 3 so as to surround the rolling elements 13. Moreover, in order to reliable prevent the rolling elements 13 from falling from the casing 3, lower seals 53 are fixed to the casing 3 so as to seal the casing 3, the longitudinally extending both side surfaces 21 of the track rail 2 and the lower surface of the casing 3.
The rolling elements 13 in a load region which roll between a raceway groove 5 in the track rail 2 and that 54 in the casing 3 are introduced into a switchover passage (not shown) formed in an end cap 6, and then moved into a return passage 52 formed in the upper portion of the casing 3 and extending in parallel with the raceway groove 54, whereby the rolling elements 13 are circulated limitlessly in the endless circulating passage. Thus, owing to the rolling of the loaded rolling elements 13 positioned between the raceway grooves 54 formed in the slider 1 and those 5 formed in the track rail 2, the slider 1 can be moved linearly on the track rail 2 (refer to, for example, Japanese Patent Application No. 326317/1991).
There is a publication disclosing a conventional rotary motion guide unit shown in FIG. 6 in which a bearing is provided. In this rotary motion rolling guide unit, a bearing 28 formed by inserting cylindrical rollers 32 between an inner race 27, which has a V-shaped raceway surface for making a relative movement of the rollers 32 thereon, and outer races 16, 17 is incorporated, and a rotary body 24 is fixed rotatably to a base 23. In the rotary motion rolling guide unit, the inner race 27 is fixed to the outer circumferential surface 22 of a cylindrical shaft portion 19 of the base 23 with a fixing means, such as a bolt and a clamp. The rotary body 24 is adapted to be rotated relatively to the base 23, and the upper and lower outer races 16, 17 are fixed to the inner circumferential surface 25 of a cylindrical portion 18 of the rotary body 24 with a fixing means, such as a bolt and a clamp. The rolling guide unit is formed by arranging a plurality of cylindrical rollers 32 in an alternately crossing manner between the inner and outer races 27, 16, 17. The inner race 27 is provided on its outer circumferential side with a V-shaped raceway surface 29, and the upper and lower outer races 16, 17 on their inner circumferential sides with raceway surfaces 30, 31 respectively, by which one V-shaped raceway surface is formed.
There is a publication disclosing a linear motion rolling guide unit as a conventional rolling guide unit, on which an apparatus of comparatively large weight is placed as shown in FIG. 5, the guide unit being adapted to guide a linear longitudinal movement of the apparatus over a comparatively long distance. There is also a publication disclosing a rotary motion rolling guide unit in which a bearing 28 is incorporated between a base 23 and a rotary body 24 as shown in FIG. 6, with the rotary body 24 fixed to the base 23 rotatably so that the rotary body 24 can be moved relatively to the base 23. When it is necessary that both a linear movement and a rotational movement be made in a rolling guide unit in accordance with the conventional techniques, the above-mentioned linear motion rolling guide unit and rotary motion rolling guide unit are combined so that both of these movement can be made.
However, a rolling guide unit having construction which enables both a linear movement and a rotational movement to be made simultaneously has not been developed up to the present time. In a conventional structure in which a linear motion rolling guide unit and a rotary motion rolling guide unit are combined, the dimensions of the guide unit increases to a high level, and the height thereof becomes excessively large, or an accumulated error due to the guide unit-combining operation increases. Thus, it is impossible at present to provide a highly accurate rolling guide unit.


Generating network identifier information and authentication information for wireless communication with a controller includes accessing, by the controller, identity information associated with the controller. The controller obfuscates the identity information and generates the network identifier information and the authentication information associated with the controller using the obfuscated identity information. The controller is configured for wireless communication using the generated network identifier information and the generated authentication information.

The present disclosure relates generally to wireless communication systems, and more specifically to the generation of network identity and authentication information for wireless communication in building automation systems.
Building automation systems (BAS) are used to manage and automate the control of various environmental, physical, and electrical building subsystems. In particular, BAS systems are often used for the coordination and control of heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) and climate control systems, but are also frequently used for security systems, lighting systems, and other connected building subsystems.
BAS systems typically leverage a series of interconnected controller devices that coordinate the control and automation of such subsystems. Large-scale BAS systems can include hundreds, or even thousands of controllers. Modern BAS systems often utilize wireless communication for data transmissions between controllers and with respective subsystem components.
Configuration of the BAS controllers for wireless communication, however, typically requires a team of service engineers to physically connect with each BAS controller (e.g., using a wired Ethernet or other wired connection) via a laptop or other computer device to initialize each BAS controller with, for example, a service set identifier (SSID) and password that is used for wireless communication and further commissioning of the controllers. Accordingly, conventional techniques for configuring BAS controllers for wireless communication often require a significant outlay of service engineering resources, thereby increasing the time and expense associated with the installation and maintenance of BAS systems.

Network identifier and authentication information generation for building automation system controllers


A read/write circuit detects the occurrence of a thermal asperity in accordance with data read from a disk. Thermal asperity status register sets a flag corresponding to thermal asperity occurrence spot in a servo area. A write/read fault generator outputs no WRF signals if the corresponding flag of the thermal asperity status register is set even when error detection is notified from an address error register, and thereby enables a sequencer to continue its recording and reproducing operation.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a magnetic disk drive and a servo processing method in the same. More particularly, the invention relates to a magnetic disk drive and a servo processing method, in which an appropriate control operation is performed even when a thermal asperity occurs in an MR head.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, there has been utilized a hard disk drive (HDD), or, a magnetic disk drive, as a storage device for a desk-top type personal computer or a notebook type portable computer. This magnetic disk drive records and reproduces data in and from a storage medium (disk) by using a magnetic head. The storage medium is manufactured by coating and depositing a magnetic recording film on a disk-like aluminum substrate (alumina processed).
In recent years, in such a magnetic disk drive, an MR (Magnetoresistive) head is used to record data at a high density on small-diameter disk. The MR head makes use of MR effect provided by a thin permalloy film made of iron and nickel, whose electric resistance changes when an ambient magnetic field changes in intensity.
In the MR head, however, a typical phenomenon called a thermal asperity (TA) may occur. That is, the electric resistance may change due to heat produced by friction when the MR head comes into contact with irregular portions on the disk or dusts. The thermal asperity results in various inconvenience produced in the conventional magnetic disk drive.
If thermal asperity occurs in a servo area storing information necessary for positioning the MR head in a predetermined location on the disk, accurate information indicating the position of the MR head would not be obtained, making it impossible to perform data reproducing. This is particularly true in the case of the conventional magnetic disk drive in which recording and reproducing of data are prohibited when an error occurs in its servo area. In such a magnetic disk drive, data may not be recorded or reproduced in or from a sector in which an error due to a thermal asperity has been detected.

Method and apparatus for recording and reproducing data in and from a data sector even when thermal asperity occurs in the servo area


An integrated heat exchanger includes a first heat exchange core adapted for cooling a first heat exchange fluid and a second heat exchange core adapted for cooling a second heat exchange fluid. A first pair of fluid manifolds supports the first and second heat exchange cores and communicates with the first heat exchange core to allow the first heat exchange fluid to pass between the first pair of fluid manifolds and the first heat exchange core. A second pair of fluid manifolds supports the first and second heat exchange cores and communicates with the second heat exchange core to allow the second heat exchange fluid to pass between the second pair of fluid manifolds and the second heat exchange core. The first and second pairs of fluid manifolds form a quadrilateral support structure with each fluid manifold forming a side of the support structure. The fluid manifolds of the first pair of fluid manifolds are positioned on opposite sides of the support structure and are each connected between the second pair of fluid manifolds. Preferably, the first heat exchange core is a coolant radiator core adapted to use a liquid as the first heat exchange fluid and the second heat exchange core is a charge air cooler core adapted to use compressed gas as the second heat exchange fluid. The coolant radiator core has a perimeter that defines a front face of the coolant radiator core, the charge air cooler core is positioned in front of the coolant radiator core, and the second pair of fluid manifolds is positioned outside of the perimeter of the coolant radiator core.

The supercharging of internal combustion engines consists of increasing the inlet pressure to the engine cylinders so as to obtain an improved charge to the cylinders and hence a higher effective pressure, resulting in an increase of power for the same speed. While supercharging advantageously improves air pressure in the cylinders, it disadvantageously increases the air temperature in the cylinders.
In a supercharged internal combustion engine, a charge air cooler is advantageously arranged downstream of the supercharger, such as a turbocharger, to decrease the temperature of air introduced into the engine from the turbocharger. The decreased air temperature decreases the occurrence of knocking, even when a high compression ratio is employed. Furthermore, the air density is increased and thus the volumetric efficiency is increased. Due to the high compression ratio and high volumetric efficiency, an increased engine power is obtained, which is the intrinsic object of employing a supercharged system.
In addition to a charge air cooler, a supercharged internal combustion engine includes a conventional coolant radiator that prevents the engine from overheating. The coolant radiator and the charge air cooler operate similarly, the main difference being that the coolant radiator employs a liquid coolant as a heat exchange fluid while the charge air cooler employs compressed gas as the heat exchange fluid. Typically the radiator and charge air cooler have manifolds or tanks on opposite sides of a heat exchange core. These manifolds direct the heat exchange fluid into cooling tubes in the heat exchange core. Air flows between the cooling tubes to cool the heat exchange fluid when the vehicle moves in a forward direction or when a fan is turned on.
Shown in FIG. 1 is a conventional design of a coolant radiator/charge air cooler system I 0. The system includes a charge air cooler 12 having a cooler core 14 connected between a pair of cooler manifolds 16. Likewise, a coolant radiator 18 includes a radiator core 20 connected between a pair of radiator side tanks 22.
When the vehicle travels forward, or when a fan (not shown) is turned on, air passes through the charge air cooler core 14 and the radiator core 20 to cool the heat exchange fluids in the cores. However, the charge air cooler 12 typically is positioned in front of the coolant radiator 18 and is typically smaller than the coolant radiator so that the cooler manifolds 16 block a portion of the radiator core 20, thereby decreasing the flow of cooling air through the radiator core. By blocking some of the air through the radiator core the charge air cooler prevents the coolant radiator from operating at optimum efficiency.
The charge air cooler and coolant radiator are supported by a support structure 24. The support structure includes top and bottom horizontal support channels 26 connected between left and right vertical side tanks 22. The support structure also includes structural cross members 30 extending between opposite corners of the support structure. The charge air cooler 12 is attached to the support structure via side brackets 32. In addition to adding undesirable weight to the system, a portion of support structure blocks a portion of the radiator core, thereby further decreasing coolant radiator efficiency.


The present invention provides a digital hologram recording system and a numerical reconstruction method for a hologram, which are used for capturing an image of an object and recording it as a holographic data. Said system comprises: signal light, formed after irradiating the object with a light source; an image detector, for recording interference fringes of the signal light; and a light pipe, arranged in a path of the signal light and located between the object and the image detector, wherein the light pipe has a reflection surface, and a part of the signal light enters the image detector after reflected by the reflection surface of the light pipe. The present invention can make the collected signal equivalent to several times of the pixel counts of the image detector, thereby able to break through the spatial bandwidth limitation and shortening the amount of time required to measure the hologram.

Holography is a technique that enables three-dimensional images to be presented. Holography is different from general photography that is only able to store intensity information. On the contrary, a hologram can record intensity and phase information. When the hologram is illuminated by an appropriate light source for reconstruction, a three-dimensional image that is exactly the same as the original one may appear at a position where the recording performs.
In holography, a light beam emitted from a laser source is generally divided into two beams via a beam splitter. One of them serves as a reference beam and the other is used to irradiate an object. The rays are diffracted after irradiating the object. The rays scattered from the object and the reference beam are interfered so as to form interference fringes, and these fringes are recorded by a film.
Digital holography is the technology of acquiring and processing holographic interference measurement data via an image detector. Digital holography typically delivers three-dimensional surface or optical thickness data of the object through numerical reconstruction of the recorded measurement data.
However, no matter what framework is taken in conventional digital holographic techniques, the numerical calculation is eventually limited to spatial bandwidth. This is explained by the following equation.A×B<f(N)  (1)where A represents a field of view (FOV), B is the inverse of resolution B=1/u, u is the resolution, and N is the total pixel counts of an image detector. That is to say, the image data that the image detector (e.g., CCD) is able to record is limited. To break through the spatial bandwidth limitation, a conventional aperture synthesis technical scheme is provided. By moving or shifting the image detector and letting it scan in two dimensions, this technical scheme is able to be equivalent to higher pixel counts. Although this approach smartly overcomes the pixel count limitation of the image detector, moving or shifting the image detector will increase complexity of the system and greatly increase the amount of time required to measure the hologram. It is difficult to practice.

Digital hologram recording system and numerical reconstruction method for hologram


An inspection port plug device is provided for sealing three or more oppositely placed inspection ports in a multi-chambered gas turbine engine. An embodiment of the inspection port plug device includes a cap and at least two shafts coupled end-to-end. A first shaft includes a first end coupled to the cap and a second end having a first sealing plug, wherein the first sealing plug includes a recess. A second shaft includes a third end coupled to the first sealing plug within the recess and a fourth end having a second sealing plug. The first shaft and the second shaft also include a first biasing mechanism and a second biasing mechanism, respectively, for maintaining the seals at the first and second sealing plugs when the inspection port plug device is installed.

The subject matter disclosed herein relates generally to multicavity sealing of opposing ports in spaced apart walls and, more particularly, for sealing the inspection access ports in gas turbine engines.
Gas turbine engines operate in a very high temperature and pressure environment. These engines typically have multiple casings with spaced apart walls having oppositely placed ports for inserting any type of inspection devices such as borescopes, proximity probes, or laser probes for inspection or intermittent access to the gas path components and for monitoring the engine. These inspection ports need to be plugged or sealed after the inspection is completed to prevent leakage through the ports when the engine is in operation. In the past, the sealing surfaces have been limited to one or two sealing surfaces with a maximum of three operating pressures, for example, exterior, intermediate and gas path operating pressures. However, in newer engines, the number of simultaneous sealing surfaces may include three or more sealing surface.
Further, gas turbine engines have different temperatures in different casings that lead to differential thermal growth of the casings, leading to misalignment in the oppositely placed ports in the spaced apart walls of the casings. Another factor contributing to the misalignment of holes is the radial, axial and circumferential movement of various surfaces with respect to each other due to pressure, mechanical loads, and temperature variations in the different chambers. Misalignment of the multiple ports in the spaced apart walls may lead to leakage if the ports are not properly sealed, which can result in lowering the overall efficiency of the engine, degrade or damage engine components, and potentially pose a safety hazard to personnel if hot gases leak to the exterior of the engine.


An input signal having an intermediate signal superposed on a DC voltage is applied to a variable attenuation circuit through an amplifier. An output of the variable attenuation circuit is detected by a detecting circuit. A DC voltage from the detecting circuit is compared with a reference voltage from a reference voltage generating circuit by a comparing circuit. Based on a comparison output, the amount of attenuation of the variable attenuation circuit is controlled, and after the output of the variable attenuation circuit is amplified by an amplifier, it is mixed with a local oscillation signal from a local oscillation circuit at a mixer circuit, converted to a microwave signal, and transmitted.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a transmitter. More specifically, the present invention relates to a transmitter for bi-directional microwave communication from general households or small-scale offices to broadcast satellites or communication satellites.
2. Description of the Background Art
The market for radio communication utilizing microwaves has been recently developed dramatically, along with developments of various systems including broadcast satellites and communication satellites. At the same time, the Internet has been developed and digital satellite broadcast has started, ever increasing the demand for bi-directional communication.
For bi-directional communication between a small-scale office or a general home and a broadcasting station, a broadcast satellite or a communication satellite is used. Currently, it is a dominant practice to use the satellite broadcast, as a signal transmission path for a down signal (downstream) from the broadcasting station to a general home, and to use a telephone line, as a signal transmission path for an up signal (upstream) from a general home to the broadcasting station.
The telephone line used for the upstream supports only a slow rate of communication, and therefore it is not suitable for exchanging motion picture, for example, hindering promotion of satellite multimedia applications. Thus, there has been an increasing necessity to introduce satellite communication not only to the downstream but also to the upstream transmission.
FIG. 6 shows a concept of bi-directional communication between each home and the broadcasting station through satellite broadcast.
Referring to FIG. 6, a parabola antenna 51 is provided on the roof, for example, of a broadcasting station 50, and parabola antennas 62 and 63 are provided on the roofs of homes 60 and 61, respectively. Through broadcasting satellite 70, microwave bi-directional communication is performed between each of the parabola antennas 62 and 63 of respective homes and parabola antenna 51 of broadcasting station 50. For bi-directional communication, microwave of 12 GHz band is used for one direction and microwave of 14 GHz band is used for the other direction. An LNB (Low Noise Block down Converter) similar to the one used in the conventional system for satellite broadcast reception is used as a receiver for bi-directional communication, and a transmitter is newly provided.
FIG. 7 is a block diagram of such a transmitter. Referring to FIG. 7, an indoor unit 20 converts a signal from a terminal such as a personal computer to a video signal, and outputs the same as an intermediate frequency signal of the band between 950 MHz to 1450 MHz to a coaxial cable 21. A DC voltage of 13V to 26V, for example, is supplied to coaxial cable 21, and the intermediate frequency signal is superposed on the DC voltage and supplied to a transmitter 30.
Transmitter 30 is positioned close to a parabola antenna provided on a roof, for example. The DC voltage supplied to coaxial cable 21 is converted to a prescribed voltage by a DC-DC converter, and supplied to various circuits.
The intermediate frequency signal is amplified by buffer circuits 31 and 32 to ensure a gain, and supplied to a mixer 33. To the mixer 33, a local oscillation signal is applied from a local oscillation circuit 34 through an amplifier 35, and by the mixer 33, the local oscillation signal and the intermediate frequency signal are mixed and converted to a microwave signal of 14 to 14.5 GHz. The microwave signal has its spurious component removed as it passes through a bandpass filter (BPF) 36, amplifiers 37, 38 and 39 formed of HEMTs (High Electron Mobility Transistors), a bandpass filter 40 and an amplifier 41.
Further, the microwave signal is amplified by a driver amplifier 42 to ensure a gain, has its components other than the high frequency signal removed by a highpass filter (HPF) 43, amplified by a high power amplifier 44 and supplied to an isolator 46 through a highpass filter 45. Thereafter, the microwave signal is transmitted to the broadcasting satellite from isolator 46 through the parabola antenna.
Once transmitter 30 shown in FIG. 7 is installed in a general household, bi-directional communication through the broadcasting satellite becomes possible. However, indoor unit 20 and transmitter 30 are expensive, and hence use thereof has not yet been widely spread among ordinary households. One reason why indoor unit 20 and transmitter 30 become expensive is that it is necessary to adjust power level of transmitter 30 with the level of the intermediate frequency signal output from indoor unit 20.
As transmitter 30 has only the function of converting the intermediate frequency signal to a microwave and amplifying the same, the level of the intermediate frequency signal input from indoor unit 20 to transmitter 30 varies dependent on the environment of installation, such as the length of the coaxial cable 21 between indoor unit 20 and transmitter 30. Therefore, there must be some means to adjust the output level of intermediate frequency signal output from indoor unit 20, which leads to higher cost.