A system and method of patterning dopants of opposite polarity to form a solar cell is described. Two dopant films are deposited on a substrate. A laser is used to pattern the N-type dopant, by mixing the two dopant films into a single film with an exposure to the laser and/or drive the N-type dopant into the substrate to form an N-type emitter. A thermal process drives the P-type dopant from the P-type dopant film to form P-type emitters and further drives the N-type dopant from the single film to either form or further drive the N-type emitter.

Photovoltaic cells, commonly known as solar cells, are well known devices for direct conversion of solar radiation into electrical energy. Generally, solar cells are fabricated on a semiconductor wafer or substrate using semiconductor processing techniques to form a PN junction between P-type and N-type diffusion regions. Solar radiation impinging on the surface of, and entering into, the substrate of the solar cell creates electron and hole pairs in the bulk of the substrate. The electron and hole pairs migrate to P-type diffusion and N-type diffusion regions in the substrate, thereby creating a voltage differential between the diffusion regions. The diffusion regions are connected to conductive regions on the solar cell to direct an electrical current from the solar cell to an external circuit. In a backside contact solar cell, for example, both the diffusion regions and the interdigitated metal contact fingers coupled to them are on the backside of the solar cell. The contact fingers allow an external electrical circuit to be coupled to and be powered by the solar cell.
Efficiency is an important characteristic of a solar cell as it is directly related to the capability of the solar cell to generate power. Likewise, efficiency in producing solar cells is directly related to the cost effectiveness of such solar cells. Accordingly, techniques for increasing the efficiency of solar cells, or techniques for increasing the efficiency in the manufacture of solar cells, are generally desirable. Some embodiments of the present disclosure allow for increased solar cell manufacture efficiency by providing novel processes for fabricating solar cell structures. Some embodiments of the present disclosure allow for increased solar cell efficiency by providing novel solar cell structures.

Emitters of a backside contact solar cell


The present invention provides an olivine-type positive active material precursor for a lithium battery that includes MXO4-zBz (wherein M is one element selected from the group consisting of Fe, Ni, Co, Mn, Cr, Zr, Nb, Cu, V, Ti, Zn, Al, Ga, Mg, B, and a combination thereof, X is one element selected from the group consisting of P, As, Bi, Sb, and a combination thereof, B is one element selected from the group consisting of F, S, and a combination thereof, and 0≦z≦0.5) particles, and the precursor has a particle diameter of 1 to 20 μm, a tap density of 0.8 to 2.1 g/cm3, and a specific surface area of 1 to 10 m2/g. The olivine-type positive active material prepared using the olivine-type positive active material precursor has excellent crystallinity of particles, a large particle diameter, and a high tap density, and therefore shows excellent electrochemical characteristics and capacity per unit volume.

Recently, there has been a remarkably increasing requirement of a battery that can be repeatedly charged and discharged as a power source for a portable information network electronic device such as a cellular phone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a lap top computer, and the like, a portable electronic device such as a digital camera, a camcorder, an MP3 player, and the like, or an electric bike, an electric car, and the like. A commercially-available lithium battery includes LiCoO2 at a positive electrode and carbon at a negative electrode.
However, since cobalt, a starting material of a positive active material, has a small reservoir and an environmental problem due to toxicity against a human body, an alternative positive material needs to be developed. Accordingly, there is active research on LiNiO2, LiCoxNi1-xO2, LiMn2O4, and the like as a positive active material. The LiNiO2 having the same layered structure as LiCoO2 is not yet commercially available, since it is hard to synthesize in a stoichiometric ratio and is thermally unstable. The LiMn2O4 is commercially used for some low-priced products. However, the LiMn2O4, a level 4V spinel positive active material, has an advantage of using manganese as a starting material but a structural change of Jahn-Teller distortion due to manganese 3+, resultantly bringing about a bad cycle-life characteristic.
Accordingly, a positive active material that is more economical and stable and has high capacity and an excellent cycle characteristic is required. A compound with an olivine structure has garnered attention to as a positive active material for a lithium battery. It may be represented by a Chemical Formula LixMyPO4 (herein, x is 0<x≦2, y is 0.8≦y≦1.2, and M is a transition element belonging to Group 3d in the periodic table).
Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication Pyeung 9-171827 discloses that LiFePO4 is used for a positive electrode of a lithium ion battery among the compounds represented by LixMyPO4. LiFePO4 is environment-friendly, has an abundant reservoir, and costs very little. In addition, it may realize low electric power and low voltage more easily than a conventional positive active material. It also has theoretical capacity of 170 mAh/g and thus excellent battery capacity.
However, the LiFePO4 may not be controlled regarding particle size and shape in solid-phase reaction and wet reaction methods, in which olivine-type FePO4, the precursor of the LiFePO4, is synthesized. Thus, it may have no uniform particles. In other words, a new method of synthesizing an olivine-type positive active material suppressing a small specific surface area and having high volume energy density is required.

Olivine-type cathode active material precursor for lithium battery, olivine-type cathode active material for lithium battery, method for preparing the same and lithium battery with the same

IUCF-HYU (INDUSTRY-UNIVERSITY COOPERATION FOUNDATION HANYANG UNIVERSITY)


A wind turbine rotor including a rotor hub (3) and a plurality of blades (4), and where each blade root (16) is connected to said rotor hub through a pitch bearing (5) in such a manner that the pitch angle of the blade is adjustable by a turning of the blade about its longitudinal axis relative to the rotor hub. The blade is provided with at least one electrically conducting lightening down-conductor (6) extending in the longitudinal direction of the blade to the blade root and being electrically isolated from the pitch bearing (5). A spark gap (15) is provided between the lightning down-conductor and the rotor hub, said spark gap (15) being adapted to conduct a lightning current passing through the lightning down-conductor. A sliding contact connection (7, 12) is provided parallel to the spark gap (15) between the lightning down-conductor (6) and the rotor hub (3), said sliding contact connection ensuring electrical contact between said lightening down-conductor (6) and said rotor hub (3) irrespective of the pitch angle of the blade. The invention also relates to a wind turbine including such a rotor.

It is common knowledge that wind turbines are protected against lightning strikes, and it is also common knowledge that wind turbine blades are provided with lightning down-conductors arranged either on the outer surface of the blades or inside said blades. The latter type is provided with so-called lightning receptors, which are metallic through-going connections between the inner lightning down-conductor of the blade and the outer surface of said blade. The purpose of these receptors is to "attract" the lightning so that the lightning current can be guided downwards through the lightning down-conductor mounted inside the wind turbine blade. Often, the wind turbine blades with externally mounted down-conductors are not provided with separate lightning receptors as said down-conductors act as receptors, per se.
Previous ways of solving the down-conducting of lightning have not specifically considered that a pitch bearing, if any, can be damaged by a strong lightning current, and typically the current is conducted through the down-conductor of the blade to the blade root and from there through the pitch bearing to the rotor hub. From the rotor hub, the lightning current is conducted into the nacelle/turbine top section to the turbine tower and downwards into the ground.
One disadvantage of conducting the current through the pitch bearing is that bearing rollers etc. can be damaged by a strong lightning current generating electrical arcs on its way down through the bearing with the result that a welding-like effect occurs which can damage the surface of the bearing. Once the surface of a bearing roller etc. has been damaged, the bearing is quickly worn down, which in time results in large repairs involving shut downs of the wind turbine. Even weak currents passing through the pitch bearing can cause small sparks and migration of material between the pitch bearing members moving relative to each other.
The most common strikes of lightning occur when the potential difference between a negatively charged portion of a thundercloud and a positively charged area of the ground beneath the cloud grows sufficiently significant and causes a breakdown of the isolation of the strata of air separating the areas of opposite electrical charge. The phenomenon also arises between a positively charged portion of a thundercloud and a negatively charged area on the ground.
Before the actual lightning strike can occur, a descending "channel" is generated, also called a "leader", of negatively charged air molecules in the direction towards the ground. Often, the leader propagates gradually downwards in steps of 20 to 100 m and is therefore referred to as a "stepped leader". When this leader is sufficiently close to the ground, the intensified electrical field between the end of the descending leader and the ground generates one or more upward leaders of positively charged air molecules towards the descending leader. These upward leaders usually extend upward from objects projecting from the ground, for example wind turbines, trees, buildings, flag poles etc. When the two leaders meet, the system short-circuits and the actual main charge of the lightning, also referred to as a "return stroke" occurs. The phenomenon can likewise occur in reverse order, where the leader, also referred to as the "stepped leader", propagates from the ground or particularly high objects on the ground and moves towards the charged area of the thundercloud.
DE 4436197 A1 discloses a solution where a lightning current is diverted from the pitch bearing and into the nacelle through a lightning conductor member defining spark gaps with the lightning down-conductor of the blade and an electrically conducting ring on the nacelle, respectively. Electric arcs are generated by the lightning strikes in these spark gaps with the effect that the lightning current can be conducted downwards into the ground. Thus, electrical connections are only generated between the lightning down-conductor of the blade and the ground during the main charge of the actual lightning strike where electrical arcs are generated in the spark gaps. As mentioned previously, leaders are generated prior to the actual main discharge, and the electrical isolation between the blade and the nacelle implies that there is a risk of the leaders passing through other uncontrollable paths between the individual structural members—for instance from the nacelle through the main shaft bearing or the rotor bearings to the rotor hub and from there through the pitch bearing of the blade to the lightning down-conducting arrangement of the blade. Subsequent to the formation of electrical leaders passing through possible uncontrollable paths in for example the structural members, the main discharge of the lightning or parts thereof follows the path of the leader generated through the structure to the ground. Such a main discharge or parts thereof may cause minor or major damages on the structure or parts thereof when it is not guided through a lightning down-conductor in a controllable way.
WO 01/86144 A1 discloses a wind turbine with a spark gap between a lightning down-conductor in the blade and the nacelle, and for where an electrical connection exists between the lightning down-conductor and the rotor hub for a continuous electrostatic discharge of the blade. In this structure, the pitch bearing of the blade is not protected against being passed by a discharge current.

Lightning protection of a pitch-controlled wind turbine blade


A sampling device for molten metals, especially for molten cast iron or pig iron, has a sampling chamber arranged in a refractory body mounted on a carrier. The sampling chamber is bounded on two opposing walls by one metal plate each, and has at least one inlet opening for molten metal on a further wall. In order to create a sampling device with which samples are obtained which have the best possible white solidification and at the same time have the sturdiness necessary for an automatic sample analysis, a metal disk is separably arranged in the interior of the sampling chamber on at least one of the two metal plates. The diameter of metal disk is smaller than the diameter of the sampling chamber, and the thickness of the disk is less than the thickness of the sampling chamber.

The invention concerns a sampling device for molten metals, especially for molten cast iron or pig iron, with a sampling chamber arranged in a refractory body held on a carrier which is bounded on two opposing walls by one metal chilling disk (metal plate) each, and which has at least one inlet opening for molten metals on a further wall.
Such sampling devices are known from EP 0 107 219 A1, for example. These sampling devices are suited for taking samples, especially of molten steel. The samples obtained therewith are disk-shaped and usually at least 4 mm thick. The metal plates serve to cool the samples rapidly, among other things. A similar arrangement is known from DE 34 02 818 A1. Here, plate-shaped chilling elements are set at a distance from the wall of the sampling chamber of a sampling device and mounted on the wall by means of fastening elements (screws). U.S. Pat. No. 3,824,837 discloses a measuring chamber for recording the solidus or liquidus curve, in which chilling elements are arranged which dissolve in the incoming molten metals.
For example, with molten cast iron, which has a relatively high carbon content, the so-called "white solidification" is desirable for a reliable analysis, for example for spectral analysis, since during the white solidification, the carbon bound in the melt is not precipitated during the hardening. In order to obtain the most ideal white hardening possible, a rapid sample chilling is necessary, that is, the sample itself must be as thin as possible. In modern steel factories samples are analyzed automatically. In this connection, the samples are picked up by robotic graspers and transported. These graspers pick up the disk-shaped samples on their narrow sides. The force of the grasper thereby exerted on the samples can however deform samples which are too thin. There thus exists in practice a contradiction between the smallest possible sample thickness for an ideal white solidification, on the one hand, and the need for a minimal stability of the sample necessary for the sample processing, on the other hand. Sampling devices of the prior art always generate samples whose thickness represents a compromise between the two requirements existing for the analysis of cast iron samples.


A crash barrier device including: a body portion having at least an impact portion; and a fastening portion configured to fasten the body portion to a projecting load being carried by a vehicle; wherein the impact portion and fastening portion are configured such that the impact portion is nearer to a surface traveled on by the vehicle than the fastening portion. A system for carrying projecting loads is also provided and includes: a trailer having wheels and fastener(s) for fastening the trailer to a powered vehicle; and the crash barrier device.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to automotive collision avoidance, and mitigation or attenuation, and more specifically to avoiding or mitigating vehicle collisions between cargo carried as a projecting load and any other vehicle.
2. Prior Art
The basis of providing vehicle bumpers is to provide a durable collision interface with relatively large surface area to transmit the collision force to the vehicle chassis regardless of the point of impact or the distribution of collision forces. Once transmitted to the chassis, the impact forces are transmitted to the vehicle occupants via safety belts and/or air bags. This widely employed method works to lessen the effects of highly concentrated impacts, such as those with trees or support columns.
There exists, however, a common and necessary highway transport practice which, if involved in a collision, never allows for any current automobile safety system to mitigate the impact.
In transporting long non-separable loads, such as utility poles, on commercial motor vehicles, it is common practice to secure the majority of the load to the truck or trailer, and allow a significant portion of the load to project rearward beyond the extent of the truck or trailer frame. This practice may result from the need to transport loads, sometimes exceeding 100′ in length, on roads and highways while maintaining a relatively short vehicle wheelbase for maneuverability. Alternately, a motor carrier may have to, on occasion, transport a load which is not exceptionally long in absolute terms, but is longer than the equipment can accommodate without projection. In either case, the projected load presents a grave danger to other vehicles, especially automobiles, because of two intrinsic geometric parameters of the projecting load.
First, the nature of heavy truck and trailer design and manufacture yields cargo carrying decks which are 3.0′-5.0′ above grade level. This height directly corresponds to the elevation above the front/hood area and below the roof of most passenger vehicles (i.e., the height of a vehicle windshield). If a passenger vehicle collides with a projecting load, the end of the projecting load will pierce the windshield of the automobile, exposing the occupants to extraordinary risk of severe injury or death.
Second, projecting loads generally exhibit a high slenderness ratio i.e. the longitudinal dimension is much, much larger than the cross-sectional dimensions. For example: a truck/trailer combination carrying a projecting size #1 utility pole will typically be only 1.0′ in diameter. This slenderness has two consequent effects: First, in combination with the load height above grade, the driver of a vehicle behind the projecting load is viewing only the cross section of the load. This means that the following driver has only a small area of focusing surface on which to judge his proximity to the projecting load (0.78 ft2 in the case of the #1 utility pole). This can easily lead to the eyes of the following driver focusing on the much larger surface area of the rear truck or trailer frame, which would underestimate the proximity by the projection distance, which is commonly 8.0′-12.0′ and often more as regulations stipulate no maximum projection. In addition to misjudgment of proximity, in the event of a collision with a projecting load the typical slenderness of projecting loads concentrates the impact force on a small area. This, combined with the typical mass, rigidity, and secure attachment of projected loads (utility poles, bridge trusses, I-beams, etc) when compared to the strength of the upper portion of a passenger vehicle, results in the immediate deformation and failure of the passenger vehicle components (windshield, roof, etc.) and exposure of the passengers to the risk of severe injury or death in any collision of appreciable magnitude.
In addition to bumpers, safety belts, and other systems simply transmitting impact forces to vehicle occupants, highway safety advancements such as air bags, crumple zones, and inertia-absorbing highway barriers, have made great strides in reducing casualties resulting from automobile collisions by attenuating the forces resulting from collisions of all magnitudes. The basic principle on which all these systems operate is as follows: the net kinetic energy of the impact is dissipated or absorbed by deformation of some mitigation material or structure. This process lowers the peak transmitted forces while lengthening the time over which any unabsorbed forces are transmitted. Based on the well-documented success of such devices, any collision barrier or bumper will benefit from the addition of an additional mitigation system.

Collision barrier device for projecting loads


This disclosure relates generally to image processing, and more particularly to method and system for image reconstruction using deep dictionary learning (DDL). The system collects the degraded image as test image and processes the test image to extract sparse features from the test image, at different levels, using dictionaries. The extracted sparse features and data from the dictionaries are used by the system to reconstruct the HR image corresponding to the test image.

An 'inverse problem', at a broad level, refers to a process of calculating from a set of observations, one or more factors that produced the observations (i.e. starting with 'results' and calculating/identifying 'causes'). An example of 'inverse problem' in image processing domain is image reconstruction. Image reconstruction is required to reconstruct an image when data/content of the image is lost/deteriorated due to one or more reasons. For example, due to factors such as but not limited to malfunctioning of image sensors, an image captured may not contain all data. Similarly, part of images captured and stored in a database also may be lost/deteriorated due to one or more factors. In digital image processing, appropriate algorithms are used to reverse the deterioration or to replace lost parts. For example, in the case of image processing, super resolution is a mechanism used for improving the spatial resolution of input test image. Other inverse imaging applications include (but not limited to) inpainting (estimation of unknown values in images) and denoising (removal of unwanted noise in the image).
The inventors here have recognized several technical problems with such conventional systems, as explained below. Existing systems which are used for solving inverse problems such as image reconstruction use different approaches/methods. For example, some of the existing systems use machine learning techniques to solve the inverse problem. However, the machine learning systems require significant amount of training data, in the absence of which the system may not be able to solve the inverse problems. Unavailability of training data or amount of the training data available being less than a required quantity can be a concern, especially when missing information is large.

Method and system for solving inverse problems in image processing using deep dictionary learning (DDL)


The invention relates to a remotely controllable vibrator, which comprises a receiver interface, a microcontroller connected with the receiver interface and a resonator device controlled by the microcontroller. The receiver interface is a Bluetooth interface which is provided for a bidirectional wire-free signal transmission between the vibrator and an external Bluetooth apparatus. The vibrator is remotely controllable and remotely programmable by way of its Bluetooth interface. In addition, the invention relates to a device for remote control of a vibrator, comprising a vibrator, which is provided with a Bluetooth interface, and a second Bluetooth apparatus, wherein the second Bluetooth apparatus is provided for generating remote control signals and/or remote programming signals for the vibrator.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a remotely controllable vibrator, which comprises a receiver interface, a microcontroller connected with the receiver interface and a resonator device controlled by the microcontroller.
2. The Prior Art
A remotely controllable vibrator of that kind is already known from GB 2 331 928 A. In this known vibrator a radio signal, which is transmitted by way of a radio transmission path to the vibrator, is emitted by selection of a telephone number individually associated with the vibrator. This has a microchip which activates a resonator as a reaction to the said radio signal. The duration of the activation of the resonator is predetermined and was input beforehand by the user by means of a control unit of the vibrator.
In addition, there is known from DE 201 10 298 U1 an acoustic dildo which has means for storage of melodies as well as a miniature loudspeaker for reproducing these melodies.


A general purpose belt scale for measuring the weight of material being transported on a conveyor belt includes a pair of load beams, each having a load cell in combination with a force and torque isolator mechanism that isolates the load cell from disturbance forces and torques that would increase the measurement errors. Absence of a crossbar enables the two independent load beams to fit a wide variety of belt widths. Selection of the capacity of the load cells after the weighing application has been determined completes the general applicability of the belt scale for both belt width and load weighing requirements. An alternative embodiment of a selectable mounting location for the load cell within each load beam allows the weight capacity of the belt scale to be varied without changing the load cell's weight capacity. The hinge axis of each load beam is preferably matched to a plane passing just slightly above the carry roll axle; and provisions for this matching in the field at installation are provided for in the invention. Additionally, a threaded mounting bolt and nut arrangement enables simple height adjustment so that the weigh idler carry roll can be matched with adjacent idler carry rolls at the time of field installation.

The need for accurately measuring both the rate of material weight transported by a conveyor belt as well as the totalized weight that has been transported past the scale has long been recognized. Materials transported by conveyor belts and consequently needing to be measured range from huge flow rates encountered in the mining and aggregate production industries to comparatively miniscule flow rates in the sanitary foods and pharmaceuticals industries. Displayed flow rate is very useful and necessary to afford a plant operator the needed information in order to maximize his production rate by making appropriate changes as needed. Totalized weight is needed in order to provide data on plant yield and productivity over a period of time, such as one shift or one 24-hour day. Both of these data are generally available in currently available belt scales.
A related need for measuring flow rates of materials transported by conveyor belts is in a machine called a weigh belt feeder, where the purpose of this machine is to deliver a flow rate slaved to another requirement, such as feeding granulated coal to the steam boiler of an electric power plant. Here the demand for electric power dictates the coal flow rate. The belt scale plays the role of a flow rate measurement device so that the plant control system has the necessary information to change this flow rate as needed to meet the momentary and changing demand for electric power. Both the need for totalized weight and the need for flow rate require similar components for the belt scale--a mechanical structure equipped with one or more weight measuring devices that supports a short section of the loaded belt and produces a signal indicative of the magnitude of the load, a belt motion measuring device, and an electronic signal processor that combines the weight and motion signals and computes totalized weight, belt speed, and material weight flow rate.
All three sets of components contribute to the accuracy of the entire belt scale. However, it has generally been recognized that the greatest increase in belt scale accuracy requires design improvements of the mechanical structure with its weighing devices. At the same time, simplification of the mechanical structure has also received attention in the prior art as witnessed by U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,260,034, 5,111,896, and 5,296,654. These patents all show belt scales without a structural crossbar member that, if present, would span the conveyor from one side to the other. But simplification and reduction of the belt scale's mechanical structure is normally accompanied by increases in errors of the weighing performance. This mechanical structure and its attendant weighing device or devices will henceforth be called `weighframe` in this patent application. The weighing devices will be referred to as `load cells`. The assembly comprised of one horizontal roll (carry roll) and two inclined (troughed) rolls, and appropriate framework to connect all three rolls is variously called `idler` or `idler assembly` or `three-roll idler`. The particular idler supported by the weighframe is called the weigh idler.
At least two categories of belt scale accuracy are sought in the industrial application of belt scales: (a) highest accuracy for belt scales that are used to determine quantity of goods sold or exchanged; (b) lesser accuracy for belt scales that measure in-plant inventory and production rates. By far the largest number of belt scales are needed in category (b) where simplicity, general purpose usefulness, and low cost are the most important criteria. Accuracy most be preserved and improved if possible, but is not as demanding as in category (a). It is this later category that this invention addresses, both in terms of reducing mechanical structure as well as maintaining greatest possible accuracy while substantially achieving the goals of category (b). factors such as ease of installation, no interferences with existing cross-braces of the conveyor, ease of alignment, no moving parts in the weighing mechanism, long life, and general-purpose application while still maintaining a satisfactory level of accuracy are all important considerations to the user of a belt scale. The manufacturer of belt scales on the other hand has been traditionally concerned with ease of manufacturing, lowest production cost commensurate with intended accuracy, and ability to manufacture in advance of the specific order from a customer. Because conveyor belts are extant in many different widths, and a wide variety of full-scale material loading, a manufacturer has to inventory a very large number of weighframes if the design dictates that each belt width and each belt loading range requires a separate weighframe.
Eliminating the need for a crossbar would greatly enhance the ability to manufacture and stock this equipment in advance of orders for them because belt width would no longer be a defining specification. Furthermore, ability to configure the weight capacity of a belt scale after its manufacture and at the time an order is received is equally important in maintaining flexibility in manufacturing. This later criterion has often been achieved in the past at the time of installing the weighing device, called a load cell, with the appropriate capacity for a particular user's needs. But the former criterion--no crossbar--has been somewhat more elusive in the past. The reason for relatively few belt scale weighframes without crossbars is as stated earlier--accuracy is sacrificed when this particular simplification is adopted. Hence the need for a general purpose belt scale that does not require a crossbar and can be configured for different full-scale belt loading is very obvious, but accuracy must not be compromised if this type of belt scale weighframe is to be successful.
The weighframe cited in U.S. Pat. No. 4,260,034 and shown in FIG. 1 addresses the need for low-cost manufacturing by using a pair of weight sensing load cells as the primary and only connecting link between the idler roll that supports the belt and the conveyor structural members. Therefore, the load cells must sustain not only the vertical downward forces due to the weight of the material transported by the belt, but also the horizontal and lateral forces exerted by the roller axle bearing ends on the load cells. Additionally, the load cells also must sustain twisting forces (called torsion) created by the twisting motion of the longitudinal conveyor supports (called stringers). This twisting action is due to uneven thermal expansion of the stringers caused by the sun during the daytime hours. All these forces generally have non-negligible effects on the load cells, such as output signal changes that are not related to any change in the weight of the material carried by the conveyor belt. Thus errors arise in measuring the weight. An extreme effect of these outside forces and twisting motions is premature failure of the load cells.
The weighing structure of U.S. Pat. No. 5,296,654, shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, is another such attempt at providing a low-cost belt scale without a crossbar to the in-plant inventory market. Here the cantilevered beams labeled 44 to which the strain-gage load sensors are attached must sustain the entire array of forces and torsion loading applied by the idler roll assembly, Similar to the previously cited prior art, these disturbances arise from the horizontal travel of the conveyor belt and its material loading as well as thermal expansion effects. Therefore, the strain-gage load sensors are influenced by disturbance effects not related to or caused by the downward-acting weight of the material on top of the belt. Just as in the previous apparatus, the results are errors in the output signal and, in some instances, premature failure of the sensors themselves. claim 1 in the cited patent specifically refers to measuring only the stresses due to material weight on the belt and isolating the cantilevered beams from " . . . shifting, twisting, and movement of the belt conveying means stringers . . . ". But the structure proposed to solve these problems does not in fact isolate the cantilevered beams and therefore the sensing elements as well from these error-generating forces and motions. Also, the mounting elements required to support the cantilevered beams and to secure them to the conveyor stringers are not at all simple to manufacture because of their multiplicity of direction changes--laterally in from the stringers, then vertically rising, then longitudinally forward, then back down, then forward again to support the idler roll assembly.
Throughout all these direction changes, parallel surfaces between the stringer mounting location and the idler roll assembly support must be maintained at the risk of creating some unwanted torsional twisting of the cantilever beams to which the weight sensors are attached. Also, alignment of the neutral axis plane identified as 42 in FIG. 2 with the top of the carry roll is not correct. The correct alignment is the plane 120 passing slightly above the axle 116 of the carry roll 24 in FIG. 5. Also, there is no provision in this structure for adjusting the vertical height of the carry roll 24 to match the vertical heights of adjacent upstream and downstream carry rolls. This alignment is essential for accurate belt scale weighing. Because there is no such adjustment provision, the installer must place shims between the belt scale marked 38 in FIG. 3 and the conveyor stringers 30. This shimming procedure is tedious and time consuming--not recognized as a user-friendly design.
In summary, the prior art falls short of providing a no-crossbar conveyor belt weighframe that meets the combined user and manufacturer criteria of reliability, accuracy, and manufacturing simplicity.


A microelectrofluidic device includes: a chamber; a first fluid and a second fluid which are contained in the chamber and are not mixable with each other; and a first electrode group including a plurality of electrodes that are disposed on an inner side of the chamber, and to which a voltage is applied to change an interface between the first fluid and the second fluid, wherein the plurality of electrodes are connected to form a first electrode unit, a second electrode unit, and a third electrode unit that are independently turned on or off, and the plurality of electrodes are annular and coated with an insulating material, and adjacent electrodes are connected to different electrode units.

1. Field
The present disclosure relates to microelectrofluidic devices for modulating incident light in a microelectrofluidic manner and methods of driving the microelectrofluidic devices.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, a technology that modulates incident light in a microelectrofluidic manner has been attracting attention.
For example, a technology that adjusts and controls transmission of light in a microelectrofluidic manner has been introduced. A technology that adjusts and controls transmission of light is widely used in driving an aperture or shutter of an apparatus for obtaining an image, or in driving each pixel in an apparatus for displaying an image.
Variable apertures that may be used in existing optical systems are driven by manipulating several metal blades. However, mechanical motion, friction, and use of moving machinery elements restrict miniaturization.
Also, a technology that controls the curvature of a lens that collects or disperses incident light in a microelectrofluidic manner has been introduced. The curvature of a lens surface and a material that is used to form a lens determine a focal distance of the lens, and demand for a lens system that has a variable focus function to obtain a better image is increasing. The variable focus function is used for autofocusing or zooming, and a structure using a method of mechanically moving a location of some lenses that constitute a lens system by using, for example, a motor restricts miniaturization.

Microelectrofluidic device and method of driving the same


Systems and methods are provided for evaluating a lung via ultrasound. A plurality of ultrasound images are generated at each of a plurality of locations on a lung using an ultrasound imager to provide a plurality of images. Respective grades are assigned to each of the plurality of images according to an amount of B-line artifact in the image to generate a plurality of grades for the lung. A composite score for the lung is calculated from the plurality of grades. The composite score represents a general assessment of the lung. The composite score is provided to a user at an associated output device.

Lung content of extravascular lung water (EVLW) can significantly affect pulmonary functions. Multiple factors can play a role in changing the amount of EVLW like lung injury and hemodynamic status. Additionally, a marked heterogeneity is observed in the distribution of EVLW. It may vary across different areas in the same lung and being more susceptible to collapse and injury, lower lobes might have a higher content of EVLW. Quantification of EVLW in each part of the lungs is crucial for patient management.
The amount of EVLW can change in donor lungs in a time-dependent fashion during the procurement process. For brain dead donors, the EVLW amount can be affected by the proinflammatory response, cardiac dysfunction, ventilator management, or fluid replacement during the donor management period. In the circumstance of donation after circulatory death, hypoxic pulmonary vasoconstriction and profound catecholamine surge occurring after withdrawal of life-sustaining therapy could dramatically change the EVLW content in donor lungs. Importantly, this type of change cannot be assessed accurately in vivo, however, it can adversely affect recipient outcome.
Ex-vivo lung perfusion (EVLP) has emerged as a reliable technology for better assessment of questionable lungs, with therapeutic potentials of the injured lung as well. However, pulmonary edema formation represented by an increase of EVLW is one of the findings of the current EVLP protocols, with reduction of this edema as a targeted therapeutic potential of EVLP.


A method and apparatus which utilizes the hysteritic behavior of type II superconductors is provided for reducing the effective magnetic susceptibility of such high temperature superconducting materials being used close to the sample region in nuclear magnetic resonance system probes by providing decaying AC changes in the magnetic field parallel to said superconductive material. The method is particularly applicable to receiver coils. Reducing the effective magnetic susceptibility of superconducting receiver coils enables the improved sensitivity they inherently provide to be realized without loss of resolution resulting from line broadening caused by susceptibility discontinuities of materials near the sample region of the probe.

Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectrometers first became available in 1946. In 1950 observations of "shifted" resonance in nitrogen spectra by W. G. Proctor & F. C. Yu, Phys. Rev. 77, 717,(1950) stimulated efforts to improve the homogeneity and stability of magnets used in the experiments and led to the observation of chemically shifted resonances in proton spectra by J. T. Arnold, S. S. Dharmatti, and M. E. Packard, Jour. Chem. Phys. 19, 1608,(1951). This marked the beginning of high resolution NMR and its application as an analytical tool for chemistry, and sparked rapid growth in the development of NMR spectrometers. This development continues today at a pace limited only by the availability of relevant technology. The present work is predicated upon improvements in rf probe performance incorporating receiver coils and other parts made from recently available high temperature superconducting (HTS) materials. HTS materials are type II superconductors. The terms "HTS materials" and "type II superconductors" will hereafter be used interchangeably herein.
Nuclei of most isotopes of the elements have non-zero spin and exhibit gyromagnetic properties. These non-zero spin nuclei behave like microscopic spinning bar magnets. When a static homogeneous magnetic field B is applied to an ensemble of spin active nuclei, the spins align, some in the direction of the field and some in the direction opposed to the field. A net polarization of the ensemble of spins in the direction of the field results and the spins are said to be "polarized" by the field. If a polarized ensemble of nuclei is simultaneously subjected to an rf magnetic field, usually called the B.sub.1 field, said B.sub.1 field having an appropriate frequency and spatial orientation with respect to the polarizing field B, an NMR response signal can be generated.
The broad general utility of NMR as a tool for determining the chemical structure of compounds is due to the influence of the molecular environment on the local magnetic field at the nuclei. The local magnetic field at the nucleus of a particular nuclear species at a particular site in a molecule is the vector addition of the externally applied field and the field caused by the magnetic influence of its molecular environment. By way of example, circulation of electrons about the nucleus caused by the applied field results in an induced field at the nucleus which in some instances opposes the applied field (diamagnetism), and in some instances augments it (paramagnetism). By way of further example the local field at a nucleus can be additionally modified, taking on multiple values or "splitting" due to interactions with other spin active nuclei in the molecule. These two effects, known as "chemical shift" and "spin-spin coupling" respectively, are major sources of the fine structure seen in NMR spectra as more fully described in "Introduction To NMR Spectroscopy", R. Abrahms, J. Fisher, P. Loftus, J. Wiley & Sons, 1993, chap. 2, pp. 13-33, chap. 3, pp. 34-59. NMR spectra which are characterized by resonance lines that are narrower than the shifts in resonance caused by chemical shift and spin-spin coupling are known as high resolution spectra. These lines are primarily made possible to observe by the application of an extremely homogeneous polarizing field. The frequency of the NMR response signal is proportional to the local magnetic field at the nuclei, the proportionality constant being .gamma., the magnetogyric ratio. Any slight deviation from homogeneity of the local magnetic field over the sample region causes a corresponding shift in the resonance of the nuclei affected resulting in undesirable line broadening of the response signal.
An NMR spectrometer is comprised of: 1) a DC magnet which provides the stable, homogeneous, static magnetic field required for polarizing the spins, 2) an rf system which provides a suitable rf excitation signal, 3) a coil or a plurality of coils for coupling the rf excitation to the spins and for receiving the NMR response signal, 4) a detection system for detecting the NMR response signal, 5) a signal processing system for processing the detected NMR response signal, and 6) an output device for displaying the NMR response signal. For high resolution NMR studies, the compound under investigation is usually dissolved in or mixed with a suitable solvent and is in liquid form contained in a sample tube which is typically 5 mm in diameter. The apparatus known as the probe holds the sample in a sample holder portion of a probe in the most homogeneous region in the magnetic field. The coil or coils for coupling the rf excitation to the sample and for detecting the NMR response signal are also mounted to the probe.
NMR is an inherently insensitive technique. Sensitivity is strictly defined in terms of the minimum concentration of a test material required to produce a signal that is just detectable above the level of noise. For practical purposes however, the signal to noise ratio, S/N, is generally considered a good measure of sensitivity. Continued improvement in sensitivity has been a constant objective in the development of NMR spectrometers. Increasing signal strength, reducing noise, and improving signal processing methods have all contributed to this improvement. Many of the factors that influence the attainable signal to noise ratio are treated in "A Handbook of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance", R. Freeman, Longman Scientific & Technical, 1988, pp. 216-229 which is hereby incorporated herein by reference.
In addition to sensitivity, resolution of spectral information is an important aspect of NMR spectrometer performance. Natural line widths can be narrow for liquid samples, less than 1 Hz by way of example. To avoid degrading the resolution, both the static magnetic field B and the rf excitation field B.sub.1 should be homogeneous over the volume of the sample, and stable over the time of data acquisition to the order of 1 part in 10.sup.9. The data acquisition time can be very long, particularly when acquiring the spectra of nuclei other than protons, such as .sup.13 C by way of example. For .sup.13 C nuclei using natural abundance samples, the overall sensitivity relative to .sup.1 H is 1.7.times.10.sup.-4. The direct observation of .sup.13 C nuclei therefore typically requires many scans and may require averaging the NMR responses over hours or days to achieve the required signal to noise ratio. Any small change in the magnetic field over this time period will cause the NMR signal to shift slightly and effectively broaden the resonance response. Field homogeneity requirements are addressed by careful magnet design, the use of shimming coils and by spinning the sample. Field-frequency lock systems, such as described in "Modern NMR Spectroscopy", J. K. M. Sanders & B. K Hunter, Oxford University Press, 1993, chap. 1, pp. 39-41. are used to achieve the required stability.
The probe is a critical component in an NMR spectrometer. For a given static magnetic field strength and a given sample size, the performance of the probe largely determines the sensitivity of the spectrometer. An important consideration in probe design is the coupling efficiency .zeta. of the receiver coil to the sample. .zeta. is the ratio of effective inductance to total inductance of the receiver coil. Any portion of the inductance of the receiver coil that does not contribute towards the detection of the NMR signal, such as the inductance of the leads of the receiver coil by way of example, results in a loss of sensitivity proportional to .zeta..sup.1/2. Another important consideration is the quality factor Q of the receiver coil which affects sensitivity by a factor of Q.sup.1/2, since signal voltage is proportional to Q and noise voltage is proportional to Q.sup.1/2. Q represents the ratio of energy stored in the receiver coil resonant circuit to the energy dissipated through resistive losses in the circuit. Another important consideration in probe design is the receiver-coil filling factor .zeta. which, for a fixed coil volume, influences the signal strength and the sensitivity directly. .zeta. is a measure of the energy stored in the transverse magnetic field coupling to the sample, compared to the total magnetic energy stored in the receiver coil resonant circuit. Filling factor .zeta., coupling efficiency .zeta., and quality factor Q should all be as large as possible for maximum sensitivity.
Modem spectrometers use superconducting DC magnets for producing the static polarizing field. The sample is placed in a cylindrical tube positioned coaxial with the DC magnet. Transmitter and receiver coils made of normal, i.e. non-superconducting, materials can be saddle coils as shown in FIG. 1a or split formed-wire coils as shown in FIG. 1b. Either are ordinarily shaped to couple closely to the sample while providing the radio frequency B.sub.1 field orthogonal to the static field. Coils made of high temperature superconducting (HTS) films are very attractive for use in NMR spectrometers because of their low rf resistance and resulting low noise. Using HTS materials, coils have been fabricated by depositing a thin layer of superconductor on a flat substrate. A pair of such coils forming a magnetically coupled system known as a Helmholtz pair, placed on opposite sides of a sample, is shown in FIG. 2a. A second pair of similar HTS coils can be positioned orthogonal to the first pair as shown in FIG. 2b to provide for a field-frequency lock signal.
Best results are obtained with HTS coils when the superconductor is lattice matched to the substrate, i.e. grown epitaxially. The substrate should be a thermally conductive material to facilitate cooling of the coil and should have low magnetic susceptibility to avoid degrading the homogeneity of the magnetic field. Acceptable substrate materials include sapphire, lanthanum aluminate, and magnesium oxide. A preferred HTS material is YBa.sub.2 Cu.sub.3 O.sub.7-.delta. (YBCO), which has a critical transition temperature T.sub.C of approximately 87.degree. K. A coil made of this material is described in "HTS Receiver Coils For Magnetic Resonance Instruments", R. S. Withers, B. F. Cole, M. E. Johansson, G. C. Laing, G. Zaharchuk, Proc. SPIE, 2156, 27-35, (1994). Another Class II superconductive material useful in this coil application is Tl.sub.2 Ba.sub.2 CaCu.sub.2 O.sub.8.
For proper performance HTS coils must be maintained at a temperature significantly below their superconducting transition temperature T.sub.C. U.S. Pat. No. 5,508,613 entitled Apparatus For Cooling NMR Coils, to Vincent Kotsubo and Robert D. Black, describes an apparatus for cooling HTS coils as required for proper operation. A particular embodiment incorporates a Joule-Thomson or Cillord-McMahon closed cycle refrigeration unit which cools the coils to 25.degree. K. The coils are generally thermally isolated from the samples in this apparatus and the samples can be maintained at or near room temperature if desired.
High resolution NMR probes using HTS coils can provide higher sensitivity than probes with non-superconducting coils. For a given sample volume the sensitivity of a coil is proportional to (.xi. Q/T).sup.1/2, where T is the coil temperature and .xi. and Q are the aforementioned filling factor and quality factor respectively. A superconducting coil may have a Q of 20,000 as compared with a Q of 250 for a room temperature coil and is typically operated at 25.degree. K as compared with 300.degree. K for a room temperature coil. With the geometry appropriate for a 5 mm. sample tube, and allowing for the loss of filling factor required for thermal isolation of the sample from the coil, the potential sensitivity gain can approach a factor of 10.
It is known in the art that the probe materials and sample materials can cause significant distortion of the polarizing and rf magnetic fields due to their susceptibility. To achieve high resolution spectra, these distortions must be controlled and/or corrected. In particular, abrupt changes in susceptibility near the sensitive sample region of the probe can cause serious degradation of the field uniformity at the sample region, which can generally be partially corrected with shim coils. The aforementioned field distortion can be minimized by using cylindrical symmetric components and positioning material boundaries as far removed as possible from the sample region. Additionally, careful choice of the materials used in the probe is of paramount importance. Materials normally used in NMR probes have diamagnetic volume susceptibilities of several parts per million.
All weakly magnetic materials can be categorized as either diamagnetic or paramagnetic. When placed in a magnetic field, a diamagnetic material tends to minimize its internal flux density within whereas a paramagnetic material tends to increase its internal flux density within itself. In either case, the presence of a magnetic material in an externally applied magnetic field will modify the field distribution in the space proximate to it as illustrated in FIGS. 3a for diamagnetic material and 3b for paramagnetic material.
The best known characteristic of superconductors is their ability to carry a steady current without any power loss., i.e., without any associated voltage drop. Complete magnetic flux expulsion, commonly known as the Meissner effect, is a second fundamental characteristic of superconductivity. The class of superconducting materials which completely expel flux from their bulk volume, thereby maintaining a condition of zero flux density internally, are known as type I superconductors. A type I superconductor is perfectly diamagnetic. Type I superconductors are characterized by a low critical transition temperature T.sub.C and a single critical magnetic field H.sub.C (T) with a relatively small range.
A large class of materials known as type II superconductors allow flux to enter the bulk of their volume in a special way and in small quantized amounts, as described in "Foundations of Applied Superconductivity", Orlando and Delin, Addison Wesley Publishing Co., 1990, chap's 6, 7, pp. 259-391, which is hereby incorporated by reference. Type II superconductors typically have a higher critical transition temperature TC than Type I superconductors and they have two critical fields, H.sub.C1 (T) and H.sub.C2 (T). For values of H<H.sub.C1, type II superconductors behave like type I superconductors and exhibit the aforementioned Meissner effect. For values of H such that H.sub.C1 .ltoreq.H.ltoreq.H.sub.C2, the type II superconductor is in a mixed or vortex state in which a finite amount of flux penetrates the interior volume of the material. Since H.sub.C1 <<H.sub.C2, the magnetic field range for the mixed state tends to be large over most of the superconducting temperature range. Type II superconductors therefore are practical for, and useful in, engineering applications such as NMR probe coils.
The dipole field required to account for flux expulsion can be modeled in terms of induced magnetization as illustrated in FIG. 4a to FIG. 4c. The resulting field as shown in FIG. 4c can be envisioned as the superposition of the applied magnetic field , FIG. 4a and the field created by the induced magnetization, FIG. 4b, the latter representing the intrinsic magnetic property of the material. Within the superconductor the magnetic flux density is given by B=.mu..sub.0 (H+M) where .mu..sub.0 is the permeability of free space, H is the applied field and M is the induced magnetization. Ignoring saturation effects, the relationship between the induced magnetization M and the applied field H is linear for type I superconductors. The magnetic susceptibility .sub..chi.m of the material is defined by the relationship M=.sub..chi.m H. For a type I superconductor .sub..chi.m =-1 and M=-H.
The relationship between induced magnetization M and applied field H is much more complicated for a type II superconductor than for a type I superconductor. As heretofore mentioned, flux vortices penetrate into the bulk volume of the superconductor at applied fields H.gtoreq.H.sub.C1. The type II superconducting material is constituted to provide pinning forces for the purpose of inhibiting lateral movement of the vortices when an externally driven current is passed through the material. Such vortex movement would cause undesired power losses. Because of the pinning forces however, the flux vortices, after penetrating the surface when the applied field exceeds H.sub.C1, are not uniformly distributed throughout the bulk of the superconductor in an equilibrium lattice, but instead are bunched up near the surface. As the applied field is further increased above H.sub.C1 the flux vortices are forced further into the superconductor but they remain non uniformly distributed throughout the bulk volume.
Because the magnetic flux and magnetization are non-uniformly distributed in the type II superconductor, the characteristics of the bulk material are best described in terms of average values of the fields over the volume. These are sometimes called the "thermodynamic fields" and will hereafter be so referred to herein. The thermodynamic magnetic field, thermodynamic magnetic flux density and thermodynamic magnetization will hereafter be designated as , , and respectively. They obey the relationships =.mu..sub.0 (H+M)
The so-called critical state model, which applies to type II superconductors with strong pinning, is described in the aforementioned and incorporated reference "Foundations of Applied Superconductivity", Orlando and Delin, Addison Wesley Publishing Co., 1990, pp. 374-380. In accordance with the critical state model, the dependence on the thermodynamic magnetic field of the thermodynamic flux density and the thermodynamic magnetization are shown in FIGS. 5a and 5b respectively as the thermodynamic field is first increased from zero to H.sub.max and then decreased from H.sub.max back to zero. It is of particular significance for purposes of the present work that the thermodynamic flux density thermodynamic magnetization of the type II superconductor as functions of the thermodynamic fields are history dependent., i.e., that they are hysteritic.
According to the critical state model, as an external magnetic field is applied to the superconducting material, surface currents are set up that flow in such a direction as to exclude magnetic flux from the interior of the material. However there is a limiting current density J.sub.C (H) that the superconductor can carry. The model assumes that there are only three states of current flow possible with a given magnetic field axis, one being zero current density for regions that have never felt the magnetic field. The other two are full current flow J.sub.C (H) perpendicular to the axis, but each are of opposite sense from the other depending on the sense of the electromotive force that accompanied the last local change of applied field. These local currents contribute to the magnetization of the material and thereby influence its effective susceptibility. FIGS. 6a, 6c and 6e show the locally averaged magnetic flux density distributions in a thin film superconductor of thickness 2a for different values of an increasing applied magnetic field H. The field is oriented parallel to the surface of the superconductor. FIGS. 6b, 6d and 6f show the corresponding current density profiles. The applied field H at which the flux fully penetrates the film is known as the penetration field, which will hereafter be designated H.sub.P herein. It can be shown for the aforementioned thin film of thickness 2a, that H.sub.P =J.sub.C (H)(a) and that the thermodynamic magnetization is -H.sub.P /2. At field values of H.sub.P and above the effective susceptibility .sub..chi.m .tbd./H is equal to -0.5 J.sub.C (H) a/H.
To maintain homogeneity of the magnetic fields in the sample region of an NMR spectrometer, the most critical probe component which must be considered is the coil, because it is generally closest to the sample region and inevitably includes some susceptibility discontinuities in its geometry. For normal coil materials, i.e. non-superconducting, coils field perturbations can be minimized by constructing the coils of materials such that the overall coil structure exhibits a low average value of magnetic susceptibility. This is accomplished by making the coils from a composite material with diamagnetic and paramagnetic components using methods such as electroplating by way of example, to produce a sandwich structure of the two types of materials. Overall high electrical conductivity is maintained for this structure. Suitable diamagnetic materials include copper, silver and gold. Suitable paramagnetic materials include aluminum, rhodium and platinum.
However, when employing HTS materials as probe coils to realize the aforementioned higher sensitivity, the use of sandwich structures of the two types of susceptibility materials as described in connection with normal materials above is not an available option. Therefore the improved sensitivity under these circumstances has generally been achievable only at the cost of degraded resolution. The tradeoff of degraded spectral resolution for improved sensitivity has heretofore limited realization of the full potential inherent in the use of HTS materials in NMR probes.

AC magnetic susceptibility control of superconducting materials in nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) probes


A tight confinement nanocrystal comprises a homogeneous center region having a first composition and a smoothly varying region having a second composition wherein a confining potential barrier monotonically increases and then monotonically decreases as the smoothly varying region extends from the surface of the homogeneous center region to an outer surface of the nanocrystal. A method of producing the nanocrystal comprises forming a first solution by combining a solvent and at most two nanocrystal precursors; heating the first solution to a nucleation temperature; adding to the first solution, a second solution having a solvent, at least one additional and different precursor to form the homogeneous center region and at most an initial portion of the smoothly varying region; and lowering the solution temperature to a growth temperature to complete growth of the smoothly varying region.

In developing nanocrystals, there are several issues that need to be overcome. For a number of technologically important applications of nanocrystals, such as phosphors for solid state lighting and gain material for optically-pumped cw (continuous wave) lasers, the operating temperature of the nanocrystals is significantly above room temperature. For these applications, the optical excitation power density can range from about 200 (in solid state lighting) to >50,000 (for lasing) W/cm2. Typical type I CdSe-based nanocrystals lose significant quantum efficiency (QE) (about 60%) as the temperature increases from 25° C. to 150° C., as discussed by Zhao et al [ACS Nano 6, 9058 (2012)]. Pradhan et al. [N. Pradhan et al., J. Amer. Chem. Soc. 129, 3339 (2007)] found that Mn-doped ZnSe nanocrystals maintained a reasonable thermal stability up to ˜250° C.
The disadvantages of this latter approach are that the peak emission wavelengths of the nanocrystals are limited by the particular choice of the dopant materials, the spectral widths of the photoluminescence (PL) are typically larger for impurity emission, and the quantum efficiency of these types of nanocrystals is below that of undoped nanocrystals. Type II (confining electrons in one material and holes in another) core-shell CdTe/CdSe nanocrystals were also determined to have reasonable temperature stability up to ˜110° C. [P. Chin et al., J. Amer. Chem. Soc. 129, 14880 (2007)]. Though better than conventional nanocrystals, the reported stability falls short of the above requirements for solid state lighting. Overall, there are no nanocrystals to date which show both high temperature stability and high quantum efficiency.
In addition to thermal stability issues, nanocrystals suffer from high-optical flux saturation as a result of Auger recombination [Y. Park et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 106, 187401 (2011)] and blinking phenomena [X. Brokmann et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 90, 120601 (2003)]. In order to obtain optically-pumped lasing of nanocrystal materials, unwanted Auger recombination needs to be highly reduced or shutdown, at least up to an average level of 1 e-h pair per nanocrystal. Type II nanocrystals with thick shells were reported [Y. Park et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 106, 187401 (2011)] to show substantially less saturation of the PL compared to typical nanocrystals. These results led the authors to claim that they shutdown Auger recombination in these nanocrystals. However, they were only able to attain these results for isolated nanocrystals, since the degree of flux stability varied amongst their nanocrystals.
In another report [D. Oron et al., Phys. Rev. B75, 035330 (2007)], ps-pulsed excitation was used to show that by increasing the electron-hole separation distance in type II nanocrystals, the Auger recombination time could be increased up to ˜2 ns. The problem with this approach is that the oscillator strength of the direct e-h transition decreases with increasing separation distance, thus resulting in greater competition from non-radiative recombination (thus causing a reduction in the overall QE). In addition, though a 2 ns Auger lifetime is longer than typical, it still shorter than desired for type II nanocrystals. Overall, the shutdown of Auger recombination has not been demonstrated in macroscopic nanocrystal samples at room temperature, especially for the very desirable Type I (confining electrons and holes in the same material) core-shell nanocrystals.

Colloidal nanocrystals and method of making

The Research Foundation for the State University of New York


The present application relates to a novel family of double para-phenylenediamines joined by a linker arm substituted with one or more carboxylic radicals and/or derivatives and to the use thereof for the dyeing of keratin fibres.

The dyeing of keratin fibres, and in particular human hair, with dye compositions containing oxidation dye precursors, generally called oxidation bases, such as ortho- or para-phenylenediamines, ortho- or para-aminophenols and heterocyclic compounds, is known. These oxidation bases are colourless or weakly coloured compounds which, when combined with oxidizing products, can give rise, by a process of oxidative condensation, to coloured compounds.
It is also known that it is possible to vary the shades obtained with these oxidation bases by combining them with couplers or dyeing modifiers, the latter being chosen in particular from aromatic meta-diaminobenzenes, meta-aminophenols, meta-diphenols and certain heterocyclic compounds, such as indole compounds and pyridine compounds.
The variety of molecules used in terms of oxidation bases and couplers makes it possible to obtain a rich palette of colours.
The "permanent" dyeing obtained using these oxidation dyes must, moreover, satisfy a certain number of requirements. Thus, it must not present any problem of a toxicological nature, it must make it possible to obtain shades of the desired intensity and must have good resistance to external agents such as light, bad weather, washing, permanent waving, perspiration and rubbing.
The dyes must also provide coverage of white hair, and finally must display minimum selectivity, i.e. ensure that the smallest possible differences in coloration are obtained all the way along the same keratin fibre, which generally is differently sensitized (i.e. damaged) between its tip and its root.

Double para-phenylenediamines joined by a linker arm substituted with one or more carboxylic radicals and/or derivatives and use in dyeing

Abstract: These novel para-phenylenediamines are useful as oxidation bases for the dyeing of keratin fibres.


An oxide superconductive wire is provided by, for example, forming an oxide superconductive layer on a tape-type flexible base. A preliminary compressive strain is applied to the oxide superconductive layer in the longitudinal direction. The remaining strain can be provided by using a base having thermal expansion coefficient larger than that of the oxide superconductive layer and by cooling the same after heat treatment, due to contraction of the base. Since the preliminary compressive strain is applied to the oxide superconductive layer, degradation of superconductivity of the oxide superconductive layer can be suppressed even if the oxide superconductive wire is bent in any direction, compared with the wire without such strain. Therefore, the oxide superconductive wire can be coiled, for example, without much degrading the superconductivity.

Metal superconductors, compound superconductors and oxide superconductors have been known and various applications thereof have been studied. A superconductor has its electrical resistance made zero when it is maintained at a temperature not higher than a critical temperature. Generation of high magnetic field, high density transfer of large current and so on have been tried utilizing this characteristic.
Recently, attention is beginning to center on oxide superconductive materials, which have higher critical temperature at which the superconductive phenomenon occurs. Such superconductive materials can be used for power transmission and distribution, electrical connection between various equipment and elements, AC coils and so on, when they are turned into longitudinal wire bodies.
Various methods have been known to fabricate wires of oxide superconductive materials. In one method, powder of oxide superconductive material is filled in a metal pipe and the cross section thereof is reduced. In another, a layer of oxide superconductive material is formed on a longitudinal base. Gas phase thin film deposition such as vapor deposition, sputtering and CVD may be applied as a method of forming the oxide superconductive layer.
Generally, oxide superconductive materials are weak on strain, especially tensile strain, and when a tensile strain is generated, for example, superconductivity such as critical temperature and current density is significantly degraded. When a longitudinal oxide superconductive wire is bent, a tensile strain is generated in some portion or other inevitably. In order to lengthen the oxide superconductor while suppressing generation of strain such as the tensile strain as much as possible, a method of forming a thin oxide superconductive layer on a fiber-type or film-type thin or narrow flexible base has been known. By this method, the wire can be bent to be have smaller diameter with the same allowable strain.
However, there is a limit in the above described method, and oxide superconductive wires which are stronger against strain have been desired for practical use.
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide oxide superconductive wires which are stronger against strains.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a method of manufacturing the above described oxide superconductive wires which are stronger against strains.
A further object of the present invention is to provide products using the above described oxide superconductive wires.

Oxide superconductive wire, method of manufacturing the same and the products using the same


An integrated circuit including: non-volatile memory for containing secret information; and a detection unit for preventing at least one form of power supply attack on the secret information, the detection unit comprising:                a first comparator having a first input connected to a first reference voltage and a second input connected to a power supply line, the first comparator being configured to output a first detection signal when a power supply voltage moves beyond a first predetermined limit determined by the first reference voltage; and        an output to provide a signal to delete, overwrite, or otherwise render unreadable at least the secret information in the memory when the first detection signal is output by the first comparator.

The process of authentication has particular application in any system (chip or software) that manipulates secure data. This includes Internet commerce, peer to peer communication, Smart Cards, Authentication chips, electronic keys, and cryptographic equipment. Whilst the description of the preferred embodiments of the present invention assumes a System/consumable relationship, it is a trivial matter to extend the protocol for other uses. An example is Internet commerce, where each consumer is effectively the consumable, and the Shop is the System. Another usage is Smart Cards, where each smart card can have a unique key, known to the System.
Existing solutions to the problem of authenticating consumables have typically relied on physical patents on packaging. However this does not stop inferior refill operations or clone manufacture in countries with weak industrial property protection. Consequently a much higher level of protection is required.

Integrated circuit incorporating protection from power supply attacks


The invention recognizes that sampler linearity is degraded because transfer voltage across a sampler's buffer varies with amplitude of the analog signal being sampled. Because this transfer voltage is in the signal path it modulates the signal and distorts the resulting sample. In the invention, sampler embodiments are provided which include replica current generators that provide and route sample currents to sample capacitors so that an associated buffer transistor can transfer a faithful copy of the analog signal's potential to the sample capacitor and thereby significantly enhance the sampler's linearity. The replica current generators generally include a replica load that mimics the sample load driven by the buffer transistor.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to signal samplers and buffers.
2. Description of the Related Art
Buffer amplifiers (a term often shortened to buffers) are generally used to couple signals between upstream and downstream circuit elements and they are preferably configured to provide a high degree of isolation between these elements. Signal samplers are generally used to provide a sample of an analog signal to a downstream circuit element in a first sampler mode and isolate the analog signal from the downstream circuit element in a second sampler mode. Unfortunately, it has often been found that samplers and buffers fail to also provide a sufficient degree of linearity as they process the signals with the result that signal distortion is introduced.

Signal samplers and buffers with enhanced linearity


The present invention relates to a core drilling machine (100). The core drilling machine (100) includes a front housing part (102) including a protruding nose. The drilling machine (100) includes a front handle assembly (118) and an output drive shaft (110) projecting outward from the protruding nose. A fluid attachment ring (120) is rotably arranged around the protruding nose. Further, the front handle assembly (118) is arranged around the protruding nose.

Core drilling machines are widely used in order to make holes in bricks, concrete or the like. The core drilling machines may find applications in walls, roofs, floors and rocks also. The core drilling machine includes a drive shaft which is configured to hold a required drill bit tool based on applications. Further, a wet cooling arrangement can be provided to regularly lubricate the drill bit tool by water and/or lubricant. The cooling arrangement can include a water tube connected to a fluid attachment ring which is provided around the drive shaft. DE 19647575 has this, and further a fixed front handle near the rear handle. This however provides an unfavourably short distance between the front and rear handle, a distinct disadvantage.
Normally, a core drilling machine without a water lubricating arrangement is provided with handles at front and rear sections to aid manual gripping by an operator. The front handle assembly at the front section is provided to support the core drilling machine during operation. However, the front handle assembly is often fixed and may provide a hindrance to the operator to maneuver the core drilling machine, while operating. This may lead to other ergonomic problems such as inconveniency in work while changing an inclination of the core drilling from one angle to another angle. Thus, a fixed front handle assembly may pose problems for the operator to work with a core drilling machine.
Hence, there is a need for an improved front handle assembly for a core drilling machine, which provides a better handling of the core drilling machine without interfering with a cooling arrangement.

Core drilling machine and a handle assembly for a core drilling machine


The present disclosure is directed to a NoC interconnect that consolidates one or more Network on Chip functions into one Network on Chip. The present disclosure is further directed to a Network on Chip (NoC) interconnect comprising a plurality of first agents, wherein each agent can be configured to communicate with other ones of the plurality of first agents. NoC of the present disclosure can further include a second agent configured to perform a NoC function, and a bridge associated with the second agent, wherein the bridge can be configured to packetize messages from the second agent to the plurality of first agents, and to translate messages from the plurality of first agents to the second agent.

Technical Field
Methods and example implementations described herein are directed to Network on Chip (NoC) interconnect architecture, and more specifically, to a NoC interconnect that consolidates one or more Network on Chip functions into one Network on Chip.
Related Art
The number of components on a chip is rapidly growing due to increasing levels of integration, system complexity and shrinking transistor geometry. Complex System-on-Chips (SoCs) may involve a variety of components e.g., processor cores, DSPs, hardware accelerators, memory and I/O, while Chip Multi-Processors (CMPs) may involve a large number of homogenous processor cores, memory and I/O subsystems. In both SoC and CMP systems, the on-chip interconnect plays a role in providing high-performance communication between the various components. Due to scalability limitations of traditional buses and crossbar based interconnects, Network-on-Chip (NoC) has emerged as a paradigm to interconnect a large number of components on the chip. NoC is a global shared communication infrastructure made up of several routing nodes interconnected with each other using point-to-point physical links.
Messages are injected by the source and are routed from the source node to the destination over multiple intermediate nodes and physical links. The destination node then ejects the message and provides the message to the destination. For the remainder of this application, the terms 'components', 'blocks', 'hosts' or 'cores' will be used interchangeably to refer to the various system components which are interconnected using a NoC. Terms 'routers' and 'nodes' will also be used interchangeably. Without loss of generalization, the system with multiple interconnected components will itself be referred to as a 'multi-core system'.
There are several topologies in which the routers can connect to one another to create the system network. Bi-directional rings (as shown in FIG. 1(a)), 2-D (two dimensional) mesh (as shown in FIG. 1(b)) and 2-D Torus (as shown in FIG. 1(c)) are examples of topologies in the related art. Mesh and Torus can also be extended to 2.5-D (two and half dimensional) or 3-D (three dimensional) organizations. FIG. 1(d) shows a 3D mesh NoC, where there are three layers of 3×3 2D mesh NoC, shown over each other. The NoC routers have up to two additional ports, one connecting to a router in the higher layer, and another connecting to a router in the lower layer. Router 111 in the middle layer of the example has both of its ports used, one connecting to the router at the top layer and another connecting to the router at the bottom layer. Routers 110 and 112 are at the bottom and top mesh layers respectively, therefore they have only the upper facing port 113 and the lower facing port 114 respectively connected.
Packets are message transport units for intercommunication between various components. Routing involves identifying a path composed of a set of routers and physical links of the network over which packets are sent from a source to a destination. Components are connected to one or multiple ports of one or multiple routers; with each such port having a unique ID. Packets carry the destination's router and port ID for use by the intermediate routers to route the packet to the destination component.
Examples of routing techniques include deterministic routing, which involves choosing the same path from A to B for every packet. This form of routing is independent from the state of the network and does not load balance across path diversities, which might exist in the underlying network. However, such deterministic routing that may be implemented in hardware, maintains packet ordering and may be rendered free of network level deadlocks. Shortest path routing may minimize the latency as such routing reduces the number of hops from the source to the destination. For this reason, the shortest path may also be the lowest power path for communication between the two components. Dimension-order routing is a form of deterministic shortest path routing in 2-D, 2.5-D, and 3-D mesh networks. In this routing scheme, messages are routed along each coordinates in a particular sequence until the message reaches the final destination. For example in a 3-D mesh network, one may first route along the X dimension until it reaches a router whose X-coordinate is equal to the X-coordinate of the destination router. Next, the message takes a turn and is routed in along Y dimension and finally takes another turn and moves along the Z dimension until the message reaches the final destination router. Dimension ordered routing may be minimal turn and shortest path routing.
FIG. 2(a) pictorially illustrates an example of XY routing in a two dimensional mesh. More specifically, FIG. 2(a) illustrates XY routing from node '34' to node '00'. In the example of FIG. 2(a), each component is connected to only one port of one router. A packet is first routed over the x-axis till the packet reaches node '04' where the x-coordinate of the node is the same as the x-coordinate of the destination node. The packet is next routed over the y-axis until the packet reaches the destination node.
In heterogeneous mesh topology in which one or more routers or one or more links are absent, dimension order routing may not be feasible between certain source and destination nodes, and alternative paths may have to be taken. The alternative paths may not be shortest or minimum turn.
Source routing and routing using tables are other routing options used in NoC. Adaptive routing can dynamically change the path taken between two points on the network based on the state of the network. This form of routing may be complex to analyze and implement.
A NoC interconnect may contain multiple physical networks. Over each physical network, there may exist multiple virtual networks, wherein different message types are transmitted over different virtual networks. In this case, at each physical link or channel, there are multiple virtual channels; each virtual channel may have dedicated buffers at both end points. In any given clock cycle, only one virtual channel can transmit data on the physical channel.
NoC interconnects may employ wormhole routing, wherein, a large message or packet is broken into small pieces known as flits (also referred to as flow control digits). The first flit is the header flit, which holds information about this packet's route and key message level info along with payload data and sets up the routing behavior for all subsequent flits associated with the message. Optionally, one or more body flits follows the head flit, containing the remaining payload of data. The final flit is the tail flit, which in addition to containing the last payload also performs some bookkeeping to close the connection for the message. In wormhole flow control, virtual channels are often implemented.
The physical channels are time sliced into a number of independent logical channels called virtual channels (VCs). VCs provide multiple independent paths to route packets, however they are time-multiplexed on the physical channels. A virtual channel holds the state needed to coordinate the handling of the flits of a packet over a channel. At a minimum, this state identifies the output channel of the current node for the next hop of the route and the state of the virtual channel (idle, waiting for resources, or active). The virtual channel may also include pointers to the flits of the packet that are buffered on the current node and the number of flit buffers available on the next node.
The term "wormhole" plays on the way messages are transmitted over the channels: the output port at the next router can be so short that the received data can be translated in the head flit before the full message arrives. This allows the router to quickly set up the route upon arrival of the head flit and then opt out from the rest of the conversation. Since a message is transmitted flit by flit, the message may occupy several flit buffers along its path at different routers, creating a worm-like image.
Based upon the traffic between various end points, and the routes and physical networks that are used for various messages, different physical channels of the NoC interconnect may experience different levels of load and congestion. The capacity of various physical channels of a NoC interconnect is determined by the width of the channel (number of physical wires) and the clock frequency at which it is operating. Various channels of the NoC may operate at different clock frequencies, and various channels may have different widths based on the bandwidth requirement at the channel. The bandwidth requirement at a channel is determined by the flows that traverse over the channel and their bandwidth values. Flows traversing over various NoC channels are affected by the routes taken by various flows. In a mesh or Torus NoC, there may exist multiple route paths of equal length or number of hops between any pair of source and destination nodes. For example, in FIG. 2(b), in addition to the standard XY route between nodes 34 and 00, there are additional routes available, such as YX route 203 or a multi-turn route 202 that makes more than one turn from source to destination.
In a NoC with statically allocated routes for various traffic slows, the load at various channels may be controlled by intelligently selecting the routes for various flows. When a large number of traffic flows and substantial path diversity is present, routes can be chosen such that the load on all NoC channels is balanced nearly uniformly, thus avoiding a single point of bottleneck. Once routed, the NoC channel widths can be determined based on the bandwidth demands of flows on the channels. Unfortunately, channel widths cannot be arbitrarily large due to physical hardware design restrictions, such as timing or wiring congestion. There may be a limit on the maximum channel width, thereby putting a limit on the maximum bandwidth of any single NoC channel.
Additionally, wider physical channels may not help in achieving higher bandwidth if messages are short. For example, if a packet is a single flit packet with a 64-bit width, then no matter how wide a channel is, the channel will only be able to carry 64 bits per cycle of data if all packets over the channel are similar. Thus, a channel width is also limited by the message size in the NoC. Due to these limitations on the maximum NoC channel width, a channel may not have enough bandwidth in spite of balancing the routes.
To address the above bandwidth concern, multiple parallel physical NoCs may be used. Each NoC may be called a layer, thus creating a multi-layer NoC architecture. Hosts inject a message on a NoC layer, wherein the message is then routed to the destination on the NoC layer. Thus, each layer operates more or less independently from each other, and interactions between layers may only occur during the injection and ejection times. FIG. 3(a) illustrates a two layer NoC. Here the two NoC layers are shown adjacent to each other on the left and right, with the hosts connected to the NoC replicated in both left and right diagrams. A host is connected to two routers of different layers. For example, a router connected to host in the first layer is shown as R1, and a router connected to host in the second layer is shown as R2. In this example, the multi-layer NoC is different from the 3D NoC. In this case, multiple layers are on a single silicon die and are used to meet the high bandwidth demands of the communication between hosts on the same silicon die. Messages do not go from one layer to another. For purposes of clarity, the present application will utilize such a horizontal left and right illustration for multi-layer NoC to differentiate from the 3D NoCs, which are illustrated by drawing the NoCs vertically over each other.
In FIG. 3(b), a host connected to a router from each layer, R1 and R2 respectively, is illustrated. Each router is connected to other routers in its layer using directional ports 301, and is connected to the host using injection and ejection ports 302. A bridge-logic 303 may sit between the host and the two NoC layers to determine the NoC layer for an outgoing message and sends the message from host to the NoC layer, and also perform the arbitration and multiplexing between incoming messages from the two NoC layers and delivers them to the host.
In a multi-layer NoC, the number of layers needed may depend upon a number of factors such as the aggregate bandwidth requirement of all traffic flows in the system, the routes that are used by various flows, message size distribution, maximum channel width, etc. Once the number of NoC layers in NoC interconnect is determined in a design, different type of messages and traffic flows may be routed over different NoC layers. Additionally, one may design NoC interconnects in such a way that different layers have different topologies in number of routers, channels and connectivity. The channels in different layers may have different widths based on the flows that traverse over the channel and their bandwidth requirements.
In the related art, there can be dedicated NoCs for facilitating one or more NoC functions. These functions can include configuration/register access, monitoring, debugging, Joint Test Action Group (JTAG), and interrupt/exception handling. In such systems, multiple NoCs are employed within a System on Chip (SoC). In this related art implementation, the logical architecture of the NoCs include a separate NoC that is dedicated for regular agent to agent communication, and a separate NoC configured to perform specific NoC functions.
FIG. 4 illustrates an example system involving two NoCs, with one NoC handling agent/host to agent/host communication, and another NoC handling a NoC function. Logical views of the NoCs have been depicted in FIG. 4. In the related art, NoC 400 may include one or more hosts/agents 401, 402, and 403, wherein the NoC 400 is dedicated for handling regular agent to agent communication between different agents 401, 402 and 403. Each agent 401, 402 and 403 can be programmed and configured through a configuration port (register port) through which the agents/hosts are programmed. In the logical picture, they will have one NoC such as NoC 400 where the agents/hosts 401, 402 and 403 are connected to each other. This NoC configuration can be dedicated for regular agent to agent communication and is not otherwise configurable except manually.
To facilitate the NoC functions as described above, related art systems may also employ a separate NoC 410 to perform a defined NoC function that can be any one of the functions including configuration/register access, monitoring, debugging, Joint Test Action Group (JTAG), and interrupt/exception handling functions. In the NoC 410, NoC agents/hosts 411, 412, 413 and 414 do not perform any data communication with each other but rather communicate to perform the desired NoC function. In operation, for instance, one host/agent, such as 414 in the instant example, may be chosen as a master agent for performing the defined NoC function and invoke the function on the agents 411, 412 and 413. Agents 411, 412, and 413 can then propagate the function to the rest of the system. For instance, to facilitate the configuration master function, NoC 410 can be in the form of a configuration/register access network, wherein all of the agents/hosts can be connected and configured to communicate with a configuration master Central Processing Unit (CPU). The configuration master CPU sends messages to agents and receives messages from the agents. The configuration/register access network only contacts with agents for the purpose of propagating instructions from the configuration master out to other elements in the system.
Similarly, separate NoC architectures for facilitating different NoC functions need to be implemented. For instance, a separate Monitor/Debug/JTAG NoC network can be used to snoop the system, wherein the NoC contains a function that monitors and debugs the system. An Interrupt/Exception handler NoC can involve hosts/agents configured to fire an exception or interrupt.
Other custom or proprietary NoCs can be used and built to facilitate the NoC functions. However, these networks are not configurable and are manually designed to address specific problems for a given system. Each NoC function require its own NoC for implementation. This can lead to inefficiencies as the system thereby has less space to accommodate NoCs that handle regular agent to agent communication.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Integrated NoC for performing data communication and NoC functions