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Shock absorbers are used in conjunction with automotive suspension systems and other suspension systems to absorb unwanted vibrations which occur during movement of the suspension system. In order to absorb these unwanted vibrations, automotive shock absorbers are generally connected between the sprung (body) and the unsprung (suspension/chassis) masses of the vehicle. The most common type of shock absorbers for automobiles is the dashpot type which can be either a mono-tube design or a dual-tube design. In the mono-tube design, a piston is located within a pressure tube and is connected to the spring mass of the vehicle through a piston rod. The pressure tube is connected to the unsprung mass of the vehicle. The piston divides the pressure tube into an upper working chamber and a lower working chamber. The piston includes compression valving which limits the flow of damping fluid from the lower working chamber during a compression stroke and rebound valving which limits the flow of damping fluid from the upper working chamber to the lower working chamber during a rebound or extension stroke. Because the compression valving and the rebound valving have the ability to limit the flow of damping fluid, the shock absorber is able to produce a damping force which counteracts the vibrations which would otherwise be transmitted from the unsprung mass to the sprung mass. In a dual-tube shock absorber, a fluid reservoir is defined between the pressure tube and a reservoir tube which is positioned around the pressure tube. A base valve assembly is located between the lower working chamber and the fluid reservoir to control the flow of dampening fluid. The compression valving of the piston is moved to the base valve assembly and is replaced by a compression check valve assembly. In addition to the compression valving, the base valve assembly includes a rebound check valve assembly. The compression valving of the base valve assembly produces the damping force during a compression stroke, and the rebound valving of the piston produces the damping force during a rebound or extension stroke. Both the compression and rebound check valve assemblies permit fluid flow in one direction, but prohibit fluid flow in an opposite direction; however, they are designed such that they do not generate a damping force. In applications where a low level of flow restriction is a priority for the check valve assemblies, the working surface for lifting the check valve disc must be maximized. In addition, this low flow restriction level also calls for a very lightweight disc. When first reviewing the design for the check valve assembly, it may seem logical to utilize a valve spring, which has a low stiffness. This design choice is overruled by the need for a fast closing check valve assembly, as well as the need to avoid “chuckle” noise when the shock absorber is mounted on the vehicle. As the check valve disc becomes lighter and thinner, and the area of the check valve disc which is acted upon by fluid pressure becomes greater, the check valve disc becomes very sensitive to the high fluid pressure which urges the check valve assembly into its closed position. The continued development of check valve assemblies has been directed towards reducing the level of flow restriction without compromising the sensitivity of the check valve assembly to the high pressure fluid which urges the check valve assembly into its closed position.

1. Field of the Invention The invention relates to an operator control unit, in particular for operating a multimedia system in a motor vehicle, having an operator control element which can be rotated about an axis and displaced along this axis and can be latched in a position on this axis. Such an operator control element is known from U.S. Pat. No. 5,270,689.There, by rotating a rotary switch about an axis, a specific function is selected from a menu represented on a screen, and confirmed by pressing the switch. Inadvertent confirmation can be rescinded by pulling the switch. As a result of the confirmation, the unit is changed over into another menu in which a selection is possible in the same way.

1. Field The present invention relates to communication of data, and more particularly, to sending messages from a wireless device in a multiple communication modes environment. 2. Background Various communication systems operating according to different communication protocols provide for communication of messages. Generally, communication of messages is provided through different message services. One of the message services is the short message service (SMS.) The SMS is a wireless message service for providing a medium for communication of alphanumeric messages of limited size. The communication of SMS messages may be between mobile devices, or a mobile device and a wireless network. The SMS may be used for a variety of communication services such as electronic mail, paging, facsimile, voice mail, or Internet access. The SMS is available in communication systems operating in accordance with the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) standard, and code division multiple access (CDMA) standards, such as CDMA1X, CDMA2000, and WCDMA. The standards may include a specific set of protocols for communication of data. Such specific protocols include the General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) and the Universal Mobile Telecommunications Service (UMTS). Another type of message service is known as Enhanced Messaging Service (EMS.) The EMS allows users of EMS-compliant mobile devices to send and receive text, melodies, pictures, and simple sounds and animations, or a combination thereof. The EMS is also supported by a number of communication standards. A mobile device having multiple communication modes may support the operations of communicating data in accordance with more than one standard. Therefore, the mobile device may be a multi-mode wireless device (MWD.) The MWD allows a user to send and receive voice and data over multiple wireless networks, each operating in accordance with a communication standard. The communication modes include, without limitation, operations in CDMA or GSM based systems, or GSM-based derivatives such as GPRS or UMTS. Other CDMA-based systems are also included, such as CDMA1X, CDMA2000, etc. The MWDs are generally compatible with the SMS and EMS for sending and receiving messages. Most communication modes provide at least one message service. Each message service, however, has distinct formats, interfaces, and protocols for generating, sending, and receiving messages. In the past, mobile service providers required users to choose a single wireless system for their service. Thus, a wireless device had to support only one set of message services. The proliferation of MWDs, however, requires the ability to support multiple message services for corresponding multiple communication modes, as well as each message service's unique standards. Currently, a user of an MWD must determine which wireless communication mode or modes is available for use, and must manually select an appropriate corresponding message service. Further, the MWD may employ a different application for each message service, and each application includes a distinct interface and set of procedures for sending a message. There is therefore a need in the art for a method and apparatus for sending a message in which a wireless communication mode and a message service can be automatically selected.

Total knee arthroplasty (TKA) is one of the most clinically successful and cost-effective interventions in health care, with numerous investigators reporting excellent long-term results in terms of reducing pain, improving function, and increasing quality of life in patients. Among the many factors that influence TKA outcomes, surgical technique and final prosthesis alignment appear the most critical. It is known that an accurate restoration of the overall lower limb alignment reduces polyethylene wear and therefore the risk of aseptic loosening. Furthermore, errors in varus/valgus alignment greater than 3 degrees for the femoral or tibial component have been shown to result in less satisfactory clinical outcomes and a higher risk of loosening. Also, malrotation in the transverse plane of the femoral or tibial components has been shown to affect correct function of the extensor mechanism of the replaced knee, which may lead to anterior knee pain. The elevation of the joint line limits the range of motion of the knee. Finally, instability, malalignment, and/or malposition are the major reasons for TKA revision and, except for infection, are all related to incorrect surgical technique. Although various guides for alignment have been designed to improve accuracy, several limitations remain. Computer Assisted Orthopedic Surgery (CAOS) is a discipline where computer technology is applied pre-, intra- and/or post-operatively to improve the outcome of orthopedic surgical procedures. The principal idea behind CAOS is that operative outcomes will be improved through the use of computer technology. Taking the example of joint replacement, the task of the surgeon is to integrate the new joint components into the patient's existing anatomy. CAOS technologies allow the surgeon to: plan the component placement in advance, including determination of the appropriate component sizes; measure the intra-operative placement of the components in real time, making sure that the plan is adhered to; and measure the post-operative result.

Some electronic components, such as circuit-level devices, integrated-circuit-level devices, board-level devices, and system-level devices, use a multi-phase clock signal. Typically, the multi-phase clock is generated by a ring oscillator, a delay locked loop (DLL), or logic dividers with an external reset or initialization. However, the circuitry that generates the multi-phase clock generally do not operate at low voltage, have relatively narrow bandwidth support, do not have good noise characteristics, and consume a large amount of power. Moreover, an external reset or initialization for such circuitry does not provide adequate design robustness.

Conventionally, a scheme that a value of plural bits is stored in a single memory cell transistor is known as a technique of increasing capacity of a NAND type flash memory. For example, a flash memory employing a multi level cell (MLC) scheme can store a value of two bits in a single memory cell transistor. For example, a flash memory employing a triple level cell (TLC) scheme can store a value of three bits in a single memory cell transistor.

The present invention relates generally to the field of polishing pads for chemical mechanical polishing. In particular, the present invention is directed to a chemical mechanical polishing pad having a polishing structure useful for chemical mechanical polishing magnetic, optical and semiconductor substrates. In the fabrication of integrated circuits and other electronic devices, multiple layers of conducting, semiconducting and dielectric materials are deposited onto and removed from a surface of a semiconductor wafer. Thin layers of conducting, semiconducting and dielectric materials may be deposited using a number of deposition techniques. Common deposition techniques in modern wafer processing include physical vapor deposition (PVD), also known as sputtering, chemical vapor deposition (CVD), plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) and electrochemical plating, among others. Common removal techniques include wet and dry isotropic and anisotropic etching, among others. As layers of materials are sequentially deposited and removed, the uppermost surface of the wafer becomes non-planar. Because subsequent semiconductor processing (e.g., metallization) requires the wafer to have a flat surface, the wafer needs to be planarized. Planarization is useful for removing undesired surface topography and surface defects, such as rough surfaces, agglomerated materials, crystal lattice damage, scratches and contaminated layers or materials. Chemical mechanical planarization, or chemical mechanical polishing (CMP), is a common technique used to planarize or polish workpieces such as semiconductor wafers. In conventional CMP, a wafer carrier, or polishing head, is mounted on a carrier assembly. The polishing head holds the wafer and positions the wafer in contact with a polishing layer of a polishing pad that is mounted on a table or platen within a CMP apparatus. The carrier assembly provides a controllable pressure between the wafer and polishing pad. Simultaneously, a slurry or other polishing medium is dispensed onto the polishing pad and is drawn into the gap between the wafer and polishing layer. To effect polishing, the polishing pad and wafer typically rotate relative to one another. As the polishing pad rotates beneath the wafer, the wafer sweeps out a typically annular polishing track, or polishing region, wherein the wafer's surface directly confronts the polishing layer. The wafer surface is polished and made planar by chemical and mechanical action of the polishing layer and polishing medium on the surface. The interaction among polishing layers, polishing media and wafer surfaces during CMP has been the subject of increasing study, analysis, and advanced numerical modeling in the past ten years in an effort to optimize polishing pad designs. Most of the polishing pad developments since the inception of CMP as a semiconductor manufacturing process have been empirical in nature, involving trials of many different porous and non-porous polymeric materials. Much of the design of polishing surfaces, or layers, has focused on providing these layers with various microstructures, or patterns of void areas and solid areas, and macrostructures, or arrangements of surface perforations or grooves, that are claimed to increase polishing rate, improve polishing uniformity, or reduce polishing defects (scratches, pits, delaminated regions, and other surface or sub-surface damage). Over the years, quite a few different microstructures and macrostructures have been proposed to enhance CMP performance. For conventional polishing pads, pad surface “conditioning” or “dressing” is critical to maintaining a consistent polishing surface for stable polishing performance. Over time the polishing surface of the polishing pad wears down, smoothing over the microtexture of the polishing surface—a phenomenon called “glazing”. The origin of glazing is plastic flow of the polymeric material due to frictional heating and shear at the points of contact between the pad and the workpiece. Additionally, debris from the CMP process can clog the surface voids as well as the micro-channels through which slurry flows across the polishing surface. When this occurs, the polishing rate of the CMP process decreases, and this can result in non-uniform polishing between wafers or within a wafer. Conditioning creates a new texture on the polishing surface useful for maintaining the desired polishing rate and uniformity in the CMP process. Conventional polishing pad conditioning is achieved by abrading the polishing surface mechanically with a conditioning disk. The conditioning disk has a rough conditioning surface typically comprised of imbedded diamond points. The conditioning disk is brought into contact with the polishing surface either during intermittent breaks in the CMP process when polishing is paused (“ex situ”), or while the CMP process is underway (“in situ”). Typically the conditioning disk is rotated in a position that is fixed with respect to the axis of rotation of the polishing pad, and sweeps out an annular conditioning region as the polishing pad is rotated. The conditioning process as described cuts microscopic furrows into the pad surface, both abrading and plowing the pad material and renewing the polishing texture. Although pad designers have produced various microstructures and configurations of surface texture through both pad material preparation and surface conditioning, existing CMP pad polishing textures are less than optimal in two important aspects. First, the actual contact area between a conventional CMP pad and a typical workpiece under the applied pressures practiced in CMP is small—usually only a few percent of the total confronting area. This is a direct consequence of the inexactness of conventional surface conditioning that amounts to randomly tearing the solid regions of the structure into tatters, leaving a population of features, or asperities, of various shapes and heights of which only the tallest actually contact the workpiece. Second, the space available for slurry flow to convey away polish debris and heat occupies a thin layer at the pad surface such that polishing waste remains in close proximity with the workpiece until it passes completely out from under the workpiece. Slurry flow between the pad and workpiece must pass across the highly irregular surface and around any asperities that bridge the full vertical distance from the pad to the workpiece. This results in a high probability that the workpiece is re-exposed to both spent chemistry and material previously removed. Thus conventional pad microstructures are not optimal because contact mechanics and fluid mechanics within the surface texture are coupled: the height distribution of asperities favors neither good contact nor effective fluid flow and transport. Defect formation in CMP has origins in both shortcomings of conventional pad microstructure. For example, Reinhardt et al., in U.S. Pat. No. 5,578,362, disclose the use of polymeric spheres to introduce texture into a polyurethane polishing pad. Although exact defect formation mechanisms are incompletely understood, it is generally clear that reducing defect formation requires minimizing extreme point stresses on the workpiece. Under a given applied load or polish pressure, the actual point contact pressure is inversely proportional to the true contact area. A CMP process running at 3 psi (20.7 kPa) polish pressure and having 2% real contact area across all asperity tips actually subjects the workpiece to normal stresses averaging 150 psi (1 MPa). Stresses of this magnitude are sufficient to cause surface and sub-surface damage. Being blunt and irregular in shape, asperities on conventional CMP pads also lead to unfavorable flow patterns: localized pressures of fluid impinging on asperities can be significant, and regions of stagnant or separated flow can lead to accumulation of polish debris and heat or create an environment for particle agglomeration. Beyond providing potential defect formation sources, conventional polishing pad microtexture is not optimal because pad surface conditioning is typically not exactly reproducible. The diamonds on a conditioning disk become dulled with use such that the conditioner must be replaced after a period of time; during its life the effectiveness of the conditioner thus continually changes. Conditioning also contributes greatly to the wear rate of a CMP pad. It is common for about 95% of the wear of a pad to result from the abrasion of the diamond conditioner and only about 5% from contact with workpieces. Thus in addition to defect reduction, improved pad microstructure could eliminate the need for conditioning and allow longer pad life. The key to eliminating pad conditioning is to devise a polishing surface that is self-renewing, that is, that retains the same essential geometry and configuration as it wears. Thus to be self-renewing, the polishing surface must be such that wear does not significantly reshape the solid regions. This in turn requires that the solid regions not be subjected to continuous shear and heating sufficient to cause a substantial degree of plastic flow, or that the solid regions be configured so that they respond to shear or heating in a way that distributes the shear and heating to other solid regions. In addition to low defectivity, CMP pad polishing structures must achieve good planarization efficiency. Conventional pad materials require a trade-off between these two performance metrics because lower defectivity is achieved by making the material softer and more compliant, yet these same property changes compromise planarization efficiency. Ultimately, planarization requires a stiff flat material; while low defectivity requires a less stiff conformal material. It is thus difficult to surmount the essential trade-off between these metrics with a single material. Conventional pad structures approach this problem in a variety of ways, including the use of composite materials having hard and soft layers bonded to one another. While composites offer improvements over single-layer structures, no material has yet been developed that achieves ideal planarization efficiency and zero defect formation simultaneously. Consequently, while pad microstructure and conditioning means exist for contemporary CMP applications, there is a need for CMP pad designs that achieve higher real contact area with the workpiece and more effective slurry flow patterns for removal of polish debris, as well as reducing or eliminating the need for re-texturing. In addition, there is a need for CMP pad structures that combine a rigid stiff structure needed for good planarization efficiency with a less stiff conformal structure needed for low defectivity.

In a transmitter of all modern wireless communication links, an output sequence of bits from an error correcting code can be mapped onto a sequence of complex modulation symbols. These symbols can be then used to create a waveform suitable for transmission across a wireless channel. Particularly as data rates increase, decoding performance on the receiver side can be a limiting factor to achievable data rates.

This invention relates to a device for receiving and displaying television images comprising buffer means for storing television images. The invention also relates to a television apparatus provided with such a device. A device of the type described in the opening paragraph is known from EP-B-0 375 764. The known device is intended for rapidly skipping commercials. If a user wants to watch a television program in such a way that he can skip the commercials in the television program, a number of minutes of the television program corresponding approximately to the expected total period of time of the commercials must first be stored in the buffer means. Subsequently, the device can be switched to a combined recording and display state at which the television images are read at the xe2x80x9cnormalxe2x80x9d rate so that the user can only then watch the television program. When the user watches a commercial during display, he can switch the device to a state at which the television images are read from the buffer means in an accelerated way. At the end of the commercials, the user can again switch the device to the previously mentioned combined recording and display state. By watching the commercials in an accelerated way, the period of time of an interruption in a program comprising commercials will be reduced. It is an object of the invention to provide a device having a more user-friendly facility of rapidly skipping the commercials in a television program. To this end, the device according to the invention is characterized in that the buffer means are adapted to receive television images at a first frame frequency and to supply television images at a second frame frequency, a quantity X being defined as being X equal to the number of consecutive television images, stored in the buffer means, between an image read from the buffer means at a given instant and an image written at substantially the same instant, in that X increases with time in the first state and decreases with time in the second state, and in that the device comprises control means for generating a first control signal for bringing the device from the first to the second state, and a second control signal for bringing the device from the second to the first state. The invention provides a device in which it is no longer necessary to store a number of minutes of the television program corresponding to the period of time of the commercials to be expected in the television program into the buffer means and subsequently start watching the television program. The invention provides the possibility of watching these commercials simultaneously with the reception of the beginning of the television program. To be able to skip the expected commercials rapidly, a slightly larger number of television images are stored in the buffer means per unit of time in a first state as compared with the number of television images read, so that at the instant when a block of commercials in a program is displayed and watched by the user, this block is approximately entirely stored in the buffer means. The user can now switch the device to a second state so that the block of commercials is skipped in an accelerated way. In order that the user can continue watching the program, he will then switch the device to the first state again. The device according to the invention has the extra advantage that the buffer means may be smaller because it need only be approximately the size of one inserted block of commercials. A first embodiment of the device according to the invention is characterized in that the buffer means are adapted to store television images received at the input of the buffer means at the first frame frequency and to read television images stored in the buffer means at the second frame frequency and supply said images at the output, wherein the first frame frequency is larger than the second frame frequency, the buffer means, in the first state, being adapted as a FIFO and, in the second state, being adapted to supply each time N television images of successive groups of M consecutive television images stored in the buffer means at the output of said buffer means, N and M being positive integers and chosen to be such that X decreases with time. In this embodiment, the value of the first frame frequency at the input of the buffer means in the first state is equal to the value of the first frame frequency in the second state. The values of the second frame frequency at the output of the buffer means are equal to each other in the first and the second state. This has the advantage that the device does not need to be further adapted as far as possible pre-processing and post-processing means for switching from the first to the second state, or vice versa, are concerned. In the first state, all received television images are displayed at the output in the same order. In the second state, a part of the received television images is displayed at the output of the buffer means. Normally, the first frame frequency will be 25 Hz. This means that, in this embodiment, the display tube connected to the output must be capable of displaying television images at the lower, second frame frequency which is, for example 22 Hz. A second embodiment of the device according to the invention is characterized in that the buffer means are of the FIFO type and are adapted to store television images received at the input of the buffer means at the first frame frequency, and to read television images stored in the buffer means at the second frame frequency and supply them at the output, the second frame frequency in the first state being smaller than the first frame frequency, and the second frame frequency in the second state being larger than the first frame frequency. In this embodiment, all received and stored television images are supplied at the output of the buffer means in the first and the second state. In this embodiment, the frame frequency at the output of the buffer means is, for example, 25 Hz in the first state and, for example, 100 Hz in the second state. In this embodiment, the image-processing means in the device subsequent to the buffer means should be capable of processing television images at both frame frequencies. A third embodiment of the device according to the invention is characterized in that the buffer means are adapted to receive and supply television images at the first frame frequency at their input and output, respectively, said buffer means, in the first state, being adapted to supply each received television image at least once and a part of the received television images more than once at the output of said buffer means. In this embodiment, the frame frequencies at the input and output of the buffer means are equal and do not differ in the first and the second state. This has the advantage that the device in accordance with the third embodiment can be used in a standard television apparatus in which no costly adaptations are necessary. In the first state, all received television images are displayed at the output once or several times in the same sequence. The television images can be stored in, or read from the buffer means several times and supplied from the output. In the second state, a part of the received and stored television images is displayed at the output of the buffer means. Further embodiments and advantages of the device according to the invention are described in the dependent claims.

A company may partner with another company to offer services for their mutual benefit. For example, a first company that has many customers (users of the first company's services) may work with a second company to provide discounted or free services or products from the second company to the first company's customers. In doing so, the first company provides a benefit to its customers while the second company expands its reach to new customers. There are various problems associated with such an arrangement. For example, the customers of the first company would need to subsequently re-authenticate themselves with the second company to access the discounted or free services or products. For example, FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a sequence of displays on a user device to provision a third-party service over a telecommunications network. As shown, a web browser of a user device on a telecommunications network is utilized to access AMAZON PRIME, which is a paid subscription service offered by AMAZON. The user device displays a web or mobile application (“app”) form for the customer to input authenticating information to access the third-party service on the user device. Once the authenticating information is complete, submitted, and processed, the customer can access the third-party service at the user device. Moreover, when a first company offers a service of the second company as a bonus service, a customer is typically given a passcode to redeem the bonus service. The additional burden of remembering and entering a passcode leads the customer to forego redeeming the bonus service. Moreover, oftentimes there are delays between when a customer becomes eligible for a benefit and when the customer is apprised that the benefit is available. As a result, the customer is less likely to redeem the bonus service because the passcode was lost, misplaced, or the customer simply chooses to avoid the burdensome process of registering for the bonus service. These and other drawbacks obviate the benefits that should flow from the partnership when providing bonus services to customers. The drawings have not necessarily been drawn to scale. Similarly, some components and/or operations may be separated into different blocks or combined into a single block for the purposes of discussion of some of the embodiments of the present technology. Moreover, while the technology is amenable to various modifications and alternative forms, specific embodiments have been shown by way of example in the drawings and are described in detail below. The intention, however, is not to limit the technology to the particular embodiments described herein. On the contrary, the technology is intended to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the scope of the technology as defined by the appended claims.

1. Field of the Invention This invention relates generally to current limiting fuses and more particularly to current limiting fuses having fuse elements in contact with a ceramic core evolving an electro-negative gas that provides superior fault interruption characteristics. 2. Description of the Prior Art The use of arc induced gas evolution as an aid to fault current interruption is well known in current limiting fuse design. In U.S. Pat. No. 3,437,971, entitled "Current Limiting Fuse", issued by H. W. Mikulecky on Apr. 8, 1969, a fuse element is helically wound about an organic gas evolving support. The fuse element and support are embedded in an inert granular material encased in an insulating housing. The fuse element is in contact with the gas evolving support so that when an arc is drawn, upon fusion of the element, gas is evolved directly into the arc, cooling it and improving current interruption. Organic cores used in existing fuses have an upper limit determined by how much energy they can absorb before they are damaged to the point where electrical breakdown and hence fuse failure occurs. This deficiency serves to restrict the current and voltage ratings possible with a given design. Typical stratagems employed over the years to minimize the problem are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,849,754; 3,868,619; and 3,925,745, issued to D. D. Blewitt et al. The use of localized gas evolving suppressors on a core is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,925,745.

In radio communications circuits there often arises a need for impedance matching over a wide range of frequencies. Such matching may be achieved using tapered stripline techniques, however the widths of those striplines may be a problem where small size is required. Thus a need exists for a wide-band impedance-matching network with minimum size.

1. The Field of the Invention The invention relates to network-based instant connect telecommunication. More particularly, the invention relates to managing incoming voice data by allowing the recipient to apply various answer modes in network-based instant connect communications. 2. The Relevant Technology Mobile telephones are some of the most common communication devices in use today. As the popularity of mobile telephones and other telephony-enabled wireless devices such as personal digital assistants increases, the ways in which these devices are used also grows. One application of mobile telephone technology is to use mobile telephones as if they were two-way radio devices or “walkie-talkies.” The ability to use mobile telephones as walkie-talkies is often referred to as “push-to-talk”. Communication in a push-to-talk system can be one-to-one or one-to-many. One example of a push-to-talk system is Nextel's iDEN-based Push to Talk® (also known as Direct Connect™) service. Push-to-talk systems are typically implemented using standard voice-over Internet protocol (VoIP) technologies or other telephony technologies, where voice data is sent in digital form over data networks. Such push-to-talk systems are hereinafter referred to as “network-based instant connect systems”, and they can be deployed in various networks, including wireless and wireline networks. Network-based instant connect communication allows a sender to speak to a recipient without the customary procedure of dialing a telephone number and waiting for the recipient to answer. Network-based instant connect communication services combine the convenience of near-instantaneous connection between users with the range and security afforded by a network. Once an instant connect session is established over the network, the voice data transmitted from a sender is played on the recipient's device without any action on the part of the recipient. This is in contrast to a regular telephone call where the recipient is required to manually respond to a ringing telephone. Because network-based instant connect calls are designed to mimic walkie-talkie communication, the communication channel is used in a half-duplex manner, meaning that voice data can only flow in one direction at a time. The ability to transmit voice data is often referred to as “having the floor”. In a network-based instant connect communication, the sender typically sends a floor request signal to a server in the network by pressing the talk button on a suitably enabled wireless device. Once the floor is granted, the sender may speak to the recipient until the talk button is released. The recipient of the voice data who does not have the floor can merely receive the voice data and cannot take the floor until the sender relinquishes the floor. As noted above, one general feature of network-based instant connect communications is that, if the recipient's device is powered on and is in a mode to accept incoming calls, any incoming network-based instant connect calls result in the recipient's device automatically outputting voice data. While this can be desirable in some situations, there may be times when the recipient does not want to immediately hear incoming voice data or to otherwise be interrupted by an instant connect call. For example, while the recipient may not want to risk missing an important communication by powering off the device, at the same time the recipient may not want others to hear the incoming voice data from an instant connect communication or may be in a situation where the unexpected activation of the recipient's device in response to an incoming instant connect communication would be considered an interruption. Thus, automatically outputting the voice data associated with instant connect communications may sometimes be inconvenient or undesirable.

1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a power transmitting apparatus for a vehicle that may achieve smooth starting and shifting and may improve fuel economy and acceleration performance as a consequence of adding an electric supplementary drive unit and a torque converting device to a double clutch power transmitting apparatus. 2. Description of Related Art Environmentally-friendly technique of vehicles is very important technique on which survival of future motor industry is dependent. Vehicle makers are focusing on development of environmentally-friendly vehicles so as to meet environment and fuel consumption regulations. Some examples of future vehicle technique are an electric vehicle (EV) and a hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) that use electrical energy, and double clutch transmission (DCT) that improves efficiency and convenience. In addition, the vehicle makers promote improvement of efficiency in a power delivery system so as to meet exhaust regulation of countries and improve fuel consumption performance. In order to improve efficiency of the power delivery system, the vehicle makers are trying to put an idle stop and go (ISG) system and a regenerative braking system to practical use. The ISG system stops an engine when a vehicle stops and restarts the engine when the vehicle begins to run. The regenerative braking system operates a generator using kinetic energy of the vehicle instead of braking the vehicle by friction when the vehicle brakes, stores electrical energy generated at this time in a battery, and reuses the electrical energy when the vehicle runs. In addition, the hybrid electric vehicle is a vehicle using more than two power sources, and more than two power sources are combined in various ways. Typically, the hybrid electric vehicle uses a gasoline engine or a diesel engine driven by fossil fuel and a motor/generator driven by electrical energy. In addition, one example of a transmission applied to the hybrid electric vehicle is the DCT. According to the DCT, two clutches are applied to a manual transmission layout. Therefore, efficiency and convenience may be improved. That is, the DCT achieves odd-numbered-speeds and even-numbered-speeds alternately by using two clutches. A mechanism achieving the odd-numbered-speeds and the even-numbered-speeds alternately improves shift feel so as to solve problems of a conventional manual transmission (MT) and an automated manual transmission (AMT). However, the DCT has such problems that clutch damage and energy loss due to clutch slip may occur when starting, safety may not be secured since backward rolling due to clutch slip occurs excessively in hill-start, shift shock may be strong compared with an automatic transmission since shift time is controlled to be short due to thermal capacity of a clutch. The information disclosed in this Background of the Invention section is only for enhancement of understanding of the general background of the invention and should not be taken as an acknowledgement or any form of suggestion that this information forms the prior art already known to a person skilled in the art.

1. Field of the Invention This invention relates to a system for remotely providing object location. 2. Background Vehicle locators are well known. They may be used to locate a single vehicle. However, in daily life, we need an object locator to locate a variety of the target objects in a list. Moreover, all object locators are standing alone devices. Nowadays the existing device like cellular phone set, personal digital assistant, or car alarm remote is very commonly used. We may embed the object locator in the existing device to share its hardware, software, memory and display, etc., and becomes its additional application. The target object to be located may not necessarily be a vehicle. It may be an equipment or machine moving around and stationary, perhaps carried by a person. To locate the equipment or machine means locating the person carrying it. Using a list to keep the identification of each equipment or machine shall help us to locate a person in the list one by one.

A window ball grid array (WBGA) semiconductor package employs an advanced type of BGA packaging technology, wherein at least one opening is formed through a substrate, and a semiconductor chip is mounted on the substrate in an upside-down manner that an active surface of the chip faces downwards and covers the opening of the substrate, allowing the chip to be electrically connected to a lower surface of the substrate via a plurality of gold wires received in the opening. Such package structure can effectively reduce the length of gold wires and improve the quality of electrical communication between the chip and substrate, which thus has been widely applied to DRAM (dynamic random access memory) chips having central pads. U.S. Pat. No. 6,218,731 discloses a WBGA semiconductor package. As shown in FIG. 1, this semiconductor package 3 comprises a substrate 30 having a central opening 304 therethrough; a chip 31 mounted on the substrate 30, with bond pads 310a on an active surface 310 of the chip 31 being exposed to the opening 304 of the substrate 30; a plurality of gold wires 33 received in the opening 304, for electrically connecting the bond pad 310a of the chip 31 to a lower surface of the substrate 30; a first encapsulant 340 and a second encapsulant 341 formed on an upper surface and the lower surface of the substrate 30 respectively, for encapsulating the chip 31 and filling the opening 304; a plurality of solder balls 35 implanted on the lower surface of the substrate 30 not having the second encapsulant 341, for establishing electrical connection with external electronic devices. Conventionally due to cost concerns for fabricating the above semiconductor package, a molding process is performed in a batch manner to encapsulate a substrate strip comprising a plurality of substrates, and then a sawing process is carried out to separate apart the individual substrates. As shown in FIG. 2, after the chip-mounting and wire-bonding processes, the substrate strip 30 (designated with the same reference numeral as substrate) is placed between an upper mold and a lower mold of a transfer mold 37. After engaging the upper and lower molds, injecting a molding compound and performing a curing step, which are known in the art, the first encapsulant 340 and the second encapsulant 341 are respectively formed on the upper surface and the lower surface of the substrate 30. Finally, after the ball-implanting process, the package structure is sawed to form a plurality of individual WBGA semiconductor packages 3. Such molding method is relatively cost-effective and suitable for mass production. However, since loops of the gold wires and the second encapsulant for encapsulating the gold wires protrude from the lower surface of the substrate, in order to fabricate appropriate second encapsulants, it needs to prepare different types of molds corresponding to different sizes and structures of openings in the substrates, which would undesirably increase the fabrication cost. Moreover, in order to completely encapsulate the gold wires, the second encapsulant may occupy relatively much area on the substrate, thereby limiting the density and number of solder balls that can be implanted on the substrate. In addition, since the first encapsulant and the second encapsulant are not completely symmetric to each other, the upper and lower molds may not firmly clamp the substrate, thereby leading to flash of the second encapsulant on the lower surface of the substrate. This not only affects the appearance of the package but also may cover ball pads on lower surface of the substrate, which would adversely affect the ball-implanting process and degrade the electrical performance of the solder balls formed on the ball pads. As a result, an extra step of using a solvent to remove the encapsulant flash is required. The flash problem is thus considered as a significant drawback in the prior art. Therefore, the problem to be solved here is to provide a semiconductor package and a method for fabricating the same, which can increase the density of implanted solder balls and solve the flash problem, so as to improve the overall yield and electrical performance.

In a conventional desktop blade system, a user desktop is coupled to a basic Ethernet switch using a thin protocol such as, for example, a remote desktop protocol (RDP). The switch provides mapping of the user desktop to a server blade. The switch is coupled to a plurality of server blades via a blade fabric that supports 10/100 Base-T access methods. The user desktop is a general-purpose computer with a central processing unit (CPU) running a single general-purpose operating system (e.g., DOS, Windows). The server blade operates a single general-purpose operating system on which one or more applications run. Further limitations and disadvantages of conventional and traditional approaches will become apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art through comparison of such systems with one or more aspects of the present invention as set forth in the remainder of the present application with reference to the drawings.

In the development of integrated electronic circuits it is important to verify proper operation before committing a design to an expensive build process. Such verifications may include extracting parasitic circuit information such as capacitance, resistance and inductance. As chips become larger and more complex, time required for performing such extractions may also increase. Therefore, for advanced processes it may be desirable to be able to incrementally extract parasitic information. That is, if a designer changed only a portion of the design and a previous complete extraction exists, it may be desirable to extract only the portion of the design that is affected by the designer's change and merge these results with the previously existing complete extraction. A potential problem of incremental extraction is that the relationship between the incremental portion and the rest of the chip may not be preserved. For instance, if only a few shapes of a net are changed and re-extracted, knowing where to insert the changed portion into the original circuit description/netlist of the changed net may be difficult. Similarly, if the new shapes capacitively couple to the old/existing shapes, exactly where to connect in the netlist of the old shapes may be difficult to determine.

Sensors are used to determine and monitor status and conditions of equipment and the environment at that equipment. For example, a sensor may be used to monitor temperature, humidity, atmosphere at an environment or other ambient conditions. Other sensors are used to monitor physical parameters of equipment, and the status of the equipment itself, including determining strain, vibration, and development of cracking. Sensors also may be used to log data. Powers et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 5,381,136 (1995) describe a remote logger unit for monitoring a variety of operating parameters along a fluids distribution or transmission system. An RF link is activated by which a logger unit alerts a central controller when predetermined operating limits are exceeded. Farther logger units transmit data via closer logger units in daisy chain fashion. Arms in U.S. Pat. No. 6,588,282 (2003) describes peak strain linear displacement sensor for monitoring strain in structures. The device records data and can report strain history for the structure to which it is attached. A displacement sensor is constrained so that it shows maximum movement in one direction resulting in deformation of the structure to which it is attached. Hamel et al. in U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,081,693 (2006) and 7,170,201 (2007) describe devices for powering a load by harvesting energy as electrical energy from an ambient source, storing said electrical energy, and switching the storage device to provide electrical energy when required to a load such as a sensor. The example is provided of powering a sensor for monitoring tire pressure and transmitting that data. Arms et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 7,696,621 (2010) and in a conference presentation, “Wireless Strain Sensing Networks,” 2nd European Workshop on Structural Health Monitoring, Munich, Germany, Jul. 7-9, 2004, describe a RFID tag packaging system for an electronic device located within a cavity in an adjacent flexible material. The dimensions of the flexible material are chosen so as to provide protection of the electronic device from loading applied to the device. A preferred approach to maintenance is “Condition-Based Maintenance” (CBM). Equipment downtime, both scheduled and unscheduled, is an important factor of production loss. In addition, according to a study by Optimal Maintenance Decisions Inc. (OMDEC), a leader in condition-based maintenance (CBM) management solutions, failures in the field are three times more costly to repair (considering overtime, rescue, and expedited shipping of parts) than scheduled (or preventive) maintenance operations. Hence, CBM is replacing preventive maintenance in many industrial operations as a result of gains in productivity. Condition-based maintenance (CBM) is a maintenance system prevalent in industrial mining and energy operations. CBM monitors equipment to establish an optimal maintenance cycle (based on the predictions of when a machine will fail using strain and vibration measurements, for example). While preventive maintenance repairs machinery every given time period, even if the machine is still operational, CBM can extend that time period. The optimal maintenance cycle determines the best time to shut down a machine for preventive repair. Finding the balance between repairing often and continuing to produce is the tricky part. As an example, strain and fatigue measurements reveal risks of yield failures and cracking, changes in material properties, and remaining equipment life, making them incredibly useful for CBM if monitored. In the mining industry, strain and vibration are not generally monitored by built-in systems, mainly due to the complexity of sensor installation and computational intensity of the data processing. CBM relies heavily on regular or continuous measurements of parameters that allow operators to determine when the machine will fail (i.e. strain and vibration). Electronic sensors measure physical quantities (such as strain, temperature, acceleration, crack propagation, pressure, etc.) and convert them into signals read by an instrument (the reader varies depending on the type of sensor). For example, strain gauges consist of a foil pattern (often in a tight zigzag) insulated in a flexible material and attached to an object under strain. As the object deforms, the resistance of the foil wires changes, allowing a Wheatstone bridge circuit (a measuring instrument used to measure an unknown electrical resistance) to record the variations. Unfortunately, existing CBM solutions have been historically inaccurate, are expensive or non-viable, and/or produce poor signal transmission and short battery life. CBM's reliance on high data volume dictates a need to monitor continuously (or at least often) strain and loading. To understand fully a machine's state requires monitoring of cracks and crack growth. However, monitoring the hundreds of machines used every day in a mining operation requires many sensors and many more wires, which are difficult and expensive to install and maintain. Many solutions have not reliably predicted when a machine will fail. This parameter is probably the most important when it comes to CBM, since CBM relies on accurate predictions of failure. The inability to predict correctly when a machine will fail can have grave consequences on unplanned downtime as well as operator safety. Some solutions offer accurate predictions, but at high costs, whether in the stages of installation and setup, longevity and data collection, or analysis and data post-processing. Yet other solutions offer poor signal transmission due to low range or lack of direct line of sight. Power supplies dictate operating conditions and longevity of the solution. Most solutions require too much power to operate for long periods of time, or are too delicate to operate in the harsh conditions of mining operations. Conditions can include extreme temperatures, constant vibration, and quick acceleration.

In gas well dewatering applications it is desired to draw the well down to the lowest reservoir pressure as possible in order to maximize gas production. To prevent lift pumps from gas locking, inverted shrouds are used as a way to separate gas from liquid. Inverted shrouds are typically long and in effect, raise the intake of the pump to the top of the shroud. Further pressure increase occurs due to the frictional drag in the annulus between the shroud and the casing. It is becoming increasingly desirable to dewater a zone by placing the ESP pump in a horizontal well-bore. In horizontal gas wells, however, the gas bubble buoyancy forces are not acting in the optimum direction for moving gas out of the well bore. In these wells much of the gas production goes up the casing/tubing annulus. Because a significant length of well-bore is horizontal, it is very difficult to keep the necessary fluid level over the pump. Thus, static liquid in a horizontal gas well may choke the gas flow. A technique is thus needed to boost the gas and liquid to the vertical or high angle to allow the buoyancy forces to separate the gas from liquid.

Field of Invention The present invention relates to a converter technology. More particularly, the present invention relates to a converter circuit and the open-circuit detection method of the same. Description of Related Art Since the converter is widely used in the power system, the requirements on its maintainability requirements hence are increasing accordingly. The multilevel converter, for example, which provides a lot of convenience on applications of high voltage and high power occasions, but with the level number increases, the number of switches required for the main circuit doubles, the circuit structure and control scheme become more complex, leads to malfunction of the power electronic device increasing, and the reliability of the system greatly reducing. Currently the malfunctions that commonly occur include open-circuit or open-circuit malfunctions of the power semiconductor switches, and malfunctions such as wire disconnection, wrong connection, or driver errors which causes damages to the devices and systems. If there is no effective mechanism to detect if the converter circuit is under open-circuit malfunction, the converter circuit can easily be damaged during operations, resulting in stoppage of the production, or even seriously accidents. Hence it is an important issue to design a new converter circuit and an open-circuit detection method thereof to solve the aforementioned problem.

This invention relates generally to agricultural implements, including ground working apparatus, such as planters, and transversely elongated tool bars for supporting the ground working devices, and, more particularly, to a forwardly folding tool bar convertible between a wide, transversely extending operating configuration and a narrow, compact transport configuration. The need to till and cultivate soil for the planting and growing of crops has been a long established practice in agriculture. More recently developed tillage implements have provided increased size and complexity to accommodate different types of crops and the tractors that tow the tillage implements to cover larger areas of soil. Increasing concerns for conservation of natural resources have also had an impact on the design of modern tillage implements, increasing the complexity of these implements. Planters of substantially equal transverse width have also been developed to work in conjunction with these tillage implements, or independently. More typically, large planting implements are operatively coupled with air carts to provide a substantial source of seed and fertilizer for the large demand accompanying such large planting implements. Larger tillage and planting implements allow an operator to perform the required tillage operations over a larger area for each pass of the implement, permitting fuel conservation for the tractor and resulting in less compaction of the soil. The increasing levels of sophistication in tillage implements enable low-till and no-till planting techniques to be utilized with greater success. Since low-till and no-till planting techniques are preferably accomplished with a single pass of the implement over the field, the soil is disturbed only once, minimizing moisture loss and the amounts of pesticides, herbicides and fertilizer that are required. Such larger and more complex tillage implements introduce problems that have been heretofore unknown in the arts. For example, an agricultural tractor could pull a planting implement. Adding an air cart or a seed/fertilizer supply cart to the planting implement increases the weight of the combined implement and requires the tractor and operator to be able to control all of the functions of the combined implement as the single pass is made over the field to plant seeds, place fertilizer into the ground at the proper location, and apply appropriate amounts of herbicides and/or pesticides. Furthermore, that combined implement must be transported from field to field, usually over public highways, requiring the combined implement to be converted into a transport configuration that is substantially narrower in width than the preferred operating configuration of the combined implement. It would be desirable to provide a tool bar for a tillage or planting implement with the capability of folding from a wide, transversely extending operating position to a narrow, compact transport configuration, requiring interacting latches and actuating devices to facilitate the conversion of the tillage implement and to keep the implement in the transport configuration while being towed from one field to another.

Many watercraft vessels such as power boats, sailboats and the like, often cannot be directly tied up against an intended dock because the draft of the vessel is too great and the sea floor immediately adjacent to the dock is too shallow. Likewise, rudders can cause similar problems in shallow areas immediately adjacent to the dock. Rudders extending outward from vessels can be damaged if the rudder hits against the dock during normal wave action. Also it is a known problem that the sides of vessels secured directly next to a dock tend to bounce against the dock and can potentially cause possible damage to either or both the vessel and the dock. Past attempts to alleviate these problems have often been inadequate. For example, docks that are equipped with bumpers and fenders such as rubber strips and tires may eliminate some of the damage that can occur to a docked vessel. However, the bumpers and fenders on the dock can still chafe the sides of the vessels causing marks. Rigid mooring bars such as the one disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,913,078 to Haverly, can secure a vessel a fixed distance from the dock. However, the vessel is then free to continuously bounce around with the normal wave action. The negatives of the Haverly device become evident when wave action becomes more extreme allowing the vessel to freely swing to crash up and down at the end of the mooring bar. Thus, the need exists for a device to secure a vessel at a fixed distance from a dock while allowing the vessel to generally rise and fall with the wave action while cushioning the severe effects of severe wave action.

A packet switching or routing network (referred to as a switching network henceforth) has switches used for transmission of data among senders and receivers connected to the network. The switching performed by these switches is in fact the action of passing on packets of data received by a switch to a further switch in the network. Such switching actions are the means by which communication data is moved through the packet switching network. Each switch may include what is commonly referred to as a switch fabric configured to process packets between input and output packet processor. Each switch may further comprise one or more packet processors coupled to the switch fabric. The packet processors may further be configured to direct the incoming packets of data across the switch fabric to particular packet processors. Each packet processor may be configured to provide traffic to the switch fabric and accept traffic from the switch fabric. Each packet processor may further be configured to accept/transmit data from/to hosts, respectively. Thus, any host connected with one of the packet processors may communicate with another host connected to another packet processor. Due to bottlenecks in processing in packet processors or in transferring traffic across the switch, data packets may be required to wait prior to being processed by a packet processor and transmitted to another packet processor or switch in the packet switching network. As a result, queues configured to temporarily store data packets may be implemented in the packet processor. Coupled to the queues may be mechanisms to enqueue the data packets into the queues. That is, the enqueuing mechanisms may be configured to insert the packets in the corresponding queues. It is noted that a portion or all of the queues may be part of the same physical memory resource. Typically, packets are assigned a priority where the priority may be determined based on a value of particular bits in the packet header. The packets with a higher priority may be processed prior to the packets with a lower priority. After each particular interval of time, a scheduler in the packet processor may be configured to search through all the queues storing packets and identify the packet with the highest priority to be transmitted. However, in order for the scheduler to search through all the queues storing packets and identify the packet with the highest priority to be transmitted, the scheduler may be complex to implement such as by having multiple sub-queues and logic for identifying multiple priorities. It would therefore be desirable to implement a simpler scheduler without the complexity in design of having multiple sub-queues and logic for identifying multiple priorities in order to identify the packet to be transmitted.

Traditional knowledge learning and skill training programs rely on instructions and practice problems to help a user (e.g., a learner or a trainee) to improve his/her understanding of new concepts and skills in solving problems. Typically, a number of problems are provided to the user. The user finishes some or all the problems in a certain time period and submits the answers. The learning/training programs provide feedbacks to the user indicating how many problems are correctly answered and how many are not. The user may correct the problems which are answered incorrectly and/or practice more. In this traditional process, the user's learning/training progress is often linked to the percentage of problems that are correctly answered in a set of practice problems. This measure of learning/training progress, however, is difficult to provide an accurate assessment of the user on the proficiency levels of the skills to be learned, and is difficult to forecast the performance of the user in a comprehensive exam. In addition, traditional learning/training programs do not have the intelligence or ability to make dynamic adjustment of focusing areas to optimize the efficiency of the learning/training. The present disclosure is directed to overcoming or mitigating one or more of these problems as set forth above.

Thus far, high-capacity optical disks of various kinds have been achieved by reducing the size of an information mark that is written on a disk track and also by making a wavelength of the laser beam for use in recording/playback shorter and adopting an objective lens of a larger numerical aperture, to reduce the size of a focus spot on a focusing surface. In, for example, a CD (compact disc), its disk substrate serving as an optical transmissive layer (a transparent protective layer formed on an information recording layer, which is also called a transparent substrate) has a thickness of about 1.2 mm, a laser beam wavelength of about 780 nm and a numerical apertures (NA) of 0.45 of an objective lens are selected, with its recording capacity being 650 MB. In a DVD (digital versatile disc), its optical transmissive layer has a thickness of about 0.6 mm, and a laser beam wavelength of about 650 nm and an NA of 0.6 are selected, resulting in a recording capacity of 4.7 GB. In a higher-density BD (Blu-ray Disc), an optical disk whose optical transmissive layer thickness is 0.1 mm is used to determine the laser beam wavelength to be about 405 nm and the NA to be 0.85, thereby achieving a high capacity of 25 GB per layer. Besides these discs, there is an HD DVD (high-definition digital versatile disc) and the like in which an optical disk whose optical transmissive layer thickness is 0.6 mm that is the same as that of the DVD is used to determine the laser beam wavelength to be about 405 nm and the NA to be 0.65, thereby achieving a high capacity of 18 GB or more. In the field of optical recording, a high-density recording scheme has been researched in recent years which uses a super-definition optical disk on which a super definition mask layer is formed having a nonlinear optical absorption characteristic or a nonlinear optical transmission characteristic where an index of refraction varies depending on light intensity. In this scheme, by causing changes in the index of refraction in a localized high temperature zone or a localized high intensity zone in the focus spot of an optical disk, marks can be played back that is smaller than a diffraction limit λ/(4NA) that is determined by optical elements of an optical disk apparatus—i.e., the numerical aperture NA of a converging lens and optical wavelength λ (for instance, refer to Non-patent Document 1). In such a super resolution optical disk, however, because a mask layer thereof absorbs light, larger playback energy is needed in comparison to that in a conventional optical disk. It is known that as a result, a low frequency noise level (or disk noise) contained in playback signals increase (refer to Non-patent Document 2, for example). Non-patent Documents 1 and 2 relates to Super-RENS (super resolution near field structure) scheme, which is for a typical super resolution optical disk. In addition to this disk, another super resolution optical disk is proposed which is formed of a material having a nonlinear optical absorption characteristic or nonlinear optical transmission characteristic in which an index of refraction of the recorded information mark varies depending on light intensity (refer to Non-patent Document 3, for example). These are hereinafter collectively called super resolution optical disk. [Non-patent Document 1] “Observation of Eye Pattern on Super-Resolution Near-Field Structure Disk with Write-Strategy Technique”, Jpn. J. Appl. Phys., Vol. 43, No. 7A, pp. 4212-4215 (2004) [Non-patent Document 2] “Low Frequency Noise Reduction of Super-Resolution Near-Field Structure Disc with Platinum-Oxide Layer,” ODS, Technical Digest, ThC3 (2005) [Non-patent Document 3] “Sub-Terabyte-Data-Capacity Optical Discs Realized by Three-Dimensional Pit Selection,” Jpn. J. Appl. Phys., Vol. 45, No. 4A, pp. 2593-2597 (2006)

1. Field This disclosure relates generally to gain control, and more specifically, to gain control of a receiver using signal peak tracking. 2. Related Art Communication protocols have been widely adopted for providing connectivity in a number of applications, including healthcare, sports, and sensor applications. Such protocols often use a preamble sequence at the beginning of a transmission that is used to identify a valid start of the transmission. The preamble sequence indicates to a receiver that a transmission is underway. The present invention is illustrated by way of example and is not limited by the accompanying figures, in which like references indicate similar elements, unless otherwise noted. Elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale.

1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a digital broadcasting system, and more particularly to a digital broadcasting system and a data processing method. 2. Discussion of the Related Art The Vestigial Sideband (VSB) transmission mode, which is adopted as the standard for digital broadcasting in North America and the Republic of Korea, is a system using a single carrier method. Therefore, the receiving performance of the digital broadcast receiving system may be deteriorated in a poor channel environment. Particularly, since resistance to changes in channels and noise is more highly required when using portable and/or mobile broadcast receivers, the receiving performance may be even more deteriorated when transmitting mobile service data by the VSB transmission mode.

1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to the storage and retrieval of data on magnetic tape, and more particularly, to a tape drive for automatic insertion, registration and ejection of a tape cartridge of the type having dual hub driven reels and a tape access door on a forward end which pivots about an axis perpendicular to a rigid mount plate of the cartridge. 2. Description of the Related Art Magnetic tape has long been used as a storage media for audio, video and computer information. Tape cartridges have been used extensively because they provide a convenient way to house and support a length of magnetic tape for engagement by a transducer in a tape drive while protecting the tape upon removal of the cartridge. Tape cartridges with dual reels are widely used because they eliminate the need to thread a leader outside the cartridge or utilize an endless loop single reel arrangement. Examples of dual reel tape cartridges that have been extensively commercialized are the Phillips cassette used for audio recording, the VHS cassette used for video recording, and the DC600 data cartridge used for back-up storage of computer data files stored on hard disk drives. The latter data cartridge is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,692,255 of Von Behren assigned to Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Corporation. An improved magnetic tape cartridge particularly well suited for high capacity computer data storage is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,294,072 of Don G. East, et al. assigned to International Business Machines Corporation. That cartridge includes dual hub driven reels which lock upon disengagement with drive clutch assemblies and a pivoting tape access door with a pseudo-head for improved tape tension control. This eliminates the need to fully rewind the tape before reading or writing data which delays access to data with cartridges such as those embodying the invention of the aforementioned U.S. Pat. No. 3,692,255. It would be desirable to provide a tape drive that utilizes the improved magnetic tape cartridge of the aforementioned U.S. Pat. No. 5,294,072. Preferably such a tape drive should include an automatic loader mechanism for fast and reliable insertion, registration and ejection of the improved magnetic tape cartridge. The loader mechanism must also be capable of opening the tape access door and registering a transducer with the tape. It is critical that the loader mechanism accurately register the tape cartridge at unique datum locations to provide repeatability in reading and writing multi-track data recorded at high densities and to enable exchange of data between different drives. The automatic loader mechanism must not be unduly complex in order to minimize failures and reduce manufacturing costs. It must also preferably be small enough to fit within the industry standard and five and one-quarter inch form factor for peripheral storage devices. No prior art tape drive has heretofore been developed with a cartridge loader mechanism adapted to achieve these objectives with the improved magnetic tape cartridge of the aforementioned U.S. Pat. No. 5,294,072.

Biologically active proteins including those as therapeutics are typically labile molecules exhibiting short shelf-lives, particularly when formulated in aqueous solutions. In addition, many biologically active peptides and proteins have limited solubility, or become aggregated during recombinant productions, requiring complex solubilization and refolding procedures. Various chemical polymers can be attached to such proteins to modify their properties. Of particular interest are hydrophilic polymers that have flexible conformations and are well hydrated in aqueous solutions. A frequently used polymer is polyethylene glycol (PEG). These polymers tend to have large hydrodynamic radii relative to their molecular weight (Kubetzko, S., et al. (2005) Mol Pharmacol, 68: 1439-54), and can result in enhanced pharmacokinetic properties. Depending on the points of attachment, the polymers tend to have limited interactions with the protein that they have been attached to such that the polymer-modified protein retains its relevant functions. However, the chemical conjugation of polymers to proteins requires complex multi-step processes. Typically, the protein component needs to be produced and purified prior to the chemical conjugation step. In addition, the conjugation step can result in the formation of heterogeneous product mixtures that need to be separated, leading to significant product loss. Alternatively, such mixtures can be used as the final pharmaceutical product, but are difficult to standardize. Some examples are currently marketed PEGylated Interferon-alpha products that are used as mixtures (Wang, B. L., et al. (1998) J Submicrosc Cytol Pathol, 30: 503-9; Dhalluin, C., et al. (2005) Bioconjug Chem, 16: 504-17). Such mixtures are difficult to reproducibly manufacture and characterize as they contain isomers with reduced or no therapeutic activity. Albumin and immunoglobulin fragments such as Fc regions have been used to conjugate other biologically active proteins, with unpredictable outcomes with respect to increases in half-life or immunogenicity. Unfortunately, the Fc domain does not fold efficiently during recombinant expression and tends to form insoluble precipitates known as inclusion bodies. These inclusion bodies must be solubilized and functional protein must be renatured. This is a time-consuming, inefficient, and expensive process that requires additional manufacturing steps and often complex purification procedures. Thus, there remains a significant need for compositions and methods that would improve the biological, pharmacological, safety, and/or pharmaceutical properties of a biologically active protein.

1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a blood lancet device which collects a small amount of blood from a human body, and more particularly, to a safety blood lancet device in which a loading operation in an exposed state of a lancet is not allowed, and a loading state of the lancet can be visually checked from the outside, and also it is possible to previously prevent damage of components due to applying of excessive force, when adjusting a penetration depth of a needle of a lancet. 2. Description of the Related Art A Blood lancet device is primarily used by diabetic patients who are required to regularly check their blood sugar levels, but it is also used in various other fields where the collection of blood samples is required. The blood lancet device is configured so that a lancet including a body and a needle fixed to the body is inserted therein and the needle penetrates the skin to a predetermined depth by applied elastic force. For example, the blood lancet device is disclosed in Korean Patent No. 10-0820523 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,517,978. In case of these patents, if a button is pressed after the lancet is inserted and a sleeve is pulled back, the lancet is shot forward, and the needle penetrates the skin and is then withdrawn in a flash. In the general blood lancet device having the above-mentioned configuration, which was sold in the market, a penetration depth of the needle was uniformly fixed. However, since people's skin may have different thicknesses, and also the collection of blood may be performed at different parts of the body, it was necessary to adjust the penetration depth of the needle to the skin. Therefore, a blood lancet device that could adjust the depth of penetration was developed. Korean Patent No. 10-0820523 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,613,978 show structures of the blood lancet device in detail. In these patents, a user can adjust the penetration depth of the needle to the skin by turning a control tip. However, in the conventional blood lancet device, since loading and shooting operations may be performed even in an exposed state of a lancet, the lancet may be shot due to user's carelessness, and thus a user and other persons may be injured. Also, it is not possible to check whether the lancet is loaded in an unexposed state of the lancet after loading the lancet. Also, in the conventional blood lance device, when a user rotates the control tip in order to adjust the penetration depth of the lancet, components of the device may be damaged or separated from each other if excessive force is applied to the control tip, and also patients who will have blood taken may feel psychological fear due to impact sound generated between the components when loading the lancet. Also, in the conventional blood lance device, since an ultrasonic welding method is employed to manufacture rigid products when assembling the components, it is necessary to prepare separate equipment for ultrasonic welding, and also it is difficult to perform the assembling process while satisfying ultrasonic welding conditions.

The following relates to the imaging arts. It finds particular application in single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) imaging using radioisotopes emitting at multiple energies, and will be described with particular reference thereto. However, it also finds application in SPECT imaging using more than one different radiopharmaceutical, and in other types of nuclear imaging, nuclear spectroscopy, radiation therapy, and so forth. In SPECT imaging, one or more radiopharmaceuticals are administered to a subject, a gamma camera detects radioactive emissions from the administered one or more radiopharmaceuticals, and the detections are processed to reconstruct an image of the distribution of the one or more radiopharmaceuticals in the subject. For example, the radiopharmaceutical may include a radioisotope attached to a carrier that concentrates in a target organ or other anatomical feature of a human subject, and the reconstructed image is representative of the target organ or other anatomical feature. The administered radiopharmaceutical dosage is typically relatively low, especially in the case of human imaging subjects, and the radioactive emission detections are analyzed using statistical techniques taking into account factors such as scattering, attenuation, and detector efficiency. If the radiopharmaceutical generates a single emission peak, the scattering, attenuation, detector efficiency, and so forth are readily accounted for using parameters characteristic of the emission energy. However, where the radiopharmaceutical generates different emission peaks (for example, if the radioisotope emits at two or more energies, or if two or more radiopharmaceuticals are used), then accounting for scattering, attenuation, and so forth is difficult. Examples of multiple-peak radiopharmaceuticals include: complexes of In-111, which has main emission peaks at 171 keV and at 245 keV; complexes of Ga-67, which has main emission peaks at 93 keV, 184 keV, and 300 keV; and complexes of Tl-201, which has main emission peaks at 72 keV and 167 keV. Examples of imaging with two or more radiopharmaceuticals at the same time include dual isotope cardiac imaging allowing a stress Tc-99m image to be acquired simultaneously with a rest Tl-201 imaging, or using Tc-99m labeled blood cells to image anatomy while simultaneously using an In-111 complex to image prostate cancer. Reconstruction of SPECT images from radiopharmaceuticals that produce different energy peaks is complicated by the fact that photons emitted at different energies will be scattered differently, attenuated differently, have different gamma camera detection efficiencies, and so forth. In addition, photons emitted from higher energies can be down-scattered and contaminate the projection data acquired in lower energy windows. Typically, for multiple-peak isotopes, the gamma camera acquires or bins photons at different energies in a single projection image set, and the reconstruction employs average or approximate parameter values to account for scattering, attenuation, detector efficiency, and so forth. For example, iterative reconstruction methods typically utilize a single set of projections for comparison to estimated activity maps, even if the projections include photons acquired at different energies. Attenuation, scatter, and other compensations are performed by assuming an average or summed value for specific physical properties. Although the reconstructed images are clinically usable, the averaging or approximation degrades the quantitative accuracy of the image. Moreover, if two or more different radiopharmaceuticals are administered, each targeting a functional or molecular compartment and each emitting photons at different peak energies, then reconstruction of a single projection image set does not provide readily distinguishable imaging of the different functional or molecular compartments.

To maximize hydrocarbon production, wellbores are routinely steered to desired targets within a formation while being drilled. Accurately delineating the actual path of an existing wellbore, as well as predicting a trajectory that a wellbore being drilled will take, however, has proven difficult. Sensors in the drill string near the bit are used to send positional data uphole. The accuracy of such sensors, however, is affected by adverse conditions encountered downhole. The hydrocarbon recovery industry, therefore, would be receptive to tools that improve the accuracy of determining the location of existing wellbores and the prediction of a trajectory of wellbores during drilling.

In an optical communication system, it is generally necessary to couple an optical fiber to an opto-electronic transmitter, receiver or transceiver device and, in turn, to couple the device to an electronic system such as a switching system or processing system. These connections can be facilitated by modularizing the transceiver device. An opto-electronic transceiver module includes an opto-electronic light source, such as a laser, and an opto-electronic light receiver, such as a photodiode, and may also include various electronic circuitry associated with the laser and photodiode. For example, driver circuitry can be included for driving the laser in response to electronic signals received from the electronic system. Likewise, receiver circuitry can be included for processing the signals produced by the photodiode and providing output signals to the electronic system. The electronic and opto-electronic devices can be mounted on a small circuit board or similar substrate inside the transceiver module housing. The circuit board can include an electrical connector for connecting the opto-electronic transceiver to the external electronic system. In some modular opto-electronic transceiver systems, an optical plug that terminates an optical fiber cable can be plugged into a socket in the transceiver module housing. When coupled to the transceiver module in this manner, the ends of optical fibers in the plug are optically aligned with optics in the opto-electronic transceiver. The optics couple electronic signals between the fibers and the laser and photodiode. A first fiber, which can be referred to as a transmit fiber, is optically coupled to the laser so that optical signals generated by the transceiver module are transmitted via that transmit fiber. A second fiber, which can be referred to as a receive fiber, is optically coupled to the photodiode so that optical signals received via the receive fiber can be received by the transceiver module. In some opto-electronic transceiver modules, the optical signal path includes a 90-degree turn. For example, the above-described circuit board on which the laser and photodiode are mounted can be oriented perpendicularly or normal to the axes along which the signals are communicated with the optical fibers in the plug. The laser emits the optical transmit signal in a direction normal to the circuit board, and the photodiode receives the optical receive signal from a direction normal to the circuit board. The above-referenced optics in the transceiver module can include a first lens that collimates the optical transmit signal emitted by the laser and a second lens that focuses the optical receive signal upon the photodiode. A mirror or similar reflective element in the transceiver module can redirect the signals emitted by the laser and received by the photodiode at 90-degree angles with respect to the circuit board. Connector systems have been suggested that include both an optical signal path and an electrical signal path. When the plug connector of such a system is plugged into the socket or receptacle connector of such a system, optical signals can be communicated in parallel with electrical signals between the plug and socket connectors. It has been suggested to provide such a connector system in a configuration similar to a Universal Serial Bus (USB) configuration.

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires the removal of physical obstacles to those who are physically challenged. The stated objective of this legislation has increased public awareness and concern over the requirements of the physically challenged. Consequentially, there has been more emphasis in providing systems that assist such a person to access a vehicle, such as a bus, van, or train. A common manner of providing the physically challenged with access to vehicles is a ramp. Various ramp operating systems for vehicles are known in the art. Some ramps slide out from underneath the floor of the vehicle and tilt down. Others, known as foldout ramps, stow horizontally within a recess in the vehicle floor and pivot upward and outward to a downward-sloping position. Further, others are stowed in a vertical position and are pivoted about a hinge, while still others are supported by boom and cable assemblies. Fold out ramps on vehicles confront a variety of technical problems. Longer ramps are desirable because the resulting slope is more gradual and more accessible by wheelchair-bound passengers. Longer ramps are, however, heavier and require more torque about the pivot axis to be reciprocated between deployed and stowed positions. Also, the ramp length is typically limited by the space available in the vehicle. Further, as briefly described above, fold out ramps require a recess or well in the vehicle's vestibule floor in which to store the retracted/stowed ramp. The recess or well, as well as the location of the vehicle chassis can present installation challenges that can result in ramp operability problems.

The dynamic random access memory (DRAM) market shows a growing need for DRAM products that consume very little power. DRAM products that consume very little power in a standby mode in a mobile application, such as in a cellular phone or other portable electronic device, are especially in demand. A DRAM memory cell needs to be refreshed during standby mode to maintain the information stored in the memory cell. An increase in the time between refreshes of memory cells reduces the amount of power consumed by the memory cells in a standby mode. The time between refreshes of memory cells is limited by the data retention time of the memory cells. Since the time between refreshes is the same for all memory cells in an array of memory cells, the refresh limit is based on the data retention time not of the average memory cell in the array of memory cells, but of the worst memory cell in the array of memory cells. Using two memory cells to store a single bit of data significantly increases the data retention time. The data retention time increases since there is a high probability that a bad memory cell will be combined with an average memory cell. The resulting combined data retention time will then be much closer to the average data retention time. It is advantageous, however, to test and repair a memory using a single cell configuration to find and replace the worst cells based on single cell test results so that the worst cells are identified more easily and the redundancy in the array of memory cells is used more effectively. For low power and/or battery powered applications, such as cellular phones and other portable electronic devices, memories that conserve power are desired. These memories may include dynamic random access memories (DRAMs), synchronous dynamic random access memories (SDRAMs), double data rate synchronous dynamic random access memories (DDR SDRAMs), double data rate II synchronous dynamic random access memories (DDR2 SDRAMs), pseudo static random access memories (PSRAMs), cellular random access memories (Cellular RAMs), and mobile random access memories (Mobile RAMs).

The present invention relates broadly to forming ad hoc networks with radio transceivers based on common designations of the transceivers and, in particular, to forming ad hoc networks and distributed databases with radio transceivers in an asset-tracking system based on asset class designations of the transceivers. Wireless ad hoc networks allow node-to-node communication without central control or wired infrastructure. Such networks may have dynamic, randomly-changing, multihop topologies composed of wireless data communication links between the nodes. Ad hoc networks are advantageous because they are inexpensive, fault-tolerant, and flexible. Various known methods relate to data transmission within an ad hoc wireless data communication network. However, most known methods do not address self-configuration of wireless nodes for the formation and maintenance of efficient network topology. Known ad hoc networking methods typically organize the network on the basis of geographic proximity of the nodes or the strength of signals received by the various nodes. Known methods of ad hoc network organization also require nodes to regularly transmit network information to all other nodes in the network, which results in increased radio traffic and interference. Increased radio interference inhibits the formation and maintenance of ad hoc networks having a large number of nodes and requires nodes to transmit at a greater power, which reduces their battery life. Short range wireless technology such as the Bluetooth(™) radio standard promises to remove price barriers to mobile network use. By doing so, wireless devices are becoming available for applications where wired networks have been impracticable and in which prior wireless communication networks have been too expensive or inflexible. Communication between transceivers in accordance with Bluetooth standards is at a frequency of about 2.4 GHz. While Bluetooth radio technology is an ad hoc networking solution for personal data applications, it provides for only a limited number of communication channels, thereby restricting the number of Bluetooth devices that can communicate over an ad hoc network at any given time. With regard to asset tracking, wireless data networks are known for use in warehouse management and other asset-tracking applications. However, existing wireless data network technologies are not well suited to asset tracking, which involves a large number of network nodes (e.g., hundreds or even thousands). Furthermore, existing wireless technologies are cost prohibitive, are prone to radio frequency (RF) interference, and consume a large amount of electrical power. Accordingly, wireless data networks are not commonly used in asset tracking. It will therefore be apparent that needs exist: for an improved low cost networking technology that has the benefits of the Bluetooth price and flexibility, but that overcomes the limited networking capacity of typical Bluetooth technology; for more efficient methods of forming, organizing, and maintaining ad hoc wireless networks; and for a wireless data network technology that accommodates a large number of nodes, reduces RF interference, and consumes less power. The present invention relates to one or more of these needs.

Surgical devices are used in various open, endoscopic, and laparoscopic surgeries to transect tissue volumes and blood vessels. The devices generally include jaws for grasping tissue therebetween and a cutting mechanism that is advanced through the grasped tissue to transect it. The cutting mechanism can be designed to travel within a track formed in one or both jaws of the device. In some instances the devices can also be used to seal tissue volumes and blood vessels being transected. Electrodes can be disposed on a face of one or both of the jaws and can apply energy to the grasped tissue to promote hemostasis. Further, the devices can generally include a handle with a closure actuator used to open and close the jaws, and a shaft allowing for mechanical linkage between the handle and the jaws. Some of these surgical devices incorporate mechanical linkages between a closure actuator and the jaws such that when a user manipulates the closure actuator, e.g., by manually squeezing a trigger, the jaws close. One issue that can plague tissue cutting devices is that the cutting mechanism and jaws, including the electrode, need to be cleaned or replaced prior to reuse. More particularly, blades can become worn, dull, and should be replaced, and dirt and debris can build up between the jaws, and thus the jaws need to be cleaned and sterilized, or replaced. Existing devices are difficult to clean and sterilize for reuse because it can be complicated and cumbersome to clean, remove, and replace their parts. As a result, often the entire end effector is replaced prior to a subsequent surgical use. Accordingly, there remains a need for improved surgical devices and methods for compressing tissue and sensing tissue and other objects grasped by the device including surgical devices that can be easily cleaned and/or elements of the device that can be easily replaced.

A driving mechanism designed to drive in an upward-downward direction a suction nozzle for suction-holding a component is provided in, for example, component transfer apparatuses for handling components such as an electronic component, or manufacturing apparatuses for manufacturing a semiconductor device, a liquid-crystal display device, and others. A linear motor is employed as an element of such the driving mechanism. Demands for this type of linear motor have been increasing year by year. Particularly, there has been a growing need for a high-performance linear motor. To meet such a need, a linear motor, which is suitable for a component transfer apparatus, for example, has been proposed (see, for example, the following Patent Document 1). Generally, a conventional linear motor has a cuboid housing with a wall thickness sufficient for mechanical strength. The housing contains a plurality of annular-shaped coils each having a hollow hole. These coils are arranged such that central axes of the hollow holes thereof align along a longitudinal direction of the housing to form a stator as a whole. Also, through-holes are formed in each of upper and lower walls of the housing to have a size slightly greater than that a diameter of a driving shaft so as to movably receive the driving shaft. Aligned coils as a stator are fixed to position hollow holes thereof to be concentric to each of the through-holes. The driving shaft as a mover, which is composed of a permanent magnet, is inserted into the through-holes and the hollow holes of the aligned coils to penetrate through the aligned coils concentrically. Patent Document 1: JP 2006-180645A (FIGS. 5 and 8)

1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a back for a shoe, and more particularly to a pivotal back for a sandal style shoe to make the sandal style shoe convenient to wear. 2. Description of Related Art A conventional sandal style shoe with a back usually has at least one strap attached to the back to securely hold the sandal on a user""s foot. A fastening device is attached to the at least one strap to release or secure the sandal style shoe. One fastening devices used is a buckle composed of a frame and a tongue attached to a first strap. Multiple holes are defined in line on a second strap to selectively hold the tongue and attach the second strap to the buckle. When the user wears the sandal style shoe, the second strap must passes through one side of the frame and the tongue is selectively inserted into a desired hole. Then, the second strap passes through the other side of the frame to fasten the buckle, and the sandal style shoe is firmly mounted on the user""s foot. However, wearing a sandal style shoe having a buckle is troublesome and wastes time, even when taking the sandal style shoe off. Another fastening device is VELCRO composed of two different nylon fabrics detachably connecting to each other. The two nylon fabrics are secured on a first strap and a second strap respectively and are disengaged easily by pulling them apart. Therefore, the straps are engaged or disengaged conveniently when VELCRO is used as the fastening device. However, the straps having no elasticity cannot be adjusted because the two nylon fabrics of the VELCRO are always attached to set positions relative to each other. Moreover, the VELCRO easily loses its ability to hold securely when the two nylon fabric are separated many times and wore out. To overcome the shortcomings, the present invention provides a pivotal back for a sandal style shoe to mitigate and obviate the aforementioned problems. The main objective of the invention is to provide a pivotal back for a sandal style shoe to make the sandal style shoe convenient to put on or remove. Objectives, advantages and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Mobile devices have batteries. Cell phones, laptop computers, and tablets are all available with a rechargeable battery. When the battery is drained, the battery is recharged for continued use.

Air sorting and/or air screening is applied in sorting and screening machines for sorting and/or screening grain, seeds, and similar materials in order to separate from the materials chaff, husks, shells, empty grains and other light materials which are included in the row material but should not be present in the good product. It is of course important to perform this sorting or screening operation as effectively as possible. This requires a strong air flow but on the other hand the air flow cannot be allowed to rise to any high level because the good grains which shall be included in the good product and comprise the heavier particles of the row material, in that case will also be carried away by the air current. Thus, it is a matter of adjusting very accurately the air flow such that at the most single grains only of the good product are carried away by the air current; then, it is pretty sure that there will be obtained an effective separation of the lighter materials which one want to get rid of although it is achieved at the cost of some loss, though a small one, of good product. The air flow accordingly must be set accurately and carefully, and it may be necessary to adjust from time to time the setting, initially made, when the sorting or screening machine is operating, and it may also be necessary of course to use different settings for different types of material. This means that the machine when operating requires supervision by a skilled person if one does not want to run the risk of too high a loss of good product or, alternatively, will not be satisfied with an inferior sorting or screening result due to an air flow which is too strong or too light, respectively.

The present invention is related to spinal fixation and stabilization systems in general and to intervertebral implant systems for promoting arthrodesis in particular. Stabilization of vertebrae relative to each other, primarily for the purposes of indirect nerve decompression and fusion (arthrodesis), is an well-accepted surgical objective. To date, most methods entail a two staged process of intervertebral distraction and then subsequent interposition of either a cortical bone graft or an inorganic implant to maintain the relative position of the vertebrae during the healing phase of arthrodesis. Many variations of this basic surgical technique exist. Unfortunately, these systems often require considerable time and effort for successful implant placement. This is frequently due to the fact that such systems typically require both excessive surgical tissue dissection and mechanical vertebral distraction such that the various stabilization component(s) of the system can be successfully positioned in a patient""s intervertebral space. In addition, the dimensional constraints typically imposed by access considerations are often in conflict with the desire to place the largest implant possible to support the loads transmitted across the vertebral endplates. Specifically, the larger the implant inserted, the greater the amount of resulting tissue damage both in the intervertebral space, and in the surrounding tissues. An additional problem with many intervertebral implant devices is that they do not confer a proper lordotic relationship between the vertebrae, either as a consequence of their geometry or their insertion method. The present invention provides an intervertebral implant system, comprising; a plurality of implants, each implant having at least one hole passing therethrough; and an elongated member dimensioned to pass through the holes in each of the plurality of implants. In a preferred method, the plurality of intervertebral implants are positioned in a patient""s intervertebral space by; introducing the elongated member into the patient""s intervertebral space; and sequentially advancing a plurality of intervertebral implants over the elongated member and into the patient""s intervertebral space. In preferred aspects of the invention, the elongated member comprises a cord, string, tether or suture which is used to hold together the plurality of intervertebral implants such that together they form an implant assembly which is positioned between two adjacent vertebrae. In preferred aspects, each of the intervertebral implants have ends which are angled such that when the implants are pulled or pushed together, they will tend to form a generally C-shaped assembly, which may easily be positioned between two vertebral endplates around the curved perimeter of the patient""s intervertebral space. As will be explained, another advantage of the present system is that the degree of curvature exhibited by the C-shaped implant assembly can itself be selected by selecting implants which are dimensioned with their ends being disposed at preferred angles. Another important advantage of the present system is that it can be deployed through a narrow operating cannula. As such, the present system advantageously permits the placement of a load supporting implant assembly over a large area between two of the patient""s vertebrae, but without requiring that a large diameter access portal pass through the patient and into the patient""s intervertebral space. Therefore, the present system is ideally suited to be introduced into a patient in a minimally invasive surgical procedure, with minimal disturbance to the soft musculature and ligament tissue structures in the spinal region. In contrast, the placement of existing intervertebral implant systems typically compromises such tissues. Another important advantage of the present system is that it provides an assembly (comprising a plurality of intervertebral implants) which can easily be positioned around the curved perimeter of the patient""s intervertebral surface, such that the assembly is positioned on the denser portion of the vertebral endplates (i.e.: the perimeter) to provide enhanced support between the two adjacent vertebrae. In an optional preferred aspect, at least some of the plurality of individual intervertebral implants have top and bottom surfaces which are angled to one another such that the plurality of intervertebral implants form an assembly which tapers in a lordotic angle when the implants are abutted together end-to-end. Therefore, another advantage of the present system is that the overall implant assembly can preferably be shaped to provide a proper lordotic angle between the adjacent vertebrae when positioned therebetween. In various optional aspects of the invention, a positioning rod can be used to position each of the separate implants. In one aspect, the separate implants are pushed tightly together, such that they form a C-shaped assembly. In additional aspects, the elongated member passing through each of the implants can be withdrawn or tightened such that the individual implants are tightened together to abut tightly against one another end-to-end. As will be explained, an operating cannula(e) and a surgical guideframe for positioning the operating cannula(e) may also preferably by used. Other advantages of the present system include reduction both in the amount of vertebral distraction and tissue dissection required, thereby decreasing surgical time, complexity and trauma to the patient.

The present invention generally relates to an automated delivery of physical mail packages, and more specifically, to a method, system and computer program product for automatically delivering and collecting physical mail to a first secure mailbox using unmanned aerial vehicles. Mail package delivery and reception may be complicated for those outside their homes due to work or travel. In general, a recipient of physical mail may be required to be physically present to receive mail packages. Additionally, delivery services may indicate a time span during which they may deliver the physical package instead of a fixed time and date. As a consequence, recipients may need to waste valuable time waiting for the package to be delivered. Attempts have been made to deliver packages by unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) or drones. However, the drones may deliver the mail packages at a specified location without any control that the package was delivered to the right person. In addition, the service may not solve the problem of sending packages in a safe manner, since they may be generally brought to a regular post office for distribution. Moreover, some drone systems may allow package delivery only to a central station where the delivery to the correct mailbox is managed using a simple barcode. This, may not allow sending and receiving packages via drones to people not served by the central station.

Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a decoration panel and method for manufacturing a decoration panel. Priority is claimed on Japanese Patent Application No. 2014-201153, filed Sep. 30, 2014, the content of which is incorporated herein by reference. Description of Related Art In the related art, a manufacturing method of a decoration panel is known in which a through hole is formed in part of an outer layer of a stacked body formed by superimposing a plurality of layers which are different from each other, and an inner layer is designed to be seen through the through hole of the outer layer (for example, refer to U.S. Pat. No. 6,633,019 B1). In the method disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,633,019 B1, part of the outer layer is removed from a composite body formed by stacking the outer layer and the inner layer via laser processing such that the through hole having a predetermined design pattern is formed in the outer layer. When the outer layer of the stacked body is removed using the laser processing or the like according to the technology disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,633,019 B1, the inner layer seen through the through hole of the outer layer is exposed into the shape of a flat surface in a position lower than the outermost surface of the outer layer. In addition, in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. 2003-326897, performing injection molding with respect to a decorative material having a window hole to which an inlay member can be inserted from a back side after filling the window hole with an inlay member is disclosed as a method for efficiently producing a decoration panel having an inlay pattern. In the technology disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,633,019 B1, the outer surface of the inner layer which can be seen through the through hole of the outer layer is a monotonous flat surface, and freedom of design is low. In the technology disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. 2003-326897, it takes a long time to fill the window hole with the inlay member, or it is necessary to accurately match the dimensions of the inlay member and the window hole, and thus productivity is low.

The present invention relates to a safety harness for children carried in automobiles. It is well known that if there is an impact or sudden stop, the passengers in an automobile are propelled violently towards the front of the vehicle. In order to lessen bodily injuries sustained by passengers, vehicles are generally equipped with safety belts in the front seats. However, if a child occupies the seat next to the driver such safety belts are incapable of fulfilling this purpose. As regards the rear seats, these are not generally provided with any safety device for preventing the passengers being propelled forwards following an impact. With regard to children occupying the rear seats, which is generally the case, they are not held in by any means, which can have serious consequences.

The invention is directed to a process and apparatus for coating fuel, fertile material and/or absorber material containing particles with pyrolytic carbon and/or pyrolytic carbides by introducing thermally cleavable gases into the hot reaction space of a fluidized bed unit at temperatures above 1000.degree. C. Such particles are inserted into fuel elements or absorber elements as fuels or as absorbers for neutron absorption, which fuel elements or absorber elements are inserted in nuclear reactors, particularly in high temperature reactors. Fuel elements for high temperature reactors generally consist of carbon as the structural material in which there is introduced the fuel and fertile material in the form of coated particles. These coated particles are spherical small particles of carbides and/or oxides of fuel and/or fertile materials, especially of uranium and thorium, also called heavy metal kernels which are coated with layers of pyrolytic carbon, sometimes also with layers of silicon carbide (J. L. Kaae, Journal of Nuclear Materials 29 (1969), 249-266). In a given case coated absorber particles also are introduced into the fuel elements or into particular absorber elements. The coated absorber particles have a nucleus consisting of barium carbide or other boron compounds, e.g., borides, or other absorber compounds, e.g., hafnium carbide. The production of the coated particles generally takes place by coating the heavy metal kernels in fluidized bed units. For this purpose the kernels are heated at a high temperature in a vertically standing graphite tube which is closed at the bottom with a conical or flat shaped perforated or fritted bottom. Carrier gas, usually argon is blown in through the bottom and so the particle charge is held in motion. The cleavable gas, e.g., a hydrocarbon gas, necessary for the coating is sometimes directly blown in through holes in the bottom of the bed, but is usually introduced through water cooled nozzles consisting of a nozzle tip with an elongated inlet tube, which is fitted into the bottom of the bed. The hydrocarbon is pyrolytically decomposed in the hot fluidized layer of the heavy metal kernels whereby the carbon is deposited as a layer on the particles and the hydrogen is removed with the waste gas (P. Koss, Ber. der Deutschen Keramischen Ges. 43 (1966), No. 3, pages 239-245). Besides hydrocarbon gases there have also been employed other thermally cleavable gases in order to deposit other materials as coating on the kernels. Thus for the production of pyrolytic silicon carbide coatings there is generally used trimethyl chlorosilane and for depositing zirconium carbide coatings, zirconium chloride is employed. These thermally cleavable gases generally are diluted with an inert gas for the production of a suitable reaction result. The inert gas simultaneously serves in the fluidized bed as the carrier gas or as a supplement to the additionally introduced carrier gas for fluidizing the fluidized bed. Besides the introduction of coating gases through the bottom of the fluidized bed recently good coating results have also been produced by introducing the coating gases into the fluidized layer from above via a water cooled lance of nozzles (German Offenlegungsschrift No. 2 343 123 and related Huschka U.S. application Ser. No. 500,017 filed Aug. 23, 1974) and now U.S. Pat. No. 3,056,641. The entire disclosure of the Huschka U.S. application is hereby incorporated by reference and relied upon. In order to guarantee a trouble-free progress of the coating process the coating gas must be introduced into the fluidized bed below its decomposition temperature, since otherwise the gas inlet openings quickly clog up. The coating temperature in the fluidized bed is above 1000.degree. C., usually at about 1200.degree. to 2000.degree. C., and the gas inlet nozzle is in direct thermal contact with the solid likewise hot bottom of the reaction tube. FIG. 1 shows an illustrative form of such a prior art water cooled gas inlet nozzle. As a rule the gas inlet nozzle is made of metals whose melting point is below the coating temperature. As an exception customarily there is only the nozzle tip which, e.g., is made of molybdenum. In such a fluidized bed the gas inlet nozzles assume the following functions. They must center the reaction tube 2 with the bottom 1 in the hot tube 3, carry the weight of the reaction tube 2, the bottom 1 and the fluidized bed 4, guarantee a sufficiently tight sealing of the reaction space between the head 5 of the nozzles and the bottom 1 so that it is possible to introduce the carrier gas via the annular gap 6 in the fluidized bed 4 and the introduction of the coating gas, in a given case also the coating gas-carrier gas mixture, into the hot fluidized bed without inadmissably high heating of the coating gas, which depends on a sufficient removal of contact and radiation heat. Furthermore, such gas inlet nozzles generally have an inner gas inlet tube 8 for the coating gas which is surrounded by the carrier gas inlet tube whose outer surface is cooled with the help of the conduit pipe 10 for the cooling water. Externally the gas inlet nozzle is closed by the metal outer jacket 9. In the hitherto customary constructions for gas inlet nozzles these functions can be completely assumed so long as there is provision for a sufficient removal of heat. Because of the very high specific thermal loading per unit of surface between the hot reaction tube bottom and the head 5 of the nozzles it was hitherto believed a sufficient cooling could only be produced with water. The use of other cooling media had little success. A particular danger for the previous fluidized bed furnace units, particularly for the gas inlet nozzle, is if the cooling water provision fails since the amount of heat stored in the hot furnace parts (reaction tube, bottom, hot tube, fluidized materials) is sufficient to heat the gas inlet nozzle up to the region of the melting temperature even if immediately after the failure of the cooling water the furnace heating is disconnected. Furthermore in the production and processing of nuclear fuels, as is known, the nuclear physically permissible amounts of fissile material which can be handled in a container or apparatus of arbitrary geometry, the so-called safe amount, is greatly limited by the presence of a moderator, e.g., water. In fluidized bed furnace units with water cooled gas inlet nozzles there must always be reckoned with the danger of a water break and the flooding of the fissile material with water. Therewith, the per charge coatable amount of heavy metal kernels is limited to a specific size by the water cooling, which in the previously stated geometry by the coating process otherwise is only dependent on the type and composition of the heavy metal. To avoid this limitation it has recently been proposed to employ in place of water as the fluid coating medium carbon compounds containing chlorine and fluorine which are used many times in cooling and climate control. However, these materials are basically poorer heat conductors than water and have the disadvantage that they are thermally decomposed to a certain extent at the high temperature present. A further disadvantage is that these materials form decomposition products because of the impossibility of entirely excluding leakage in the hot reaction space, which act corrosively on the apparatus parts located in the waste gas tract. The danger of corrosion is particularly injurious in units in which fuels and fuel elements are produced in a reprocessing plant operated at a distance from a fissionable fuel in a high temperature reactor and obtained from fertile material and subsequently worked up, since in such a plant all maintenance operations are very difficult and expensive. In reprocessing plants there is the additional disadvantage that the chlorine-fluorine containing cooling media also decomposes by the radioactive radiation of the fluidized material. Therefore, it was the problem of the invention to coat particles for the production of fuel elements and/or absorber elements for nuclear reactors by introducing thermally cleavable gases without their premature decomposition into the hot reaction space, i.e., above 1000.degree. C., of a fluidized bed unit with the help of a gas inlet nozzle cooled with a cooling medium and having an elongated inlet tube without cooling which prevents a premature decomposition of the gases bringing with it a substantial limitation on the amount of fuel kernels added because of the nuclear physically safe conditions or the danger of a corrosive effect by the cooling medium or its decomposition products.

The present invention relates to locomotive headlight assemblies and more particularly to a headlight assembly that includes a controller that determines which of several current paths through a resistive control switch has been selected and controls light intensity as a function of the selected current path. A locomotive requires one or more large headlights in order to illuminate a track in front of a train for warning and safety purposes. Most locomotive headlight systems have been designed so that the headlight or headlights can be driven with different currents to generate light with two or three different intensities. For instance, when on an open track in the country, the headlights may be driven with a very high intensity to provide warning far in front of the locomotive that a train is approaching while locomotives used in a city or in a work yard may be driven at a medium or low intensity. Most known locomotive headlight system configurations include one or more incandescent-type headlights linked to a power source through a control switch where the control switch is controllable to adjust current applied to the headlight thereby controlling headlight light intensity. For instance, in at least some cases the control switch will include three current paths between an input node linked to the source and an output node linked to the headlight. Each path has a different resistance value which affects the amount of current that passes through that path when the control switch selects the path. Several problems exist with headlight systems like those described above. First, when a locomotive headlight fails, the headlight has to be replaced prior to using the locomotive. While replacement is typically a relatively simple process, sometimes replacement headlights may not be readily available resulting in locomotive down time (i.e., a locomotive cannot be used when a headlight malfunctions). Trains only generate revenue when they are running and therefore any down time is extremely costly. Second, incandescent type locomotive headlights require a large amount of power and therefore are relatively costly to drive when compared to other types of headlights. Third, electrical systems in locomotives vary appreciably and the variance affects the amount of current delivered to headlights in different locomotive setups. For instance, in many cases two or more locomotives may be linked together at the front of a train and, in many cases, any one of the linked locomotives may be used to drive and control the headlights at the front of the train. For example, where first, second and third locomotives are linked at the front of a train, each of the three locomotives will have its own power source and electrical system and any one of the locomotives may be used to drive and control the front headlights. Here, while the power sources on each of the three locomotives will have similar output, often times the outputs vary somewhat so that current delivered at any of the selectable output levels may vary somewhat. For instance, when a control switch selects the high light intensity, depending on the source output level, the high intensity currents may be different thus resulting in different headlight intensities. Exacerbating the intensity control problem, the total resistive drop between driving source and headlight(s) depends on which power source is used to drive the headlights. For instance, in the case of three linked locomotives, where the first locomotive source is used to drive a headlight, current from the first source only has to pass through the first locomotive's electrical system. Where the second locomotive source is used to drive the headlight, current from the second source has to pass through the first and second locomotive electrical systems and the resistive drop is greater. Where the third locomotive source is used to drive the headlight, current from the third source has to pass through the first, second and third locomotive electrical systems and the resistive drop is even greater. The different resistive drops affect the output light intensities. One solution suggested for solving the problems described above has been to provide LED based locomotive headlight assemblies. As known in the art LED headlights typically last far longer than incandescent type headlights and use less power. In addition, a controller can be provided for an LED headlight to precisely control the amount of current provided to the LEDs that comprise the headlight and therefore to control the intensity of the headlight. These controllers can be used to adjust headlight intensity to be high, medium or low. While it would be useful to replace incandescent type headlights with LED based headlights in locomotives, one impediment to such use is that a headlight control system for switching between high, medium and lower intensities is required. Ideally the existing resistive control switch could be employed so that additional components are not required. Unfortunately, existing resistive control switches simply rely on changes in current through a switch to adjust headlight intensity. Because the current levels used for incandescent lights are far greater than currents required to drive LEDs, existing resistive control switches alone cannot be used to drive an LED headlight. Another solution would be to install a completely different headlight control system that can deliver intensity command signals to a headlight. While this solution would work, this solution is likely cost prohibitive as it would require additional hardware and installation time.

This invention relates to a sequential logic circuit and, more particularly, to a multi-functional sequential logic circuit comprising semiconductor integrated circuits. A block diagram of a typical sequential logic circuit is shown in FIG. 1. This circuit comprises of a preceding logic means 1, a logic memory means 2, and a succeeding logic means 3. A flip-flop circuit is usually utilized for the logic memory means 2, and a logic gate or a ROM is usually utilized for the preceding logic means 1 and the succeeding logic means 3. The preceding logic means 1 is supplied with two input signals, that is, an external INPUT 4 from an external circuit (not shown), and a logic state 5 from the logic memory means 2. With these two input signals, a logic calculation is executed so that the preceding logic means 1 generates a new logic state 6 and the content of the logic memory means 2 is rewritten with the generated new logic state. On the other hand, the logic state 5 is also given to the succeeding logic means 3. Then the succeeding logic means 3 outputs an OUTPUT 7 which is obtained from the logic state signal 5 through a predetermined logic calculation. Thus the sequential logic circuit decides the next logic state always depending on the present logic state and the external INPUT. As each of the preceding logic means 1 and the succeeding logic means 3 is made up of a logic gate or a ROM, a logic calculation executed in each logic means is defined by an arrangement of the logic gate or the content of the ROM. In conclusion, the function of the whole sequential logic circuit is defined unequivocally by them. When a user wants to operate the sequential logic circuit with another function, a rearrangement of the logic gates or a change of the ROM is required. Even if the desired function slightly differs from the present function, the whole circuit need to be changed. The change requires considerable time and labor. In order to give a multi-function to the sequential logic circuit, the whole circuit becomes large and complex because an individual arrangement of logic circuits or an individual ROM have to be provided for each function.

Along with remarkable advances of computers and networks in recent years, many kinds of information such as text data, image data, audio data, and the like are stored or transmitted in the networks. Among these data, an image, especially, a multi-valued image contains a very large volume of information, and upon storing and transmitting such image, the image data size becomes huge. For this reason, storage and transmission of an image use high-efficiency coding that reduces the data size by removing redundancy of an image or changing the contents of an image to a degree at which deterioration of image quality is not visually recognizable. As an example of the high-efficiency coding, JPEG recommended by ISO and ITU-T as an international standard coding scheme of still image is prevalently used. JPEG specifies several coding schemes in correspondence with use purposes of encoded data of images to be encoded, and roughly has two modes, i.e., a DCT use mode that uses discrete cosine transformation and aims at irreversible coding, and a spatial mode that aims at reversible coding on the basis of two-dimensional DPCM. A detailed description of these modes will be omitted since these modes are described in ITU-T Recommendation T.81 | ISO/IEC 10918-1 and the like. The DCT mode controls the bit rate by changing the quantization step in quantization, and must give a large quantization step to set a low target bit rate. As a result, especially under a low-bit rate condition, the reproduced image is distorted beyond an allowable level due to quantization. Also, JPEG specifies hierarchical coding. In hierarchical coding, a plurality of images having different resolutions are generated by reducing an input image in a plurality of scales like ½, ¼, . . . in both the horizontal and vertical directions, and an image having the lowest resolution is encoded and transmitted like a normal image. In this hierarchical coding, the DCT and spatial modes can be used. If hierarchical coding is implemented as reversible coding, since the spatial mode is used for all the scales or only the last scale, and the DCT mode is used for all other scales, an apparatus must comprise a circuit or program that can implement both the two modes, resulting in a complicated apparatus. As a scheme that can combat these problems, a coding scheme using discrete wavelet transformation has been proposed. Such coding scheme using discrete wavelet transformation is advantageous since it assures higher compression performance than the DCT mode, can implement hierarchical coding in JPEG in a single system, and so forth. On the other hand, requirements for image compression coding are becoming increasingly stricter, and even for a binary image such as a text image which is conventionally encoded by another scheme, a decoded image is required to have higher image quality. However, with the conventional scheme, both natural and binary images or an image including these images cannot be restored, while assuring sufficiently high image quality of the decoded image.

1. Field of Invention The present invention relates to modular overload protectors for communication systems, and in particular, to modules that include; overvoltage protection utilizing solid state devices and line identification. 2. Discussion of the Relevant Art In communication systems, such as telephone systems, it is necessary to position overload protectors at various positions to protect sensitive parts of the system and to protect equipment connected to the line from lightning strikes or other causes of overvoltage appearing on the communication lines. Typically these overvoltage protection devices incorporated the carbon block type which provided parallel air gaps. However, the carbon block protector during normal operation on the communication line could cause static to appear on the line and thus, the gas tube type surge protectors replaced them. These devices generally used back up protection, which utilized thermally sensitive plastics that were assembled with spring pressure on them and thus, when overheated would yield and short the communication terminal line to ground. With the inherent desire to protect the communication equipment several different types of protectors have been used over the years, each including thermally active members, which when overheated cause the line terminals to short to ground. Initially the thermally sensitive material was a low temperature melting solder pellet, which when melted because of the extreme heat caused by an overvoltage, would permit the assembly in some manner to short the line terminal to ground. Further improvements in the state of the art replaced the solder pellet used with the gas filled tube. Still further improvements of the protection devices, which proved to be more reliable, utilized a back-up air gap together with the thermally sensitive material for overheating protection in the assemblies that provides provide protection of the line if the gas tube associated therewith for some reason vented its gas. However, all of the devices known in the prior art required that the technician in replacing any of the components after a lightning strike or overvoltage condition to carefully replace the components as it was originally assembled so that the protection would be restored. This type of assembly work performed in the field proved to be a handicap and thus, it was found more desirable to provide a device which is completely sealed and when it has provided its useful protection, is just thrown away and replaced with a new unit. This, of course, became feasible only with the advent of inexpensive thermally sensitive plastics and/or inexpensive solid state protection devices together with a new type of construction which reduced the cost of the protection device. However, it has been determined that the sealing material sometimes referred to as a potting or encapsulating material, generally composed of some type of epoxy compound was found to interfere with the operation of the solid state surge arrester thereby making the apparatus less reliable so that a protective housing was needed to protect the solid state surge arresters from contamination. Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a miniature station protector module for communication systems which is completely sealed and may be disposed of once it has served its purpose for protecting the communication line. It is another object of the present invention to provide a miniature station protector module which combines all of the features of the earlier type devices including fail-safe shorting, highly stable and efficient, as well as being inexpensive to manufacture. It is still a further object of the present invention to provide a miniature station protector module which utilizes a solid state protector device. It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a miniature station protector module, as described above, which further includes a protective housing to protect the solid state surge protector from contamination because it comes into contact with the sealing or potting material. The foregoing and other objects and advantages will appear from the description to follow. In the description reference is made to the accompanying drawing which forms a part hereof and in which is shown by way of illustration a specific embodiment in which the invention may be practiced. These embodiments will be described in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the invention, and it is to be understood that other embodiments may be utilized and that structural changes may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. The following detailed description is, therefore, not to be taken in a limited sense, and the scope of the present invention is best defined by the appended claims.

1. Field of the Invention The present invention generally relates to security of consumer goods and, more particularly, to the use of smart tags in maintaining product security. 2. Background Description There is a need for certain products to be equipped with some apparatus which can provide information about the current state of the product as a result of events the product was subjected to prior to becoming in the possession of a potential consumer. Examples include the state of medical or food products prior to their being used by a consumer. Also, consumers sometimes have the right and/or the need to know whether a product is brand new or not. This is especially true of expensive items. There is also a need for a product to be equipped by some apparatus which can record some aspects of the product history, for example in the case of automobiles where today odometers indicate, not very securely, one aspect of the history of the automobile. Another context for the invention is the fact that, in some cases, the containers of some products are reused by the manufacturer, and the consumer would like to know if the product in the container is new or not, and if the container has been reused by a third, unauthorized, party. There is also a need for a method to detect whether the product has deteriorated, either because of defects, or because its expiration date has passed, or because of unwanted change in the environment, for instance in the form of excessive cold, heat or humidity. These scenarios require an apparatus which can detect the physical forces a product was subjected to as a result of use, handling, tampering or environmental factors. For either human intervention or environmental factors, it may be important in some circumstances that the recorded history of such events be very difficult to modify or counterfeit. The prior art contains many methods involving seals and enclosures which allow one to detect when a package has been tampered with. Such prior art go way back in history, and a multitude of improvements, with very general or very specific uses, have been proposed which benefit from the general progress of technology. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,159,629 to Glen P. Double and Steve H. Weingart describes an intrusion barrier for protecting an electronic assembly from tampering. The prior art also contains methods of recording chronological information such as a data logger which stores information on a product as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,010,560 to Mark A. Janney, Roger Newey, and Irwin J. Robinson. However, these methods do not overcome the problem of providing a tamper evident history of a product and/or of its environment. The prior art does not allow the information about the history of a product and/or of its environment to be securely recorded and kept. It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a novel improvement on the prior art of tamper evident packaging which can detect when a product has been tampered with and resists the efforts of a tamperer, or anyone else who would benefit from hiding the tampering, or to hide the signs of tampering. In the following, terms such as xe2x80x9cimpossible to changexe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9ctamper-proofxe2x80x9d should be understood to describe situations in which sufficient resistance to tampering is provided to make successful attacks rare due to cost/benefit issues, since codes, etc., can theoretically be broken if sufficient resources are brought to bear on the attack. The invention uses a smart card, as described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,971,916, 4,007,355, 4,092,524, and 4,102,493 to Roland Moreno, or, more generally, a smart token, in combination with sensors attached to the product and/or to the smart card: upon tampering, or as a response to other circumstances, the sensors generate signals which are encrypted and recorded in the memory or storage device of the smart card attached to the product. Recall that, for example, by using a zero-knowledge protocol, a smart card can be authenticated but cannot be duplicated. This technology has been disclosed for instance in U.S. Pat. No. 5,140,634 to Guillou, et al. This is the property which characterizes a smart card. Accordingly, in the rest of the present disclosure, any electronic component with these properties and which has some memories and/or some processing capabilities, will be called xe2x80x9ca smart tokenxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9ca smart cardxe2x80x9d, even if it does not actually take any form resembling a card. A general reference to smart card technology and applications can be found in Smart Cards: A Guide to Building and Managing Smart Card Applications, by Henry Dreifus and J. Thomas Monk, John Wiley and Sons, 1998. When the product or its packaging is tampered with, some attribute of the product or its environment changes. This change is what is detected by (at least some of) the sensors attached to a smart card, and the smart card will record this change irreversibly by erasing or writing some information within the smart card memory. The smart card also can be made duplication resistant by using a zero-knowledge protocol so that only the manufacturer of the original product, and/or possibly a trusted third party, for example, can produce or buy such smart cards. The smart card also can record the history of these changes in its internal memory.

1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a surface-mountable glass-sealed light-emitting diode including a glass-sealed LED bare chip. 2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional glass-sealed light-emitting diode (LED), for example, a pair of leads 33 are connected to anode and cathode electrodes of an LED bare chip 31, respectively, as shown in FIG. 4. A glass seal 32 is employed to integrally cover connections between the LED bare chip 31 and electrodes and the leads 33 for hermetic sealing. In the light-emitting diode 30 thus configured, when power is supplied through the leads 33 to the LED bare chip 31, an active region thereof emits light, which is guided from the side of the LED bare chip 31 through the glass seal 32 and output to external. There is an incident light that is emitted from the active region in the LED bare chip 31 and arrives at an interface between the LED bare chip 31 and the glass seal 32. This incident light has an angle (incident angle) from the normal to the interface at the incident point. If the incident angle is smaller than a critical angle, the light arrived at the interface is output from the LED bare chip 31 into the glass seal 32. If it is larger than the critical angle, the light is reflected back to the LED bare chip 31 and can not be output into the glass seal 32. In comparison of glass with air as materials that form interfaces with the LED bare chip, glass has a relatively larger refractive index and therefore a relatively larger critical angle. This means that a light can be output from the LED bare chip without being reflected at a larger incident angle from the interface with glass compared to air. When glass is selected as a material that adjoins the LED bare chip because it has a larger refractive index compared to air, a ratio of light output from the LED bare chip 31 can be increased relative to the total light emitted from the active region in the LED bare chip 31. This is effective to improve the external quantum efficiency (light-extraction efficiency). (For example, see Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 61-67971, page 2, FIG. 1). The above-described glass-sealed light-emitting diode includes leads for supplying power from external to drive the light-emitting diode. The leads extend outward from both sides of the light-emitting diode. When such the light-emitting diode is implemented on a printed circuit board, the leads are inserted into through-holes in a double-sided through-hole printed-circuit board and soldered to achieve fixation and electrical conduction. Recently, as electronic instruments are downsized and light-weighted, it is also intensively promoted to address downsizing and surface mounting of electronic components. In order to make the conventional glass-sealed light-emitting diode support surface mounting, it is required to mount surface mounting components other than the light-emitting diode on the double-sided through-hole printed-circuit board by a method of reflow or dip soldering and then the light-emitting diode by a method of manual soldering. Alternatively, it is required to use a high-temperature solder to solder the surface mounting components and then use a lower melting point solder to solder the light-emitting diode by a method of dip soldering. When these methods are employed to implement the conventional light-emitting diode on the same substrate together with the surface mounting components, they cause the following problems: (1) When only the surface mounting components are implemented, a single-sided board with circuits formed only on one side functions sufficiently. In contrast, when the conventional light-emitting diode is mixed together, a double-sided through-hole board with circuits formed on both sides is required, which increases the cost of the printed circuit board. (2) After the surface mounting components are implemented on the printed circuit board, it is required to solder the conventional light-emitting diode additionally. This requirement increases the number of processes for mounting components on the printed circuit board and elevates the production cost. (3) When a high-temperature solder is used to solder the surface mounting components and then a lower melting point solder is used to solder the light-emitting diode by the method of dip soldering, the second soldering may impart stress to the surface mounting components and badly influences on the reliability. The present invention has been made in consideration of the above problems and has an object to provide a glass-sealed light-emitting diode capable of achieving a high reliability and a high external quantum efficiency as an optical semiconductor component, and a high reliability and a low cost as for a components-implemented printed-circuit board.

In recent years, advances in technology, as well as ever evolving tastes in style, have led to substantial changes in the design of automobiles. One of the changes involves the power usage and complexity of the various electrical systems within automobiles, particularly alternative fuel vehicles, such as hybrid, electric, and fuel cell vehicles. Many of the electrical components, including the electric motors used in such vehicles, receive electrical power from alternating current (AC) power supplies. However, the power sources (e.g., batteries) used in such applications provide direct current (DC) power. Thus, devices known as “power inverters” are used to convert the DC power to AC power. Such power inverters often utilize several switches, or transistors, operated at various intervals to convert the DC power to AC power. Typically, the switches of the inverter are operated by using pulse-width modulation (PWM) techniques to control the amount of current and/or voltage provided to the electric motor. Often, a microprocessor generates PWM signals for the switches in the inverter, and provides the PWM signals to a gate driver, which turns the switches on and off. The microprocessor and gate driver often reside on separate circuit card assemblies, and interface via one or more buffers, amplifiers, and other discrete components. During operation, it is often possible to improve the efficiency of the electric motor and/or the inverter by varying the switching frequency of the PWM signals or the manner in which they are generated. However, the additional tasks and computations required to dynamically adjust the PWM signals using software can increase processing overhead and thereby reduce the throughput of the microprocessor and add latency to the system. Current systems are challenged to provide dynamic real-time operation of the electric motor, and are thus, limited in terms of efficiency.

1. Field of the Invention This invention relates to a helicopter rotor of the bearingless type, having an airfoil shaped blade attached to a flexible spar, specifically designed and fabricated to accommodate the torsion deflections of pitch change, and the bending requirements due to lead/lag and flap/droop blade excursions. This invention is specifically directed to the group of bearingless rotors wherein the flexible spar is rotatably driven by suitable attachment to the rotor hub and rotor drive shaft. The specific geometric shape of the spar is not important to this invention, and is shown in the accompanying figures as rectangular. Likewise, it is not important whether the spar be continuous across the rotor axis to attach to opposed blades, or whether each spar be unitary and joined only to one blade. For the latter configuration there may be an odd number of blades. 2. Description of the Prior Art Prior art patents familiar to the inventors and pertaining to hingeless rotor blade attachments and controls have generally been directed to tail rotor applications where pitch, lead/lag and flapping motions are less than those of main rotors. In attempting to transfer rotor technology developed for tail rotors to a main rotor application, concern had to be addressed to the adverse influence of these larger excursions, and especially to the pitch coupling effect due to inplane or lead/lag blade motions. The longer, wider, and heavier main rotor blade undergoes significant bending in first advancing into the direction of flight and then retreating from it as it completes it cycle of rotation at a constant driven rotor speed and undergoing commanded cyclic pitch changes as well as being impinged upon by wind gusts at any point on the azimuth. Starting and stopping produces still further inplane bending. The concept of using blade motions to introduce a proportional blade pitch change in a direction to stabilize the blade is known, as well as the concept of elimination or prevention of such pitch coupling. A specific rotor configuration to which our invention may be applied is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,008,980 to Noehren et al, which is used in the UH-60A helicopter. The specific "snubber bearing" of that rotor head is depicted as FIG. 5 in U.S. Pat. No. 4,087,203 to Ferris. The main objective of the teaching of this latter patent is similar to that of our invention; namely to provide structure that accommodates pitch change relative motion (torsion) between the flexible spar and rigid torque tube, minimizes the pitch coupling effect of the blade flapping wherein relative bending takes place between the spar and torque tube, and prevents pitch change motions due to lead or lag excursions when blade spar inplane motion occurs relative to the torque tube. In an embodiment wherein blade pitch change is introduced by means of a torque tube enveloping a flexible spar, and wherein the attachment to the rotor hub follows the teaching of the U.S. Pat. No. 3,874,815 to Baskin, use of this invention also appears beneficial, provided the linkage is suitably mounted at the virtual hinge axis of the blade spar such that the root end of the torque tube can be restrained from vertical motion.

1. Field of the Invention This invention relates generally to a portable power tool of the impulse type and more particularly to an impulse device designed to deliver a controllable torque to a threaded fastener. 2. Description of the Prior Art In many industrial applications it is desirable to tighten threaded fasteners to a predetermined torque automatically and rapidly. Such applications include internal combustion engine head bolts and connecting rod bearings and wheel nuts or studs. Many applications also exist, particularly in the maintenance area, where it is necessary to loosen threaded fasteners in order to disassemble a machine. While it is desirable that the tool develop a predetermined torque, it is also important to be able to adJust the predetermined torque and to use the same tool for tighlening and loosening threaded fasteners. A number of devices have been developed utilizing either an electric motor or an air motor as the powering mechanism. Generally, an hydraulic or mechanical mechanism is attached to the output shaft of the air or electric motor which is adapted to convert the rotary motion into torque impacts. The production of torque impacts within the torque conversion mechanism often leads to high impact stresses and consequent wear of the working parts of the mechanism. Where a series of impacts or hammer blows is entailed, the predetermined torque may be exceeded. It is an object of the present invention to develop a controllable predetermined torque through cyclical impulses which do not constitute a series of impacts. It is also an object of the invention to reduce the noise associated with the prior art torque devices of the impact type.

As computer systems grow ever more powerful and complex, so do computer testing and task management utilities grow ever more sophisticated. For example, today's average commercial application developer requires highly flexible and comprehensive testing mechanisms to ensure that his or her product will function properly on the wide variety of presently available computing platforms. As a result, much effort has been directed toward the development of computer testing and task management tools. For example, Apple Computer, Inc. of Cupertino, Calif. has developed several computer testing tools, including VU® (Virtual User) and MATT® (MacIntosh® Application Program Interface Test Tool). These and other testing tools allow an application developer to evaluate a work in progress without having to expend undue energy in creating the test routines themselves. Using VU, for example, an application developer can write test scripts to simulate an end user's interaction with an evolving product. Alternatively, MATT enables a developer to build custom testing sequences using predefined testing modules. A detailed description of VU is provided, for example, with Apple Computer Inc.'s Developer CD Series (November 1997 or later). Though known testing tools are quite powerful, each providing a unique blend of features and advantages, the great diversity between available testing tools can, ironically, lead to inefficiencies in overall application development for an organization. In other words, since each available tool utilizes a different protocol and provides a different user interface, significant time and money must be expended merely in training application developers and testers as to how to interact with the various tools. Each time an individual is introduced to a new testing tool, he or she must first master operation of the tool itself before true test development and application evaluation can proceed. Furthermore, the creators of the various test tools must expend energy in developing the protocols and user interfaces in the first instance. Given the complexity of today's testing tools, these learning curves and programming expenditures can be considerable. Consequently, there is a very real need for improved methods and apparatus for creating, managing and executing computer tests and other tasks.

A distributed storage system may include a plurality of storage devices (e.g., storage arrays) to provide data storage to a plurality of nodes. The plurality of storage devices and the plurality of nodes may be situated in the same physical location, or in one or more physically remote locations. The plurality of nodes may be coupled to the storage devices by a high-speed interconnect, such as a switch fabric.

Painters working on large elevated areas customarily utilize long-handled tools which obtain their paint from trays or buckets placed on the floor or on a scaffold, or receive them through hoses. These are suitable and accepted techniques for painting large areas. Similarly, at or near ground or floor levels, these techniques are widely used. On smaller jobs, and especially at higher elevations where access to a floor level supply is not convenient, the painter takes the bucket up the ladder with him and places it on a platform of some kind. This, of course limits the range of the painter's efforts and when he needs to work on a more distant area, he must dismount the ladder, move it and the bucket, and start again. These procedures are useful for larger, mostly rather plain, painting. However, they make it needlessly difficult for paint jobs of more artistic nature. Examples of such more complicated jobs are treatment of areas in which patterns of various colors, texture, or composition are needed, such as walls to be textured to appear as a cloudy sky, or which are to have an image such as a face or other physical objects. For these jobs, which generally are smaller in size but which require greater skill and artistry, it is known for painters to hang a pail of paint from a tool belt, with the pail dangling freely from the belt. The painter dips the applicator into the pail. The term “applicator” is used herein to denote a handled tool for applying paint, of which brushes and rollers are the most commonly encountered examples. It is used to denote both kinds. While this bucket is available to the painter on the ladder, it calls for considerable care in its use because the applicator and pail are independently supported. When he climbs the ladder, he must attend to both the bucket and the applicator, holding the applicator with one hand, holding on to the ladder with the other, and caring for the dangling pail. This is not only clumsy and potentially dangerous, but distracting to an artist. This invention frees a hand which otherwise would be holding the applicator. In the most ordinary usage, care must be exerted to control drip from both the applicator and from the bucket, especially from and around the groove in the rim of the bucket. Otherwise the bucket and its surroundings can become messy, and control over the color is reduced. The absence of bucket stability in the sense of a close coupling of the painter's body and the bucket is a considerable disadvantage. Further, known buckets do not provide specific means for wiping the applicator while it is being removed from the bucket with paint to be applied to a surface. This can result in excessive paint on the applicator, and dripping of paint from the applicator. Another disadvantage of the known art is the need either to use a large number of buckets, or to clean up a single bucket when a different color is to be applied. For large walls this is no problem. However, for small jobs, and especially for multi-color jobs, this is a serious disadvantage. It is an object of this invention to provide a paint holder (frequently called a “bucket”), with an integral stabilizer which abuts the painter's body over a substantial area to establish the location of the bucket relative to the painter. It is another object of this invention to provide a drain from the rim groove of the bucket which will drain paint from the groove back into the bucket. It is yet another object of this invention to provide a shaped liner with an outer wall complementary to the rim groove and preferably also with some of the inner wall of the bucket. This liner is removable, so it can protect the bucket from undesired paint, and also so as to be removable and replaceable to present paints of different colors. It is yet another object of this invention to provide a liner with multiple cavities so as to carry a plurality of colors in one liner. It is still another object of this invention to provide in this holder an applicator mount arranged so the painter can easily store and access the applicator. When stored, it is in a position to drain into the bucket. When the painter climbs the ladder, or otherwise does not need the applicator, it is held in a proper place, with its handle held by the mount, and with the applicator portion below a covering lid through which the handle passes.

The following relates generally to wireless communication, and more specifically to the wireless transmission and receipt of telematics data and metadata. In some systems, telematics data (e.g., sensor readings and other data) may be transmitted from an intelligent terminal to a central service for processing. For example, a terminal associated with a vehicle experiencing a collision may transmit location and airbag deployment data over a wireless communication system to a public safety answering point (PSAP) in connection with a request for emergency services. In some systems, the data may be transmitted to a third-party service center, which may then convey some or all of the data to a PSAP. Terminals associated with vehicles offering automatic crash response and emergency calling functionality generally use the voice channel of a cellular network to establish a voice call between a vehicle occupant and a PSAP operator. Telematics data may then be transmitted from the terminal to a central service (e.g., a PSAP server or a third-party service center) by modulating the voice channel using in-band signaling, Baudot tones, or other modem techniques. Metadata associated with the telematics data, such as an acknowledgement that the telematics data was satisfactorily (e.g., successfully) received or a request for a retransmission of the telematics data, may also be communicated from the central service to the terminal by modulating the voice channel in the reverse direction. The transmission of telematics data and metadata over a voice channel in this way can be problematic in that voice communication may be blocked or experience interference during the transmission of telematics data and metadata. Moreover, the transmission of modulated digital data through voice channels may provide limited data throughput or be unreliable due to voice processing functions in the network (e.g., improperly tuned echo-cancellers and use of compression on network trunks). These limitations may be further exacerbated in systems such as Long Term Evolution (LTE) and High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) when a voice channel is provided through packet rather than circuit means. Thus, more efficient and reliable methods of transmitting telematics data and metadata between a terminal and a central service are needed.

1. The Field of the Invention The present invention relates to compositions and methods for isolating dental tissue for treatment thereupon. In particular, the present invention relates to polymerizable isolation barrier compositions and methods of using the same for isolating tooth surfaces. The polymerizable barrier compositions of the present invention may include constituents that enable the compositions to adhere to wet, dry, soft or hard oral tissues; to minimize injury risks due to heat from polymerization and/or light radiant energy from subsequent treatment(s); and that enable the barriers to be easily removed. 2. The Relevant Technology Several dental procedures exist that use treatment compositions in the mouth that could be harmful and damaging to soft tissue. Harmful treatment compositions must be kept away from soft tissue such as the gums during such treatment procedures. There are other dental procedures that require a substantially dry tooth that must be maintained in a dry condition during a lengthy dental procedure to avoid damage. In general, contact between a treatment composition and the cheeks and tongue of a patient can be minimized through the use of cotton rolls, absorbent isolators, rubber dams, rubber dam caulking or other conventional isolation techniques. The gums, adjacent dentin and surrounding sulcular tissues however are harder to protect from the treatment composition(s) due to their close proximity to the surfaces being treated and because the treatment composition is sometimes a freely flowable aqueous solution. Although it is possible to incorporate some treatment compositions within a gel in order to inhibit the unwanted flow of the treatment composition from the desired treatment area, they generally must have a low enough viscosity to flow into the tiny crevices and other irregularities of the surface of the tooth being treated. Hence, it is generally impractical to have a treatment composition that is so viscous that it is not at least partially flowable. In addition to adjusting the flow characteristics, the concentration of the treatment composition can be modified to reduce the damage caused by inadvertent contact with surrounding sulcus and gum tissues. However, significantly reducing the concentration of a treatment composition also reduces its ability to treat the tooth, thereby increasing the time in which the treatment composition must remain in contact with the surface being treated. In general, treatment compositions strong enough to adequately treat teeth may also damage and irritate surrounding soft gum tissues. Rubber dam technology was developed as a means of isolating a tooth for treatment and also for protecting the vulnerable soft tissue. FIG. 1 illustrates the installation of a rubber dam 10. It can be seen that rubber dam 10 has been placed over the teeth 14 and then rubber dam 10 is fitted with a dental instrument 16 by pushing rubber dam 10 up to the gum line 12. This procedure must be carried out on each tooth. Rubber dams, however, have several disadvantages. One disadvantage is that rubber dams can be difficult to install. Rubber dams have a hole-punched perimeter shape that may or may not isolate soft tissue next to the tooth because the tooth perimeter shape might have concavities. For example, where a tooth forms an unusual groove or concavity, a hole-punched rubber dam may leave an exposed space through which treatment compositions could leak that could harm soft tissue. If the seal created by a rubber dam is faulty, soft tissue is exposed and likely to be damaged by the treatment composition. Another disadvantage to rubber dams is that they are prone to tearing once placed over the tooth. If the rubber dam begins to tear in the middle of a dental procedure, the procedure must be aborted and a new rubber dam installed. This is time consuming and the new rubber dam may likewise tear at or near the same point of the treatment that the original rubber dam began to tear. Additionally, when the rubber dam tears during a procedure, it may be too late to prevent the treatment compositions from contacting the soft tissue and therefore too late to prevent soft tissue damage. Another disadvantage to rubber dams is that they often cause patient discomfort. FIG. 2 illustrates installation of a rubber dam 10 with rubber dam clamps 22 and a frame 20 that covers the labia 24 and the tongue 26. When, for example, a labial surface of a tooth is the only surface that needs to be isolated, rubber dam 10 may cover more than the teeth. Additionally, where an intense dental curing or laser light is being used, heat buildup incidental to use of the light may cause patient discomfort due to heating of the rubber dam. Intense heating of the soft tissue will necessitate intermittent use of the dental light, a practice that slows the clinician in his procedure. One attempt to overcome the problems associated with rubber dams provided a blue flowable resin that can be applied onto a dental substrate and then be polymerized. Due to the color of the resin, it absorbs light energy which resulting increases the risk of injury to soft tissue in contact with the resin. Additionally, the resin is hydrophobic which significantly hinders its ability to adhere well to dental tissues. Another significant problem with this resin is that it is too strong and consequently the polymerized resin is very difficult to remove. Difficulties related to excessive strength are only exacerbated by application of the resin onto dental surfaces such as wide open embrasures and undercuts. For example, open embrasures are typically filled from both sides which results in the embrasures being completely filled and solidly anchored. After polymerization, it is very difficult to remove the resin and may require prying instruments or even high speed drills. Similarly, undercuts present a problem when resin becomes lodged into the openings or crevices and it may then necessary be to remove the resin with dental tools which the require the use of some force such as prying instruments or excavating tools. In light of the foregoing, it would be a significant advancement in the art to provide isolation barrier compositions and methods for protecting sulcular and gum tissues surrounding a tooth being treated from intense cumulative heat buildup in order to avoid patient discomfort and to expedite dental treatments that use a curing or laser light It would also be a significant advancement in the art to provide isolation barrier compositions and methods for protecting sulcular and gum tissues surrounding a tooth being treated that can be easily removed following a dental procedure. It would be a further advancement in the art to provide compositions and methods that result in a quickly and easily applied barrier to maintain a treatment composition within the area of the tooth that is desired to be treated. Another advancement in the art would be to provide compositions for an isolation barrier material that, upon application to the dental substrate and polymerization, are sufficiently weakened to facilitate its removal in discrete, approximately tooth-sized segments or larger with a tweezers-like instrument from the dental substrate after use in a dental procedure. Another advancement in the art would be to provide compositions for an isolation barrier material that, upon application to the dental substrate and polymerization, are resistant to deformation at the external surface of the barrier due to incidental touching but that remain adherent to the dental substrate at the internal surface of the barrier. Another advancement in the art would be to provide a composition for an isolation barrier material that, upon application to the dental substrate and polymerization, is of a generally small size and conducive to a customized fit that avoids inducing patient discomfort. Such polymerizable isolation barrier compositions and methods for using them are disclosed and claimed herein.

1. Technical Field The present invention relates to an ultrasound diagnostic apparatus, and more particularly to an ultrasound diagnostic apparatus in which a modulated continuous wave is utilized. 2. Related Art Continuous wave Doppler is a known ultrasound diagnostic apparatus technology in which a continuous wave is employed. In continuous wave Doppler technology, a transmission wave which is formed as a sinusoidal wave of several MHz is continuously radiated into a living organism and a reflection wave from within the living organism is then continuously received. The reflection wave includes Doppler shift information generated by a moving element (e.g. blood flow) within the living organism. Accordingly, by extracting the Doppler shift information and applying frequency analysis to the Doppler shift information, a Doppler waveform which reflects information of velocity of the moving element, for example, can be formed. Continuous wave Doppler technology in which a continuous wave is utilized is generally superior to Pulse Doppler, in which a pulse wave is utilized, for rapid acquisition of velocity measurements. Under such circumstances, the inventors of the present application have conducted research concerning continuous wave Doppler technology. In one of their achievements, the present inventors proposed the technology concerning Frequency Modulated Continuous wave Doppler (FMCW Doppler) disclosed in JP 2005-253949 A. On the other hand, use of a continuous wave makes continuous wave Doppler technology less suited towards measuring a position. As such, typical continuous wave Doppler devices (i.e., devices in which the FMCW Doppler is not utilized) were unable to perform position measurement. In this regard, the present inventors proposed, in JP 2006-14916 A, a technology which enabled measurement of a position of a tissue within a living organism, in addition to measurement of the velocity of a tissue within the living organism, by using FMCW Doppler. The FMCW Doppler technology described in the above-noted publications is a revolutionary technology providing a potential for new forms of ultrasound diagnosis. The present inventors have continued to research and improve this landmark technology.

Subsea pipelines need to be elevated with respect to the sea floor proximate the pipeline on occasion for numerous reasons. It is often advantageous for such a tool to be capable of securely cradling the pipeline.

Combustion engines are machines that convert chemical energy stored in fuel into mechanical energy useful for generating electricity, producing thrust, or otherwise doing work. These engines typically include several cooperative sections that contribute in some way to this energy conversion process. In gas turbine engines, air discharged from a compressor section and fuel introduced from a fuel supply are mixed together and burned in a combustion section. The products of combustion are harnessed and directed through a turbine section, where they expand and turn a central rotor. A variety of combustor designs exist, with different designs being selected for suitability with a given engine and to achieve desired performance characteristics. One popular combustor design includes a centralized pilot burner (hereinafter referred to as a pilot burner or simply pilot) and several main fuel/air mixing apparatuses, generally referred to in the art as injector nozzles, arranged circumferentially around the pilot burner. With this design, a central pilot flame zone and a mixing region are formed. During operation, the pilot burner selectively produces a stable flame that is anchored in the pilot flame zone, while the fuel/air mixing apparatuses produce a mixed stream of fuel and air in the above-referenced mixing region. The stream of mixed fuel and air flows out of the mixing region, past the pilot flame zone, and into a main combustion zone, where additional combustion occurs. Energy released during combustion is captured by the downstream components to produce electricity or otherwise do work. In order to ensure optimum performance of a common combustor, it is generally preferable that the internal fuel-and-air streams are well-mixed to avoid localized, fuel-rich regions. As a result, efforts have been made to produce combustors with essentially uniform distributions of fuel and air. Swirler elements, for example, are often used to produce a stream of fuel and air in which air and injected fuel are evenly mixed. Gas turbine technology has evolved toward greater efficiency and also to accommodate environmental standards in various nations. One aspect in the evolution of designs and operating criteria is the use of leaner gas air mixtures to provide for increased efficiency and decreased emissions of NOx and carbon monoxide. Combustion of over-rich pockets of fuel and air leads to high-temperature combustion that produces high levels of unwanted NOx emissions. Also, a key objective in design and operation of gas turbine combustors is the stability of the flame and, related to that, the prevention of flashbacks. A flashback occurs when flame travels upstream from the combustion zone in the combustion chamber and approaches, contacts, and/or attaches to, an upstream component. Although a stable but lean mixture is desired for fuel efficiency and for environmentally acceptable emissions, a flashback may occur at times more frequently with a lean mixture, and particularly during unstable operation. For instance, the flame in the combustion chamber may progress backwards and rest upon for a period a baseplate which defines the upstream part of the combustion chamber. Less frequently, the flame may flash back into a fuel/air mixing apparatus, damaging components that mix the fuel with the air. A multitude of factors and operating conditions provide for efficient and clean operation of the gas turbine combustor area during ongoing operation. Not only is the fuel/air mixture important, also relevant to gas turbine operation are the shape of the combustion area, the arrangement of assemblies that provide fuel, and the length of the combustor that provides varying degrees of mixing. Given the efficiency and emissions criteria, the operation of gas turbines requires a balancing of design and operational approaches to maintain efficiency, meet emission standards, and avoid damage due to undesired flashback occurrences. The type of fuel/air mixing apparatus, and how it operates in relationship to other components, is one of the key factors in proper operation of current gas turbines. A common type of fuel/air mixing apparatus is known as a main swirler assembly (which also is referred to in the art as a nozzle, which is a more inclusive term). A main swirler assembly is comprised in part of a substantially hollow inner body that comprises stationary flow conditioning members (such as vanes) that create a turbulent flow. Fuel is added before or into this turbulent air stream and mixes to a desired degree within a period of time and space so that it is properly mixed upon combustion in the downstream combustion chamber. Also, in typical arrangements, a main swirler assembly also is comprised of an outer downstream element known as an annulus casting. An annulus casting surrounds a downstream section of the inner body, forming a channel for air flow known as the flashback annulus. In a typical arrangement, a quantity, such as eight, swirler assemblies are arranged circumferentially around the central pilot burner. The pilot burner burns a relatively richer mixture than is provided by the radially arranged swirler assemblies. Various approaches to reduce or eliminate flashback in modern gas turbine combustion systems have been attempted. Since the prevention or elimination of flashbacks is a multi-factorial issue and also relates to various aspects of the design and operation of the gas turbine combustion area, a range of approaches has been attempted. These approaches often inter-relate with one another. The present invention provides a solution toward obtaining an operationally stable, flashback-resistant main a fuel/air mixing apparatus, such as a swirler assembly, that provides an extended columnar air barrier that impedes the back progression of flame and, therefore, reduces or eliminates undesired flashback. More specifically, the present invention provides around the fuel/air mixture output of each main swirler assembly a more robust circumferential columnar body of air that 1) provides a fresh air barrier for a distance around the fuel/air mixture output of each respective main swirler assembly (or other source of fuel/air mixture); and 2) leans out the regions where there is a potential for flashback.

This invention relates to electro-optical displays and other modular compact components. In particular, the invention relates to a method of manufacturing such components capable of being fully automated for producing low cost modular components also highly suitable for automated assembly in installations. Display devices are used extensively particularly in digital circuitry to provide information for the interface for the user. However, with the advances in integrated circuitry technology progressively providing increased processing power in smaller space at reduced costs, the cost of interface devices, such as displays, becomes a larger portion of the total cost and thus more significant. Also when the cost of displaying information is low, the additional cost of displaying more information when desirable is not a deterent leading to greater design freedom. In view of these economic or cost saving benefits, it is extremely desirable to have a fully automated manufacturing process for producing display devices. Another consideration in display devices as electronic components is modular construction. From a packaging stand-point, the display device should be sealed to prevent physical damage during automated assembly and contamination after assembly. Versatility is also advantageous to limit constraints on product design and packaging. Furthermore, it would be desirable for the display package to have terminals suitable for surface mount soldering. Of course, compactness of size is highly desirable in addition to the previously enumerated considerations and sought after advantages.

This invention relates to neckties, particularly to a device and method for tying a necktie to a desired length.

Spreadsheet applications provide many well known benefits including data organization, computation, analysis and presentation. Spreadsheet applications allow users to work in offline data editing sessions, as well as online data editing sessions where spreadsheet applications may be linked to databases from which data may be imported for editing and manipulation. During online editing sessions, spreadsheet applications may also export data out to databases for storage of the exported data. However, prior systems do not allow for bi-directional communication between a spreadsheet application worksheet and a database. That is, according to prior systems, data may be brought into a spreadsheet application worksheet and read, and the data may be refreshed, but at no time may changes in the data be written back to the data source for modifying or updating the source data in the database. At most, the modified data may be written to a new table or other memory location in the database. Accordingly, there is a need for a method and system for allowing bi-directional communication between a spreadsheet application and a database that allows modified data to be written from a spreadsheet application worksheet to source data in a database from which the original pre-modified data was obtained. There is further a need for a method and system for supporting offline data changes in a spreadsheet application that may be published to a remote data source when a connection is re-established between the data source and the spreadsheet application. There is further a need for a method and system for resolving conflicts associated with writing data from a spreadsheet application worksheet to a database data source. It is with respect to these and other considerations that the present invention has been made.

Carbon nanotubes are hexagonal networks of carbon atoms forming seamless tubes with each end capped with half of a fullerene molecule. They were first reported in 1991 by Sumio Iijima who produced multi-layer concentric tubes or multi-walled carbon nanotubes by evaporating carbon in an arc discharge. They reported carbon nanotubes having up to seven walls. In 1993, Iijima's group and an IBM team headed by Donald Bethune independently discovered that a single-wall nanotube could be made by vaporizing carbon together with a transition metal such as iron or cobalt in an arc generator (see Iijima et al. Nature 363:603 (1993); Bethune et al., Nature 363: 605 (1993) and U.S. Pat. No. 5,424,054). The original syntheses produced low yields of non-uniform nanotubes mixed with large amounts of soot and metal particles. Presently, there are three main approaches for the synthesis of single- and multi-walled carbon nanotubes. These include the electric arc discharge of graphite rod (Journet et al. Nature 388: 756 (1997)), the laser ablation of carbon (Thess et al. Science 273: 483 (1996)), and the chemical vapor deposition of hydrocarbons (Ivanov et al. Chem. Phys. Lett 223: 329 (1994); Li et al. Science 274: 1701 (1996)). Multi-walled carbon nanotubes can be produced on a commercial scale by catalytic hydrocarbon cracking while single-walled carbon nanotubes are still produced on a gram scale. Generally, single-walled carbon nanotubes are preferred over multi-walled carbon nanotubes because they have unique mechanical and electronic properties. Defects are less likely to occur in single-walled carbon nanotubes because multi-walled carbon nanotubes can survive occasional defects by forming bridges between unsaturated carbon valances, while single-walled carbon nanotubes have no neighboring walls to compensate for defects. Defect-free single-walled nanotubes are expected to have remarkable mechanical, electronic and magnetic properties that could be tunable by varying the diameter, number of concentric shells, and chirality of the tube. It is generally recognized that smaller catalyst particles of less than 3 nm are preferred for the growth of smaller diameter carbon nanotubes. However, the smaller catalyst particles easily aggregate at the higher temperatures required for the synthesis of carbon nanotubes. U.S. Patent Application No. 2004/0005269 to Huang et al. discloses a mixture of catalysts containing at least one element from Fe, Co, and Ni, and at least one supporting element from the lanthanides. The lanthanides are said to decrease the melting point of the catalyst by forming alloys so that the carbon nanostructures can be grown at lower temperatures. Aside from the size of the catalyst, the temperature of the reaction chamber can also be important for the growth of carbon nanotubes. U.S. Pat. No. 6,764,874 to Zhang et al. discloses a method of preparing nanotubes by melting aluminum to form an alumina support and melting a thin nickel film to form nickel nanoparticles on the alumina support. The catalyst is then used in a reaction chamber at less than 850° C. U.S. Pat. No. 6,401,526, and U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2002/00178846, both to Dai et al., disclose a method of forming nanotubes for atomic force microscopy. A portion of the support structure is coated with a liquid phase precursor material that contains a metal-containing salt and a long-chain molecular compound dissolved in a solvent. The carbon nanotubes are made at a temperature of 850° C. It is well known that the diameter of the single-walled nanotubes (SWNTs) produced is proportional to the size of the catalyst particle. In order to synthesize nanotubes of small diameter, it is necessary to have catalyst particles of small particle size (less than about 1 nm). Catalysts of small average particle sizes with narrow distribution are difficult to synthesize. Further, recognized methods for determining the catalyst particle size distribution are not currently available, especially when the catalyst particles are supported on support powders, and thus buried inside the pores of the support powders. Thus, there is a need for methods and processes for controllable synthesis of carbon single-walled nanotubes with small and narrow distributed diameters. Accordingly, the present invention provides novel methods and processes for determining the average particle size and particle size distribution of catalyst particles that can be used for preparation and optimization of catalyst and for the synthesis of SWNTs with small and narrow distributed diameters.

1. Field of Invention Embodiments of the present invention relate generally to a method and apparatus for retaining a substrate in a polishing system. 2. Background of Invention As part of the manufacturing process of semiconductor devices, semiconductor wafers are increasingly being polished by CMP. The uniform removal of material from and the planarity of patterned and un-patterned wafers is critical to wafer process yield. Generally, the wafer to be polished is mounted on a substrate carrier which holds the wafer using a combination of vacuum suction or other means and, most often, a wafer backing pad to contact the rear side of the wafer. A retaining lip or ring is generally provided around the edge of the wafer to keep the wafer contained under the substrate carrier. The front side of the wafer, the side to be polished, is then contacted with an abrasive material such as an abrasive pad or abrasive strip. The abrasive pad or strip may have free abrasive fluid sprayed on it, may have abrasive particles affixed to it, or may have abrasive particles sprinkled on it. The ideal wafer polishing process can be described by Preston""s equation: R=Kp*P*V, where R is the removal rate; Kp is a function of consumables (abrasive pad roughness and elasticity, surface chemistry and abrasion effects, and contact area); P is the applied pressure between the wafer and the abrasive pad; and V is the relative velocity between the wafer and the abrasive pad. As a result, the ideal CMP process should have constant cutting velocity over the entire wafer surface, constant pressure between the abrasive pad and wafer, and constant abrasive pad roughness, elasticity, area and abrasion effects. In addition, control over the temperature and pH is critical and the direction of the relative pad/wafer velocity should be randomly distributed over the entire wafer surface. One common type of wafer polishing apparatus having a wafer carrier is the CMP model 372M made by Westech Systems Inc. A wafer is held in the substrate carrier during polishing. The substrate carrier rotates about the axis of the wafer. A large circular abrasive pad is rotated while contacting the rotating wafer and substrate carrier. The rotating wafer contacts the larger rotating abrasive pad in an area away from the center of the abrasive pad. Another related apparatus is a polishing machine for polishing semiconductor wafers containing magnetic read-write heads, disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,335,453 to Baldy et al. With this machine, a semiconductor wafer is held by a substrate carrier which is moved in a circular translatory motion by an eccentric arm. The wafer is polished by contacting an abrasive strip that is advanced in one direction. The relative motion between the wafer and the abrasive strip is a combination of the circular motion of the wafer and the linear motion of the advancing abrasive strip. Connected to the eccentric arm is a support head that includes a rigid part and a xe2x80x9cflexible diskxe2x80x9d made from a xe2x80x9cflexible materialxe2x80x9d having a xe2x80x9ccertain thicknessxe2x80x9d. The wafer 44 to be polished is described as being xe2x80x9cpartly embedded in the disk 142 during polishing by the effect of the force exerted on the support headxe2x80x9d. The gimbal point of a CMP substrate carrier is a critical element of the polishing process. The substrate carrier must align itself to the polish surface precisely to insure uniform, planar polishing results. Many CMP substrate carriers currently available yield wafers having anomalies in planarity. The vertical height of the pivot point above the polishing surface is also important, since the greater the height, the larger the moment that is induced about the pivot point during polishing. Two pervasive problems that exist in most CMP wafer polishing apparatuses are underpolishing of the center of the wafer, and the inability to adjust the control of wafer edge exclusion as process variables change. For example, substrate carriers used on many available CMP machines experience a phenomenon known in the art as xe2x80x9cnose divingxe2x80x9d. During polishing, the head reacts to the polishing forces in a manner that creates a sizable moment, which is directly influenced by the height of the gimbal point, mentioned above. This moment causes a pressure differential along the direction of motion of the head. The result of the pressure differential is the formation of a standing wave of the chemical slurry that interfaces the wafer and the abrasive surface. This causes the edge of the wafer that is at the leading edge of the substrate carrier, to become polished faster and to a greater degree than the center of the wafer. The removal of material on the wafer is related to the chemical action of the slurry. As slurry is inducted between the wafer and the abrasive pad and reacts, the chemicals responsible for removal of the wafer material gradually become exhausted. Thus, the removal of wafer material further from the leading edge of the substrate carrier (i.e., the center of the wafer) experiences a diminished rate of chemical removal when compared with the chemical action at the leading edge of the substrate carrier (i.e., the edge of the wafer), due to the diminished activity of the chemicals in the slurry when it reaches the center of the wafer. This phenomenon is sometimes referred to as xe2x80x9cslurry starvationxe2x80x9d. Apart from attempts to reshape the crown of the substrate carrier, other attempts have been made to improve the aforementioned problem concerning xe2x80x9cnose divingxe2x80x9d. In a prior art substrate carrier that gimbals through a single bearing at the top of the substrate carrier, sizable moments are generated because the effective gimbal point of the substrate carrier exists at a significant, non-zero distance from the surface of the polishing pad. Thus, the frictional forces, acting at the surface of the polishing pad, act through this distance to create the undesirable moments. U.S. Pat. No. 5,377,451 to Leoni et al. describes a wafer carrier that xe2x80x9cprojectsxe2x80x9d the effective gimbal point down to the surface of the polishing pad, thereby eliminating the moment arm through which the frictional forces create the undesirable xe2x80x9cnose divingxe2x80x9d. Leoni et al. produce this effect by instituting a conical bearing assembly which allows the projection of a xe2x80x9cuniversal pivot pointxe2x80x9d to a point that is located at or near the surface of the polishing surface. The solution proposed by Leoni et al., however, requires the use of a number of bearings in the assembly in order to effect this projection, thereby increasing the cost of the wafer carrier. Additionally, there is still a moment produced because of the actual contact points at the bearings. There is also a substantial risk that, due to inexact manufacturing, the projected pivot point will not lie exactly on the contact surface of the carrier, which will also introduce moments. FIG. 17 shows a prior art carrier design 900 that transfers the polishing load from a bellows 910 to a guided shaft 920 into a gimbal 930 (shown in phantom to illustrate the gimbal point 933 and outward into a carrier plate 940. If the gimbal mechanism is not free, stiction will prevent the gimbal 930 from its intended free and smooth movement and the guided shaft 920 will begin to over-constrain the system during polishing. Additionally, it is not uncommon for loads in this type of a system to become excessive enough to cause plastic deformation of the gimbal. Because of the offset rotation points of the gimbal 930 and the ring flexure 950, the dynamics of such a carrier assembly can become unstable during a high friction polishing operation. A semiconductor wafer polishing apparatus by Banks in U.S. Pat. No. 4,373,991, uses a plurality of channels 27 to inject pressurized water, preferably slightly greater than 15 psi, between a plate and a wafer to allow free floating of the wafer. However, the carrier of Banks uses a conventional gimbal arrangement and therefore experiences the moment induced anomalies such as nose-diving and crowning, as discussed above. Another phenomenon that generates anomalies in the edge areas of a substrate that is polished by conventional techniques is due to limitations inherent in a carrier that employs a deformable/conformable crown or plate. For example Applied Materials European Patent Application No. EP 0 774 323 A2 discloses a carrier head having a lower planar surface 9104 and a bow chamber 9102 which is capable of being pressurized so as to bow out the surface 9104, or reduced in pressure to bow in the surface 9104. A bellows cavity 1192 is pressurizable to bias the entire carrier plate 1164, including the surface 9104 toward the polishing surface for loading the substrate to be polished. FIG. 18 illustrates a problem inherent in a prior art carrier 1100 having a deformable plate 1110. Upon deformation of the plate 1110 by application of pressure thereto, either through increasing the pressure within chamber 1130 or by other means, the deflection of the plate 110 is greater toward the center of the plate than at the edge areas 1120 (as shown in phantom in FIG. 16). This is true even if greater flexibility is afforded at the edge areas through living hinges or other mechanisms to extend the flexibility outward, since the very edge defines a boundary of fixed points that do not deflect. The plate 1110 deflects according to the typical bending formula (as shown in phantom in FIG. 16) which results in a relative underpolishing of the edges of the wafer. U.S. Pat. No. 5,635,083 to Breivogel et al., discloses a method and apparatus for chemical mechanical polishing of a substrate having a wafer carrier attached to a steel rotatable drive shaft. The drive shaft is hollow to allow pneumatic pressure to be conveyed into a chamber created above the backside of a wafer to be polished and below the base of the carrier. A wear resistant retaining ring extends from the base of the carrier and surrounds and is in contact with the wafer to be polished. A resilient lip seal is attached just inside the retaining ring and seals with the backside of the wafer to form the chamber together with the base of the carrier. Not only does this arrangement restrict wafer precession because of the seal contact, but there is also always a risk of not forming an adequate seal due to contamination between the seal and the backside of the wafer, by slurry or other contaminants. An apparatus described in JP 9-225821 to Ebara Corp. includes first, second and third pressure chambers within a top ring that is used to polish a semiconductor wafer. An elastic mat is provided between the top ring and the semiconductor wafer to be polished. The elastic mat and the top ring each have multiple jets that align to connect with the pressure chambers. Three concentrically defined pressure zones are defined on the mat, through which controlled pressures can be applied to the wafer to control the conformation of the pressure profile between the elastic mat and the semiconductor wafer. Therefore, there is a need for a method and apparatus for retaining a substrate during a polishing process. One aspect of the invention generally provides a carrier for retaining of a substrate. In one embodiment, a carrier comprises a carrier plate having a lower surface, at least one first fluid outlet and a second fluid outlet. The first fluid outlet is fluidly coupled to the lower surface of the carrier plate. The second fluid outlet is fluidly coupled to the lower surface of the carrier plate. A first fluid circuit is coupled to the first fluid outlet and is adapted to flow a fluid forms a fluidic layer between the carrier plate and the substrate. A second fluid circuit is coupled to the second fluid outlet and is separate from the first fluid circuit. In another aspect of the invention, a method for retaining a substrate in a polishing system is provided. In one embodiment, a method for retaining a substrate comprises the steps of disposing the substrate adjacent a carrier plate, flowing a first fluid through a first port disposed on the carrier plate between the substrate and the carrier plate, and applying a second fluid or vacuum through a second port disposed on the carrier plate between the substrate and the carrier plate.

Transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs) are a heterogeneous group of fatal neurodegenerative disorders that occur in humans, ruminant herbivores, mink, and cats. Sheep scrapie is the prototype of this group. TSEs are characterized by deposition of prion proteins (also denoted as PrP-Scrapie or PrPSc, the infectious form of the proteins), in the central nervous system of affected individuals. Prions have been defined as small proteinaceous infectious particles which resist inactivation by procedures that modify nucleic acids. The term “prion” is a contraction of the words “protein” and “infection,” and prions are comprised largely if not exclusively of PrP-Sc molecules encoded by a PrP gene. Prion diseases are often called spongiform encephalopathies because of the post mortem microscopic or histopathologic appearance of the brain of an infected animal with large vacuoles in the cortex and cerebellum. Prion proteins are insoluble, protease-resistant glycoproteins resulting from post translational modification of normal mammalian glycoproteins (PrP-Cellular or PrP-C). Deposition of the prion protein, an abnormal isoform of a native cellular sialoglycoprotein, in the central nervous system is a reliable marker of TSE infection. The most widely studied TSEs in food-producing animals include scrapie in sheep and goats, bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in cattle (also known as “Mad Cow” disease), and chronic wasting disease (CWD) in mule deer and elk. Other TSEs in animals include transmissible mink encephalopathy (TME) in mink and feline spongiform encephalopathy (FSE) in cats. Prion diseases of humans have also been identified, which include: Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD); Gerstmann-Straussler-Scheinker Syndrome (GSS); Fatal Familial Insomnia (FFI); Alper's Syndrome, and Kuru. The transmissible agent in these diseases remains controversial. It appears that the scrapie isoform of the prion protein (PrP-Sc or PrPSc) is necessary for both the transmission and pathogenesis of the transmissible neurodegenerative diseases of animals and humans (see Prusiner, Science, 252, 1515-1522, 1991). A new clinical version of CJD in humans is believed to be the result of transfer of BSE from cattle to humans. This finding led to the conclusion that variant CJD was caused by infection of humans with prions from BSE infected cattle. Furthermore, the incidence and timing of the appearance of variant CJD cases opened the possibility that a considerable number of humans, presently free of clinical symptoms, could be latent for the disease. Given that CJD might pass from human to human in infected blood, it can be assumed that humans infected with variant CJD contain the infectious agent in their blood. A potentially infectious species specific agent has been discovered in blood of humans with CJD, cattle with BSE, and sheep with scrapie. ELISA tests have been developed that detect these TSE specific proteins that are associated with PrPSc (“Prion associated proteins”) in the blood of animals and humans. Prion associated proteins are expressed in a disease specific manner in all subjects with clinical symptoms of BSE (“BSAS”), scrapie (“SCRAPAS”) and CJD (“CJD”). Prion associated proteins appear to have the chemical characteristics for binding to PrP-C and converting it to PrPSc, and thus are most likely the infectious agents in TSE diseases. Furthermore, expression of prion associated proteins in a subject is accompanied by expression of specific anti-prion associated protein endogenous antibody. Detecting this endogenous antibody in human blood and blood products is the basis of some TSE ELISA tests (U.S. Pat. No. 6,350,854). The occurrence of novel transmissible spongiform encephalopathies in cattle in the United Kingdom and Europe, and in mule deer and elk in parts of the United States has emphasized the need for reliable diagnostic tests. Further, the epizootic of a TSE in cattle and its postulated relationship to a new variant of human Creutzfeldt Jakob Disease have increased public and scientific awareness of these relatively rare disorders, and have highlighted the need for preclinical detection of TSEs. Accordingly, sensitive immunohistochemical techniques and preclinical detection methods are necessary for the detection, surveillance, and control of TSEs. Confirmation of TSEs is accomplished by postmortem microscopic or histological examination of brain tissue of suspected cases. Postmortem histopathologic diagnosis of the ruminant TSEs is based on the appearance of neuronal vacuolation, spongiform changes, gliosis, and astrocytosis. However, these can vary in intensity and anatomic location depending on the host species, the individuals, host genetics, stage of disease, and infectious source. Thus, diagnosis by histopathology alone may be equivocal in early cases and usually not possible in autolyzed tissue. Monoclonal antibody 263K 3F4 (U.S. Pat. No. 4,806,627) detects PrPSc in hamsters and humans, and has received use in diagnostic assays and pathogenesis studies of human TSEs. Ante-mortem testing in humans with suspected CJD is performed by immunohistochemical and histologic examination of brain biopsies. Because brain biopsy in ruminant animals is not feasible, an alternative approach has been to biopsy selected lymph nodes. Therefore, there exists a need for a practical, inexpensive, and more rapid method for detection of prion proteins, prion-associated proteins and peptides and/or their respective host antibodies in live animals or humans. In addition, there exists a need for sensitive diagnostic assays to detect prion and prion associated proteins and peptides and/or their respective host antibodies in animal tissues and animal by-products in a most rapid fashion to minimize quarantine time. Aptamers are functional synthetic nucleic acids useful for high-affinity binding to targets (e.g., nucleic acids, proteins, and chemical compounds). Unlike naturally occurring nucleic acids, which transfer genetic information, aptamers are selected on the basis of their ability to specifically bind their ligand. The specificity of binding is defined in terms of the dissociation constant Kd of the aptamer for its ligand. Aptamers can have high affinity with Kd range similar to antibody (pM to nM) and specificity similar/superior to antibody (Tuerk and Gold, Science, 249:505, 1990; Ellington and Szostak, Nature, 346:818, 1990). Many aptamers have a stem-loop structure in which the bases in the loop and the stem are intimately involved in interaction with the ligand. RNA aptamers have been isolated against the protease-sensitive, N-terminus of PrP (Weiss et al., J. Virol. 71:8790-8797, 1997) but these do not discriminate between PrPC and PrPSc and are sensitive to nucleases. Therefore, there is a need in the art to design and utilize aptamers for binding to specifically folded prions, specifically those prions that are infectious and disease-causing in animals/mammals, in order to prevent the transmission and spread of such diseases in the food supply. The present disclosure provides improved aptamers for detecting the presence of PrPSc where the aptamers are not sensitive to nucleases.

Distribution of full motion video data has evolved from early television broadcasting to meet viewer demand. Earliest video distribution was by point-to-point wiring between a camera and a video monitor. This was followed by scheduled television broadcasting of programming over the public air waves. In the 1960s, Community Antenna Television (CATV) was chartered to provide off-air television signals to viewers in broadcast reception fringe areas. Later, under FCC regulation, the CATV industry was required to provide local access and original programming in addition to off-air broadcast signal distribution. In response, several sources of cable network programming were established. Because of the wide bandwidth available on cable television systems, additional channels were made available for the new programming. However, programming was generally prescheduled, with the viewer left to tune to the designated channel at the appointed time to view a particular program. To increase revenues, cable television systems have initiated distribution of premium channels viewable only by subscribers having appropriate descramblers. The descramblers are tuned to receive only premium channels, descramble the video and audio information and supply a signal capable of reception on a standard television set. Pay-per-view programs, which evolved later, include recently released movies, live concerts and popular sporting events. Subscribers wishing to view a pay-per-view program place an order with the cable operator. At the designated time, the subscriber's descrambler is activated to permit viewing of the pay-per-view programming. However, the subscriber is restricted to viewing the programming at the scheduled time. There is no capability of delivering programming to a subscriber on demand, that is, immediately or at a subscriber-specified time and date. In the early 1980s, technological advances resulted in the proliferation of Video Cassette Recorders (VCR), establishing a second course for video programming distribution. Pre-recorded video programs are now available for sale and rental to VCR owners. Using a VCR, the viewer selects from among many titles available for sale and rental, and views the program when convenient. The VCR owner further has the capability to selectively view the programming using special functions of the VCR, such as pause, fast forward, reverse, slow motion, etc. The viewer can thus manipulate and replay portions of the program at will. The penalty for this convenience, however, is in the necessity to travel to the local video rental/sales store, if necessary wait for a popular video program tape to become available, once the program is obtained return home to view it and then revisit the video store to return the tape. Telephone lines have been suggested as an alternative means of video distribution in Goodman et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,010,319 and Kleinerman, U.S. Pat. No. 4,849,811. However, systems using the public switched telephone network (PSTN) are often bandwidth limited, providing only still frame or video conferencing capabilities. Because telephone system carriers for the most part use the PSTN only for connectivity between subscribers, there is no capability for dynamic routing of digitized video without dedicated leased, wide bandwidth circuits. Telephone line based systems also fail to provide acceptable VCR type functional control of the programming. Copending application Ser. No. 07/766,535, filed by the assignee of the present invention on Sep. 27, 1991, entitled PSTN ARCHITECTURE FOR VIDEO-ON-DEMAND SERVICES and upon which the present invention is an improvement, describes a so-called Video-on-Demand service that provides video programming to subscribers over the PSTN. A menu of video programming information is accessible at the subscriber's premises. The subscriber may transmit ordering information via the PSTN to the independent video information providers. Video programming may be accessed and transmitted to the subscriber directly from a video information provider (VIP) or through a video buffer located at a central office (CO) serving the subscriber. The VIP transmits coded digital video data over wideband PSTN supplied connectivity to a central office. The video data may be buffered at the central office for transmission over a POTS line to the subscriber. A subscriber may use either a standard telephone instrument over the PSTN or a dedicated control device over an ISDN packet network to order the video programming. Such a device is located at a television set of the subscriber and permits a display of the program menu on the television screen. Connectivity between the central office and the subscriber for transmission of video data is provided by an asymmetrical digital subscriber line (ADSL) system. ADSL interface units perform multiplexing of digital video information with voice information to be transmitted to the subscriber and support transmission on the ISDN packet data network of a reverse control channel from the subscriber to the central office. However, video-on-demand service does not include an integral library of video program material, hence enabling only limited storage capabilities for video and audio data supplied by a VIP. Enhanced functionality is required to efficiently support multiple program storage. Furthermore, to support network management, a need remains for a system which dynamically interacts with network facilities to reconfigure network resources in real-time and in response to information requests. Furthermore, certain operational enhancements have been found to be desirable in the video-on-demand service described in the aforementioned parent application. For example, it is occasionally desired to order a video program from the subscriber's office to be played later at the premises of the subscriber. On the other hand, the subscriber must be home and remember to turn a decoder on at the reserved time, to watch the requested program. If not, the subscriber will not have the opportunity to view the selection but will be charged for it anyway. Hence, it would be desirable to transmit the program and enable a charge to be incurred only if it can be determined that the subscriber is going to view the program. In accordance with video-on-demand service as described in the copending application, the subscriber can order any programming from the video information provider through the telephone keypad or remote control unit. However, the unrestricted ability of anyone at the subscriber's residence to place an order for any programming is undesirable, for example, where children are involved. It would be desirable to restrict the ability of viewers to order only those types of programming they are permitted to view. Accordingly, a broad object of the invention is to implement video programming on demand using components of the PSTN. Another object of the invention is to enable access by a telephone subscriber to multiple sources of video programming over the PSTN. Still another object of the invention is to enable subscribers of the PSTN to have real time control of video programming delivery to their television sets. Another object is to enable a subscriber to select video programming from a remote location and receive the selection at the subscriber's premises. A further object of the invention is to ensure that the video program decoder at the subscriber's premises is turned on before a previously ordered selection is transmitted. Still another object is to establish service constraints that prevent an unauthorized requester, e.g., a child at the subscriber's premises, from ordering restricted programming.

Easy-open composite containers for packaging various products, particularly products under pressure such as refrigerated dough products and the like, constitute a significant commercial consumer product. Typically, these containers are formed of a spirally-wound paperboard or board stock bodywall layer and an interior liner layer for preventing leaking of the contents from the container. The spirally-wound bodywall layer usually includes a butt joint formed by adjacent edges of the bodywall layer and which forms a spiral seam extending from one end of the container to the other end. The exterior label layer surrounds the bodywall layer and covers or bridges the spiral seam to reinforce such seam and prevent premature opening along the spiral seam. Commercially significant containers of this type are disclosed in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 3,981,433 which is directed to a one-step easy-open container including an inner liner layer, a bodywall layer and an outer label layer, all of which are spirally-wound to form a spiral easy-open seam in the bodywall layer. In this type of container, when the outer label layer is either totally removed or that portion bridging the spiral butt joint of the bodywall layer is torn away from the spiral seam, the pressurized dough products expands outwardly and causes the spiral seam of the bodywall layer to open. This allows access to the dough and the interior of the container through the spiral easy-open seam in the container. The outer label layer surrounding the spiral seam in containers of this type is an important structural component of the container because the outer label layer bridges the spiral seam and maintains it in closed position. Accordingly, in order to easy-open the container, that portion of the label layer which bridges the easy-open spiral seam of the bodywall layer must be stripped away to expose the spiral seam for easy-opening. Alternatively, the label layer may be totally peeled away from and removed from the bodywall layer of the container. This is desirable if a coupon or other advertising material is positioned under the label layer for removal by the purchaser of the container when opening of the container. Various mechanisms have been provided to aid in such easy-opening including provision of a tear tab for starting the peeling or removal of the label layer so that the label layer may be torn toward a "collar cut" extending around the periphery of the label layer near one end of the container for completely removing the label layer from the bodywall layer during easy-opening. Also, tear strips have been provided between the label layer and the bodywall layer in bridging relation to the easy-open spiral seam of the bodywall layer to act as a tearing medium for tearing away that portion of the label layer which bridges the easy-open spiral seam of the bodywall layer. However, with both procedures for removing the label layer from the spiral easy-open seam of the bodywall layer, tearing of the label layer in a desired direction has created problems and often such tearing does not accomplish the desired purpose of either removing the entire label layer or just a bridging portion of the label layer from the spiral seam of the bodywall layer for easy-opening of the container. Tearing is also affected by the direction of pulling or tear pressure applied by the user which is sometimes dictated by being right-handed or left-handed or by having the container in an upright position or in an upside-down position.

1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a telephone apparatus that allows the user to use a caller ID service informing him or her of the telephone number and the name of the calling party and a signal detection circuit for use therewith. 2. Description of the Related Art In the North American countries, a caller ID service that informs the user of the telephone number and the name of the calling party has been used. In such a caller ID service, when a telephone terminal receives a call, the service informs the user of the telephone number and the name of the calling party. As a modification to the above conventional service, a new type of service has been proposed. In this new service, while a first user is communicating with a second user, if a third user calls the first user, the service informs the first user of the telephone number and the name of the third user who is call-waiting. In other words, when the first user does not know who is the third user, the first user does not know whether or not the third user is superior to the second user. When the first user receives a call waiting signal, however, and if the first user is informed who is the third user, the first user can conveniently determine to whom the first user should talk. Such a new type caller ID service can be accomplished in the following manner. While the first user is communicating with the second user, if the third user calls the first user, the telephone exchange sends a dual tone signal referred to as CAS (Call Alert Signal) to the telephone of the first user so as to mute the receiving speech signal. Responding to the CAS signal, the telephone of the first user sends a DTMF signal that represents "D" so as to receive information from the third user. When the telephone exchange has received the "D" signal of the DTMF signal from the telephone terminal of the first user, the telephone exchange sends data of the telephone number and the name of the third user as FSK (Frequency Shift Keying) modulated data. The telephone terminal of the first user demodulates the FSK-modulated data, decodes the data of the telephone number and the name of the third user, and displays the decoded data on the display of the telephone terminal. In the new type caller ID service corresponding to the call-waiting signal, before the telephone exchange sends the telephone number and the name of the third user, it sends the CAS signal that causes the telephone terminal of the first user to mute the receiving speech signal. The CAS signal is a dual tone signal with frequencies of 2130 Hz and 2750 Hz. The CAS signal lasts for 80 msec. The telephone terminal that accomplishes the new type caller ID service corresponding to the call-waiting signal has a signal detection circuit that detects the dual tone signal with frequencies 2130 Hz and 2750 Hz. Generally, as shown in FIG. 1, the signal detection circuit that detects such a dual tone signal comprises a frequency band limiting filter 102, a band pass filter 103 that extracts a frequency component of 2130 Hz, a band pass filter 104 that extracts a frequency component of 2750 Hz, a tone detection circuit 105 that detects whether or not the component of the tone signal is present, and a guard time setting circuit 106 that determines whether or not a component of the tone signal is continuously detected for a predetermined guard time that is shorter than the time period of the CAS signal. In the new type caller ID service corresponding to the call-waiting signal, the CAS signal that is a dual tone signal with frequencies of 2130 Hz and 2750 Hz is supplied from the telephone exchange to an input terminal 101. When the CAS signal is received, the band pass filter 103 extracts a frequency component of 2130 Hz. The band pass filter 104 extracts a frequency component of 2750 Hz. The extracted frequency components are supplied to the tone detection circuit 105. When the tone detection circuit 105 detects these frequency components of the tone signal, it outputs a detection signal. Since the CAS signal lasts for 80 msec, the guard time setting circuit 106 detects the tone signal for a time period more than a predetermined guard time which is shorter than the time period of the CAS signal. A detection signal that represents the dual tone signal is outputted from an output terminal 107. A transmitting speech signal and a receiving speech signal flow on a telephone line. Not only a signal sent from the telephone exchange, but a transmitting speech signal of the telephone terminal are supplied to the input terminal 101. The transmitting speech signal may contain a component of the tone signal by chance. When the detection signal contains frequency components of 2130 Hz and 2750 Hz and the transmitting speech signal lasts for the predetermined guard time, although the transmitting speech signal is not the dual tone signal of the CAS signal, the detection signal that represents that the tone signal is present is fed to the output terminal 107. In particular, speech signals of some users may have spectrum peaks at frequencies 2130 Hz and 2750 Hz by chance. When such users send calls, mis-detections may frequently take place. To prevent such mis-detections, the guard time may be set to 30 msec or more. However, in the case that the guard time is set to 30 msec or more, since a transmitting speech signal is present while the dual tone signal is being detected, the sound level of the transmitting speech signal may exceed the sound level of the dual tone signal during the guard time. Thus, frequently, the signal detection is adversely affected. In the case that the guard time is set to around 5 msec, since the dual tone signal can be detected in a no-sound period between words, the probability that the signal detection is adversely affected becomes high. Moreover, as described, the probability that a component of the speech signal is detected as the dual tone signal becomes high.

Enterprise applications are typically large software applications that are used by many customers or users, such as employees of a business. These applications usually have multiple components that interact with one another and with other systems to perform various tasks. Enterprise applications include, e.g., enterprise resource planning, customer relationship management, and electronic messaging systems. While the enterprise applications may offer a host of functionality, businesses using these applications sometimes need to customize the enterprise applications. As an example, a business may add or modify components to perform or validate the rules of the business. As another example, the business may add or modify user interface (“UI”) components to implement a look and feel that may be unique to the business. Administrators may expend considerable effort in customizing the UIs, testing their customizations, training users, developing user manuals, and performing other activities relating to the enterprise applications and their customizations. Vendors of enterprise applications sometimes upgrade the enterprise applications. Such upgrades may be necessitated by, e.g., addition of important functionality requested by the business, resolution of defects in the enterprise applications, addition of new features that may be valuable to several customers of the vendor, and a variety of other reasons. Enterprise applications may comprise multiple repositories. As an example, an enterprise application may comprise a repository of components delivered by a vendor and a repository of components added by a business. Repositories comprise components of an enterprise application. As an example, a repository may contain UI or logic components of an enterprise application. When administrators upgrade the enterprise application, they may need to again expend considerable resources in reapplying their customizations, which could increase the total cost of ownership of such enterprise applications. It would thus be desirable to upgrade enterprise applications without incurring such additional costs.

1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a multi-leaf collimator for, when a radiation beam is irradiated to a target inside a radiation object, forming an irradiation area of the radiation beam in match with a target shape. The present invention also relates to a medical system including an accelerator. 2. Description of the Related Art In one typical example for irradiating a radiation beam (e.g., a charged particle beam) to a target inside a radiation object, the radiation beam is irradiated to cancer cells (referred to as “diseased part” hereinafter) in a patient body. In such a case, the radiation object corresponds to the patient, and the target corresponds to the diseased part. When irradiating a radiation beam to the diseased part in a patient body, if an irradiation area of the radiation beam does not match with a target shape, the radiation beam is also irradiated to a normal part around the diseased part. Irradiation of the radiation beam, which has been emitted for remedy of the diseased part, to the normal part around the diseased part may adversely affect the normal part. It is therefore important to define the irradiation area precisely in match with the diseased part, and to minimize irradiation of the radiation beam to the normal part. A multi-leaf collimator is known as one solution for forming an irradiation area in match with a shape of the diseased part to avoid a radiation beam from being irradiated to the normal part that should be protected against the irradiation. Such a multi-leaf collimator comprises two leaf plate driving body each including a number of movable shield plates (leaf plates), which are capable of shielding the radiation beam and disposed in the multi-layered form. The leaf plates are arranged so as to sandwich a propagation path of a radiation beam emitted from a radiation source toward the diseased part, and ends of the leaf plates of the two leaf plate driving body are positioned to face each other so that an irradiation field of the radiation beam is formed between the opposing ends. In each leaf plate driver, positions of the leaf plates are individually adjusted by the driving force of driving means, such as an electric motor, to form a space gap, which is similar to the irradiation area, between the leaf plates of one leaf plate driver and the leaf plates of the other leaf plate driver, thereby allowing passage of only the radiation beam that propagates toward the desired irradiation area. Then, the radiation beam having passed the space gap forms the irradiation field, shaped as desired, at the position of the diseased part. With the construction described above, of the radiation beam having reached the multi-leaf collimator, a component directing to other areas than the irradiation area is shielded by the leaf plates, and therefore the irradiation to an unnecessary part (normal part other than the diseased one) can be prevented. To improve the accuracy in forming contours of the irradiation field when the multi-leaf collimator is used to define the desired shape of the irradiation field, it is required not only to employ a number of leaf plates having a smaller thickness, but also to position each leaf plate with high accuracy. U.S. Pat. No. 4,794,629, for example, is known as the related art in consideration of that point. In a multi-leaf collimator according to that related art, a leaf plate driver on one side and a leaf plate driver on the other side each comprise a number of leaf plates having gears provided at upper edges thereof, a single unit of driving means provided in common to all the leaf plates for adjusting positions of the leaf plates, and a gearing mechanism brought into mesh with the gears of the leaf plates for transmitting the driving force from the driving means. The gearing mechanism is slid in the thickness direction of the leaf plate to be meshed with the gear of each leaf plate successively so that the driving force from the driving means is transmitted to the leaf plates one by one. Each leaf plate can be thereby positioned at a desired position. The above-cited related art, however, has the problem as follows. The related art is constructed, as described above, such that the gearing mechanism is brought into mesh with the gear of each leaf plate successively for driving each leaf plate to the desired position in sequence. When forming the irradiation area in practice, therefore, a number of leaf plates must be positioned successively one by one, and a time taken to complete the formation of the irradiation area is prolonged. This results in difficulties in shortening a remedy time, and hence in reducing physical and mental burdens imposed on patients.

Electroabsorptive modulators (EAM) are known to be used for modulating RF signals. There are many known benefits associated with optical modulation of RF signals including very small size, higher operating frequencies, immunity to electromagnetic interference, and relatively wide signal bandwidth. An EAM is typically a semiconductor waveguide device in which the absorption region (also known as the absorption layer) also serves as an optical waveguiding layer. As is known in the art, an electric field applied across the waveguide causes a change in the optical absorption of the device, which in turn causes the intensity of the light passing through the waveguide to be modulated. By applying an RF signal to the device, the intensity modulation of the input light signal will vary in accordance with the variation of the RF signals. However, in order to maximize the performance of an optical system, it is necessary to increase the optical power delivered to the detector in the system. One method of maximizing system performance is to minimize optical insertion losses in the system. In particular, it is desirable to minimize optical insertion losses, also known as coupling losses, between a laser transmitter and the waveguide portion of the EAM. Another method of maximizing system performance is to increase the output of the laser transmitter to offset any coupling losses. However, EAMs suffer from a charge screening effect that minimizes the modulation efficiency of EAMs at high optical insertion power. As a result, optical power levels at the input of an EAM must be limited to values below the saturation level of the optical element at high optical insertion power. It is also known to design EAMs using optical couplers, for example peripheral coupled waveguides, to minimize electroabsorption saturation by controlling an amount of optical power absorbed in the waveguide from the laser transmitter through an input facet. It is further known to reduce an optical confinement factor in an electroabsorption region of the EAM to prevent saturation of the EAM. In one method, the electroabsorption region of the EAM having a reduced optical confinement factor is placed in optical communication with a laser transmitter to limit the optical power absorbed by the EAM. However, if the optical confinement factor is constant along the waveguide portion of the EAM, an input region of the waveguide absorbs the most optical power and tends to saturate first at high optical input powers, thereby reducing the modulation efficiency. At very high optical input power, the input region of the waveguide of the EAM may undergo catastrophic failure due to heat produced by sustained generation of high photocurrent. A peripheral coupled waveguide EAM is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,167,605, incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, wherein an electroabsorption material is placed within an evanescent tail of an optical wave guided within an optical waveguide. A modulation voltage is applied to the electroabsorption material within the evanescent tail of the optical wave to modulate the optical wave. U.S. Pat. No. 7,167,605 further discloses optimizing an optical confinement factor to maximize performance of the EAM. An optical waveguide taper has been shown to improve the performance of a single modulator by changing the confinement factor of the waveguide as a function of position along the length of the waveguide. For example, combining a reduced optical confinement factor at an input region of the waveguide with an increasing optical mode confinement factor in the center of the waveguide can improve the optical saturation power of the EAM. However, the optical confinement factor must be reduced at the exit of the waveguide portion of the EAM if the EAM is to couple to an external photonic component, for example on another EAM chip. Certain applications, such as a photonics-based satellite communications front end for example, require two or more modulators to perform needed frequency translation functionality. However, the process of coupling optical signals from a laser chip to a modulator chip and then to a second modulator chip produces excess coupling losses that minimize the effectiveness of the system. It is therefore desirable to develop an EAM device and method to optimize the coupling and performance of multiple EAMs independently of the optical input.

Embodiments of the invention relate to using parallel insert sub-ranges to insert into a column store. A database may store data in a table that consist of rows (also referred to as tuples or records) and columns (also referred to as fields or attributes) of data. The database may be accessed using Structured Query Language (SQL) interface. The SQL interface has evolved into a standard language for RDBMS software and has been adopted as such by both the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and the International Standards Organization (ISO). A table in a database may be accessed using an index. An index is an ordered set of references (e.g., pointers) to the records in the table. The index is used to access each record in the table using a key (i.e., one of the fields or attributes of the record, which corresponds to a column). The term “key” may also be referred to as “index key”. Without an index, finding a record requires a scan (e.g., linearly) of an entire table. Indexes provide an alternate technique to accessing data in a table. Users can create indexes on a table after the table is built. An index is based on one or more columns of the table. The data in the table may be stored in pages of physical storage. A query may be described as a request for information from a database based on specific conditions. A query typically includes one or more predicates. A predicate may be described as an element of a search condition that expresses or implies a comparison operation (e.g., A=3). The database may be column store oriented or row store oriented. Both have INSERT, UPDATE and DELETE (IUD) functionality. From the viewpoint of an external user or application, complete rows (possibly omitting columns that have defaults) are inserted, regardless of whether the database is row store oriented or column store oriented. Internally, in a row store oriented database the entire row is stored on a page, while, in a column store oriented database, each column value is stored in one of the pages that belongs to that column (while inserting a complete row in a single insert operation). Tables that are column store oriented may be referred to as “columnar tables”. Some conventional systems insert into columnar tables using staging tables. A staging table may be row-based, supporting concurrent insert to the same pages through the usual locking/latching. Some conventional systems disallow updates to new rows. Some conventional systems do not compress data until merge time. Also, with staging tables, insert, update, and delete operations require updating two tables (a staging table and a target table), and queries require reading two tables (the staging table and the target table).

Power plants, such as automotive or marine engines, and engines driving stationary electrical generators or pumps, for example, are often required to operate over a wide range of output torque. An automobile engine, for example, must provide a significant amount of torque for accelerating the automobile from rest to a cruising speed. Once the automobile has reached the cruising speed, substantially less torque is generally required for maintaining the cruising speed. An engine that produces sufficient power for rapidly accelerating an automobile will generally be larger than would be required for maintaining cruising speed, and will operate inefficiently when throttled back to produce only the power required for maintaining the desired cruising speed. A stationary power plant driving a generator presents a similar challenge when electrical loads are imposed on, and removed from the generator. One approach to improving the efficiency of power plants used in such applications is to utilize multi-engine power plants, having two or more engines, or two or more engine modules, with output shafts that are selectively coupled together when the demand for output torque is high, such as during acceleration of an automobile. Once a steady state condition is reached, and the torque requirement is reduced, such as during steady speed cruising of an automobile, the second engine is decoupled, and may actually be shut down to improve efficiency of the power plant. Commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 6,306,056 B1, to Moore, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,474,068 B1, to Abdel Jalil, et al, describe methods and apparatus for operating multi-engine power plants in this manner. Both Moore, and Abdel Jalil, disclose individually controlling airflow to separate internal combustion engines of a multi-engine power plant. This approach works well, and is consistent with state of the art beliefs, as held by those having skill in the art, that airflow to each engine must be controlled with a separate throttle body, in order to achieve proper operation and torque sharing of the engines. It has been commonly accepted by those having skill in the art that a separate throttle body was required for each engine in a multi-engine power plant, to control the speed of an engine during the period of time when that engine was being started, so that the engine speed would not run away while the engine was being started and brought up to an operating speed that matched the speed of other engines in the power plant that were already running. The inventor of the present invention has discovered, however, that in a multi-engine power plant, including a first internal combustion engine module having an air intake and an output shaft for delivering power, and a second internal combustion engine module having an air intake and an output shaft for delivering power, air flow can be controlled to the intakes of the engine modules at a common manifold absolute pressure (MAP) of both engine modules, during operation of one or both of the engine modules, with a single throttle body operatively connected to the air intakes of both the first and second engine modules. By using only a single throttle body for controlling airflow to two or more engine modules of a multi-engine power plant, a number of duplicate components, that were required in prior multi-engine power plants, can be eliminated. The complexity, cost, weight and size of a power plant according to the invention are all reduced, and reliability is improved, in comparison to prior multi-engine power plants. In one form of the invention, an apparatus for controlling a multi-engine power plant includes a single throttle body, and a controller operatively connected to the throttle body for controlling a flow of air through the throttle body. The throttle body includes an inlet for receiving a flow of air, and an outlet operatively connected to the air intakes of both a first and a second engine module for delivering the flow of air to the intakes of the engine modules at a common manifold absolute pressure (MAP) of both engine modules during operation of one or both of the engine modules. The apparatus may further include an inlet manifold defining a common internal plenum, having an inlet for receiving the flow of air from the throttle body, a first outlet for delivering a portion of the flow of air from the common internal plenum to the intake of the first engine module, and a second outlet for delivering a remainder of the flow of air from the common internal plenum to the intake of the second engine module. A multi-engine power plant, according to the invention may include a first internal combustion engine module having an air intake and an output shaft for delivering power, a second internal combustion engine module having an air intake and an output shaft for delivering power, and a single throttle body operatively connected to the air intakes of both the first and second engine modules, for controlling a flow of air to the intakes of the engine modules at a common manifold absolute pressure (MAP) of both engine modules during operation of one or both of the engine modules. The power plant may also include a selectively engagable clutch for operatively coupling the output shaft of the second engine module to output shaft of the first engine module, to thereby produce a common output torque from the first and second engine modules. In an apparatus or method, according to the invention, a flow of fuel to the first engine module may be controlled independently from a flow of fuel to the second engine module, and a flow of fuel to the second engine module may be controlled independently from a flow of fuel to the first engine module. Ignition in the first engine module may also be controlled independently from ignition in the second engine module, and ignition in the second engine module may be controlled independently from ignition in the first engine module. The flow of air through the throttle body may be controlled as a function of a desired torque output of the power plant. The output shaft of the second engine module may be selectively operatively connected to the output shaft of the first engine module. The flow of air through the throttle body may be controlled as a function of whether the output shaft of the second engine module is operatively coupled to the output shaft of the first engine module. The output shaft of the second engine module may be selectively operatively connected to the output shaft of the first engine module, as a function of the desired torque output of the power plant. The flow of air through the throttle body may be controlled according to a first function of desired torque output from the power plant when only the first engine module is operating, and controlled according to a second function of desired torque output when both the first and second engine modules are operating. When the speed of the output shaft of the second engine module does not substantially match the speed of the output shaft of the first engine module, as would be the case when the first engine module was operating but the second engine module was only idling or being started, for example, the throttle body may be controlled according to a third function of desired torque output from the power plant. The second engine module may also be started, by coupling its output shaft to the output shaft of the first engine module, while the first engine module is operating, and controlling the throttle body according to the third function of desired torque while the second engine module is being started. The foregoing and other features and advantages of the invention will become further apparent from the following detailed description of exemplary embodiments, read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. The detailed description and drawings are merely illustrative of our invention rather than limiting, the scope of the invention being defined by the appended claims and equivalents thereof. Throughout the following description of exemplary embodiments of the invention, components and features that are substantially equivalent or similar will be identified in the drawings by the same reference numerals. For the sake of brevity, once a particular element or function of the invention has been described in relation to one exemplary embodiment, the description and function will not be repeated for elements that are substantially equivalent or similar in form and/or function to the components previously described, in those instances where the alternate exemplary embodiments will be readily understood by those skilled in the art from a comparison of the drawings showing the various exemplary embodiments in light of the description of a previously presented embodiment.

Some problems in the area of conveyance of particulate materials were identified in International Application No. PCT/US2009/006733, published on Jul. 8, 2010 as International Publication No. WO/2010/077348. That publication is herein incorporated by reference, and the disclosure of that publication is deemed to be combined with the disclosure of the present specification. Particulate materials such as coal are often transported in open top conveyances, usually railway gondola cars. The material is dumped somewhat indiscriminately into these cars to fill them by hoppers or other large-volume low-accuracy supply mechanisms, with the result that the material is piled somewhat loosely in the gondola car in a humped pile, high in some places, and not present in other void areas in the car. The humped pile has a number of drawbacks. For one, it positions the particulate material such that air passing over the pile more readily carries away lighter particles and dust, resulting in waste and local deposition of large amounts of undesirable dust etc. Also, some space in the car is wasted by the lack of complete distribution of the material in the interior of the car. Another problem relates to methods adopted to prevent dust from blowing away from the material in the gondola car. WO/2010/077348 shows a system and a method for compacting materials in an open top conveyance. This compaction is beneficial to prevent fly away of dust or small particulate material. Where the material is loaded in a high humped pile in the railway car, though, it may produce a problem, in that humped pile of material in the gondola car may be so disproportionately located in the car that compaction is difficult, and the amount of material that has to be moved to be compacted may strain the apparatus.

Ferrofluidic screens and magnets for forming images on the screens are known. In such apparatus, magnetically active particles are disposed in a dispersion medium which substantially precludes travel of the particles throughout the medium yet permits the particles to orient themselves under the influence of a magnetic field. The dispersion medium and particles are typically disposed within an enclosure with at least one side of the enclosure forming a transparent or translucent screen. When a magnetic field is imposed on the magnetically active particles, the particles will orient or align themselves in the dispersion medium along the flux lines of the magnetic field. This alters the light transmission characteristics through the screen. The ferrofluidic screens were primarily developed for industrial application to display the magnetic field of magnetized materials (such as multi-pole magnets) as an aid for quality control during the production of magnets. A typical use of a ferrofluidic screen is to imploy a magnet in the form of a pen such that the pen, when moved along the screen surface, aligns the magnetically active particles to form an image, i.e., the magnetic pen writes on the ferrofluidic screen. The present invention adapts the ferrofluidic screen and magnet phenomena to a scanning apparatus for viewing from one side of an opaque surface element otherwise not visible on the opposite side of the surface.

A power supply to control the flow of energy between a first alternating current (AC) system and a second AC system is required in a variety of commercial and industrial applications, such as the control of AC motor operation. Some such power supplies convert the energy from a first frequency and voltage to a second frequency and voltage. One way to implement such a system is with a drive containing one or more power cells that include two solid state converters with an intermediate direct current (DC) link. A power cell is an electrical device that has a three-phase alternating current input and a single-phase alternating current output. One such system is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,625,545 to Hammond, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. Power cells may be either non-regenerative or regenerative. Non-regenerative power cells can drive a motor but cannot control the flow of current to brake a motor by absorbing regenerative power. Regenerative power cells have the capability of absorbing regenerative power and optionally returning it to the source, thus, allowing the cell to participating in braking the motor. Recently, power cells have been developed that use switching devices, such as insulated gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs) to allow the cell to assist in both driving and braking a motor. For example, referring to FIG. 1 herein, a power cell 160 includes an active front end 162 that serves as a three-phase bridge as it receives power from dedicated three-phase secondary windings of the transformer via an input 142. The cell 160 also includes a plurality of input switches 170-175, which may be bidirectional current-controlling devices such as IGBTs or other transistors, thyristors, or other switching devices. Although six transistors in a bridge format—in this example, three pairs of two transistors each connected in parallel across the DC terminals—are illustrated in FIG. 1, other numbers and types of input switches may be used. The input switches control the DC bus voltage in the cell. A DC filter section 166 includes one or more capacitors 168. The remainder of the cell may include an output stage 164 such as an H-bridge inverter made up of four output switches 131-134, each connected across the output or DC terminals of the active front end 162 and the DC filter 166, to deliver AC power to the output 144. A circuit including power cells such as 160 in FIG. 1, when connected to a load such as a motor, can provide power from an input source to the motor when operating in the motoring mode. When input converter sections 162 such as those shown in FIG. 1 are used, drive switching events can product harmonic currents. Harmonic currents may also be produced when a single-phase inverter section is connected to a motor. The harmonics can be compounded when multiple cells have switches that operate at the same time. U.S. Pat. No. 5,625,545 discloses that a multi-winding transformer may be used to reduce harmonic currents created by a unidirectional, or non-regenerative, power cell. However, this method may not always reduce harmonics in regenerative power cells to a desired level. Other methods, such as using a master clock to generate synchronized carriers and applying the carriers to multiple converters connected to a transformer having non-phase shifted secondary windings, have not been entirely effective, and many increase drive complexity and cost. The disclosure contained herein describes attempts to reduce harmonics created by operating a power cell having bidirectional switching devices.

In the course of daily life, one typically regards objects located at different distances from the eye. To selectively focus on such objects, the focal length of the eye's lens must change. In a healthy eye, this is achieved through the contraction of a ciliary muscle that is mechanically coupled to the lens. To the extent that the ciliary muscle contracts, it deforms the lens. This deformation changes the focal length of the lens. By selectively deforming the lens in this manner, it becomes possible to focus on objects that are at different distances from the eye. This process of selectively focusing on objects at different distances is referred to as “accommodation”. As a person ages, the lens loses plasticity. As a result, it becomes increasingly difficult to deform the lens sufficiently to focus on objects at different distances. To compensate for this loss of function, it is necessary to provide different optical corrections for focusing on objects at different distances. One approach to applying different optical corrections is to carry different pairs of glasses and to swap glasses as the need arises. For example, one might carry reading glasses for reading and a separate pair of distance glasses for driving. This is inconvenient both because of the need to carry more than one pair of glasses and because of the need to swap glasses frequently. Bifocal lenses assist accommodation by integrating two different optical corrections onto the same lens. The lower part of the lens is ground to provide a correction suitable for reading or other close-up work while the remainder of the lens is ground to provide a correction for distance vision. To regard an object, a wearer of a bifocal lens need only maneuver the head so that rays extending between the object-of-regard and the pupil pass through that portion of the bifocal lens having an optical correction appropriate for the range to that object. The concept of a bifocal lens, in which different optical corrections are integrated into the same lens, has been generalized to include trifocal lenses, in which three different optical corrections are integrated into the same lens, and continuous gradient lenses in which a continuum of optical corrections are integrated into the same lens. However, just as in the case of bifocal lenses, optical correction for different ranges of distance using these multifocal lenses relies extensively on relative motion between the pupil and the lens. Once a lens is implanted in the eye, the lens and the pupil move together as a unit. Thus, no matter how the patient's head is tilted, rays extending between the object-of-regard and the pupil cannot be made to pass through a selected portion of the implanted lens. As a result, multifocal lenses are generally unsuitable for intraocular implantation because once the lens is implanted into the eye, there can be no longer be relative motion between the lens and the pupil. A lens suitable for intraocular implantation is therefore generally restricted to being a single focus lens. Such a lens can provide optical correction for only a single range of distances. A patient who has had such a lens implanted into the eye must therefore continue to wear glasses to provide optical corrections for those distances that are not accommodated by the intraocular lens.

Not applicable. Not applicable. Not applicable. The present invention relates to a method and an arrangement for controlling the flow of a coolant fluid in a compressor, in particular in a rotary compressor. The compressors of interest here, in particular rotary compressors, are specifically screw-type compressors with fluid injection. Because such machines are frequently employed at a number of different sites, they are ordinarily movable or at least transportable. From these machines the compressed process fluid is sent through conduits to attached process-fluid consuming apparatus, for example compressed-air tools such as pneumatic hammers, pneumatic impact screwdrivers, pneumatic grinders etc. Such compressors, for instance oil-injection screw compressors, have been known for many years. During the compression process a coolant fluid, in particular oil, is injected into the compression space to become mixed with the process fluid in these compressors. The coolant fluid serves to cool the process fluid by conducting the heat of compression away into a separate cooling circuit, and in addition acts to lubricate particular components of the compressor as well as to seal off the compression space. If the process fluid is air, it is usually sucked in from the surroundings and therefore usually contains an amount of water vapor that depends on its temperature. A first problem, which in this case becomes apparent during the injection or recycling of the coolant fluid, lies in the risk that the temperature will fall below the condensation point for the water vapor present in the air used as process fluid. Water that has condensed out can to a certain extent become emulsified with the coolant fluid, in particular the oil, or can even be injected or recycled as an extra phase. This presents the following disadvantages, among others: reduction of the lubricant properties of the coolant fluid, increased corrosion of the components, and greater wear and tear of the bearings in the compressor. A second problem, which should be distinguished from the first, arises when the process fluid, in particular the compressed air in the conduit leading to the pneumatic apparatus, cools off so that water contained in the process fluid condenses out. As a result, corrosion can occur in the pneumatic apparatus, with permanent damage as a potential consequence. The problem is exacerbated when within the conduits to the pneumatic apparatus, or in the apparatus itself, ice formation occurs because of the low ambient temperature and the conduits to or within the pneumatic apparatus are thereby partially or completely blocked. These effects can be made still worse by expansion of the compressed air in the apparatus, which can lead to functional inadequacies or even total failure of the associated pneumatic apparatus to operate. A third, additional problem is created when the temperature regulation conventionally provided for the coolant fluid is designed to prevent only the first two problems, so that a process fluid at high temperatures is delivered to the pneumatic consuming apparatus. When the ambient temperature is high, only a slight degree of cooling occurs on the way to the pneumatic consuming apparatus, which can cause thermally induced injury to the operator of the apparatus. Many preliminary considerations are known regarding ways to control the coolant fluid in compressors against the background of the problems cited above. A technical regulation principle in current use for controlling the temperature of a coolant fluid in compressors is disclosed, for example, in patent EP 0 067 949 B1. Here a thermostatic slide valve determines whether coolant fluid is sent through a fluid cooler to be used for cooling, or is shunted past the cooler in order to raise the temperature. With this form of regulation the temperature of the coolant fluid is kept relatively constant, and is set at a level such that on one hand it does not cause the temperature of the process fluid to fall below the condensation point, while on the other hand a temperature so high as potentially to damage the coolant fluid is avoided. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,289,461 a further developed valve unit with an inlet and an outlet for coolant fluid is described. Here again, the volume flow of the coolant fluid in a bypass conduit that bridges the fluid cooler is regulated, such that a portion of the flow of coolant fluid is always passed through the fluid cooler. The regulation is achieved by means of a valve comprising two control units that act in opposite directions, one control unit operating dependent on the inlet temperature and the second one, dependent on the system temperature. One of the disadvantages of this design is that the control valve is complicated in structure and subject to malfunction, and furthermore a certain minimal volume flow of coolant fluid passes through the fluid cooler. Hence this proportion of the coolant fluid is constantly cooled, which thus also lowers the temperature of the process fluid. U.S. Pat. No. 4,431,390 discloses a form of regulation in which a second bypass conduit is also provided as a shunt around the fluid cooler. In this second bypass conduit there is an additional valve which, when activated by a processor, allows a specific amount of coolant fluid to bypass the cooler in the form of a pulse. The release of these pulses by the processor depends on various parameters. Hence this solution is extremely elaborate to implement, both because multiple parameters must be monitored and evaluated and because an additional bypass conduit must be provided. The solutions discussed above are predominantly concerned with the problem of keeping the coolant fluid in the compressor itself at a temperature such that water does not condense out and hence impairment of the coolant fluid and of the compressor is prevented. At the same time, the forms of regulation here disclosed are designed so as also to avoid raising the coolant fluid to a temperature high enough to be potentially damaging. However, the problems associated with the condensation of water while it is in the pneumatic consumer devices or in the conduits leading thereto are not addressed. A variant of a solution relevant to this point is known from the patent DE 36 01 816 A1. There the compressed process fluid, which has been heated to about 60xc2x0 C. above the intake temperature of the compressor, is passed through an overdimensioned after cooler to bring it down to a temperature about 10xc2x0 C. above the intake temperature. A considerable proportion of the water vapor present in the process fluid is thereby caused to condense out and is eliminated by a condensate trap. The compressed process fluid is subsequently sent to a heat exchanger where it is rewarmed so that ultimatelyxe2x80x94influenced to some degree by the current ambient parameters, which in this design are assumed to be unchangingxe2x80x94a process fluid is produced that is quite dry and about 60xc2x0 C. above the intake temperature, i.e. very hot. It is an object of the present invention to provide an arrangement for controlling the coolant fluid in a conventional compressor which has a simple, economical and reliable construction and wherein it is possible to reduce or, where possible, avoid the condensation of water out of both a coolant fluid and a process fluid output by the compressor to another apparatus, in particular with respect to condensation and freezing events in the receiving apparatus itself, while a high degree of operating facility is maintained. According to a first aspect of the present invention there is provided an arrangement for controlling the flow of a coolant fluid through a compressor comprising: a coolant-fluid inlet for coolant fluid discharged from the compressor and a coolant-fluid outlet for returning the coolant fluid to the compressor; a fluid cooler through which at least a proportion of the coolant fluid can be passed for cooling, when necessary; a system-control actuator which controls the magnitude of the proportion of the coolant fluid that passes through the fluid cooler on the basis of system parameters including the temperature of the coolant fluid by fluid-control means; a fluid-control device; and a summer-/winter-operation actuator, which in a summer position takes priority over the system-control actuator so as to limit the action of the system-control actuator in one direction, such that when the summer-/winter-operation actuator is activated, the proportion of the coolant fluid that is passed through the fluid cooler is increased or diminished by the fluid-control device. The present invention therefore provides a summer-/winter-operation actuator which, taking priority over the system-control actuator, in a summer position completely or partially overrides the action of the system-control actuator in a direction such that when the summer-/winter-operation actuator is activated, the proportion of the coolant fluid flow that is sent through the fluid cooler is appropriately increased or reduced by a fluid-control means. The invention achieves its object by making use of the fact that the temperature of the process fluid at the point where it emerges from the installation is determined by the temperature of the coolant fluid, and in particular corresponds approximately to the maximal temperature of the coolant fluid. Control of the temperature of the process fluid at the installation output can therefore be accomplished by influencing both the injection temperature and the injection amount of the coolant fluid. To avoid undesired condensation of moisture in the compressor, but especially in the conduits leading to apparatus receiving the compressed process fluid from the compressor and/or within the apparatus themselves, the arrangement can initially be adjusted so that the process fluid is less strongly cooled and is sent to the consuming apparatus or into the conduits leading thereto at a comparatively high temperature. The cooling that occurs within the conduits, or by the time the fluid reaches the consuming apparatus, then usually suffices to ensure the comfort of the personnel responsible for operating the consuming apparatus. Only when the ambient temperature is high, so that the cooling effect on the process fluid as it is conducted to the consuming apparatus is in some circumstances no longer as great, does the invention provide for further cooling of the process fluid under the influence of a summer-/winter-operation actuator. The summer-/winter-operation actuator or, more generally speaking, an ambient-temperature-compensation actuator, is provided in order to compensate as far as possible a reduction or enhancement of cooling brought about by a higher or lower ambient temperature. The terms xe2x80x9csummerxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cwinterxe2x80x9d in the context of summer-/winter-operation actuator or summer/winter position are used herein and in the claims in order to facilitate understanding, and in general designate two different kinds of ambient conditions, namely warmer surroundings on one hand and colder surroundings on the other hand. Hence the winter operation is intended to prevent the temperature from falling below the condensation point of the process fluid on its way to the consuming apparatus, whereas the summer operation is intended to avoid exceeding a maximal temperature at the apparatus. With the arrangement described here it is possible by simple means to solve, in a reliable and economical manner, problems of all three kinds present in the state of the art, namely condensation in the compressor, condensation in the conduits leading to the consuming apparatus or in the apparatus themselves, and excessive heating of the consuming apparatus devices just when the ambient temperature is high. In an alternative embodiment the summer-/winter-operation actuator, which in more general terms can be called an ambient-temperature-compensation actuator for compensating effects on the cooling of fluid associated with a higher or lower temperature of the ambient air, comprises a manual control apparatus by means of which the summer-/winter-operation actuator can be adjusted, in particular can be switched between two positions, namely a summer position and a winter position. Obviously the manual control apparatus can be constructed in various ways; for example, it can comprise a hand-operated lever, a setting wheel, where appropriate with a stepping-down action, and/or another suitable control device. In one specific embodiment the summer-/winter-operation actuator comprises an actuating shaft with a cam structure such that the cam structure acts on the fluid-control device by way of a control element. In this case the actuating shaft can, for instance, cooperate with the manual control device or also be driven by an electric motor or by pneumatic or hydraulic means. In another alternative embodiment the summer-/winter-operation actuator is functionally connected to a thermocouple in contact with the outside air, so that the outside-air thermocouple activates the summer-/winter-operation actuator in dependence on the external or ambient temperature. In yet another alternative embodiment the summer-/winter-operation actuator is functionally connected to a thermosensor that activates the summer-/winter-operation actuator in dependence on the outside temperature. In both of the preceding embodiments the advantage over a manual control apparatus is that there is automatic compensation of an elevated or reduced cooling effect when the ambient air is colder or warmer, whereas with a manual control apparatus the activation of the summer-/winter-operation actuator has to be performed by the operating personnel. In an especially preferred embodiment the system-control actuator and the summer-/winter-operation actuator are functionally connected to a common fluid-control device that adjusts the proportion of the coolant-fluid flow that is directed through the fluid cooler, such that the functional connection between the system-control actuator and the fluid-control device is completely or partially interrupted in one direction of action when the summer-/winter-operation actuator is adjusted in the direction towards a summer position. In this way, when both the system-control actuator and the summer-/winter-operation actuator influence the flow of the coolant fluid by way of only one common fluid-control device, control of the cooling of the process fluid can be especially simply and effectively accomplished. At the same time the actuator prioritization, which is regarded as a useful feature, is implemented in a particularly simple manner, inasmuch as when it is needed, the summer-/winter-operation actuator can be put into a position in which it completely or partly eliminates the action of the fluid-control device in one direction. This makes it possible to set the installation initially to a relatively high temperature of the process fluid, as described at the outset, and then, when the ambient temperature is high, to make corrections by means of the summer-/winter-operation actuator. In one embodiment of the invention the system-control actuator and summer-/winter-operation actuator are disposed coaxially, which enables a relatively simple construction. In another preferred embodiment a displaceably mounted control element is made integral with the fluid-control device, as a control cylinder. Here the displaceably mounted control element is a force- or action-transmitting means, which need not necessarily be immersed in the fluid flow. Preferably also, the one-piece cylinder extends into the fluid flow and simultaneously comprises sealing surfaces, to seal off the fluid channel. In a structurally preferred embodiment the system-control actuator is attached to and preferably within the control element and is braced against a contact surface that is fixed in a given position regardless of the position of the summer-/winter-operation actuator. Thus depending on the position of the summer-/winter-operation actuator, the system-control actuator is only partially effective or in some circumstances entirely ineffective in one direction of action with respect to adjustment of the fluid-control device. In one concrete, advantageous embodiment the summer-/winter-operation actuator acts on the control element by way of a displacement piston, directly or indirectly, to adjust the fluid-control device. The summer-/winter-operation actuator can be switched between at least two positions. Preferably it can also occupy one or more intermediate positions or, as is especially preferred with respect to control technology, can be shifted continuously between a first (winter) position and a second (summer) position. Furthermore, it is also possible to apply a logical reversal of the idea underlying the present invention, namely to use the arrangement for controlling the flow of coolant fluid so as to keep the process fluid in a compressor initially at a relatively low temperature, at which it is subject to condensation, and at critical, in this case cool ambient temperatures to give the summer-/winter-operation actuator or compensation actuator priority for influencing the flow of coolant fluid so as to raise the temperature of the process fluid. Moreover, with the concept of prioritization according to the present invention, the temperature of the process fluid can be influenced not only by controlling the temperature of the coolant fluid injected into the compressor but also, additionally or alternatively, by altering the volume flow of the coolant fluid. Preferably also, the fluid-control device is positioned at a junction between a bypass conduit that bridges the fluid cooler and a cooling conduit associated with the fluid cooler, in such a way that when the flow of coolant fluid through the fluid cooler is increased, the amount of coolant fluid flowing through the bypass conduit is simultaneously reduced. In this case the junction at which the fluid-control device is positioned can be situated either ahead of the fluid cooler in the direction of flow or after the fluid cooler. Positioning of the fluid-control device at a junction is regarded as particularly advantageous because as the one flow component is increased, a simultaneous reduction of the other component is brought about, so that the influence of this action is extremely effective. According to a third aspect of the present invention there is provided a method of controlling the flow of a coolant fluid through a compressor, in particular through a rotary compressor, in order to adjust the temperature of a process fluid wherein the coolant fluid discharged from the compressor can be directed through a fluid cooler when necessary for cooling, the proportion of coolant fluid injected into the compressor or the proportion of the coolant fluid that is directed through the fluid cooler being controlled on the basis of system parameters including the temperature of the coolant fluid, and wherein, in order to prevent condensation or ice formation in apparatus receiving the output from the compressor or in conduits connecting the compressor to such apparatus when the temperature of the outside air is low, in particular when the temperature of the outside air falls below a certain threshold TG, the proportion of coolant fluid injected into the compressor is decreased or the magnitude of the proportion of the coolant fluid directed through the fluid cooler is reduced or is interrupted. In a preferred embodiment of this method, the coolant flow directed through the fluid cooler is initially reduced irrespective of the outside-air temperature and is only increased when the outside air becomes warm, in particular when its temperature rises above the threshold TG. The present invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the attached drawings.

1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to the field of computing technology, and more particularly to a method, system, and computer program for configuration nodes of SVC clusters. 2. Description of the Related Art The Network Attached Storage (NAS) platform is already recognized as a key platform for digitization technology. NAS platform needs to be continuously developed to higher standards in terms of storage volume as well as data accessibility, data transmission, data management and storage scalability, in response to the requirements of various applications. It is safe to say that the quality of an NAS platform has a direct impact on the normal operation of the entire system. Therefore, to meet the increasing requirements of applications, a growing number of people have now become aware of the importance of Virtual Storage (VS).

Circuitized substrates, and particularly printed circuit boards (PCBs), present a substantially planar surface on which electronic components are to be mounted. Circuit paths for these components are provided by forming conductive lines on the surface that connect component-mounting “thru-holes” in the board, for those components to which such connections are required, as well as simply between pads or the like if only surface coupling is desired, e.g., where solder balls are used as in the case of ball grid array (BGA) package structures. Electrical leads that extend from the components are electrically connected to the conductive lines when the components are mounted to the board thru-holes, or just to the pads if pad-to-pad and/or solder ball connections are used. PCBs can be single-sided, in which case components are mounted on only one surface of the circuit board, or double-sided, in which case components are mounted on opposing surfaces (and often connected to one another through the board). Today's PCBs typically include several dielectric (e.g., a glass fiber-resin combination material known as “FR4”) layers interspersed with the requisite number of conductor (e.g., copper) layers, which may be in the form of signal, power or ground layers. For such internal signal layers, the connecting lines thereof are also typically formed using the same processing as the external surface conductors, with the formed dielectric-conductor sub-composite then aligned and bonded to other sub-composites, typically using conventional lamination processes, to form the final multilayered (composite) structure. PCBs are generally manufactured using either a subtractive etch process, a pattern plating process, or an electro-less pattern plating process, the latter also referred to as additive pattern plating. In all of these processes, a circuit mask that lays out the desired pattern of the conductive lines is transferred to the circuit board by printing the circuit mask pattern onto a polymeric radiation-sensitive resist material deposited on the board. The resist material is irradiated in the pattern of the circuit mask so that it is physically transformed where it is irradiated and is unchanged where shielded by the circuit mask. The resist material is then “developed” by exposing it to a fast-reacting chemical solution that selectively removes either the irradiated material (called a positive resist) or removes the non-irradiated material (called a negative resist). Subtractive etching of PCBs typically begins with a board substrate comprised of a non-conductive material on which a layer of conductive material such as copper has been plated. A layer of photo-resist material is then deposited and “developed” in the circuit mask pattern so as to expose the conductive material where circuit paths are not desired. The exposed conductive material in the photo-resist voids is then etched away. Finally, the remaining photo-resist material is removed, leaving behind conductive lines wherever circuit paths were desired. The subtractive etch process provides good control over circuit path height because the amount of conductive material plated onto the substrate can be generally controlled very well. Precisely controlled circuit path height is especially important with surface mount techniques, especially when forming fine line circuitry with highly dense patterns. Unfortunately, the subtractive etch process generally does not provide precise control over circuit path width, due to plating variation and lack of sharply defined path edges. The lack of width control is disadvantageous with current demands for increasingly high component mounting densities that require relatively thin conductive lines placed in close proximity to each other. Pattern plating, also referred to as acid plate pattern plating, uses electro-plating techniques to deposit conductive lines in circuit paths defined by photo-resist material voids. More specifically, a conductive foil layer on the circuit board is connected to an electrode and the conductive material is deposited onto the board in the resist material voids using an oppositely charged electrode. The width of the conductive lines is generally dependant on the developed photo-resist pattern, which typically is of photographic sharpness. Pattern plating thereby provides good control over circuit path width and permits conductive lines of relatively fine width. The circuit path height, however, is not as easily controlled because such height is dependent on the density of the desired conductive lines. As a result, isolated conductive lines are typically thicker than densely packed (closely spaced) conductive lines. Thus, line height is not precisely controlled by the acid plate process. The additive (electro-less) plating process is similar to the acid plate pattern process, except that chemical plating processes are used rather than electro-plating processes. Additive plate fabrication generally requires more time to complete as compared to acid plate pattern fabrication but is not as susceptible to circuit path height variation according to line density. Additive plating does occasionally result in copper nodule formation, however. The surfaces of pattern plated circuit boards need to be planarized prior to successfuil plating. Planarization methods such as surface machining remove non-planar regions of the board. Chemical mechanical polish, another often used method also employed in the semiconductor and ceramic industries, contains abrasive slurry materials which attack both resist and copper surfaces. Such polishing techniques are not compatible with many organic-based substrates, which are often used in conjunction with surface-mount technology circuit boards. Surface-mount technology is gaining in popularity because it permits higher component densities and faster component mounting as compared with more conventional wire-bonding techniques in which it is necessary to electrically interconnect several small contacts and conductor sites with fine, delicate wires. Such polishing techniques are generally incompatible with organic based substrates because such substrates are somewhat flexible and typically have surface undulations. The surface undulations are due to variations in substrate thickness and also to the inherent flexibility of the boards, which permits bowing and warping. Conventional chemical-mechanical polishing techniques will not follow these undulations and contours of flexible substrates. As a result, board areas of extra thickness or that bow outward will be left with conductive lines having areas that are too thin, and board areas of reduced thickness will be left with conductive lines having areas that are too thick. In U.S. Pat. No. 6,547,974, issued Apr. 15, 2003, there is described producing a PCB using a process which includes patterning a photo-resist layer according to a circuit mask that defines desired circuit paths. The photo-resist pattern layer is formed by removing the photo-resist from the board in the desired circuit paths and a conductive material is plated onto the board in the voids defined by the circuit mask so that the height of the conductive material relative to the substrate equals or exceeds the height of the photo-resist layer relative to the substrate. A low-reactive solution is applied over the conductive material and removes a surface portion thereof. As the solution removes the conductive layer, it forms a film barrier and the solution composition changes, both of which substantially inhibit any further removal of the conductive material. Next, the film barrier is removed from the board allowing another film barrier to form stimulating the removal of further conductive material. The removal step is repeated until the conductive material is at a desired height relative to the height of the resist layer. The board is then finished using conventional circuit board fabrication techniques. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,502,893, issued Apr. 2, 1996, there is described a PCB manufacturing method in which an organic non-conductive layer does not separate from the PCB's “metal core” (e.g., of aluminum) even in an environment of high temperature and high humidity since both the metal core and the organic non-conductive layer are firmly adhered. An organic non-conductive layer is formed over the metal core with a metal plated layer (e.g., nickel) there-between for protecting the metal core. A metal oxide layer is also used for enhancing adhesive force. By utilizing such a metal oxide layer, it is possible to more effectively prevent the organic non-conductive layer from separating from the plated layer (and thus the metal core). Further, the protecting metal plated layer can protect the metal core from erosion caused by contact with a strong alkali solution, etc. as may be used in a process of forming the metal oxide layer. Still further, copper plating inside the through hole can be performed easily. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,494,781, issued Feb. 27, 1996, there is described a method for manufacturing a PCB in which there is formed on a top surface of an insulating substrate a layer of plating ground layer as a metal film, irradiating using electromagnetic waves such as provided by a laser, a boundary edge zone of what are referred to as “non-circuit parts” with respect to circuit-printing parts on the insulating substrate in correspondence to a pattern of the non-circuit parts to remove the plating ground layer at the part irradiated by the electromagnetic waves, and thereafter to form a plating on the surface of the plating ground layer at the non-irradiated parts. The apparent result is that the laser irradiation is carried out only with respect to the boundary edge zone of the non-circuit parts, without irradiating all of the non-circuit parts. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,468,409, issued Nov. 21, 1995, there is described an etching solution for precision etching of vapor-deposited copper films of complex curvature on PCBs. Cupric chloride, sodium chloride and de-ionized water are constituents of the etching solution, which the authors claim are able to produce circuit lines of about three to ten mils. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,358,622, issued Oct. 25, 1994, there is described a procedure for producing PCBs with pads for insertion of surface-mount devices (called SMDs by the authors). A copper lined base plate is provided with a positive photo-protective layer with a coating thickness lesser or equal to the depth of the pads to be built up for the connection of the SMD components. The positive photo-protective layer is exposed using a primary film with a window mask corresponding to the desired pad arrangement, and the exposed base plate is developed in a developing bath such that the photo-protective layer is removed in the area of the exposed windows, exposing open copper areas. The base plate developed in this way is exposed with a secondary film using a mask for the strip conductors, whereby the strip conductors are modeled as opaque areas. The twice-exposed base plate is electroplated in a tin or tin-lead bath, whereby a tin or tin-lead coating is built up in the region of the open copper area until the pads have been formed by this means with a depth greater or equal to the thickness of the photo-protective layer. The electroplated base plate is developed in a developing bath, whereby the tin plated pad areas and the protective layer regions covered by the opaque strip conductor areas of the secondary film remain. The base plate developed in this way is etched, whereby the laid-open copper areas are removed and the protective lacquer existing in the strip conductor areas is removed, laying bare the copper strip conductor areas. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,338,645, issued Aug. 16, 1994, PCBs with three-dimensional surfaces are disclosed. Using a first technique, a three dimensional surface is formed on a substrate having a high melting point or permitting a high degree of infrared energy transmittance. The surface contains a layer of metallization maintained at a depth of less than two microns. An infrared laser then moves around the surface and selectively vaporizes the metallization, leaving a desired printed circuit pattern. The remaining metallization is plated to a useable depth. Using a second technique, a fiber optic bundle is machined on one end to mate with the three dimensional surface. The three dimensional surface, metallized and coated with photo-resist, resides in intimate contact with this first end. A second end of the cable is flat and resides in intimate contact with two-dimensional master photo artwork. A pattern is exposed on the photo-resist through the fiber optic bundle, and the metallization is etched using conventional techniques. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,308,796, issued May 3, 1994, there is described a deposition process which involves formation of a silicide, such as palladium silicide, in the region upon which copper deposition is desired. The silicide acts as a catalyst to initiate reduction of copper ions from an electro-less plating bath to produce an acceptably low resistance copper deposition. Thus, for example, in the case of producing an interconnect involving a silicon region at the bottom of the interconnect structure defined through a silicon dioxide region, palladium is first evaporated over the entire surface and is heated to form palladium silicide only at the base of the via structure. The palladium on the silicon dioxide surface is un-reacted. A selective etch is then used to remove the un-reacted surface palladium. Upon substrate immersion in a conventional electro-less copper plating bath, copper deposition proceeds selectively on the palladium silicide surfaces and continues up through the interconnect. The silicon dioxide surface is non-catalytic to the plating step and induces essentially no copper deposition. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,160,579, issued Nov. 3, 1992, there is described a process in which the areas of a PCB where electrical components are to be solder connected, such as thru-holes, surrounding pads and surface mount areas, are selectively provided with a metal coating (e.g., tin-lead) which preserves and promotes solderability at these locations, by a process in which a photo-imageable electro-phoretically deposited organic resin is used to provide, on an already patterned surface, an additional resist pattern which selectively exposes areas on which the solderable metal coating is to be provided and in which the resist serves also as an etch resist for metal areas over which it is arranged. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,118,385, issued Jun. 2, 1992, there is described a method for making a multilayered electrical inter-connect on substrates such as PCBs in which the inter-connect includes stacked pillars between layers, the method using a minimal number of conventional process steps. The method includes sputtering a chromium/copper/titanium tri-layer onto a dielectric base, depositing a patterned mask on the tri-layer, etching the exposed tri-layer, removing the mask, depositing a layer of polyimide over the un-etched copper, forming a via in the polyimide above the copper, plating nickel into the via using electro-less plating, and polishing the inter-connect to form a planar top surface. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,084,071, issued Jan. 28, 1992, there is described a method of chemical mechanical polishing an electronic component substrate including the steps of obtaining an article having at least two features thereon or therein which have a different etch rate with respect to a particular etchant; contacting the article with a polishing pad while contacting the substrate with a slurry containing the etchant wherein the slurry includes abrasive particles (which do not include alumina), a transition metal chelated salt, a solvent for the salt, and a small but effective amount of alumina. The polishing causes the two features to be substantially coplanar. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,775,611, issued Oct. 4, 1988, there is described forming high density primary wiring patterns on PCBs with less than 0.005 inch spacings and wiring conductor widths, which claim to permit wider conductors of at least three times the wiring spacing and which are thus less likely to have open circuit or substrate adherence defects. This is achieved by depositing on an irregular surface of a conventional “flat” panel insulator a thick liquid photopolymer layer of paste-like consistency, such as to a 0.006 inch thickness, flattening it with the image bearing side of a glass plate photo-transparency to produce high resolution wiring patterns comprising ridge tops defining insulating spacing between channel conductor areas there-between by means of un-collimated actinic radiation, forming thin conductive layers 0.0014 inch thick on the channel bottoms and sidewalls to produce wider conductors, and sanding off the flat ridge tops to assure that there are no short circuits between adjacent conductors. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,702,792, issued Oct. 27, 1987, there is described a method of forming fine conductive lines, patterns, and connectors on a substrate, particularly those useful for electronic devices. The method comprises a series of steps in which a polymeric material is applied to the substrate, the polymeric material patterned to form openings through, spaces within, or combinations thereof in the polymeric material, a conductive material is applied to the patterned polymeric material, so that it at least fills the openings and spaces existing in the polymeric material, with excess conductive material removed from the exterior major surface of the polymeric material using chemical-mechanical polishing to expose at least the exterior major surface of the polymeric material. The structure remaining has a planar exterior surface, wherein the conductive material filling the openings and spaces in the patterned polymeric material becomes features such as fine lines, patterns, and connectors which are surrounded by the polymeric material. The polymeric material may be left in place as an insulator or removed, leaving the conductive features on the substrate. The present invention provides a new and unique process for plating highly dense conductive elements (e.g., circuit lines) on a surface of a circuitized substrate in a manner which substantially overcomes many of the aforementioned disadvantages. As defined herein, it is especially able to do so when further plating precious metallurgy on the lines, such added metallurgy deemed important to provide enhanced connections. In one embodiment, the invention is able to also provide high density arrays of thru-holes within the circuit pattern, adding even more versatility to the invention.

This invention relates to machine tools and, more particularly, to computer controlled machine tool contouring systems. The use of digital computers to direct and control machine tools in the production of non-round contours is well known in the art, particularly for machine tools utilizing a generally cylindrical cutting element and wherein the workpiece support table is positioned in relation to the cutting element in response to computer generated control signals. Non-round contours which may be produced by such contouring systems particularly include the interior surfaces of rotary engine chambers (e.g. the epitrochoid-shaped contours of Wankel engine chambers), and also the inner and outer surface of various cams. The end uses for such contoured workpieces often require precision of contour within 0.001 inches. To obtain contours with this precision, the control portion of the contouring system must accommodate continuing wear of the cutting element. In addition, the relative velocity of the point of contact of the grinding wheel with respect to the work surface must be substantially constant. Generally, contouring systems for non-round contour generation use a complex cam-following apparatus for guiding the cutting element against the workpiece. In such systems, the cam-following apparatus provides a controlled movement of the workpiece relative to the cutting element along a suitable path to accommodate changes in radius of the grinding tool and the desired feedrate. However, in the grinding of complex non-round contours, it is difficult and correspondingly expensive to produce a mechanism (such as a tapered cam follower) for achieving the desired cutting element wear compensation. Further, in view of the substantial dynamic forces on the tracking and drive cams during high speed grinding operations, such contouring systems are subject to severe grinding speed limitations resulting from the deleterious effects of those forces on the cam surfaces. Further, although the cam-following contouring systems often do provide for a nominally constant surface velocity of the workpiece with reference to the contour of the cutting element by providing a separate surface velocity control cam, the surface velocity may vary substantially from the nominal value. Consequently, localized regions of heating occur on the workpiece during low speed portions of the cutting cycle and result in damage to the workpiece surface. In addition, the localized heating causes thermal expansion of the workpiece which must be compensated for in the generation of the cam tracks in order to provide precision contouring. It will be noted that the latter effect is difficult to effectively offset for complex non-round contours. A further limitation on cam-following contouring systems is the relative inflexibility of such systems in that only a specific contour (designed into the system by the cam) may be produced without requiring system modification. It is further known in the art to utilize digital computers for the control of machine tools wherein the computer generates control signals for directing the relative movement of the cutting element with respect to the workpiece so that the central axis of the cutting element is positioned to pass through a predetermined series of spatial points. The computer in such systems may be used to first calculate the coordinates of these predetermined spatial points in a manner accommodating a current radius of the cutting element, a required offset for achieving a desired feedrate, and a desired surface velocity, and then to generate appropriate signals to the associated positioning systems. However, the workpiece positioning systems are generally limited in the speed to which they can respond to the computer generated control signals. The limitation restrains this type of contouring system to surface velocities of less than 20 feet per minute or rotational velocities of less than 10 RPM.

1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method, system, and article of manufacture for synchronizing device error information among nodes. 2. Description of the Related Art Host systems in a storage network may communicate with a storage controller through multiple paths. The storage controller may be comprised of separate storage clusters or nodes, where each storage cluster is capable of accessing the storage and provide redundancy to access the storage. Hosts may access the attached storage through either cluster. If a storage cluster fails, then the host may failover to using the other storage cluster to access the storage. In redundant storage controller environments, it is common for each storage node or cluster to establish ownership of certain external resources, such as network and Input/Output device adaptors. If a node in the system fails, other nodes in the system can take ownership of the resources that were owned by the failing node. If an external resource in the system starts reporting errors, the owning node will begin thresholding these errors and taking appropriate system recovery actions based on the number of detected errors. If, during this process, the owning node fails, another available node takes ownership of the external resource, but may have no knowledge of the previous errors that were recorded by the failing node. This causes the new owning node to treat the next error on the external resource as if it were the first error. Further, if the multiple errors reported by the external resource somehow caused the previous owning node to fail, then the new owning node will go through the same actions as the previous node, which could result in the new owning node failing in the same way. If other nodes in the system continue to take ownership of the resource, it could result in all nodes failing, causing the customer to lose access to data. Restarting the recovery operation from a zero error count may cause the overall system recovery (taken by the previous owning node and the new owning node) to take long enough such that the host system times out and the customer loses access to data. There is a need in the art for improved techniques to maintain error information for shared devices accessed by multiple nodes.

1. Field of the Invention The invention relates to a method of manufacturing an insertion-type connector having a plurality of first, mutually electrically insulated, conductor contacts which are cut from a metal sheet in such a way that they are connected together via a connecting part of the metal sheet, and having a plurality of second conductor contacts which are connected together and which are cut from a metal sheet, the conductor contacts being partly embedded in an electrically insulating material to form an electrically insulating housing which fixes the conductor contacts relative to one another, and the connecting part then being separated off. 2. Description of Related Art Insertion-type connectors of this kind are generally produced by manufacturing, separately, the individual conductor contacts, an insulator which receives the conductor contacts and mutually insulates them, and a housing which receives the conductor contacts and the insulator, and then assembling these individual components. When this is done, provision may also be made for the housing, if formed from an electrically insulating material, to perform the function of the insulator as well. This way of manufacturing an insertion-type connector involves in particular considerable costs for the assembly work, which increase the unit costs of the individual insertion-type connectors. Because insertion-type connectors are usually mass-produced articles for which only low unit costs are acceptable, the reduction of costs is a fundamental aim of the development work done on them. Known from US 2004/0092169 A1 is a method of manufacturing an insertion-type connector in which two subarrays of signal contact members, which arrays are held parallel to one another at one end via respective connecting strips, are connected together by means of the connecting strips. Plastics material is then molded around the contact terminals of the signal contact members to form a first part of a connector body. A subarray of power contact members, which are held parallel to one another at one end via a connecting strip, then have another plastics material molded around them to form a second part of the body, which is molded onto the first part. All the connecting strips are separated off after the two stages of the injection molding process. Known from U.S. Pat. No. 6,641,411 B1 is a high-density, high-speed connector wherein each signal conductor is always surrounded by four ground (earth) conductors. To reduce interference and reduced crosstalk between differential signal conductors provision is made in certain embodiments for the signal conductors to be so arranged in the connector that pairs of differential signals are orthogonal to one another. Known from US 2008/0050969 A1 is an insertion-type connector having a plurality of parallel pins which are fastened into the connector. A printed circuit board is connected to the connector. Some of the pins are configured to transmit signals from the circuit board and other pins are electrically connected to a ground (earth) potential of the circuit board. The pins are so organized that some signal-conducting pins are surrounded by four pins carrying the ground.

1. Field of the Invention (Technical Field) The present invention relates to a process for production of boron nitride powders exhibiting smooth spherical morphology, spheroidal particles with xe2x80x9cbladedxe2x80x9d surface morphology, spheroidal particles with protruding xe2x80x9cwhiskers,xe2x80x9d and fully xe2x80x9cbladedxe2x80x9d particles with platelet morphology, and particles having turbostratic or hexagonal crystal structure. The process utilizes aerosol assisted vapor phase synthesis (AAVS), nitriding organoboron precursors through a boron oxide nitride intermediary composition, to form spherical and modified spherical boron nitride powders. The process can be achieved through use of an aerosol assisted vapor phase reactor system (AAVRS), and it has significant use in preparation of the preferred spheroidal boron nitride powders for use in the microelectronic, polymer, and cosmetic industries as well as in traditional ceramic markets (e.g., aerospace and automotive products). 2. Background Art Boron nitride (BN) is a well-known, commercially produced refractory non-oxide ceramic material. Boron nitride properties are highly dependent on its crystalline structure. The most common structure for BN is a hexagonal crystal structure. This structure is similar to the carbon structure for graphite, consisting of extended two-dimensional layers of edge-fused six-membered (BN)3 rings. The rings arrange in crystalline form where B atoms in the rings in one layer are above and below N atoms in neighboring layers and vice versa (i.e., the rings are shifted positionally with respect to layers). The intraplanar Bxe2x80x94N bonding in the fused six-membered rings is strongly covalent while the interplanar Bxe2x80x94N bonding is weak, similar to graphite. Historically, commercial boron nitride articles have been prepared by hot pressing BN powders obtained from classical metallurgical high-temperature synthesis (e.g., boric acid treated with urea at 1000xc2x0 C., xe2x80x9chot-pressed BNxe2x80x9d; or BN obtained by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) growth, xe2x80x9cpyrolytic BNxe2x80x9d). Pyrolytic BN is considered the more typical form in the industry, given the absence of binders and improved crystallinity and grain features. (Unless otherwise indicated, properties of BN described in these background materials are representative of pyrolytic BN.) Under these typical solid state synthesis conditions, BN is typically obtained as a mixture of meso-graphitic and turbostratic modifications that contain varying degrees of disorder of the ideal hexagonal BN structure (h-BN). Fully ordered h-BN is only obtained with careful attention to synthetic detail. (Paine, RT, Narula, CK. Synthetic Routes to Boron Nitride. Chem. Rev. 90: 73-91, 1990.) Commercial applications for h-BN are well established in several traditional ceramic markets. In particular, the high temperature stability, chemical inertness, lubricity, electrical resistivity and thermal conductivity make BN powders ideal for fabrication of products used in aerospace, automotive and microelectronic products, including large crucibles, heat sinks, mold liners and electrical insulators. Unlike carbon, h-BN is a colorless or (in cases where impurities are present with defect states in the electronic band gap) white material. In its powder form, it can be processed by classical powder forming methods into simple and complex shapes. Since it is soft, hot pressed bodies can be easily machined. In the absence of oxygen and moisture, BN is stable above 2000xc2x0 C.; however, it combusts in oxygen near 900xc2x0 C. The layered, hexagonal crystal structure results in anisotropic physical properties that make this material unique in the overall collection of non-oxide ceramics. Examples of various known or attempted methods to produce spheroidal BN through hexagonal modification include several high-temperature, metallurgical or chemical vapor deposition (CVD) reactions. (Paine, RT, Narula, CK. Synthetic Routes to Boron Nitride. Chem. Rev. 90: 73-91, 1990.) From the commercial standpoint, h-BN is obtained as a powder most often from multi-step processes that employ boric oxide, sodium borate or boric acid as the boron raw material and urea, melamine and/or ammonia as the nitriding source. These reactions are driven by the thermodynamic stability of BN and the reducing nitridation conditions that remove impurities. Carbothermal reduction conditions also can be employed to remove oxygen. Commercial powder producers manipulate reaction conditions in order to achieve target powder purity, grain size, sinterability and crystallinity. These features, in turn, influence powder processibility and finished product performance. It is important to note that commercial powders are usually obtained either as agglomerates having irregular morphology or as primary particles with a platelet morphology. The latter is a macroscopic manifestation of the inherent crystal structure of h-BN. Recently, interest in inorganic ceramic/organic polymer composites containing BN powders for thermal management applications has arisen. It has been suggested in the art that a spherical morphology BN powder would be useful to enhance powder processing of polymers. However, a commercial source of such powders is not available. One known process to obtain small, laboratory-scale samples of spheroidal BN involves reacting trichloroborazine with an aminosilane to form a polymer that dissolves in liquid ammonia (NH3). The resulting solution may be used to form an aerosol containing poly(borazinylamine). The aerosol is then passed through a reaction furnace to produce a boron nitride powder composed of primary particles having spherical morphology. Further nitridation in an NH3 atmosphere at a temperature of 1600xc2x0 C., over a period of time of at least eight hours, gives h-BN particles of overall spheroidal shape with protruding non-uniform blades. This process is not commercially viable since it requires the use of an expensive, commercially unavailable polymer that is made only from an expensive commercially unavailable monomer. (Lindquist, DA et al. Boron Nitride Powders Formed by Aerosol Decomposition of Poly(borazinylamine) Solutions. J. Am. Ceram. Soc. 74 (12) 3126-28, 1991.) As another example, a second method reacts boron trichloride with ammonia, a combination typically used to make platelet morphology h-BN by CVD. The resulting powders are treated at high temperature in a graphite furnace under vacuum. (The patent suggests formation of spherical primary particles although no evidence of the actual morphology is provided.) This process, if successful, is not commercially attractive due to the expense of the starting material, BCl3, and the formation of a corrosive by-product HCl that tends to leave chloride impurities in powders. (European Patent Office Publication No. 0 396 448.) A third and potentially more practical process for the formation of spherical morphology h-BN powders utilizes a process where an aerosol is generated from a saturated (0.9M) aqueous solution of boric acid. The aerosol is passed into a heated tubular reactor where it is nitrided by NH3 in a temperature range of between 600xc2x0 C. and 1500xc2x0 C., preferably between 1000xc2x0 C. and 1200xc2x0 C. A powder product, BNxOy, is collected that contains significant amounts of oxygen, typically between 40 wt. % to 55 wt. %. The primary particles have spherical particle diameters in the range 0.1 micron to 5 microns. These powders are subsequently nitrided in a second stage in a temperature range of between 1000xc2x0 C. to 1700xc2x0 C. under a flowing stream of NH3. The oxygen contents of the resulting boron nitride powders are less than 4 wt. % and the particles retain the spherical morphology. (Pruss et al., Aerosol Assisted Vapor Synthesis of Spherical Boron Nitride Powders. Chem. Mater. 12(1), 19-21, 2000; U.S. Pat. No. 6,348,179 to Pruss et al.) Although the process described by Pruss et al. is practically useful for the production of spherical morphology BN powders, it possesses several drawbacks, including: (a) large amounts of water are injected into the tubular reaction zone in the form of aerosol droplets thereby diluting the NH3 reactant that is required for nitridation of H3BO3 dissolved in the aqueous aerosol droplets; (b) the large amounts of injected water act as a back-reactant with BNxOy aerosol powders; (c) water is also formed as a reaction byproduct in the first stage aerosol nitridation; (d) the BNxOy powders formed in the first-stage nitridation reaction contain large amounts of oxygen; (e) the large amounts of oxygen are difficult to remove in the second-stage nitridation; and (f) there is significant loss of boron as a volatile component during the nitridation process. Due to these drawbacks alternative solventless or non-aqueous solvent-based aerosol chemical systems have been sought in the industry. Very few readily available, inexpensive boron reagents exist that are soluble in a non-aqueous solvent appropriate for aerosol formation or aerosol pyrolysis. Similarly, there are very few inexpensive, liquid-phase boron reagents that might be employed directly without a solvent to generate an aerosol. However, at least one family of boron reagents does exist that is commercially available in large quantities at relatively low cost and is soluble in non-aqueous solvents: trialkoxyboranes or trialkylborates, (RO)3B (e.g., R=Me(CH3), Et(C2H5), Pr(C3H3), Bu(C4H9)). These are free-flowing liquids at 23xc2x0 C. In addition, there is evidence in the literature that suggests that trialkylborates, (RO)3B, react with the common nitriding reagent ammonia, NH3. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 2,629,732, discloses that (RO)3B (R=lower mol. wt. alkyl groups preferably CH3) reacts with NH3 in a 1:1 ratio in the gas phase at normal atmospheric pressure and temperature to give adducts, (RO)3B.NH3. Further, other examples in the literature describe a reaction of (CH3O)3B with NH3 that is claimed to form an adduct (MeO)3B.NH3 that sublimes at 45xc2x0 C. and allegedly is stable to at least 375xc2x0 C. (Goubeau et al., Z. Anorg. Allgem. Chem. 266, 161-174, 1951.) Goubeau et al. also describe reactions that employ other reactant ratios which produce complex product mixtures that are not identified. The chemistry is proposed to involve elimination of methanol and dimethyl ether. U.S. Pat. No. 2,824,787 to May et al. claims the formation of BN from pyrolysis of a gas mixture of (MeO)3B and NH3 at a furnace temperature above about 850xc2x0 C. The resulting product is a white powder containing B, N, O, C, and H in varying amounts depending upon reaction conditions. This powder is then heated in NH3 atmosphere to 900xc2x0-1100xc2x0 C. to obtain BN. The ""787 patent does not describe the morphology and crystallinity of the BN. However, it is likely that these processes produce BN with the traditional platelet morphology. Further, in a series of patents, Bienert et al. describe the formation of boron-nitrogen-hydrogen compounds, BN3xe2x88x92xH6xe2x88x923x, from the reaction of boron halides or basic acid esters with NH3 in a heated gas flow tube held at 200xc2x0 C. or 500xc2x0 C. The resulting compounds are claimed to be useful for making detrition-resistant boron nitride pressed bodies, boron nitride powder and semiconduction components. (Bienert et al., Ger. Offen. No. 1,943,581; Ger. Offen. No. 1,943,582; Ger. Offen. No. 2,004,360; U.S. Pat. No. 3,711,594.) Finally, Murakawa et al. describe the use of (EtO)3B in a hot gas stream of air and methane to form B2O3 and C. A powder compact was subsequently heated at 900xc2x0 C. in N2. It was claimed that h-BN with spherical morphology (ave. diameter, approximately 0.14 micron) formed. (Japanese Patent No. JP60,200,811 to Kokai et al.) There remains a real need in the art for a process yielding spherical h-BN in high concentration without high oxygen impurities, utilizing commonly available, inexpensive precursors such as trialkylborates. The present invention is a method for an aerosol assisted vapor phase synthesis (AAVS) process of boron nitride (BN) wherein organoboron precursors are nitrided in one or two heating steps, and wherein a boron oxide nitride intermediary composition is formed after the first heating step and is further nitrided to form resultant spheroidal boron nitride powders including spheroidal particles that are smooth, bladed, have protruding whiskers, and are of turbostratic or hexagonal crystalline structure. The method of the present invention comprises forming a boron-nitrogen-oxygen-carbon-hydrogen, BNxOyCz, precursor for BN comprising: providing an organoboron precursor, an inert carrier gas, and a nitriding agent; aerosolizing the precursor; introducing the carrier gas into a chamber containing the aerosolized precursor and forming a combined gas stream; sweeping the combined gas stream into a heated furnace; injecting the nitriding agent into the furnace; allowing the nitriding agent and aerosolized precursor to react to form a powder of a boron-nitrogen-oxygen-carbon-hydrogen composition; and collecting the powder. Further steps in the method may be taken as follows: In the present invention, the nitriding agent and aerosolized precursor are reacted in a first heating step. The resultant boron-nitrogen-oxygen-carbon-hydrogen composition is heated in a second heating step in the presence of a nitriding agent, inert gas, or vacuum. The nitriding agent may comprise NH3, N2/H2, N2, alkylamines, hydrazine, cyanamide, dicyanamide, hydroxylamines, or mixtures thereof. The nitriding agent may comprise a liquid, which is aerosolized and is swept into the furnace by a carrier gas. The organoboron precursor agent may comprise an alkylborate. The alkylborate may comprise a trialkylborate. Further, the trialkylborate may comprise (MeO)3B, (EtO)3B, (PrO)3B, or (BuO)3B. However, the precursor agent may comprise a polyborate. The polyborate may comprise a boroxine. Further, the organoboron precursor may comprises an azeotropic mixture. The azeotropic mixture may comprises an alkylborate and alcohol. The alkylborate may be a trimethylborate and the alcohol may be methanol. The organoboron precursor may be dissolved in simple alcohols, alkanes, or arenes prior to aerosolization, thereby increasing the percentage of carbon in the resulting BNxOyCz powder. Further, the organoboron precursor may be dissolved in liquid ammonia prior to aerosolization. The aerosolized organoboron precursor and carrier gas, and the nitriding agent are simultaneously swept or injected into the furnace. The flow of the combined gas stream (organoboron precursor and carrier gas) may have a predetermined flow rate. The injection step of the nitriding agent may have a predetermined flow rate. The step of heating the furnace comprises the step of maintaining a temperature of between approximately 600xc2x0 C. and approximately 1800xc2x0 C. Further, the temperature may be maintained between approximately 1200xc2x0 C. and approximately 1800xc2x0 C. The boron-nitrogen-oxygen-carbon-hydrogen powder may be collected on a powder collection device, which may be a filter. Additional steps of grinding the resultant BNxOyCz powder, spreading the powder over an oxide, and melting the powder over the oxide thereby reacting the powder with the oxide and forming a BN thin film layer may additionally be taken. Further, the BNxOyCz powder may be collected on a substrate and then melted, forming a boron nitride thin film layer. An method of the present invention comprises preparing h-BN by the following steps: providing an organoboron precursor, an inert carrier gas, and a nitriding agent; aerosolizing the precursor; introducing the carrier gas into a chamber containing the aerosolized precursor and forming a combined gas stream; sweeping the combined gas stream into a heated furnace; injecting the nitriding agent into the furnace; allowing the nitriding agent and aerosolized precursor to react to form a powder of a boron-nitrogen-oxygen-carbon-hydrogen composition during a first heating step; heating the boron-nitrogen-oxygen-carbon-hydrogen composition in a second heating step in the presence of the nitriding agent; allowing the nitriding agent and boron-nitrogen-oxygen-carbon-hydrogen composition to react with the nitriding agent in the second heating step to form a boron-nitrogen powder; and collecting the powder. Further steps in this method may be taken as follows: The nitriding agent may comprise NH3, N2/H2, N2, alkylamines, hydrazine, cyanamide, dicyanamide, hydroxylamines, or mixtures thereof. The nitriding agent may comprise a liquid, which is aerosolized and is swept into the furnace by a carrier gas. The organoboron precursor agent may comprise an alkylborate. The alkylborate may comprise a trialkylborate. Further, the trialkylborate may comprise (MeO)3B, (EtO)3B, (PrO)3B, or (BuO)3B. However, the precursor agent may comprise a polyborate. The polyborate may comprise a boroxine. Further, the organoboron precursor may comprise an azeotropic mixture. The azeotropic mixture may comprise an alkylborate and an alcohol. The alkylborate may be trimethylborate and the alcohol may be methanol. The organoboron precursor may be dissolved in simple alcohols, alkanes, or arenes prior to aerosolization, thereby increasing the percentage of carbon in the resulting BNxOyCz powder. When the organoboron precursor is dissolved in alcohols, alkanes, or arenes, the resultant BN compound is microporous or nanoporous. Further, the organoboron precursor may be dissolved in liquid ammonia prior to aerosolization. The aerosolized organoboron precursor and carrier gas, and the nitriding agent are simultaneously swept or injected into the furnace. The flow of the combined gas stream (organoboron precursor and carrier gas) may have a predetermined flow rate. The injection step of the nitriding agent may have a predetermined flow rate. The step of heating the furnace comprises a first heating step of maintaining a temperature of between approximately 600xc2x0 C. and approximately 1800xc2x0 C. Further, the temperature may be maintained between approximately 1200xc2x0 C. and approximately 1800xc2x0 C. The boron-nitrogen-oxygen-carbon-hydrogen powder may be collected on a powder collection device, which may be a filter. The powder may then be placed in a second furnace and subjected to the second heating step in the second furnace. Contrarily, the boron-nitrogen-oxygen-carbon-hydrogen powder may not be collected, but may be vented in a gas stream entrained with the powder into a second furnace before the second heating step. Both heating steps may be performed in one furnace, which may be a vertical furnace. The second heating step may comprise maintaining the temperature between approximately 600xc2x0 C. and approximately 1800xc2x0 C. Further, the temperature may be maintained between approximately 1200xc2x0 C. and approximately 1800xc2x0 C. Modified h-BN particles are formed by varying the aerosol conditions or reactor conditions to form turbostratic structures, bladed spherical particles, platelet particles, or particles having crystalline whisker growth. The formed BN particles may comprise a diameter range between approximately 0.05 xcexcm and approximately 100 xcexcm. A primary object of the present invention is preparing a BN powder comprising a spherical morphology. Another object of the present invention is preparing a BN powder comprising a modified spherical morphology. Yet another object of the present invention is providing a simple, one or two-step synthesis process for preparation of BN. Another object of the present invention is to provide a process yielding highly pure levels of h-BN, wherein impurities of such a BN product would comprise additional elements or non-spherical BN particles. A further object of the present invention is to provide a process utilizing simple organoboron precursors. Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a simple process for utilizing trialkylborates as a precursor to BN. A primary advantage of the present invention is preparing a BN powder comprising a spherical morphology. Another advantage of the present invention is preparing a BN powder comprising a modified spherical morphology. Yet another advantage is that BN may be prepared in a simple one or two-step process. Another advantage of the present invention is the use of simple, available, inexpensive organoboron compounds as precursor to BN. A further advantage is the highly purified h-BN product, wherein impurities of such a BN product would comprise additional elements or non-spherical BN particles. Other objects, advantages and novel features, and further scope of applicability of the present invention will be set forth in part in the detailed description to follow, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, and in part will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon examination of the following, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and attained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

The present invention relates to data management. More specifically, the present invention relates to methods and apparatuses for managing large amounts of data, for example, in storage area networks and mainframe I/O environments. The demands for managing large amounts of data have steadily increased in recent years and are expected to continue to increase in the future. For example, large organizations such as airlines and financial institutions require continuous, reliable, around-the-clock access to their xe2x80x9cmission criticalxe2x80x9d data. Temporary interruptions in the accessibility to this data, or the loss of portions of this data, can be catastrophic to such organizations. Complicating the management task, many organizations have an enormous and growing amount of mission critical data (e.g., many terabytes). Much of this data is managed by mainframe-based computer systems. FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of an exemplary prior art computing system 100, which is described here to illustrate common management tasks and associated problems. System 100 includes two mainframe computers 110A, 110B, three direct access storage devices (DASDs, also known as xe2x80x9ccontrol unitsxe2x80x9d) 120A, 120B, 120C, and a director 150. The various components communicate with one another via xe2x80x9cpoint-to-pointxe2x80x9d communication links 160, 162, 164, 166, 168, 170, and 172 according to a defined protocol. The common protocol is the ESCON protocol, also known as the SBCON protocol (hereinafter, collectively called xe2x80x9cESCONxe2x80x9d). In this exemplary system, port 114A of computer 110A is coupled to port 122B of control unit 120B via link 162. Port 112B of computer 110B is coupled to port 124B of control unit 120B via link 164. Port 114B of computer 110B is coupled to a port (not shown) of director 150 via link 166. Port 126B of control unit 120B is coupled to another port (not shown) of director 150 via link 168. Port 124C of control unit 120C is coupled to a port (not shown) of director 150 via link 170. In each case, the physical link and protocol are ESCON compliant. Finally, port P1 of control unit 120A is coupled to port P2 of control unit 120B via a proprietary communication link 172, in which the physical link is ESCON but which is used to carry proprietary commands and data, for example, to implement certain xe2x80x9cextended functionsxe2x80x9d (more below). For convenience of illustration, each computer 110A, 110B is illustrated as including two ESCON ports 112, 114. In the illustrated embodiment, the mainframe computers are IBM S/390s. Exemplary IBM S/390 mainframe computer may include between sixteen to 256 ESCON communication ports. Each exemplary DASD control unit 120, for ease of description, is shown as including three ESCON communication ports 122, 124, 126, and optionally additional private links P1, P2, though a typical DASD control unit may include between 2 and 64 ESCON ports. The illustrative DASD control units 120 include a main memory 130, a controller 132, a persistent storage 134, and three memory buffers 123, 125, 127, each buffer being associated with a corresponding ESCON port. Each port can write data into, and read data out of, its associated buffer. The controller 132 can write data into, and read data out of, all of the buffers or move data to or from persistent storage 134 via an internal system bus 136. A director 150 improves connectivity in a storage network by allowing one mainframe computer port to connect to two or more control units. As mentioned above, the various components may communicate using the ESCON protocol. Under ESCON, the components communicate according to xe2x80x9cchainsxe2x80x9d of one or more channel command words (CCWs). Each CCW, in turn, is communicated in three phases: a xe2x80x9ccommand phase,xe2x80x9d a xe2x80x9cdata phase,xe2x80x9d and a xe2x80x9cstatus phasexe2x80x9d with each phase using a known vocabulary of messages. During each phase, information is transmitted as xe2x80x9cframes,xe2x80x9d which are 1 kilobyte or less in size and include control (or header) and data (or payload) portions. A given phase may involve known flow control and/or handshaking and may involve many frames. For example, the protocol permits 64 kilobyte transfers, which could require 64 frames during the data phase. The data phase uses a flow control technique in which an initiator expresses a desire to transmit or read a certain amount of data (e.g., in a prior write command), and the receiver replies with a data request message indicating the size of data that may be sent by the transmitter and received by the receiver. A series of such requests may be needed to transfer the entire xe2x80x9cexchange.xe2x80x9d The I/O protocols rely on a concept of virtual links connecting xe2x80x9cvirtual mainframe machinesxe2x80x9d with xe2x80x9cvirtual control units. Some of the I/O protocols, which are connection oriented, like ESCON and SCSI, allow only one connection to be active at any moment in time, while others may actually frame multiplex the information among the various virtual links. Virtual links are effectively identified by the frame header information specifying both physical and logical addresses, and the components can detect virtual connections and disconnections from analyzing specific bits in certain frames. As alluded to above, commercially available control units offer xe2x80x9cextended functions.xe2x80x9dExtended functions implement features above and beyond basic device operations like read or write. (The actual functions implemented by a device are defined in the device specification, such as a specification of a control unit.) For example, two popular extended functions are known as xe2x80x9cconcurrent copyxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cremote copy,xe2x80x9d which are used, respectively, for maintaining backup copies or for xe2x80x9cmirroringxe2x80x9d data to other storage as it is written to its target. Known extended functions operate at a physical level of addressing (e.g., volume numbers and tracks) as opposed to operating at the logical level (e.g., files or the like). Referring back to FIG. 1, a control unit may perform back-up to another disk controlled by another control unit by using a dedicated ESCON link 172, connecting the two control units. Proprietary software (sometimes referred to as firmware), executing on the control units, performs the necessary operations over the link 172 to send the data to be backed up from one control unit to another. In the above approach to mirroring, data is effectively written to the control units sequentially, first to the primary control unit and then from the primary control unit to the control unit doing the mirroring. This introduces delay and complication as the data is written between the control units. The backup approach is also sequential. These approaches require dedicated communication links 172 that cost port connections on the control units. Moreover, because prior art extended functions are built using proprietary embedded software (also known as xe2x80x9cfirmwarexe2x80x9d) to and between control units, third parties cannot practically create additional functions for the control units. To date, the extended functionality is largely limited to homogenous systems of control units. That is, the extended functions generally do not work when control units from different manufacturers are involved in a network. Clustering is similar to mirroring in that some data is effectively mirrored to storage associated with another processor. However, rather than mirroring information in case a subsequent failover or switchover to another storage proves necessary, clustering usually involves mirroring (or replicating ) only specific information so that the processors may act collaboratively and in distributed fashion. The inventions provides devices, systems, and methods of replicating and manipulating I/O information to improve efficiency and functionality. Preferably, the invention intercepts I/O information as it is transmitted between a computer (e.g., mainframe) and storage system (e.g., DASD storage controller). Under certain aspects of the invention, an intelligent splitter device includes a buffer memory and at least three input/output (I/O) ports. Each port includes logic for transmitting and receiving information on an associated input/output (I/O) communication link, and each port is in electrical communication with the buffer memory. Control logic controls each port to write I/O data received from its respective I/O communication link into a portion of the buffer memory associated with that port. The control logic also controls each port to transmit data onto its respective I/O communication link by reading data from the buffer memory at selectable buffer memory locations, including locations associated with one of the other ports. Under another aspect of the invention, the control logic can create both control and data frames. These frames may be created independently of any of the streams received by the intelligent splitter device. Under other aspects of the invention, an intelligent splitter device communicates according to a frame-based I/O protocol in which each frame includes a header component and a payload component. The device includes a buffer memory and at least three input/output (I/O) ports. Each port has logic for transmitting and receiving information on an associated input/output (I/O) communication link, and each port is in electrical communication with the buffer memory. Control logic controls each port to write I/O data received from its respective I/O communication link into a portion of the buffer memory. And the control logic further includes logic to analyze a received frame and in response thereto create and transmit a modified version of the received frame on one of the I/O ports. The modified version of the frame includes a modification to at least one of the header component and the payload component of the received frame. Under other aspects of the invention, an intelligent splitter device is used for communicating according to a multiphase I/O protocol having a command phase, a data phase, and a status phase in which the data phase has at least one data frame. The splitter includes a buffer memory and at least three input/output (I/O) ports. Each port has logic for transmitting and receiving information on an associated input/output (I/O) communication link, and each port is in electrical communication with the buffer memory. Control logic causes at least two of the ports to transmit in parallel data phase information. Under another aspect of the invention, an intelligent splitter device is used for communicating according to a multiphase I/O protocol having a command phase, a data phase, and a status phase, in which the data phase comprises at least one data frame. The splitter includes a buffer memory and at least three input/output (I/O) ports. Each port has logic for transmitting and receiving information on an associated input/output (I/O) communication link, and each port is in electrical communication with the buffer memory. Control logic causes at least one port to transmit control phase information stored in the buffer. In parallel therewith, the control logic also causes at least one other port to transmit a modified version of the control phase information that is transmitted on the first port. Using the above aspects, I/O information can be received on a first port of the communication device having at least three ports. The communication device can transmit the I/O information received on the first port to a second port of the communication device, and the communication device can transmit a modified version of the I/O information received on the first port to a third port of the communication device. Moreover, I/O information can be received on a first port of the communication device, and the communication device can transmit a modified version of the information to one of the second and third ports of the communication device. Or, at least selected I/O information can be cached in the communication device, and I/O information can be received on a first port of the communication device. The received I/O information can be analyzed to determine physical address data of the I/O information, and the cached I/O information can be transmitted on the first port if the received information hits the cache. The received information can be transmitted on one of the second and third ports if the received information misses the cache. Under another aspect of the invention, an intelligent splitter system includes an I/O device and a host system. The I/O device includes input/output (I/O) port logic for transmitting and receiving information on at least three I/O communication links according to a standardized I/O protocol. Under the protocol I/O operations may be requested on storage locations identified by physical address information. The I/O device further includes extended function logic that cooperates with the port logic to perform at least one extended function not specified in the standardized I/O protocol. The at least one extended function operates in a physical address domain of physical addresses. The host system has a processor and memory storing processor-executable instructions to map logical storage object names to a physical address domain. It also stores instructions to configure the I/O device with a mapped physical address domain to enable the I/O device to perform the at least one extended function on the physical address domain corresponding to a mapped logical storage object name. Under other aspect of the invention, a command can be received to perform an extended function on data identified by a logical object name. The logical object name can be mapped to a physical address domain, and a communication link in the I/O system can be monitored to determine if the link is carrying an I/O operation in the mapped physical address domain. If an I/O operation is being carried on the link within the mapped physical address domain, that operation can be intercepted and the extended function identified in the received command can be performed. Under another aspect of the invention, I/O information is received from one of the two communication links into a first multi-port device having a processor and memory. The memory has instructions to determine if I/O information received on the link is within a first predefined set of I/O operations, and the first multi-port device is connected to a first storage system. I/O information is also received from a second of the two communication links into a second multiport device having a processor and memory. This memory also stores instructions to determine if I/O information received on the link is within a second predefined set of I/O operations, and the second multi-port device is connected to a second storage system. If the received I/O information on the one communication link is within the first predefined set of I/O operations, the received I/O information is sent to the first storage device and an I/O operation is sent to a port of the second multi-port device. If the received I/O operation is not within the predefined set, the received information is sent to the first storage system. Similar actions to the above take place with respect to the second link.

U.S. Pat. No. 2,938,333 shows a typical gas turbine engine that is used for aircraft propulsion and includes a hot gas flow section, following the turbine, that is contained in an air cooled liner "assembly" having an impingement sheet surrounding a liner sheet. The hot engine exhaust is constrained within the liner, and air is forced through the the impingement sheet and the liner, cooling the liner. The cooling air exits at the exhaust end of the engine. The liner assembly is exposed to considerable heating, and, as would be expected, liner heating can be very uneven, creating local thermal stresses. For one thing, the upstream area is much hotter than the down stream area. The liner, which must be as light as possible, is supported on the engine, but in such a way that buckling is minimized, as buckling can lead to local stresses and premature liner fatigue. Support is typically provided by brackets, as demonstrated in U.S. Pat. No. 2,938,333. The conventional liner, such as the liner in U.S. Pat. No. 2,938,333, is made of sheet metal and the impingement and liner sheets are attached by welding or by fasteners, a design, though common, is not particularly rigid, increasing the tendency for temperature induced liner warpage. These designs also do not lend themselves to modulating cooling airflow so that the hotter areas receive more airflow than the cooler areas. Additionally, the flexible cupped membrane configuration used in such liners, as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,938,333, is not compatible with the smoothness and coating retention requirements for low observable advanced military engine exhaust systems.

There are several demands made on the cutting header of a harvesting machine. The first demand is that the crop be cut at the desired height and be delivered as desired for further treatment in the harvester. Therefore, the cutting header must be adjustable in accordance with often very varied harvesting conditions or other specific demands. As an example may be mentioned the demands made on the header of a whole crop harvester, which include a very low stubble height. Prior art often includes adjustable skids in combination with a spring balancing system to make the header follow the ground contour closely. In this case it is very important that the header is well balanced. In other words the weight of the header must not exceed the carrying ability of the skids in case the skids run into an elevation. Otherwise the header easily digs into the ground, which implies a great risk for extensive damage. In other words, the header must be floating. It has been difficult to unite these demands according to prior art. This is especially true for very large and heavy cutter headers, with a great mass to be accelerated and hence a low mobility. Prior art also includes the use of mobile headers in combination with sensing runners or other sensing elements underneath the cutter-bar, which detect unevenness of the ground and feed impulses to the hydraulic cylinders of the integrated cutting header. These known systems also include hydraulic balancing. The purpose is to control the set stubble height automatically. The existing systems have not, however, solved the above problem, and have in practice exhibited certain other drawbacks, such as a risk of having the reel run into the cutter-bar when working at a low height if the header is raised quickly as a result of the detectors sensing some elevation of the ground underneath the cutter-bar.

This invention relates to a liquid crystal display device having a liquid crystal cell and a printed circuit board for driving the liquid crystal cell, and especially relates to an improved mechanical and electrical connection between the liquid crystal cell and circuit board. In the conventional type display device, the liquid crystal cell and the drive cricuit are constructed so as to enable easy attaching and detaching in view of the construction and maintenance which must be performed. In FIG. 1 is shown a typical prior art construction wherein the outer electrode 21 of the liquid crystal cell 1 and the electrode of the printed cricuit board 3 are oppositely positioned to each other. Said liquid crystal cell and said printed circuit board are supported by a supporting member 5 and electro-conductive elastic material 4, and are elastically supported by a screw bolt 6. According to the aforementioned technique, the electrical connection between said printed circuit board and said liquid crystal cell is attained by the electro-conductive elastic member 4, whereas the mechanical connection between said printed circuit board and said liquid crystal cell is attained by the supporting member 5 and the screw bolt 6. Therefore, a relatively large number of parts are needed thereby increasing the cost of the liquid crystal cell. Moreover, the uppermost portion of the liquid crystal cell 1 is supported by the supporting member 5 so that an air gap exists between said liquid cell 1 and the outer protective glass, whereby the aforementioned construction is not suitable for use in a thin type of a display device.

The transmission and transfer of alternating current electrical power from the generating source to the end user requires particular consideration of many variables when the source is stationary and the user is in motion, as in the case of an electrical railway. One of the principal factors to be considered is that of money outlay, either as a first cost or for the rehabilitation and updating of existing trackage and railway cars or vehicles. With the usual number of vehicles per mile of track, the cost of electrification of the track is many times the cost of the electrical equipment on the vehicle, and it thus behooves the designer to point efforts to a vehicle system in which the cost of track electrification is minimized. It is recognized that highest possible voltage, single phase power with reasonably high power factor, results in lowest track costs. Insofar as voltage is a factor, it is desirable for the wayside power distribution system to furnish alternating current power at 25,000 or even 50,000 volts in the case of station stop distances of the order of 50 miles, for example. With voltages of this level, it is no longer practical to furnish polyphase power through the pickup, and it becomes essential to utilize a third rail or overhead catenary system and pantograph pickup with current return in the grounded reaction rail to supply single phase power. Given this situation of power supply from the track electrification it is seen that the equipment on board the vehicle must be adapted to convert the high voltage single phase alternating current into power at the wheels and, at the same time, present a reasonable power factor window for the source to look into. It is apparent, of course, that such on board equipment ought not exact any undue penalty of weight and envelope. The voltage aforesaid is too high for the traction motor or motors, so a transformer is needed aboard the vehicle. Furthermore, if the traction motors are of the induction type (either rotary or linear), polyphase power is required at least at starting. On the other hand, either rotary or linear induction motors present a poor power factor. To meet this problem there was devised the Kando System used on the Hungarian State Railways for a period extending from 1932 to sometime during the 1950's. This system was featured by a free-running, rotating synchronous machine having a direct current excited rotor and a stator provided with single phase power input and polyphase power output windings. This converting machine provided step-down transformer action, phase conversion, and power factor correction in a single entity, whose weight was not of paramount importance since it was used on locomotives. For example, a typical Kando System, including the necessary auxiliary accessory equipment such as oil and water coolers and pumps, water tank, air circulating fans, and the like, occupied an envelope volume of about 4,500 cubic feet and weighed over 13 tons. Modern high speed transportation methods, utilizing either rotary or linear types of polyphase induction motors, are not adapted to such unwieldy, cumbersome and massive converting machinery exemplified by the Kando System. Hence, later technology has tended to look in other directions for solutions to the problem of providing either tracked-wheel or tracked-air-cushion transportation vehicles or magnetic levitation vehicles adapted to speeds upwardly to 300 or 400 miles per hour.

Such a ball-and-socket joint has been known from, e.g., DE 43 06 006 A1. It has a hollow cylindrical housing, into the interior space of which a bearing shell is inserted for receiving the joint ball of a ball pivot in a slidingly movable manner. The bearing shell of the prior-art ball-and-socket joints, which have a very simple design, consists of plastic, which guarantees optimal friction conditions for the joint ball to be mounted. The bearing shell disclosed in the said document has a ring collar, which is supported on one side at the end face of the housing. On the side located opposite the ring collar, a ring collet is made in one piece with the bearing shell, and in the preassembled state the said ring collet has an axial extension and external dimensions relative to the central longitudinal axis of the bearing shell that correspond to the external dimensions of the bearing shell. During the assembly of the prior-art ball-and-socket joint, the bearing shell is inserted into the housing, so that the ring collar is supported at the end face of the housing and the ring collet can be deformed on the opposite side of the housing by means of a deformation process. An ultrasonic deformation process is proposed for the deformation of the ring collet in the cited document. After the conclusion of the ultrasonic deformation, the ring collet forms a bead on the housing, as a result of which the bearing shell is fixed at the housing. A very essential problem in the prior-art ball-and-socket joint designs is that the bearing shell fixed on the housing by means of ultrasonic deformation does not engage in a permanently fixed connection with the housing and loosening of the bearing shell cannot therefore be ruled out over the lifetime of the ball-and-socket joint. The friction generated by the relative movements between the housing and the bearing shell leads to an increase in wear, so that the ball-and-socket joint may ultimately fail. Moreover, penetrating contaminants act as factors accelerating the failure of the joint as a consequence of the abrasion due to the increasing wear of the bearing shell. To prevent the bearing shell from loosening and from performing, e.g., rotary movements around the central longitudinal axis of the housing, notches are currently prepared in the edge area of the housing blank after the manufacturing of the housing blank, and the material of the bearing shell, softened by the ultrasonic deformation, can later flow into the said notches at least in some sections. However, the notches, prepared in the housing according to an impression process, lead to deformations of the housing, so that the latter will have unacceptable tolerances, run-outs, conicities and/or errors in plane parallelism. It was, furthermore, observed that the material of the softened bearing shell material sometimes flows into the notches of the housing during the ultrasonic deformation to a limited extent only. Thus, separation of the bearing shell from the housing and a resulting mobility of the bearing shell in relation to the housing cannot be ruled out with certainty even in the case of these improved designs.

In the past, an ultrasonic wave generator using mechanical vibrations due to the piezoelectric effect has been widely known. As this kind of ultrasonic wave generator, for example, there is a structure where electrodes are formed on both surfaces of a crystal of a piezoelectric material such as barium titanate. The mechanical vibrations obtained by applying an electric energy between the electrodes generate the ultrasonic wave in a surrounding medium (e.g., air). However, since the above-mentioned ultrasonic wave generator has a characteristic resonance frequency, there are problems that the frequency band becomes narrow, and it is susceptible to external vibrations or fluctuations of outside air pressure. On the other hand, in recent years, a pressure wave generator capable of generating a pressure wave such as ultrasonic wave in a medium without using mechanical vibrations is attractive. For example, a pressure wave generator disclosed in Japanese Patent Early Publication No. 11-300274 is equipped with a single crystal silicon used as a substrate, a porous silicon layer formed as a heat insulating layer on the substrate, an aluminum film formed as a heat generating layer on the heat insulating layer, and a pair of pads electrically connected to the heat generating layer. In this pressure wave generator, when an electric energy is applied to the heat generating layer through the pads, a temperature change occurs in the heat generating layer in response to a driving input waveform, i.e., a driving voltage waveform or a driving current waveform. This temperature change of the heat generating layer causes, through a heat exchange between the heat generating layer and a medium (e.g., air) in the vicinity of the device, expansion and contraction of the medium in a thermally induced manner. As a result, the pressure wave is generated in the medium. However, in the case of using this kind of thermally induced type pressure wave generator in the air, it is known that there is a phenomenon that an efficiency defined as a ratio of sound pressure of the generated compression wave relative to the input power reduces over time. That is, when oxidation of the porous silicon layer proceeds by the influence of oxygen and moisture in the air, the heat insulating property of the porous silicon layer deteriorates, so that a reduction in the aforementioned efficiency happens. In this regard, when it is assumed that a condition for driving the above pressure wave generator (i.e., an input power applied to the heat generating layer) is constant, the sound pressure of the generated compression wave reduces due to an increase over time in heat conductivity of the heat insulating layer or an increase over time in heat capacity per unit volume thereof. Therefore, when the pressure wave generator is used as a wave sending device for a reflection-type ultrasonic sensor, the maximum measurable distance reduces (i.e., the detection area becomes narrow). As a result, there is a case that an object can not be detected. In addition, when the pressure wave generator is used as a speaker, there is a problem that the sound pressure reduces. The above-described change over time of the porous silicon layer is a phenomenon caused irrespective of conditions for forming the porous silicon layer. In addition, since the heat generating layer that is an electrical resistive element is formed on the porous silicon layer, the heat generating layer partially reacts with the porous silicon layer when the pressure wave generator is used for an extended time period, so that a leak current may locally flow through a resistance reduced portion. Furthermore, when a conductive path is formed through the silicon substrate, an electric current having a very large current density locally flows. This phenomenon easily happens in the case of increasing the input power applied to the pressure wave generator to obtain a large sound pressure. As a result, the pressure wave generator may have a breakdown due to burn out of the heat generating layer. In the above, it was explained about the case characteristics of the heat insulating layer of porous silicon deteriorate due to a reaction with oxygen in the air. On the other hand, even when the heat insulating layer is made of an inactive material such as porous silica and porous alumina, it is expected that a change over time in heat conductivity or heat capacity per unit volume of the heat insulating layer is caused by adsorption or adherence of the moisture in the air and the other impurities. Thus, from the viewpoint of solving various kinds of defects caused by diffusion of components (principally air) of the surrounding medium into the heat insulating layer, conventional pressure wave generators still have plenty of room for improvement.

1. Field of the Invention This invention relates to fluid control valves, and more particularly, to means for providing valve-valve seat contact for valve-valve seat misalignments and for resisting valve vibration induced by fluid flowing therethrough when the valve is in an open, unengaged configuration 2. Description of the Prior Art Large steam turbines often utilize individually actuated control valves to avoid vibration problems which occur with internal bar lift arrangements when the mass flow rate therethrough is greater than 300,000 pounds per hour. Use of individually actuated valves provides an acceptable solution if the maximum misalignment between the valve's stem and seat at the time of valve closing is not greater than 0.006 inch. Due, however, to the non-symmetric design of and differential temperatures between components thereof, integral extraction steam chests in steam turbines typically result in parallel misalignments between the valve's stem and the valve's seat of as much as 0.10 inch. Such misalignments may be partially explained by the non-symmetric design of the steam chest and the different effects the high pressure has on the structural members holding the stems and seats of the valves. Valve vibrational problems have, in the past, been reduced by utilizing guides about the valve's plug or body to prevent vibratory motion therein. Such guides are, however, not useful when misalignment between the valve plug and seat is a problem. It is, therefore, a necessity in certain circumstances to have control valves which satisfactorily operate under relatively large misalignments and are, simultaneously, resistant to fluidly imparted vibratory motion when in the open, unengaged configuration.

1. Technical Field The present invention relates to a game machine constructed to be capable of disbursing a predetermined number of game balls in response to a game ball entering a winning pocket to win a prize, or a predetermined number of coins (medals) in response to ‘bingo’ by lot drawing, and a game system constructed to be capable of making a prize exchange within the range of the disbursed (reserved) number of game balls or coins. 2. Related Art Pachinko machines (or game machines) of such type (for instance, a pachinko machine as disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2000-296222) are generally installed in pachinko shops. When a game is played with the conventional pachinko machine, a prepaid card is first purchased for borrowing pachinko balls (game balls). Next, seated in front of a desired pachinko machine, a user inserts the prepaid card into a card insertion slot of a ball lending device to borrow the desired number of pachinko balls and then manipulates a handle. At this time, a ball shooting section of the pachinko machine shoots the pachinko balls with a force according to a manipulated state of the handle. As a result, the pachinko balls move (fall) down on the surface of a game board. Then, when a pachinko ball enters a winning pocket to win a prize, a reel of a display unit arranged at the center of the game board is rotated to open a big wining pocket when this reel stops at a “bingo”. Further, when a pachinko ball enters the opened big winning pocket to win a prize, a predetermined number of pachinko balls are disbursed to a ball receiver. In this case, the conventional pachinko machine allows a user to enjoy only a fixed kind of game. Therefore, when a user wants to play a game with another pachinko machine different from the one played until then, it is necessary to collect the pachinko balls in the ball receiver into a ball box, to carry the ball box to a counter, and then to count the number of balls by the counter. Thereafter, the user borrows pachinko balls out of another desired pachinko machine and manipulates a handle similar to the way described above. With them, the user can enjoy the game in a different pachinko machine. Further, when the game is completed, the pachinko balls in the ball receiver are put back in the ball box and taken to the counter, and the number of balls is counted with the counter. At this time, the counter counts the number of inputted pachinko balls to make a printer output the result. Thereafter, the user presents the piece of paper with the number of pachinko balls printed by the counter to a prize exchange office, so that a desired prize will be exchanged within the range of the number of dropped-out balls. However, the conventional pachinko machine has the following problems. That is, the pachinko machine is installed in a pachinko shop along with a ball lending device or a ball-conveying device. In order to play a game with the pachinko machine, therefore, it should be taken for granted that a user is required to go to the pachinko shop. Meanwhile, a player who enjoys playing pachinko games desires to play games in a pachinko machine conveniently anytime or anywhere like when waiting for subways or resting after lunch. In case of the conventional pachinko machine, a large-scaled facility is required to accommodate a ball conveying mechanism to convey pachinko balls or the like. Since the conventional pachinko machine cannot be installed with ease in station premises or dining rooms, there has been a problem that it cannot fully satisfy the player's wish. Further, conventional pachinko machines have been used to play a specific game, one game per machine, a user has needed to collect the pachinko balls in the ball receiver into a ball box, to take the ball box to the counter, and then to count the number of balls by the counter. Thereafter, the user may move to another desired pachinko machine for another game. Therefore, there is another problem that it is difficult for the user to play a plurality of games using conventional pachinko game machines. The present invention has been made in consideration of such problems. It is therefore one object of the present invention to provide a game machine and a game system that can be easily installed in a station premise or restaurant. Further, it is another object of the present invention to provide a game machine and a game system that makes it possible for a user to enjoy a plurality of games with ease.

Cellular wireless communications systems are designed to serve multiple wireless-enabled devices distributed over a large geographic area by dividing the area into regions called cells or cell areas. Within each cell area, a network-side access device (e.g., an access point) is located to serve client devices, commonly referred to as access terminals (ATs), that are located in the cell area. An AT generally establishes a call, also referred to as a communication session, with a wireless access point to communicate with other entities (e.g., servers) in the network. Wireless access points may serve smaller areas and have limited access. Access points of this type include private access points, which may serve users in a home or business only. In a private access point, the owner of the access point decides who has access to the wireless access point for communication. Others are blocked from access. To this end, wireless access points, including private access points, may employ what is referred to as closed access control. Closed access control, in general, means limiting use of an access point in some fashion. In some cases, closed access control may rely on identifiers associated with the mobile device hardware. In some geographic markets, such as regions of Asia, users are permitted, without consent of their wireless carrier (i.e., operator), to swap User Identity Module (UIM) cards between different mobile devices (or other type of AT). Operators in these markets typically do not store information regarding hardware identifiers for mobile devices. Accordingly, closed access control has to rely on a user identifier, such as an International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI), which is stored in a UIM card.

This invention relates to a plasma X-ray source producing soft X-rays by forming a high temperature and high density plasma by means of pulse discharge in a discharge tube using coaxial electrodes, and in particular to a plasma X-ray source which is suitable for a source of an X-ray aligner for manufacturing submicron integrated circuits. The plasma focus is well known as a representative example of discharge tubes having coaxial electrodes. Research has been conducted heretofore on the plasma focus as sources generating neutrons, for which gas such as heavy hydrogen filled in a discharge tube having coaxially disposed cylindrical electrodes is turned into plasma by applying a pulse voltage from a capacitor to the electrodes and the plasma is accelerated in the space defined between the electrodes so as to be focussed in the neighborhood of the extremity of one of the electrodes so that a high temperature and high density plasma is formed. However, since strong soft X-rays are also emitted from a high temperature and high density plasma produced by the plasma focus, recently attention is paid thereto also as an X-ray source. Since the construction and the working mode of the plasma focus are simple and the brightness of the source is high, the plasma focus has a possibility to be an excellent X-ray source, but it has a problem that the position of the spot emitting soft X-rays moves from shot to shot. Although it is expected that the spot of the plasma focus is formed on the axis of the coaxial electrodes, in practice it is deviated often from the axis, and even if it is formed on the axis, its position varies thereon. This aspect is described e.g. in W. H. Bostick, V. Nardi and W. Prior: "X-ray fine structure of dense plasma in a coaxial accelerator", J. Plasma Physics, Vol. 8, pt 1, pp. 7-20 (1972). For a reason why such variations are produced, heretofore, instability of plasma itself has been known, but other reasons therefor have not been clarified.