Aerogels are a fascinating class of high surface-area, mechanically-robust materials with a broad range of both commercial and fundamental scientific applications. Owing to its highly porous mass-fractal nanostructure, amorphous silica aerogel has been used as a capture agent in NASA's cometary-dust retrieval missions, to control disorder in 3He-superfluid phase transitions, in the fabrication of targets for laser inertial confinement fusion, in low-k microelectromechanical (MEMS) devices, and in Cherenkov nucleonic particle detectors.
In particular, amorphous carbon aerogel has received a considerable amount of attention in recent years owing to its low cost, electrical conductivity, mechanical strength, and thermal stability. Numerous applications have been explored for this material including water desalination, electrochemical supercapacitors, and thermal insulation.
Impressive advances have been made in the synthesis of polycrystalline aerogels through the oxidative aggregation of chalcogenide quantum dots that preserve spectral signatures of quantum confinement. Also, silicon divacancies in nanodiamond have also been shown to be bright single-photon-emitters at room temperature (Jelezko, Phys. Stat. Sol. A, 2006), as well as being photostable near-infrared biocompatible fluorophores (Lu, PNAS, 2007).
Furthermore, recent high-pressure, high temperature (HPHT) experiments with mesoporous silica have been employed to produce mesoporous coesite phase after oxidative removal of the carbon pressure medium. However, the achievement of an amorphous to crystalline phase transition in an aerogel material has remained an outstanding challenge, largely due to the difficulty in preventing pore collapse in the high surface area aerogel starting material.
In addition, thermal, electrical, optical, mechanical, and chemical properties of low-density amorphous aerogels can change profoundly through conversion from an amorphous to a crystalline phase, opening up new horizons for applications of this material in fundamental science.
Therefore, a method and system capable of synthesizing crystalline aerogel materials from amorphous aerogel precursors would have great utility in basic science and commercial applications.


1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for preparing a therapeutic agent from placenta.
2. Description of the Prior Art
To date, many publications have been concerned with methods of extracting physiologically or pharmacologically active substances or purifying the placental extract. Some of these extracts have been reported to possess anti-ulcer or anti-cancer effects. None, of the reported prior art placental extract preparations have been shown to possess leukemia therapeutic effects.
Hieda ("REIZOTAIBAN NO SEIKAGAKU TO IRYOKOKA" or "The bio-chemistry and therapeutic effect of frozen placenta" Kinbara Shoten, 1965) reported the presence of a substance in human placenta which is effective against cirrhosis. Kumura (HIROSHIMA IGAKU 22 (12), 1136, 1969) and Saito (Clinical report 3 (7), 543, 1969) described a placenta preparation which possesses anti-ulcer effects. Also, Byong Ho Chin (Abstract of Papers of the 9th International Cancer Congress, 467 pp, 1966) communicated an anti-Ehrlich sarcoma agent and an anti-N-F sarcoma agent from human placenta.
Hieda's preparation against the cirrhosis was obtained as follows:
A fresh placenta was washed with water, permitted to stand at 2.degree. - 4.degree. C for several days, minced, and boiled for 60 min. The preparation was admixed with 1 N HCl in an amount of 1/5 its volume, to obtain a pH of 1.8. It was then digested with 2 g of pepsin at 38.degree. C for 20 hours. The digested fluid was centrifuged at 3,000 r.p.m. for 15 min. to separate the supernatant from the precipitate. The supernatant was passed through an ion exchange resin to reduce its acidity to pH 4.4 - 4.6 and its volume was increased to 100 ml for every 100 g (wet weight) of placenta by the addition of water. This preparation was referred to as Solution A. The precipitate was hydrolysed with concentrated hydrochloric acid by heat treatment over a period of 10 hours. The hydrolysate was succeedingly decolorized with activated carbon, the excess volatile acid removed by evaporation on a water bath, and then subjected to secondary decolorization. The acidity of the solution was reduced with an ion exchange resin to pH 4.4 - 4.6. The volume of the eluate was made up so that every 100 g (wet weight) of placenta gave the volume of 25 ml. This preparation was referred to as Solution B. Solutions A and B were blended and the acidity of the mixture was adjusted to pH 6.1 - 6.4. Following boiling and clarification by filtration, the preparation was poured into an injection ampoule, and the solution was sterilized for use. The preparation was a transparent and yellow-colored solution, had a specific gravity of 1.0090 - 1.0132, pH of 6.1 - 6.4, showed a negative sulfosalicylic acid test and contained 78.6 - 82.3 mg/ml in dry matter. The ash, total nitrogen and amino nitrogen contents were 8.0 - 9.3 mg/ml, 9.13 - 11.21 mg/ml and 8.56 - 10.24 mg/ml respectively. The extract was claimed to possess lipotropic activity and to be capable of enhancing tissue respiration of the liver, stimulation of the thyroid gland, and basal metabolism of castrate animals. It was also reportedly useable for cirrohosis therapy, in humans and for experimental standard test animals.
Boyous Ho Chin prepared an emulsion of placenta and centrifuged it to obtain the supernatant. With addition of alcohol, a precipitation was obtained, which was subjected to fractionation by means of paper electrophoresis. The resultant fraction was dialysed against water and the dialysate or non-dialysable fraction was further subjected to precipitation with acetone. The author claimed that this precipitate possessed inhibitory effects on the growth of Ehrlich sarcoma and N-F sarcoma.
It is of consequence to note that none of the previously prepared placental extracts were found to possess therapeutic effects against leukemia, as shown by the description vide infra.
On the other hand, Carbazilquinone (Arakawa, M. et al Gann, 61 485, 1970), cytosine arabinoside (Talley, K. et al. Blood 21 352, 1963), Daunomycin (Tan, C. et al, cancer 20 333, 1967), Adriamycin (Di Marco, A. et al. Cancer Chemotherapy reports 53 33, 1969), L-asparaginase (Kidd, G. G. et al. Journal of Experimental Medicine 98 565, 1953) are among known anti-leukemic agents. These materials are extracted from natural sources, however, other than the placenta, or they have been chemically synthesized. However, all the anti-leukemic agents, so far known and used, are not specific in effect to the leukemic cells, but are observed clinically to give rise to various undesirable side effects, such as leucopenia, thrombocytopenia, anemia, hemorrhage, vomitting, diarrhea, fever, renal lesion, hepatic lesion, jaundice, etc. Therefore, therapeutic use of these prior art materials also required auxiliary care in order to prevent such inevitable complications. Acceptable therapeutic results have, therefore, not been fully achieved, due to the quite serious complications derived from the side effects. Chemotherapy for leukemia at the present time is therefore, only capable of leading to a remission of the disease, but this is achieved by a trade-off between longer survival and host toxicity, but complete cure has not been possible.


Conventionally, receiving devices, which receive radio waves including desired waves and interfering waves via antennas, carry out analog-to-digital conversion, extract desired waves by use of received signal strength indicators (RSSI), carry out digital demodulation, and carry out automatic gain control (AGC) to adjust the input levels of demodulators, have been developed and applied to base-station receiving devices in cellular and mobile communication systems, base-station receiving devices in fixed-line telecommunication networks, grand-station receiving devices in satellite communication systems, and broadcasting systems.
Patent Literature Document 1 discloses an automatic gain control method in a mobile orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) network, which is characterized in that the power level of an analog baseband signal is adjusted based on the average power of cyclic prefixes which are calculated based on the received signal intensity. Patent Literature Document 2 discloses a receiving device which is able to substantially expand the dynamic range with the input and the output of an RSSI circuit, receive a wide range of signal levels, and transmit accurate reception levels. Patent Literature Document 3 discloses a receiving device preventing intermodulation, which reliably suppress intermodulation waves included in reception channels so as to effectively prevent a reduction of reception quality due to intermodulation. Patent Literature Document 4 discloses a broadcasting receiving device which effectively attenuates signal levels of interfering stations by use of AGC and RSSI so as to suppress received desired frequency signals from being reduced in levels. Patent Literature Document 5 discloses a receiving device which determines interfering waves based on RSSI of desired waves so as to change the linearity of a low-noise amplifier (LNA), thus reducing influences of interfering waves. Patent Literature Document 6 discloses an AGC circuit which applies an optimum gain to the power of desired waves irrespective of interfering waves being input to a receiver. Patent Literature Document 7 discloses a wireless cellular communication terminal which prevents wireless characteristics from being degraded by changing the capacitance of a capacitor connected to a detection and rectifier circuit depending on the existence or nonexistence of interfering waves or the magnitude of interfering waves. Patent Literature Document 8 discloses a receiver which carries out AGC and digital demodulation processes. Patent Literature Document 9 discloses a receiving device which carries out a software demodulation process without using AGC irrespective of fluctuations in reception levels. Patent Literature Document 10 discloses a receiver having an AGC circuit adapted to a digital CATV tuner, which is characterized by gaining optimum AGC characteristics irrespective of deviations of tuner's gains or deviations of gains between channels. Patent Literature Document 11 discloses a wireless receiving device which is able to reliably amplify desired signals while suppressing increasing power consumption at an RF frontend, which is characterized by using a DC-DC converter which controls power consumption of a low noise amplifier (LNA) based on the received signal strengths before and after a low pass filter. Patent Literature Document 12 discloses a receiving device employing a direct conversion system or a Low-IF system. Patent Literature Document 13 discloses a receiving module of a terrestrial digital television receiver which is able to suppress interfering waves due to unwanted waves of adjacent channels by applying AGC to an RF amplifier circuit based on the signal level after IF tuning. Patent Literature Document 14 discloses a receiving device having a high resistance against interfering waves, which determines the existence or nonexistence of interfering waves based on differences between RF input levels and IF input levels, thus improving a reception efficiency.
FIG. 4 shows a block diagram of a conventionally-known receiving device (see Patent Literature Document 2). The receiving device includes an antenna 1, a mixer 3, a local oscillator 4, an A/D converter 5, an analog variable gain function part 6, a channel selecting filter 8, a received signal strength indicator (RSSI) 9, a comparison controller 11, a demodulator 12, and a low noise amplifier (LNA) 13 with a variable gain function. The receiving device prevents saturation and secures backoff (i.e. a process needed to transmit modulation signals having peak components without distortions) in the analog-to-digital (A/D) converter 5 based on the direct conversion system, the single conversion system, or the multiple conversion system.
For this reason, the comparison controller 11 determines the level detected with the RSSI 9 (i.e. a circuit used to monitor the desired-wave level at the output side of the channel selecting filter 8) which is arranged at the output side of the A/D converter (ADC) 5, wherein the analog variable gain function part 6, arranged at the input part of the A/D converter 5, controls a gain reduction on desired waves exceeding the allowable threshold.
FIG. 5 is used to explain problems of the conventionally-known receiving device, wherein FIG. 5(a) is used to explain the level diagram and the AGC behavior in the case of the receiving device solely inputting desired waves, while FIG. 5(b) is used to explain the level diagram and the AGC behavior in the case of the receiving device inputting both low desired waves (close to the minimum sensitivity) and strong interfering waves.
When the level of a desired wave is increased from the minimum sensitivity in FIG. 5(a), the comparison controller 11 determines the level detected with the RSSI 9 in the AGC loop based on the level of a desired wave by use of a threshold, and therefore the analog variable gain function part 6 controls a gain reduction (−a [dB], −b [dB]) on a desired wave exceeding the threshold level in order to aim to prevent saturation and secure backoff in the A/D converter 5.
Since the level of a desired wave input to the demodulator 12 becomes higher than the minimum definition level in FIG. 5(a), it is possible to demodulate the desired wave while maintaining the carrier-to-noise (C/N) ratio to the noise level, which is needed to demodulate the desired wave. When a desired wave is solely input to the receiving device, it is possible to reduce the dynamic range which is required as the input level of the demodulator 12.
However, the following problem is raised when the receiving device receives a strong interfering wave and a low desired wave (close to the minimum sensitivity) as shown in FIG. 5(b). That is, when an interfering wave instead of a desired wave becomes dominant due to the increasing level of an interfering wave, the comparison controller 11 determines the level of an interfering wave detected with the RSSI 9 in the AGC loop, and therefore the analog variable gain function part 6 controls a gain reduction (−a [dB], −b [dB]) on the interfering wave whose level exceeds the threshold in order to aim to prevent saturation due to the interfering wave and to secure backoff in the A/D converter 5. In this case, the analog variable gain function part 6 controls a gain reduction (−a [dB], −b [dB]) on a low desired wave close to the minimum sensitivity similar to an interfering wave, and therefore the level of a desired wave will be decreased in the circuit portion subsequent to the A/D converter 5.
Additionally, due to a desired wave and an interfering wave passing through the channel selecting filter 8 following the analog-to-digital (A/D) converter 5, the level of an interfering wave is extremely attenuated and suppressed to be lower than the level of a desired wave, wherein the level of a desired wave input to the demodulator 12 remains lower than the minimum definition level as shown in FIG. 5(b), and therefore the original information is lost to cause extreme degradation of demodulation or disability of demodulation because the information of a desired wave below the minimum definition level of the demodulator 12 is cut out. the channel selecting filter 8 following the A/D converter 5, the level of an interfering wave is extremely attenuated and suppressed to be lower than the level of a desired wave, wherein the level of a desired wave input to the demodulator 12 remains lower than the minimum definition level as shown in FIG. 5(b), and therefore the original information is lost to cause extreme degradation of demodulation or disability of demodulation because the information of a desired wave below the minimum definition level of the demodulator 12 is cut out.
When the conventionally-known receiving device is used to receive and demodulate a low desired wave close to the minimum sensitivity along with a strong interfering wave, it is necessary to extremely increase the dynamic range necessary for the input level of the demodulator while increasing the number of bits necessary for the demodulator, thus increasing the circuit scale of the receiving device while increasing power consumption.
FIG. 6 shows a block diagram of another conventionally-known receiving device (see Patent Literature Document 1). The receiving device includes an analog block 22, an antenna 24, and a digital baseband part 32. The analog block 22 includes a band-pass filter (BPF) 26, a low noise amplifier (LNA) 28, a local oscillator (LO) 30, and amplifiers (VGA) 34, 36. The digital baseband part 32 includes a received signal strength indicator (RSSI) 38, a control logic part 40, and A/D converters 46, 48. Reference sign 42 shows enable pulses.
Patent Literature Document 4 discloses the receiving device which monitors and compares the levels before and after a channel selecting filter, which is arranged to suppress interfering waves, so as to compare the level difference and the allowable threshold, thus determining the existence or nonexistence of an interfering wave. Specifically, it is possible to determine the existence of an interfering wave due to a large difference between the levels before and after the channel selecting filter but to determine the nonexistence of an interfering wave due to a small difference between the levels.
For example, Patent Literature Document 4 discloses the broadcasting receiving device which determines that a small amount of radio waves (i.e. interfering waves) are being received via channels other than the currently serving channel due to a small difference between the levels before and after IF-BPF, and therefore it performs AGC via the current channel by controlling the gain of the variable-gain RF-AMP, preceding MIXER, based on the RSSI level before IF-BPF. On the other hand, the broadcasting receiving device determines that a large amount of radio waves are being received via channels other than the currently serving channel due to a large difference between the levels before and after IF-BPF, and therefore it performs AGC collectively via the other channels and the current channel by controlling the gain of the variable-gain RF-AMP, preceding MIXER, based on the level representing a plurality of reception channels which is calculated by subtracting the RSSI level after IF-BPF from the RSSI level before IF-BPF. Herein, it is possible to achieve an AGC function by applying a variable gain to RF-AMP in connection with desired waves which are detected with respect to the current channel alone or a plurality of channels including the current channel.
The present invention, which will be discussed later, detects the existence of a strong interfering wave based on a level difference of RSSI before the channel selecting filter while reducing the gain of the analog variable gain function part (i.e. a first AGC-controlled subject) preceding the A/D converter such that the output of the A/D converter, serving as an AGC-controlled subject in the minimum sensitivity reception and preceding channel selection, will not be distorted due to a strong interfering wave. In this case, the present invention increases the gain of the digital variable gain function part, serving as a second AGC-controlled subject, so as to correct the low level of a desired wave with the demodulation-enabled level.
Patent Literature Document 8 imports an idea into the AGC circuit including RSSI to receive desired waves with a wide range of levels even when high-level interfering waves are intermixed with desired waves. That is, it is possible to appropriately control the AGC gain entirely over the circuitry by activating an AGC operation by use of the processing result of the broadband RSSI1 based on the output of the A/D converter (ADC) reflecting desired waves and interfering waves and the processing result of the narrowband RSSI2 solely reflecting desired waves after being subjected to the band limitation of BPF following ADC. In this connection, Patent Literature Document 9 and Patent Literature Document 10 disclose prior art which aim at improvement of Patent Literature Document 8.
Patent Literature Document 8 discloses a method of extracting data by use of ADC at two points in different gain stages arranged in the reception IF system depending on the input level in consideration of the necessity of two systems for ADC.
Patent Literature Document 10 discloses a method of independently varying and controlling the AGC gain of RF (radio frequency) and the AGC gain of IF (intermediate frequency) in consideration of the gain control reference solely reflecting desired waves precluding interfering waves.
The first embodiment of Patent Literature Document 8 refers to the circuitry in which the broadband RSSI1 based on the ADC output reflecting desired waves and interfering waves is not interlocked with the narrowband RSSI2 based on the BPF output after ADC solely reflecting desired waves. First, due to inputting of desired waves and interfering waves having significantly high levels, it is necessary to set a source voltage or a gain of LNA without exceeding the full scale of ADC by way of the determination of RSSI1. Due to inputting of further high-level signals, it is necessary to control and reduce the gain of the preceding digital IF amplifier by way of the determination of the level of desired waves with RSSI2.
For the above reason, it is necessary to perform the RSSI1 operation without causing saturation of ADC. However, it is necessary to apply a variable gain to the digital IF amplifier interposed between the BPF and the demodulator in the RSSI2 operation in order to keep desired waves before the demodulator within the predetermined level without determining the existence or nonexistence of interfering waves (cf. Patent Literature Document 10 in which RSSI solely operates). This results from an expectation in which that the determination of RSSI2 will be performed with the level of a desired wave on the assumption that the level of an interfering wave has been adequately reduced by way of the band-limiting BPF. The present invention needs to compare differences between RSSI1 and RSSI2 so as to estimate the existence or nonexistence of interfering waves, thus controlling the digital AGC gain.
The second embodiment of Patent Literature Document 8 refers to an AGC control method using both of RSSI1 and RSSI2. The second embodiment is designed to control and greatly reduce the gain of LNA to prevent AGC saturation with respect to the very low level of a desired wave and the very high level of an interfering wave, whereas it may raise the fear of degrading the reception sensitivity due to an unnecessary reduction in the level of a desired wave. To prevent this drawback, Patent Literature Document 8 discloses a correction method of preventing a rapid reduction in a control voltage applied to LNA in order to alleviate a significant reduction in the gain of LNA which is controlled via the processing result of RSSI1.
Patent Literature Document 11 discloses the technology similar to the technology of Patent Literature Document 5. It is possible to detect the existence of interfering waves and the levels of interfering waves by comparing differences between the level of RSSI1 (interfering waves+desired waves), preceding the analog baseband part including. MIXER through ADC or the band-limiting LPF arranged in the IF system and the level of a desired wave detected with RSSI2 following the LPF. It is necessary to control the voltage of a DC-DC converter used for LNA in order to prevent saturation of LNA, occurrence of distortion, and suppression of sensitivity (i.e. a phenomenon in which the gain or the desired-wave gain is decreased below the appropriate value due to gain compression caused by interfering waves) while improving the linearity of LNA when the strength of an interfering wave is being varied over time during reception of an interfering wave and a desired wave which are intermixed together.
Upon determining a high level of an interfering wave, it is possible to improve the saturation power of LNA (i.e. to expand the backoff) by boosting the control voltage of LNA. In contrast, upon determining a low level of an interfering wave, it is possible to prevent an increase of power consumption, which is necessary to constantly cope with interfering waves, by restoring the original control voltage of LNA.
Patent Literature Document 11 aims at improvement of Patent Literature Document 12. Patent Literature Document 12 aims to prevent an increase of power consumption which is necessary to constantly cope with interfering waves, wherein it determines the existence or nonexistence of interfering waves by detecting a difference of RSSI at two points, and it copes with high-level interfering waves by changing the paths regarding the LNA and the analog baseband part in the direct conversion system.
It is possible to determine the existence or nonexistence of interfering waves based on a difference between RSSI1 representing the RF output of the LNA reflecting interfering waves and desired waves and RSSI2 regarding the output of the digital baseband part solely reflecting desired waves, transmitted through the channel filter, after ADC. In this connection, it is possible to secure a net gain by arranging the digital AGC amplifier before ADC irrespective of a gain correction when the LNA is bypassed upon detecting interfering waves above the allowable value.


Conventional lift cranes include a rotatable body or upper works mounting the lift boom and machinery that rotate about a vertical axis on a lower works or body. If the crane is mobile, the lower works or body is typically crawler mounted. The lifting capacity of a mobile crane is largely determined by the geometry of the base since all of the compression and tilting loads must act through and around the mobile base to the ground. The constant demands for increasing crane capacity have been partly met by larger-sized cranes having bigger lower bodies, both for more strength and to further space the fulcrum or tipping point of the crane from the counterweight effective line of action. These larger cranes have also been provided with increasing amounts of counterweight carried on the rotatable upper works which resist the overturning moment of the larger loads.
A significant increase in crane capacity was achieved by providing a self-propelled crane with the support ring and extended boom carrier disclosed and claimed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,485,383; 3,878,944; and 4,196,816. In these designs, the weight of the crane and its load is transferred to the ground through a large diameter, track-like ring. As shown in these patents, and as practiced commercially for some years, the support ring is either blocked into place by timbers fitted or wedged beneath and completely around the ring or is supported by a plurality of jacks spaced around the periphery of the ring. While such cranes have increased counterweight and lift capacities, they are no longer mobile under heavy loads.
Further refinements in ring supported cranes are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,042,115; 4,103,783; 4,387,813 and 4,387,814. These patents disclose inter alia that a separate transporter mechanism may be run in and out of an otherwise stationary ring supported crane in order to move that crane between different locations or transporter mechanisms and/or idle crawlers or dollies may be installed beneath the ring under the boom foot and counterweight. Additional ring segments of even greater radius, which may also be mounted on mobile transporter mechanisms, are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,316,548; 4,358,021; 4,449,635 and co-pending application Ser. No. 259,932, filed May 4, 1981, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,601,402. Other arrangements for forwardly extending the boom foot or load fulcrum point are disclosed in "TransiLift" type cranes such as in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,836,010; 4,170,309; 4,243,148; 4,537,317 and 4,555,032.
Conversely, attempts have been made to increase crane capacity by adding free-swinging counterweights such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,202,299 and 3,209,920 or through the use of "Sky-Horse" type counterweight trailers such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,842,984, 3,921,815 and 4,258,852 or suspended counterweight control systems as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,557,390. Reference may also be made to much earlier movable counterweight control systems for pedestal mounted cranes such as U.S. Pat. No. 524,619 wherein the counterweight position is directly dependent on the load line tension and U.S. Pat. No. 970,773 wherein the counterweight is swung out rearwardly in opposition to the forward reach of a jib.
None of these prior art arrangements, however, provides a fully satisfactory arrangement for increasing the lift capacity of a mobile crane while maintaining full mobility and maneuverability of the crane on its own crawler base and also permitting full swinging movement of the crane upper under both load and no load conditions without undue swinging and counterbalancing forces being created by the suspended counterweight mechanism.


Coronary artery disease may produce coronary lesions in the blood vessels providing blood to the heart, such as a stenosis (abnormal narrowing of a blood vessel). As a result, blood flow to the heart may be restricted. A patient suffering from coronary artery disease may experience chest pain, referred to as chronic stable angina during physical exertion or unstable angina when the patient is at rest. A more severe manifestation of disease may lead to myocardial infarction, or heart attack.
A need exists to provide more accurate data relating to coronary lesions, e.g., size, shape, location, functional significance (e.g., whether the lesion impacts blood flow), etc. Patients suffering from chest pain and/or exhibiting symptoms of coronary artery disease may be subjected to one or more tests that may provide some indirect evidence relating to coronary lesions. For example, noninvasive tests may include electrocardiograms, biomarker evaluation from blood tests, treadmill tests, echocardiography, single positron emission computed tomography (SPECT), and positron emission tomography (PET). These noninvasive tests, however, typically do not provide a direct assessment of coronary lesions or assess blood flow rates. The noninvasive tests may provide indirect evidence of coronary lesions by looking for changes in electrical activity of the heart (e.g., using electrocardiography (ECG)), motion of the myocardium (e.g., using stress echocardiography), perfusion of the myocardium (e.g., using PET or SPECT), or metabolic changes (e.g., using biomarkers).
For example, anatomic data may be obtained noninvasively using coronary computed tomographic angiography (CCTA). CCTA may be used for imaging of patients with chest pain and involves using computed tomography (CT) technology to image the heart and the coronary arteries following an intravenous infusion of a contrast agent. However, CCTA also cannot provide direct information on the functional significance of coronary lesions, e.g., whether the lesions affect blood flow. In addition, since CCTA is purely a diagnostic test, it cannot be used to predict changes in coronary blood flow, pressure, or myocardial perfusion under other physiologic states, e.g., exercise, nor can it be used to predict outcomes of interventions.
Thus, patients may also require an invasive test, such as diagnostic cardiac catheterization, to visualize coronary lesions. Diagnostic cardiac catheterization may include performing conventional coronary angiography (CCA) to gather anatomic data on coronary lesions by providing a doctor with an image of the size and shape of the arteries. CCA, however, does not provide data for assessing the functional significance of coronary lesions. For example, a doctor may not be able to diagnose whether a coronary lesion is harmful without determining whether the lesion is functionally significant. Thus, CCA has led to what has been referred to as an “oculostenotic reflex” of some interventional cardiologists to insert a stent for every lesion found with CCA regardless of whether the lesion is functionally significant. As a result, CCA may lead to unnecessary operations on the patient, which may pose added risks to patients and may result in unnecessary heath care costs for patients.
During diagnostic cardiac catheterization, the functional significance of a coronary lesion may be assessed invasively by measuring the fractional flow reserve (FFR) of an observed lesion. FFR is defined as the ratio of the mean blood pressure downstream of a lesion divided by the mean blood pressure upstream from the lesion, e.g., the aortic pressure, under conditions of increased coronary blood flow, e.g., induced by intravenous administration of adenosine. The blood pressures may be measured by inserting a pressure wire into the patient. Thus, the decision to treat a lesion based on the determined FFR may be made after the initial cost and risk of diagnostic cardiac catheterization has already been incurred.
Thus, a need exists for a method for assessing coronary anatomy, myocardial perfusion, and coronary artery flow noninvasively. Such a method and system may benefit cardiologists who diagnose and plan treatments for patients with suspected coronary artery disease. In addition, a need exists for a method to predict coronary artery flow and myocardial perfusion under conditions that cannot be directly measured, e.g., exercise, and to predict outcomes of medical, interventional, and surgical treatments on coronary artery blood flow and myocardial perfusion.
It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory only and are not restrictive of the disclosure.


This invention relates to combustion apparatus and, more specifically, to means for effectively cooling combustion chambers. For convenience of illustration and discussion, the invention will be described in connection with a jet engine of the gas turbine type. However, it will be appreciated that the structure is suitable for any high temperature application which requires effective film cooling of combustion apparatus.
Aircraft engines presently in operational use and those under development for future applications are designed to operate at extremely high temperatures. In order to prolong the life of combustors associated with such engines, new alloys have been developed which are highly compatible with the high temperature environment. However, it has also been found that by cooling the combustor under operating conditions the thermal fatigue life characteristic of the combustor are enhanced.
Generally, it is accepted practice in the art to cool combustion chambers by providing a moving film of cooling air between the inner surface of the liner and the hot gases of combustion. The film of cooling air forms a protective barrier between the liner and the hot gases and also provides for convective cooling of the liner.
Generally, in prior art devices the protective film is introduced into the combustion chamber from a plenum of cooling air surrounding the exterior of the combustor. This has been accomplished by providing for the introduction of cooling air through a series of apertures in an upstream portion of the liner into an annular lipped pocket. The streams of cooling fluid entering through the apertures are permitted to mix and coalesce within the pocket to form a uniform annular boundary layer of cooling air which is directed by the lip along the inner surface of the combustor liner.
It is well known that the lip associated with the aforementioned cooling arrangement is subject to thermal stresses which cause warpage and buckling of the lip under operating conditions. One of the approaches utilized in the past to overcome warpage and buckling of the lip has been to include in the downstream portion of the lip a series of circumferentially spaced dimples which provide localized stiffening to resist the buckling tendency induced by the thermal stresses. While the inclusion of dimples in this manner served well to overcome lip distortion, the dimples were found to create wakes in the film of cooling air discharged along the inner surface of the liner. The wakes were found to destroy the uniformity of the cooling air barrier and permit hot gas of combustion to directly contact the inner liner of the combustor thereby reducing its operating life.
Some attempts have been made to eliminate the wakes caused by dimples disposed in combustor lips. United States Patent 3,826,082 discloses an arrangement wherein the lateral walls of the dimple converge in the downstream direction. Unlike previous dimples which diverged in the downstream direction, the arrangement taught in the referenced patent sought to direct cooling air into the area immediately downstream of the dimple hence filling the area with cooling air rather than hot gases of combustion. Incorporation of dimples with converging lateral walls into combustors has proved to be at least partially successful in reducing the deleterious effects on the liner which result from dimple wakes. However, while converging lateral walls, as taught by the above-referenced patent, serve to form an exit slot characterized by increasing width in the aft direction, such walls do not insure that the cross-sectional flow area of the exit slot is also increasing. Rather, since the height of the dimples increases in the aft direction, the cross-sectional area flow area of the exit slot decreases in the same direction. Consequently, cooling air flowing through the exit slot of decreasing flow area must accelerate and converge as it flows through successive downstream cross sections of the exit slot. As the cooling air exits the slot in the aforedescribed converging manner, wakes are formed in the boundary layer of cooling film. Said another way, wakes are formed in the boundary layer of cooling film as a direct result of the flow of cooling air out of the exit slot in an accelerated convergent manner caused by the decreasing cross-sectional flow area of the exit slot. Such convergent flow will be present even though the pair of lateral walls associated with each dimple converge toward each other and form an exit slot with increasing width in the aft direction. The present invention is directed toward providing dimple construction in a lip associated with a cooling slot disposed in a combustor liner wherein each dimple is characterized by a constant height portion so as to provide, in cooperation with convergent lateral walls, an exit slot of increasing cross-sectional flow area in the aft direction. An exit slot having an increasing cross-sectional flow area will cause cooling air to exit the slot in a divergent manner so as to flow into and fill wake areas immediately aft of each dimple.


Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an integrated circuit for processing security-relevant data having data output circuits and access control circuits. The invention also relates to a circuit configuration for supplying power to security-relevant parts of an integrated circuit.
Integrated circuits used in smart cards containing security-relevant data can be the target of a wide variety of attacks on the security-relevant data contained in the integrated circuits.
Physical attacks on smart cards can have various goals, such as reading-out (probing) of secret signals or forcing of control signals.
Therefore, in security technologies, secret signals and control signals are conducted in mask planes that are difficult to access, and are additionally protected by a shielding layer (a so-called security layer).
Over and above the methods of probing and forcing, however, it is also possible to isolate circuit blocks from the supply in order deliberately to generate xe2x80x9cstuck atxe2x80x9d errors on control signals and thus to cancel e.g. blockade functions.
In order to defend against such attacks in which access control circuits on an IC (Integrated Circuit) are deliberately rendered voltageless, the supply of such access control circuits has hitherto been routed or conducted twice (both in the aluminum plane and in the diffusion plane). In accordance with the prior art, such an attack described above could thus be warded off by routing or conducting the supply to the access control circuits in inseparable layers (planes of the IC) for example in the diffusion plane.
Routing or conducting the supply twice has the disadvantage that a considerable amount of space on the IC is lost, since signals could otherwise be conducted in the diffusion. Conducting the power supply exclusively in the diffusion has the disadvantage that the electrical resistance of the diffusion layer is usually higher. Therefore, either voltage drops occur, or it is necessary to provide tracks of appropriate width in the diffusion, which again leads to a considerable loss of space.
It is accordingly an object of the invention to provide an integrated circuit for processing security-relevant data and a circuit configuration for supplying power to security-relevant parts of an integrated circuit which overcome the above-mentioned disadvantages of the heretofore-known circuits of this general type and in which, while maintaining or improving the security, the space required for a power supply of security-relevant parts of the IC is reduced wherein the power supply is additionally or exclusively conducted in the diffusion.
With the foregoing and other objects in view there is provided, in accordance with the invention, in combination with an integrated circuit having security-relevant parts and access control circuits for protecting the security-relevant parts, a circuit configuration for supplying power to the security-relevant parts, the circuit configuration including:
a power supply circuitry for supplying power to the security-relevant parts; and
the power supply circuitry being laid out such that a power supply to the security-relevant parts is interrupted if a power supply to the access control circuits is disturbed.
In other words, the object of the present invention is achieved through the use of a circuit configuration for the power supply of security-relevant parts of an integrated circuit, which are protected by corresponding access control circuits, wherein the power supply of the security-relevant parts is conducted or routed in such a way that the power supply is interrupted if the power supply of the access control circuits is disturbed.
The object of the invention is thus achieved by virtue of the fact that a disturbance of the power supply of the access control circuits leads to a blocking of the data output circuits.
In this case, a particularly simple solution is possible if the power supply of the security-relevant parts is connected to the power supply of the access control circuits.
Greater security is afforded by a solution in which the power supply of the security-relevant parts is conducted via one or more switches which open if the power supply of the access control circuits is disturbed. In this way, it is possible to prevent the forcible re-establishment of a power supply of the security-relevant parts while the power supply of the access control circuits is interrupted.
In this case, it is particularly preferred for an NMOS (Negative-Channel Metal Oxide Semiconductor) switch to be provided between the general power supply VDD and the power supply of the security-relevant parts, the gate of which is connected to the VDD power supply of the access control circuits via a line routed in the diffusion or in a security layer.
Even greater security of the integrated circuits can preferably be achieved, in conjunction, naturally, with a somewhat higher outlay, through a combination of the security measures described above.
With the objects of the invention in view there is also provided, an integrated circuit for processing security-relevant data, including:
data output circuits; and
access control circuits operatively connected to the data output circuits such that a disturbance in a power supply to the access control circuits results in a blocking of the data output circuits.
One possible preferred embodiment of this solution is based on the fact that blocking signals are generated by the access control circuits, which are respectively inverse in pairs, and the data output circuits operate only when in each case both inverse blocking signals indicate cancellation of the blocking. If one of the power supplies of the access control circuit is interrupted, one of the blocking signals inevitably assumes a xe2x80x9cfalsexe2x80x9d value, as a result of which the data output is blocked.
In this case, it is particularly preferred for the respectively mutually associated inverse blocking signals to be conducted parallel to one another in the integrated circuit, preferably one above the other. This makes it more difficult to attack an individual blocking signal.
Furthermore, it is preferred for the blocking signals to be conducted in the diffusion or in a security layer. Otherwise, deblocking of the data output circuits could be achieved through an attack on the blocking signals, although with some outlay.
Another preferred development of the invention is based on the power supply of the data output circuits being conducted in such a way that the power supply is interrupted if the power supply of the access control circuit is disturbed.
For this purpose, the power supply of the data output circuits may preferably be connected to the power supply of the access control circuits. This is a very simple possibility for protecting the integrated circuit against the abovementioned manipulations.
Even greater security is afforded by the preferred solution, in which the power supply of the data output circuits is conducted via one or more switches which open if the power supply of the access control circuits is disturbed. In this way, it is also possible to avoid the situation where the power supply of the data output circuit is re-established by placing an electrically conductive needle onto corresponding regions of the IC, even though the power supply of the access control circuits is disturbed.
In this case, particularly preferred is a solution wherein an NMOS switch is provided between the general supply voltage VDD and the power supply of the data output circuits, the gate of which is connected to the VDD power supply of the access control circuits via a line routed in the diffusion or in a security layer.
Other features which are considered as characteristic for the invention are set forth in the appended claims.
Although the invention is illustrated and described herein as embodied in an integrated circuit and a circuit configuration for the power supply of an integrated circuit, it is nevertheless not intended to be limited to the details shown, since various modifications and structural changes may be made therein without departing from the spirit of the invention and within the scope and range of equivalents of the claims.
The construction and method of operation of the invention, however, together with additional objects and advantages thereof will be best understood from the following description of specific embodiments when read in connection with the accompanying drawings.


The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for producing plastic products. The invention is particularly useful for recycling waste plastic materials and is therefore described below with respect to this application.
The increase in usage of plastic materials in everyday life has created a serious disposal problem since most types of plastic materials are not readily degradable. Efforts are therefore continually being made to develop methods for recycling waste plastic materials not only to alleviate the waste-disposal and pollution problems, but also to lower the need for virgin plastic and other raw materials (e.g., wood) in producing various products and thereby to lower the cost of such products.


1. Technical Field
The present invention relates in general to a system and method for virtualization of processor resources. More particularly, the present invention relates to a system and method for virtualizing processor memory such that one or more threads may access the processor memory, regardless of a processor's state.
2. Description of the Related Art
Computer systems are becoming more and more complex. The computer industry typically doubles the performance of a computer system every 18 months (e.g. personal computer, PDA, gaming console). In order for the computer industry to accomplish this task, the semiconductor industry produces integrated circuits that double in performance every 18 months. A computer system uses integrated circuits for particular functions based upon the integrated circuits' architecture. Two fundamental architectures are 1) microprocessor-based and 2) digital signal processor-based.
An integrated circuit with a microprocessor-based architecture is typically used to handle control operations whereas an integrated circuit with a digital signal processor-based architecture is typically designed to handle signal-processing manipulations (i.e. mathematical operations). As technology evolves, the computer industry and the semiconductor industry realize the importance of using both architectures, or processor types, in a computer system design.
Many computer systems use a multi-processor architecture in order to provide a substantial amount of processing power while attempting to support a wide range of software applications. A challenge found, however, is that each of these processors includes dedicated internal memory that is not accessible by other processors, such as a local storage area and register files. Another challenge found is that if a particular processor is unavailable, other processors may not access data from the unavailable processor.
Furthermore, a processor may run multiple threads that access the same memory space. A challenge found is that when a particular thread is accessing a particular memory space, the other threads must wait until the particular thread is complete before the other threads are able to access the memory space.
What is needed, therefore, is a system and method to virtualize processor memory resources such that the resources are concurrently accessible by one or more threads, regardless of a processor's state.


Conventionally, the World Wide Web has used HTML (Hyper-Text Markup Language) to encode documents (e.g., web pages). HTML was primarily intended for human consumption and hence has limitations with respect to the ability to perform more complex functions involving web documents, which may be static or dynamic. While the content of static web documents are fixed, the content of dynamic web documents may change. In this fashion, the web document may meet a user request for information, may provide a changing graphical display, etc. Conventionally, creating a dynamic web document involves combining stylesheets and scripts to create such web documents, which change in response to user interactions.
Conventional methods to generate dynamic web pages include using a JSP (Java Server Page) or using an ASP (Active Server Page). In the JSP case, a file containing a combination of JSP tags, HTML code and Java code is transformed into Java source code, compiled, and the resulting executable is run to generate a customized web page. The JSP file is transformed and compiled the first time it is accessed and also whenever the JSP source page is newer than the compiled version. The ASP technology is analogous to the JSP technology but uses Visual Basic as a primary server side scripting language.
Unfortunately, the above-mentioned conventional methods have several limitations. One such limitation relates to the ability to save the state associated with a web-page the user was accessing, such that the user may leave and come back to the web-page to pick up where the user left off. For example, a dynamic web-page may be designed to walk a user through of a number of steps to complete a process. A user accessing such a web-page may go off-line and come back to finish later. While some conventional systems may allow for this, the technique is often complex because the state associated with where the user is in the process must be linked to the copy of the code that was used to create the dynamic web page. Thus, multiple items must be saved (e.g., the identity of the page and the version of the code used to access it) and they must be linked together.
Some conventional methods also face difficulties when updating the code that accesses web pages. For example, a single piece of code (e.g., a JSP) is used to process incoming requests for web pages for multiple users. From time to time, this code must be re-compiled. Using the example above in which a user leaves a process and wishes to come back later, the code may have been re-compiled between the time the user left and the time the user returned. The newly compiled code may not allow the user to complete the process properly and saving the old code is logistically unattractive. Hence, problems of mixing old and new code arise.
An additional problem with such conventional methods is that they are not well-suited to providing machine-readable descriptions. For example, while the markup tags in HTML define how the content is to be formatted, they do not describe the content itself. Recently, XML (Extensible Markup Language) has been used to encode web-pages. In particular, with the introduction of higher-level representations such as RDF (Resource Description Format), it is practical to provide web pages that contain machine-readable descriptions. In this evolution of the World Wide Web to the Semantic Web, it is suggested that web pages may become a store of data to be mined by autonomous software agents.
Software agents are software routines that wait in the background and perform an action when a specified event occurs. Software agents may be autonomous, acting on behalf of the user. Some agents are intelligent, learning and adapting to environmental conditions. Software agents may perform a number of other tasks such as, information retrieval. In this example, a user may send a software agent to gather information on a specified topic while the user is off-line. When the user returns, the information is waiting. As another example, a software agent may function as a broker, seeking out prices for a specified product and returning a list to the users. As yet another example, software agents may transmit a summary file on the first day of the month or monitor incoming data and alert the user when a certain transaction has arrived.
One conventional method of coding agents is to describe the agent using a custom programming language with an XML syntax. While this may be effective for manipulating XML expressions, it requires that a new language be learned.
Other conventional systems may not require that a new language be learned to code the agent; however, the agent itself is not directly accessible. Consequently, debugging such an agent is complicated.
Therefore, one problem with conventional web access methods is the difficulty of saving the state associated with a web page. Another problem is the complexities involved in accessing a saved web page when the code that is used to access the web page is updated. An additional problem is the difficulty of providing web pages with machine-readable descriptions. Still other problems involve coding and debugging software routines such as agents.


1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to a thrust plate assembly, especially for a motor vehicle friction clutch with automatic wear compensation. Such an assembly comprises a housing which can be fixed or is fixed to a flywheel for joint rotation about an axis of rotation. A pressure plate is arranged in the housing so as to be fixed with respect to rotation relative to it and axially displaceable relative to it. An energy accumulator, preferably a diaphragm spring, is supported at the housing on one side and is supported at the pressure plate on the other side and presses the pressure plate in the direction of a side of the housing provided for connection with the flywheel. A wear adjustment device is arranged in the support path of the energy accumulator between the energy accumulator and a component of the housing and pressure plate. The wear adjustment device has at least one adjustment element which is displaceable for purposes of wear adjustment and is pretensioned in a wear adjusting direction. At least one play sensor arrangement for detecting wear in friction facings or friction linings of a clutch disk can be clamped or is clamped between the pressure plate and the flywheel. The play sensor arrangement comprises: a locking/detection element which is arranged on one component and which is pretensioned against the wear adjustment device with a locking portion and acts upon this wear adjustment device in order to prevent a movement of the at least one wear adjustment element in the wear adjusting direction and which interacts or can be made to interact by a detection portion with another component or assembly for detection of wear. The latter component or assembly is displaceable with respect to the first component when wear occurs. The locking/detection element can be brought into a position for releasing the at least one adjustment element for movement in the wear adjusting direction when wear occurs by means of the interaction with the other component or assembly.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
A thrust plate arrangement constructed in the manner described above is known from the prior art, wherein the play sensor arrangement is constructed as follows: An axial through-opening is provided in the pressure plate and is penetrated by a pin-like detection portion of a play sensor. The pin-like detection portion is easily tiltable in the through-opening. A leaf spring element is fixedly arranged at one end of this pin-like detection portion, this end being situated at a distance from the flywheel, wherein the leaf spring element extends in the direction of the wear adjustment device so that the wear adjustment device is clamped between the pressure plate and the leaf spring element. Due to the support of the leaf spring element at the wear adjustment device, the pin-like detection portion is tilted in its through-opening due to the spring elasticity of the leaf spring element, and is accordingly pretensioned in a friction clamping fit. If wear occurs in friction linings of a clutch disk which are located between the pressure plate and flywheel, the pressure plate moves in the direction of the flywheel until the pin-like detection portion stands up at the flywheel. In so doing, this detection portion is displaced in its through-opening axially with respect to the pressure plate against the pretensioning action and friction clamping fit. This means that its end by which it is connected with the leaf spring element is pushed away from the pressure plate so that the pretensioning force by which the leaf spring element acts upon the wear adjustment device decreases. When the force of the diaphragm spring exerted on the wear adjustment device is reduced or released in a subsequent disengagement process, the at least one adjustment element can move in the wear adjusting direction accompanied by increasing tensioning of the leaf spring element until the pretensioning force by which the at least one wear adjustment element is pretensioned in the wear adjustment position and the force applied by the leaf spring element balance one another, and a further movement of the at least one wear adjustment element is blocked in the wear adjusting direction by the leaf spring. This means that in this arrangement, the play sensor formed of the pin-like detection portion and the leaf spring element is displaced to an increasing extent with respect to the pressure plate and there takes place a successive relaxing of the leaf spring element (when wear is detected) and tensioning of the leaf spring element (when wear is compensated).
In order to carry out wear compensation in an arrangement of this kind to an extent which exactly corresponds to the wear of the friction linings detected by the play sensor, the spring elasticity or spring constant of the leaf spring element must be provided in a highly precise manner. If the leaf spring element is somewhat too soft, there is a risk that overcompensation of wear can take place; if the leaf spring element is too stiff, there is a risk that the wear will not be sufficiently compensated and that the interaction of the different components cannot take place in the provided manner.


In distributed storage systems, each data block may be stored as multiple replicates and when the data block is updated, the same update needs to be implemented among the replicates as well. The update among replicates can be implemented by a coordinator. In a master-slave replication system, the coordinator can be a master server and update process can be: the coordinator sequences updates data blocks, assigns new data versions, generates update requests, and sends the requests to slave servers. The update request can comprise two parts: data update and control information update. The control information update includes the new data version and metadata of the data block, such as a data block identification, the original version of the data block, the new version of the data block, and metadata information for other slave servers. Each slave server receives and processes the update request and then replies to the coordinator. The coordinator determines, according to a number of normal responses from the slave servers, the number of update requests sent, and a data consistency protocol, whether the data update is successful. If yes, it will modify the data block to the new version.
In the process of updating the data, the new version is generated based on the current version of the data block. Thus, the version monotonically increases and only one latest version is included in the update requests. If, instead, the slave server receives update requests including multiple new versions, the complexity will increase for maintaining consistency in updating the data. Therefore, in the update process, if the coordinator receives multiple update requests to the same data block, the request has to be queued and only after completing a current update request, it will process the next.
In order to achieve consistency in updating replicates of the data block, update requests of the same data block are sequenced, i.e., in serial execution of the data update requests. The data update process includes: network transmission, logic processing of the request, and write disk IO parts. At present, the disk can be solid state discs (SSD) and cluster write performance is relatively high. But carrying, in an update request, multiple data updates as batch processing can have the data update requests processed at once, reducing delay in the logic processing. The main bottleneck of data updates is in transmission network: the batch processing contains multiple updates and the amount of data transmission is large, causing a significant transmission delay.


Society often requires the filling out of forms, such as a government compliance form, a tax return, a loan application, or a job application. The government (both state and federal) has thousands of forms that individuals and/or companies are expected to fill out for a specific request or on a regular basis.
A form is a list of questions organized into relevant groups of data fields that a user needs to answer. A form may have a predefined rigid structure to help the repeated filling out and the further processing and may include a field for a signature. Forms may be in paper or electronic format.
Paper forms are often stored, transferred, and processed mostly by manual labor, that is slow and of low efficiency. The paper forms are inflexible, can be understood only via reading lengthy instructions. The instructions often refer to data that is only partially available. The instructions often use language (i.e. in government dialect) that is only partially understandable for the layperson and may not be explained. This may lead to misunderstanding and to an elaborate error-fixing process after the form is completed that necessitates time consuming, additional processing. A common practice is to hire out an expensive specialist who will fill out the forms on behalf of the individual or the company.
An example of a common and complex paper form is the individual tax return (Form 1040). This form contains about 150 fields (without the attachments); but an average user will need to fill out only about 60 of those fields, of which 10 are aggregated fields that could be derived from the already given answers (e.g. subtract line 33 from line 22). The instructions for the tax return comprise 32 pages.
Not all the questions on a form are relevant to the user's situation. The paper forms often have an embedded logic that the user needs to be able to follow in order to make decisions about how to fill out the form. Typically, the more complex the form is, the less fields have to be filled out based on the user's situation. Yet the user needs to process the whole form in order to understand which fields need to be filled out and which fields can be left empty.
The paper forms are independent and do not know about one another. Even if the same identification data (e.g. name and address of the company, phone numbers, tax id, etc.) has to be put into each form, it has to be repeatedly put into each form separately.
The currently available electronic form filling solutions basically implement the paper form structure (e.g. Microsoft Word or Adobe Acrobat and other Adobe products). The decision about what fields to fill in are still based on the user's following the complicated instructions. The user still needs to go through each field and determine whether the information is needed or not. The identification data for the same user (e.g. name, address, etc.) still needs to be added to each form separately. Though these documents are often called intelligent or smart documents, the intelligence is limited to localized help, error checking, or calculations in certain data fields. The data collected in one form is not accessible to another form.
A Microsoft Word or an Adobe PDF document can be protected by a digital signature. In the usual process of form filling, the user fills out the form, signs the document, and forwards it to the agency requiring the form. Once a document is digitally signed it cannot be converted to a programmatically accessible format from which relevant data can be extracted. The receiving agency cannot use the digitally signed document to extract e.g. statistical data via a program without further manual processing (e.g. printing, scanning, converting, and error checking again). Thus the existing solution (i.e., combining the filling out a form in Microsoft Word or Adobe Acrobat and signing it digitally) will not produce easily extractable raw data.
Some of the currently available electronic form filling solutions (e.g. tax return generator programs like TurboTax) are able to control the questioning and thus interpret the instructions to help the user. These applications are hard coded as computer programs. If the form is changed, the corresponding program needs to be changed as well. Creating an electronic form involves the writing of a new computer program. These processes are also time consuming and error prone. Yet, a form represents knowledge and it is the nature of the knowledge to change from time to time.
The internet provides a convenient framework for filling out online forms. The current electronic form filling methods (e.g. those provided for the public by the government offices like the Department of Labor, the Patent Office, the Securities and Exchange, or the Internal Revenue Service) are still relegated to manually signed paper documents as the final result. Such paper documents are scanned in as images, but the images are not searchable. Though the paper images can be transformed to text file through OCR scanning, this technology requires a human final check that is still error prone and time consuming. For this reason, because of the missing electronic equivalent of a signed paper document, the paperless office is still not working on the society level.
Consequently, and for the above delineated reasons, there exists a need for a faster, simpler way of filling out forms (both paper and online forms), creating legally binding documents that are completely electronic and not paper-based, and still permit the further processing of the accumulated data.


The virtual explosion in growth of multi-national companies has led to a dramatic increase in international telecommunications traffic. A significant, and ever increasing part of such traffic is devoted to conference calls, i.e., calls involving three or more parties. The manner in which such conference calls are arranged or initiated depends, among other factors, upon the type of terminal equipment available to the participants. Thus, if one of the participants has a two-line (or multi-line) capability, that party can place one call, put it on hold, place a second (or subsequent) call, and then bridge the two (or more) calls. If two or more participants have the same capability, then one participant can make all of the calls, or several participants can add one or more additional individuals to the conference, thereby in effect sharing the responsibility for initiating the conference among the parties.
The choice of which approach to take is not today made with any degree of consistency nor with any consideration of the advantages that may be obtained if one conference initiation approach is selected over another. In particular, it may turn out that the cost of making a call from point A to point B is less than the cost of making the same call from point B to point A, simply because of the time zone differences at those locations and the fact that the cost of making a call is time sensitive (e.g., evening or night rates are typically cheaper than day rates). "Direction dependent" rates are almost always encountered when international long distance calls are involved. It may also turn out that more (or better quality) circuits are available for telecommunications traffic destined for a foreign country as opposed to the circuits connecting the same endpoints but originating from locations outside of this country.
The situation described above is also true with respect to conference calls made using a conference facility (such as the Alliance Conference Bridge Service available from AT&T) that is located within the telecommunications network and controlled by the telecommunications provider, rather than by using customer premise equipment. In instances in which network based conference bridges are used, there are nevertheless choices that should be made to improve economy and efficiency: which participant should set up the call, which bridge location should be selected as a dominant location, what time the call should be placed, and so on.


1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical system of an optical pickup in an optical information recording and reproducing apparatus which records and reproduces information for optical discs having different corresponding wavelengths. More particularly, the present invention relates to an optical information recording and reproducing apparatus which allows compatibility for a plurality of optical recording mediums using laser light sources of different wavelengths, to an optical pickup, to an objective lens module, and to a diffractive optical element.
2. Description of Related Art
As an optical information recording and reproducing apparatus, an optical disc apparatus is known in which recorded information can be read from an optical recording medium, that is, an optical disc, such as digital versatile disc (hereinafter, referred to as DVD), compact disc (hereinafter, referred to as CD), or the like.
A compatible optical disc apparatus is known in which recorded information can be read from DVD and CD. As for DVD, the substrate thickness is 0.6 mm, the corresponding wavelength is in a range of 635 nm to 655 nm, and the numerical aperture (NA) of an objective lens is about 0.6. As for CD, the substrate thickness is 1.2 mm, the corresponding wavelength is in a range of 760 to 800 nm, and the numerical aperture of an objective lens is about 0.45. In the compatible optical disc apparatus, there is a case in which a laser light source having a wavelength λDVD in the vicinity of the wavelength 660 nm for DVD and a laser light source having a wavelength λCD in the vicinity of the wavelength 780 nm for CD are mounted.
For example, a technology is suggested in which an optical pickup device for allowing information to be recorded and reproduced for information recording mediums having different substrate thicknesses for DVD/CD, and an objective lens and an optical element used for the optical pickup device are provided (JP-A-2001-235676). The optical pickup device is suggested in which the objective lens having diffractive orbicular zones is used for the optical pickup device, such that, with an outside light flux of a predetermined numerical aperture in a use state of a small numerical aperture as a flare, recording and reproducing of information are performed for various information recording mediums having different thicknesses. The objective lens having such diffractive orbicular zones includes a diffraction surface having the diffractive orbicular zones. Here, when a function of an optical path difference of the diffraction surface is Φ(h) (where h is a distance from an optical axis), dΦ(h)/dh is a discontinuous or substantially discontinuous function at a place of a predetermined distance h.
On the other hand, as for blue-ray disc (hereinafter, referred to as BD), the thickness of a transmissive protection layer (which corresponds to the thickness of a transparent substrate of DVD or the like) is 0.1 mm, the corresponding wavelength is 408 nm, and the numerical aperture of an objective lens is about 0.85. Accordingly, in a BD/DVD/CD compatible optical disc apparatus, a laser light source which emits laser light of λBD in the vicinity of the wavelength 408 nm, that is, an optical system, needs to be mounted, in addition to the configuration of the above-described compatible optical disc apparatus. Further, since the optical discs of BD, DVD, and CD have different thicknesses, a unit for correcting three kinds of different spherical aberrations needs to be provided. In addition, since all of them have different numerical apertures, a corresponding unit also needs to be provided. However, in JP-A-2001-235676 described above, the specified descriptions of these units are not given. That is, it is difficult to realize compatibility of three or more kinds of recording mediums having different light source wavelengths, numerical apertures (effective diameters), optical disc thicknesses (the thickness of a transmissive protection layer), such as BD, DVD, CD, and the like by use of a single objective lens according to the related art.
In order to realize an optical pickup for a compatible apparatus, a method is suggested in which an objective lens exclusively used for BD and a DVD/CD compatible objective lens are used, and are switched according to wavelengths. In this case, however, since two objective lenses are used, a complex lens switching mechanism needs to be provided, which causes a problem in that manufacturing costs are increased. In addition, since an actuator is made large, it is disadvantageous to reduce the size of the apparatus. Further, a method may be considered in which an objective lens and a collimator lens are incorporated, but, since the collimator is fixed with respect to the objective lens, it may be difficult to maintain performance at the time of movement of the objective lens.
In any cases, if a plurality of light sources are used, and an optical system of exclusive prism, lens, and the like is configured in order to ensure compatibility of BD, DVD, and CD, an optical pickup or an overall optical head is complicated, and tends to have the large size.


This invention relates to methods and apparatus for controlling the direction and/or magnitude of warpage in molded plastic parts through strategic positioning of the non-homogeneous melt conditions across a stream of a laminar flowing fluid to a desirable circumferential position. This may be used in combination with more conventional process variables. The invention is useful in flow channels generally that flow a stream of laminar flowing material, such as thermoplastic or thermosetting plastics. The invention is particularly suitable for solidifying or non-solidifying runners, such as cold-runner or hot-runner injection molding machines that flow thermoplastic or thermosetting melt into a single or multiple cavity mold. The invention is also applicable to extrusion dies in which the melt conditions of the plastic can be strategically repositioned to achieve a desirable output condition from the flow channel to impart a desired material property to the flowing melt, such as to control a magnitude and/or direction of plastic part warpage.
Thermosets require heat to transition from a fluid to a solid state (the heat induces a chemical reaction) whereas thermoplastics must be cooled from a hot molten state to solidify. This is not a chemical reaction as found with thermosetting materials, but rather a phase change from liquid to solid. Thermosets are injected into a mold (via an injection molding machine or with use of a “transfer molding” process).
With thermoplastics the mold is cooled so that the plastic will solidify. A cold runner mold will also cool the runner after mold filling and the melt in the runner will solidify and must be removed every molding cycle. A hot runner will allow the runner material to remain molten during the entire molding cycle.
With thermosetting materials, the process is somewhat opposite to thermoplastics. A heated mold is used to allow the material to solidify. During injection molding or transfer molding, a fluid material is injected into a heated mold. The mold heats the material and initiates a chemical reaction causing the material to cross link and solidify. Normally the runner travels along the parting line similar to a cold runner thermoplastic mold. However, the runner is hot and the runner material solidifies with the molded parts and must be removed during every molding cycle. A cold runner system allows the material to remain fluid much like a hot runner used in thermoplastic molding.
Warpage of plastic parts is a result of variations in shrinkage within the part as it is being formed. Sources of such warpage of molded plastic parts have previously been poorly understood. These variations in shrinkage have generally been attributed to side to side variations in mold temperature, anisotropic shrinkage variations resulting from flow induced polymer and filler orientation, and global shrinkage variations (shrinkage variations between regions of a part) resulting from differences in wall thickness, mold temperature, melt temperature and melt pressure. Accordingly, when warpage in a particular mold design was discovered, attempts to correct the warpage typically involved modification to the melt temperature, mold temperature, fill rates, or an adjustment in pack pressure or pack time, or modifications to part geometry or gate locations.


1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a cobalt platinum (CoPt) deposited magnetic film, and in particular, to a CoPt deposited magnetic film of thickness from 3,000 to 10,000 angstroms having a coercivity from 1,300-2,000 oersteds, and to the method of depositing such a magnetic film.
2. Description Relative to the Prior Art
Following the practice of the crystallographic art, a crystal plane is identified by indices enclosed in parentheses, e.g. (10.1), and direction in a crystal is represented by indices enclosed in brackets, e.g. [00.2].


Imaging devices capable of printing images upon paper and other media are becoming increasingly popular and used in many applications including color reproduction. For example, laser printers, ink jet printers, and digital printing presses are but a few examples of imaging devices in wide use today for black and white or color imaging.
Digital printing presses are relatively new compared with other printing technologies and may be used in place of other printing arrangements, such as analog printing presses. In one imaging example utilizing a press, a plurality of copies of the same image may be reproduced in relatively high volumes (e.g., printing business cards, catalogs, publications, etc.).
Some imaging devices are susceptible to shifting of colors over time due to process drift in an imaging device. Some shift may be attributed to dot gain or shifts in dot gain of an imaging device where dot gain is the relationship of a printed dot area divided by a digital dot area (corresponding to an area of a dot intended to be printed).
At least some embodiments of the disclosure describe methods and apparatus which provide improved image formation upon media.


Many computing devices configured for telecommunications (“terminals”), such as smartphones, are capable of communicating via various types of networks. For example, cellular and other portable terminals may connect with circuit-switched (CS) networks such as the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) or more recent packet-switched (PS) networks such as Long Term Evolution (LTE) or other Internet Protocol (IP)-based networks. Network operators often maintain legacy network devices in their networks to support older protocols or communication techniques, such as CS voice calls.


Data parallel processing is a form of computing parallelization across multiple processing units. Data parallel processing is often used to perform workloads that can be broken up and concurrently executed by multiple processing units. For example, to execute a parallel loop routine having 1000 iterations, four different processing units may each be configured to perform 250 different iterations (or different sub ranges) of the parallel loop routine. In the context of data parallel processing, a task can represent an abstraction of sequential computational work that may have a dynamic working size that is typically determined at runtime. For example, a processor can execute a task that processes a sub-range of a parallel loop routine. In some cases, a task may be created by a thread running on a first processor and dispatched to be processed via another thread on a second processor.
Different tasks may be assigned (or offloaded to) various processing units of a multi-core or multi-processor computing device (e.g., a heterogeneous system-on-chip (SOC)). Typically, a task-based runtime system (or task scheduler) determines to which processing unit a task may be assigned. For example, a scheduler can launch a set of concurrently-executing tasks on a plurality of processing units, each unit differently able to perform operations on data for a parallel loop routine.
Multi-processor (or multi-core) systems are often configured to implement data parallelism techniques to provide responsive and high performance software. For example, with data parallel processing capabilities, a multi-core device commonly launches a number of dynamic tasks on different processing units in order to achieve load balancing. Parallel workloads may get unbalanced between various processing units. For example, while multiple processing units may initially get equal sub-ranges of a parallel loop routine, imbalance in execution time may occur. Imbalances in workloads may occur for many reasons, such as that the amount of work per work item is not constant (e.g., some work items may require less work than other work items, etc.); the capabilities of heterogeneous processing units may differ (e.g., big.LITTLE CPU cores, CPU vs. GPU, etc.); rising temperature may throttle frequencies on some processing units more than others, particularly if the heat dissipation is not uniform (as is commonly the case); and other loads may cause some processors to lag more (e.g., loads from other applications, the servicing of system interrupts, and/or the effects of OS scheduling, etc.).
To improve performance while conducting data parallel processing, multi-processor systems may employ work-stealing techniques in which tasks or processing units can be configured to opportunistically take and execute work items originally assigned to other tasks or processing units. For example, when a first processing unit or task finishes an assigned subrange of a shared workload (e.g., a parallel loop routine), the first processing unit may steal additional sub-ranges of work from other processing units/tasks that are still busy processing respective assignments of the shared workload. As load imbalances may often occur, work-stealing operations may allow dynamic load-balancing that improves the utilization of system processing resources and reduces the time to complete parallel work.