Abstract: A decorative laminate assembly having a decorative laminate top layer assembly. This top layer assembly includes, in descending superimposed relationship, a decorative layer and a core layer that includes PETG, or other polymeric material. Preferably, the top layer assembly also includes a wear resistant overlay layer on top of the decorative layer, and the core layer's PETG is in a sheet form. The top layer assembly may be directly bonded to a water resistant substrate. The decorative laminate assembly of the present invention can be used for a variety of purposes, including flooring applications. When the present invention is used for flooring applications, it is preferred that the overlay layer has enhanced wear resistant qualities and that the water resistant substrate comprise PVC or cement fiberboard.

Abstract: The present invention is provided to form a metal line layer in a semiconductor device, wherein at least one conductive layer of a plurality of conductive layers is etched, a side wall oxide film is formed on side walls of some conductive layers of the etched conductive layers, and then the other conductive layers are etched. According to the present invention, since it is possible to prevent attacks against the side walls, which may occur due to sputtering and bending of plasma ions, it is possible to enhance yield and reliability of a semiconductor device.

Abstract: In an apparatus for authenticating a user by employing feature points of a fingerprint image of the user, a fingerprint image input circuit scans a fingerprint of a user to be registered to provide a first fingerprint image and a fingerprint of a user to be authenticated to provide a second fingerprint image. A host provides registered feature points data corresponding to the first fingerprint image and target feature points data corresponding to the second fingerprint image. A security token circuit estimates a position difference and a direction difference between pairs of a registered feature point and a target feature point and corrects the two feature points based on the position difference and the direction difference to provide authentication result data.

Abstract: A charge pump circuit is disclosed which can perform high pumping by changing the condition of connection of the charge pump circuit by connecting a serial and parallel switching circuit and a level shift circuit between unit charge pumps to construct the charge pump circuit.

Abstract: A ferroelectric memory cell array and a device for driving the same are disclosed, in which the ferroelectric memory cell array is defined as first and second cell regions each using at least one group of four split wordlines to reduce a layout area of the memory cell array and/or a RC load when a split wordline is used as a plate line. In the first cell region, the first and third split wordlines are used as wordlines, and the second and fourth split wordlines are used as plate lines. In the second cell region, the second and fourth split wordlines are used as wordlines and the first and third split wordlines are used as plate lines.

Abstract: Disclosed a method of designing a watermark having the power spectral density optimized so that the detection performance can be improved by employing the whitening filtered detection after the Wiener attack. The power spectral density of the watermark is designed using an optimization method that can improve the entire detection performance by reflecting the gain of the whitening filter after the Wiener attack. A higher detection gain is obtained using the whitening filter after the Wiener attack, and the expected value of the difference between test statistics of the two hypotheses that the watermark exists and the watermark does not exist, respectively, is maximized to optimize the detection performance. Regarding the expected value of the difference between the test statistics as an objective function, the power spectral density of the watermark, which corresponds to a maximum differentiated value of the power spectral density of the watermark using the Lagrange multiplier method, is obtained.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a receiver applicable to a code division multiple access system having multiple transfer rates. In a CDMA system, when performing a de-spreading process to extract information from received data in which various terminal signals or multiple path signals are asynchronously mixed, interference between a plurality of users or paths tends to occur. The present invention proposes an interference canceller for effectively canceling the interference between the users or paths. For this, the present invention implements a parallel interference canceller for estimating in parallel interference signals from asynchronously received signals and canceling the estimated interference signals from the received signals. In the present invention, when implementing a parallel interference canceller for asynchronously received signals, as bit information of the received signals is not aligned in the same time frame, the following conditions are considered.

Abstract: Disclosed is a medical device used to prevent the cross-contamination of patients or injectors in which various components placed on the injector minimize or eliminate back splash contamination of the injector.

Abstract: A parallel loop transformation method for race detection during an execution of parallel programs that includes generating a data structure of a condition statement branch determinant string Cstr required for loop transformation by taking an original parallel loop as an input and extracting execution path information, transforming the original parallel loop into a full race covering loop using the data structure of the condition statement branch determinant string Cstr required for loop transformation and the execution path information as an input statement, instrumenting the race detection function in order to activate the race detection function for the transformed parallel loop which are previously generated, and executing the race detection while running the parallel programs according to instrumented detection functions.

Abstract: The present invention relates to coated photonic crystal fibers including a photonic crystal fiber and a protective coating surrounding the photonic crystal fiber. The coating is obtained by curing a resin composition, which may include a urethane (meth)acrylate oligomer. The present invention also relates to a coated photonic crystal fiber including a photonic crystal fiber and a protective coating having a refractive index below 1.45.

Abstract: Disclosed is a method of segmenting handwritten touching numeral strings having a non-vertical segmentation line.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a method for providing an arbitrary sound chosen by a subscriber instead of a conventional RBT, more particularly, to a method for providing a caller with an arbitrary sound chosen by the caller instead of an RBT in case that a called is not a subscriber of a called-based RBT replacement service. The present method comprises: a first step, conducted by an exchanger when a call is received from a terminal, of requesting a first trunk connection to other telephone communication network while requesting a second trunk connection to a sound providing means if it is confirmed that the calling terminal has subscribed to RBT replacement service and the called terminal is a subscriber of said other telephone communication network; and a second step, conducted by the sound providing means, of providing the calling terminal with an RBT-replacing sound set for the calling terminal through the exchanger.

Abstract: An integrated circuit package is provided. The package includes a die attach pad having a first side and a second side. A first semiconductor die is mounted to the first side of the die attach pad, a plurality of contact pads disposed in close proximity to the first semiconductor die. A first plurality of wire bonds connect the first semiconductor die and ones of the contact pads. An overmold encapsulates the first plurality of wire bonds and the first semiconductor die, the die attach pad and the contact pads being embedded in the overmold. A plurality of leads are disposed proximal the second side of the die attach pad. A second semiconductor die is mounted to one of the second side of the die attach pad and ones of the plurality of leads such that the ones of the plurality of leads are electrically connected to the second semiconductor die. The second semiconductor die and the leads are embedded in an encapsulant. The die attach pad shields the second semiconductor die.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a method of determining a quasi-phase matching efficiency in a periodically poled structure of an optical waveguide, a periodically poled structure of an optical waveguide, and an optical waveguide using the same. It is possible to effectively perform a quasi-phase matching when a width of periodic electrodes is shorter than a coherence length generally used as ½ of a quasi-phase matching period.

Abstract: There is provided a differential amplifier including: an output terminal through which an output voltage is outputted in response to an input voltage; a first inverter-type input unit connected between a first node and a second node to receive the input voltage; a second inverter-type input unit connected between a third node and a fourth node and receiving a reference voltage and having an output node connected to the output terminal; a circuit biased by an output of the first input unit and configuring a negative feedback loop together with the first input unit; an amplifying unit biased by the output of the first input unit to amplify the output of the first input unit; and a switching unit connected between the first node and the third node and between the second node and the fourth node in response to a voltage level of the output terminal.

Abstract: A process and an apparatus are useful for identifying articles which are at least partly made from at least one polymer. The process and apparatus use an optical spectrometer and a transport system, whereby the articles to be identified are moved by the transport system past the optical spectrometer, where they are irradiated, response measured and analyzed. An external reference object is also transported, by the transport system, past the optical spectrometer such that it becomes possible to use the measured response for the reference object to identify, with greater accuracy, the articles to be identified.

Abstract: The invention relates to a sprinkling system. The system comprises a body portion comprising a housing and a spike depending downward from the housing, wherein the housing comprises a lower platform and an upwardly open U-shaped groove aligned along a center line of the platform for holding the tubing. The system comprises a saddle adapted to fit within the housing, the saddle comprising a top face having an outlet therein, and a bottom face having downwardly open inverted U-shaped groove depending therefrom. The system also comprises a hollow piercing element extending from the bottom face of the saddle to a point above the platform and in fluid communication with the outlet. The system further comprises a cap adapted to fit over the saddle, wherein securing the cap to the body portion is achieved without rotating the piercing element.

Abstract: The invention relates to coated optical fibers comprising soft primary coatings and to such primary coatings for protecting glass optical fibers having a sufficient high resistance against cavitation. In particular, the primary coatings have a cavitation strength at which a tenth cavitation appears (?10cav) of at least about 1.0 MPa as measured at a deformation rate of 0.20% min?1 and of at least about 1.4 times their storage modulus at 23° C. The coating preferably shows strain hardening in a relative Mooney plot, preferably has a strain energy release rate Go of about 20 J/m2 or more, and preferably has a low volumetric thermal expansion coefficient. The invention furthermore provides a method and apparatus for measuring the cavitation strength of a primary coating.

Abstract: A system and method capable of measuring the fat content in the target organ by the gray level distribution of pixels forming a ultrasonic section image and a recording medium of recording a fat content measuring program are disclosed. In order to quantify the fat content of the target organ from the information of the stored ultrasonic section image, a target section and a comparative section in each of the longitudinal sections are set, and a representative gray level value of the respective section is calculated, thereby the fat content of the target section is quantified in a numerical value relative to the representative gray level value of the comparative section.

Abstract: A nanoporous reactive adsorbent incorporates a relatively small number of relatively larger reactant, e.g. metal, enzyme, etc. particles (10) forming a discontinuous or continuous phase interspersed among and surrounded by a continuous phase of smaller adsorbent particles (12) and connected interstitial pores (14) therebetween. The reactive adsorbent can effectively remove inorganic or organic impurities in a liquid by causing the liquid to flow through the adsorbent. For example, silver ions may be adsorbed by the adsorbent particles (12) and reduced to metallic silver by reducing metal, such as irons, as the reactant particles (10). The column can be regenerated by backwashing with the liquid effluent containing, for example, acetic acid.