Provided is a thermal storage medium composition which contains 100 parts by mass of a hydrogenated diene copolymer and 50 to 4000 parts by mass of a linear paraffin compound having 12 to 50 carbon atoms, where the hydrogenated diene copolymer is a conjugated diene copolymer that is obtained by hydrogenating a block copolymer which includes a polymer block (A) that contains structural units (a-1) derived from a first conjugated diene compound and has a vinyl bond content of not more than 20 mol %, and a polymer block (B) that contains structural units (b-1) derived from a second conjugated diene compound and has a vinyl bond content of 30 to 95 mol %, the hydrogenation ratio with respect to the double bonds derived from the conjugated diene compounds being not less than 90%.

A thermal storage medium is a material which contains a substance with a high heat capacity, and can store heat in the substance and release it as needed. Thermal storage media are used in various fields including air-conditioning units in facilities such as hotels, airports and underground cities, automobile canisters, electronic parts such as IC chips, underwear fibers, thermally insulated containers for transportation of organs, curved mirrors and bridge concrete materials.
Water is commonly used in thermal storage media. In most cases, however, thermal storage with water depends solely on the use of sensible heat caused by a temperature change. Thus, attention has been drawn to thermal storage media that use not only sensible heat but latent heat caused by a phase change.
Paraffins are compounds that can use a latent heat generated by a phase change. However, paraffins are dangerous when used in the liquid state. In order to ensure that a paraffin does not leak when it has become fluidized, it is necessary that the paraffin be contained in a closed container or a bag. In such cases, the use of containers or the like having sufficient strength is not viable because costs are increased. On the other hand, a simplified container or the like is readily breakable to cause the risk that a paraffin will leak or come out during a long term of use.
Thus, approaches other than the use of containers have been increasingly adopted such as impregnating a porous substance with a paraffin, microencapsulating a paraffin, and a combination of these methods. However, even such methods have a problem in that the leakage of a paraffin from a porous substance or a microcapsule cannot be completely prevented. Further, these methods entail complicated production steps and a cost increase, as well as a problem that the content of a thermal storage material per unit volume is reduced. In particular, microencapsulating a paraffin has a problem in that the thermal storage performance per unit volume is decreased when a paraffin fails to completely fill the space in the microcapsule.
Another conventional method is to knead a paraffin into a crystalline polyolefin such as crystalline polyethylene. However, crystalline polyolefins are hard and are difficult to handle. Further, at high temperatures, a paraffin is phase-separated and bleeds out from a crystalline polyolefin. To prevent this problem, a solid container needs to be used. Thus, such a method is not viable.
In order to overcome the problems described above, thermal storage media comprising a paraffin and a thermoplastic elastomer as main components have been disclosed (see, for example, Patent Literature 1). Such a thermal storage medium has a latent heat as high as 30 kcal/kg or more (126 kJ/kg or more), and preferably 35 kcal/kg or more (147 kJ/kg or more) at service temperatures, which is free from phase separation or paraffin bleeding even at or above the maximum crystal transition temperature of the paraffin contained (hereinafter, also referred to as "Tmax", corresponding to the melting point in most cases), and does not exhibit brittleness even at or below Tmax (below which the paraffin becomes solid) and shows appropriate flexibility without being broken even when formed into a sheet. Examples of the thermoplastic elastomers described in Patent Literature 1 include styrene block copolymer elastomers and olefin elastomers.

Thermal storage medium composition and thermal storage medium


A method for producing an aluminum alloy heat exchanger includes applying a coating material prepared by mixing an Si powder, a flux powder, and a binder to a surface of a multiport flat refrigerant tube, assembling an aluminum alloy bare fin with the multiport flat refrigerant tube, and brazing the multiport flat refrigerant tube and the aluminum alloy bare fin to obtain an aluminum alloy heat exchanger, the multiport flat refrigerant tube being formed of an aluminum alloy extruded material that includes 0.5 to 1.7 mass % of Mn, less than 0.10 mass % of Si, and less than 0.10 mass % of Cu, with the balance being Al and unavoidable impurities, the aluminum alloy bare fin being a corrugated fin that is obtained by forming an Al—Mn—Zn alloy material, the coating material being prepared by mixing an Si powder, a Zn-containing compound flux powder, a Zn-free compound flux powder, and a binder, the Si powder being applied in an amount of 1 to 4 g/m2, and the aluminum alloy heat exchanger obtained by brazing having a configuration in which a deep area of the refrigerant tube has the highest potential, and the potential decreases in order from a surface area of the refrigerant tube, a fin joint fillet, and the fin.

The invention relates to a method for producing an aluminum alloy heat exchanger.
An aluminum alloy has been normally used for an automotive heat exchanger (e.g., evaporator or condenser) due to its reduced weight and excellent thermal conductivity. Such a heat exchanger has been normally produced by applying a fluoride flux to the surface of an aluminum alloy extruded tube, assembling a member (e.g., fin material) with the aluminum alloy extruded tube to form a given structure, and brazing the aluminum alloy extruded tube and the assembled member in a heating furnace that contains an inert gas atmosphere, for example.
A multiport tube having a plurality of hollow areas (refrigerant passages) that are defined by a plurality of partitions is normally used as an extruded tube used to produce an automotive heat exchanger. In recent years, a reduction in weight of a heat exchanger has been desired in order to reduce the fuel consumption of automobiles from the viewpoint of reducing environmental impact, and a tube used to produce a heat exchanger has been reduced in thickness. Therefore, the cross-sectional area of the tube has been reduced, and a several hundred to several thousand extrusion ratio (cross-sectional area of container/cross-sectional area of extruded product) has been employed. Therefore, a pure aluminum material that exhibits excellent extrudability has been used taking account of the extrusion ratio.
It is expected that the weight of a heat exchanger and the thickness of a tube will be more and more reduced. Therefore, it is necessary to increase the strength of the tube material. It is effective to add Si, Cu, Mn, Mg, or the like in order to increase the strength of the tube material. When the brazing target material contains Mg, a fluoride flux that is melted during heating reacts with Mg in the material to produce compounds such as MgF2 and KMgF3. This reduces the activity of the flux, so that brazability significantly deteriorates. The addition of Cu significantly decreases extrudability, so that the die breaks, or the productivity decreases. Therefore, Si and Mn must be necessarily added in order to increase the strength of the tube material.
When adding Mn and Si to an alloy at a high concentration, Mn and Si dissolved in the matrix increase the deformation resistance of the alloy. For example, when a several hundred to several thousand extrusion ratio is employed (e.g., when producing a multiport tube), the alloy exhibits significantly inferior extrudability as compared with a pure Al material. An alloy that requires a high extrusion ram pressure or has a low critical extrusion rate (i.e., the maximum extrusion rate obtained without causing breakage of the partition of the hollow area of the multiport tube) exhibits inferior extrudability. An alloy containing Mn and Si at a high concentration requires a high ram pressure as compared with a pure Al material, so that the die tends to break or wear. Moreover, productivity decreases due to a decrease in the limiting extrusion rate.
A technique has been proposed that adds Si and Mn in order to increase strength, and performs a high-temperature homogenization treatment and a low-temperature homogenization treatment in combination in order to improve extrudability to reduce the amount of solute elements dissolved in the matrix, and reduce the deformation resistance. In this case, since a large amount of solute elements are added, an improvement in extrudability (particularly an improvement in extrusion rate) is limited although an increase in strength may be achieved. Specifically, it is difficult to achieve high strength and high extrudability (i.e., productivity) at the same time.
A refrigerant leaks from a refrigerant tube (extruded tube) of an automotive heat exchanger when perforation corrosion has occurred during use. Therefore, Zn is caused to adhere to the surface of an extruded tube by thermal spraying or the like, and is diffused by brazing. A Zn diffusion layer formed in the surface area of the tube serves as a sacrificial anode for the deeper area, and suppresses corrosion in the thickness direction (i.e., increases the perforation life). In this case, the Zn application step (e.g., Zn thermal spraying) is required after extruding the tube. Moreover, a step that applies a fluoride flux required for brazing, or a step that applies a flux to the entire heat exchanger core must be performed after the Zn application step. This increases the production cost. Since a filler metal is not applied to the tube, it is necessary to use a brazing fin that is clad with a filler metal as the fin material. This also increases the production cost as compared with the case of using a bare fin material that is not clad with a filler metal.
A technique that applies a mixture of a filler metal powder and a Zn-containing flux powder to the surface of an aluminum alloy extruded refrigerant tube has been proposed in order to solve the above problems. In this case, since the filler metal, Zn, and the flux can be simultaneously applied by a single step, the production cost can be reduced. Moreover, since a bare fin material can be used as the fin material, the production cost can be further reduced. According to this technique, however, since the Zn concentration in the fin joint fillet increases due to the Zn-containing flux, preferential corrosion of the fillet occurs during use, so that the fin is separated at an early stage. The functions of the heat exchanger are impaired by separation of the fin. Moreover, since the sacrificial anode effect of the fin (that is obtained when the potential of the fin is lower than that of the tube) cannot be obtained, corrosion perforation of the tube occurs at an early stage. When the amount of the Zn-containing flux is reduced in order to prevent the above phenomenon, the amount of flux necessary for brazing becomes insufficient, so that defective brazing occurs.
As a technique that ensures brazability by maintaining the total amount of flux, a technique that applies a mixture of a filler metal powder, a Zn-containing flux powder, and a Zn-free flux powder to the surface of an aluminum alloy extruded refrigerant tube has been proposed. However, this technique mainly aims to improve brazability, and does not specify the alloy components of the extruded alloy tube that affect corrosion resistance (the alloy components are not described even in the examples). Therefore, the effect of this technique on corrosion resistance is unclear. Moreover, since the ratio of the amount of the Zn-containing flux to the amount of the Zn-free flux is too large, the Zn concentration in the fillet increases, and preferential corrosion of the fillet occurs, so that the fin is separated at an early stage.
A technique that that applies a mixture of a filler metal powder and a Zn-free flux powder to the surface of an aluminum alloy extruded refrigerant tube has been proposed in order to suppress an increase in Zn concentration in the fillet, and prevent a situation in which the fin is separated at an early stage due to preferential corrosion of the fillet. This technique causes the potential of the fin to be lower than that of the tube, and protects the tube against corrosion by utilizing the sacrificial anode effect of the fin. According to this technique, the Zn concentration in the fillet can be reduced, and a situation in which the fin is separated at an early stage due to preferential corrosion of the fillet can be prevented. However, since a sacrificial anode layer due to diffusion of Zn is not present in the tube, it is impossible to sufficiently protect the tube against corrosion in an area in which the fin is not present, or an area that is situated away from the fin (e.g., an area near the header).
In particular, when using a technique that limits the amount of Si in the tube, that causes Al—Mn—Si compounds to precipitate in the surface area of the tube due to diffusion of Si from the applied Si powder (i.e., forms an area having a low degree of Mn solid dissolution (i.e., an area having a potential lower than that of a deeper area) in the surface area of the tube), and that protects the tube against corrosion utilizing the above area as the sacrificial anode layer, the potential difference between the surface area and the deep area of the tube is small, and corrosion cannot be sufficiently prevented in a dry-wet environment.
JP-A-2005-256166, JP-A-2004-330233, JP-A-2006-255755, JP-A-2009-58139, and JP-A-2009-58167 disclose related-art technologies.

Method for producing aluminum alloy heat exchanger


A video terminal and display image forming method are provided that enable power consumption to be reduced while maintaining a moving image display quality level sensed by a user, even if a variety of types of images are displayed superimposed on a moving image, and a method of representing such images is complicated. In a video output apparatus (100), an update rate adjustment section (104) decides a moving image update rate based on a “moving image exposure area.” Specifically, the update rate adjustment section (104) decides an update rate based on an update rate adjustment table in which moving image status pattern candidates are associated with update rate target values, and a moving image status pattern actually used in a display image forming section (103). A moving image status pattern candidate is a combination of “moving image exposure area,” presence or absence of special processing, and type of special processing.

Conventionally, there is, for example, a method of implementing energy saving in moving image display whereby a frame rate is controlled using a menu display on a screen as a trigger (see patent literature 1, for example).
In this method, it is first determined whether or not there is a digital camera menu display directive. Then, if there is no menu display directive, a through-screen frame rate of 30 fps is set, and video that has undergone video processing according to this set rate is output. On the other hand, if there is a menu display directive, a frame rate of 15 fps is set, and an image that has undergone video processing and a menu image are combined according to this set rate.
In a conventional method, having such frame rate control executed enables digital camera power consumption to be reduced when superimposed display of a through-screen and information provision image is performed in a digital camera.

Video terminal and method for forming display images


Disclosed are various embodiments for alkylating olefins and isoparaffins in the presence of an acid to reduce and/or control acid consumption or maximize and/or control the octane number of the produced alkylate product. One embodiment includes alkylation by controlling the C.sub.3 /iso-C.sub.5 olefin ratio to reduce acid consumption. Another embodiment includes alkylation of C.sub.3 and C.sub.5 olefins in separate alkylation zones to maximize alkylate octane number. Even another embodiment includes propylene alkylation followed by C.sub.4 and/or C.sub.5 olefin alkylation, with the spent propylene acid used in the C.sub.4 and/or C.sub.5 olefin alkylation. Still another embodiment includes alkylation of C.sub.3, C.sub.4 and C.sub.5 olefins in separate alkylation zones, with the spent propylene acid used in the C.sub.4 alkylation, and the spent butylene acid used in the C.sub.5 alkylation. Yet another embodiment includes alkylation by controlling the C.sub.3 /C.sub.4 olefin ratio to maximize the octane number of the produced alkylate.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to alkylation. In another aspect, the present invention relates to alkylation of isoparaffins utilizing olefins. In even another aspect, the present invention relates to a process for the alkylation of isoparaffins utilizing olefins, which process results in reduced acid consumption. In still another aspect, the present invention relates to a process for the alkylation of isoparaffins utilizing olefins, which process results in an alkylate product having increased octane numbers. In yet another aspect, the present invention relates to alkylation of isoparaffins utilizing olefins by controlling the C.sub.3 to C.sub.5 olefin ratio. In even still another aspect, the present invention relates to alkylation of isoparaffins using C.sub.3 and C.sub.5 olefin separately. In even yet another aspect, the present invention relates to alkylation of isoparaffins utilizing propylene, followed by alkylation of isoparaffins utilizing C.sub.4 and/or C.sub.5 olefins. In still even another aspect, the present invention relates to isoparaffin alkylation utilizing separately, C.sub.3, C.sub.4 and C.sub.5 olefins. In still yet another aspect, the present invention relates to alkylation of isoparaffins with C.sub.3 to C.sub.4 by controlling the C.sub.3 to C.sub.4 olefin ratio.
2. Description of the Related Art
As a result of the curtailment in the use of tetraethyl lead as an octane-improving additive for gasoline, not only has the production of unleaded gasoline increased but the octane number specification of all grades of gasoline have increased as well.
Additionally, recent reformulated gasoline specifications require a reduction in both the Reid Vapor Pressure ("RVP") and the olefin content. Alkylate is a low vapor pressure, high octane gasoline blending component containing essentially no olefins. Thus, alkylate helps refiners meet the new reduced RVP and reduced olefin content specifications. Additionally, alkylate burns cleanly, resulting in lower levels of undesired emissions from gasoline engines.
Isoparaffin-olefin alkylation processes are the key route to the production of these highly branched isoparaffin octane enhancers which are to be blended into gasolines, with alkylate typically comprising 10-15% of the gasoline pool.
Alkylation is a well known refinery process for converting light, gaseous olefins into high-octane gasoline components. Very simply, alkylation involves the addition of an alkyl group to an organic molecule. Thus, an isoparaffin can be reacted with an olefin to provide an isoparaffin of higher molecular weight. Generally, the alkylation of isoparaffins with olefins is accomplished by contacting the reactants with an acid acting catalyst such as hydrogen fluoride or sulfuric acid, settling the mixture to separate the catalyst from hydrocarbons, and further separating the hydrocarbons, usually by fractionation to recover alkylate product. The resulting alkylate product is typically a mixture of C.sub.5 to C.sub.16 isomers, with the exact composition depending upon the isoparaffin and olefin reactants used, as well as process conditions.
As practiced commercially, alkylation most commonly involves reacting an isoparaffin, comprising at least 75 weight percent isobutane and up to 25% isopentane, with C.sub.3 to C.sub.5 olefins in the presence of an acid catalyst, typically either hydrofluoric acid or sulfuric acid. The resulting alkylate product comprises predominately C.sub.7 to C.sub.9 isoparaffins, along with lesser amounts of lighter and heavier isoparaffins in the C.sub.6 to C.sub.16 range, and some isopentane.
Historically, C.sub.4 olefins are preferred for use in alkylation, as they produce the highest octane alkylate with the lowest sulfuric acid catalyst consumption, on the order of about 0.5 pounds per gallon of alkylate product, as compared to propylene or C.sub.5 olefins. In fact, an acid consumption of 0.5 pounds per gallon of alkylate represent about 1/3 of the alkylation operating costs.
Alkylation feeds in which the olefins consist of 100% propylene or 100% amylenes typically result in sulfuric acid catalyst consumption on the order of 1.0 to 2.0 pounds acid/gallon of alkylate produced, representing considerably more than 1/3 of the akylation operating cost. The higher sulfuric acid consumption, and lower octane numbers for the alkylate product, resulting from alkylation with propylenes and amylenes as compared to butylenes, makes these feed stocks economically unattractive, and therefore propylenes and amylenes are generally minimized in the alkyation feed.
However, many refiners have mixed olefins containing large amounts of propylene and/or amylenes which must be alkylated. Additionally, due to reformulated gasoline, Reid Vapor Pressure ("RVP"), D-86 distillation temperatures, and other requirements, increasing amounts of propylenes and amylenes are being alkylated and added to the gasoline pool.
Thus, while C.sub.4 olefins are preferred for use in alkylation because of their low acid consumption, and resulting high-octane alkylate, alkylation with propylene may be necessary to meet product specifications. Other reasons for alkylating with propylene and/or amylenes include their ready availability, and unavailability of sufficient amounts of C.sub.4 olefins for the amount of alkylate desired.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,242,845, issued Aug. 14, 1939 to Blount, discloses a process for alkylation of isobutane with a mixture of propylene and butylenes in the presence of sulfuric acid. For product yield, Blount discloses that the optimum alkylation temperature for alkylation of isobutane with butylene is about 30.degree. F. to about 60.degree. F., and for alkylation of isobutane with propylene is about 70.degree. F. to about 100.degree. F.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,351,464, issued Jun. 13, 1944 to Voorhies Jr. et al., discloses that it is well known to react olefins having from 2 to 5 carbons atoms with saturated hydrocarbons containing a tertiary carbon atom. The '464 patent further discloses that while alkylation with olefins having 3 or more carbon atoms has been entirely satisfactory, alkylation with ethylene has not been satisfactory due to excessive acid consumption. The '464 patent proposes that an acid employed for alkylation of olefins comprising ethylene, be separated and subsequently employed in the alkylation of olefins free of ethylene, without incurring any substantial acid consumption and with acid regeneration.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,491,618, issued Dec. 20, 1949 to Luetzelschwab discloses a catalytic contacting apparatus in which isoparaffinic and olefinic hydrocarbons may be introduced into the apparatus separately or admixed.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,045,055, issued Jul. 17, 1960 to Van Pool et al. generally disclose a process for the alkylation of a isoparaffin and the reforming of a hydrocarbon wherein each operation is arranged to benefit the other. Specifically, the process as disclosed by Van Pool et al. generally includes alkylation of an isoparaffin and an olefin in the presence of a hydrogen fluoride catalyst to obtain an alkylate effluent comprising an alkylate product, organic fluorides and normal isoparaffin. Van Pool et al. disclose that the charge materials introduced into the alkylation zone may include propylene, butylenes, amylenes, isobutane, isopentane, propyl fluorides, butyl fluorides, and amyl fluorides. Van Pool et al. further disclose that the preferred alkylation charge is an olefin-isoparaffin mixture, preferably a butylenes-isobutane mixture.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,211,803, issued Oct. 12, 1965 to Chapman discloses an alkylation process for the elimination of heavy alkylate utilizing both alkylation and reforming, with propylene and/or butylenes disclosed as the preferred olefins.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,502,569, issued Mar. 24, 1970 to Hervert discloses a process for the production of high octane motor fuel by alkylation and reforming. Hervert discloses that alkylation may be carried out by the catalytic alkylation of isobutane and/or isopentane with propylene, butylenes and amylenes. Specifically Hervert discloses alkylating isobutane with C.sub.4 mono-olefin in the presence of an acid catalyst to produce an alkylate product containing dimethylhexanes. This alkylate is then separated into various fractions based on octane content. The lower-octane fraction is then reformed by admixture with hydrogen and a reforming catalyst. Finally, a portion of the reformate is commingled with the high-octane alkylate fraction to produce a suitable motor fuel alkylate. However, Hervert does not disclose or teach the problem of increased acid consumption by propylene, nor disclose or suggest a solution for such increased acid consumption.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,683,041, issued Aug. 8, 1972 to Goldsby, discloses alkylation encountering acidity run-aways. The '041 patent discloses that if run-away acid, the overall acid-hydrocarbon emulsion or reaction mixture produced during a run-away, or the alkylate produced and which contains sulfur, is charged to a normally operating alkylation reaction, that the acid can be restored to alkylation strength by alkylation of the alkyl sulfates, and the hydrocarbon portion of the reaction mixture can be freed of sulfur by extraction and alkylation of the alkyl sulfates.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,778,489, issued Dec. 11, 1973, to Parker et al., discloses an alkylation process which utilizes separate feed streams. Specifically, the '489 patent discloses that olefins which form tertiary carbonium ions under acidic conditions react unfavorably with terminal olefins not able to form tertiary carbonium ions under acidic conditions. According to the '489 patent, high octane alkylate is prepared by contacting a paraffin and a strong alkylation catalyst, in an alkylation zone, with a first olefin-containing stream substantially free of isobutylene and 2-methyl-butene-1 and a second olefin-containing stream comprising isobutylene, 2-methyl-butene-1 or mixtures thereof.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,998,903, issued Dec. 21, 1976 to Sobel, discloses an alkylation process utilizing an olefinic reactant containing 1-butene, 2-butene and isobutylene by fractionating the olefinic reactant into a 2-butene fraction and a separate 1-butene and isobutylene fraction. The 2-butene is charged to an HF alkylation reaction zone with isobutane. The mixture is heated by the heat of reaction, and the fraction comprising 1-butene and isobutylene is then added to the unitary reaction zone.
There is a need in the art for an improved alkylation process.
There is another need in the art for an improved alkylation process in which the acid catalyst consumption can be controlled and/or minimized.
There is even another need in the art for an improved alkylation process in which the octane number of the alkylate product can be controlled and/or maximized.
There is still another need in the art for an improved alkylation process for alkylating propylene or high propylene containing feeds, which is easier to operate than the known processes.
There is yet another need in the art for an alkylation process for alkylating amylene or high amylene containing feeds, which is easier to operate than the known processes.
There is even still another need in the art for an alkylation process for alkylating feeds having mixtures of propylene and amylenes.
There is even yet another need in the art for an alkylation process for alkylating feeds having mixtures of propylene and butylenes.
Other needs of the art will become evident to those of skill in the alkylation art upon reading this specification.


The methods and materials described herein provide novel and simple procedures for the preparation of nano/macroporous glasses, in which the pore structure is characterized by interconnected pores of, e.g. both hundreds of micrometers and several to tens of nanometers in size. Such materials may be used for enhanced bone regeneration, bioscaffolds, drug delivery devices, and filtration media, among other uses. For example, silica-based bone tissue scaffolds are made with a controlled nano/macroporosity, which enhances bone regeneration performance. Also provided herein are new biocompatible CaO—Na2O—P2O5—SiO2 glasses prepared by thermal melt-quench methods that result in spinodal phase separation and crystallization of phases at very different length scales. Selective chemical leaching of these phases causes formation of interconnected multi-modal porosity, with pore sizes ranging from several nanometers to tens of micrometers.

One of the great challenges of the 21st Century is increasing life expectancy, while at the same time maintaining quality of life in an aging population. Regenerative medicine is, therefore, a new strategy that seeks to repair damaged or diseased tissues to their original state or function. For example, regenerative medicine seeks to help natural healing processes to work faster by using special materials with human cell cultures, often referred to as "scaffolds" or "bioscaffolds," which act as three-dimensional templates for cell growth and differentiation and formation of living tissues.
Synthetic scaffolds have been proposed as a new means of tissue reconstruction and repair. Scaffolds belong to a new generation of biomedical structures, which rely on the concept of regeneration of diseased or damaged tissue to its original state or function. In contrast, current clinical methods are based on replacement by implantation or transplantation. Current clinical methods such as implantation or transplantation possess well-known drawbacks. Those drawbacks include, for example, lack of ability to self-repair, limited vascularization of implants, limited number of donors, and possibility of rejection of transplanted tissues.
Scaffolds serve as both a physical support and as an adhesive substrate for isolated cells, during in vitro culturing and subsequent in vivo implantation. Scaffolds may be used to deliver cells to desired sites in the body, to define a potential space for engineered tissue, and/or to guide the process of tissue development. Cell transplantation on scaffolds has been explored for the regeneration of skin, nerve, liver, and pancreas tissues using various biological and synthetic materials. In particular, scaffolds containing dual porosity at the nanoscale and macroscale have been alleged to exhibit better performance in terms of crystallization of hydroxycarbonate apatite, cell adhesion and proliferation, and vascularization. Known materials, however, lack sufficient mechanical strength to be of practical use or lack an interconnected pore morphology that is compatible with vascularization.
Accordingly, a continuing and unmet need exists for new and improved synthetic bioactive tissue scaffolds, scaffold materials, as well as for methods for fabricating scaffolds having interconnected multi-modal porosity. A further need exists for bioactive and biocompatible glass systems (such as soda-lime phosphosilicates), including glasses having morphology and textures that enable formation of a bonelike hydroxyapatite layer.

Nano/macroporous bioactive glasses made by melt-quench methods


An X-ray phase contrast imaging device of the present invention can change an arrangement pitch of slits related to a multi-slit and an arrangement pitch of phase shift sections related to a phase grating. A positional relationship among the multi-slit 3b, the phase grating, and an FPD is determined based on the arrangement pitch of the slits related to the multi-slit, the arrangement pitch of the phase shift sections related to the phase grating, and an arrangement pitch of detection elements related to the FPD. Among these arrangement pitches, by changing the arrangement pitch of the slits and the arrangement pitch of the phase shift sections, the present invention can change the positional relationship among the multi-slit, the phase grating, and the FPD.

Conventionally, various radiation imaging devices that cause an object to transmit a radiation and images an internal structure of the object are devised. A general radiation imaging device captures a projection image of a radiation by applying the radiation to an object and causing the object to transmit the radiation. A variation in density appears in such a projection image in proportion to a radiation transmission level and represents an internal structure of the object.
Such a radiation imaging device can capture an image of only an object having characteristics of absorbing a radiation to some extent. For example, a biological soft tissue may absorb almost no radiation, or may have almost no absorption difference from surrounding substances. Even if a general device captures an image of such a tissue, almost nothing will be reflected in the projection image. Thus, imaging an internal structure of an object having no radiation absorption difference with a general radiation imaging device is theoretically limited.
Therefore, a radiation phase contrast imaging device that images an internal structure of an object by using a phase change of a transmitted radiation has been devised. Such a device images an internal structure of an object by using Talbot interference (for example, refer to Patent Literature 1).
FIG. 21 describes a radiation phase contrast imaging device. The radiation phase contrast imaging device includes a radiation source 53a that emits a radiation, a multi-slit 53b that makes a phase of the radiation uniform, a phase grating 55 having a bamboo blind-shaped pattern, and a detector that detects the radiation. The device of FIG. 21 has a configuration in which a subject is placed at a position sandwiched between the phase grating 55 and the detector. The multi-slit 53b has a configuration in which slits extending vertically are arranged laterally. The phase grating 55 has a configuration in which longitudinally extending shielding wires that do not easily transmit the radiation are arranged laterally.
A principle of the radiation phase contrast imaging device will be briefly described. When a radiation is emitted to the phase grating 55, a self-image of the phase grating 55 appears at a position distant from the phase grating 55 by a specified distance (Talbot distance). A position of the detector with respect to the phase grating 55 is adjusted such that this self-image is reflected. This self-image is an image that looks like a shadow of the phase grating 55 reflected. However, it is to be noted that the self-image is an interference fringe generated by radiation interference, and is not a mere projection.
When the subject is installed between the phase grating 55 and the detector, the radiation emitted from the phase grating 55 is transmitted through the subject before being detected by the detector. The self-image that appears on the detector at this time is slightly disturbed by being transmitted through the subject. This disturbance results from a phase shift while the radiation is transmitted through the subject.

Nishinokyo-Kuwabaracho, Nakagyo-ku, Kyoto-shi, Kyoto


A method and apparatus for measuring a single-wavelength irradiance employ (1) a reference photosensor unit combining a photodiode having an absolute response at a given wavelength calibrated by a self-calibration process and a precision aperture, (2) a single radiation source of the given wavelength combining a band-pass filter having a pass band only near the given wavelength and a radiation source for producing a line spectrum radiation of the given wavelength, and (3) a radiation illuminometer. The reference photosensor unit is arranged at a distance d from the single radiation source to measure the irradiance thereat, and then the radiation illuminometer is arranged at the position of the reference photosensor unit to calibrate an indicating scale of the radiation illuminometer with respect to the single radiation of the given wavelength in relation with the reference photosensor unit.

Presently, radiation in a band of wavelengths below 300 nm, such as, the bright line or line spectrum of wavelength 253.7 nm, produced for example from a mercury discharge lamp, have come to be used widely in the field of sterilization as well as in the fields of semiconductor manufacture, printing, etc., due to their high photon energies, and the development of radiation sources corresponding to such applications (e.g., the mercury lamp and Excimer laser) has been carried out extensively. As a result, there has been a demand for such techniques designed to accurately measure the energy quantities of single-wavelength radiation in the ultraviolet region, such as, the mercury line spectrum of wavelength 253.7 nm. In addition, there has existed a demand for techniques designed to accurately measure radiation in the wavelength band of below 300 nm, particularly the radiant quantities of wavelengths such as 253.7 nm of the discharge lamp and 184.9 nm of the mercury line spectrum as well as 248 nm of the KrF Excimer laser.
In the past, there has been no Japanese national standard as regards the absolute quantity of the radiation of wavelength 253.7 nm and the measurement of this kind has been effected in the form of measurements by a method in which a filter is combined with a thermal-type detector (usually a thermopile) whose absolute response is calibrated or determined according to the backbody radiation or a luminous intensity standard lamp or spectral irradiance standard lamp calibrated according to the blackbody radiation (Nakagawa et al: "Calibration System of 253.7 nm Irradiance (bactericidal irradiance)", The Illuminating Engineering Institute of Japan, 71-10 (1987) 646).
Then, the thermal-type detector has a low response and also its output variation due to any ambient disturbance is large with resulting deterioration in measuring accuracy. Also, the calibration of the absolute quantity of radiation is effected such that basically the blackbody radiation according to the international temperature scale is used as a primary standard and the value of a total irradiance standard lamp or illuminous intensity standard lamp as a secondary standard is derived from the primary standard thus measuring the absolute quantity of radiation of wavelength 253.7 nm, for example, by using the secondary standard by a method combining a thermal-type detector (e.g., a thermopile) and a filter. Thus, the method is not satisfactory as a practical absolute measurement method in consideration of the accumulation of measuring errors due to the tracing of the value from the primary standard.

Method and apparatus for calibrating line spectrum irradiance

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


A convertible headgear that includes an adjustable strap stored behind a sweatband that may be used to secure the headgear as a cap or mask, and modified rear crown panels that form a ventilation opening to facilitate a clear nasal passage airway when the headgear is worn as a mask.

There are a variety of headgear that include hats/caps that may double as a mask, however, most emphasize the features of one over the other. The features of the headgear functioning as a mask, for example, may be highlighted at the expense of the headgear functioning as a hat or a cap. As a result, such headgear necessarily lack one or more important features balancing the function of the headgear as a hat/cap and a mask.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2011/0023214, for example, discloses headgear that functions as a convertible cap and mask. Here, the headgear is featured as a cap at the expense of the mask to the extent that there is no opening in the headgear for the nose when the headgear is worn as a mask. In addition, the elastic fastener strap for securing the headgear as a mask cannot be hidden when the headgear is worn as a cap.
International Patent Application Publication No. WO 2014/047441 also discloses headgear that functions as a cap and a mask. The cap, however, is compromised to the extent that it is a skull cap without a traditional visor.


Manufacturing of flip-chip type assemblies is provided, and includes forming one or more contact elements of electrically conductive material on a carrier surface of at least one chip carrier, providing a restrain structure around the contact elements, depositing solder material on the contact elements and/or on one or more terminals of electrically conductive material on a chip surface of at least one integrated circuit chip, and placing the chip with each terminal facing corresponding contact elements. Further, the method includes soldering each terminal to the corresponding contact element by a soldering material, the soldering material being restrained during a soldering of the terminals to the contact elements by the restrain structure, and forming one or more heat dissipation elements of thermally conductive material on the carrier surface for facing the chip surface displaced from the terminals, where the one or more heat dissipation elements are free of any solder mask.

The present disclosure relates to the electronics field. More specifically, this disclosure relates to electronic devices based on flip-chip technology.
Electronic devices may include one or more electronic components, each one implemented by a (monolithic) Integrated Circuit (IC) on a corresponding chip (for example, of silicon). In these electronic devices, the chips may be mounted on (chip) carriers, so as to protect the chips from mechanical stresses and to connect them electrically. Each chip is provided with terminals for accessing its integrated circuit (i.e., for exchanging signals and receiving a power supply input). The terminals are connected to corresponding electrical contacts of the carrier that implement any input/output function of the electronic device, for example, in the form of a grid of balls in an electronic device of the Ball Grid Array (BGA) type.
Particularly, in electronic devices of the flip-chip type (also known as Controlled Collapse Chip Connection, C4) the chip is flipped to have an active (front) surface with its terminals facing corresponding lands of the carrier. The lands are arranged in a grid on a surface of the carrier (without any other electrically conductive material therebetween to limit any risk of short circuits), and they are generally connected to the electrical contacts arranged on an opposite surface of the carrier (for example, by means of through via-holes, or simply vias). The terminals are then directly soldered to the lands (i.e., by joining them with the addition of a solder material that melts without melting the adjoining parts). A space between the chip and the carrier is filled with a filler of electrically insulating material (for example, particle filled epoxy resin), so as to improve their mechanical connection and compensate for different thermal expansion coefficients.
Generally, a reflow soldering technique may be used to solder the terminals to the lands. Briefly, solder bumps are deposited on the terminals of the chip using one of the various techniques available in the industry (for example, evaporation, electroplating, screen printing). The solder bumps are brought into contact with the corresponding lands that may also be pre-treated with solder deposition, so as to attach to them temporarily (due to a tacky nature of a solder paste or of an added soldering flux agent). The assembly is heated up to melt the solder material contained in the solder bumps. The assembly is then cooled, hardening the solder material to create a solder connection between each terminal and the corresponding land. The above-mentioned soldering operation requires the use of a solder mask (or solder resist). The solder mask restrains the solder material, thereby limiting its spreading during the soldering, when it is at the liquid state (so as to prevent undefined wetting of the solder material on possible exposed conductors of the carrier and to prevent the formation of any solder bridges creating unintended short circuits). For this purpose, the solder mask includes a layer of insulating material that is distributed on the whole carrier (so as to ensure the required insulation function), with windows that are opened therein for exposing the lands only (so as to allow their soldering).
Different connection techniques are also known in the art for connecting the terminals to the electrical contacts. For example, in a wire-bonding technique the chip is mounted with a (back) inactive surface thereof on the carrier (so as to have its terminals facing away from the carrier); with each terminal being connected to the corresponding land by means of a wire of electrically conductive material that is soldered with its ends thereto. In this case as well, a solder mask is provided on the carrier to prevent the formation of any solder bridge (and to protect any possible exposed conductors against oxidation).
Generally, chips may be subject to heating in operation, especially when they involve the consumption of relatively high power (for example, of the order of 0.01-1 kW). Moreover, the heating of a chip may be not uniform, since it may concentrate in areas with more power demanding portions of its integrated circuit (for example, cores of microprocessors). The heat produced by the chip should be transferred to the external environment for its dissipation, in order to ensure the correct operation of the electronic device.
However, in an electronic device of the flip-chip type the heat dissipation effectiveness into or through the carrier may be not completely satisfactory (on the contrary of the electronic devices based on the wire-bonding technique wherein the inactive surface of the chip is attached to the carrier so that the heat may be transferred from the bulk of the chip to the carrier). Indeed, in this case the connection of the chip to the carrier has poor thermal conductivity. Particularly the heat transfer mainly occurs through the solder connections that have quite limited size (e.g., of the order of 15-25% of the active surface for a fully populated grid with lands whose diameter is half the solder connection pitch); conversely, the majority of the active surface of the chip is thermally insulated from the carrier (especially for chips with peripheral terminals only), since two additional bad heat conductors, i.e., the filler and the solder mask, are interposed between them. Fillers of thermal conductive material might also be used to improve the heat dissipation in-between the solder connections; however, the solder mask on the carrier still represents a thermal barrier hindering the heat dissipation.
Several applications would benefit from an improved heat dissipation into or through the carrier, for example, if not enough room is available to attach bulky heatsinks to the inactive surface of the chip to dissipate the heat or if the dissipation of the heat from both sides of the chip would allow using less sophisticated, and then cost effective, thermal materials and heatspreaders/heatsinks to ensure the required heat dissipation characteristics.
Conversely, the poor heat dissipation effectiveness of the electronic devices may adversely affect their performance and reliability (for example, in smart-phone applications). Moreover, it may require the use of sophisticated, and then expensive thermal materials to enhance the heat transfer.

Manufacturing of flip-chip electronic device with carrier having heat dissipation elements free of solder mask

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION


In accordance with various embodiments, an organic electronic device includes an n-type dopant material including an imidazole-based material having a hydrogen-based material bonded between nitrogen atoms. The n-type dopant material n-dopes an organic material, and can be used to mitigate degradation in mobility due to conditions such as exposure to ambient atmosphere, which can effect an undesirable reduction in charge transport. Other embodiments are directed to carbon nanotubes or graphene structures with this type of n-type dopant, wherein the Fermi level for the carbon nanotubes or graphene structures is below −2.5 eV to effect such n-type doping.

Organic electronic devices, such as organic thin-film transistors (OTFTs) and other organic semiconductors (OSCs) have attracted a great deal of attention because of their potential applications in low-cost, large-area and flexible electronics. Organic semiconductors are commonly referred to as either p-channel (hole-transporting) or n-channel (electron-transporting) depending on which type of charge carrier is dominant for the charge transport.
While p-channel organic semiconductors have been readily implemented for a variety of applications, n-channel organic semiconductors have been challenging to manufacture and implement. Generally, the energetically high-lying lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) levels in most organic semiconductors hinder the efficient injection of electrons. In n-channel OTFTs, electrons can be transferred from the high-lying highest occupied molecular orbitals (HOMOs) of dopants to the LUMOs of organic semiconductors by n-type doping. However, such dopants are susceptible to oxidation in air. Electron charge carriers are vulnerable to trapping, either by traps at the interface of dielectric-semiconductor materials, which may involve hydroxyl groups or ambient oxidants, such as O2 and H2O. Such charge-trapping can decrease the density of mobile electron charge carriers, degrade the mobility, and increase the threshold voltage for n-channel OTFTs.
While various n-type dopants have been used to dope organic semiconductors, they have been challenging to implement. For example, alkali metals are prone to diffuse through organic layers due to their relatively small atomic radii, leading to device instability. In addition, alkali metals are difficult to process. Other dopants having both extremely high-lying HOMO levels and exhibiting air stability do not provide donors that are strong enough to obtain sufficient n-channel conductivity. Cationic dyes have been used as stable precursors for strong molecular donors, but have been relatively limited due to the lack of available compounds having a strong n-type doping effect.
These and other issues remain as a challenge to a variety of methods, devices and systems that use or benefit from organic semiconductors, such as organic thin-film transistors, organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs), and organic photovoltaics (OPVs).

n-Type doped organic materials and methods therefor

The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University


Disclosed herein is an optical system which allows light below a given flce to pass but which blocks light above the given fluence so that a human viewer using the system is not harmed by high energy lasers directed at the system. The optical system concentrates incoming light at a first focal zone in a NLASM, or nonlinear absorbing or scattering material. During a time delay, the system reconcentrates the light at a second focal zone to which the plasma zone has had time to expand. The character and number of light concentrations in the NLASM can be varied to protect the human viewer from a wider range of harmful light fluences.

Combat vehicles typically have vision blocks, periscopes or other optical instruments with which a soldier in the vehicle can look out of the vehicle during combat. One danger of using these instruments is an enemy laser beam directed at the instrument to blind the soldier using it. The laser beam is typically "agile" in that it can vary greatly in intensity, pulse length, and wavelength, and current viewer protection technology can not protect the viewer over the entire range of agile laser wavelengths.
My invention uses a nonlinear absorbing or scattering material, or NLASM, to provide protection against agile lasers. NLSAMs absorb or scatter more completely at higher light levels than at lower light levels and include the following mechanisms: suspension cell limiters, two-photon absorbers, gas plasma breakdown cells, and non-linear index changing systems. For convenience there follows a brief discussion of each type of NLASM.
Suspension cell limiters. Suspension cell limiters are liquid filled cells having solid particles suspended in the liquid, the particles selectively absorbing light whose intensity exceeds some threshold level. The suspension cell limiter's liquid is usually an alcohol and the suspended particles are typically carbon, but other materials can be used. To use a suspension cell limiter, an incoming laser beam above the threshold intensity level is focussed to a point in the cell. Atoms of the particles in the suspension absorb energy from the laser beam. If enough energy is absorbed, electrons are freed from these atoms and form a collection of free ions called a plasma. The plasm then absorbs further energy from the laser beam.
A suspension cell limiter may be regarded as having four possible conditions, the condition at a given time depending on the intensity or fluence (light flow rate, expressed in Joules per square centimeter) upon the cell. The first condition exists when the fluence level is too low to cause plasma formation within the cell. In this case the cell is a passive light transmitter where the suspended particles filter out a percentage of the light that depends the particles concentration. The second condition occurs within a so called pre-clamping range of fluence levels, this range being above the threshold for plasma formation but insufficient to cause a phenomenon referred to as "clamping." Within the pre-clamping range of fluences, the plasma absorbs a part of the light attempting to pass through the cell, the increase in fluence attenuation by the plasma being roughly directly proportional to the increase in incident fluence. The third condition of the suspension cell limiter occurs at a critical level bordering the upper end of the pre-clamping range. At this critical fluence level, any increase in fluence incident upon the cell is completely absorbed by the plasma. In other words the cell's throughput of fluence is at a local maximum the upper end of the pre-clamping range. At a still higher critical fluence level, there occurs the limiter's fourth condition, where the limiter's plasma can absorb or block no more laser light. All fluence above this latter critical level passes unattenuated through the cell. The fluence values at which attenuation begins, clamping begins, and clamping ends depend on a number of parameters, including cell depth, the concentration of the suspended material, the type of suspended material, the liquid in the cell and the wavelength of the light. As an example, a typical suspension cell limiter has carbon particles suspended in alcohol at a concentration that filters out 10% of ambient light. Such a limiter typically begins fluence attenuation at fluences between 0.1 and 1 Joules per square centimeter. Clamping for such a suspension cell limiter occurs typically between 1 and 100 Joules per square centimeter, and clamping typically ends at 1500 Joules per square centimeter.
Two-photon absorbers. Normal linear absorption of light by a material, such as a colored dye, occurs when an incoming photon has an energy equal to that required to excite an electron in the material from a ground state to an excited state. This absorption of light is considered linear since a constant percentage of incident photons is absorbed regardless of the number of incident photons, at least until bleaching, which is not discussed here. Some materials exhibit nonlinear absorption if the necessary concentration of incident photons occurs. The atomic electronic structure for these materials may be such that the energy needed to transit one of its electrons to the first excited state may be close to, but not exactly equal to, the energy of a single incident photon, whereby the percentage of incident photons absorbed is low. However, this atomic structure may be such that the energy needed for transition of the electron from the first excited state to a second excited state may correspond well to the energy of the incident photon. Therefore, any electrons that absorb a photon and move from the ground state to the first excited state will surely absorb a second photon and move to the second excited state, if second photons are available. Material having such electrons absorbs nonlinearly since it absorbs a greater percentage of incoming photons when these photons are more concentrated. The differential absorption for more conentrated photons occurs because incoming photons are available for electrons that have absorbed a first photon and have not lost the energy thereof.
Gas plasma breakdown cell. In a gas plasma cell, a portion of high energy light incident thereon is absorbed by gaseous molecules in the cell. Electrons from the molocules form a plasma which absorbs and scatters the remaining incident light. At low incident light levels, there is not enough energy to induce a plasma and the light simply passes through the cell.
Non-linear index changing system. A non-linear index material has a first index of refraction for low energy light and a second index of refraction for high energy light. Such a material could be formed into small spheres and put into a cell containing fluid whose index of refraction matches the first index of refraction for the material. Since the spheres are index matched with the fluid, they will not be visible under normal viewing conditions. But when high energy light impinges on the spheres, their index of refraction changes and they become light scattering centers.

The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Army


A variable control fader with provisions for outputting a fader start signal upon movement of the fader from a position corresponding to the faders maximum attainable resistance value. This fader start signal can be utilized to initiate the activation or deactivation of the operation, or function, of other devices such as, for example, tape recorders, cart machines, or outboard signal processing equipment.

Audio mixing consoles, such as console 1 of FIG. 1 which is housed by housing 14, are in wide common use in radio broadcasting, audio recording and the like. These mixing consoles are generally utilized in conjunction with other equipment, such as tape recorders, cart machines, or outboard audio processing equipment and often incorporate a number of continuously variable resistors, or attenuators. These variable resistors are commonly called faders. Most audio faders in use in today's audio mixing consoles, such as faders 2-13 shown in FIG. 1, are of a sliding straight line type generally referred to as a linear fader. Typical linear faders incorporate a resistance track which is in electrical contact with a sliding wiper, or slider. This slider is essentially a movable electrical terminal which acts to vary the total fader resistance value depending upon its position or point of contact along the resistance track. The position of a fader slider at which essentially no audio signal volume, or gain, is produced is commonly referred to as the infinity (.infin.) position. The infinity (.infin.) position typically corresponds to a fader's maximum attainable resistance value. FIG. 2 shows a schematic diagram of a typical linear fader having a resistance track 15, a wiper 16 and a guide track 17.
It is often desirable to cue or actuate the operation or functions of certain equipment upon commencing an increase of volume, or gain, of an audio signal from a zero gain. For example, it is often desirable to have a tape recorder begin recording as soon as the audio signal level begins to increase. This is commonly achieved through the use of an audio fader having provisions for outputting a signal upon movement of the fader from the infinity (zero gain) or maximum resistance position. This type of signal is commonly referred to as a "fader start" signal.
Common audio faders which do provide for a "fader start" output signal, such as those available from ALPS, P&G, Clairestats and Burns, produce undesirable audible noises upon movement of the fader from the infinity (.infin.) position. In radio broadcasting and audio recording applications, extraneous noises can be very distracting to personnel who are monitoring or listening to ongoing audio program material or performances. Noises such as "clicking" or "popping" sounds produced by an audio fader can distract personnel. Further, the importance of the "feel", or tactile sensation provided by an audio fader, is widely recognized by those involved in the radio broadcasting or audio fields and the like. It is generally desirable for the "feel" of an audio fader to be smooth and consistent throughout the range of travel of the audio fader, from the infinity position to the zero position. Commonly available audio faders having fader start features lack the smooth and consistent feel which is most often desired by professionals.
Other common audio faders provide for a fader start output signal by directing a DC current through the fader signal path along with an AC audio signal. Movement of the fader slider, or wiper, changes the amount of DC current flow through the fader signal path since the fader's resistance value is changed as the fader slider is moved. Once the DC current goes below a predetermined level which corresponds to a maximum fader resistance value, a signal is output to indicate that the fader slider is in the infinity (.infin.) or maximum fader resistance value position. As the fader slider is moved away from the infinity position, i.e. as the total fader resistance value is decreased from maximum value, the DC current level increases above the predetermined current level. Once the DC current goes above this predetermined level, a fader start signal is generated. Although this type of audio fader does not generally produce audible noises upon fader movement and generally does not have an inconsistent and unsmooth feel, it may require substantial costly supporting circuitry which must be periodically calibrated to obtain proper performance.
The reason for these shortcomings typically rests with the manner in which common audio faders are generally constructed so as to provide for fader start functions. More specifically, it is common for audio faders to incorporate mechanical switching elements which are positioned within the fader in such a way that the mechanical switching element is actuated whenever the slider is moved away from a position corresponding to the faders' infinity (.infin.) or maximum resistance position. When the slider is positioned at the infinity position, mechanical switching elements are de-actuated. As the slider is moved from the infinity (.infin.) position toward the zero or minimum resistance level, the mechanical switching element is actuated, thereby causing a fader start signal to be generated. As the mechanical switching elements are actuated, an undesirable audible "click" or "pop" sound is produced. Further, due to the frictional forces exerted on the slider by the mechanical switching elements coming into physical contact with the slider upon being placed at the infinity (.infin.), the "feel" of the fader slider changes as it is moved to or from the infinity resistance position. Because of the substantial physical interaction of mechanical switching elements, the reliability of this type of common audio fader is greatly undermined.
FIGS. 3 and 4 show an illustration of a common audio fader having fader start features. It can be seen that this audio fader 200 has a mechanical switch 220 positioned toward one end of fader 200. Switch 220 has a spring loaded actuator arm 230 which is depressed or actuated upon physical contact with slider 240. With reference to FIG. 3, it can be seen that slider 240 may be moved or slided along track guides 260 and 261, which extend the length of fader 200. When slider 240 is in the infinity (.infin.) position, it causes actuator arm 230 to be depressed, thereby opening switch 220. As shown in FIG. 4, when slider 240 is moved away from the infinity (.infin.) position, it is moved from contact with actuator arm 230 thereby causing switch 220 to close and thus produce a fader start signal which cues other equipment operation/function.

Variable resistor having the capacity to produce a fader start signal output


A computer implemented method, data processing system, and computer program product for automating information sharing and propagation of control commands and events between software objects created in Web applications and 3D virtual world objects created in virtual world applications. A relationship is created to link a Web object with one or more virtual world objects, or to link a virtual world object with one or more Web objects. A Web application may retrieve the meta-data of one or more virtual world objects or send commands or events to manipulate one or more virtual world objects to which a Web object within the Web application is linked. A virtual world system may retrieve the meta-data of one or more Web objects or send commands or events to manipulate one or more Web objects to which a virtual world object within the virtual world system is linked.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an improved data processing system, and in particular, to a computer implemented method and apparatus for processing software applications that have both a Web interface and a virtual world interface. Still more particularly, the present invention relates to a computer implemented method, apparatus, and computer usable program code for automating the sharing of information and the propagation of control commands or events between software objects created in Web applications and 3D virtual world objects created in virtual world applications.
2. Description of the Related Art
A software application is a system implemented in software for accomplishing a given purpose. A Web application is a software application having a client-side component and a server-side component linked together through a Web server. The client-side component is in the form of Web pages, whereas the server-side component can be built using a variety of technologies such as JSP (JavaServer Page), Java Servlet, and PHP. The Web pages define the user interface (UI) through declarative languages, such as Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) and Extensible Markup Language (XML), and logic using scripting languages such as JavaScript. The Web browser on the client device processes and displays the Web pages. The client Web pages use Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) to communicate with a Web server that links client requests to proper server components that perform processing which typically includes database access and enterprise business logic, such as e-commerce. The server components respond through the Web server, which uses HTTP to send the response back to the client.
A virtual world is a software application that provides a computer-based simulated environment in which virtual characters, called avatars, can reside, visit different places, and interact with one another. A virtual world environment is typically represented in a 3D representation that mimics the real-world environment. Avatars are representations of people residing in the virtual worlds.
Existing virtual world software systems focus on using the virtual world environment to model real-world systems. Examples of such existing systems include U.S. Patent Publication No. 20070101276A1, which describes a system for modeling Web sites using a virtual world system. U.S. Patent Publication No. 20070100705A1 simulates the clothes and accessory shopping process with a 3D virtual reality setting. U.S. Patent Publication No. 20060063645A1 discloses an electronic device that connects fitness equipment to virtual world applications. U.S. Patent Publication No. 20030061284A1 describes a system for remotely controlling a virtual representation of a product with the controlling process, such as navigation, coupled with voice communication. U.S. Patent Publication No. 20030050864A1 describes a method to allow 3D rendering of some clothes on a 3D model, where the clothes and models are selected by the user through a Web site.
However, these existing virtual world software systems do not contain the feature of sharing information in the virtual worlds with Web applications, and vice versa. In addition, these existing virtual world software systems also do not contain the feature of propagating commands and events from a Web application to a virtual world, and vice versa.

Bridging real-world web applications and 3D virtual worlds

International Business Machines Corporation


An image forming apparatus including an endless belt; a driving roller to move the endless belt in circulation; a driven roller to rotate along with circulation of the endless belt; a first bearing arranged on a first-side end of the driven roller along an axial direction to movable and to support the driven roller rotatably; a resilient member to apply a resilient force to the driven roller; and a frame having a first guide to the first bearing to move in an inclined direction, which inclines with respect to a virtual line extending through a rotation axis of the driving roller and the rotation axis of the driven roller, is provided. The first guide is formed to incline with respect to the virtual line to be closer to a virtual plane containing the strained plane of the endless belt as the first guide extends farther from the driving roller.

1. Technical Field
An aspect of the present invention relates to an image forming apparatus having an endless belt, which includes an intermediate transfer belt and a conveyer belt.
2. Related Art
An image forming unit having an endless belt configured to circulate endlessly is known. When intensity of tensile forces in the endless belt are different between widthwise edges thereof, the endless belt may undesirably skew. In particular, the endless belt may skew toward one of the edges, in which the tensile force is smaller, rather than the other one of the edges, in which the tensile force is greater. Therefore, it may be preferable to restrain the belt from being skewed in consideration of the difference in tensile forces.
The skew in this context refers to a behavior of the endless belt moving along a widthwise direction, which is an axial direction of rollers, while the endless belt circulates endlessly around the rollers. Therefore, when the endless belt skews largely along the axial direction of the rollers, the endless belt may run off from the rollers.


A novel image forming apparatus which makes gray-scale by performing at least one of operations including a manipulation of a plurality of dots arranged in a form of matrix, a single-dot-based density adjustment, or a single-dot-based size adjustment, includes a dot status detector and a density adjuster. The dot status detector detects an occurrence in which a dot exists at a focus dot position and no dot exists at positions immediately adjacent to the focus dot position in the main scanning direction. The density adjuster adjusts a writing level of the dot at the focus dot position so as to make the gray-scale smooth when the dot status detector detects the occurrence.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a method and apparatus, and more particularly to a method and apparatus for image processing which is capable of performing a density adjustment with respect to an output data signal for optical writing in which gray-scale is performed by at least one of plural methods including a manipulation of a plurality of dots, a density adjustment on a single dot, and a size adjustment on a single dot.
2. Discussion of the Background
In an image forming apparatus, density of a pixel is generally adjusted with a manipulation of a plurality of dots arranged in a form of matrix, a single-dot-based density adjustment, or a single-dot-based size adjustment. Various image density adjusting methods using multiple-value dithering have been developed. One example is Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 3-80768 (1991). In this example, density adjustment with dithering is first performed with respect to multiple-value input image data. Then, multiple-value dithering is performed on the adjusted input multiple-value image data. Finally, density correction according to a printer output characteristic is performed on the resultant multiple-value dither data. With this method, density adjustment on multiple-value input image data can suitably be made to a variety of printer characteristics.
However, the above-described method cannot reproduce an optimal dot in accordance with conditions of neighboring dot positions. That is, the above method will make an inferior reproduction with respect particularly to a highlight or line portion. Further, it performs the multiple-value dithering using a single gamma correction table. Therefore, the above method cannot produce an output data signal for image writing in which gray-scale is performed for various different density adjustment operations based on, for example, a manipulation of a plurality of dots, a density adjustment on a single dot, and a size adjustment on a single dot.

Method and apparatus for image processing capable of efficiently performing a gray-scale correction


Tubular sausage casings can be prepared from non-animal materials, primarily starches and flours by film-casting followed by gluing with an edible glue composed of konjac and carrageenan. In this way, it has been made possible to prepare non-animal meat casings commercially, that can be used with conventional sausage production technology.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to novel vegetable based edible films which can be used in the processing of meat products, particularly as sausage casings.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Traditionally, edible sausage casings have been manufactured through a process of extrusion into a tubular hose material made of regenerated beef collagen. A conventional synthetic or natural casing is formed as a long, continuous tube which is drawn from a supply source.
In order to use the casing efficiently and effectively, an individual length of the hose material drawn from the source is "shirred" (gathered up longitudinally). This allows a large quantity of casing to be folded and positioned in a sausage or food packing machine for subsequent controlled unfolding as required as the casing material is filled with product. The shirring of casings for meat products such as sausage is well known in the food processing art. Two typical examples of the numerous prior art patents disclosing equipment for the shirring of casing are afforded by U.S. Pat. No. 4,580,316 (Günter) and U.S. Pat. No. 4,683,615 (Thomczak et al).
Increasingly, it has been sought to prepare food sealing and packaging materials comprising only non-animal based natural materials, owing to dietary and other considerations. U.S. Pat. No. 5,620,757 (Ninomiya et al) describes a multilayer heat-sealable edible film for sealing and packaging materials like powdered soup, flavoring oil, dried vegetables, etc., which comprises a water-soluble polysaccharide film layer (chiefly carrageenan, a polyhydric alcohol and water) and a subfilm layer containing a combination of soybean protein and gelatin.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,730,340 (MacQuarrie et al) describes edible casing film formulations incorporating carrageenan in conjunction with konjac and/or Gellan gums. Such a film, in a typical application, is wrapped around a meat substrate (turkey, ham, chicken) and the wrapped meat dried in a convection oven, until a protein skin is seen to form. Cooking is then completed in a steam cooker. The film exhibits a number of desirable properties, including pleasing edibility and imparting an appealing surface appearance to the cooked product.
However, despite the evident desirability of doing so, it has not been possible commercially to prepare non-animal meat casings using standard sausage production technology based on a shirred tubular casing. Because of their abundant availability and presence in many food products, starch or flour would appear to be the ideal raw material for all-vegetable based sausage casing. However most gum and starches do not exhibit the kind of phenoplastic properties which will allow the production of a homogeneous tube structure by extruding the polymer through a die set to an appropriate diameter, tube wall thickness, etc. U.S. Pat. No. 5,928,737 (Hammer et al) describes the extrusion into sausage casings of compositions based on natural starch which has been converted into an amorphous state by drying potato starch in vacuo, mixing with glycerol and kneading the mixture at an elevated temperature followed by extrusion and granulation to prepare a thermoplastic starch composition. This must additionally be compounded with gelatin and chitosan in order to be extrudable. However, this material, too, has not proven useful using standard sausage production technology based on a shirred tubular casing.
Some high-amylose starches have been successfully extruded into sheets and tubing or various dimensions, but such systems require inconvenient higher than atmospheric pressures to effect complete hydration of the polymers. Moreover, the finished products have typically been found to be too brittle and otherwise unsuitable for use as sausage casing.
The aforementioned U.S. '757 and '340 patents and many others take advantage of the well known film-forming abilities of starches and gums. Typically, these films are formed from a liquid slurry of the gums/starches in water, which is then cast upon a hot surface until sufficient water is thereby removed to produce the end film. However, only flat foils can be produced by this casting system, which are not suitable for the conventional production of tubes and other profile-type products.
While forming of a casing tube from a flat film section incorporating conventional hydrocolloids by folding the cast film into a tube and heat-sealing the edges was considered, the fact is that only a relatively narrow range of compositions is capable of being heat-sealed. Moreover, the intense heat necessary for effectively sealing a film to itself was found to cause excessive moisture loss in films of these compositions, leading to undesirable mechanical end properties, discoloration along the seal line and distortion of the body of the film.

Vegetable casing film and method for production of tubular sausage casings


This invention relates to an information processing apparatus as well as to an information processing method and a program for use therewith, the apparatus being arranged to prevent a drop in its processing performance while minimizing power dissipation when a frequency-variable synchronizing clock signal CLK of the apparatus is lowered in frequency. Illustratively, if a selector block 31-2 receives a selection command “select B” which is set depending on the frequency of the synchronizing clock signal CLK and which specifies the bypassing of a holding block 12-2, then data input to and held by a holding block 12-1 on a first clock pulse of the clock signal CLK is arranged, on a second clock pulse, to pass through a selector block 31-1 and a signal processing block 13-1, bypass the holding block 12-2, pass through the selector block 31-2 and a signal processing block 13-2, and be input to and held by a holding block 12-3. This invention applies to data processing apparatuses such as CPUs, DSPs and filters as well as to buses.

Information processing apparatuses typified by data processing apparatuses such as CPUs (central processing units), DSPs (digital signal processors) and filters, as well as buses and data paths for data exchanges perform various operations in synchronism with a synchronizing clock signal (system clock). One such information processing apparatus designed to carry out a process on a plurality of clock pulses include storage devices such as flip-flop circuits that store the results of halfway operations making up the process (e.g., refer to Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 2002-204224).
That type of processing is generally called pipeline processing. The above-mentioned flip-flop circuits or the like for storing halfway processing results constitute what is known as a pipeline. The layout of the pipeline is delimited by so-called segments.
Each of the segments making up the pipeline is generally located where operation status is low, or where the circuits upstream and downstream of the segment in question keep their transition times (i.e., a time period that elapses from the time data is input to the circuit in question until the input data is processed and output) shorter than the cycle of the synchronizing clock signal in use.
Conventionally, when the synchronizing clock signal has a variable frequency, the pipeline is most often constructed (i.e., segmented) to operate primarily in keeping with the highest frequency of the signal. If the frequency of the clock signal is reduced, the transition time of pipeline circuitry falls far short of the synchronizing clock cycle. As a result, with the pipeline designed to function best at the highest synchronizing clock frequency, lowered clock frequencies can appreciably reduce pipeline functionality.
In a related-art system architecture where the synchronizing clock signal is varied in frequency and where the pipeline is designed to operate in keeping with the highest clock frequency, drops in the clock frequency often lead the entire processing performance of the system to deteriorate while power is being consumed wastefully, as outlined above.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a related-art information processing apparatus 1 operating on a pipeline basis. As shown in FIG. 1, the information processing apparatus 1 comprises a frequency control block 11 and holding blocks 12-1 through 12-4. The frequency control block 11 varies the frequency of a synchronizing clock signal CLK based on predetermined frequency information Infq, and outputs the synchronizing clock signal CLK at the varied frequency. Each of the holding blocks 12-1 through 12-4 inputs and holds predetermined data on detecting a leading or a trailing edge of a given clock pulse in the synchronizing clock signal CLK from the frequency control block 11, and outputs the data held therein when detecting a leading or a trailing edge of the next clock pulse.
The information processing apparatus 1 also includes a signal processing block 13-1 located between the holding blocks 12-1 and 12-2, a signal processing block 13-2 between the holding blocks 12-2 and 12-3, and a signal processing block 13-3 between the holding blocks 12-3 and 12-4. The signal processing block 13-1 performs a first process on an input signal (i.e., data) and outputs the processed signal; the signal processing block 13-2 carries out a second process on the input signal (data) and outputs the processed signal; and the signal processing block 13-3 executes a third process on the input signal (data) and outputs the processed signal.
In other words, a pipeline is formed by the four holding blocks 12-1 through 12-4 in the information processing apparatus 1. The pipeline is segmented immediately upstream and downstream of each of the signal processing blocks 13-1 through 13-3.
How the information processing apparatus 1 works is described below with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3. Described first with reference to FIG. 2 is how the information processing apparatus 1 operates when the synchronizing clock signal CLK is set for its highest frequency.
In this example, a signal input to the information processing apparatus 1, i.e., a signal entered into the holding block 12-1, is illustratively a data string (A0, B0, C0, D0). The four data items constituting the data string (A0, B0, C0, D0) are input to the holding block 12-1 successively, one at a time per clock pulse.
On a first clock pulse, the data item A0 is input to and held by the holding block 12-1, as shown in FIG. 2.
On a second clock pulse, the holding block 12-1 inputs and holds the data item B0 while outputting the data item A0 concurrently. The data item A0 is converted into a data item Al after undergoing the first process performed by the signal processing block 13-1. The data item A1 is input to and held by the holding block 12-2 until a third clock pulse is output.
On the third clock pulse, the holding block 12-1 inputs and holds the data item C0 while outputting the data item B0 concurrently. The holding block 12-2 outputs the data item A1 while concurrently inputting a data item B1 derived by the signal processing block 13-1 from the data item B0 that came from the holding block 12-1. The data item B1 is held by the holding block 12-1 until a fourth clock pulse is output. The data item A1 is converted into a data item A2 after undergoing the second process performed by the signal processing block 13-2. The data item A2 is input to and held by the holding block 12-3 until the fourth clock pulse is output.
On the fourth clock pulse, the holding block 12-1 inputs and holds the data item D0 while outputting the data item C0 concurrently. The holding block 12-2 outputs the data item B1 while concurrently inputting a data item C1 derived by the signal processing block 13-1 from the data item C0 that came from the holding block 12-1. The data item C1 is held by the holding block 12-1 until a fifth clock pulse is output. The holding block 12-3 outputs the data item A2 while concurrently inputting a data item B2 derived by the signal processing block 13-2 from the data item B1 that came from the holding block 12-2. The data item B2 is held by the holding block 12-3 until the fifth clock pulse is output. The data item A2 is converted into a data item A3 after undergoing the third process performed by the signal processing block 13-3. The data item A3 is input to and held by the holding block 12-4 until the fifth clock pulse is output.
On the fifth and subsequent clock pulses, each of the holding blocks 12-1 through 12-4 and each of the signal processing blocks 13-1 through 13-3 repeat the operations described above. As a result, the data item A3 is output to the outside on the fifth clock pulse, a data item B3 on a sixth clock pulse, a data item C3 on a seventh clock pulse, and a data item D3 on an eighth clock pulse.
That is, when the synchronizing clock signal CLK is set for its highest frequency, the information processing apparatus 1 inputs the data item A0 on the first clock pulse, and outputs on the fifth clock pulse the data item A3 having undergone the processes performed by the signal processing blocks 13-1 through 13-3. In this case, the time required from the time one data item (one of A0, B0, C0, A0) is input to the information processing apparatus 1 until the input data item is processed and output to the outside (as one of A3, B3, C3, D3) is a time T1, as shown in FIG. 2.
Suppose now that the frequency control block 11, based on newly input frequency information Infq, sets the synchronizing clock signal CLK for half of its highest frequency (indicated in FIG. 2) and outputs the synchronizing clock signal CLK at the reduced frequency. In this case, the synchronizing clock signal CLK appears as depicted in FIG. 3, as opposed to what is shown in FIG. 2.
In the case above, the information processing apparatus 1 also operates in basically the same way as when the synchronizing clock signal CLK is set for its maximum (as indicated in FIG. 2). That is, as illustrated in FIG. 3, the information processing apparatus 1 inputs the data item A0 on the first clock pulse and outputs to the outside on the fifth clock pulse the data item A3 having undergone the processes carried out by the signal processing blocks 13-1 through 13-3.
It should be noted, however, that with the output cycle of the synchronizing clock signal CLK now doubled, it takes twice as long as the time T1 required from the time one data item (one of A0, B0, C0, D0) is input to the information processing apparatus 1 until the input data item is processed and output to the outside (as one of A3, B3, C3, D3). The time T1 (FIG. 2) at the highest clock frequency is now replaced with a time T2 which is twice as long as the time T1.
The processing time (absolute time) of the information processing apparatus 1 at the reduced frequency is twice the time it takes when the frequency is the highest. In other words, the processing performance of the information processing apparatus 1 is reduced to half of what it is when the frequency is maximized.
If the reduction in processing performance triggered by the halving of the clock frequency were kept less than half of the conventionally observed drop, by somehow raising the performance using the same clock signal, there would be power savings commensurate with the rise in the performance per unit power consumption. However, techniques for implementing such an improvement have yet to materialize.

Information processing device, method, and program


An air-fuel ratio sensor control apparatus comprises a voltage control part configured to control a voltage Vo1 applied to a cell of an air-fuel ratio sensor in accordance with a sensor current flowing in the cell and a current detection part configured to detect the sensor current as a physical value, which indicates the air-fuel ratio. In the air-fuel ratio sensor control apparatus, a voltage varying time point, at which the voltage control part varies the voltage Vo1, and a current detecting time point, at which the current detection part detects the current, are shifted from each other. A time period Ta from the current detecting time point, which is immediately before the voltage varying time point, to the voltage varying time point and a time period Tb from the voltage varying time point to the current detecting time period, which is immediately after the voltage varying time point, are set to satisfy Ta<Tb.

In a conventional air-fuel ratio sensor control apparatus, a voltage is applied to a cell of an air-fuel ratio sensor and a current flowing in the cell is detected as a sensor current, which indicates an air-fuel ratio. In an air-fuel ratio sensor control apparatus disclosed in JP 2015-148471A (US 2015/0219590 A1), a DC voltage applied to a sensor is varied in accordance with a sensor current.
The cell of the air-fuel ratio sensor has a capacitive component (that is, electrostatic capacitance). For this reason, in case of digitally controlling the voltage applied to the cell, a step change of the voltage causes a current flow in the cell through the capacitive component. In case that the current flowing through the capacitive component of the cell (hereinafter referred to as a capacitive current) is detected as a part of the sensor current, accuracy of air-fuel ratio detection is lowered.


Methods and systems for digital pathology with low-latency analytics include determining potential regions of interest within an image in accordance with one or more high-priority analyses, dividing the potential regions of interest into a plurality of sub-sections optimized for parallel computation, analyzing the sub-sections using one or more execution nodes, each including one or more processors, using a copy of the image stored in a shared memory according to the one or more high-priority analyses, and storing an intermediate analysis result based on analysis results from the one or more execution nodes in a shared memory.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to digital pathology and, more particularly, to image analysis performed with whole-slide imaging.
2. Description of the Related Art
Pathologists and medical doctors analyze very large digital images of whole histopathology slides using whole-slide imaging browsers. Such browsers form a kind of virtual microscope running on a computer, allowing a user to manipulate the image in a user-friendly fashion, e.g., by panning and zooming, and implement computer-based image analysis on the slide. Image analysis normally operates on a portion of the image, called the region of interest (ROI), but the size of the ROI is often constrained by the complexity of the analysis and the available computing resources. Analytics on histopathological images, including image processing, image analysis, and machine learning, is frequently computationally intensive and cannot be performed in an interactive way.
Existing systems are desktop or web-browser based and perform viewing and limited analysis. These systems do not have the capability of executing full analysis of tissues. As a result, analysis on such systems is not scalable, and demanding functions take too long for interactive execution.
Furthermore, existing distributed computing systems are inadequate to address the needs of digital pathology, because the computation and communication demands may overwhelm even powerful distributed systems. Images of histology slides can be, for example, several gigabytes in size, such that it is usually infeasible to transfer such images back and forth between client and server. Moreover, the computations involved in modern analytics can be very intensive, particularly if performed on the entire image. As such, existing cloud servers are not optimized to handle digital pathology services.

Digital pathology system with low-latency analytics


According to one of the embodiments of the present disclosure, there is provided a technique that includes: (a) forming a seed layer in an amorphous state on a substrate by supplying a source gas to the substrate; (b) polycrystallizing the seed layer by processing the seed layer by heat; and (c) performing a cycle a predetermined number of times to form an oxide film on a polycrystallized seed layer and to oxidize the polycrystallized seed layer, the cycle including: (c-1) supplying the source gas to the substrate; and (c-2) supplying an oxygen-containing gas and a hydrogen-containing gas to the substrate, wherein (c-1) and (c-2) are non-simultaneously performed.

As one of manufacturing processes of a semiconductor device, a process of forming an oxide film on a substrate accommodated in a process vessel by supplying a source gas and a reactive gas having a strong oxidizing power. When the substrate is processed, the oxidizing power of the reaction gas may adversely affect a base film (underlying film) of the oxide film.

Method of manufacturing semiconductor device, substrate processing apparatus and non-transitory computer-readable recording medium


Disclosed is a method for determining the quality, expressed in terms of a quality value, of an biomolecule sample, based on measured data of the biomolecule sample, by extracting a number of prescribed features from the measured data using data analysis, and determining the quality value from the extracted features using a quality algorithm.

Ribonucleic acids (RNA) are biopolymers contained in cells of all living organisms and in some viruses, which play various roles, primarily conveying the hereditary information of DNA, in constructing proteins. RNA is thus employed in investigations of the genome under microarray-hybridization experiments and RT-PCR, as well as, for example, northern blots, RNase-protection assays, or cDNA-syntheses. The results of such experiments, and the significances of their results, are largely dependent upon the qualities of the RNA samples employed.
The size distributions of RNA biopolymers are measures of the integrity, and thus the qualities, of the RNA samples involved. RNA size distributions vary with the origin of the material involved and the method by which it was prepared, but are significantly affected by contamination by RNA degrading enzymes (RNases) or mechanical shearing forces due to improper handling. In any event, a shift in the lengths of RNA polymers to shorter lengths is observed whenever degradation has occurred.
Traditionally, RNA biopolymers are analyzed by gel electrophoresis. Lab-on-a-chip analyses using the Agilent 2100 Bioanalyzer, as provided by the applicant Agilent Technologies, provide an accurately reproducible, high-resolution, approach to gel-electrophoresis. The Bioanalyzer has become the industry's standard, in particular for RNA analysis. Digital electropherograms obtained using it thus represent ideal starting points for more thorough analyses.
Quality of an RNA molecule can be understood as a measure for its integrity. For example, an RNA sample will exhibit a high degree of integrity, if its molecules have survived extraction from cells or tissues as a whole without suffering degradation or breakage due to shearing forces. A measure for the integrity can indicate e.g. to what extent the sample exhibits signs of degradation or shearing, for example with the highest values displayed by samples that have remained intact during preparation.
Reliable quality determinations have thus far been obtainable using manual, and therefore more or less subjective, methods only. Under manual methods, each individual sample must be visually inspected for integrity by an experienced biochemist before it may be employed in subsequent experiments. Manual quality determinations have become unacceptable as the number of RNA experiments to be performed grew and high-throughput analytical methods appeared.
Methods that will allow estimating the qualities of RNA samples based on a single feature, or only a few features, are known. The best approach that has emerged to date establishes a criterion for the ratio of the areas under the curves for the 28S-rRNA-fragment and the 18S-rRNA-fragment. Theoretically, intact RNA samples will have a ratio of 2. This ratio decreases as degradation progresses, and yields an initial, but relatively inaccurate, means for distinguishing between intact and degraded RNA, since large deviations of this ratio from the theoretical value frequently occur in practice. This criterion is regarded as the state of the art in automatic determination of the qualities of RNA samples.

Determining the quality of biomolecule samples