A stopper or closure is provided as a closure for containers in which the stopper profile is computer generated to take into consideration radial stress at the stopper/container interface, and to eliminate tensile stress therealong which tensile stress is an indication that a portion of the stopper wall is not engaging the opposed container surface. The stopper of the invention is particularly appropriate for use in evacuated blood sample collection tubes for eliminating "gray bands" or regions where the stopper and tube do not contact, and "red spots" formed in small cavities generated on the internal surface of the stopper at the withdrawal position of a blood collection needle having been inserted in the stopper.

This invention relates generally to a closure assembly for containers and more particularly to such assemblies for use with evacuated blood collection tubes such as VACUTAINER.RTM. Brand evacuated tubes. More particularly, this invention relates to such a closure assembly and the deliberate profile formation of the rubber or elastomer stopper portion of the assembly generated from a computer readout in order to eliminate tensile stress along the stopper/ container wall interface so as to more clearly define and seal the container with the stopper. The computer generated stopper of the invention is so configured that the forces generated by the insertion of the stopper into the container are utilized in order to improve and develop continuous compressive radial stresses along the entire stopper/container interface.
As is well known in the medical field, both evacuated and non-evacuated tubes are used in large quantities to take blood samples from patients for subsequent testing of the blood for various purposes to determine if a patient has certain diseases or blood problems or other physical health problems of some kind. It is routine for a laboratory technician, for example, to take several such samples from a single tube for various tests. Since the tube may be evacuated, there is a pressure differential across the stopper holding the sample in the tube. Thus, when a needle is inserted through the diaphragm of the stopper, there can be an aerosol of the sample which may spray onto the technician. Moreover, when taking samples, sometimes blood droplets are left on the top and bottom surface of the stopper during the removal of the needle once the sample has been taken from the evacuated tube which creates a contamination problem for anyone handling the stopper subsequently.
A further problem with the use of stoppers of the kind discussed above, is the fact that an improper seal is generated along the stopper/container surface interface. The seal is discontinuous merely because of the stresses generated by the configuration of the stopper itself, and its interaction with the container involved. Such problems have the effect of reducing the shelf-life of evacuated tubes and are referred to by practitioners-in-the-art as "gray band" regions because they look gray when looking at the stopper through a transparent container wall. When one realizes the vast number of such tubes required for daily taking of blood samples in many many hospitals, it becomes important to reduce the cost of such items by increasing the shelf-life thereof. If a vacuum can be maintained at a proper level for a longer period, it follows that the evacuated tubes will have a much longer shelf-life and be in a better condition for use when required.
Attempts have been made in the past to overcome some or all of the above-noted problems. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,974,930 to Gizard et al. teaches a stopper with a central hole in the top surface of the diaphragm for protecting personnel from blood droplets on the outside surface of the stopper diaphragm. However, the Gizard et al. stopper uses a flat diaphragm surface on the internal surface facing the inside of the container which will permit "red spot" formation on that surface. This phenomenon is caused by the development of a conical break in the diaphragm bottom wall upon insertion of a needle. Thus, when the needle is removed, a red spot of blood develops in the break on the internal or bottom surface of the diaphragm. Thus, if a clinician removes the stopper for taking a sample, the bottom surface of the stopper is contaminated and may cause contamination by the clinician touching the bottom surface of the stopper.
E. P. Percarpio, in his U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,301,936; 4,187,952; 4,186,840; 4,136,794; and 4,111,326, teaches a method for reducing the force required to assemble the stopper in the appropriate tube, while achieving, at the same time, a satisfactory sealing characteristic. The patents describe diaphragms in the stoppers disclosed comprised of curved upper and lower surfaces with a constant diaphragm thickness of 0.04-0.09 inches, with the point being to reduce the thickness of the diaphragm and reduce the effort required to insert the needle through the diaphragm into the tube. There is no recognition in these patents of generating a stopper profile so as to eliminate any tensile stress along the stopper/container interface and to develop complete compressive radial stress at the stopper/container interface.
With this invention, by contrast, a three-dimensional, axisymmetrical computer model has been developed for a stopper for use in, for example, a conventional 13 millimeter diameter evacuated tube. A linear Young's modulus of 500 p.s.i. was used together with a poissons ratio of 0.495. The profile generated, allows for a proper configuration of stopper with appropriate upper and lower surface profiles in order to eliminate any tensile stress along the container/stopper interface.
In connection with generating the desired profile, it is necessary prior to generation to develop the appropriate boundary conditions in order to guide the computer generation. For example, it is important to establish fixed nodal locations in order to identify the region generated. Such positions include for example, points along the bottom surface of the upper annular flange of the stopper which are to remain, in a resulting generated stopper, fixed at the mating top surface of a container. These points do not move in the Z axis direction, and thus define boundaries for the desired profile.
Moreover, loading conditions must be selected for the profile. This is done by selecting a desired container and the desired selected stopper. From this, the nodal points along the tapered surface of the stopper profile which are to meet and conform to a container surface are defined. The distance of the movement of these points of the stopper in the Y axis from the position of the points in the stopper prior to insertion, and the position after insertion in the container are determined for selecting boundary and/or displacement conditions. Thus, a model stopper, so-to-speak, is selected which determines boundary and loading conditions in order to obtain the desired profile.
It should be borne in mind that this invention is directed not only to a stopper for use with blood collection tubes and including both evacuated and non-evacuated blood collection tubes, but also this invention is directed to a stopper cap assembly much like that taught and claimed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,465,200 which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. In that patent, an arrangement is provided for reducing to a minimum the exposure of aerosol or blood droplets which may be evident in removing a blood sample from an evacuated tube on the top surface of the assembly. A cap is provided in combination with the stopper of the assembly which is mounted over the resilient rubber stopper of the evacuated tube. The cap includes a top portion which extends over the top of the stopper to define between the top surface of the stopper and the bottom surface of the extended top portion of the cap a space which serves to contain any blood droplets or aerosol generated by needle insertion and withdrawal.
This patent, while teaching an assembly which is effective for protecting against blood droplets or aerosol on the top surface of the assembly, has no effect upon any such collection of blood droplets which may form on the bottom surface of the diaphragm of the elastomer stopper of the assembly. Thus, as discussed above, the invention here includes a generated stopper profile which eliminates "red spot" on the bottom surface of the diaphragm thereof as well as developing continuous compressive radial stress along the entire stopper/container interface.
With the foregoing and additional objects in view, this invention will now be described in more detail, and other objects and advantages thereof will be apparent from the following description, the accompanying drawings, and the appended claims.


A gas turbine engine includes a disk having an annular hub circumscribed about a centerline with an annular web extending radially outward from the hub to an annular rim. A multiple of slots extend generally axially through the rim and at least one of the multiple of slots having an asymmetric slot root for lower stress and higher service life.

The present application relates to a gas turbine engine, and more particularly to a rotor blade attachment thereof.
Gas turbine engines include a multiple of rotor assemblies within fan compressor and turbine sections. Each rotor assembly has a multitude of blades attached about a circumference of a rotor disk. Each blade includes an attachment section, a platform section, and an airfoil section that extends radially outwardly from the platform section. Each of the blades is typically axially received into a rotor disk rim through a fir-tree-type attachment section, and may be locked into place.
Turbine rotors, especially, operate in a difficult environment at high speeds and high temperatures.

Asymmetrical rotor blade slot attachment


An organic electroluminescent device comprises a pair of electrodes and a layer structure provided between the paired electrodes and including, at least, an emission layer comprising a specific type of oligomer. The layer structure may further comprise an electron injection layer and an electron transport layer, one of which comprises a specific type of oligomer. Alternatively, the layer structure may be of the type which comprises an organic layer having a charge transport interference layer in the inside thereof along with an emission layer.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a light emission device, which is utilizable in various fields as a variety of display devices, and more particularly, to an organic electroluminescent device that works at a low drive voltage, is high in luminance and is excellent in stability.
2. Description of the Related Art
Electroluminescent devices are self-luminescent in nature, and thus, are brighter than liquid crystal devices, enabling a clear display. Accordingly, research workers have long studied such devices. Existing electroluminescent devices, which arrive at a level of practical use, are those which make use of inorganic materials such as ZnS. However, such inorganic electroluminescent devices have not been in wide use because their drive voltage for emission is as high as 200 V or over.
In contrast thereto, organic electroluminescent devices, which utilize light-emitting organic materials, were far from the practical level yet. In 1987, C. W. Tang et al of Eastman Kodak Co., (Applied Physics/Letters, Vol. 51, p. 918, 1987) developed a builtup structure device, with a drastic advance in characteristic performance. More particularly, they succeeded in light emission by use of a builtup structure which includes a phosphor or fluorescent body having the stable structure of a deposition film and capable of transporting electrons, and an organic film capable of transporting holes. The carriers from both are injected into the phosphor body. This organic electroluminescent device has a much improved luminous efficiency, and is capable of emission at 1000 cd/m2 or more by application of a voltage of 10V or below.
Furthermore, as set out in Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 65, p. 3610, 1989), C. W. Tang et al of Eastman Kodak Co., proposed an emission layer using a guest/host system, making it possible to further improve a luminous efficiency and use a diversity of luminescent materials.
Since then, many researchers have extensively made studies and developments, so that light emitting materials and charge transport materials used for the organic electroluminescent devices have been developed, along with improvements in device structure. As a consequence, there has been reported a device that is low in luminance and has a half-life time of luminance of approximately 10,000 hours.
However, for the use of an organic electroluminescent device as an electronic device, its drive life is not satisfactory, thus leaving a problem, from the standpoint of the practical use thereof, on how to drastically improve the life.
Further, in such an organic electroluminescent device as set out hereinabove, the characteristics of the device depend greatly on the types of organic layers including an electron transport layer, an emission layer and a hole transport layer and also the type of electrode metal. Especially, the organic layers have important performances of injection, transport and recombination of charges and also of light emission. In order to realize a device with excellent characteristics, it is important to appropriately select materials suited for the functions of the respective layers. In addition, for obtaining a highly durable device, it is also important to use, as the organic layers, materials, each capable of forming a stable film without causing aggregation.
Needless to say, the charge injection and transport layer is broadly classified into a hole injection and transport layer and an electron injection and transport layer. These layers, respectively, serve to readily inject charges from an electrode and transport the injected charges to an emission region. The charge injection layer and the charge transport layer may be made of one material, or may be made of different materials, respectively. For a hole injection layer material, there is usually used a material whose HOMO (highest occupied molecular orbital) level is small in order to permit easy injection of holes from an anode. Mention is particularly made, as the injection layer material, of copper phthalocyanine (CuPc), tris{4-[(3-methylphenyl)phenylamino]phenyl}amine (M-MTDATA and the like. For a hole transport material, triphenylamine derivatives are ordinarily used. In Japanese Patent Publication No. 2826381, it is stated that conductive oligomers, particularly, thiophene oligomers, are preferred for use as a material for forming an organic semiconductive region as a hole injection layer or a hole injection and transport layer. On the other hand, quinolinol metal complexes, typical of which are oxadiazole derivatives and tris(8-hydroxyquinolinol)aluminium (Alq), have been studied for use as an electron transport material.
However, although these materials exhibit good capability of injection and transport of charges, most of them are not stable when converted to a thin film.
Many studies have been made on an emission layer wherein a number of compounds have been proposed and developed for use as the emission layer. For instance, a small amount of a fluorescent dye is dispersed in a film-forming material to provide a film for use as an emission layer so as to realize a high device efficiency, an elongated life and a proper control of an emission color. This technique is very effective against a fluorescent dye that is likely to undergo concentration quenching. However, such an emission layer is not sufficient to meet characteristic requirements with respect to the emission efficiency and drive durability.
It is accordingly an object of the invention to provide an organic electroluminescent device, which overcomes the problems involved in the prior art.
It is another object of the invention to provide an improved organic electroluminescent device, which has a high luminous efficiency and excellent drive durability.
It is a further object of the invention to provide an improved organic electroluminescent device, which is significantly improved in working or drive life.
The above objects can be achieved, according to one embodiment of the invention, by an organic electroluminescent device, which comprises a pair of electrodes, and a layer structure provided between the paired electrodes and including, at least, an emission layer comprising up to 10 mole % of a thiophene oligomer of the following formula
wherein R and Rxe2x80x2 independently represent H, an alkyl group having from 1 to 10 carbon atoms, preferably from 1 to 4 carbon atoms, an amino group, an aryl group and n is an integer of 2 to 10.
The electroluminescent unit may consist of the emission layer alone. Preferably, the layer structure includes a hole injection layer, a hole transport layer and the emission layer formed, on one of the electrodes serving as an anode, in this order.
According to another embodiment of the invention, there is also provided an organic electroluminescent device, which comprises a pair of electrodes, and a layer structure provided between the paired electrodes and including an emission layer, a hole injection layer and a hole transport layer wherein at least one of the hole injection layer and the hole transport layer comprises an oligomer selected from the group consisting of a triphenylamine oligomer of the following formula, a thiophene oligomer as defined above and mixtures thereof
wherein m is an integer of 2 to 6. The triphenylamine oligomer may be substituted or unsubstituted.
According to a further embodiment of the invention, there is provided an organic electroluminescent device, which comprises a pair of electrodes and a layer structure provided between the paired electrodes and including an emission layer and at least one organic layer capable of transporting electrons or holes and in contact with the emission layer wherein the organic layer comprises a fluorescent material having an absorption peak wavelength shorter than a peak wavelength of luminescence emitted from the emission layer.
Further, the at least one organic layer may include two organic sub-layers. In this case, the fluorescent material is present in one of the sub-layers not in contact with the emission layer.
According to a still further embodiment of the invention, there is provided an organic electroluminescent device, which comprises a pair of electrodes, and a layer structure sandwiched between the paired electrodes and including an organic layer capable of transporting electrons or holes and an emission layer wherein the organic layer has a charge transport interference sub-layer therein when the organic layer consists of a hole transport layer made of a hole transport material so that the sub-layer is made of an organic material having an ionization potential greater than the hole transport material of the organic layer, or wherein the organic layer has a charge transport interference sub-layer therein when the organic layer consists of an electron transport layer made of an electron transport material so that the sub-layer is made of an organic material having an electron affinity smaller than the electron transport material of the organic layer.
According to a yet further embodiment of the invention, there is also provide an organic electroluminescent device comprising a pair of electrodes, and a layer structure sandwiched between the paired electrodes and including a charge transport layer and an emission layer wherein the charge transport layer has a charge transport interference sub-layer therein, and the sub-layer is made of a mixture of both a hole transport material and an electron transport material, an inorganic compound or a metal.

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


What is described is a system for outputting audio signals having a first output device for outputting audio signals having predeterminable parameter values of a first set of settable parameters, a data storage for storing parameter values, and an administration device. Thus, the administration device accesses the data storage and searches for stored parameter values for a set of parameters which is equal or similar to the first set of parameters. In addition, in case of having found stored parameter values, the administration device transfers the parameter values and/or parameter values determined therefrom to the first output device.

The present invention relates to a system for outputting audio signals. In addition, the invention relates to a method for outputting audio signals using an output device and to a setting device for setting parameter values for outputting audio signals.
When reproducing audio signals, both music and speech, there is a strong dependence on preferences of the respective user or listener relative to the desired sound, like relative to frequency response, dynamic behavior or defaults for signal enhancement methods. Setting the parameters settable for reproduction thus takes place individually, wherein hearing problems maybe present are also to be taken into consideration.
At the same time, the specific listener nowadays has a plurality of output devices as terminal devices (like loudspeaker systems, TV, radio, computer, mobile phones, landline phone, car radio, etc.), software programs (so-called apps, like for listening to music, podcasts or for video conferences) and a plurality of application scenarios (like listening to music or spoken texts, telephoning or taking part in video conferences or chat systems) at his or her disposal which each exhibit different settable parameters or each use different parameter values.
The optimum setting of the parameters has to be set for an optimum listening experience for each application or terminal device or for each combination of terminal device and application. The complexity involved for the user is enormous. At the same time, the complexity of providing corresponding user interfaces for setting the parameters, on the part of the manufacturer of the application or terminal device, entails an additional complexity and additional costs so that realizing the ways of setting actually entailed is omitted.
This complexity or the lack of ways of setting entailed has the result that the user does not perform or is not able to perform any individualization, or only an incomplete one, so that he or she will experience poor sound or speech comprehension will suffer or a higher listening effort is entailed.
In order to reduce the complexity or as a consequence of the missing intention for individualization or simply for cost reasons, only very simplified ways of setting the sound (like only volume or only treble/bass control) are implemented in many apparatuses or applications.
All in all, the potential of modern audio signal processing, like relative to an adaptation to the listening environment or hearing loss in the listener, is not fully exploited.
Consequently, the object underlying the present invention is making individualization of audio signal outputs easier and, thus, more comfortable for the listener.

System for outputting audio signals and respective method and setting device

Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Foerderung der angewandten Forschung e.V.


An elastic support member 5 or an elastic support member-holding plate is located substantially in the middle portion of a frame portion (1 and 2), and a shadow mask is constructed such that a tension in the middle portion of the shadow mask 3 is larger than the tension in the edge portions of the shadow mask 3. In another aspect, a plurality of elastic support members 5 are such that at least two elastic support members having substantially different spring constants are combined.

The present invention relates to a cathode ray tube (hereinbelow, called a color picture tube in the specification) and an image display apparatus using the same. More particularly, the invention relates to a color picture tube which is characterized by an elastic support member used to support a frame across which a mask is stretched in a state where a tensile force is applied thereto and to an image display apparatus using the same.
A color picture tube has, as shown in FIG. 1, a structure including an envelope constructed by a panel 52 and a funnel 53 joined to the panel 52. In the periphery of the panel 52, a side wall 51 is formed. A phosphor screen 54 having three colors of R, G, and B is formed on the inner face of the panel effective portion. A shadow mask 55 in which a number of electron beam-passing apertures are formed is disposed so as to face the phosphor screen 54. The funnel 53 has a neck 56 in which an electron gun 57 for emitting three electron beams is disposed. By deflecting the three electron beams by a magnetic field generated by a deflection yoke 80 attached on the outside of the funnel 53, and by horizontally and vertically scanning the phosphor screen 54 via the shadow mask 55, a color image is displayed.
From the viewpoint of a smaller amount of entering external light and good looking, the panel of a recent color picture tube is being flattened and the shadow mask 55 is being accordingly flattened. When the shadow mask 55 is flattened, the plane of the shadow mask 55 cannot be maintained only by supporting the body of the shadow mask 55 by a frame 58. When the shadow mask 55 is simply supported only by the frame 58, the shadow mask 55 easily vibrates by external vibration, so that an adverse influence is exerted on a display image of the color picture tube. Consequently, the shadow mask 55 is stretched across the frame 58 in a state where a tensile force is applied thereto.
In a doming phenomenon that the surface of the shadow mask 55 is thermally deformed by collision of electron beams with the shadow mask 55, when the shadow mask 55 is flattened, a displacement amount of the electron beam becomes large especially around both the left and right edge faces of the screen. In order to absorb the thermal expansion caused by the collision of electron beams, a practically maximum tension close to the elastic limit is applied to the shadow mask 55.
In order to display an accurate color image on the phosphor screen 54 in such a color picture tube, it is necessary to hold the shadow mask 55 in a predetermined alignment relationship to three-color phosphor layers constructing the phosphor screen 54. One of the factors that deteriorate the alignment relationship between the shadow mask 55 and the phosphor screen 54 is vibration of the shadow mask 55. Although a tensile force is applied to the shadow mask 55 as described above, it is difficult to completely suppress the vibration of the shadow mask 55 only by the tensile force. The vibration of the shadow mask 55 occurs when external vibration or impact (for example, the vibration of a loudspeaker disposed on a side of the panel 52) is transmitted from the panel 52 via an elastic support member 59 and the frame 58 to the shadow mask 55. When the shadow mask 55 vibrates, the distance between the shadow mask 55 and the phosphor screen 54 changes, and thereby a landing displacement of the electron beam occurs. It is consequently desired that the vibration of the shadow mask 55 be attenuated as much as possible in a short time.
In order to suppress the vibration of the shadow mask 55, it is necessary to suppress the vibration of the shadow mask 55 itself and the vibration of the frame 58.
As a method of suppressing the vibration of the shadow mask 55 itself, a case where a damper is provided on an edge face of the shadow mask 55 has been reported. FIG. 2 shows an example of the damper. This damper 61 has a structure obtained by bending the ends of a wire. The damper 61 is provided by passing the bent portions into openings 62 in the shadow mask 55. The size of the opening 62 in the shadow mask 55 is set so that the damper 61 can freely vibrate. When the shadow mask 55 vibrates, a part of the energy for vibrating the shadow mask 55 is used to vibrate the damper 61, so that the vibration of the shadow mask 55 is attenuated. Even the structure in which such dampers 61 are provided is insufficient to demonstrate a vibration attenuating effect over the entire shadow mask 55.
On the other hand, in order to suppress the vibration of the frame 58, it is necessary to add a function such that the vibration can be absorbed by converting the vibration energy of the frame 58 to, for example, thermal energy (hereinbelow, called a damper function). As is disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 9-293459, a conventional method in which a sliding portion is provided with the elastic support member 59 itself so as to suppress the vibration of the frame 58 by the generated friction has been reported. FIGS. 3A and 3B show the structure of the elastic support member disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 9-293459. FIG. 3A is a front view and FIG. 3B is a side view. The structure has a matching portion 65 having a matching opening 64 to be matched to a stud pin 63, a fixed portion 66 to be fixed to the frame 58, and connecting portions 67 for connecting the matching portion 65 and the fixed portion 66. The connecting portions 67 are joined together by welding in their mid-portions so as to form a V shape. The fixed portion 66 has a blade 68 that is inserted into an opening 69 formed in the matching portion 65. When the elastic support member expands and contracts in the directions indicated by the two-headed arrow as the frame vibrates, the blade 68 slides in the opening 69, thereby obtaining a damper function. However, such an elastic support member has a complicated structure and is not easily produced. Due to a problem of a high cost, it is difficult to actually adopt the elastic support member.
In addition, the shadow mask 55 has to be attached and detached a plurality of times during a process of forming the phosphor screen 54 by a photo printing method using the shadow mask 55 as a photo mask. Consequently, the elastic support member 59 for holding the frame 58 across which the shadow mask 55 is stretched in a state where a tensile force is applied thereto has to be easily attached and detached in the same position with excellent reproducibility.
Further, in addition to the suppression of the vibration, the elastic support member 59 is required to have the following characteristics:
(1) improvements in terms of doming characteristic and low/high temperature characteristic; and
(2) assurance of impact resistance.
Doming characteristic (phenomenon) of (1) is a phenomenon such that the temperature of the shadow mask 55 rises due to the collision of electron beams as described above, creating a temperature difference between the shadow mask 55 and the panel 52 (usually made of glass), and therefore the predetermined alignment relationship deteriorates due to a thermal expansion coefficient difference between the material of the shadow mask 55 and that of the panel 52. Low/high temperature characteristic is similar to doming characteristic and is a phenomenon such that a positional alignment relationship between the shadow mask 55 and the panel is displaced due to the temperature difference between the shadow mask 55 and the panel 52 caused by the ambient temperature of the panel 52. Both of the characteristics are phenomena that the positional alignment relationship between the shadow mask 55 and the panel 52 is displaced due to the temperature difference between them. The phenomena cause a color shift and color unevenness. The displacements cannot be completely compensated even if a tensile force is applied to the shadow mask 55. When the shadow mask 55 expands relatively, the displacements between the shadow mask 55 and the inner face of the panel 52 on which the phosphor screen 54 is formed has to be compensated by shortening the distance between the shadow mask 55 and the inner face of the panel 5. On the contrary, when the panel 52 expands, it is necessary to widen the distance between the shadow mask 55 and the panel 52. In this manner, the elastic support member 59 has to have the function of displacing the position of the shadow mask 55 in accordance with the temperature difference between the panel 52 and the shadow mask 55.
At the time of carrying the color picture tube, there is a case such that the color picture tube is subjected to an impact that cannot be imagined in a normal use state due to an unexpected event (such as collapse of a cargo). When the shadow mask 55 is displaced due to plastic deformation of the elastic support member 59 or buckling of the matching portion by the impact, the positional alignment relationship between the shadow mask 55 and the panel 52 is displaced. The elastic support member 59 therefore has to be strong enough not to cause a displacement in the shadow mask 55 even when a specific impact (acceleration) is applied.
The structure including the frame, the shadow mask, and the elastic support member (hereinbelow, called a frame structure) is desired to have overall excellent characteristics with respect to the suppression of the vibration of the shadow mask, doming and low/high temperature characteristics and impact resistance.
An example of the conventional frame structure will be described hereinbelow. FIG. 4A is an entire view showing a state where a frame 58 is disposed in the panel 62 with strip-shaped elastic support members 59. FIG. 4B is an enlarged view of the strip-shaped elastic support member 59. The strip-shaped elastic support member 59 has a catching portion 60(a) to be caught by a stud pin 63 of the panel 62, a fixed portion 60(b) to be fixed to the frame, and a connecting portion 60(c) for connecting the catching portion 60(a) and the fixed portion 60(b). Such a strip-shaped elastic support member is called a TCM type and has a characteristic of excellent impact resistance. As a countermeasure against doming and low/high temperature characteristics, the elastic support member has a bimetallic structure made of two kinds of materials a (hatched portion) and xcex2 (not-hatched portion) having different thermal expansion coefficients. The bimetallic effect of the elastic support member 59 is not, however, displayed unless the temperature of the elastic support member 59 itself changes. Therefore, there is a problem of a slow response to a change in environment or a sudden rise in temperature of the shadow mask. Since the temperature change amount of the elastic support member 59 is small, a large correction amount cannot be set. Consequently, there is another problem that a material of the shadow mask having a thermal expansion coefficient largely different from that of the material of the panel cannot be used.
In the frame structure, since corners 74 of the frame 58 are not supported, vibration easily occurs. Moreover, since the elastic support member of the TCM type has no damper effect, once vibration occurs, it is not attenuated easily. As a result, the shadow mask also vibrates, thereby causing a problem that an adverse influence such as a color shift is exerted on the picture quality.
FIG. 5A shows a frame structure of another conventional technique. As shown in FIG. 5, stud pins 71 are provided on the inner walls at the opposite corners of a panel 70. Each of elastic support members 72 has a catching portion 72(a) to be caught by the stud pin 71, a fixed portion 72(b) fixed to a frame, and a V-shaped connecting portion 72(c) for connecting the catching portion 72(a) and the fixed portion 72(b). The connecting portion 72(c) is attached to the phosphor screen side. However, the configuration has the following problems.
(1) The clearance between the panel 70 and the frame 73 is narrow since the elastic support members 72 are disposed at the opposite corners of the panel 70, so that the assembling is difficult. It is not easy to assemble the frame 73 to the panel 70, and reduction in yield due to damage in the elastic support member 72, the stud pin 71, and the panel 70 is a problem.
(2) Since the elastic support members 72 are disposed at the opposite corners of the panel 70, the elastic support member 72 cannot be widened. Consequently, the impact resistance is poor.
The present invention is intended to solve the conventional problems mentioned above and provide a color picture tube that is resistant to external vibration and is excellent in terms of doming and low/high temperature characteristics and impact resistance, and has a suitable configuration for easy assembling, and an image display apparatus using the color picture tube.
The first aspect of the present invention is a cathode ray tube comprising, at least, a panel having a phosphor screen formed thereon, a shadow mask having a plurality of electron beam-passing portions, and a frame across which the shadow mask is stretched in a state where a tensile force is applied thereto, the frame being securely attached to the panel by an elastic support member while the phosphor screen is opposed to the shadow mask, wherein the elastic support member is located substantially in the middle portion of a frame portion and the shadow mask is configured such that the tension in the middle portion of the shadow mask is larger than the tension at the edge portions of the shadow mask.
In the configuration described above, since the elastic support member is located substantially in the middle portion of the frame portion, the assembly and frame support may be improved, and since the tension in the middle portion of the shadow mask is larger than the tension at the edge portions of the shadow mask, the vibration attenuating effect of the elastic support member may be found not only at the edge portions of the shadow mask but also at the middle portion of the shadow mask.
The second aspect of the present invention is a cathode ray tube comprising, at least, a panel having a phosphor screen formed thereon, a shadow mask having a plurality of electron beam-passing portions, and a frame across which the shadow mask is stretched in a state where a tensile force is applied thereto, the frame being securely attached to the panel by an elastic support member while the phosphor screen is opposed to the shadow mask, wherein the elastic support member is fixed to an elastic support member-holding plate located substantially in the middle of the frame portion and the shadow mask is configured such that the tension in the middle portion of the shadow mask is larger than the tension at the edge portions of the shadow mask.
In the configuration described above, since the elastic support member is fixed to the elastic support member-holding plate located substantially in the middle of each frame portion, the elastic support members are located in the same plane by adjusting the extension direction of the elastic support member-holding plate even when the frame portions are not in the same plane, and therefore the effects of the first aspect of the present invention are demonstrated further.
In these first and second aspects of the present invention described above, the elastic support member desirably comprises a fixed portion to be fixed to the frame, a matching portion to be matched to a stud pin provided on the inside of the panel side wall, and a connecting portion for connecting the matching portion and the fixed portion. The connecting portion preferably has an approximately V-shaped configuration. With this configuration, better doming and low/high temperature characteristics may be obtained.
In this configuration, the fixed portion of the elastic support member preferably has an area of at least 5 cm2. This is because when the area of the fixed portion is made large, a force applied to the frame is dispersed, and this prevents the tension distribution pattern of the shadow mask from varying due to the frame deformation. To increase the effect described above, the ratio of the area of the fixed portion of the elastic support member to the area of the frame portion to which the elastic support member is fixed is preferably at least greater than {fraction (1/25)}.
Furthermore, the elastic support member desirably includes a vibration suppressing structure, because the vibration of the frame is transmitted to the shadow mask even when the vibration of the shadow mask is attenuated unless the vibration of the frame is attenuated.
The spring constant of the elastic support member may be altered relatively easily without changing the size of the elastic support member by is forming an opening in the connecting portion of the elastic support member and adjusting the size of the opening.
The force applied to the frame portion by the elastic support member is preferably in the range of 1 kgf to 8 kgf and the spring constant of the elastic support member is preferably in the range of 0.1 kgf/mm to 2.5 kgf/mm.
The stretched shadow mask is provided with a damper for attenuating the vibration and has a tension distribution such that the tension is largest in the middle portion of the shadow mask and decreases gradually toward the edge portions to ensure that the vibration may be attenuated in the entire shadow mask. In order to extend the attenuating effect of the damper to the entire shadow mask, it is preferable that the tension distribution satisfy the relationships T1xe2x89xa7T2xe2x89xa7T3 and T1xe2x89xa71.1xc3x97T3, where the tension of the shadow mask middle portion is T1, the tension of the shadow mask edge portions is T3, and the tension of the intermediate portions between the middle and the edge portions is T2.
Preferably, the damper has a structure that is freely movable with no portion thereof fixed to the shadow mask in order to improve the attenuating effect.
Specifically, the damper is preferably so constructed as to be inserted into an opening formed in the shadow mask and is preferably a wire-like member or a ring-like member.
As the material for the shadow mask, Fexe2x80x94Ni alloy is preferable since its creeping rate is small even when heated to higher temperatures.
The third aspect of the present invention is a cathode ray tube comprising, at least, a panel having a phosphor screen formed thereon, a mask having a plurality of electron beam-passing portions, and a frame on which the mask is held, the frame being securely attached to the panel by a plurality of elastic support members while the phosphor screen is opposed to the mask, wherein the plurality of elastic support members are such that at least two elastic support members having substantially different spring constants are combined.
In the composition described above, when the plurality of elastic support members are such that at least two elastic support members having substantially different spring constants are combined, single vibration mode, in which the vibration is easily suppressed, predominates, and therefore the vibration of the frame may be suppressed.
In this third aspect of the present invention described above, desirably, each of the elastic support members is located substantially in the middle of a frame portion to suppress the vibration of the mask.
To obtain better doming and low/high temperature characteristics, desirably, the elastic support member comprises a fixed portion to be fixed to the frame, a matching portion to be matched to a stud pin provided on the inside of the panel side wall, and a connecting portion for connecting the matching portion and the fixed portion. The connecting portion preferably has an approximately V-shaped configuration.
Of the elastic support members, opposing elastic support members desirably have the same spring constant in order to increase the intensity of single vibration further.
The fixed portion of the elastic support member preferably has an area of at least 5 cm2. This is because when the area of the fixed portion is made large, the force applied to the frame is dispersed, and this prevents the tension distribution pattern of the shadow mask from varying due to the frame deformation. To increase this effect described above, the ratio of the area of the fixed portion of the elastic support member to the area of the frame portion to which the elastic support member is fixed is preferably at least greater than {fraction (1/25)}.
The elastic support member desirably includes a vibration suppressing structure, because the vibration of the frame is transmitted to the shadow mask even when the vibration of the shadow mask is attenuated unless the vibration of the frame is attenuated.
The spring constant of the elastic support member may be altered relatively easily without changing the size of the elastic support member by forming an opening in the connecting portion of the elastic support member and adjusting the size of the opening.
The force applied to the frame portion by the elastic support member is preferably in the range of 1 kgf to 8 kgf and the spring constant of the elastic support member is preferably in the range of 0.1 kgf/mm to 2.5 kgf/mm.
Preferably, the mask is stretched across the frame in a state where a tensile force is applied thereto, and more preferably, the tension in the middle portion is larger than the tension at the edge portions in the tension distribution of the mask. The reason for this is that the stretched shadow mask is provided with a damper for attenuating the vibration and has the tension distribution in which the tension is largest in the middle portion of the shadow mask and decreases gradually toward the edge portions to ensure that the vibration may be attenuated in the entire shadow mask. In order to extend the attenuating effect of the damper to the entire shadow mask, it is more preferable that the tension distribution satisfy the relationships T1xe2x89xa7T2xe2x89xa7T3 and T1xe2x89xa71.1xc3x97T3, where the tension of the shadow mask middle portion is T1, the tension of the shadow mask edge portion is T3, and the tension of the intermediate portions between the middle and the edge portions is T2.
Preferably, the damper has a structure which is freely movable with no portion thereof fixed to the shadow mask in order to increase the attenuating effect.
Specifically, the damper is preferably so constructed as to be inserted into an opening formed in the shadow mask and is preferably a wire-like member or a ring-like member.
As the material for the shadow mask, Fexe2x80x94Ni alloy is preferable since its creeping rate is small even when heated to higher temperatures.
Furthermore, the first, second, and third aspects of the present invention described above may be applied not only to the foregoing cathode ray tube but also to a general image display apparatus such as a television set which includes an electron beam controlling circuit, a cabinet, and the like in addition to the cathode ray tube.

Cathode ray tube and image display apparatus using the same


A totemic system and method operating to sell preselected goods and services proximal to a totem and simultaneously to a remote consumer of beauty products in communication with an optimized remote beauty-consultant, to stimulate the consumer to travel to the totem's location for said goods or services. The method displays transactional information and facilitates beauty product sales, comprising at least one remote offer from a beauty consumer, at least one remote response from a beauty consultant regarding appropriate products available nearby as displayed to said consultant by a content database. The method facilitates brand and store loyalty, combining software and human interaction, preferably at retail location or by closing online sales.

Retail totem are often used in retail environments in high-traffic areas, eye-catching totem displays allow brands to differentiate themselves over the competition and drive increased sales of good proximately located to said retail totems.
Said totem are made of a variety of material from corrugated cardboard which are lightweight, and can be moved around easily to rigid metal frames combined with removable panels which cannot be moved. Some existing totem have computer. For example, some totems have computer which display digital signage to sell goods proximal to said totems.
Other totem have been integrated into kiosks can be used effectively is in restaurants, café s and fast-food chains. Not only can they be used to advertise special offers, but can also show up-to-date menus with clear allergen information.
They all share one short coming, namely they are designed and directed to selling goods which are proximal to them to consumer who are proximal to said totems. None have the capacity or are directed to communicating with consumer who are remote (not with range to see said totem or to hear said totem) in order to sell goods.
The present invention is directed to using a totem to sell goods to consumers who are remote to said totem. (not with range to see said totem or to hear said totem). More specifically, the present invention initiates sales of good which are proximal to a totem disclosed in the present invention. The present invention is directed to selling goods to remote consumer which are proximal to said totem (i.e. proximal means that the consumers are close enough to said totem that a consultant user of said totem, such as a beauty consultant service provider using said totem may receive an enhance image of said consumer user when they use goods proximal to said totem). This result is achieved by the present invention by combining of existing technology including three hardware elements, namely a totem, a smart phone and a pad-tablet. Each of these elements requires a minimum configuration. These devices are configured into a system directed to allow a novel beauty consulting system and interface. More specifically, the novelty of said system and interface system is directed to allowing a user both remotely and proximally beauty consultations with a remote consultant via single interface.
Existing totem systems are located in store and normally sell goods which are proximal to said totems. They do not address the issue of bringing consumers located remotely to said totem into proximity to the goods said totems are designed to sell. The present invention surmounts said short coming.
Globalization, the advent of social media and different cultural models have led to a fracturing and, very often, a reduction in social interactions and human relationships that often take place exclusively through e-mails, posts and digital interactions.
At the micro level, in the retail world, the social lack of human relations and the rapid development of the e-commerce tool (especially mobile) has led people (the consumer) to no longer enter the store, preferring to purchase online.
This developed consumer attitude has not only led to a notable decrease in the flow of customers within the stores, with a constant decrease in sales, but also an "inability" of the consumer to experience a purchase essentiality, highly sought after, losing therefore all those human incentive values that a personal and personalized advice can give.—employees stand near counter in department stores and wait for customer
This fundamental lack in human relationships and the impossibility of having "new" human relations through technology, is bringing real and concrete negative data into the global financial markets and not only more national ones.
Confirming this widespread fear of not interpreting the needs and requirements of the new consumer in the best possible way, the big players of the global financial and retail market have wondered how to respond to this gap in generational communication.
Arriving at an answer where; "If we fail to understand our consumer, there can be no technology in the world that can save us"
Instant messaging is an example of this and confirming this widespread fear of not "understanding" the new consumer, in the last two years from industry sources and above all from the decisions and investments/projects that the big retail players (not only physical but also online).
As result various elements of the market have needs. For example, beauty brands, such as Revlon, need to sell their products, increase brand awareness, overcome the competition, create profit and retain customers. Department stores, such as Bloomingdales, need to sell products within the store, retain customers, create traffic inside the store, differentiate the merchandise offer within the store, offer services, overcome the competition and create profit. Customers need to receive a quality service, consciously spend, buy according to individual needs and transform the moment of purchase into a personal, quality but relaxed moment.
The market is changing. The growth of the offer (in terms of services, products and stores) has led the market to focus on its competitors losing sight of the consumer. For this reason, the offer has become higher than the demand and more and more often the two do not coincide: the consumer has needs and requests that the store and/or brands cannot satisfy,
The growth of the online and the rise of figures like influencers, but also the rise of new brands (the so-called indie brands) often sold exclusively online have led the consumer to buy in other ways than the traditional ones. The development of technology and tools and tools that allow you to always be online and to be able to buy anywhere. The consequent automation of the purchasing process. The many and constant needs of consumers have led retail to increase sales points, employees and working hours, in many cases obtaining the broken bank. The worldwide expansion of the retail market which does not always know or understand how to adapt to the cultural differences of a country.
The consumer's habit of receiving a personalized, constant and quality service that is always present and easily accessible. The birth of personalized and ever-present assistance (see the boom of Alexa, Amazon's personal assistant)
Retail and the retail world must adapt to the growing needs of consumers, the "old" ones who are still attached to the physical sales point and to the concept of salespeople but who know that they can spend less using other channels, but above all "New" consumers, the Millennials or the new Generation 2020, which decide, buy and change habits very quickly. Thus, was born the RETAIL 4.0, which obliges the stores that have the following characteristics:                Multicultural Shopping Experience: Customers will tend to expect different types of shopping experiences with routes that ideally cross different channels depending on the time, desire or need        Proportion between tech and business: Technology will make it possible to significantly increase brand productivity, significantly impacting even the competition on prices        Retailing: Retailers will have to learn to look better at their new competitors. On the distribution market, in fact, new distribution models are emerging that come from other sectors such as, for example, Amazon or Peapod.        Big Data Management: Tracking, analyzing and monetizing consumer data will become fundamental to the business. This means learning to think about integration and convergence, making the most of any type of information flow that tells the customer journey through the thousand streams of the Network        Cross-media and cross-functional skills: Triangular Technology, Marketing and Merchandising. The Digital Innovation Officer is a complex figure, who in addition to having experience in sales techniques knows the psychology of consumers, profiled by target, has a good dose of creativity to invent systems and solutions for engagement and promotion, knows what to ask the system integrators to get the best out of technological innovation and speak with IT to share processes and results in a useful way for all company departments.
Smart logistics are now a must have element. Ensuring the distribution of the last mile: the most innovative, efficient and effective logistics services will be guaranteed by new partnerships that will enable a more punctual and on demand response. Unsolved problems, inefficiencies, disadvantages
As a result of said changes a new set of consumer needs has arisen. In particular, consumers simply don't want to buy but they are looking for an experience to share. They want to buy through different channels than the classic ones. Consumers are pushed to buy in places and goods suggested by digital
Consumers have a different approach than the previous generation with retail. They continue to use the classic purchase channels but use them in a totally different way. Consumers today act as if the purchase does not depend (or not only) on the product but above all on the service and engagement that the store can offer. The new consumer must be interested in what the store and brand offer. The new consumer buys both offline and online (the second more) but in both cases he must feel involved and live an experience. The new consumer will share his experience on his social media, so his followers will probably be interested in trying/repeating his experience. Therefore, the quality of the service/experience must be very high and satisfactory.
Thus, the store must create a real relationship with its consumer. Often this new consumer can be a celebrity and/or an influencer (not just a normal customer) so his sharing will be even more extensive and important for the store
To properly react to said changes in consumer behavior. Retail stores must change from a physical form (location) at least temporarily to a non-physical form such as online. Thus, retail entities need to remain relevant and indispensable (why enter a physical store if I find it online by avoiding traffic, people, bad weather etc.?)
Stores store must embrace the culture of change and study dedicated and innovative results. They need integration between services and customer engagement, as well as to have precise and specific profiling of customers to satisfy their requests. This is currently being done by having IT points in the store, linking physical store and e-commerce.
In this scenario, technology and its development continue incessantly, outlining new social and commercial landscapes that often, however, do not meet the needs of the physical store.
Vice versa, the brands and the retail chain are incapable of exploiting the development of the online to their advantage, transforming it into opportunities and support for their communication and commercial strategies.
The current scenario therefore identifies three protagonists: retail, the consumer and online.
In addition, not all potential employees can may stand, possibly because they are disabled. Not all potential employees have the time to work an eight-hour shift; and not all customers want to go to stores and talk with people whom they do not know.
There exists a need for a mobile user interface suitable for mobile computing devices uses device location to select a portion of information content that is displayed. Information content (e.g., documents, contact information, files or video) is presumed located in various locations with the mobile user interface displaying a portion of the content as if viewed in person. Data from motion, distance or position sensors are used to determine the location of the device with respect to the content to select the portion for display. Content elements can be selected by centering the display on the desired portion, obviating the need for cursors and pointing devices (e.g., mouse or touchscreen).
The present invention is a novel graphic interface which supports a streaming consulting service is an online service that, through APP and smartphone, allows any person to receive specific advice on the world of cosmetics with a specifically trained consultant.
The present invention results in electronic transactions designed to encourage, at the end of the consultation, the consultant, by geo-location, will indicate to the consumer the store closest to his position to go to for the purchase of the recommended products.
Said encouragement is based on the presence of particular agreements or periods of the year, the consultant may direct the consumer in certain stores, still close to his position, but on which there will be discounts, purchase vouchers, gifts or events/marketing activities.
The present invention results in work product. In particular, the present invention will send a notification to the consultants physically present in the store, with the name and photo of the client who is about to go to the store and the product they intend to buy
The present invention facilitates a beauty product consulting service through APP will be available 24/7 to the consumer and will provide advice on the beauty market generally intended (makeup, fragrances, skin care, hair, body).
Said consulting service, as well as through the APP, will also be available in stores on specific Video Totems set up for this purpose. Through these totems the consumer can:                1) continue a consultancy previously initiated via APP.        2) start a new consultancy, directly through the totem in the store, selecting the Make a Call option
In the case of a party engaged in an ex-novo consultancy (such as said Make a Call option) the user will not necessarily have to have previously signed up for the use of the present invention. The user/consumer can make a new consultation directly through the totem in store at the end of which he can decide whether to download the app and/or create his own personal profile to be used for future consultancy.
The present invention discloses the structure of a novel computer interface for beauty consulting and illustrates the functionalities and related service

Totem based beauty consulting system and interface


A plasma generating electrode device including a substrate 31 made of a dense ceramic, and an electrode 55 buried in said substrate 31, wherein said electrode 55 is isolated from a setting face of said substrate 31, and plasma is generated over said substrate. It is preferable that the minimum thickness of an electromagnetic wave permeation layer 37 is not less than 0.1 mm, the average thickness of the electromagnetic wave permeation layer is not less than 0.5 mm, the electrode 55 is a planar electrode made of a metal bulk, and the electrode is a monolithic sinter free from a joint face. This structure can be applied to an electric dust collector, an electromagnetic shield device or an electrostatic chuck. These can be preferably installed inside a semiconductor production unit using a halogen-based corrosive gas. The electrode can be embedded in the dense substrate made of the joint-free face-free monolithic sinter by hot press sintering a ceramic molding and the electrode made of the planar metal bulk under pressure applied in a thickness direction of the electrode.

For semiconductor device production units requiring super-clean conditions, corrosive gases such as chlorine based gas, fluorine based gas and the like are used as a depositing gas, an etching gas, and a cleaning gas. Therefore, if a conventional heater wherein the surface of a resistance heating element is covered with a metal, such as stainless steel or Inconel, is used as a heater to heat wafers which are exposed to the corrosive gas, unfavorable minute chloride, oxide, fluoride, and other particles with diameters of a few .mu.m are formed due to the exposure of that metal to the corrosive gas.
In view of this, with those etchers and CVD units running at low temperatures, as illustrated in FIG. 1, by way of example, an arrangement used to be adopted, wherein infrared lamps 5 are installed outside a chamber 1 via a quartz window 4, the chamber interior being exposed to deposition-gas, etc.; a susceptor 2 made of aluminum for example is installed within the chamber 1 through an arm 3; and the susceptor 2 is heated by the infrared lamps 5, whereby a wafer W placed on the susceptor 2 is indirectly heated. In this arrangement, the metal susceptor 2 is used as an electrode for plasma generation, plasma is generated within the chamber 1 with high-frequency electric energy fed directly to susceptor 2 so as to form a semi-conductor film on the wafer W and clean it. In this case, the aluminum susceptor 2 has an insulating film of alumina with a thickness of approximately 10 .mu.m formed over its surface through an anodized aluminum production process so that wafer W was placed on this insulating film might be prevented from against directly receiving high-frequency electric energy. High-frequency electric energy discharging takes place with this insulating film maintained charged at a certain level within the plasma, since no charges flow to either one electrode, unlike current discharging.
However, in the above-mentioned conventional case the susceptor 2 was made of a metal, and therefore wafers were unfavorably contaminated with heavy metal. Particularly, the aluminum susceptor 2 was confronted with a problem of Mg-contamination. To solve the problem of such contamination, it has been proposed that susceptor 2 be insulating and a plate-like electrode 6 be attached to the rear face of the susceptor for plasma generation, as illustrated in FIG. 2 by way of example. Regrettably however, a further problem occurred wherein the plate-like electrode 6 for high-frequency electric energy supply intercepted infrared rays from infrared lamps 5, and the heating capacity of the susceptor 2 further declined. In addition, with said susceptor, the point of plasma generation deviated from the set position of the wafer W, whereby preferable plasma generation was generated, resulting in decreasing wafer cleanability. The susceptor with a ring-like electrode fitted around the outer periphery thereof also caused a similar problem.
Although said insulating film remains charged at a certain level in the stage of plasma generation for such processes as physical vapor deposition (PVD process), chemical vapor deposition (CVD process) or in an etching unit, electrolytically dissociated ions and electrons collide against the charged insulating film to damage said insulating film. Particularly, the anodized aluminum insulating film lacking denseness and having a thickness of approximately 10 .mu.m at most gave a short service life. Especially with the CVD process unit, an etching unit and the like using halogen-based corrosive gas, the anodized aluminum insulating film having such short service life requires frequent replacement. It was discovered that particularly the metals such as aluminum, etc. had undergone heavy corrosion by the plasma of the halogen-based corrosive gas, whereby the susceptors of these metals went through serious deformation to such an extent that the susceptors failed to provide normal service.
The inventors discovered the following problem referred to hereunder in the course of investigations. Namely, in such a process using plasma as referred to above, the molecules of the gas are first dissociated to release highly reactive positive ions and electrons and thereby generate a plasma zone. Since the electrons which electrolytically dissociated at that time each have a smaller mass, they move more rapidly as compared with ions, resulting in producing a region with a smaller electron density near a high-frequency electrode. This region with the smaller electron density is called a plasma sheath. Utilizing the potential of the plasma sheath, the ions within the plasma are accelerated, and the accelerated ions are brought into collision against the wafer surface. Ions of different species are selectively applied respectively for etching, CVD and PVD.
But, in the case with the susceptor of anodized aluminum applied as referred to above, the plasma sheath did not grow stably, sometimes failing to assure stabilized plasma discharge. As a consequence, there sometimes occurred failure of effecting stabilized etching, CVD and PVD over the entire surface areas of the susceptor.
In the semiconductor device production units, an electrostatic chuck is now used for the purpose of the transfer, the exposure to light, film formation, microprocessing, cleaning, dicing, and so on for the wafers. The following are known as an electrostatic chuck:
(1) An electrostatic chuck which is obtained through screen-printing a filmy electrode on a disk-like ceramic green sheet, placing another disk-like ceramic green sheet on the resultant to cover the screen-printed filmy electrode, followed by press-molding, and sintering the resulting ceramic green sheet assembly. Pressing the ceramic green sheet molding inevitably causes non-uniform pressurization, whereby the thickness of a dielectric layer of the electrostatic chuck becomes non-uniform, thus resulting in not only rendering difficult the manufacture of such chucks, but also reducing the yield of production thereof.
(2) To solve this problem, the present inventors developed electrostatic chuck 7, schematically illustrated in FIG. 3. That is, a disk-like dielectric plate 8 of dense and insulating ceramic and a disk-like support 10 of insulating ceramic are prepared. The disk-like support 10 has a through hole 11. Further, a circular sheet of a conductive bonding agent and a columnar terminal 12 are prepared. The circular sheet is held between the disk-like support 10 and the back side of the dielectric plate 8. The columnar terminal 12 is put into through hole 11. In this state, the resulting assembly is thermally treated and thereafter, the dielectric plate 8 and the disk-like support 10 are bonded together, using the conductive bonding agent layer 9. Then, the dielectric plate 8 is polished to flatten a wafer-attracting surface 13.
It is however noted that in the process of (1), the thickness of the dielectric layer is likely to become irregular due to certain restrictions in the production. In this regard, a complementary description is made hereunder. In the method in which the respective green sheets are laminated one upon another after providing the print electrode on one of the green sheets, press-molded and fired, there inevitably is non-uniform thickness of the dielectric layer and poor adhesion of the assembly components at the respective stages of the press-molding and the firing. Namely, these problems coincide with the displacement of the print electrode inside the sintered assembly. In view of this, it is difficult to make uniform the thickness of the dielectric layer no matter how fine the surface of the dielectric layer is planed after the monolithical sintering. In the sintering process under normal pressure, as the assembly size goes up, it is difficult to secure the denseness of the dielectric layer at 100%, and from the standpoint of preventing dielectric breakdown, this sintering process deteriorates its reliability. Moreover, since the electrode is formed by the screen printing process, the electric resistance thereof is relatively large. Accordingly, it is difficult to increase the rise speed for actuating the electrostatic chuck.
Meanwhile, in the process of (2), the disk-like support 10 and the dielectric plate 8 are molded, sintered, and mechanically surface-polished. Particularly with the dielectric plate, it is necessary to plane it to make uniform the thickness. Further, it is required to bond together the disk-like support and the dielectric plate through heating with the circular sheet of silver solder or the like sandwiched therebetween. Therefore, it is necessary to implement the grinding of the disk-like support 10 and the dielectric plate 8, the thickness adjustment thereof, and very troublesome silver-soldering to join together said support 10 and said dielectric plate 8, thus resulting in increasing the number of processing steps, and thereby interfering with efficient mass production. Joining together the disk-like support 10 and the dielectric plate 8 using a conductive bonding agent such as silver solder or the like leaves behind a joint face along the conductive bonding agent layer 9. However, this joint face gives rise to a factor for the dielectric breakdown under high vacuum condition. Further, with regard to these electrostatic chucks, high-frequency wave generating electrodes, etc., it has been clarified that the following problem occurred. Namely, with semiconductor device production units, such a method is generally put into practice, which comprises the steps of supplying a gas into the unit and applying high-frequency electric power to the gas for the plasma generation. Therefore, said high-frequency wave generating electrodes, and ECR units are finding wide use with the semiconductor device production units for dry etching, chemical vapor-phase growth process, and the like.
Where the ECR unit is employed, the electric power in the form of the high-frequency waves in the microwave band is applied to the gas, whereby ECR locally generates plasma within the high-frequency electric field and also within the static magnetic field with a spatially irregular intensity distribution. Subsequently, a force is applied to the plasma in a certain direction to accelerate the plasma. In the ECR unit, a 2.45 GHz is generally employed as the microwaves. The microwaves are radiated, through an electromagnetic wave permeation window, into the ERC unit, so that plasma is generated in the gas molecules.
As this electromagnetic wave permeation window is exposed to the microwaves having high energy, it is essential for this window to at least release heat due to its heat loss. It is also necessary for the window to have excellent thermal shock resistance so that the window may be difficult to be cracked if it is heated. To meet these requirements, the electromagnetic wave permeation window used to be fabricated of silica glass in the past.
However, the electromagnetic wave permeation windows of silica glass have to date incurred damage by ECR plasma, loss in electromagnetic wave permeability, and breakage. These problems stemmed from the damage of said windows by the plasma.
The inventors attempted to fabricate the electromagnetic wave permeation window of alumina or sapphire, and found that these materials suffered greater dielectric loss compared with quartz, and that the transmission of a microwaves through the alumina or sapphire window entailed a local rise in temperature exceeding 200.degree. C. Generally, it is observed that exposing the electromagnetic wave permeation window to microwaves gives rise to the generation of heat therein due to the inner friction of molecules or polar groups within the dielectric material. Quantity Q of the heat generated is expressed by Q=kfE.sup.2.epsilon. tan .delta.. In this expression, k is a constant, f a frequency, E an electric field, and .epsilon. a dielectric constant. It was further clarified that as the alumina or sapphire electromagnetic wave permeation window locally underwent intensive heating, such windows of a large diameter over 100 mm failed to resist the thermal impact, and were broken.

Plasma-generating electrode device, an electrode-embedded article, and a method of manufacturing thereof


Disclosed is a three dimensional arrangement for the Periodic Table of the Elements that is based on an elliptical rather than rectangular arrangement represented in conventional charts. The three dimensional arrangement contains a continuous unidirectional periodic spiral of objects, the spiral having a substantially elliptical shape, and each object representing a different chemical element; the objects positioned so that chemical elements in a period are in a single spiral loop, and each successive period has a larger circumference than a preceding period; and the objects positioned so that chemical elements in a chemical group are in substantially the same vertical plane.

The Periodic Table of the Elements is undoubtedly the most elegant organizational chart ever devised. This chart is organized to show the relationships among chemical elements with similar characteristics. This chart facilitates an understanding and prediction of the properties of the elements and how they react with each other to form hundreds of thousands of compounds. A sample conventional Periodic Table of the Elements is shown in FIG. 1. Another sample conventional uninterrupted rectangular Periodic Table of the Elements is shown in FIG. 2.
At present, the Periodic Table is represented in most books and charts in a rectangular form. Periods are the rows that run from left to right. Both the atomic numbers (number of protons) and electrons increase in number from left to right in each Period. The vertical columns represent families of elements that exhibit similar characteristics. These families are called Groups. Elements in the same Group, in general, exhibit similar combining powers (valence), but do not exhibit the same degree of reactivity to other elements.
In 1996, the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) introduced a new notation system of arabic numerals, 1 to 18 for Groups in the s-, p-, and d-Blocks. By this convention, the 14 f-Block elements are not assigned to any Groups. When a principal energy level (shell) receives its full complement of electrons, e.g., inert gases in Group 18 (8A), a new row begins, which is the start of a new Period. For instance, lithium is located at the start of Period 2 and has 1 electron in its outer shell as in Group 1 (1A), and neon, located at the end of Period 2 in Group 18 (8A), has 8 electrons in its completed shell.
The Periodic Table is divided into the following Blocks based on the electron configurations of the elements. These Blocks form large families and the number of elements in each Block is computed by calculating the product of the rows (Periods) and columns (Groups) that make up the Block. Period 1 has only two elements and represents a unique situation. Both hydrogen (1H) and helium (2He) have s-electrons, but helium has a complete outer shell and should be grouped with the other inert gases in Group 18. Therefore, helium can occupy any of the two positions in the Periodic Table. For purposes of calculating the number of elements in the various Blocks, helium will be placed in Group 2 as part of the s-Block. The total number of elements in the Periodic Table can be derived from the following calculation:
Periods (rows) × Groups (columns) = Number of elements in a Blocks-Block(7 rows × 2 columns) =14 elementsp-Block(6 rows × 6 columns) =36 elementsd-Block(4 rows × 10 columns) =40 elementsf-Block(2 rows × 14 columns) =28 elementsAnd the total possible elements for 7 complete Periods is 118 elements.
The transition elements are found in three series in the center of the Periodic Table starting with Group 3. The first series is in Period 4, from scandium (21) to zinc (30). The second series is in Period 5, from yttrium (39) to cadmium (48). The third series found in Period 6 is a bit different. It starts at Group 4 at the element lanthanum (57) and continues to include mercury (80). But the building-up of the series is interrupted immediately after lanthanum by a transition series within a transition series, that is, an inner transition series. The inner series consists of the 14 f-block, rare-earth metals or lanthanides, beginning with cerium (58) and ending with lutetium (71). The transition series therefore begins with lanthanum (57) and ends with mercury (80) to comprise the d-block elements. Similarly, the fourth series occupies the same relative position in Period 7. This transition series begins with actinium (89) and ends with ununbiium (112), but is interrupted immediately after actinium by the 14 inner-transition elements thorium (90) to lawrencium (103) spliced in between. Currently, the inner-transition blocks appear separately in most conventional books and charts. While the conventional Periodic Table of the Elements is elegant, it is possible that a different presentation can facilitate a better understanding of the elements.

Periodic table of the elements in three dimensional form


A time series signal multichannel frequency analyzer comprises a Fourier transform lens, a liquid crystal panel disposed at the front focal plane of the Fourier transform lens, means for inputting a time signal from a different signal source to each scanning line of the liquid crystal panel, observation means disposed at the rear focal plane of the Fourier transform lens, and a cylindrical lens disposed between the Fourier transform lens and an observation plane of the observation means.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a time series signal multichannel frequency analyzer using a liquid crystal panel.
2. Prior Art Statement
In the laser-Doppler velocity measurement method (LDV), the velocity of a moving body is determined from the change occurring in the frequency of a laser beam reflected off the body owing to the Doppler effect. LDV thus requires analysis of the frequency distribution of the reflected laser beam. LDV is also used for determining the center of rotation of rotating bodies. In this case, to determine the center with high-precision, it is necessary to measure the velocity of a number of points on the rotating body simultaneously and then to analyze the frequencies of the velocity signals obtained. The conventional method of conducting this analysis by computation using electric circuitry requires much time for the computations, so that it is impossible to achieve high-speed analysis.
One way of speeding up the frequency analysis is to subject the time series signals obtained by LDV to optical Fourier-transformation after writing them directly to an optical element. An optical time series signal Fourier transformation method using an acoustooptical device has been devised for this.
Since multichannel frequency analysis is difficult to achieve by this optical Fourier transformation method, however, the method cannot be practically applied in cases where there are a large number of signal sources, for example, where several tens of channel signals have to be simultaneously processed,

Time series signal multichannel frequency analyzer using liquid crystal panel

Agency of Industrial Science & Technology

Ministry of International Trade & Industry


The invention relates to a new anti-tumoral therapy agent based on liposome-encapsulated cytostatic agents and/or the metabolites thereof. The invention can be used in the pharmaceutical industry and in medicine. The aim of the invention is to build up drug targeting to combat cancer through suitable carrier systems. The invention is characterized by the fact that it clearly increases the concentration of cytostatic agents and residence time in tumors. At the same time, toxic side-effects on the remaining organs are reduced. The inventive agent contains PEG, immuno or immuno/PEG liposome-encapsulated cytostatic agents and/or the metabolites thereof, degradable starch particles and/or gelatin and/or nanoparticles, contrast agents containing iodine, gadolinium or magnetite. A preferred agent is characterized by the cytostatic agent Carboplatinum, encapsulated in SUV-PEG, starch particle Spherex or Gelfoam and the contrast agent Gadolinium-DTPA.

The invention relates to a new anti-tumoral therapy agent based on liposome-encapsulated cytostatic agents and/or the metabolites thereof. Fields of application of the invention are pharmaceutical industry and medicine.
A few agents for anti-tumoral therapy are known. In DE 43 41 478 an agent was described which, in particular, may be used for the therapy of non-resectable primary and secondary liver tumours. This agent contains lyophylized starch particles which are combined with one or a few cytostatic agents and dissolved in contrast agents containing iodine, gadolinium and magnetite. A preferred cytostatic agent for this agent is Carboplatin.

Anti-tumoral therapy agent containing a contrast agent

Max-Delbruck-Centrum fur Molekulare Medizin


A predictive power factor control system for an electronic system which includes a power supply providing power at a power supply output to a load having at least one component operable in a plurality of operating states. A load controller selectively determines the operating state of the load. A power factor control (PFC) circuit is coupled to the power supply and cooperates with the power supply to maintain the power factor of the power supply output within desired ranges. The load controller may provide the PFC circuit with a pending load change notification prior to a pending change in the operating state of the controlled load or prior to the activation of additional loads on the power supply output, enabling the PFC circuit to predictively adjust operation to avoid or minimize power factor fluctuations arising from changes in operating state of the load or activation of an additional loads.

Many electronic systems having operational electronic components receiving power from a power supply are known, including many computing systems such as computers and the like having electronic circuitry in the form of microprocessors, memory systems, and related circuitry. In some cases, the electronic components may be sensitive to fluctuations in the operation power supplied to them from a power supply. Consequently, power supplies may incorporate regulation circuitry to maintain a consistent power supply output under variable conditions.
One approach to power supply regulation involves power factor control (PFC) circuitry to compensate for variations between real power and apparent power delivered by a power supply depending upon the presence of reactive loads (inductive or capacitive) coupled to the power supply output. PFC circuitry can adjust the power supply output to maintain the power factor and other conditions of a power supply output within desired ranges and thus limit the effects of highly reactive loads placed on a power supply.

Predictive power factor control for electronic systems

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP


A plastic container includes a neck with an opening to an interior of the container, where the neck opening having a first diameter and a second diameter of different lengths. A shoulder portion surrounds the neck of the plastic container. A transfer bead is located on the neck above the shoulder portion where the first diameter of the neck opening is above the transfer bead and the second diameter is below the transfer bead. The transfer bead is advantageously shaped and sized so as to facilitate application and removal of a sterilization solution during the aseptic packaging process.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an aseptic transfer bead for plastic containers, and more particularly to a transfer bead that provides the functionality of a standard transfer bead, as well as meeting the aseptic requirements that are applicable to the packaging of certain types of foods and beverages.
2. Description of the Related Technology
Transfer beads that are generally embodied as an annular projection extending from the neck or finish portion of a container are widely used in the packaging industry in order to provide a purchase location for certain types of conveying and handling equipment.
Certain types of beverages such as milk require sterile packaging. This can be accomplished by using the well-known hot fill process or through the use of aseptic packaging technology. The latter tends to be quite popular in Europe and is gaining popularity in other parts of the world as well. The aseptic packaging process is characterized by a sterilization procedure in which the container is sprayed or immersed in a sterilization fluid and then rinsed in a sterile environment before the product is injected into the container. In order to avoid contamination of the beverage that is being packaged, it is particularly important that the container be adequately rinsed after it has been exposed to the sterilization fluid.
Plastic containers for packaging beverages such as milk are typically formed using the extrusion blow molding process, in which the container is formed from a continuously extruded tube known as a parison that is periodically captured and inflated within a moving mold assembly, typically a mold wheel.
In order to form a transfer bead on the neck of a container that is being fabricated using such a process, it is necessary for the inner portion of the wall of the neck of the container to be bent outwardly in congruence with the shape of the intended annular projection of the transfer bead on the outer surface of the neck of the container. This creates a relatively thin, narrow annular passage that is in communication with the interior of the container neck. Unfortunately, the relative inaccessibility of this passage sometimes prevents the sterilization fluid from fully penetrating into the entire depth of the passage. Even when the sterilization fluid does manage to fully penetrate the passage, the sterilization fluid that is used in the aseptic packaging process tends to become trapped in this relatively inaccessible passage and is difficult to rinse out adequately enough to ensure that unwanted sterilization fluid does not end up in the packaged product.
It is clear that a need exists for an improved blow molded container that has a transfer bead for use of handling and that is also more suitable for use with the aseptic packaging process than were the conventional containers described above.

Aseptic transfer bead for plastic containers


A tandem bicycle drive train system includes a continuously variable transmission installed around each crank spindle driving an input crank spindle journalled in a continuously variable transmission unit whose output is connected to a drive sprocket which is journalled between the input crank spindle and the transmission unit. A manual ratio control assembly is suitably mounted to the frame member and positioned around the input crank spindle and suitably coupled with the transmission unit in a manner that provides a smooth, continuously variable change in the input to output rotational speed ratio. Each rider's ratio control is preferably coupled to a manual twist-grip on each rider's handle bar and can be adjusted independent of the other rider's control. The front unit output drives a single sprocket which drives one of two sprockets mounted on the rear unit. A second sprocket on the rear unit drives the rear wheel. Thus, the drive line is at all times a single drive line with two or more variable speed torque inputs from the transmissions around each input crank spindle. Each unit is suitably mounted within an oversize input pedal spindle housing in such manner as to permit sealing from outside contamination.

Much research and testing has been accomplished to help alleviate the rider problems associated with more than one rider riding the same two-wheeled vehicle, commonly known as a tandem bicycle. There are in use two person, three person, and four person tandem bicycles. As conventionally built, the pedal sets for each rider drive a common drive line, commonly a chain, at the same speed. Thus, although there may be provision for gear ratio change at the rear wheel, the multiple pedal sets of the multiple riders are mechanically linked together at all times and must rotate at the same relative spinning rpm rate in lock-step.
The problems with current drive line systems for tandem bicycles have been the same since the origins of tandem bicycles. The requirements for each rider to match his optimum pedal spinning rpm rate, the amounts of torque each rider puts into the drive line, the inability of one rider to ride differently than the other(s) and how each rider rests certain muscle groups during the ride have always been a compromise at best.

Multiple rider bicycle drive line system including multiple continuously variable transmissions


An electric vehicle (EV) is charged according to a selected charging rate. An available dispatch time is determined based on a current charge level of a battery of the EV, a first charging rate, and a target charge level. An anticipated dispatch time is determined based on predicted demand for a fleet of EVs that includes the EV. If the available dispatch time is later than the anticipated dispatch time, the first charging rate is selected; if the available dispatch time is earlier than the anticipated dispatch time, a second charging rate that is lower than the first charging rate is selected. The second charging rate may be a rate that charges the battery of the EV to at least the target charge level in time for the anticipated dispatch time.

Electric vehicles (EVs) are powered by batteries that need to be periodically charged. Modern direct current (DC) fast-charging electric vehicle chargers can quickly charge EV batteries. For example, a DC fast-charging EV charger may increase the range of an EV by 100 miles in 30 minutes. However, routinely charging a battery at such a high rate can reduce the longevity and capacity of the battery. In addition, for fleet operations, it can be useful to keep some subsystems, such as communications systems, of the EV running while the EV is not in service. If the battery reaches full charge before the EV is put into service again, the subsystems that remain on before service deplete the battery. Then, when the EV is put into service, the battery is no longer fully charged. To avoid this, the EV can continue charging until it is put into service, so that EV has a fully charged battery when it goes into service. However, this continuous charging also degrades the battery.

Dispatch-based charging for electric vehicle fleet