A seeding machine includes at least one seed metering system and at least one seed placement system. Each seed metering system includes a seed disc having a plurality of spaced apart seed cells and a circumferential edge. An edge drive engages the circumferential edge for rotatably driving the seed disc. Each seed placement system is in communication with a corresponding seed metering system.

The present invention relates to agricultural seeding machines, and, more particularly, to seed metering systems used to meter (e.g., singulate) seeds.
An agricultural seeding machine such as a row crop planter or grain drill places seeds at a desired depth within a plurality of parallel seed trenches formed in soil. In the case of a row crop planter, a plurality row crop units are typically ground driven using wheels, shafts, sprockets, transfer cases, chains and the like. Each row crop unit has a frame which is moveably coupled with a tool bar. The frame may carry a main seed hopper, herbicide hopper and insecticide hopper. If a granular herbicide and insecticide are used, the metering mechanisms associated with dispensing the granular product into the seed trench are relatively simple. On the other hand, the mechanisms necessary to properly meter the seeds, dispense the seeds at a predetermined rate and place the seeds at predetermined relative locations within the seed trench are relatively complicated.
The mechanisms associated with metering and placing the seeds generally can be divided into a seed metering system and a seed placement system which are in communication with each other. The seed metering system receives the seeds in a bulk manner from the seed hopper carried by the frame. Different types of seed metering systems may be used such as seed plates, finger plates, and seed discs. In the case of a seed disc metering system, a seed disc is formed with a plurality of seed cells spaced about the periphery thereof. Seeds are moved into the seed cells, with one or more seeds in each seed cell depending upon the size and configuration of the seed cell. A vacuum or positive pressure air may be used in conjunction with the seed disc to assist in movement of the seeds into the seed cells. The seeds are metered (e.g., singulated) and discharged at a predetermined rate to the seed placement system.
The seed placement system may be categorized as a gravity drop system or a power drop system. In the case of a gravity drop system, a seed tube has an inlet end which is positioned below the seed metering system. The metered seeds from the seed metering system merely drop into the seed tube and fall via gravitational force from a discharge end thereof into the seed trench.
A seed placement system of the power drop variety generally can be classified as a seed conveyor belt drop, rotary valve drop, chain drop or air drop. These types of seed placement systems provide more consistent placement of the seeds along a predetermined path at a desired spacing. For more details of these types of seed placement systems, as well as agricultural planting in general, reference is hereby made to the technical document entitled xe2x80x9cPLANTING FUNDAMENTALS OF MACHINE OPERATIONxe2x80x9d; Breece, Edward H., PhD, et al.; Deere and Co.; 1981, which is incorporated herein by reference.
With a seed metering system including a seed disc as described above, the seed disc typically includes a concentric drive shaft having a sprocket on the outboard end which is driven via a ground drive or the like. The concentrically positioned driven shaft and sprockets may limit the compactness (i.e., reduction in overall size) of the seed metering system.
What is needed in the art is an agricultural seeding machine including a seed metering system which provides positive driving of a seed disc in a more compact manner.
The present invention provides a seeding machine having a seed metering system with a seed disc which is driven in an edge driven manner.
The invention comprises, in one form thereof, a seeding machine including at least one seed metering system and at least one seed placement system. Each seed metering system includes a seed disc having a plurality of spaced apart seed cells and a circumferential edge. An edge drive engages the circumferential edge for rotatably driving the seed disc. Each seed placement system is in communication with a corresponding seed metering system.
The invention comprises, in another form thereof, a method of metering seeds with a seeding machine. A seed metering system includes a seed disc having a plurality of spaced apart seed cells and a circumferential edge, and an edge drive engaging the circumferential edge. The seed disc is rotatably driven using the edge drive. The seeds are received within the seed cells.
An advantage of the present invention is that the seed disc is driven in a manner allowing the seed disc to be placed between the discs of the double disk furrow opener in a more compact manner.
Another advantage is that the circumferential edge of the seed disc can be driven in different ways, including a gear drive, a friction drive, and a ratchet drive.
Yet another advantage is that the relative position of the edge drive to the seed disc (e.g., top or rearward positioned) can be varied depending on the application.

Seed metering system for use in a seeding machine


An image forming apparatus includes: a transfer belt that is stretched on a plurality of support rollers including a backup roller in a loop-like manner and has an outer surface for carrying thereon a toner image; a transfer roller that is brought into pressurized contact with the backup roller across the transfer belt and forms a transfer nip with the transfer belt; a restriction member that is placed upstream of a transfer nip in a sheet conveying direction so as to be switchable between a first state in which the restriction member is brought closer to an inner surface of the transfer belt and a second state in which a distance of the restriction member from the inner surface of the transfer belt is larger than that in the first state; and a control section that switches a state of the restriction member.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electrophotographic image forming apparatus, and more particularly, to an image forming apparatus with an intermediate transfer system that transfers a toner image carried on an intermediate transfer belt to a sheet.
2. Description of Related Art
In general, an electrophotographic image forming apparatus (such as a printer, a copy machine, and a fax machine) is configured to irradiate (expose) a charged photoconductor with (to) laser light based on image data to form an electrostatic latent image. The electrostatic latent image is then visualized by supplying toner from a developing device to the photoconductor (image carrier) on which the electrostatic latent image is formed, whereby a toner image is formed. Further, the toner image is directly or indirectly transferred to a sheet, followed by heating and pressurization for fixing, whereby an image is formed on the sheet.
In recent years, image forming apparatuses are required to form high-quality images on a wide variety of sheets. In response to such a need, an intermediate transfer system using an intermediate transferrer such as an intermediate transfer belt has become mainstream. In the intermediate transfer system, respective toner images of yellow (Y), magenta (M), cyan (C), and black (K) formed on photoconductor drums are transferred (primarily transferred) to the intermediate transferrer, and the toner images of the four colors are superimposed on each other on the intermediate transferrer. Then, the resultant image is transferred (secondarily transferred) to a sheet.
FIG. 1 illustrates a configuration in the vicinity of a secondary transfer section that transfers a toner image carried on an intermediate transfer belt to a sheet.
As illustrated in FIG. 1, intermediate transfer belt 421 is stretched on a plurality of support rollers 423 including backup roller 423A. Secondary transfer roller 431A is brought into pressurized contact with backup roller 423A, whereby transfer nip N is formed. Sheet S is caused to pass through transfer nip N, whereby a toner image carried on intermediate transfer belt 421 is transferred to sheet S.
In general, intermediate transfer belt 421 enters transfer nip N so as to be inclined to the line connecting between the shaft centers of backup roller 423A and secondary transfer roller 431A. Upstream of transfer nip N in the sheet conveying direction, sheet S is pressed against intermediate transfer belt 421, to be thereby conveyed while being curved along secondary transfer roller 431A. Sheet S is thus nipped (so-called pre-nipped) also upstream of transfer nip N in the sheet conveying direction, and hence the transfer performance is improved.
When such an image forming apparatus as described above forms an image on sheet S having a high stiffness, such as cardboard, electric discharge occurs in the vicinity of the entrance of transfer nip N, and erroneous transfer of transfer dust and the like may occur. Specifically, when the rear end of sheet S enters transfer nip N, the rear end of sheet S pushes up intermediate transfer belt 421 (so-called rear-end flick occurs), whereby a gap is formed between sheet S and intermediate transfer belt 421. The gap thus formed causes electric discharge (see FIG. 2).
For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2010-139603 discloses the following technique for preventing electric discharge in the vicinity of the entrance of a transfer nip. That is, at the timing at which the rear end of a sheet comes out of a guide member, an intermediate transfer belt is displaced upstream of transfer nip N in the sheet conveying direction, whereby the impact when the sheet collides against the intermediate transfer belt is reduced.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2010-2838 discloses that a sheet is conveyed substantially perpendicularly to the line connecting between the shaft center of a secondary transfer roller and the shaft center of a counter roller, and an electrode member is placed inside of an intermediate transfer belt, whereby an electric field that is formed in a gap in the same direction as that of a transfer electric field is weakened.
Unfortunately, according to the image forming apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2010-139603, although the impact when the sheet collides against the intermediate transfer belt is reduced, the intermediate transfer belt bends inwardly when the rear end of the sheet enters the transfer nip, so that a non-negligible gap is formed. Hence, the occurrence of electric discharge cannot be reliably prevented. Further, if the intermediate transfer belt is displaced, the nip width between the intermediate transfer belt and a secondary transfer roller unfavorably changes between before and after the displacement. Hence, color deviation, tone deviation, and the like may occur in a formed image.
The image forming apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2010-2838 has a configuration in which the sheet is conveyed substantially perpendicularly to the line connecting between the shaft center of the secondary transfer roller and the shaft center of the counter roller, that is, a configuration in which a rear-end flick of sheet on the intermediate transfer belt does not occur. Hence, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2010-2838 does not refer to a gap formed by the rear-end flick.


In a sensor system for use in the read/write head of an optical information storage and retrieval system, a dual prism separates the resulting radiation beam into two radiation components, the radiation components having a division perpendicular to a projection of a data track or groove on the storage medium projected on the dual prism. Each of the two radiation components is focused by a focus sensor lens on one of two four-quadrant sensors, the four-quadrant sensors forming the system sensor array. The application of the two radiation components generates a tracking signal, a focusing error signal, and a data signal. The orientation of the dual prism results in reduced cross-talk between the tracking signal, which is derived from positive and negative diffraction components, and the focusing signal, which is derived from radiation components having contributions from both the positive and negative diffraction components. The optical components are selected to provide an astigmatism in the radiation components to minimize abrupt changes in the sensor response. For example, a cylindrical lens can be added in the optical path near the focus sensor lens to defocus the return radiation components in a direction perpendicular to a projection of the data track on the sensor array.

1. Field of Invention
This invention relates generally to the read/write heads used in optical information storage and retrieval systems and, more particularly, to the apparatus, associated with the read/write head, used for providing the tracking signals and the focusing signals which control the interaction of the radiation beam with the storage medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
Referring to FIG. 1, one configuration for an optical information storage and retrieval system according to the related art is shown. A radiation source 11, typically a laser diode, provides a radiation beam which is collimated by collimating lens 12. The collimated radiation beam is transmitted through a polarization beam splitter 13 and applied to a quarter wave plate 14. The polarization beam splitter 13 provides linear polarization for the radiation beam and the quarter wave plate 14 provides a circular polarization to the radiation beam. The circularly polarized radiation beam transmitted by the quarter wave plate 14 is focused by objective lens 15 on the information storage surface 10A of the storage medium 10. The storage medium 10 is typically a disk with a surface which interacts with the circularly polarized radiation beam. The interaction with the storage medium surface 10A causes the radiation beam to be reflected and diffracted therefrom. The resulting radiation beam is collimated by objective lens 15 and the collimated resulting radiation beam is transmitted through the quarter wave plate 14. The quarter wave plate restores the linear polarization of the radiation beam. However, a component of the restored polarized radiation beam perpendicular to the polarization of the originally polarized beam will typically be present as a result of the second passage through the quarter wave plate 14. When the restored, polarized radiation beam is applied to the polarization beam splitter 13, the perpendicular component will be reflected by the beam splitter 13, while a small percentage (typically 1%-2%) of the perpendicular component is transmitted through the polarization beam splitter 13. The reflected radiation beam is applied to a sensor focusing lens 16 which focuses the resulting radiation beam on sensor array 5. The resulting radiation beam has imposed thereon modulation that can be processed to provide the information (or data) which is stored on the storage medium. In addition, the resulting radiation beam can be processed in such a manner as to provide tracking and focusing signals which can be used to activate apparatus which controls the position of the focused radiation beam on the storage surface 10A (i.e., the tracking in one dimension) and which controls the distance of the objective lens 15 from the storage surface 10A, (i.e., the focusing of the radiation beam on the storage surface). In this type of optical information storage and retrieval system, the quarter wave plate imparts, to the radiation beam illuminating the storage surface 10A, a circular polarization. After reflection from the storage surface, the quarter wave plate restores the linear polarization. However, the linearly polarized radiation beam will have a component which is rotated by an angle of 90.degree. from the plane of polarization originally established by the polarization beam splitter 13. The rotated component of the radiation resulting from interaction with the storage surface 10A is reflected by the beam splitter 13 and applied to sensor array 5.
Referring to FIG. 2, an example of the use of the processing of the radiation beam to provide tracking and focusing signals, according to the related art, is shown. This example is taken from European Patent Application 0,177,108 A1, issued in the name of A. Smid, P. F. Grave, and H 't Lam, entitled "OptoElectronic Focussing-Error Detection System, and filed on Feb. 10, 1985. In FIG. 2, the path of the resulting radiation beam, the resulting radiation beam being the radiation beam which has interacted with data track 21, is shown. (The quarter wave plate 14 and the beam splitter 13 have been omitted to emphasize certain important aspects of the configuration.) The data track 21 is the path on the storage surface (10A) along which the radiation beam will move in accessing or storing the information encoded on the storage medium 10. A dual prism 25 is shown interposed between the objective lens 15 and the sensor focusing lens 16. The dual prism divides the resulting radiation beam into two components. The two radiation components include the radiation reflected and radiation diffracted from the storage medium. The first component is focused on dual sensor elements A and B of the sensor array 5, while the second radiation beam component is focused on dual sensor elements C and D. As will be known to those skilled in the art of processing resulting radiation beams, the data signal DS, the focusing signal FS, and the tracking signal TS are given respectively by: EQU DS=A+B+C+D 1.) EQU FS=(A+D)-(B+C) 2.) EQU TS=(A+C)-(B+D) 3.)
where A, B, C, and D of the Equations 1-3 represent the voltages developed by the equivalently designated sensor element in response to radiation applied thereto. The data signal DS is the sum of voltages developed by all of the sensor elements. The focusing signal FS is the difference between the sum of the voltages resulting from the radiation applied to a first pair of diagonal sensor elements, i.e., A and D, and the sum of the voltages resulting from the complementary diagonal pair of sensors, i.e., B and C. When the absolute value of the focusing signal FS is minimized, the radius of the radiation beam on the storage surface 10A will be minimized, i.e., the radiation beam will be focused on the storage surface 10A. The tracking signal TS is minimized when the radiation reflected and diffracted from above the center of the data track and the radiation reflected and diffracted from the below the center of the data track are equal. In order to understand the origin of the tracking signal, the role of the diffraction of the radiation beam must be understood.
Referring to FIG. 3A, the objective lens 15 is shown focusing the circularly polarized radiation beam on the storage surface 10A of storage medium 10. The storage surface 10A is shown as having a multiplicity of grooves, or equivalently, a multiplicity of data tracks 10B fabricated therein. The grooves 10B have dimensions relative to the wavelength of the radiation beam whereby diffraction patterns are formed. The data tracks 10B can be replaced with series of raised regions which are not connected, can be replaced with regions of appropriate dimension and refractive index, or any other structure which provides diffraction patterns in response to an impinging radiation beam without departing from the scope of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 3B, the resulting radiation beam after interaction with the storage surface is shown. The resulting radiation beam includes a zeroth order (reflected) component and a positive and a negative diffracted component. As will be clear, higher order diffraction components can be present, however, the present invention can be understood without further consideration of these components. The impinging radiation beam is shown as being off center and therefore closer to one edge of the data track or groove which is currently being tracked. This asymmetric positioning causes a wavefront phase shift in the diffracted orders and, consequently, an asymetric interference between each of the diffracted components and the undiffracted (i.e., reflected or zeroth order radiation component). As a consequence, constructive interference occurs in one region, e.g., the region of overlap between the reflected radiation component and the + diffracted radiation component, while destructive interference occurs between the reflected radiation component and the -1 diffracted component. The magnitude of the resulting signal depends on the amount of shift of the impinging beam relative to the center of the data track or groove. In FIG. 3C, the difference between the intensities of the regions of interference is illustrated by region 32 (wherein the undiffracted radiation component and the +1 first order interference component interfere) and region 34 (wherein the undiffracted radiation beam component and the -1 first order diffracted radiation beam interfere). The polarity depends on whether the tracking of the radiation beam occurs for the data tracks (or grooves) or for the lands, i.e., the regions between the data tracks or grooves. Note that in the preferred embodiment, the two first order diffraction components are contiguous with the optic axis of the radiation beam. As a consequence, the two first order diffraction components will be superimposed on and will interfere with the reflected radiation beam. Referring once again to FIG. 2, the projection of the first order diffraction patterns 29A and 29B are shown on objective lens 15 and on dual prism 25. The difference in intensities of the resulting radiation components separated by dual prism 25 is determined by the relative intensities of the radiation components resulting from the interference between the undiffracted (reflected) radiation component and the first order diffraction components. It will be clear that the groove can be replaced by a diffracted and undiffracted radiation components resulting from applying a radiation beam to a data track without an associated groove, the data track implemented to provide the requisite diffracted and undiffracted radiation components.
The configuration for providing tracking signals and focusing signals, as disclosed by the Smid and described above, suffers from the presence of a significant amount of optical cross-talk, generally originating from ever-present optical wavefront aberrations. Referring to FIG. 4, an experimental verification of the optical cross-talk between the tracking signal and the focusing signal is illustrated. The presence of this optical cross-talk becomes particularly important in high performance systems such as are required in the information storage and retrieval systems.
In U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/998,179 filed on Dec. 29, 1992 in the name of David B. Kay, entitled APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR A DUAL HALF APERTURE FOCUS SENSOR, and assigned to the assignee of the present invention, a configuration is disclosed which minimizes the cross-talk between the tracking signal and the focusing signal. Referring to FIG. 5, the configuration of optical and electrical components which provide data, tracking, and focusing signals while reducing the optical cross-talk, according to the Kay Application, is shown. As in FIG. 2, the apparatus interacts with the resulting radiation beam, i.e., the radiation beam which has interacted with the storage medium 10. Other components such as the quarter wave plate shown in FIG. 1 has been omitted for clarity. The resulting radiation beam is recollimated by objective lens 15. The first order diffraction components 29A and 29B are shown projected on objective lens 15. As will be clear, the reflected radiation component is also present and collimated by the objective lens 15. The collimated radiation beam is applied to beam splitter 52 where a portion of the collimated radiation beam is reflected and applied to dual element sensor 51, the dual element sensor having sensor elements E and F. Each of the sensor elements E and F have applied thereto a portion of the diffracted and reflected radiation beam, the diffracted radiation component interfering with the reflected radiation component. The portion of the radiation beam applied to each sensor element E and F includes interference radiation resulting from only one first order diffraction component. The remainder of the collimated radiation beam transmitted by beam splitter 52 is applied to dual prism 55. The dual prism 55 divides the resulting radiation component into two sensor radiation beam components. Comparing dual prism 55 with dual prism 25 of FIG. 2, the division between the elements of the dual prism 55 is rotated 90.degree. with respect to the projection of the data track 21 on the prism. Therefore, the focusing radiation components include portions of both first order diffraction components as illustrated by the shadowing shown on the dual prism 55. Sensor focusing lens 16 focuses the radiation component from each prism element of the dual element prism 55 on one of the dual element sensors 5. The first dual element sensor has elements A and B associated therewith while the second dual element sensor has sensor elements C and D associated therewith. The disclosed configuration, as shown by inspection of FIG. 5, includes a separate path for the tracking signal and for the focusing signal. The separate paths diminish the intensity of the radiation beam and require additional space on the read/write head. In typical optical storage systems having a read/write head, the space available for signal processing is limited.
A need has therefore been for an apparatus and an associated method for incorporation in the read/write head for producing the tracking signals, the focusing signals, and the data signals for which the cross-talk between the tracking signals and the focusing signals can be minimized without the additional space on the read/write head required in the related art.

Apparatus and method for a modified half-aperture focus/tracking/data sensor system


A color light-sensitive material comprising at least light-sensitive silver halide, a binder, a reducible dye providing compound and a reducing agent represented by the following formula (I). ##STR1## wherein R.sup.1 and R.sup.2 each represents a hydrogen atom, a halogen atom, an alkyl group, an aryl group, an acylamino group, an alkoxy group, an aryloxy group, an alkylthio group, an arylthio group, an acyl group, a sulfonyl group, a carbamoyl group or a sulfamoyl group, or R.sup.1 and R.sup.2 may be combined together to form a carbon ring or a heterocyclic ring; R.sup.3 represents an alkylene group; R.sup.4, R.sup.5, R.sup.6 and R.sup.7 each represents a hydrogen atom, a halogen atom, a hydroxyl group, a cyano group, a nitro group, an alkyl group, an acylamino group, a sulfonamido group, an alkoxy group, an aryloxy group, an alkylthio group, an arylthio group, an amino group, an acyl group, an acyloxy group, a carbamoyl group, a carbamoylamino group, a sulfamoyl group, a sulfamoylamino group, an alkoxycarbonyl group, an aryloxycarbonyl group, a heterocyclic group, an aryloxycarbonyloxy group, an alkoxysulfonyl group or an aryloxysulfonyl group (with the proviso that R.sup.5 is not a hydroxyl group), or two adjoining groups may be combined together to form a carbon ring or a heterocyclic ring; X represents --NHCO--, --NHCONH--, --CONH--, --NHSO.sub.2 --, --NHSO.sub.2 NH-- --SO.sub.2 NH-- or ##STR2## m and n each represents 0 or 1; and the sum total of carbon atoms of R.sup.1 to R.sup.7 is not less than 8.

Many methods for obtaining a positive color image by a diffusion transfer process have been proposed.
For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,559,290, 4,356,249 and 4,358,525, JP-A-53-35533 (the term "JP-A" as used herein means an "unexamined published Japanese patent application"), JP-A 53-110827, JP-A-54-130927, JP-A-56-164342, JP-A-59-154445 and JP-A-62-215270 disclose methods wherein dye-providing compounds which are oxidation type compounds incapable of releasing any dye are allowed to coexist with reducing agents or precursors thereof, the reducing agents are oxidized according to the exposure amount of silver halide by wet development or heat development, and reduction is carried out by the reducing agents which are left behind without being oxidized to release diffusible dyes. Further, EP-A-220746 and Kokai Giho 87-6199 (Vol. 12, No. 22) disclose color light-sensitive materials containing non-diffusible compounds which release diffusible dyes by the reductive cleavage of an N-X bond (wherein X is an oxygen, a nitrogen or a sulfur atom).
However, when the reducible dye-providing compounds together with the reducing agents or precursors thereof are used in combination with silver halide emulsions, problems occur in that the dye image is highly stained and raw stock-preservability is poor.
The use of diffusible electron transferring agents in addition to non-diffusible electron donors as reducing agents is effective in preventing a positive image from being stained in light-sensitive materials for forming a positive image containing reducible dye-providing compounds. However, the electron transferring agent radicals formed are diffused in other layers having different color sensitivity, and the electron donors contained in the layers are cross-oxidized by the radicals. Therefore, image density is lowered and color reproduction is deteriorated. Attempts have been made to provide an intermediate layer between light-sensitive layers having different color sensitivity from each other, or to incorporate a reducing substance in the intermediate layer. However, the amounts of binder and reducing substance to be added to each layer are limited to a certain range from the viewpoints of image-forming rate, resolution, layer quality, etc. in diffusion transfer type light-sensitive materials a in the present invention. Accordingly, a further improvement is demanded.


An embodiment describes a method of implementing higher level and more robust encryption by using a multi-core processor. The clear text is segmented into text segments based on predefined segment lengths by master processor. Text segments are sent to processing elements which in turn encrypted and encrypted segments are sent back to master processor which is aggregated into encrypted text. To decrypt the text, encrypted text is split into encrypted segments per predefined lengths by master processor and sent to processing elements to be decrypted. The resulted plain text segments are sent back to master processor which is aggregated into original plain text.

As Internet use is getting more popular the need for information security increases which directly results in increase in the use of encryption. Although encrypted information is not completely secured more sophisticated encryption techniques and algorithms could increase the information confidentiality.
As encryption techniques get more and more sophisticated, the amount of processing power required to encrypt and decrypt the information increases and at the same time it takes longer and longer to perform the task which in most applications is not desirable.
Using two types of encryption schemes raises the encryption level, however may double the time in encryption/decryption. This proposed system addresses this problem by using multi core microprocessors and distributes this tedious task between the processing elements of the multi core micro processor.

Encryption mechanism on multi-core processor

International Business Machines Corporation


A system and method for starting a large diesel engine using at least one hydraulic motor includes an auxiliary power unit having a hydraulic pump for driving a hydraulic motor coupled to the diesel engine. The hydraulic pump may automatically pump oil from the diesel engine into a pressure reservoir until a pressure set point is exceeded. When the pressure set point is exceeded, a relief/check valve positioned between the pressure reservoir and the hydraulic pump may open to divert some lubrication oil through a heater and back into the diesel engine. To start the diesel engine, a solenoid-controlled valve, positioned between the pressure reservoir and a hydraulic motor coupled with the diesel engine, may be opened to release pressurized oil to the hydraulic motor. After energizing the hydraulic motor, the oil may be diverted back to a sump of the diesel engine.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to large engine systems, but more specifically to a system and method for supplying auxiliary power to a locomotive engine to permit automatic shutdown and restart of such locomotive engine in all weather conditions.
2. Related Art
Generally, large diesel engines, such as locomotive engines are not shut down during cold weather conditions due to the difficulty in restarting. Diesel engines do not have the benefit of an electric spark to generate combustion and must rely on heat generated by compressing air to ignite fuel in the engine cylinders. In low temperature conditions (ambient temperatures below about 40° F.), two major factors contribute to the difficulty in starting a diesel engine. First, cold ambient air drawn into the engine must be increased in temperature sufficiently to cause combustion. Second, diesel fuel tends to exhibit poor viscous qualities at low temperatures, making engine starting difficult. Furthermore, engine oil that provides lubrication for the engine is most effective within specific temperature limits, generally corresponding to normal operating temperature of the engine. When cold, the engine lube-oil tends to impede engine starting. Moreover, most engines require a large electrical supply, typically provided by a battery, in order to turn over and start the engine. Unfortunately, batteries are also adversely affected by severe cold weather.
In cold weather, large engines are typically idled overnight to avoid the necessity to restart in the morning and to provide heat to the crew space. Locomotives that must operate in extremely cold environmental conditions must be run continuously, at high fuel cost, or, when shutdown, must be drained of engine coolant and provided supplemental electrical service and heaters, also at high cost.
In warm weather, locomotive engines typically idle to provide air conditioning and other services, including lighting, air pressure and electrical appliances. If the locomotive is shut down, solid-state static inverters that transform direct current (DC) power from the locomotive batteries to useful alternating current (AC) power can provide electrical power for air conditioning and other services. Devices such as inverters are parasitic loads that tend to drain the batteries, which will adversely affect engine reliability. Alternatively, wayside electrical power can be supplied, but it generally does not maintain air conditioning.
Several systems have been designed to maintain warmth in a large diesel engine under low temperature ambient conditions. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,424,775 shows an auxiliary engine for maintaining the coolant, lube-oil, and batteries of a primary diesel engine in restarting condition by using the heat of the auxiliary engine exhaust, to keep coolant, lube-oil, and batteries sufficiently warm. U.S. Pat. No. 4,762,170 shows a system for facilitating the restarting of a truck diesel engine in cold weather by maintaining the fuel, coolant, and lube-oil warm through interconnected fluid systems. U.S. Pat. No. 4,711,204 discloses a small diesel engine for providing heat to the coolant of a primary diesel engine in cold weather. The small engine drives a centrifugal pump with restricted flow such that the coolant is heated, and then pumped through the primary cooling lines in reverse flow. In many of such systems, an electrical generator or inverter may be included to maintain a charge for the batteries.
None of them, however, specifically address other problems associated with the idling of a large diesel engine, such as, primary engine wear, wet stacking due to piston ring leakage as a result of idling for long periods of time in cold weather, high fuel and lube-oil consumption, and so forth. No effective alternative to warm weather idling is known to exist.

System and method for supplying auxiliary power to a large diesel engine

CSXT Intellectual Properties Corporation


In accordance with the present invention, there is provided an aqueous and low VOC composition which is particularly useful as a coating composition for non-porous substrates. The aqueous compositions comprise. (A) at least one water-dispersible or emulsifiable olefin polymer; PA0 (B) at least one non-ionic surfactant; PA0 (C) at least one anionic surfactant; PA0 (D) at least one volatile organic liquid; and PA0 (E) water.. Preferably, the aqueous compositions are in the form of oil-in-water emulsions. The invention also relates to a process of preparing the low VOC oil-in-water emulsions, and to the use of such coating compositions as adherent primer coatings for substrates, and in particular, non-porous substrates.

Polymers and other plastics have been developed which are useful in many applications including automotive parts, engineering plastics, toys, containers, molded items and packaging films. It is often desirable to decorate or to protect items made from these plastics by applying a coating or an aesthetically pleasing design to the plastic. It is obviously important that the coating is tightly bonded to the plastic surface. Plastic surfaces as well as certain non-plastic surfaces such as metal including aluminum and galvanized steel are not particularly receptive to the application of adherent coatings because the surfaces are essentially non-porous. Accordingly, there is a continuing need for coating compositions which exhibit excellent adhesion to plastics and metals, and in particular, to plastics.
Improved adhesion of decorative and protective coating compositions to various substrates, and in particular, non-porous substrates, has been achieved by the application of base coats or primer coats to the substrate prior to the application of the desired decorative coating. Since primer coatings are not visible, they do not have to possess all of the desirable characteristics of the top coatings such as color retention, mar-resistance, chalk-resistance, dirt-resistance, etc. Thus, primer coatings can be formulated with major emphasis on adhesion to substrates, and adhesion to subsequent basecoats and/or topcoats.
For many years, curable coating compositions useful as paints, varnishes, etc., have been dissolved in volatile hydrocarbon solvents to facilitate the deposition of thin films on the substrates to be coated and to enable the solvent to evaporate into the atmosphere within a reasonable period of time leaving a dry non-tacky coating. The use of such volatile hydrocarbon solvents as diluents, therefore, results in air pollution problems.
More recently, the coatings industry has directed its attention to the problem of volatile organic emissions from organic coating compositions. These efforts have been encouraged by various governmental and state agencies concerned with the air pollution caused by the use of volatile hydrocarbon solvents. Such efforts by the coatings industry has resulted in the development of a number of high-solids resin coating formulations which contains significantly reduced amounts of solvents, and, in some instances, little or no solvent.
Some difficulty has been observed in coating certain substrates with these high solids, low solvent coating composition which generally contain significant amounts of water. Primer coatings deposited on non-porous substrates such as plastic and metals generally exhibit poor adhesion, particularly when topcoats are applied over the primer coating.

Low VOC aqueous coating compositions and coated substrates


An encoding/decoding system is disclosed which comprises an analyzing encoder, a synthesizing decoder, two knowledge databases and two dynamic codebooks. The two databases are connected to the encoder and decoder respectively and store three-dimensional model data of feature images, shape and position information of elements of the feature images. The codebooks are connected to the encoder and decoder respectively and store luminance information of polygons such luminance information that the corresponding polygon seldom appears is eliminated. When a new polygon appears, the encoder encodes the luminance data of the polygon to transmit and gets the data in the codebook, and when any luminance data relative to a vector have been stored in the codebook, the encoder transmits the address of the vector.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an encoding/decoding system adapted to analyze and identify digital input image signals and encode the image signals, and transmit the analyzed and encoded signals to a receive side at which the encoded signals are decoded.
2. Description of the Prior Art
FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an encoder achieving an intellectual encoding means according to a prior art disclosed for example in Japanese Patent Public Disclosure (Kokai) No. 7787/89 Official Gazette. In the diagram, numeral 1 is a feature image extracting section adapted to extract signals of pixels corresponding to a predetermined feature part in an image from digital input image signals through a line 900 and to output feature signals, 2 a position information detecting section adapted to receive the feature signals from the section 1 and search positions of individual elements constituting the feature part, 3 a position information expressing section adapted to express in numerical values the signals from the detecting section 2 and to output element position signals to a line 910, 4 a shape information detecting section adapted to receive the feature signals from the section 1 and detect the shape of the elements of the feature part, and 5 a shape information expressing section adapted to express in numerical values the signals output from the detecting section 4 and to output element shape signals to a line 920.
These signals from the sections 3 and 5 are transmitted to a receiver side and decoded.
Operation of the encoder described above will be explained on the assumption that the image represented by the input image signals is a human face as shown in FIG. 2(a) and the predetermined feature part of the face image is a mouth portion as shown in FIG. 2(b).
The extracting section 1 functions to extract the mouth portion encircled by the dotted line in the face image shown in FIG. 2(a), and output mouth part signals as the feature signals to the position and shape information detecting sections 2 and 4. The position information detecting section 2 functions to search actual positions of the respective elements 200 shown in FIG. 2(b), or upper and lower lips on the whole image, and the position information expressing section 3 transforms the signals from the section 2 to signals expressed in the form of absolute coordinates based on the whole frame and outputs the element position signals to the line 910.
On the other hand, the shape information detecting section 4 functions to analyze the shape of the elements 200 and detect suitable feature points P.sub.0, P.sub.1, P.sub.2 and P.sub.3 which are end points and center points of the elements 200 as shown in FIG. 3. The shape information expressing section 5 operates to detect the coordinate values of the feature points, P.sub.0 (X.sub.0, Y.sub.0), P.sub.1 (X.sub.1, Y.sub.1), P.sub.2 (X.sub.2, Y.sub.2) and P.sub.3 (X.sub.3, Y.sub.3) as shown in FIG. 4(a) and the calculate and output parameters .lambda., p, d and .alpha. of the feature image shape as shown in FIG. 4(b), where .lambda. is a size between the points P.sub.1 (X.sub.1, Y.sub.1) and P.sub.3 (X.sub.3, Y.sub.3) for representing a mouth size, p and d are relative parameters to express the shape of the mouth image, and .alpha. is an inclination of the line P.sub.1 P.sub.3 from the horizontal line.
According to the intellectual encoder constituted as described above, there has been such a problem that when a new shape not recorded in a memory incorporated in the sections 4 and 5 is found in the input image, it is impossible to detect such a shape or it is likely to be erroneously detected due to a lack of knowledge for detecting such a shape or a position thereof.
There has also been another problem wherein even if the shape and position of the input image do not change, but if luminance information of pixels (picture elements) constituting the feature image are considerably changed, the output image may be fairly different from the input image when pixel luminance information in a first frame is used for decoding at receiver side.


Compound semiconductors capable of emitting light in the green spectrum are provided. The compound semiconductors may display improved quantum efficiencies when applied to various optical devices. Also, light emitting diodes and light emitting diode modules comprising the compound semiconductors are provided.

A light-emitting diode (hereinafter, referred to as an LED) is an electronic light source, based on a semiconductor diode. When an LED is forward biased (switched on), electrons are able to recombine with holes, and energy is released in the form of light. This effect is called electroluminescence and the color of the light is determined by the energy gap of materials in the semiconductor.
LEDs provide many advantages over traditional light sources including lower energy consumption, longer lifetime, improved robustness, smaller size and faster switching.
Applications of LEDs are diverse. For instance, they may be used as a low-energy replacement for traditional light sources in well-established applications such as lighting, indicators and automotive lighting. The compact size of LEDs has allowed new text, video displays and sensors to be developed, while their high switching rates are useful in communication technology.
LEDs may also be used to produce high intensity white light. There are two ways of producing white light using LEDs. One way is to use individual LEDs that emit three primary colors—red, green and blue, and then mix all the colors to produce white light. The other way is to use phosphors to convert monochromatic light from LEDs to broad-spectrum white light.

University of Seoul Industry Cooperation Foundation


A base station apparatus includes a determination unit configured to determine whether to cause a user equipment residing in a cell of the base station apparatus to conduct different frequency measurement and a transmitting unit configured to transmit a control signal to the user equipment. The user equipment includes a reception unit configured to receive the control signal from the base station apparatus of a camped cell and a cell search and quality measurement unit configured to conduct cell search at a frequency indicated by the base station apparatus and cell quality measurement. If a candidate handover target cell of the user equipment is a predefined cell, the control signal allows the user equipment to conduct the different frequency measurement in a gap period defined in a mobile communication system. If the candidate handover target cell of the user equipment is another predefined cell different from the predefined cell, the control signal allows the user equipment to conduct the different frequency measurement in the gap period defined in the mobile communication system and between discontinuous signal receptions in a discontinuous reception operating mode.

In general, a user equipment (UE) or user apparatus measures quality of adjacent cells being handover target candidates and reports the measurement result to a base station in advance of handover (HO). The quality may be represented by reception level or reception SINR of a reference signal, for example. The reporting to the base station (eNB) is carried out through measurement reports. Based on the measurement report, the base station determines whether the user equipment UE is to initiate the handover and transmits a handover instruction message as a handover command to the user equipment UE.
The handover target may be not only a cell having the same frequency in the same system but also a cell having a different frequency in the same system. Alternatively, the handover target may be a cell where a different radio access technology (RAT) is employed. The frequency of the cell using such a different radio access technology may be typically different from that of the handover source. Thus, the frequency of the handover target cell may be necessarily different from that of the handover source cell.
FIG. 1 schematically illustrates exemplary handover between different frequency cells. In FIG. 1, a LTE (Long Term Evolution) based system including a mobile communication system having a first frequency f1 and a mobile communication system having a second frequency f2 and a WiMAX based system using a frequency f3 different from these frequencies are illustrated. Handover between different frequency systems or different RAT systems may be described in a version of 3GPP TS25.331 at filing the present application, for example.
Meanwhile, a user equipment (UE) typically has one radio frequency signal processing unit and accordingly cannot transmit or receive signals to/from the different frequency systems simultaneously. For this reason, in order to measure a cell (different frequency cell) having a frequency different from that of a camped cell (serving cell), the user equipment must perform frequency resynchronization. Specifically, the base station (eNB) indicates a length of a gap period, an arrival cycle of the gap period, a frequency of a different frequency cell or others to the user equipment (UE) through RRC measurement control. The user equipment (UE) conducts different frequency measurement, including change in frequencies, following synchronization channels, quality measurements or others, during the indicated gap period. The term "different frequency measurement" used herein includes not only searching for different frequency cells and measuring the quality but also searching for different RAT cells and measuring the quality.
FIG. 2 schematically illustrates exemplary gap periods in communications at a serving cell.
In order to realize rapid handover to a different frequency cell, different frequency measurement must be efficiently and rapidly conducted ahead of the handover. For this reason, it is desired to specify an operating pattern of the user equipment during the gap period as strictly as possible and optimize a specific manner of the different frequency measurement. Such an operating pattern highly depends on the length of the gap period in the camped cell and transmission frequencies of synchronization channels, pilot signals, broadcast information and others in the handover target. Thus, in order to optimize the different frequency measurement method, it is desirable to predetermine how the user equipment needs to operate corresponding to envisaged different situations depending on the length of the gap period in the camped cell and transmission frequencies of synchronization channels, pilot signals, broadcast information and others in the handover target. If it can be predetermined how the user equipment needs to operate in this manner, the different frequency measurement can be rapidly completed.
Meanwhile, handover target systems typically possess their own specific transmission periodicities of the synchronization channels, the pilot signals and the broadcast information. This means that the handover target systems may have different optimum lengths of the gap period. In other words, a camped cell may need kinds of different gap period corresponding to the number of potential handover target systems. In this case, however, the user equipment might have to optimize the different frequency measurement corresponding to the kinds of gap periods, resulting in complication of the user equipment and higher design costs. Furthermore, it would have to be guaranteed that the user equipment operates to conduct the optimum different frequency measurements for all the gap periods, resulting in heavier workloads on operation tests for the user equipment.
On the other hand, although it is desirable to apply a single type of gap period for any handover target system, it is hard to define the optimum single gap period for existing radio communication systems and future radio communication systems.

Mobile communication system, base station apparatus, user equipment and method


A vehicle floor structure includes a cross member having a substantially constant cross section shape. A spacing member is disposed beneath the cross member for securing to a chassis frame. The spacing member is positioned relative to the cross member to define an enclosed cavity between the spacing member and the cross member. The floor structure also includes a first collar affixed within the enclosed cavity. A fastener extends through the spacing member and the cross member, and compresses the first collar when the floor structure is secured to the chassis frame.

Pickup trucks are motor vehicles with a front passenger cabin, and an open top rear cargo area, often referred to as a box. The box usually has a substantially flat bed from which two sidewalls and a forward interconnecting headboard extend upwardly therefrom. Pickup trucks may also employ a bottom hinged door, commonly referred to as a tailgate, hinged at the rear edge of the bed and closable to provide a fourth wall for the cargo area. Passenger cabins and boxes may be separate assemblies or part of a single body structure. Pickup trucks are popular largely because the box allows greater flexibility of use, including carrying a variety of types of cargo and towing various types of trailers.
Traditionally the majority of body structures on pickup trucks have been formed from steel alloys. Through years of experience, pickup truck designers have learned how to engineer steel truck body parts that withstand a variety of demanding pickup truck applications. The current regulatory and economic environments have increased the importance of making pickup trucks more fuel efficient as well as functional and durable. One way to reduce the fuel consumption of a vehicle is to reduce vehicle structure weight.
Certain areas of the body require resilience to frequent high load conditions. For example, mounting locations of the body to a chassis frame receive significant road loads, as the mass of the body rests on these mounting locations. The requirements of the mounting locations increase further for larger vehicles having more mass. The frequency and magnitude of loads input through the mounting locations can reduce overall customer drive quality by adversely affecting noise, vibration, and harshness (NVH) performance.

Floor load structure for vehicle body to frame mount


A control unit selects a first labeling for a color image in a small number of colors so that the labeling is performed by clustering a color palette, and selects a second labeling for a color image in a large number of colors so that the labeling is performed by an adjacency expanding method.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a color image processing apparatus and a pattern extraction apparatus, and is specifically applicable when a character area for a title is extracted from a color image.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, computers and various peripheral devices such as color printers, etc. have been developed with their prices set lower, thereby extending the fields in which color images are processed. As a result, the technology of extracting only a specific area from a color image, for example, extracting the same color areas from a color image is demanded.
This technology is requested in many fields, for example, when a color scene image picked up by a CCD camera is used as an input image to be processed to select fruits, monitor a car, check a person for security, etc. through image recognition.
When a color document image is used as an input image, a document name, a keyword, etc. are automatically extracted from an image to be used for retrieval, for example, when books are classified and managed by an automatic system in a library. In addition, the technology is also used to automatically assign a keyword, a file name, etc. based on groupware in which images are stored and shared as a database. The information is used to automatically retrieve a large number of color document images.
The conventional technology of extracting the same color areas in a color image can be a method of generating a color-analyzed image by clustering for each color the picture elements in a color image. There is also a method of extracting the same color areas in a color image using a color labeling result in an adjacency expanding method.
In addition, the technology of extracting a title from a color image can be a method of extracting a character area using a color-analyzed image.
In this method, the following processes are performed.    An enclosing rectangle of connection areas is obtained from a color-analyzed image in one color.    Enclosing rectangles are limited to specific size and shape.    An adjacent rectangle search range is set for each rectangle, and rectangles are searched for in the range. A plurality of the rectangles within the range is extracted as a group.    Rectangles having good linearity in a group are maintained.    An enclosing rectangle of a group is obtained, and a pattern of color similar to that of an area forming the group is extracted inside the enclosing rectangle.
Listed below are the documents describing the conventional technology of extracting a character area from a color document image.    Senda et al. 'Method of Extracting Character Pattern from Color Image based on Unichromatism of Character' published by The Japan Society of Information and Communication Research, PRU94-09, p17-24    Uehane et al. 'Extracting Character Area from Color Image by Isochromatic Line Process' published by The Japan Society of Information and Communication Research, PRU94-09, p9-16    Matsuo et al. 'Extracting Unicolor Character Area from Color Document Image' published in the 1997 Convention of The Japan Society of Information and Communication Research D-12-19    Matuo et al. 'Extracting Character String from Scenic Image based on Shading and Color Information' published by The Japan Society of Information and Communication Research, PRU92-121, p25-32
However, In the conventional method of extracting the areas of the same color by clustering picture elements by the color of a color image, a large number of picture elements of an entire image are clustered. Therefore, the clustering process takes a long computation time.
In addition, since the clustering process is performed on the picture elements of the entire image, it may not be able to extract areas with high precision. For example, if the first color area is positioned away from the second color area, the first color is similar to the second color, and therefore the first and second colors are classified into the same cluster, then both first and second colors may not be able to be completely covered depending on the third color generated from the cluster. Thus, an extraction result may be output with an incomplete pattern or an unclear outline.
In the conventional method of extracting areas of the same color based on the area expanding method, the colors of adjacent picture elements may indicate values whose difference is larger than a predetermined threshold depending on the definition of the difference in color between the adjacent picture element even if the colors of the adjacent picture elements appear the same to naked eyes. As a result, a hole may appear in the same area or the outline of the same color area may not be correctly extracted.
Furthermore, since only the relationship between adjacent picture elements is checked, a character area can be assigned the same label as the background area when the color around the boundary between the character area and the background area gradually changes.
In addition, in the conventional area expanding method, areas of the same color are extracted by equally applying a predetermined threshold to various color document images. Therefore, for example, when similar colors such as gray, intermediate colors, etc. are used for the character and its background, a character and the background can be frequently assigned the same label, thereby reducing the character pattern extraction precision. Otherwise, an extracted label area can be broken into pieces in a character pattern, thereby reducing the character pattern extraction precision.
On the other hand, if an area expanding method is applied to an image in, for example, 256 colors other than a full color image, a large number of small label areas are generated, thereby causing the problem of low area extraction precision.
Furthermore, in the method of extracting a character area using the conventional color-analyzed image, it is necessary to generate a color-analyzed image for the entire image in the number of colors extracted from the image. It takes a long time to generate such color-analyzed images. In addition, since each color-analyzed image is generated for the entire image, a title extracted from the image is subject to the influence of the color of an area other than the title area when the title is extracted from the image, thereby reducing the title extraction precision. Furthermore, when an enclosing rectangle of connection areas is obtained, it is necessary to process the entire image for each of the extracted color-analyzed images. Therefore, a plurality of images having the same size between length and width (in number of extracted colors) are required. Thus, the process takes a long time.
Furthermore, since enclosing rectangles are grouped for each color-analyzed image generated for the entire image, the process takes a long time, and may cause the problem that characters to be extracted can be lost if they are clustered into different color-analyzed images. In addition, since only the rectangles in a search range are extracted when they are grouped, there is the problem that small portions can slip through a group. When a pattern of a color similar to the color of a group is extracted to collect the portions which have slipped through the group, there arises the problem that the noise similar to the color in the group can be collected.

Image processing apparatus and pattern extraction apparatus


Printers, methods, and apparatus to form an image on a substrate are disclosed. An example apparatus to form an image on a print substrate includes an applicator to apply a first material, an ink developer to apply a plurality of ink particles, and a transfer cylinder to transfer the ink particles and the first material to a print substrate to form an image and a coating.

Offset printing is a printing technique that uses an intermediate transfer, or offset, between an image plate and a print substrate on which the image is to be formed. Offset printing may be accomplished in sheet-fed (i.e., one sheet fed at a time) or web-fed (i.e., a continuous sheet of substrate is fed) configurations.
Wherever possible, the same reference numbers will be used throughout the drawing(s) and accompanying written description to refer to the same or like parts.

Printers, methods, and apparatus to form an image on a print substrate

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


The present invention provides a gray rod control assembly for a nuclear reactor. The gray rod control assembly includes a spider assembly having a plurality of radial extending flukes and a plurality of gray rod assemblies coupled to the flukes of the spider assembly. Each of the gray rod assemblies includes an elongated tubular member, a first end plug, a second end plug, and a neutron absorber. The neutron absorber includes a matrix of refractory metal fabricated to be porous into which a metal or metal alloy is infused. The neutron absorber is distributed among a plurality of the gray rod assemblies.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to nuclear reactors and, more particularly, to an improved neutron absorber material contained in gray rod assemblies of gray rod control assemblies (GRCAs).
2. Description of the Prior Art
The fuel assemblies of modern reactor cores typically employ two types of rod control assemblies to control reactivity, rod cluster control assemblies (RCCAs) and gray rod control assemblies (GRCAs). Both consist of a plurality of neutron-absorbing rods fastened at their top ends to a common hub or spider assembly. The body of the rods generally comprises a stainless steel tube which encapsulates a neutron-absorbing material, such as a pure silver absorber material or a silver-indium-cadmium alloy absorber material, and the rods are slid within tubular guide thimble tubes of the fuel assembly with a control drive mechanism near the top of the spider assembly operating to control the movement of the rods within the thimble tubes. In this manner, the controlled insertion and extraction of the rods generally controls the rate of reactor power produced.
The power produced by the reactor of a nuclear power plant is generally controlled by raising or lowering control rod assemblies within the reactor core, and the change in reactor power output required in order to accommodate a change in the demand for electrical output from the electrical power plant is commonly referred to as load follow. As described, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,079,236, load follow presents many operating issues. For instance, in a pressurized water reactor (PWR) during load follow, reactivity must be controlled and axial power distribution changes in the core in response to the power level change, must be addressed.
Typically, GRCAs are used in load follow maneuvering because they comprise reduced worth control rods, commonly referred to in the art as "gray" rods. Gray rods are known to provide a mechanical shim (MSHIM) reactivity mechanism as opposed to a chemical shim, which requires changing the concentration of soluble boron in the reactor coolant. Thus, the use of gray rods minimizes the need for processing the primary reactor coolant on a daily basis and, therefore, greatly simplifies operations. More specifically, GRCA designs typically consist of twenty-four rodlets fastened at their top ends to the spider. Of the twenty-four rodlets within the cluster, only four rods are absorber rods, and the neutron-absorber material encapsulated within the absorber rods typically consists of about 80% silver, about 15% indium, and about 5% cadmium. Such a design poses several disadvantages.
Among the disadvantages of known GRCA designs, is the fact that indium and cadmium have relatively large neutron cross-sections, which result in their depletion over a relatively short period of time. Silver depletes somewhat more slowly than indium and cadmium, and ultimately transmutes into other non-absorbing isotopes of cadmium. As a result of continued decrease in the rod worth, the GRCAs become less effective in controlling the reactivity of the reactor during load follow. In addition, elemental transmutation of silver and indium to other metals leads to changes in absorber material properties and excessive absorber swelling, which has been a recognized problem in the industry for many years. This undesirably leads to frequent GRCA replacement.
A second disadvantage relates to changes in the local rod power for fuel rods which are adjacent to the four guide thimbles that contain the absorber rods. Specifically, because the absorber material is localized to four rodlets, a rapid change in power, commonly referred to as the delta-power of the fuel rods, occurs, for example, during a rod pull. A rod pull is the process of extracting the GRCA from the fuel assembly, and in GRCA designs it results in a delta-power spike.
There exists a need, therefore, for an improved neutron absorber material for gray rod assemblies which overcomes the aforementioned disadvantages typically found in known GRCAs.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Neutron absorber consisting of refractory metal infused with discrete neutron absorber


A photostimulable X-ray energy absorbing halosilicate phosphor, characterized in that said phosphor contains as host metal at least one alkaline earth metal, as halogen at least one member selected from the group consisting of Cl, Br and I, as dopant Eu.sup.2+ and lithium as co-dopant.

It is well known that X-rays can cause appropriate substances to luminesce. Substances showing the phenomenon of luminescence under the influence of X-rays are called phosphors.
According to a classical radiographic method photographic silver halide emulsion film is combined with a sheetlike element, called intensifying screen that contains a particulate phosphor distributed in a binder layer to convert X-rays into fluorescent light whereto the film is much more sensitive than to the direct exposure with X-rays.
The phosphors used in said screens should have on X-ray exposure a high prompt emission but not exhibit appreciable long lived emission after the X-ray exposure is switched off.
According to another method of recording and reproducing an X-ray pattern disclosed e.g. in U.S, Pat. No. 3,859,527 and 4,258,264 a special type of phosphor is used, known as a photostimulable phosphor, which being incorporated in a panel is exposed to incident pattern-wise modulated X-rays and as a result thereof temporarily stores therein energy stemming from the X-ray radiation pattern. At some interval after the X-ray exposure, a beam of visible or infra-red light scans the panel to stimulate the release of stored energy as light that is detected and converted to sequential electrical signals which are processable to produce a visible image. For this purpose, a stimulable phosphor should store as much as possible of the incident X-ray energy and release as slowly as possible the stored energy until stimulated by the scanning beam. In other words the phosphor should have a high energy storage capacity with slow dark decay. In addition thereto the release of the stored energy on photo-stimulation should proceed efficiently, i.e. almost all the stored energy should be released within reasonable readout times in the form of stimulation light having a wavelength range sufficiently apart from the wavelength range of the stimulating light. In practice the stimulable phosphor should have high sensitivity to stimulating light in the wavelength range of 500 to 700 nm wherein a He--Ne laser (633 nm), ruby laser (694 nm), frequency doubled neodymium YAG laser (532 nm) or argon ion laser (514.5 nm) are emitting. From these commercial lasers the argon ion laser is the most powerful and offers in seqential exposure (scanning) the possibility to shorten the readout time.
The light emitted by stimulating the phosphor, called stimulation light, is situated preferably in the wavelength range of 300 to 500 nm where photomultiplier tubes have high quantum efficiency (ref. the periodical Radiology, September 1983, p. 834) and the stimulation light can be separated efficiently from the stimulating light by means of a proper cut-off filter.
As described in the above mentioned periodical the imaging plate containing a stimulable phosphor can be used repeatedly to store X-ray images simply by flooding it with light to erase the residual energy it contains.
Another important property for a practically useful phosphor is its chemical stability, more particularly its resistance to moisture, since hygroscopic phosphors suffer from loss in luminescence power when becoming wet.
As can be learned from U.S. Pat. No. 4,587,036 some europium-doped alkaline earth fluorohalides (described in EP No. 0 021 342) are sensitive to moisture whereby their fluorescence power is reduced.
In published European patent application No. 0 304 121 Eu.sup.2+ and/or Ce.sup.3+ doped (activated) halosilicates are described which are particularly resistant to moisture and have a high conversion efficiency of stored X-ray energy into visible stimulation light on stimulation with argon ion laser light of 514.5 nm.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,034,607 Eu.sup.2+ or Ce.sup.3+ doped (activated) halogermanates and halo(silicate-germanate) phosphors optionally co-doped with Na.sup.+, K.sup.+ or Li.sup.+ are described which are particularly resistant to moisture and have a high conversion efficiency of stored X-ray energy into visible stimulation light on stimulation with light of wavelength range beyond 600 nm, so for He--Ne laser light of 633 nm.
As is generally known most phosphors contain in their empirical formula structure one or more host metals and a dopant or activator metal in admixture with one or more co-dopants. The host metal gives the phosphor X-ray stopping power and in conjunction with the dopant and co-dopants determines its energy storage capacity. The fluorescent light emission spectrum and the efficiency of the transformation of absorbed X-ray energy into emitted fluorescent light on stimulation are determined mainly by the dopant and the optionally present co-dopants.

Photostimulable phosphor and its use in radiography


Embodiments of computer processing systems and methods are provided that include a memory protection unit (MPU), and a plurality of region descriptors associated with the MPU. The region descriptors include address range and translation identifier values for a respective region of memory. Control logic determines whether a translation identifier control indicator is in a first state, and if the translation identifier control indicator is in the first state, the control logic allows a first process being executed by the processing system to access a memory region allocated to a second process being executed by the processing system.

1. Field
This disclosure relates generally to data processing systems, and more specifically, to a memory management unit having region descriptor globalization controls.
2. Related Art
Some embedded processors implement an internal Memory Protection Unit (MPU) to provide protection information for a number of variable size memory regions. Access protections are enforced on instruction fetches and data read and write accesses by comparing these access addresses with each entry in the MPU to determine a match. A descriptor match for an access occurs when the access address lies within the address range defined by the region descriptor, the current process identifier (PID) matches the programmed region identifier defined by the region descriptor, and the permissions associated with the region descriptor allow the access type.
In one implementation of an MPU, a programmed region identifier of all 0's indicates a "global" region descriptor that can be matched by any process, and is usually used for supervisor-only regions. However, since supervisor access to user regions is also needed, this implementation typically requires multiple redundant region descriptors or requires the supervisor code to modify the current PID value to match the programmed region identifier. However, these solutions introduce penalties in terms of resource usage or performance overhead. Furthermore, due to other mapping constraints, it may not be possible to change the current PID value in supervisor mode to match a user-region PID value.

Memory management unit (MMU) having region descriptor globalization controls and method of operation


A method of setting an air gap between an electromagnetic coil and an armature of an electro-mechanical device to be within a desired range includes applying a sensing signal to the electromagnetic coil and monitoring at least one electrical characteristic of the electromagnetic coil. The at least one electrical characteristic is related to a size of the air gap and the sensing signal. The method further includes moving the armature towards the electromagnetic coil to reduce the size of the air gap and stopping movement of the armature towards the electromagnetic coil when the at least one electrical characteristic indicates the size of the air gap is within the desired range.

Electra-mechanical devices are used in a wide range of applications. Such devices typically include an electromagnetic coil which can be energized to exert a force on a component formed of magnetic material, hereinafter referred to as an armature. The force exerted on the armature moves the armature and this movement is then used to provide a desired effect, such as operation of a control mechanism, or moving electrical contacts into, or out of, contact.
The amount of electrical current that is required to create a magnetic force in the electromagnetic coil sufficient to move the armature can depend upon a wide variety of factors, including, but not limited to, the design of the coil and the mass of the armature. Another one of the factors determining the amount of electrical current required for desired movement of an armature is the distance between the electromagnetic coil and the armature, which is typically referred to as the "air gap" through which the magnetic force that acts on the armature must pass.
An electro-mechanical device with a smaller air gap will require less electrical current to operate than an otherwise identical device with a larger air gap. A minimum air gap must exist, however, to allow movement of the armature to occur. Thus, where it is desired to limit the electrical current required to operate the electro-mechanical device, it is often desired to provide an air gap of a given size which is less than some maximum value, but more than a minimum value.
For many electro-mechanical devices, assembling the device to obtain a desired air gap is straightforward and a suitable physical measuring device can be employed to properly establish the air gap. In other circumstances, however, it can be problematic to establish a desired air gap. For example, in small electro-mechanical devices, or with electro-mechanical devices occupying tight packaging volumes or enclosures, it may not be possible to position a physical measuring device in the vicinity of the electromagnetic oil and/or armature during assembly.
Accordingly, it is desired to have an electro-mechanical device that includes a desired air gap and a method of assembly for an electro-mechanical device to obtain a desired air gap.

Electro-mechanical device and associated method of assembly


A compressor includes a casing wherein a compression section and a drive section are contained. The compression section has a cylinder, a rotary rod eccentrically arranged in the cylinder and rotatable relative to the cylinder, and first and second bearings rotatably supporting suction- and discharge-side ends of the cylinder. A space defined between the inner circumferential surface of the cylinder and the outer circumferential surface of the rod is divided into a plurality of operating chambers by a spiral blade mounted on the rod. A fluid introduced into the suction-side end of the cylinder is transferred to the discharge-side end of the cylinder through the operating chamber while it is compressed. The compressed fluid is discharged into the casing. The pressure of the introduced fluid is applied to a discharge-side end of the rod, and the pressure of the compressed fluid is applied to a suction-side end of the rod.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a fluid compressor for compressing a fluid, for example, refrigerant gas in a refrigerating cycle.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally known are various compressors, including reciprocating compressors, rotary compressors, etc. In these conventional compressors, the compression section and drive parts, such as a crank shaft for transmitting a rotational force to the compression section, are complicated in construction, i.e., with many components being used in their construction. For higher compression efficiency, moreover, these conventional compressors should be provided with a check valve on the discharge side thereof. However, the pressure difference between two opposite sides of the check valve is so large that gas is likely to leak from the valve. Thus, the compression efficiency cannot be high enough. For solving these problems, the individual parts must be manufactured and assembled at high accuracies, resulting in a high manufacturing cost.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,401,189 and U.S. Pat. No. 2,527,536 disclose screw pumps each provided with a columnar rotary body having a suction end and a discharge end. The rotary body is arranged in a sleeve and has a spiral groove on its outer periphery. A spiral blade is slidably fitted in the groove. As the rotary body is rotated, a fluid, confined between two adjacent turns of the blade in the space between the outer peripheral surface of the rotary body and the inner peripheral face of the sleeve, is transported from one end of the sleeve to the other.
With the pumps described above, thrust exerted on the rotary body during operation increases friction between the rotary body and bearings, thereby deteriorating the efficiency of the pumps. In the pump disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,527,536, two rotors are arranged opposed to each other so as to balance the thrust exerted on the rotary body. However, this pump still consists of many parts and has a complicated structure.
Accordingly, the conventional compressors have a problem that they must be provided with many parts and have a complicated structure so as to prevent the generation of thrust exerting on the rotary body.

Fluid compressor with axial thrust balancing


A peptide that can be used as an imaging probe for GLP-1R is provided. In an embodiment, a polypeptide is represented by the following formula (3);

Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) is an important gastrointestinal hormone that has a control function in glucose metabolism, and gastrointestinal secretion and metabolism. GLP-1R is a GLP-1 receptor, which is a seven-transmembrane G protein-coupled receptor.
As a imaging molecular probe that binds to GLP-1R as a target molecule, a peptide, such as GLP-1, Exendin-3, Exendin-4, Exendin(9-39), or a variant thereof that is labeled by labeling molecule is being studied (Patent Document 1, for example).

Abstract: (Sequence ID No. 3)Xaa1-Leu-Ser-Lys-Gln-Met-Glu-Glu-Glu-Ala-Val-Arg- Leu-Phe-Ile-Glu-Trp-Leu-Lys-Asn-Gly-Gly-Pro-Ser- Ser-Gly-Ala-Pro-Pro-Pro-Ser (3)                where Xaa1 represents an aspartic acid in which a —Y—X′ group binds to an α-amino group, X′ includes a chelating site and a radioactive metal nuclide chelated by the chelating site, the chelating site being diethylenetriaminepentaacetic dianhydride (DTPA) or 1,4,7-triazacyclononnane-N,N′,N″-triacetic acid (NOTA), and Y represents a linker including a group selected from the group consisting of —CH2—(C6H4)—, —NH—C(═S)—, —NH—(CH2)5—C(═O)—, and a combination thereof.


A central control device is connected to a first power router including some power transmitting ends and a second power router including some power receiving ends, acquires, for each of the power receiving ends, received power information including identification information of each of the power transmitting ends and a value of supply power supplied from each of the power transmitting ends, and power supply priority information defining a priority for determining a power transmitting end for which an adjustment of the supply power to be supplied to each of the power receiving ends should be prioritized, determines a power transmitting end for which the supply power is adjusted from among the power transmitting ends based on the received power information and the priority defined in the power supply priority information, and adjusts the supply power in the determined power transmitting end.

When a power supply system is constructed, in addition to a further expansion of a power distribution grid in a more stable way, a main issue has been providing such a system with a capability of introducing a large amount of natural energy. A power network system called Digital Grid (registered trademark) has been proposed as a new power network (see Patent literature 1 and Non-patent literature 1). Digital Grid (registered trademark) is a power network system in which a power network is partitioned into small-sized cells and these cells are asynchronously interconnected. Each power cell may be small (e.g., a house, a building, or a commercial facility) or may be large (e.g., a prefecture or a municipality). Each power cell naturally includes a load, and may also include a power generation facility or a power storage system. The power generation facility may be, as an example, a power generation facility that uses natural energy generated by, for example, photovoltaic power, wind power, and geothermal power.
In order to freely generate power inside each power cell and to further smoothly interchange power among the power cells, the power cells are asynchronously connected. (That is, even when the plurality of power cells are interconnected, a frequency, a phase, and a voltage of power used in each power cell are asynchronous with those used in other power cells.) FIG. 71 shows an example of a power network system 10.
In FIG. 71, a utility grid 11 sends bulk power from a large-scale power plant 12. A plurality of power cells 21-24 is arranged. Each of the power cells 21-24 includes a load such as a house 31 and a building 32, power generation facilities 33 and 34, and a power storage system 35. The power generation facility may include, as an example, a solar panel 33 and a wind turbine 34. The power storage system is, for example, a storage battery 35. In this specification, the power generation facility and the power storage system may be collectively called a distributed power supply.
Further, the power cells 21-24 respectively include power routers 41-44 which serve as connection ports to be connected to other power cells or the utility grid 11. Each of the power routers 41-44 includes a plurality of legs (LEG). (Due to space constraints, the symbols for the legs are omitted in FIG. 71. It should be interpreted that the white circles attached to the power routers 41-44 are connection terminals of each leg.)
Now, each leg includes a connection terminal and a power conversion unit, and an address is attached to each leg. The power conversion by the leg means converting AC to DC or DC to AC and changing the phase, the frequency, and the voltage of the power.
All the power routers 41-44 are connected to a management server 50 by a communication network 51 and operations of all the power routers 41-44 are integrally controlled by the management server 50. For example, the management server 50 instructs each of the power routers 41-44 to transmit or receive power for each leg using the address attached to each leg. Accordingly, power is interchanged among power cells through the power routers 41-44.
Since power interchange among the power cells is achieved, a plurality of power cells can share, for example, one power generation facility 33 or 34 or one power storage system 35. If an excessive power can be interchanged among the power cells, a supply-demand balance of power can be kept stable while greatly reducing the equipment cost.
Further, Patent Literature 2 discloses a technique related to a power system in which priorities are assigned to a plurality of loads to which power is supplied according to the relative importance among the plurality of loads. In the power system disclosed in Patent Literature 2, for example, when the predicted available power is smaller than the demand of the overall load, the balance between the demand and the supply of the overall power in the system is adjusted by cancelling a connection(s) to the input power source for a load(s) having low importance.

Power network system, and power adjustment apparatus and method


Equipment for the preparation of electric conducting composite samples by infiltration in a mold characterized in that it essentially comprises:. a pressurization/infiltration chamber having at least one opening to connect it by means of appropriate tubes with a vacuum line and a pressure line and devices for sealing both under vacuum and under pressure; PA1 a sample-holder, inside said chamber, made of a material with a high thermal conductivity with one or more seats in each of which a mold is housed consisting of: PA1 a device for creating a vacuum in the chamber; PA1 a device for pressurizing the chamber; PA1 a device for the thermal treatment of the sample-holder.. a chemically inert and thermally stable tube made of a non-porous material; PA2 a plug, situated at one end of the tube, of a material which is different from the tube; PA2 a chemically inert and thermally stable spacer of non-porous material, situated inside the tube in contact with the plug;

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to equipment and the relative process for the preparation of electric conducting composite samples starting from powders, (this term also comprising lyophilized organic compounds), in the form of matrices or as a carrier by impregnation, adsorption or dispersion of liquids or by impregnation or adsorption of gases, which may or may not be insulating and of an organic or inorganic origin, to be subjected to instrumental chemical analysis with techniques for the direct analysis of solid conductors.
2. Description of Prior Art
Various advanced instrumental techniques and/of of consolidated use, such as, for example, AAS, GFAAS, ICP-OES, ICP-MS, LC-ICP-MS, voltammetry, etc. can be used for the chemical characterization of organic and inorganic materials and in particular for the quantitative determination of element traces: in all cases there is dissolution of the sample and dilution in water.
Some alternative anlaytical techniques, capable of reaching detecting limits (LoD) for many elements of less than 1 ppb, such as SIMS, SSMS, GDMS, allow direct analysis of the sample without preliminary chemical attack and subsequent dilution.
An application limit of the latter pair of techniques is due to the necessity for the material under examination to be a (semi)conductor. In the contrary case, the matrix must be manipulated so as to obtain a sample for analysis which is conducting; for this purpose it is possible:
to mix it with ligand metals (Ti, Cu, Ga, Ag and Ta are those most commonly used) or with graphite, PA1 to couple it to a secondary cathode, exploiting the partial redeposition effects of the vaporized metal coming from the cathode on the insulating sample, PA1 to subject it to infiltration, according to the preparative procedure described in "An innovative sample preparation procedure for trace and ultratrace analysis on non-conducting powders by direct current glow discharge mass spectrometry", (Battagliarin M., Sentimenti E., Scattolin R.--Spectrochimica Acta, Vol. 50B, Nr. 1, pages 13-25, 1995). PA1 introduction of the powder to be analyzed into a tube in PTFE of the equipment; PA1 insertion of a rod of low-melting metal ligand into the tube; PA1 vapor and gas evacuation and subsequent heating to melt the ligand; PA1 pressurization for the infiltration of the powder; PA1 cooling and extraction of the sample for analysis. PA1 it is essential to apply very high pressures, on an average not less than 10-15 tonn/cm.sup.2, with considerable stress of the moulds and relative contamination of the sample on the part of the material forming the mould itself; PA1 it is necessary to eliminate these surface contaminations by means of a vigorous chemical attack and a prolonged sputter etching; PA1 it is necessary to carefully clean the mould to minimize any possible residual effects; PA1 the ligands which are most suitable for the purpose and commercially available at reasonable prices, except for gallium and graphite, do not easily reach the desired degree of purity; PA1 a significant dilution of the sample is introduced with a decrease in the LoD; PA1 it is particularly difficult to obtain a satisfactory homogenization of the mixture resulting in a deterioration in the repeatability of the measurements; PA1 it is necessary to find the correct weight ratio ligand/matrix to have good mechanical resistance of the sample; PA1 traces of water adsorbed on the powder granules can significantly lower the sputtering yield and slow down the vaporization rate. PA1 it is essential to pellet the material to be analyzed by pressing with suitable moulds; PA1 residual effects are easily generated in the material in the mould, which must be eliminated with suitable chemical attacks; PA1 with this geometry the sputtering yield and detecting limits are lower than those obtained from rods; PA1 the selection of the material forming the cathode, the dimensions of the central hole (focal spot) of the cathode/mask, the presputtering and discharge conditions are extremely critical; consequently the set-up of an analysis protocol is rather complex; PA1 it is extremely important to have a mask made of material with a very high purity; PA1 optimum operating parameters vary considerably from matrix to matrix. PA1 equipment is used which already exists (designed for the preparation of composite materials with a metallic matrix [MMCs], for mechanical components by infiltration with molten aluminum and its alloys) which is greatly overdimensioned and cannot be easily installed in a sample preparation area of group 100 (for example, glove box); PA1 the design does not allow efficient control of the process development and it is therefore necessary to excessively prolong the residence times of the charge in the chamber to obtain complete melting of the ligand before applying the necessary pressure for infiltration; PA1 the material used for the mould (PTFE) is easily deformed and can tolerate only a few operating cycles; the main components must be frequently substituted; PA1 the seal (O-ring in Viton) does not ensure perfect insulation between the pressurized environment and the base of the charge; PA1 the molten ligand cannot be adequately confined once compressed; this results in poor reproducibility of the end-dimensions of the sample for analysis and a consumption of ligand of more than 25-30% with respect to the useful quantity; PA1 the molten ligand may come into contact with the seal; PA1 the degree of vacuum which can be reached is relatively low (1-10 mbars), as is also the rate at which the gases adsorbed on the matrix are removed. PA1 a pressurization/infiltration chamber having at least one opening to connect it by means of appropriate pipes with a vacuum line and a pressure line and devices for sealing both under vacuum and under pressure; PA1 a sample-holder, inside said chamber, made of a material with a high thermal conductivity with one or more seats, preferably vertically positioned, in each of which a mould is housed consisting of: PA1 means for creating a vacuum in the chamber; PA1 means for pressurizing the chamber; PA1 means for the thermal treatment of the sample-holder. PA1 charging a tube with the powder to be analyzed, after inserting the plug and spacer, this operation being effected either before or after the mould has been placed inside the sample-holder; PA1 introduction of a solid ligand into the tube in the area above the powder; PA1 closing the infiltration chamber after positioning a sealing device; PA1 evacuation from the chamber of the vapor and gases adsorbed on the powder grains bringing the chamber under vacuum, preferably to a pressure of less than 5.10.sup.-2 mbars, more preferably equal to or less than 3.10.sup.-2 mbars.; PA1 heating the supporting base of the chamber and consequently both the sampleholder and the mould in order to melt the ligand; PA1 pressurization of the chamber up to a pressure of at least 30 bars, preferably between 40 and 50 bars; PA1 extraction of the mould from the sample-holder, followed or preceded by cooling until the ligand has solidified, removal of the tube plug and extraction from the mould of the composite sample with consequent removal of the spacer. PA1 reduction or oxidation reactions or any reaction which can produce compounds with more thermal stability; PA1 lyophilization; PA1 preconcentration.
The equipment described in the article cited above essentially consists of a high pressure container which houses a mould containing the powder and metal to be melted and compressed.
The process using this equipment essentially comprises the following steps:
As an alternative to the above methods, sources can be used with discharge in alternating radio-frequency current (rf GDMS); the results so far obtained however, even if promising, are only partial and cannot be transferred to a commercial level.
For minimum quantities of material however, the infiltration system as a supporting means of the material of the sample is extremely useful if not indispensable.
Both the introduction of a conducting ligand and resort to a secondary cathode have a series of drawbacks which limit the instrumental performances.
The main disadvantages relating to each preparative method are summarized below:
For coupling with a secondary cathode:
For infiltration in PTFE mould:

Equipment and process for the preparation of electric conducting composite samples for the direct instrumental analysis of powders