A method for forming an image reproduction is detailed. The method includes: providing a media comprising a first side and a second side wherein the second side is opposite the first side;    printing a stock image to be reproduced on the first side with ink from an ink-jet printer to form an image precursor;    covering the image precursor with an excess of dry tannin powder wherein a portion of the dry tannin powder adheres to the stock image as imaging tannin and a remainder of the dry tannin powder is unaltered dry tannin powder;    removing the unaltered dry tanning powder; and    placing an aqueous solution of an iron salt on the second side opposite the imaging tannin wherein the iron salt migrates through the media to convert the imaging tannin into the image reproduction wherein the image reproduction replicates the stock image.

The present invention is related to methods for forming image reproductions which mimic legacy stock images using modern printers and inks. More specifically, the present invention provides a method for forming an image reproduction utilizing iron gall ink printing methods coupled with ink jet image production methods. More specifically, the present invention is related to image reproduction techniques wherein a, preferably legacy, stock image is reproduced to provide an image reproduction which mimics the stock image yet the image has an iron gall ink appearance suggestive of an original.
Many legacy images are electronically available to the public as stock images. These images can be downloaded and printed using modern printing techniques, such as by an ink jet printer, to be enjoyed by a new generation. Unfortunately, the printed images have a relatively flat appearance without the character associated with ancient printing techniques such as iron gall printing. Iron gall printing provides a hue and depth which is unique yet the cost of reproduction using iron gall printing is not financially feasible and the image durability is not suitable.
It has long been the desire of art enthusiast to recapture legacy images in some form which is representative of iron gall printing without the effort and cost associated with actually printing a true iron gall image. It has long been the desire of art enthusiast to replicate stock images, particularly legacy images, cheaply using modern printers while achieving the visual effect associated with an ink gall images.
The present invention provides an image reproduction technique, utilizing conventional ink jet printing and printers, with a treatment process wherein the image is transformed to one having a visual effect similar to an original ink gall image.


In one aspect, compositions comprising a population of core-shell nanoparticles are described herein. In some cases, the population of core-shell nanoparticles comprises a core component and a shell component encapsulating or surrounding the core component. Additionally, one or more radiosensitizers are disposed in or dispersed throughout the core component, or an interior region of the core component. Similarly, one or more chemotherapeutic agents are disposed in or dispersed throughout the shell component, or an interior region of the shell component. Moreover, in some cases, the core component is formed from one or more biodegradable polymers. Further, in some instances, the shell component is formed from one or more stimuli responsive polymers, such as a temperature-responsive polymer and/or pH-responsive polymer.

Lung cancer is the deadliest form of cancer and accounts for nearly 1.6 million newly diagnosed cancer cases around the world annually. Further, the 5-year survival rate of lung cancer patients is less than 15%, partly due to the advanced stage of the disease at the time of diagnosis.
Conventional lung cancer treatment strategies include surgery, radiation therapy, and chemotherapy. These strategies have limitations, such as, for example, high temporary remission and severe adverse side effects. Moreover, surgical removal of lung cancer tumors is not always feasible in some patients. For example, many non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients have un-resectable tumors. For several years, the main treatment for these patients has been radiotherapy (RT); however, the 5-year overall survival rate of RT patients is about 5%. Poor overall survival rates in NSCLC patients may also be attributed to intrinsic radiation resistance due to the increased ability to repair DNA damage after radiation therapy (RT).
Therefore, it is crucial to develop improved materials, methods, and systems that can overcome the above limitations and provide targeted and controlled therapy for effective lung cancer treatment for these patients and others.

Multifunctional nanoparticle systems and methods for cancer diagnosis and combination therapy

Board of Regents, the University of Texas System


Various embodiments of the invention relate to enclosure assemblies housing at least one electronic board assembly and systems (e.g., missiles or unmanned vehicles) that may employ such enclosure assemblies. In an embodiment, an enclosure assembly includes an enclosure having an interior surface defining an interior space and an inner diameter. At least one electronic board assembly is positioned within the interior space and includes a first peripheral edge region and an opposing second peripheral edge region. The electronic board assembly extends diametrically so that the first and second peripheral edge regions are at least proximate to the interior surface. In another embodiment, a plurality of electronic board assemblies are positioned within the interior space and each extends generally along a respective non-diametric chord defined by the interior surface.

Many weapon systems, such as air-to-air missiles and torpedos, and vehicles, such as unmanned undersea vehicles ("UUVs"), include an enclosure for housing control electronics and other components. Fitting commercially available electronics, such as PCI mezzanine cards, into such weapon systems and vehicles may be difficult because the enclosures may have unusual dimensions that are specific to a particular application. For example, a torpedo or a small missile may have a cylindrical fuselage that has a diameter in the approximate range of, for example, 4 to 21 inches, for housing control electronics, a motor, propellant, a warhead, or other component.
One approach for fitting electronics into an odd-shaped enclosure has been to design custom electronics specifically configured to fit into the enclosure. For example, a disk-shaped circuit board may be designed to fit in a transverse cross-sectional interior of a tube of a specific diameter. However, such custom electronics are generally not useable in enclosures of a different configuration, and are not scaleable for smaller or larger enclosures. For example, a 4 inch diameter disk-shaped circuit board designed for a 4-inch diameter tube may not be useable in a 21-inch tube. As another example, all of the circuitry on a single 21-inch disk-shaped circuit board may not be capable of being scaled down to fit onto a single 4-inch disk-shaped circuit board, so one may need to re-design and/or re-layout the circuitry to fit on more than one circuit board in the 4-inch tube.

Enclosure assembly housing at least one electronic board assembly and systems using same


A control system for daytime running lights (DRLs) is provided that includes a controller for controlling DRLs according to whether the ignition switch is ON and information from the dimmer switch signal of a combination switch, and a plurality of switches that undergo switching according to signals of the controller. Accordingly, if the combination switch is set to activate the DRL system when the ignition switch is ON, a closed loop is formed with both headlights, and the current available to each headlight from the battery is reduced to one half of what it would be if loops were made independently for each of the headlights. When the dimmer switch is selected to high beam, a separate loop is made for each headlight so that a normal amount of current is available to the headlights.

The present invention relates to a headlight system for vehicles, and more particularly, to a daytime running light (DRL) system in which intensity of DRLs may be controlled.
A headlight system for vehicles is generally used during nighttime driving or when the ambient light is low, to provide illumination of the road and of other vehicles to the driver, and also to enable drivers of other vehicles to view the vehicle. The headlight system is normally activated at dusk. It is also frequently used in bad weather such as when it is raining or snowing, again both for better illumination of the road and other vehicles, and to allow the drivers of other vehicles to view the vehicle.
For many countries located in far northern latitudes such as the Scandinavian countries and Canada, DRL laws have been enacted in an effort to reduce the number of accidents. That is, the DRL laws make necessary the illumination of the headlights during daytime hours (in the case of Canada, only vehicles manufactured since 1989 must comply with this law). The DRLs operate such that the headlights are automatically turned on at a predetermined brightness during the day.
In the case of the Scandinavian countries, the low beams are used as the DRLs, but in Canada the high beams are used since the headlights will last far less time if the low beams are used both during the day and at night. However, with the use of high beams, glare becomes a significant problem to drivers in oncoming traffic and to vehicles in front of the vehicle using the DRLs. Accordingly, a method has been employed in which 1.6 to 2.0 ohm(xcexa9) resistors are used to reduce the amount of current supplied to the headlights, thereby lowering the intensity of the high beams.
However, during operation to reduce the intensity of the high beams, heat is generated by the resistors. This may damage elements in close proximity to the resistors. Also, the generation of heat by the resistors makes resistor layout design in the compactly formed DRL system difficult.
In a preferred embodiment of the present invention current applied to headlights in a daytime running light (DRL) system (headlights as referred to herein are to be understood as being high beam headlights) is controlled to limit the intensity of the headlights using a current loop structure that utilizes a transistor array.
In one embodiment, the present invention provides a control system for daytime running lights including a controller for controlling DRLs according to whether the ignition is ON and information received from a combination switch, and a plurality of switches that are switched according to signals from the controller. Preferably the switches comprise four transistors. The first transistor has a collector terminal connected to the battery, an emitter terminal connected to a first of two terminals of a left headlight, and a base terminal connected to the controller. The second transistor has a collector terminal connected to a second terminal of the left headlight, an emitter terminal grounded, and a base terminal connected to the controller. The third transistor has a collector terminal connected to the second terminal of the left headlight, an emitter terminal connected to a first of two terminals of a right headlight (a second terminal of the right headlight being grounded), and a base terminal connected to the controller. The fourth transistor has a collector terminal connected to the battery, an emitter terminal connected to the first terminal of the right headlight, and a base terminal connected to the controller.
The controller, if it determines that DRL operational conditions are satisfied, forms a closed loop with the battery, the first transistor, the left headlight, the third transistor, the right headlight, and ground (preferably in this sequence) such that a current available to each headlight from the battery is reduced by one half as a result of the internal resistance of the right headlight and the left headlight. However, the controller, if it determines that conditions for operating high beams are satisfied, forms an independent loop with the battery, the first transistor, the left headlight, the second transistor, and ground (again, preferably in this sequence); and another independent loop with the battery, the fourth transistor, the right headlight, and ground (in this sequence), thereby supplying a current that is not reduced to the left and right headlights.
In another aspect of the present invention, a control system for daytime running lights includes a controller and a switch unit. The controller receives ON/OFF signals from the ignition switch and combination switch ON/OFF signals, and controls illumination intensity of left and right headlights according to the received signals. The switch unit is connected to the battery, the left and right headlights, and the controller. The switch unit varies current supplied to the left and right headlights from the battery according to control signals output from the controller.
In a preferred embodiment, the switch unit includes at least four transistors. The first transistor has a collector terminal connected to the battery, an emitter terminal connected to a first of two terminals of the left headlight, and a base terminal connected to the controller. The second transistor has a collector terminal connected to a second terminal of the left headlight, a grounded emitter terminal, and a base terminal connected to the controller. The third transistor has a collector terminal connected to the second terminal of the left headlight, an emitter terminal connected to a first of two terminals of the right headlight (a second terminal of the right headlight being grounded), and a base terminal connected to the controller. The fourth transistor has a collector terminal connected to the battery, an emitter terminal connected to the first terminal of the right headlight, and a base terminal connected to the controller.
When the ignition switch ON signal and the dimmer switch OFF signal are input to the controller, the controller performs control to operate the first transistor and the third transistor to ON, and the second transistor and the fourth transistor to OFF. When the ignition ON signal and the dimmer switch ON signal are input to the controller, the controller performs control to operate the first transistor, the second transistor, and the fourth transistor to ON, and the third transistor to OFF.

Control system for daytime running lights


In one aspect, a system for monitoring the frame levelness of an agricultural implement include first and second sensors configured to capture data indicative of a position differential defined between a soil surface and a portion of an a first and second ground engaging tool positioned below the soil surface, respectively. The captured data may be associated at least partially with the receipt of sensor signals reflected off of the portion of the associated ground engaging tool positioned below the soil surface. The system may also include a controller configured to determine penetration depths of the first and second ground engaging tools based on the captured data received from the first and second sensors, respectively. The controller may also be configured to monitor the frame levelness based on a penetration depth differential defined between the first and second penetration depths.

It is well known that, to attain the best agricultural performance from a field, a farmer must cultivate the soil, typically through a tillage operation. Modern farmers perform tillage operations by pulling a tillage implement behind an agricultural work vehicle, such as a tractor. As such, the tillage implement typically includes a plurality of wheels to facilitate towing of the implement. The wheels may be mounted at various locations on a frame of the implement to support the implement relative to the ground. Additionally, tillage implements generally include a plurality of ground engaging tools coupled to the frame that are configured to penetrate the soil to a particular depth. The ground engaging tools may be spaced apart from each other on the frame so as to provide uniform tilling to the swath of field over which the implement is towed.
When performing a tillage operation, it is desirable to create a level and uniform layer of tilled soil across the field to form a proper seedbed for subsequent planting operations. However, variations in one or more operating parameters of the implement may cause the implement frame to pitch, roll, or otherwise be oriented at an angle relative to the ground. In such instances, the ground engaging tools mounted on the frame may penetrate the ground to differing depths, thereby resulting in an uneven seedbed. Unfortunately, current tillage systems fail to account for such variations in the implement's operating parameters when performing a tillage operation.
Accordingly, improved systems and methods for monitoring frame levelness of an agricultural implement would be welcomed in the technology.

System and method for monitoring the frame levelness of an agricultural implement


Disclosed is a vehicle front structure, which comprises a synthetic resin shroud 3 formed to support a heat exchanger and mounted to a vehicle body in a front of an engine compartment, a bumper fascia disposed in a front end of the vehicle body, a plate member 20 which has a front end located adjacent to a rear surface of the bumper fascia and a rear end attached to a lower shroud section 5, and a connection member 30 which connects a lower end region of a lateral surface of a side shroud section 6 to a non-abutted portion 13c formed in a flange 13 of a bumper reinforcement 10. The vehicle front structure of the present invention can suppress displacement of the shroud during a frontal impact with a pedestrian or an obstacle such as a curb.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicle front structure, and more particularly to a vehicle front structure designed to prevent a shroud supporting a heat exchanger from being displaced rearwardly when a large impact load is applied rearwardly against a front end of a vehicle body.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, a vehicle is provided with a shroud for mounting thereto a heat exchanger, such as a radiator or a condenser, in a front thereof. This shroud has an upper shroud section, a lower shroud section and a pair of right and left side shroud sections, which define a generally rectangular frame-like shape. The shroud is disposed on a rear side relative to and in adjacent relation to a front bumper of the vehicle. In some cases, a plate member is disposed on a front side relative to the lower shroud section. This plate member is provided as a means to, in the event of a frontal impact with a pedestrian, flick legs of the pedestrian so as to prevent the pedestrian from getting into under the vehicle.
In connection with the above type of vehicle front structure, JP 2006-001358A (Patent Publication 1) discloses a vehicle front structure comprising a plate member which is formed to have a lateral length (a length in a width, i.e., lateral, direction of a vehicle body) approximately equal to that of a lower shroud section, and disposed on a front side relative to the lower shroud section.
Specifically, in the vehicle front structure disclosed in the Patent Publication 1, the lower shroud section is formed with a plate-shaped extension portion extending frontwardly from a front end thereof, and the plate member is fastened to the extension portion with a bolt. That is, the vehicle front structure is intended to allow the lower shroud section to receive and absorb an impact load through the plate member during a frontal impact with a pedestrian or an obstacle. However, if a large impact load is applied rearwardly against the plate member during a frontal impact with a pedestrian or an obstacle such as a curb, this vehicle front structure is likely to fail in allowing the lower shroud section to sufficiently absorb the impact load, and thereby cause a rearward displacement of the lower shroud section. Consequently, the lower shroud section is likely to hit against a heat exchanger, resulting in damage to the lower shroud section and the heat exchanger.


Systems, devices and methods of generating both a precision electrical timing signal as well as a precision optical timing signal. A novel, modified opto-electronic loop oscillator is used to drive a harmonic mode-locked laser. A novel opto-electronic loop has a larger “Q” factor by increasing the electrical loop oscillating frequency ω0 by using a beat note created by the selection of two optical longitudinal modes from the mode-locked laser. The beat note is detected and divided down to drive a modulator that mode-locks the laser. The frequency division stage also reduces the noise.

Electronic oscillators used to generate precision timing signals are pervasive in virtually every application of electronic devices, instruments, and systems. Despite widespread use, electronic oscillators are relatively noisy and lack adequate stability for applications that require very high stability and spectral purity.
Additionally, the prior art oscillators also has problems such as limited "quality factor" or Q that are not overcome.
Opto-electronic oscillators can convert light energy into stable and spectrally pure microwave signals, but fail to overcome all the problems of the prior art.
See for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,723,856 to Yao et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,777,778 to Yao; U.S. Pat. No. 5,929,430 to Yao et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 6,567,436 to Yao et al.; and U.S. Pat. App. No. 2003/0160148.
Thus, it would be desirable to overcome the deficiencies of the prior art.

Ultralow noise mode-locked laser and RF sinewave source

University of Central Florida Research Foundation, Inc.


Disclosed is a technique for inducing economic driving for a vehicle. In particular, a control unit calculates a driving resistance of a vehicle based on a current rolling friction, air resistance, and a road grade of the vehicle. The an amount of air-conditioning energy consumed by the vehicle is calculated by the control unit, and in response the calculated driving resistance and air-conditioning energy are substituted into a data map to continuously calculate the optimal economic vehicle speed of the vehicle in real time. The optimal economic vehicle speed calculated by the control unit is then displayed to a driver via a display unit.

(a) Technical Field
The present invention relates to a system for inducing economic driving of a vehicle that provides an eco driving guide to the user in order to reduce fuel efficiency deviations within the vehicle caused due to generation of a difference in economic driving speed depending on variations of a driving load, a driving speed, and air-conditioning power to thereby induce the economic driving.
(b) Background Art
An electric vehicle (EV) uses one or more electric motors or traction motors for propulsion. There are three main types of electric vehicles exist, those that are directly powered from an external power source, those that are powered by stored electricity, and those that are powered by an on-board electrical generator, such as an internal combustion engine (a hybrid electric vehicle) or a hydrogen fuel cell. Electric vehicles include, for example, electric cars, trains, lorries, airplanes, boats, motorcycles scooters and the like.
One noted flaw with electric vehicles is that they are limited by the energy density of the battery which can severely limit the distance that the electric vehicle can travel. Thus, they are often considered inferior to the internal combustion engine since the internal combustion engine can typically travel approximately 74% further than a purely electric vehicle with no alternative source of power.
In terms of an energy consumption characteristic of the electric vehicle, however, the electric vehicle has higher energy efficiency than the internal combustion engine and thus makes the vehicle more environmentally friendly and economical. Again, however, the relative energy rate consumed while vehicle driving and supplying air-conditioning in total energy consumption is relatively larger in an electric vehicle than in the internal combustion engine.
Furthermore, the amount of energy increases as a speed increases due to certain characteristics of an electric motor. Thus total consumed energy by one driver may be different from another driver when traveling the same distance at different speeds or when one driver utilizes the air-conditioner, for example, and the other does not.
Thus, the deviation in fuel efficiency is from one driver to another is quite significant in an electric vehicle in comparison to the deviation from one driver to another in an internal combustion engine. As a result, each driver's individual economic driving speed may be different depending on variations in the driving load, driving speed, and air-conditioning power supplied.
Currently, eco-guides have begun to be applied to internal combustion engine vehicles, hybrid vehicles and the like as a method of minimizing sudden acceleration and the use of a significant air-conditioning load. As a result of utilizing these eco-guides within the vehicle, fuel efficiency can be increased.
However, the current eco-guides provided in these vehicles only provide guidance as to the acceleration and minimization of air-conditioning use. There is currently no eco-guide that accounts for an economic driving speed that dynamically adjusts according to driving load, driving speed, and variations in the air-conditioning power.
Thus, since electric vehicle fuel efficiency has an acute sensitivity when if comes to load, driving speed and variations in air conditioning power, the current eco-guide are especially unhelpful in electric vehicles.
However, this problem is not only restricted to electric vehicles, but is also applicable to hybrid vehicles and the internal combustion engine vehicles, just on a smaller scale.
Matters described as the background art are just to provide a background of the present invention, and should not be understood to correspond to the related art which has been already known to those skilled in the art.

System for inducing economic driving for vehicle


Process for the recovery of aluminum and fluoride values from spent pot lining materials comprising the steps of calcining spent pot lining material to produce an ash having environmentally acceptable levels of cyanide contamination, subjecting the ash to a leaching step in a solution containing a mineral acid and a corresponding aluminum salt in such proportions as to dissolve the aluminum and fluoride values, and subjecting the leached liquid to thermal hydrolysis to cause precipitation of an aluminum fluoride product.

The carbon lining which forms the internal, side and bottom walls of an electrolytic reduction cell gradually degrades due to the extremely high temperatures and the corrosive conditions that exist during operation of the cell. This degradation gradually causes failure of the carbon blocks which make up the cell, allowing molten aluminium to penetrate the carbon blocks which often causes distortion of the cell. At this stage the cell is removed from service in the pot line. In addition to the carbonaceous cathode material, the refractory and insulating materials that surround the cell as well as the steel cathode bars imbedded in the bottom of the cell are also removed. This material is called spent pot lining or SPL.
During its life the carbon lining of the electrolysis cell absorbs quantities of the bath materials which include aluminium metal, sodium aluminium fluorides and other fluorides. Aluminium carbides and nitrides are also formed during cell operation and these are also deposited in the carbonaceous cathode material. Spent pot lining is currently listed as a hazardous waste by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as it contains potentially harmful leachable cyanides and fluorides that can enter the ground water during open air storage. As well, ammonia, hydrogen, hydrogen cyanide, methane and phosphine are produced when the material becomes wet. Various disposal techniques where the SPL can either be destroyed or the materials in the SPL used in other industrial processes have been developed over the years. However, of these processes none has been accepted as standard practice in the industry.
These include processes where the spent pot lining can be used as a replacement for fluorspar in the steel industry or where the carbon values of the spent pot lining are used as a supplementary source of fuel. For example spent pot lining has been burnt in cement kilns and here the cyanide is destroyed while both the carbonaceous material and the fluoride values are used.
Although fluidized bed combustion techniques for disposing a spent pot lining has been demonstrated on a pilot scale, this technique has yet to be demonstrated on a commercial scale. While the cyanide levels of the spent pot lining have been reduced to acceptable levels in such instances, the ash still contains the fluorides which have to be immobilized for example with calcium hydroxide, if the ash is to be disposed as landfill.
As the spent pot lining contains significant amounts of fluorine containing chemicals as well as appreciable amounts of aluminium which can be recycled into the aluminium smelting process, there is an economic incentive both for recovering these values and for producing a spent pot lining residue which can be disposed in an environmentally acceptable manner.
Examples of processes aimed at recovering aluminium fluoride from spent pot lining materials are to be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,508,689 Bush et al, 4,597,953 Bush and 4,889,695 Bush. In these processes, the pot lining material is crushed and leached to extract the fluoride and aluminium values. However, the processes described in the above patents do not address the problem of disposal of the potentially dangerous cyanide containing residue and the fluoride and aluminium value recovery rate is not particularly high.
A membrane process for treating SPL has been developed which uses low temperature solution processing using the well known cryolite recovery technology. However, the solution still contains silica, aluminium, iron and cyanide and these components can lead to membrane fouling.

Recovery of aluminium and fluoride values from spent pot lining


A flexible circuit is populated with integrated circuits. Integrated circuits populated on the side of the flexible circuit closest to the substrate are disposed, at least partially, in what are, in a preferred embodiment, windows, pockets, or cutaway areas in the substrate. In a preferred embodiment, the overall module profile does not, consequently, include the thickness of the substrate. Other embodiments may only populate one side of the flexible circuit or may only remove enough substrate material to reduce but not eliminate the entire substrate contribution to overall profile. The flex circuit may be aligned using tooling holes in the flex circuit and substrate. The flexible circuit may exhibit one or two or more conductive layers, and may have changes in the layered structure or have split layers. Other embodiments may stagger or offset the ICs.

The well-known DIMM (Dual In-line Memory Module) board has been used for years, in various forms, to provide memory expansion. A typical DIMM includes a conventional PCB (printed circuit board) with memory devices and supporting digital logic devices mounted on both sides. The DIMM is typically mounted in the host computer system by inserting a contact-bearing edge of the DIMM into a card edge connector. Systems that employ DIMMs provide, however, very limited profile space for such devices and conventional DIMM-based solutions have typically provided only a moderate amount of memory expansion.
There are several known methods to improve the limited capacity of a DIMM or other circuit board. In one strategy, for example, small circuit boards (daughter cards) are connected to the DIMM to provide extra mounting space. The additional connection may cause, however, flawed signal integrity for the data signals passing from the DIMM to the daughter card and the additional thickness of the daughter card(s) increases the profile of the DIMM.
Multiple die packages (MDP) are also used to increase DIMM capacity while preserving profile conformity. This scheme increases the capacity of the memory devices on the DIMM by including multiple semiconductor die in a single device package. The additional heat generated by the multiple die typically requires, however, additional cooling capabilities to operate at maximum operating speed. Further, the MDP scheme may exhibit increased costs because of increased yield loss from packaging together multiple die that are not fully pre-tested.
Stacked packages are yet another strategy used to increase circuit board capacity. This scheme increases capacity by stacking packaged integrated circuits to create a high-density circuit module for mounting on the circuit board. In some techniques, flexible conductors are used to selectively interconnect packaged integrated circuits. Staktek Group L.P. has developed numerous systems for aggregating CSP (chipscale packaged) devices in space saving topologies. The increased component height of some stacking techniques may alter, however, system requirements such as, for example, required cooling airflow or the minimum spacing around a circuit board on its host system.
What is needed, therefore, are methods and structures for providing high capacity circuit boards in thermally efficient, reliable designs that perform well at higher frequencies but still approach profile minimums.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


Silphenylene groups are incorporated into epoxy-functional silicones to improve the physical properties of otherwise weak and brittle UV-cured epoxy-functional silicones without adding fillers and without sacrificing fast, efficient UV cure speed. Such compositions are useful as conformal coatings, optical fiber coatings, and electrical encapsulation.

This invention relates to epoxy-functional organopolysiloxanes. More particularly, this invention relates to silarylene-containing epoxy-functional organopolysiloxanes and their use as conformal coatings.
UV-curable silicone compositions have become widely accepted as protective coatings for electronic components mounted on circuit boards. The moisture resistance, thermal stability and resistivity of silicones make them ideal for this purpose. The cure chemistry of radiation curable silicones is most often free-radical in nature, requiring a high flux of radicals generated by UV light radiation of photoinitiators.
A drawback to free-radical crosslinking processes is that such processes are subject to inhibition by atmospheric oxygen. The "oxygen effect" is particularly troublesome in oxygen-permeable silicone systems. Prompt cure response, therefore, is dependent on either efficient nitrogen blanketing to forestall oxygen cure inhibition or the use of amine-benzophenone-type synergist catalyst systems to overcome the oxygen effect.
Production ultraviolet facilities are not easily nor economically inerted, particularly if wide web converting or high speed processing is practiced. Furthermore, amine-benzophenone-type synergist catalyst systems, which are useful for overcoming oxygen inhibition in organic acrylate UV cure resins, are often insoluble in dimethyl silicone polymers. Fast non-inerted UV cure is achievable by combining mercapto- and acrylated-silicones with certain photosensitizers, but such systems are meta-stable and subject to shelf-life and pot-life limitations.
Currently, UV-curable silicone coatings useful for conformal coatings, optical fiber coatings, and electrical encapsulation contain silicon-bonded mercapto-olefin or acrylate radicals. Reference is made, for example, to U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,558,082; 4,585,669; 4,587,137, 4,496,210; and 4,780,486.
However, the use of mercapto-olefins or acrylates has several drawbacks. For example, acrylates are toxic and both acrylate monomers and mercaptans give off highly offensive odors which can persist in the cured products, and because of precautionary/safety measures entailed by their use, they are not easily adapted to industrial applications.
It is desirable therefore to provide conformal coatings and coatings for optical fibers and electrical encapsulation which are made from UV-curable silicone compositions which do not contain mercapto-olefin or acrylate functionality and which do not cure in a free-radical based crosslinking process.
Cationic (non-radical) UV cure processes are not affected by oxygen and are therefore well suited for high speed silicone coating and curing processes. Cationic UV cure of silicones has been found to be most practical with epoxy-functional silicones.
It would be desirable, therefore, to provide conformal coatings and coatings for optical fibers and electrical encapsulation which are made from UV-curable epoxy-functional silicone compositions.
Epoxysilicone compositions containing epoxy-functionalized silicone polymers and silicone miscible iodonium photocatalysts are presently used as release coatings.
High speed solventless silicone release processing requirements dictate that UV-curable epoxysilicone release compositions be limited to unfilled, low molecular weight, highly organofunctionalized polymers whose cured films are therefore brittle and easily abraded weak substances unsuited for other coating applications.
Conformal coatings are desired which are tough and have high tensile strength and high percents of elongation.
Accordingly, it was desirable to provide UV-curable epoxy-functional silicone coatings with improved film properties for use as conformal coatings and coatings for optical fibers and electrical encapsulation.
It was further desirable to provide epoxy-functional silicone coatings with improved film properties without using fillers. Fillers tend to block UV light which consequently slows down cure dramatically. Furthermore, it is difficult to incorporate fillers into low viscosity matrices such as epoxy-functional silicone polymers.

UV-curable silphenylene-containing epoxy functional silicones


Methods of manufacturing non-volatile memory devices may include separating first phase-change material groups and second phase-change material groups, which have different sizes, from a target including phase-change materials and faulting a phase-change material layer on an object by using the first phase-change material groups and the second phase-change material groups.

Example embodiments of the inventive concepts relate to non-volatile memory devices including phase-change material.
A non-volatile memory device used in a semiconductor product generally requires a quick operating speed, high integration, and a long lifetime. There is a device from among the non-volatile memory devices which performs a memory function according to a change of a state of a memory material. Such a device needs to maintain reliability and durability with respect to repeated change of a material state according to a memory operation.

Methods of manufacturing non-volatile phase-change memory devices


A method for optimizing a bioleaching process, at least in respect of heat generation and primary copper sulphide leaching, by actively monitoring and controlling inorganic and organic compounds in a raffinate solution, produced in the process, to levels below that which could be inhibitory to microbial activity of bioleaching strains used in the process.

In a typical heap bioleaching process low grade ore containing copper sulphide minerals, usually below 0.5% total copper, is subjected to biological treatment in which agglomerated or un-agglomerated ore is piled onto an impermeable base and then supplied with an efficient leach liquor distribution and collection system.
An acidic leaching solution is percolated through the ore. Microbes growing in the heap produce ferric iron and acid that result in mineral dissolution and mineral solubilization. Aeration in this type of process may be passive, with air being drawn into the heap as a result of the flow of liquid, or active, with air being blown into the heap through piping installed in a lower region of the heap.
A metal-containing leach solution (known as a pregnant liquor solution or PLS) that drains from the heap is collected and subjected to a metal recovery process which typically includes a solvent extraction step. During this step one or more metals contained in the leach solution are transferred into an organic phase of a solvent which has a high affinity for the target metal or metals.
The leaching solution from which the metal has been stripped by the solvent extraction process is referred to as raffinate and is returned to the heap irrigation system, optionally with the addition of acid and nutrients, and is again allowed to percolate through the heap.
For successful heap leaching of sulphide copper minerals microbial activity is required in order to catalyse oxidation of reduced sulphur and iron species. Reference should be made in this regard to FIG. 1 of the accompanying drawings which schematically depicts processes in the bioleaching of primary copper sulphide minerals such as chalcopyrite (CuFeS2) and secondary copper sulphide minerals such as covellite (Cu2S) and chalcocite (CuS). It is to be noted that the bioleaching of primary copper sulphides is normally significantly slower due to the more refractory nature of such minerals. Consequently copper recovery from primary copper sulphide minerals is usually less effective than copper recovery from secondary sulphides for the latter process can often be accomplished in sub-optimal conditions in which microbial catalytic bioleaching activity is inhibited.
In the case of secondary sulphide minerals the microbial oxidation of ferrous iron to ferric iron, at a rate that exceeds the consumption rate of ferrous iron during leaching, without significant sulphur oxidation, is often sufficient to result in significant copper recovery even at ambient temperatures. Ferrous oxidation rates occur rapidly relatively to reduced sulphur oxidation for a number of reasons that include the following: (a) a lower electron yield per mole of ferrous iron than per mole of reduced sulphur; and (b) a greater solubility and mobility of ferrous iron in the ore, compared to corresponding figures for the reduced sulphur species.
The rate of chalcopyrite leaching can be increased if leaching is carried out at an elevated temperature in the range from 40° C. to 65° C. By oxidising reduced sulphur species such as pyrite (FeS2) heat is generated and the temperature of the ore is raised. In order to oxidise reduced sulphur, conditions have to be significantly more favourable and optimised for microbial growth than is the case when only ferrous oxidation is required.
Sub-optimal growth conditions are attributable to at least the following:                1. incorrect pH conditions;        2. a lack of critical macro- and micro-nutrients;        3. a high ionic strength or total salt content of the percolating leaching solution which, as noted, is usually a raffinate solution;        4. the presence of dissolved or entrained organic compounds with inhibitory effects towards microbial growth; and        5. carbon- or oxygen-limiting conditions.
Total salt content is a measure of the presence of mainly sulphide salts with associated aluminium, magnesium, sodium, calcium and potassium cations or, more generally, any soluble anion or cation, of the percolating leaching solution. When the total salt content is excess of about 80 g/L to 120 g/L microbial activity is inhibited to an increasing extent. Microbial inhibition may however occur at lower levels of total salt content in the presence of particular cations and anions which cause specific inhibition (rather than non-specific ionic strength and osmotic potential inhibition), such as chlorides, nitrates, aluminium, fluoride and arsenic.
In a heap leaching system the target pH of the pregnant liquor solution is typically in the range 1.5 to 2.2. Acid is used principally to dissolve acid-soluble copper and to maintain such copper in solution, and to create an environment conducive to microbial growth and activity. The gangue minerals, however, are often acid-consuming and can react with the acid contained in the solution which is percolated through the heap. This reaction results in the release of salts, typically sulphate salts with associated aluminium, potassium and magnesium cations, that are carried as dissolved species in the solution. The concentration of such dissolved salts increases over time as the heap leaching process progresses and due to the concentrating effect of evaporation.
The increase in organic salts, in the aforementioned manner, results in increasing levels of inhibition of microbial activity. This can be a non-specific inhibition as is caused by high ionic strength (high osmotic potential) which results in reduced water activity which, in turn, results in lowered microbial activity. Alternatively or additionally the inhibition may be caused by specific inorganic compounds such as nitrate, chloride, aluminium, fluoride and arsenic. A common type of microbial inhibition (or sub-optimal microbial activity) encountered in a heap leaching operation is due to high total salt content which results in lowered water activity and non-specific microbial inhibition.
Organic compounds can exhibit a similar inhibitory effect on microbial activity. As has been described the metal which is contained in the pregnant liquor solution is stripped from the solution during a solvent extraction process. Although the solvent is substantially water-insoluble a small fraction of the solvent is indeed soluble and may end up in the water phase. This may be either as water-soluble fractions or as discrete droplets (micelles). The organic compounds, in either form, are then taken up in the raffinate and eventually are percolated through the heap. Some of the organic solvent compounds are inhibitory to bioleaching microorganisms and the introduction thereof into the heap can result in reduced or sub-optimal microbial activity. The organic compounds may be a primary cause of microbial inhibition or may contribute to inhibition effects due to inorganic salts. As the organic compounds are essentially hydrophobic, these compounds will tend to adsorb onto the ore material during migration in the percolating irrigation liquid. Such adsorption effects will have a more detrimental effect on sulphur oxidation than on ferrous iron oxidation. The reason for this phenomena is mainly due to the fact that reduced sulphur compounds are insoluble. Microbial oxidation of such compounds, therefore, have to occur at the mineral surface, and would thus be more negatively affected by surface- adsorbed inhibitory compounds. By comparison, ferrous iron is water-soluble and can readily be oxidized by non-attached microbial cells and is thus less affected by the presence of surface-adsorbed organic compounds.
An elevated temperature is not required for a sulphide heap leaching operation which mainly contains secondary sulphide copper minerals. The oxidation of reduced sulphur, which generates the heat used to elevate the temperature of a heap, is therefore not a strict requirement for the leaching of secondary copper minerals and satisfactory mineral leaching rates can be achieved in the presence of ferrous iron oxidation without significant sulphur oxidation. Since ferrous iron oxidation rates are less affected by sub-optimal microbial conditions than sulphur oxidation conditions the impact of a high salt content or of the presence of organic compounds on the leaching rate of secondary sulphide minerals is relatively unimportant.
Sub-optimal conditions associated with inorganic salts or organic compounds do however have a significant adverse effect on sulphur oxidation which manifests itself in a pronounced way in respect of the mineral dissolution rate of primary sulphide minerals, such as chalcopyrite, where heat generation is a critical factor in achieving a satisfactory leaching rate. Primary copper sulphide and pyrite mineral dissolution rates are negatively affected and the copper leaching rate from primary copper sulphide minerals is reduced.


Providing navigation instructions in an automotive environment includes generating, at the portable device, a test audio signal. The test audio signal is provided to the head unit of the vehicle via a short-range communication link. The portable device then detects whether the test audio signal has been converted to sound by one or more speakers in the head unit of the vehicle. In response to detecting the audio signal at the portable device, a vocalized navigation instruction is directed to the head unit for announcement via the one or more speakers of the head unit. Otherwise, in response to not detecting the test audio signal at the portable device, the vocalized navigation instruction is provided via a speaker of the portable device.

Today, numerous communication protocols and standards allow electronic devices to be coupled to external devices and direct video and/or audio output to these external devices. For example, a smartphone can connect to an external speaker via a wireless personal area network (WPAN) that conforms to the Bluetooth™ standard and play audio via the external speaker rather than the speaker embedded in the smartphone. In many cases, when an electronic device detects a connection to an external device at the physical layer (PHY), the electronic device treats the external device as the default path for output and automatically directs all audio generated by applications executing on the portable device to the external device.
However, a connection at the PHY layer does not always imply that the external device reproduces the output of the portable device as expected, as certain settings at the external device and various environmental conditions can affect the presentation. In the automotive environment, for example, a smartphone can connect to the head unit of the vehicle via Bluetooth, but the volume setting at the head unit can be too low, or the head unit can be switched to radio and process audio from other devices. A smartphone in some cases can connect to the head unit via Bluetooth while the speakers and/or other output components of the head unit are turned off, and thus he smartphone can provide audio to the head unit and not receive an indication that the audio effectively is being discarded. Moreover, even when the external device reproduces the audio from the electronic device according to the expected parameters, the user does not always hear the audio. A smartphone equipped with an audio jack, for example, can detect that headphones currently are plugged in, but the user may not be using the headphones.
As a more specific example, when a smartphone or another portable communication device executes a software application that provides navigation instructions, and the user operates the device in a car, the device often provides vocalized navigation instructions to the head unit, by default or in accordance with a user setting. The user may miss important announcements when the head unit does not output audio from the smartphone as expected.

Detecting audio paths between mobile devices and external devices


Generating a habituation-compensated library comprising a user's expected response to tokens representing stimuli that influence the user's affective state, the method comprising: receiving samples comprising temporal windows of token instances to which the user was exposed, wherein the token instances have overlapping instantiation periods; the samples further comprise data on previous instantiations of at least one of the token instances from the temporal windows; receiving target values corresponding to the temporal windows of token instances; the target values represent the user's response to the token instances from the temporal windows of token instances; training a machine learning-based user response model using the samples, the data on previous instantiations, and the corresponding target values; and analyzing the machine learning-based user response model to generate the habituation-compensated library, which accounts for the influence of the user's previous exposure to tokens.

Affective computing, which involves systems that are capable of recognizing and analyzing the expression of human emotions, has become a flourishing area of research. Currently, most of the affective computing systems are still research-grade endeavors that are usually not robust enough to handle the demands of real world applications. However, the continuing increase in computing power coupled with the miniaturization of sensors and devices is making widespread adoption of affective computing systems in real world, day-to-day situations, closer than ever.
One capability that is useful for many affective computing systems is the ability to determine a user's expected response to a stimulus. While currently there are some existing systems for measuring user response to stimuli, they are inadequate when it comes to real world applications. The experimental data they collect is typically generated in a controlled environment. In these laboratory-like settings, a small number of short experiments are conducted (typically less than an hour long), in which a user's reactions are measured to a set of pre-selected stimuli, such as pictures, video scenes, or music. One main drawback of the laboratory-collected data is that it is acquired over a short period of time, in which the user is exposed only once to a stimulus, or even multiple times, but within a short duration. However, in real world scenarios, a user is likely to be exposed to stimuli multiple times over long periods. For example, a commercial broadcast in a campaign that runs for a few weeks, or a service robot that interacts with a user on a daily basis. When a user is exposed to similar stimuli multiple times over a duration of time, the user's reaction to the stimuli can be greatly influenced by a psychological phenomenon called habituation. Habituation is a wide spread phenomenon, which is detected with virtually all animal species, in which there is a decrease in the psychological and behavioral responses to a stimulus after repeated exposure to that stimulus over a duration of time. It is often difficult to predict to what extent, or at what rate, habituation will influence a specific user's response to a stimulus. Thus, data from typical short duration experiments conducted in laboratory settings are usually not sufficient to model a user's response to stimuli accurately, since they cannot correctly account for the influence of habituation.
Another shortcoming that limits the ability of affective computing systems relying on laboratory-collected data to determine a user's expected response to stimuli accurately is due to the data being collected when the user is always in very similar situations. In reality, a user's reaction to stimuli can vary dramatically depending on the situation the user is in. For example, a user's affective response while driving in busy traffic might be quite different from the user's response when relaxing at home, even if exposed to the same stimuli in both situations.
Analyzing affective response data collected in real world scenarios poses new challenges, which do not arise with data collected in controlled laboratory-like situations. For example, while in the laboratory the user's response is usually measured for a single stimulus at a time, in the real world, the user is simultaneously exposed to many stimuli of different natures and originating from various sources. Given the many challenges and complications involved in the real world domain, a system designed to determine a user's expected response to stimuli accurately in real world scenarios should take into account the added complexity intrinsic to this domain, such as the effects of habituation.

Habituation-compensated library of affective response


A signal sensing device is provided that includes an optical system having a first splitting function by which a beam reflected by a magneto-optic disk is split by a small amount, a second splitting function by which the beam is split into a P-polarized-component and an S-polarized-component, and a third splitting function by which the beam is split into a first optical path and a second optical path. The second splitting function is carried out by an optical element carrying out one of the first and third splitting functions. A first photo sensor is provided with a beam receiving area divided into four parts, and an undivided beam receiving area, and a second photo sensor is provided with a beam receiving area divided into two parts and an undivided beam receiving area. The beam receiving divided area of the first photo sensor receives the P-polarized-component and senses a focusing error signal, and the beam receiving divided area of the second photo sensor receives the S-polarized-component and senses a tracking error signal. The beam receiving undivided areas of the first and second photo sensors are provided for sensing an information record signal.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a signal sensing device for a magneto-optic disk device, and more particularly, to a signal sensing device for sensing a tracking error signal, a focusing error signal and an information record signal in accordance with a beam reflected onto a magneto-optic disk.
2. Description of the Related Art
In an optical system of a conventional signal sensing device, a laser beam outputted from a semiconductor laser device passes through two half-mirror planes in a compound prism and is reflected onto a magneto-optic disk. A part of the beam reflected onto the magneto-optic disk is reflected by one of the half-mirror planes onto an error sensor provided for obtaining a focusing error signal and a tracking error signal. The other part of the beam is reflected by the other of the half-mirror planes and is split by a polarized beam splitter. The split beams are reflected onto data sensors provided for obtaining an information record signal recorded in the magneto-optic disk.
In the magneto-optical disk device, three kind of signals, i.e., the focusing error signal, the tracking error signal and the information record signal, must be obtained from a laser beam reflected onto the magneto-optic disk. Therefore, in the conventional device described above, one sensor is provided for sensing the error signals, and two sensors are provided for sensing the information record signal. When a sensor is provided only for sensing the error signals, however, the number of photo sensors is increased, and thus the optical system becomes complicated.

Signal sensing device of magneto-optic disk device for detecting error signal and information record signals with common photo sensor


A work support system that is suitable for dealing with a wide variety of work is provided.

Conventionally, for example, a work support device described in Patent Literature 1 has been known as a technique for supporting work.
The technique described in Patent Literature 1 is a wearable computer to be worn by a worker who works in a radiation controlled area. The wearable computer comprises: a function database that associates operation contents input to an input device with work procedures; an operation content collection section that collects, from the input device, an input operation content that is input by the worker among the operation contents; and a work content output section that outputs, to an output device, an output work procedure that is associated with the input operation content among the work procedures by referring to the function database. The output device notifies the worker of the output work procedure.

Work support system and work support program

Abstract: An AI manual system 100 extracts terms from a manual describing procedures, contents, points of attention, or other matters of work, based on a term table in which one or multiple terms are registered, and generates a rule describing a determination condition of a work object or work situation by using the extracted terms as elements. Furthermore, sensor information is acquired from the device 300, and the work object and the work situation that are associated with the terms that are the elements of the determination condition are recognized based on the acquired sensor information. Based on the rule and a recognition result, work support information is transmitted to the device 300.


A sock with pocket for storing items. The sock with pocket includes a foot portion and a leg portion extending from the foot portion. A pocket flap is coupled to the leg portion and forms a pocket between the flap and the leg portion. A cover flap is coupled to the leg portion and folds over an upper edge of the pocket flap for closing the pocket. The cover flap is detachably couplable to the pocket flap.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to socks and more particularly pertains to a new sock with pocket for storing items.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The use of socks is known in the prior art. More specifically, socks heretofore devised and utilized are known to consist basically of familiar, expected and obvious structural configurations, notwithstanding the myriad of designs encompassed by the crowded prior art which have been developed for the fulfillment of countless objectives and requirements.
Known prior art includes U.S. Pat. No. 5,027,440; U.S. Pat. No. 4,038,699; U.S. Pat. No. 5,625,904; U.S. Pat. No. Des. 344,175; U.S. Pat. No. 2,890,461; U.S. Pat. No. 4,961,235; U.S. Pat. No. 4,005,494; U.S. Pat. No. 4,040,275; U.S. Pat. No. 5,230,333; U.S. Pat. No. 5,133,091; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,157,791.
While these devices fulfill their respective, particular objectives and requirements, the aforementioned patents do not disclose a new sock with pocket. The inventive device includes a foot portion and a leg portion extending from the foot portion. A pocket flap is coupled to the leg portion and forms a pocket between the flap and the leg portion. A cover flap is coupled to the leg portion and folds over an upper edge of the pocket flap for closing the pocket. The cover flap is detachably couplable to the pocket flap.
In these respects, the sock with pocket according to the present invention substantially departs from the conventional concepts and designs of the prior art, and in so doing provides an apparatus primarily developed for the purpose of storing items.


An adjustable tie rod includes a first end defined by a screw rod, wherein the screw rod includes a threaded portion, and a second end opposite the first end, wherein an overall length of the adjustable tie rod is defined as a distance between the first end and the second end along a longitudinal axis of the adjustable tie rod. A tie rod shaft extends between and couples the first end and the second end, and a gearbox is fixed with respect to the tie rod shaft. An adjustment actuator is operatively coupled to the gearbox such that selective actuation of the adjustment actuator causes translation of the screw rod along the longitudinal axis and with respect to the gearbox when the first end is prevented from rotating about the longitudinal axis, thereby adjusting the overall length of the adjustable tie rod.

Two force members, such as tie rods, are structural components having pins or hinge supports at both ends that are designed to withstand tensile and/or compressive loads along the longitudinal axis of the two force members. Such two force members are commonly used in various industries, including but not limited to aviation, automotive, mass transit, and static construction, to tie one structural member to another, and/or to transfer movement and forces across components. For example, in aircraft, tie rods may be used to transfer forces across cabin equipment, floor panels, walls, stow bins, closets, and/or crew quarters.
During assembly, manufacturing, production, and/or installation of structures, such as an aircraft, tolerance variations and stack-ups may accumulate. To accommodate and/or account for such tolerance variations, adjustable two force members are sometimes employed. Often, these adjustable two force members may be rotated to adjust the length of the two force members. However, such two force members are installed with both ends pinned into place such that neither end can rotate to adjust the length, thus, the two force members must be unloaded and unpinned in order to adjust the length. In some cases, one or more installed components must be removed to access the two force members, thereby introducing unwanted inefficiencies and delays. For example, in aircraft applications, the installed components may be quite large and heavy, and thus difficult to remove to adjust the length of the two force members. Furthermore, such adjustments to conventional two force members may require the use of tools and/or may require complete removal of the two force members from the assembly. This often results in given installations taking multiple attempts via trial and error approaches.


The present invention provides a dental curable composition which has excellent curability and which cures into a cured product that is less susceptible to discoloration by hydrogen sulfide in an oral environment. The present invention is a dental curable composition containing: a polymerizable monomer (a) having an acidic group, as a polymerizable monomer component; and a copper compound (b) and a benzotriazole compound (c) represented by the following general formula (1) and/or a benzimidazole compound (c) represented by the following general formula (2), as polymerization initiator components (symbols used in the formulae are as described in the description).

Curable compositions containing polymerizable monomers and radical polymerization initiators are widely used for dental curable compositions for use as dental cements, dental adhesives, composite resins, self-adhesive composite resins, sealants, dental autopolymerizing resins, etc.
Radical polymerization initiators are broadly classified into photopolymerization initiators and chemical polymerization initiators, and in recent years, dual cure products including both of them have been widely used in clinical practice. Among these radical polymerization initiators, chemical polymerization initiators are usually composed of a combination of an oxidizing agent and a reducing agent. When these oxidizing agent and reducing agent are mixed, a so-called redox reaction occurs to generate radicals, so that a polymerization reaction is initiated to promote the curing of a curable composition. A dental composition containing a redox polymerization initiator is usually separated into a composition containing an oxidizing agent and a composition containing a reducing agent for storage, and these compositions are mixed together just before use.
Compositions containing acidic components are usually used for dental curable compositions when they are used as dental cements, dental adhesives, self-adhesive composite resins, sealants, etc. that require adhesion to adherends. As redox polymerization initiators used in such compositions containing acidic components, radical polymerization initiators containing copper compounds have recently been proposed.
For example, Patent Literature 1 proposes a redox initiator containing a barbituric acid or thiobarbituric acid, a peroxodisulfate and/or peroxodiphosphate compound, a sulfinic acid compound, and a copper compound. Patent Literature 2 proposes a two-component initiator system including a hydroperoxide with a specific structure, a thiourea derivative, and a copper compound as an accelerator.
It is generally known that copper compounds are discolored and turned black by hydrogen sulfide produced by cariogenic bacteria in an oral environment. It is thus desirable to add traces of copper compounds for use in dental compositions.
According to the present inventors' studies, the redox initiator described in Patent Literature 1 has a drawback that even only use of a sulfinic acid compound and a copper compound can initiate a curing reaction, but in that case, the copper compound must be added at a high concentration to ensure the curability of the resulting composition and thus the composition is more susceptible to discoloration by hydrogen sulfide in an oral environment. The two-component initiator system described in Patent Literature 2 also has a drawback that at least a certain amount of a copper compound must be added to ensure the curability of the resulting composition and thus the composition is more susceptible to discoloration by hydrogen sulfide in an oral environment.


The invention improves supply of an electronic circuit components by a component tape. When a number of the components remaining in each feeder becomes equal to or smaller than a predetermined number, an operator is informed of a fact that another component tape can be connected to a currently used component tape. In response to the informed fact, the operator connects the currently used component tape as a preceding component tape to the above-described another component tape as a following tape such that a trailing end portion of the preceding component tape and a leading end portion of the following component tape are connected through a connecting tape. A connecting portion of the two connected component tapes is detected by a connecting-portion detecting device in S11, and a two-dimensional code printed on the connecting tape is recognized by an ID decoder in S12. S13 is then implemented to determine whether each data element of the two-dimensional code corresponds to the corresponding data element of a bar code of the preceding component tape or not. If a positive decision is obtained in S13, the component supply is continued. If a negative decision is obtained in S13, the component supply is suspended. It is also possible to use, in place of the two-dimensional code and bar code, an information medium piece to and from which the information is writable and readable by means of a light such as laser light, or an information communication storage chip equipped with a communication portion.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electronic-circuit-component supplying method of supplying electronic circuit components in the form of component supplying tape or component tape, a method of providing an identification code in the component tape, and a method of providing information in the component supplying tape. The invention also relates to a component-tape connecting member, a connecting-member supplying device, an electronic-circuit-component supplying system and an electronic-circuit-component mounting system which are favorable for carrying out the above-described methods.
2. Discussion of Related Art
As one form of electronic-circuit-component supplying system, there is a system including a tape feeder arranged to feed a component tape which includes a carrier tape and a plurality of electronic circuit components arranged in a longitudinal direction of the carrier tape, in the longitudinal direction of the carrier tape, for thereby positioning each of the plurality of electronic circuit components in a predetermined supplying position. In such a form of electronic circuit component supplying system, if a wrong component tape which is different in kind from a predetermined one were erroneously installed on the tape feeder, unexpected electronic circuit components would be supplied. For example, where the electronic circuit component supplying system is used as a part of electronic circuit component mounting system for assembling an electronic circuit by mounting electronic circuit components onto a circuit board such as a printed-wiring board, unexpected electronic circuit components are mounted on the circuit board in the event of erroneous installation of a wrong component tape on the tape feeder, resulting in fabrication of defective electronic circuit.
For avoiding occurrence of such an inconvenience, conventionally, an identification information is provided in a tape reel, a tape storing box or other member which stores the component tape, wherein the identification information relates to the electronic circuit components of the component tape. The identification information is provided in the member storing the component tape, by printing a bar code, a two-dimensional code or other identification code onto the storing member, or by affixing a label having a printed identification code, onto the storing member. For example, when the component tape is installed on the tape feeder, the identification code is recognized by an identification-code recognizing device such as a bar code reader, whereby it is determined whether the recognized identification code corresponds to a predetermined identification code or not. If not, an operator of the system is informed of the fact (for example, see Patent Document 1)). This kind of system will be referred to as erroneous-installation preventing system in the present specification.
[Patent Document 1]
JP-A-2002-271089

Component information applying method and apparatus


A semiconductor arrangement having a first active region and a dummy region on a surface of a substrate. The first active region and the dummy region are spaced from one another without any contact, and the dummy region is closer to an edge of the surface of the substrate in comparison to the first active region. Formed on the dummy region, first active region, and a portion of the substrate surface is a dielectric layer. The surface of the dielectric layer has an inactive portion and an active portion. A mask is disposed on the dielectric layer such that the mask contacts the inactive portion and does not contact the active portion.

Masks are conventionally used to form desired films, layers, structures, and the like during the processing of a semiconductor arrangement. As illustrated in FIG. 1, a conventional two-level semiconductor arrangement 1 includes a semiconductor substrate 10. A first active region 18, a dielectric layer 20, and a second active region 28 are disposed on or over semiconductor substrate 10. In forming the second active region 28, a mask 30, as illustrated in FIG. 2, is applied to the dielectric layer 20. Application of mask 30 on dielectric layer 20 occurs at the highest point 21 of the surface of the dielectric layer 20 underlying mask 30.
Physical contact between mask 30 and the dielectric layer 20 at the highest point 21 risks damage to the dielectric layer 20, such as by scratching the dielectric layer 20. Damage to the dielectric layer 20 has not been a problem for conventional semiconductor arrangements, such as that illustrated in FIG. 1, because mask 30 contacts the dielectric layer 20 at an inactive surface portion 23 of the dielectric layer 20, which is an area that will be free of active semiconductor circuitry. The second active region 28 will ultimately reside on an active portion 24 of the dielectric layer 20, which is not contacted by the mask 30. Damage to the inactive surface portion 23 of the dielectric layer 20 can be removed without great difficulty by subsequent processing, such as by dicing. Alternatively, in some semiconductor arrangements, damage to the inactive surface portion 23 of the dielectric layer 20 can be ignored without affecting performance.
Recently, the increased demand for larger active portions 24 has led to the positioning of active regions closer to the edge of the semiconductor arrangement. This configuration more fully utilizes the substrate real estate. Such an arrangement is illustrated in FIG. 3: the second active region 28 is closer to the edge 25 of the dielectric layer 20 in the semiconductor arrangement of FIG. 3 than it is in the semiconductor arrangement of FIG. 1.
In forming second active region 28, mask 30 is again applied to the semiconductor arrangement 1, as illustrated in FIG. 4. The mask 30 causes damage to the active portion 24 of the dielectric layer 20, however, where the second active region 28 will ultimately reside. Unfortunately, this damage cannot be ignored because it affects formation of the second active region 28, thereby affecting performance of the semiconductor chip. Although further processing can repair defects of the damaged second active region 28, such repair processing incurs additional time and expense and is therefore undesirable.
The deficiencies of the processing of conventional semiconductor arrangements show that a need exists for a new semiconductor arrangement which limits damage caused by physical contact between a mask and a portion of the dielectric layer that will ultimately comprise a second active region.

Semiconductor arrangement preventing damage during contact processing

International Business Machines Corporation


An optical scanning system comprises an optical scanner, a first circuit for generating a reference pulse and a second circuit for comparing a benchmark pulse scanned by the scanner to the reference pulse. The comparing circuit provides an indicating signal of one of a less than, a greater than and an equal to signals as a result of the comparison. There is a third circuit for adjusting sensitivity of the scanner based on the indicating signal. In one embodiment a visual indication is provided to distinguish between the less than, greater than and equal to signals so that a manual adjustment can be made to the scanner sensitivity. In another embodiment, automatic adjustments are made if a predetermined number of less than or greater than signals are provided before an equal to signal is provided by the comparing circuit.

Photodetection of indicia on documents is well known. In such systems, a narrow beam of light is focused as a spot or slit of light on the relevant field to be scanned. The beam of light is moved over the field, either by the deflection of the beam or by movement of the document. Light reflected from, or transmitted through the document is focused on a photocell or other photodetector so that the indicia may be detected as variations of the photocell output. Typically, photocell outputs are small so that the photocell is connected to an amplifier and the amplifier output is further processed by the system.
Scanning indicia is complicated by the fact that the color or shade of the indicia may vary from job to job, changing the background or reference level against which the indicia must be detected. If the reference level is too low, extraneous marks on a document may be detected as indicia. If the reference level is too high, the system will miss parts of the indicia that are faded or lightly printed. In scanning indicia, such as bar codes or dash codes, on a moving document, it is critical that the reference level in an optical scanning system is optimally adjusted to read the scanned code accurately.
An optical scanning system for scanning dash codes is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,659,939, issued to John L. Lorenzo on Apr. 21, 1987 and assigned to the assignee of the present invention, which is incorporated herein by reference. The optical scanning system includes a potentiometer for adjustment to a sensitivity, or threshold, amplifier. However, dash code scanner sensitivity adjustment has proven to be a difficult task. A technician is needed to perform the adjustment which is a very subjective adjustment that relies on a trial and error method. Although a more precise sensitivity adjustment can be realized using an oscilloscope or other instruments, the adjustments are still subjective in nature and require trial and error.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a system and method which provides a precision sensitivity adjustment to an optical scanning system without the need for an oscilloscope or other instruments.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a system and method which provides an automatic sensitivity adjustment to an optical scanning system.

System and method for optical scanner sensitivity adjustment


A package for containing an integrated circuit component is provided which includes one or more layers with exposed edges surrounding a central opening. The integrated circuit component is positioned in the central opening. Bond wires connect the bond pads of the integrated circuit component to the continuous shelves of the various stepped-back stadium-like layers as well as to individual insulated leads. The layers are spaced apart by beads or columns of insulative material and the major portion of the layers are separated from each other by a gaseous dielectric, preferably air. The R-C constant is reduced and the speed of transmission is increased by the presence of the low dielectric material providing a device which can function rapidly. The stepped portions of the layers are exposed to allow for electrical interconnections within the layers, as well as from each layer to the integrated circuit.

Integrated circuits or "dice" are of such a small size that direct connection of the electrical connection "pads" to other circuitry is impractical. Accordingly, integrated circuits are housed in a larger device known as a "package" which contains conductive leads for providing electrical connections to the integrated circuit bonding pads.
Topology and manufacturing requirements for the conductive leads and other connections to the integrated circuit typically require that the package contain several overlying layers having conductive lines. To preserve the desired functionality of the device, these layers must be electrically insulated from one another. Typically, a layer of solid material such as a plastic, ceramic or glass has been provided between the layers to electrically insulate the layers from one another.
Such a previous configuration is depicted in U.S. Pat. No. 3,676,748 issued July 11, 1972 to Kobayashi et al. Kobayashi et al. also disclose providing two layers of leads located on different stepped planes, formed by using lead frames vertically spaced and insulated from each other.

Stadium-stepped package for an integrated circuit with air dielectric


An apparatus, method and program are provided for calculating a result value to a required precision of a repeating iterative sum, wherein the repeating iterative sum comprises multiple iterations of an addition using an input value. Addition is performed in a single iteration of addition as a sum operation using overlapping portions of the input value and a shifted version of the input value, wherein the shifted version of the input value has a partial overlap with the input value. At least one result portion is produced by incrementing an input derived from the input value using the output from the sum operation and the result value is constructed using the at least one result portion to give the result value to the required precision. The repeating iterative sum is thereby flattened into a flattened calculation which requires only a single iteration of addition using the input value, thus facilitating the calculation of the result value of the repeating iterative sum.

When data processing, it may be required to perform a division by a small non-power-of-two constant. Such division operations are commonly required in graphics processing. This may for example be the case when working with normalized numbers. An unsigned normalized number, sometimes referred to as unorm<n>, has a value in the range [0, 1] and the numerical value of a bit pattern x is
      x                  2        n            -      1        .For example for an unorm6, the formula is
      x    63    .The division by a small non-power-of-two constant may be required when multiplying two normalized values, or when converting to floating point or fixed-point values. One way to perform such a division is to multiply by
      1                  2        n            -      1        ,yet this multiplication is rather expensive, for example in terms of the area of the apparatus which needs to be provided to support such a multiplication.
All numbers of the form
  1            2      n        -    1  have a binary expansion of the form 0.000001, where the bar represents an infinitely repeating bit pattern and this example expansion is given for n=6. The size of the repeating pattern is always n bits. It is then possible to change the multiplication into a sequence of additions and shifts, becoming the sum Σa=1∞x*2−an. The sum is infinite, but clearly can be truncated to only evaluate as many iterations as are required for the target number format.
Nevertheless, there remains some complexity and expense associated with evaluating the result of the sum, which it would be desirable to reduce.

Apparatus, method and program for calculating the result of a repeating iterative sum


An apparatus for controlling shifting of a vehicle and a method therefor are provided, where the apparatus includes a storage storing a power map in which a demand power corresponding to a vehicle speed and an accelerator position sensor (APS) value is recorded and storing an energy consumption map of a power source for each gear stage. The apparatus includes a controller that detects a current demand power based on the power map, generates a power graph representing the detected demand power as the number of revolution and a torque of the power source for each gear stage, and matches the generated power graph with the energy consumption map of the power source to control a shift to a gear stage which consumes minimum energy.

In general, a vehicle has a transmission, which adjusts a driving speed of the vehicle using engine power. Such a transmission is classified as a manual transmission adjusted by a driver or an automatic transmission automatically adjusted according to a driving speed of the vehicle. The automatic transmission is installed between an output shaft of an internal combustion engine of the vehicle and an axle to automatically adjust a shift ratio depending on the amount of accelerator manipulation or a driving speed of the vehicle.
An existing technology of controlling shift of the vehicle controls the shift of the vehicle based on a shift pattern corresponding to a vehicle speed and the amount of accelerator pedal (an accelerator position sensor (APS) value). In this case, to prevent a busy shift phenomenon in which two gear stages are repeatedly shifted, the existing technology separately has an upshift pattern used to increase a gear stage and a downshift pattern used to decrease a gear stage.
When such an existing technology is applied to, for example, a six-stage transmission, it should have a default shift pattern (composed of five upshift patterns and five downshift patterns) and should further have dozens of shift patterns depending on a driving condition (e.g., a grade, an altitude, a drive mode, or the like).
Thus, because the existing technology should have hundreds of upshift patterns and downshift patterns, there is a need for a time taken to perform many tests and it is difficult to implement shift control logic.
Details described in the background art are written to increase the understanding of the background of the present disclosure, which may include details rather than an existing technology well known to those having ordinary skill in the art.

Apparatus for controlling shifting of a vehicle and a method therefor


Disclosed is an apparatus controlling an operation of a motor and control method thereof enabling to prevent a driving force of the motor from being reduced and actuate the motor for hours stably when a washing machine is operated for hours. The present invention includes the steps of detecting a phase voltage value and a phase current value applied to the motor between forward and backward revolution sections of the motor, calculating a phase resistance value based on the detected phase voltage and current values, and controlling the operation of the motor by controlling a voltage applied to the motor in accordance with the calculated phase resistance value.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus controlling an operation of a motor and control method thereof enabling to operate the motor in accordance with a phase resistance value varying by a temperature increase of the motor in a washing machine.
2. Description of the Background Art
Generally, a washing machine using a sensorless BLDC(brushless direct current) motor detects a phase current and a phase voltage applied to the motor built inside so as to actuate the motor.
FIG. 1 illustrates a constructional block diagram of a general apparatus for controlling an operation of a sensorless BLDC motor.
Referring to FIG. 1, a general apparatus for controlling an operation of a sensorless BLDC motor includes a comparator 1 outputting a comparison signal by comparing a user-demanding command speed(speed signal) Wr of a motor 5 to a presumptive speed of the motor 5, a speed controller 2 outputting a speed control signal by receiving the comparison signal from the comparator 1, a current/voltage command generator 3 generating current and voltage commands by receiving the speed control signal outputted from the speed controller 2 and a position signal of a rotor of the motor 5, an inverter unit 4 converting a DC voltage generated by the voltage command into a three-phases AC voltage and outputting the converted AC voltage to the motor 5, a current/voltage detector 6 outputting a current/voltage detect signal by detecting phase voltage and current values of the three phases applied to the motor 5, and a speed/position calculation unit 7 outputting a position signal by calculating a rotor position inside the motor 5 by detecting the phase voltage and current values and outputting a speed signal by calculating a real-time speed of the motor.
Operation of the general apparatus for controlling an operation of the sensorless BLDC motor is explained as follows.
First, the comparator 1 compares the user-demanding speed (speed signal) of the motor to the presumptive speed signal of the motor and then outputs the corresponding comparison signal.
The speed controller 2 receives the comparison signal from the comparator 1 so as to output the speed control signal. Namely, the speed controller 2 based on the comparison signal outputs the speed control signal increasing the speed of the motor 5 if the calculated speed of the motor 5 is slower than the user-demanding speed of the motor 5, and the other speed control signal decreasing the speed of the motor 5 if the calculated speed of the motor 5 is faster than the user-demanding speed of the motor 5.
Thereafter, the current/voltage command generator 3 receives the speed control signal from the speed controller 2 and the position signal of the rotor inside the motor 5 from the speed/position calculation unit 7 so as to generate the current and voltage commands. The current/voltage command generator 3 then applies the current and voltage commands to the respective switching devices in the inverter unit 4. In this case, the inverter unit 4 converts the DC voltage generated by the voltage command into the three-phase AC voltage and then outputs the converted three-phase AC voltage to the motor 5. In this case, the motor 5 is driven by the three-phase AC voltage generated from the inverter unit 4.
Meanwhile, the current/voltage detector 6 detects the phase voltage and current values of the three phases applied to the motor 5 so as to output the current/voltage detect signal to the speed/position calculation unit 7.
Subsequently, the speed/position calculation unit 7 receives the phase voltage value and the phase current value from the current/voltage detector 6, calculates the received phase voltage and current values to calculate the position of the rotor in the motor 5, calculates the corresponding position signal and real speed of the motor 5, and outputs the corresponding speed signal to the current/voltage command generator 3 and the comparator 1, respectively. In this case, the speed/position calculation unit 7 calculates the speed of the motor 5 and the position of the rotor in the motor 5 using Formula 1.
Formula 1
KEwrsin xcex8r=Vaxe2x88x92Riaxe2x88x92Lsdia/dt
KEwrsin (xcex8r+120)=Vbxe2x88x92Ribxe2x88x92Lsdib/dt
KEwrsin (xcex8r+240)=Vcxe2x88x92Ricxe2x88x92Lsdic/dt
In this case, R is a resistance, xcex8r is a rotor position in a motor, Ls is an inductance, Wr is a speed of the motor, Va, Vb, and Vc are phase voltages applied to the motor, ia, ib, and ic, are phase currents applied to the motor, and KE is a counter electromotive force.
Unfortunately, the general apparatus for controlling an operation of the sensorless BLDC motor fails to avoid varying the phase resistance value of the motor due to the temperature increase of the motor operated for a long time, thereby being unable to precisely control an operation of the motor and reducing a driving force of the motor.
Accordingly, the present invention is directed to an apparatus controlling an operation of a motor and control method thereof that substantially obviates one or more problems due to limitations and disadvantages of the related art.
An object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus controlling an operation of a motor and control method thereof enabling to operate the motor stably and precisely by compensating the variation of a phase resistance value of the motor due to the temperature increase of the operator which is being operated.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus controlling an operation of a motor and control method thereof enabling to prevent the driving force of the motor from being decreased due to the temperature increase of the operator which is being operated.
Additional advantages, objects, and features of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows and in part will become apparent to those having ordinary skill in the art upon examination of the following or may be learned from practice of the invention. The objectives and other advantages of the invention may be realized and attained by the structure particularly pointed out in the written description and claims hereof as well as the appended drawings.
To achieve these objects and other advantages and in accordance with the purpose of the invention, as embodied and broadly described herein, a method of controlling an operation of a motor according to the present invention includes the steps of detecting a phase voltage value and a phase current value applied to the motor between forward and backward revolution sections of the motor, calculating a phase resistance value based on the detected phase voltage and current values, and controlling the operation of the motor by controlling a voltage applied to the motor in accordance with the calculated phase resistance value.
In another aspect of the present invention, an apparatus for controlling an operation of a motor includes a revolution section detect unit calculating an operational frequency of the motor based on phase voltage and current values applied to the motor and outputting a section detect signal by detecting an operational section of the motor in accordance with the calculated operational frequency, a calculation unit receiving the phase voltage and current values in accordance with the section detect signal so as to calculate a phase resistance value, a speed/position calculation unit calculating a rotor position of the motor by detecting the calculated phase resistance value and the phase voltage and current values and calculating a speed of the motor, and a voltage command generator generating a voltage command to apply a voltage to the motor based on the rotor position and the speed of the motor.
It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description of the present invention are exemplary and explanatory and are intended to provide further explanation of the invention as claimed.

Apparatus for controlling an operation of motor and control method thereof


A releasable hood hinge assembly having a reset member, a return block, an overjump and a landing offset from the return block, the return block having a positive stop, wherein the reset member is idle in the pre-crash condition, engages the landing in the post-crash condition and is blocked by the positive stop from returning to the pre-crash condition in the post-crash operating condition.

Hood hinges interconnect a vehicle hood with the vehicle frame or body. The hood may be opened to permit access to any component (e.g. an engine or storage compartment) and may be secured in a closed position during vehicle operation.
Releasable hood hinge mechanisms that permit some movement of a vehicle hood relative to the body are known. Such devices may raise a portion of the vehicle hood during a vehicle collision, however deployment of previously known hood hinge mechanisms have been unreliable as the release and reset mechanisms becoming undesirably engaged with adjacent components preventing the intended hood deployment or resetting of the hood. Accordingly, a hood hinge release mechanism is desired that can be more reliably deployed and reset under certain loads and conditions.

Releasable hood hinge with positive reset