Apparatus to convert wind energy into mechanical and electrical energy including a variable pitch air-foil supported by tension guy wires on a wheeled structure constrained to move upon a continuous track. The structure includes electrical generators powered by the rotation of the structure's wheels to convert movement of the structure into electrical energy. The air-foil is supported upright on the wheeled structure, which is designed to resist upward, downward and sideways forces, to capture wind energy at a higher elevation above the ground where winds blow stronger.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to electrical energy generation, and more particularly to the generation of electrical energy from wind energy.
2. Description of the Prior Art
With the energy crisis facing most industrialized countries of the world brought about by the increasing scarcity and rapidly escalating cost of oil and natural gas, utility companies have realized that alternative sources to oil and natural gas of electrical power generation must be developed and utilized. Such alternative sources, such as nuclear, hydro-electric power generation, solar power generation and wind power generation must be developed and utilized.
However, because of the increasing public outcry as to further reliance on nuclear power generation, that alternative is becoming increasingly a less viable alternate to fossil fuel power generation. Hydro-electric generation is limited to geographical areas with sufficient water resources to operate such facilities and solar power generation technology has not advanced to a state where it would lend itself to generation of sufficient power to supply the present critical needs.
In 1972 the Solar Energy Panel of the National Science Foundation and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration estimated that there are 100,000 gigawatts of recoverable wind energy in the United States alone. This is one hundred times as much electrical power as is estimated to be required in the United States in 1980.
There is a cubic relationship between wind speed and power, that is power is proportional to wind speed cubed. Wind speeds increase logarithmically with height and over a level area the wind at an elevation of 220 feet will blow 1.27 times as fast as at a 50 foot elevation. Because of the cubic relationship between power and wind speed the power available from the wind at the 220 foot elevation would be 2.051 times as great as the power available at the 50 foot elevation.
Thus, it has been proposed to attempt to harness the tremendous energy present in the wind to generate electrical energy. Such prior proposals to harness wind energy have centered around variations of the windmill to capture the wind energy. Recent developments in this area are reflected by the proposed ERDA-NASA wind turbine which mounts a variable pitch propeller of about 125 feet in diameter on a fixed tower 100 feet in height.
As presently designed, the ERDA-NASA wind turbine operates at a constant speed of 40 rpm in wind speeds between 6 and 60 mph with the turbine blades being fully feathered in wind speeds above 60 mph. The rotor, transmission, generator and controls of the ERDA-NASA wind turbine are mounted on a rotatable bedplate at the top of the 100 foot high tower. Torque is transmitted from the rotor hub to the electrical generator through a gear box with a speed ratio of 45 to 1. Rated capacity of this unit is rated at 100 KW in an 18 mph wind. This type of wind turbine sacrifices power output at wind speeds greater than 18 mph because at higher wind speeds the rotor is maintained at 40 rpm by varying the pitch of the rotor blades to maintain the constant rated power output of 100 KW. Power is also sacrificed at wind speeds less than 18 mph by changing generator loadings to maintain the rotor turning at the required 40 rpm.
In addition, wind tunnel tests suggest that the minimum permissible spacing required between adjacent ERDA-NASA type wind turbines to prevent interaction of the rotors is ten times the rotor diameter. With a rotor diameter of 125 feet the minimum spacing between adjacent units would be 1,250 feet. At that spacing, at an average power output of 100 KW each, to produce 100 magawatts of rated power capacity would require an area of about 90 square miles.
Thus, it is evident that for large power requirements the ERDA-NASA type wind turbine is not a viable solution because of the large land mass needed to sustain a wind turbine farm. In addition, capital costs of construction are high.


The present invention provides a sandwich assay for quantifying a glycoprotein, which is a substance to be detected, in a sample using a labeled lectin, wherein the effect attributed to a contaminant, namely noise on the quantified value of the substance to be detected, is suppressed by introduction of a simple treatment. The sandwich assay includes a treatment for inhibiting the binding of the labeled lectin to a sugar chain carried by the contaminant non-specifically adsorbed to the measurement region, which contaminant is contained in the sample and which sugar chain is the same as that of the substance to be detected.

In order to allow proteins bearing a principal role in the biological life functions to orderly and properly exhibit their functions in vivo, post-translation modifications including glycosylation play an extremely important role. With regard to the post-translation modifications, the following findings were gradually made in recent years. The majority of the proteins in a living body are modified with sugar chains, and those sugar chains attached to the proteins play important roles in various aspects of biological phenomena, including protein stability, binding with hormones, binding with toxins, viral infection, mycoplasma infection, bacterial infection, protozoan infestation, fertilization, development and differentiation, cancer cell metastasis, apoptosis and the like. Even when proteins have the same amino acid sequence and the same name, such proteins are modified with a wide variety of sugar chains and, depending on the condition of the protein-producing cells, the structures of the sugar chains vary and the proteins thus have different roles in vivo.
The relationships between such changes in sugar chains and diseases have also been gradually elucidated. For example, Patent Document 1 describes as follows with regard to prostate-specific antigens (hereinafter, referred to as "PSAs") which indicate that a subject has a prostate disease. That is, it is described that, as compared to blood samples derived from prostatic hyperplasia patients, those blood samples derived from prostate cancer patients contain a greater amount of a prostate-specific antigen having a specific sugar residue, i.e., an N-acetyl-D-galactosamine β1-4 N-acetylglucosamine (hereinafter, referred to as "LacdiNAc") residue (this prostate-specific antigen is hereinafter referred to as "LacdiNAc-PSA") and/or a fucose-α(1,2)-galactose β1→4 N-acetylglucosamine residue in its sugar chain. This means that the onset of prostate cancer changes the sugar chains of PSAs and this leads to an increase in the amount of PSAs having the above-described specific sugar residue(s), as a result of which a high concentration of PSAs having the specific sugar residue(s) is observed in blood samples of prostate cancer patients. On the other hand, since the onset of prostatic hyperplasia does not cause such a change in the sugar chains, prostatic hyperplasia patients are not observed with a change in the concentration of PSAs having the specific sugar residue(s). On the basis of this, Patent Document 1 discloses a method of distinguishing prostate cancer by fraction measurement of sugar chains, which method is capable of distinguishing a prostate cancer patient from a prostatic hyperplasia patient by measuring, in their blood samples, the concentration of PSAs having the above-described specific sugar residue(s).
In addition, there have been known, for example, such methods of identifying liver cancer by fraction measurement of α-fetoprotein (AFP) sugar chain as disclosed in Patent Document 2 and Non-patent Document 1, as well as such methods of identifying adenocarcinoma by fraction measurement of carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) sugar chain as disclosed in Non-patent Documents 2 and 3.
For specific detection of a glycoprotein containing a specific sugar residue in its sugar chain, proteins called lectin that are capable of specifically recognizing and binding to such sugar residue are widely utilized. This is because it is very difficult to prepare an antibody whose epitope is a sugar chain, particularly an antibody whose epitope is a specific sugar residue, and such an antibody is thus hardly available. Lectins not only are inexpensive and available in a large amount but also have excellent stability and can thus be stored over a long time.
For example, Wisteria floribunda lectin (Wisteria floribunda agglutinin: hereinafter, referred to as "WFA") is known to have N-acetylgalactosamine as its primary binding sugar residue. Patent Document 1 discloses a method in which WFA having such a property is bound to a carrier and loaded to a column and a PSA having a LacdiNAc residue in a side chain of an asparagine-linked sugar chain is subsequently fractionated and quantified by ELISA or the like. In addition, Patent Document 3 discloses a method in which a solid-phase anti-PSA antibody and a fluorescently labeled WFA are allowed to form a sandwich complex with a PSA having a LacdiNAc residue in a side chain of its sugar chain and this PSA having the specific sugar residue is then quantified by SPFS (Surface Plasmon-field enhanced Fluorescence Spectroscopy).
Lectins, however, have such drawbacks of having lower binding activity and lower specificity of binding to sugar chains than antibodies. For example, Wisteria floribunda lectin (WFA) has N-acetylgalactosamine residue as its primary binding site; however, Wisteria floribunda lectin slightly binds with a galactose residue as well. Therefore, when a galactose residue-containing sugar chain exists in a reaction system, Wisteria floribunda lectin also binds to this sugar chain and thus cannot be specifically bound only to N-acetylgalactosamine residue-containing sugar chains.
Sandwich assays capable of simply and quantitatively analyzing a specific sugar chain-containing protein (glycoprotein) as a substance to be detected are performed using a lectin having such characteristics in combination with an antibody. An antibody which specifically binds to a protein moiety of a glycoprotein is immobilized on a substrate and used as a solid-phase antibody, and a lectin whose primary binding target is a sugar residue contained in a sugar chain of a glycoprotein is linked with a labeling agent and used as a labeled lectin.
However, although this technique is effective when the substance to be detected, which is a glycoprotein, is purified to a certain extent, since the labeled lectin binds not only to a sugar chain of the substance to be detected but also to sugar chains of contaminants, this technique generates a large background (noise) and shows markedly reduced performance in terms of sensitivity and quantitative capacity in a system that contains a large amount of contaminants, for example, glycoproteins and glycolipids other than the substance to be detected, as in blood, urine and the like that are used as a sample in ordinary disease diagnosis. Therefore, in ordinary diagnosis using blood or the like as a sample, it accompanies a great deal of difficulty to accurately perform a quantitative analysis by a sandwich assay using a lectin and an antibody and, in fact, such a sandwich assay is utilized only in diagnosis where the detection subject is a limited type of glycoprotein that is contained in serum at an extremely high concentration (about several μg/mL).
As methods for reducing the effects (background) of contaminants, there have been examined, for example, a method of using a blocking agent such as bovine serum albumin (BSA) or casein for inhibiting the adsorption of serum contaminants to the surface of a support on which an antibody is immobilized (Patent Document 4); a method of adding an adsorbent, for example, a polymer or a sugar chain complex such as glycosaminoglycan or heparin, for allowing contaminants (non-specific substances), which inhibit antigen-antibody reaction and cause noise, to adsorb thereto and thereby removing the contaminants from the reaction system (Patent Documents 5 and 6); and a method of using a washing liquid having a specific salt strength and a specific formation of surfactant and the like for efficiently removing contaminants adsorbed to a support (Patent Document 4).
However, even with the above-described background-reducing methods, it is an extremely rare case where a drastic effect is attained in a quantitative analysis based on sandwich assay using a lectin and an antibody, and there is also a problem that the search and examination of a blocking agent suitable for the subject of interest require tremendous man-hours.
Meanwhile, the present applicant previously proposed a method of detecting a substance to be detected (analyte) having a detection target sugar chain in a sample using a labeling lectin that binds to plural kinds of sugar chains including the detection target sugar chain and non-detection-target sugar chains, wherein the method comprises: a labeling treatment of bringing the labeling lectin into contact with the substance to be detected prior to the detection step of detecting the substance to be detected bound with the labeling lectin; and a masking treatment of bringing a sugar chain-recognizing molecule for masking, which binds to at least one of the non-detection-target sugar chains, into contact with contaminants having the non-detection-target sugar chains (Patent Document 7). That is, by performing the masking treatment on the non-detection-target sugar chains of contaminants to which the labeling lectin collaterally binds using the sugar chain-recognizing molecule for masking, the labeling lectin is enabled to preferentially bind to the detection target sugar chain contained in the substance to be detected, so that the background noise can be reduced and the detection sensitivity and quantitative performance for the substance to be detected can be improved. As the sugar chain-recognizing molecule for masking, a lectin which mainly recognizes and binds to the non-detection-target sugar chains rather than the detection target sugar chain and is different from the labeling lectin can be used.
However, the method of detecting a substance to be detected according to Patent Document 7 is applicable when a contaminant has a sugar chain containing a sugar residue that is recognized by the same lectin but different from that of the substance to be detected. Further, when such a contaminant is contained in a sample in a large amount, in the invention described in Patent Document 7, since it is required to add a sugar chain-recognizing molecule for masking (a lectin of a type that is different from the labeling lectin) at a high concentration, the reagent cost is increased or else the masking efficiency is reduced. Patent Document 7 discloses neither a means capable of efficiently suppressing the effect of such contaminant having a sugar chain that contains the same sugar residue as the substance to be detected, in a sample in a large amount, nor that the use of such a means can actually markedly improve the measurement sensitivity and quantitative performance for the substance to be detected.
Further, the present applicant has also proposed a method of suppressing non-specific signals in SPFS immunoassay in which a glycoprotein can be a compound to be measured, the method comprising performing at least one of the followings for the suppression of non-specific signals originating from contaminants: a pretreatment of adding an acid or an alkali to a sample; a pretreatment of adding a metal ion to the sample; and a pretreatment of heating the sample (Patent Document 8). By performing these pretreatments to change (modify) the structures of the contaminants, non-specific adsorption of the contaminants to a sensor section can be inhibited. However, in Patent Document 8 as well, there is disclosed no means capable of efficiently suppressing the effects of a contaminant (e.g., glycoprotein) having a sugar chain that contains the same sugar residue as the substance to be detected when such a contaminant is contained in a sample in a large amount.
In terms of these points, sandwich assay using a labeled lectin still has room for improvement.

Sandwich assay using labeled lectin and kit therefor


A rotational speed differential type torque transmitting assembly includes a rotor rotatably disposed in a drive housing. During rotational speed differential between the rotor and drive housing, hydraulic fluid is discharged out of variable volume chamber on discharge stroke of the associated piston. Orifices are provided to restrict flow of hydraulic fluid discharged, inducing a pressure rise and adiabatic compression of the hydraulic fluid, causing heat build-up in the rotor. In order to prevent excessive rise in temperature of the assembly, a temperature responsive type spool valve is provided to close the orifice means in response to temperature rise of the hydraulic fluid in the rotor.

The present invention relates to a torque transmitting assembly primarily for use as a torque transfer/split unit for use with four wheel drive vehicles, and more particularly to a rotational speed differential responsive type joint.
The above-mentioned related U.S. Patent Applications each disclose a torque transmitting assembly. This torque transmitting assembly comprises a first rotary member integral with one of an input shaft and an output shaft and formed with a cam surface at its inner peripheral wall. Inserted into the first rotary member is a second rotary member integral with the other of the input shaft and the output shaft. Carried by the second rotary member are cam bodies. The cam bodies are received in radially outwardly opening cylindrical bores formed in the second rotary member and follow the surrounding cam surface of the first rotary member during relative rotational speed differential between the first and second rotary members to reciprocate to define variable volume chambers filled with hydraulic fluid. The supply of hydraulic fluid to and the discharge thereof from each of the variable volume chambers are effected by a hydraulic circuit. The hydraulic circuit is provided with flow restrictor means for restricting flow of hydraulic fluid displaced out of each of the variable volume chambers to cause a pressure increase which biases the associated cam body into firm engagement with the cam surface. In this manner, the transmission of torque is effected via the engagement of the cam bodies with the cam surface.
In this prior proposed torque transmitting assembly, the temperature of fluid is elevated when the assembly is subject to rotational speed differential. In normal use of the assembly, the temperature rise is not excessive and thus does not cause any problem. However, in a case where the motor vehicle passes though a frozen or muddy terrain continuously for a long time, the torque transmitting assembly is subject to rotational speed differential for an extended period of time, causing the temperature within the assembly to rise to an excessively high level. As a result, some component parts of the assembly which are too weak to withstand such excessive heat, such as parts made of rubber or plastic and oil, are damaged or at least have their operating lives shortened.
An object of the present invention is to provide an improved rotational speed differential responsive type torque transmitting assembly wherein the temperature rise due to rotational speed differential is restrained, thus preventing heat damage on the component parts of the torque transmitting assembly.

Rotational speed differential responsive type joint


A method for transmitting data from a downhole instrument to a surface location includes running the downhole instrument into a wellbore on a line. The downhole instrument and at least a portion of the line are positioned inside a drill string. The downhole instrument includes first and second sets of fingers that contact an inner surface of the drill string. The downhole instrument measures an effect occurring in the drill string. The effect is due to perturbations in the drill string during a drilling process.

Top drives are used to suspend and rotate a drill string in drilling applications. The top drive is supported by a drilling line wrapped on a set of sieves and connected to drawworks at one extremity. The top drive supports the drill string via a thrust bearing. Mud may be pumped into the drill string via a swivel. Furthermore, the top drive generally includes one or more motors (e.g., electric or hydraulic motors) which generate(s) the rotation of the drill string. The reaction torque applied to the top drive may be transmitted to a mast via a set of rollers or slides attached to the top drive chassis.
In some situations, it may be useful to acquire data about the drilling process from within the drill string. However, the drill string may act as a shield against acquiring this data. In addition, because the drill string contains pressurized mud, it may be challenging to deploy data acquisition tools into the drill string. Furthermore, the drill string is rotating, which further complicates this task.

Top drive with top entry and line inserted therethrough for data gathering through the drill string


A process for producing polycarbonate from a polycarbonate oligomer and a phenol compound, comprising introducing the oligomer, caustic alkali and the phenol compound in the first reaction zone where polymerization is carried out to produce polycarbonate having a viscosity average molecular weight of 3,000 to 15,000, and then introducing the reaction mixture containing the above polycarbonate into the second reaction zone where polymerization is carried out while controlling the alkali concentration to the range of 0.05 to 0.7N by regulating caustic alkali supplied.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a process for producing polycarbonate and more particularly to a process for efficiently producing polycarbonate excellent in tone and heat resistance.
2. Description of Related Arts
In general, polycarbonate is produced by reacting a polyhydric phenol, such as dihydric phenol and more hydric phenol, with phosgene in the presence of an alkali. Particularly on a commercial scale, polycarbonate has been efficiently produced by continuous stirred tank-reactor process.
This process has a disadvantage in that polycarbonate having a number of hydroxyl groups as terminal groups is liable to contain an impurity because of its great affinity to water during the washing step, thereby causing problems such as poor tone and poor heat resistance of the polycarbonate product. Moreover, the molecular weight of polycarbonate is not uniform. Polycarbonate containing a relatively large amount of low molecular weight products is liable to stick to the mold at the time of molding, which is responsible for poor tone, and polycarbonate having a wide distribution of molecular weight is responsible for poor heat resistance. If the alkali concentration at the initial stage of the reaction is increased in order to shorten the reaction time, the chloroformate group of polycarbonate oligomer is markedly decomposed. Moreover, the above process has serious problems in the commercial practice thereof that the resistance time is long and a long time is needed in changing the grade of polycarbonate to be produced.
An improved method to overcome the above problems is disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 36554/1977. In this method, an attempt to narrow the molecular weight and to depress the decomposition reaction is made by using a tubular reactor. This improved method, however, is still unsufficiently satisfactory although the object is attained to a certain extent.

Multistage process for producing polycarbonate from oligomer


A toilet seat elevating system for assisting a physically challenged individual departing a conventional toilet. The toilet seat elevating system includes a frame having a pair of side members, a pair of cross members, and securing members for engaging the lower portion of a conventional toilet. An extendible structure attached to the frame and a seat member for moving the seat member forwardly and upwardly thereby assisting an individual from a seated position. A guide funnel is secured about an opening within the seat member for guiding discharged material directly into the toilet basin. A pair of arm rests are attached to the seat member for assisting the individual during utilization of the device. The extendible structure is comprised of a pair of upper arms and lower arms attached between the frame and the seat member. An actuator is attached between the frame and a lever structure that is pivotally attached to the frame and the seat member thereby elevating the seat member.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to toilets and more specifically it relates to a toilet seat elevating system for assisting a physically challenged individual departing a conventional toilet.
Individuals who are physically challenged, such as an elderly person, often times find it difficult to remove themselves from a conventional toilet after utilization. These individuals sometimes injure themselves attempting to remove themselves from the conventional toilets. Sometimes they fall from the toilet attempting to remove themselves. Hence, there is a need for an invention that assists individuals in leaving a toilet after utilization.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Devices to assist individuals from a toilet have been in use for years. Typically, an elongated handle structure is attached to a wall adjacent the toilet for the individual to grasp thereby allowing them to pull themselves up from the toilet.
Unfortunately, some physically challenged individuals do not have the physical strength required to pull themselves from the toilet. Also, some bathrooms do not have a wall adjacent the toilet for these handles to attach to.
Examples of attempts to solve the problem of elevating an individual from a toilet include U.S. Pat. No. 4,185,335 to Alvis; U.S. Pat. No. 3,473,174 to Cool; U.S. Pat. No. 5,592,703 to Jones et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,561,872 to Phillips; U.S. Pat. No. 5,142,709 to McGuire; U.S. Pat. No. 4,993,085 to Gibbons; U.S. Pat. No. 4,833,736 to Sadler et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 4,168,552 to Austin; U.S. Pat. No. 5,027,446 to Robertson; U.S. Pat. No. 5,603,130 to Snijders et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 4,777,671 to Kearns; U.S. Pat. No. 4,587,678 to Love et al. which; U.S. Pat. No. 4,031,576 to Epstein; U.S. Pat. No. 3,925,833 to Hunterare all illustrative of such prior art.
Alvis (U.S. Pat. No. 4,185,335) discloses a movable toilet seat assembly. Alvis teaches a platform that is elevated by a pair of hydraulic cylinders. Alvis is positionable about an existing toilet.
Cool (U.S. Pat. No. 3,473,174) discloses a seat construction for assisting an individual from a conventional toilet. Cool teaches an upstanding frame member with side sections, an interconnection means and associated power operable means between the frame member and the seat for selectively pivoting the seat upwardly and forwardly.
Jones et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 5,592,703) discloses a powered toilet seat lift for assisting a physically challenged person to use a toilet. Jones et al. teaches a toilet seat having a passageway therethrough, a baseplate positioned about the base of a toilet bowl, and a pair of hydraulic cylinders supporting the toilet seat for vertical movement between a lowered and elevated position.
Phillips (U.S. Pat. No. 5,561,872) discloses an apparatus for raising and lowering a toilet seat. Phillips teaches a frame having a U-shaped base and a pair of parallel spaced support members projecting upwardly from the base at an inclined angle for supporting a pair of telescopic arms.
McGuire (U.S. Pat. No. 5,142,709) discloses a hydraulic commode assembly for lowering a handicapped person from a standing position to a seated position. McGuire teaches a hydraulc cylinder that operates on household water pressure for ellevating a seat.
While these devices may be suitable for the particular purpose to which they address, they are not as suitable for assisting a physically challenged individual departing a conventional toilet. Conventional methods of assisting individuals from a toilet seat require a wall or similar structure adjacent the toilet along with the ability of the individual to pull themselves from the toilet. Attempted modifications are not suitable in the respect that they do not provide a simple and affordable structure that can be purchased by the average consumer.
In these respects, the toilet seat elevating system 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 assisting a physically challenged individual departing a conventional toilet.


There is described a foamable formulation comprising a foamable carrier and an active ingredient which may be admixed with the carrier or packaged separately and dispersed into the carrier during the foaming process. Alginate gel is a preferred foamable carrier. The foam produced from such a formulation, and a foam sheet produced by drying the foam, also form part of the invention. The formulation, foam and foam sheet are especially useful for medical applications, for example in treating burns. As apparatus to store the components of the formulation and to generate the foam is also described.

A wide variety of gels, creams, ointments, lotions etc are available for application to a body surface. The exact content of such compositions generally depends upon the purpose of application which may be, for example, to clean a body surface, to promote healing of any wound or injury, to prevent an exposed area of the body from drying out, to prevent infection etc. In certain circumstances the composition may include an active ingredient which is administered to the patient by application of the composition.
One example of a commercially available gel in INTRASITE.TM. produced by Smith & Nephew Ltd. This hydrogel contains hydrated carboxymethylcellulose as its main ingredient, and is applied to wounds in gel form as a primary treatment in order to clean the exposed surface by aiding removal of cell debris, dirt etc. In addition to acting as a sloughing agent, the gel also keeps the wound from drying out, thereby promoting healing.
Another example of a gel suitable for use on a wound dressing is described in EP-A-0586260 of Courtaulds Fibres Ltd. The gel disclosed is an alginate gel having an alginate content of 2 to 11 percent by weight.

Physiologically acceptable foamable formulation and foam


A ring for use in spinning machinery such as ring spinning machines and twisting machines, which is usable at a high spindle revolutionary speeds of 20,000 r.p.m. The ring comprises a ring flange, a neck part, a collar and a trunk part. The trunk part has a ring fitting part and is provided, at the surface which contacts at least the ring traveller, with a composite plated layer of nickel and phosphorous alloy containing hard fine grains. The ring is further treated with heating and polishing processes to increase hardness and smoothness of the surface to thereby improve anti-wearing properties and heat-resistance properties.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a ring for spinning machinery, used in the fine spinning work, and exhibiting excellent characteristics especially in high speed fine spinning.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Heretofore, low carbon steel has been used in rings for spinning machinery, and carburizing hardening treatment has been applied thereon as a hardening treatment. However, in the above-described ring, when the spindle of a fine spinning machine is used at high speeds such as 20,000 r.p.m. or more, there has been a problem that the frictional resistance between the ring and the traveller increases, and the frictional heat rapidly increases to bring about the baking and blow off of the traveller after a short period of time, to make continuous operation impossible.
In order to solve the above-described problems, such a ring in which a composite plated layer is formed with hard fine grains co-separated on the surface of the flange (such as, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,698,958) has been considered. However, when the thickness of the plated layer of the composite plated layer is increased, surface roughness of the plated surface becomes coarse due to the hard fine grains being embedded in the plated layer, and there is a problem that a sufficient effect cannot be obtained at high spindle revolution speeds of more than 24,000 r.p.m.


A nickel-base alloy of, in atomic percent unless otherwise stated, up to 8 percent Fe, up to 16 percent Co, between 15 and 25 percent Cr, up to 3 percent Mo, up to 2 percent W, between 3 and 5 percent Al, between 3 and 7.5 percent Nb, up to 3 percent Ta, up to 0.2 percent Ti, up to 0.5 percent C, up to 0.175 percent B, up to 0.07 percent Zr, up to 1 percent Mn, up to 1 percent Si, up to 0.2 percent Hf, the balance of Ni and incidental impurities, wherein the atomic ratio of Al to Nb is between 0.4 and 1.7, the atomic ratio of the sum of Al and Ti to Nb is between 0.4 and 1.8, and, the composition including at least 10 percent of elements from the group of Al, Nb, and Ti.

There is a continuing need for new and improved alloys that are suitable for high temperature structural components and casing applications in gas turbine engines. The requirement for new alloys is driven by the desire to operate gas turbine engines at higher temperatures and pressures to achieve increased fuel efficiency. Benefits may also be derived from new alloys with increased microstructural stability during service, enabling increased component life. In particular, new alloys with higher strength may allow designers to reduce wall thickness and/or component weight, thus leading to the ultimate benefits of reduced material usage and greater efficiency. In addition, there is a drive for improved alloys that are amenable to welding, repair, or production through additive manufacturing techniques.
One class of existing alloys amenable to welding and additive manufacture is the group of alloys commonly referred to as nickel-based superalloys that contain comparatively low volume fractions of reinforcing precipitates. Examples of such known alloys include, for example, Inconel 718 (IN718), Inconel 725 (IN725) and René 220.
As known in the art, IN718, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,046,108, was designed to precipitate a distribution of gamma double prime (γ″) precipitates along with a very small distribution of gamma prime (γ′). IN718 is known as a malleable nickel-chromium base alloy having a particularly high combination of strength, ductility and rupture strength at temperatures of up to 760° C. Consequently, developmental work on IN718 established a method by which the precipitates could be formed with a compact morphology consisting of a y cube with a layer of γ″ covering all sides of the outer faces. As such, IN718 is commonly processed to produce a microstructure in which the γ″ nucleate and grow from a fine dispersion of γ′ precipitates formed at a higher temperature. This leads to a sandwich like morphology in which the γ′ precipitates are enveloped by γ″. This modification was reported to confer improved mechanical properties, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,972,752.
Additionally, U.S. Pat. No. 7,527,702 describes a Nickel-base alloy known as Allvac 718Plus. Allvac 718Plus is a predominantly γ′ strengthened alloy, which also precipitates a grain boundary phase: eta (η) (Ni3Ti) or delta (δ) (Ni3Nb). The Al is therefore the primary gamma prime forming element, but the Nb and Ti will also be present in the γ′ and help to strengthen this phase.
Furthermore, U.S. Pat. No. 4,788,036 describes a Nickel-base alloy known as IN725, containing correlated percentages of chromium, iron, molybdenum, titanium, niobium and aluminium. IN725 is strengthened by γ″ precipitates, with a small dispersion of γ′. This alloy was reported to possess good workability, high strength, ductility and resistance to both pitting and stress-corrosion cracking.
Accordingly, several other alloys, such as Ticolloy, have been developed to strike a balance between the γ′, γ″ and δ phases, tailoring them to meet the thermal, mechanical and microstructural stability requirements for varying industrial applications. In particular, Ticolloy is listed as having the same composition as IN718, but with a modified Al, Nb and Ti content [Tien et al., Proceedings of the 1990 High Ttemperature Materials for Power Engineering Conference, p1341-1356, 1990].
It is known that the ease with which superalloys may be fabricated, welded and thermo-mechanically processed decreases with increasing γ′ volume fraction as rapid cooling does not suppress precipitation. This leads to lower ductility and increased susceptibility to cracking during processing. Those alloys that derive their strength from γ″ have the benefit that the precipitates only form on slow cooling or subsequent heat treatment, thereby making the alloys more amenable to welding and thermo-mechanical processing.
Known γ″ alloys, for example, IN718 and IN725 cannot provide the balance of properties needed for operating at temperature in excess of 650° C. for prolonged periods. In particular, IN718 and IN725 are prone to microstructural instability. In the case of IN718, this is associated with the formation of the δ phase at the expense of the strengthening γ″ precipitates, leading to a loss of mechanical properties and unacceptably low component lives. In general, alloys of this type possess insufficient creep resistance, damage tolerance, environmental resistance and proof strength at temperatures in the range of 650° C. to 800° C. As such, they are not good candidates for service at peak temperatures above 650° C.
Accordingly, it is an aim of the present disclosure to provide an age-hardenable nickel-chromium alloy that possesses improved mechanical properties at high temperatures. It is also an aim of the invention to provide an alloy that may be used in conjunction with additive manufacturing and/or welding methods existing within the art.

Ni-base alloy for structural applications


Embodiments of the inventive concepts provide a semiconductor package and a method of fabricating the same. The method includes forming a groove to separate first semiconductor chips from each other. Forming the groove include performing a first sawing process on a bottom surface of a semiconductor substrate to cut the semiconductor substrate and a portion of a mold layer in a direction inclined with respect to the bottom surface, and performing a second sawing process to cut the mold layer in a direction substantially perpendicular to the bottom surface of the semiconductor substrate. A minimum width of the groove formed in the semiconductor substrate by the first sawing process may be greater than a width of the groove formed in the mold layer by the second sawing process.

The inventive concepts relate to a semiconductor and, more particularly, to a multichip semiconductor package having a through-via and a method of fabricating the same.
Light, small, high-speed and high-performance electronic products may be provided at low prices with the development of an electronic industry. Integrated circuit chips may be housed in semiconductor packages so as to be used in the electronic products. Various researches have been conducted to improve performance of the semiconductor packages. In particular, as high-performance semiconductor packages have been demanded, a through-silicon-via (TSV) technique has been developed instead of a conventional wire bonding technique for a semiconductor package.

Semiconductor package and method of fabricating the same


A technique for the delivering a client-based firewall. A firewall security device is configured for connecting to individual clients, e.g., personal computers, for providing firewall security measures directly to the client. The firewall security device is configured as a electronic dongle which is attached to an external communications port of the client, e.g., the parallel communications port. The incoming communications stream to the client from, e.g., public networks, is passed through the firewall security device. In this way, the firewall security device applies and delivers a set of standard network security measures thereby protecting the client from security breaches triggered by the communications stream received from the public network. Advantageously, the firewall is delivered directly by the client without intervention, use, or connection to a separate firewall server.

Advances in communications technology and the availability of powerful desktop computer hardware has increased the use of computers to access a variety of publicly available computer networks. For example, the speed of modems, which are well-known communication devices used for transforming a digital bit stream into an analog signal, has significantly increased thereby providing for the high-speed exchange of information across, e.g., the public switched telephone network (PSTN.) Today, a tremendous amount of information is exchanged between individual users located around the world via public computer networks, e.g., the Internet. One class of users includes private individuals and professional users interconnected via a private network, e.g., a corporate intranet.
The exchange of information between private and public computer networks has presented a variety of critical security issues for the protection of information on the private computer networks and the overall functionality of the private computer network itself. Numerous well publicized accounts exist of individuals known as "hackers" who have improperly breached the security of private computer networks and caused severe damage. In particular, some of the most sophisticated types of security threats are posed by programs which exploit certain vulnerabilities within network computing systems. To name a few, these program-related security threats include well-known logic bombs, trapdoors, trojan horses, viruses and worms, as described, e.g., by W. Stallings, Network and Internetwork Security Principles and Practice, Prentice-Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1995. Such well-known software program threats either work independently (e.g., worms) to achieve their desired security breach, or require the invocation of a host program to be invoked to perform the desired disruptive actions (e.g., trapdoors, logic bombs, trojan horses or viruses.) Such damage has included the destruction of electronic files, alteration of databases, or the introduction of computer viruses which affect the operability of the private computer network or computer hardware connected to the private network.
Computer network security, at a minimum, is directed to ensuring the reliable operation of computing and networking resources, and protecting information within the private network from unauthorized disclosure or access. Network administrators responsible for the operation of private computer networks employ a variety of security measures to protect the network from external security breaches by unauthorized users. One well-known technique uses so-called "firewalls". This security scheme essentially places a separate computer system, i.e., the firewall, between the private network and the public network, e.g., the Internet. Commonly, these firewalls are software-based gateways that are typically installed on a separate server to protect computers on a local area network ("LAN") within a private network from attacks by outsiders, i.e., unauthorized users.
In particular, the firewall server maintains control over communications from and to the private network. Essentially, the firewall server imposes certain security measures on all users employing the private network. For example, firewalls may block access to new Internet services or sites on the well-known World Wide Web ("WWW") because the security consequences are unknown or not accounted for by the present firewall configuration. One potential installation configuration of a firewall is that WWW clients can no longer directly contact WWW servers. Typically, this proves too restrictive, and network administrators employ so-called "proxy servers". Proxy servers are designed with certain features which provide for the forwarding of requests from WWW clients through the firewall thereby providing communication flow to and from servers on the Internet.
FIG. 1 shows such a prior art network configuration 100 employing separate servers, e.g., firewall server 120 and proxy server 140, for delivering firewall security to, e.g., private network 130. As shown in FIG. 1, firewall server 120 is a separate computer system situated between public network 110 and private network 130 for delivering network security measures to the communications exchanged between the networks. As will be appreciated, the investment in delivering the server-based firewall of FIG. 1 from a hardware, facilities management and network management perspective is significant. Of course, for very large private networks the cost of installing and maintaining such a dedicated server-based firewall is justified in view of the potential damage which network security breaches can inflict inside the private network. However, for small/medium sized networks and individual computer users, the cost of a server-based firewall security configuration can be prohibitive.
A need exists therefore for a client-based firewall technique which provides for network security within e.g., a private network.


A process for producing a photographic material, which comprises dispersing, in a solution of an organic resin, a material which is incompatible with the organic resin to form a dispersion, coating the resulting dispersion on at least one side of a support to form a coated layer, and then drying the coated layer, the material dispersed being a solid at ordinary temperature and in a liquid phase during the dispersing, whereby the coated layer when dried contains solid particles dispersed therein due to solidification of the dispersed material.. The present invention also provides a photographic material obtained by the above process.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a photographic material and, more particularly, to a photographic material comprising a support with a hydrophobic surface having thereon a photographic layer comprising a hydrophilic colloid.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Heretofore, polyethylene terephthalate, cellulose triacetate, polystyrene, polyolefin-laminated paper, and the like have been used as a photographic support due to their excellent transparency, flexibility, etc. However, it has been extremely difficult to strongly adhere a photographic layer comprising a hydrophilic colloid (represented by gelatin) to these supports due to the highly hydrophobic nature of the surface of these supports.
As processes for obtaining adhesivity between a support and a photographic emulsion layer through a surface treatment, particularly, treatments to render the surface of a hydrophobic support hydrophilic, i.e., processes which have been attempted in the prior art so as to overcome the above-described difficulty, the following two processes have been employed (for example, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,698,241, 2,764520, 2,864,755, 2,864,756, 2,972,534, 3,057,792, 3,071,466, 3,072,483, 3,143,421, 3,145,105, 3,145,242, 3,360,448, 3,376,208, 3,462,335, 3,475,193; British Pat. Nos. 788,365, 804,005, 891,469, etc.):
(1) a process for obtaining adhesivity by subjecting the support to a surface-activating processing such as chemical processing, mechanical processing, corona discharge processing, flame processing, ultraviolet light-processing, high frequency processing, glow discharge processing, active plasma processing, laser processing, mixed acid processing, ozone-oxidizing processing, or the like, and directly coating thereon a photographic emulsion; and
(2) a process of subjecting the support to the above-described surface processing, providing a subbing layer on the support, and coating thereon a photographic emulsion layer.
Of these two processes, process (2) is more effective and widely employed.
The above-described surface processings appear to render the surface of a normally hydrophobic support hydrophilic through formation of polar groups on the surface and, as a result, the affinity for the polar groups of the components contained in a subbing layer is increased.
Also, various techniques have been developed for coating a subbing layer on a support. These techniques basically involve two coating processes; a so-called double layer process which comprises providing a layer adhering well to the support as a first layer and coating on this first layer a hydrophilic resin layer as a second layer; and a single layer process which comprises coating only one resin layer containing both hydrophilic groups and hydrophobic groups on a support.
These processes have been studied in detail, and the adaptability of many resins including copolymers prepared from monomers such as vinyl chloride, vinylidene chloride, methacrylic acid, acrylic acid, itaconic acid, maleic anhydride, etc., polyethyleneimine, epoxy resins, grafted gelatin, nitrocellulose, and the like have been examined. However, unavoidably these processes have the following defects.
(A) Insufficient adhesion strength
That is, the above-described surface-activating processing (1) alone fails to provide satisfactory adhesion strength for practical photographic materials particularly where polyethylene terephthalate, polystyrene, etc., are used as a support. Also, even when a subbing layer is provided on the support, sufficient adhesion strength cannot be obtained, since resins which have a good affinity for a hydrophobic support and adhere well to a hydrophobic support generally have poor affinity for a hydrophilic photographic layer to be coated thereon. Conversely, when a hydrophilic resin having a good affinity for a photographic layer is coated as a subbing layer, there is the defect that this layer does not adhere well to the support even though it adheres well to the photographic layer.
(B) Subbing requires many steps and much time.
Since gelatin is widely used as a resin employed as a binder of a photographic layer, coating and drying of photographic layers are conducted by drying at an extremely low temperature (for example, initially cooling to about 10.degree. C. or less, and then drying at about 50.degree. C. or less) utilizing the special property of gelatin of gelling at a low temperature. However, in providing a subbing layer using the above-described polymers, it is necessary to heat to an elevated temperature to dry after coating (about 100.degree. C. or above) due to the lack of the ability to gel at a low temperature. Furthermore, as to the solvent, while water can be used for gelatin, organic solvents are often used for these synthetic high polymer compounds, and hence coating of the polymers requires a coating machine for organic solvents different from that for coating photographic layers. In addition, in the case of subbing double layers, the steps of coating and drying must be repeated two or three times.
(C) Problems of toxic gases, stimulation on skin and environmental pollution.
A solvent which is capable of swelling or dissolving the support, a so-called etchant, and which has a high polarity, has a high boiling point and is expensive, has been incorporated in a large amount in order to enhance adhesivity of the above-described subbing layer. As etchants for polyesters, compounds having an aromatic nucleus (a benzene ring, a naphthalene ring, a pyridine ring, a pyrrole ring, a fused ring thereof, or those rings substituted with one or more of an alkyl group, an alkoxy group, an acyl group, a nitro group, a cyano group, a halogen atom, a hydroxy group, a formyl group, a carboxy group, an alkoxycarbonyl group, a hydroxyalkyl group, an aminoalkyl group, a haloalkyl group, etc., as substituents), alcohols, ketones, carboxylic acids, esters, aldehydes, and the like (see, e.g., British Pat. Nos. 772,600, 776,157, 785,789, 797,425; U.S. Pat. No. 2,830,030; German Pat. Nos. 1,020,457, 1,092,652, etc.) have been used. To be specific, the following compounds are known, for example, benzoic acid, salicylic acid, salicylic acid esters, monochloroacetic acid, dichloroacetic acid, trichloroacetic acid, trifluoroacetic acid, methanesulfonic acid, trifluoromethanesulfonic acid, nitropropanol, benzyl alcohol, benzaldehyde, acetylacetone, acetylphenol, benzamide, benzonitrile, anisole, nitrobenzyl alcohol, chlorobenzyl alcohol, pyrrole, chloral hydrate, benzylamine, xylylenediamine, nicotinic acid amide, nicotinic acid ester, and the like.
In addition to these, compounds, already well known and commonly used, include those compounds which have a phenolic hydroxy group or groups, such as phenol, o-chlorophenol, p-chlorophenol, dichlorophenol, phenylphenol, chlororesorcin, phloroglucin, orcinol, pyrogallol, gallic acid, o-cresol, m-cresol, p-cresol, resorcin, methoxyphenol, etc.
However, these etchants are generally difficult to handle and are well known to be toxic to humans. Of the compounds, phenolic compounds have such a strong stimulation and permeability on skin that they involve serious working problems. Furthermore, complete recovery is indispensable, since contamination of these substances in discharged waste water and off-gas would cause environmental pollution. This requires additional equipment.
(D) Support planarity is deteriorated.
As is described in items (B) and (C) above, considerably elevated temperatures are necessary in the prior art to dry the subbing layer. In particular, when phenolic compounds are used, the drying of a subbing layer requires quite a long time since they generally possess a high boiling point of 180.degree. C. or higher. Therefore, during the drying step, in particular in the initial stage thereof, a swelling of the polyester and a reduction in elasticity due to an increase in the degree of crystallization occur because of the permeation of the solvent into the support and, in the latter stage, contraction of the polyester occurs. Thus, planarity is seriously damaged.
(E) Temperature control in the step of drying the subbing layer is difficult.
Also, in general, the etching ability of a solvent is greatly dependent upon temperature, and hence, when adhesivity is attained by an anchor effect of the resin to the support, the adhesivity itself is greatly dependent upon the temperature employed in the steps of coating, drying, and the like.
This is an extremely serious problem from the standpoint of stable production.


A log chipper is provided for allowing a lower horsepower rated motor to drive the chipper. Peak power demand is reduced by cutting shorter chips from large diameter logs, while the length of chips cut from logs of small and medium diameter continues to be of standard specified length, the length of chips cut from large diameter logs only being shortened. The feed rate for large diameter logs is reduced and will therefore result in a reduction of peak power demand achieved by the use of large diameter log positioning means. A first version of the large diameter log positioning means involves the placement of a raised platform on the wear plate where the outer perimeter of the large diameter log would otherwise contact the wear plate. A second version of the positioning means involves raising the heel of the knife clamp at a point where a portion of the outer perimeter of a large diameter log contacts the heel of the clamp. A third version of the positioning means involves grinding an outer face of the knife assembly where a portion of the outer perimeter of a large diameter log contacts the knife assembly. The special grind provides a unique relief angle to cause a shorter chip to be cut from the large diameter log. A final version of the large diameter log positioning means involves the inward adjustment of one of a series of sectional knife assemblies at the point where a portion of the outer perimeter of a large diameter log contacts the knife assembly.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to means for positioning logs in a disc type log chipper.
2. Problem
Disc type wood chippers for reducing logs and the like to usable chips for the paper pulp industry are well known. Generally, the chipping process includes debarking cut trees and then cutting the trees into chips for further processing into pulp from which paper is made. In the formation of the chips, debarked logs are fed into a disc chipper which includes a plurality of cutters such as knives that are mounted within recesses in the disc and adjacent to wear plates disposed on the disc. The knives cut chips from the incoming logs and pass the chips through radial openings in the disc.
3. Prior Art
While generally successful, such disc type chipping machines have suffered from certain deficiencies. Notable among the deficiencies is the difficulty in cutting chips from large diameter logs. The power requirements for chipping large diameter logs are a great deal more than for chipping smaller logs. Heretofore, it has been quite uneconomical to employ disc chipping machines that are sufficiently powerful so that they are capable of continuously chipping large diameter logs at the desired chipping rate for smaller logs.
Because of the high power demand for cutting large diameter logs quickly, attempts have been made in the past to make disc chippers more responsive to varying sizes of logs and the consequent power requirements for chipping logs of large diameter. Since most power companies charge not only according to the amount of power consumed, but also according to the peak load, the cost associated with chipping large logs can be very high. This situation is of special importance if the chipping is taking place at a remote location where producing the necessary power is very difficult.
Such prior art attempts have included elaborate means for detecting a deceleration of the disc chipper due to the load imposed on the chipper by a large diameter log. Upon the detection of deceleration, the advance of the log is halted by a discontinuation of power to the log feeding belt and by holding the log in this halted position by a complicated hydraulically operated swing arm. Additional drawbacks to this type of chipping operation are the necessary inclusion of a complex feed mechanism to the disc chipper. The feed mechanism is subject to mechanical and electrical repairs and maintenance, which adds to the total cost of chipping logs. Furthermore, a system of this type is heavier and larger than a disc chipper without the additional log feed machinery. This makes it more difficult to move a disc chipper of this type into remote locations. This prior art system has been implemented for some portable chipping applications, but large diameter log chip quality using this system usually suffers due to the frequent stopping of the log. Furthermore, the upstream feed of logs to the chipper disc must be halted whenever the swing arm is activated. Halting the upstream feed of logs drastically slows down the chipping operation, and in some cases is very difficult to control.
Other prior art attempts have included the complicated use of control means for reversing the operation of the feeding rollers of the disc chipper. The control means comprise sensing means for monitoring the speed of the disc and the use of electric valves and time relays to control hydraulic motors in the forward and reverse directions. Through the use of this type of disc chipper, there is less likelihood of chipper deceleration, and a system of this type does diminish the power requirements in bringing the disc up to speed after a deceleration. However, the control systems for a disc chipper and log feed mechanism of this design is of such complexity that a highly skilled technician would be necessary to repair a disc chipper of this type. There would also be a substantial investment for machinery of this type. Due to the halting of the feed of logs to the chipper, the swing arm log stopper system and the feed monitoring system are both inadequate for large scale chipping operations that require more than one log at a time to be fed to the chipper. Halting the upstream log feed becomes too costly and difficult for such large scale applications.
Still other prior art disc chippers have incorporated other complex machinery to make chippers responsive to the increased power requirements of chipping large diameter logs. Attempts at saving power have also included the use of heavy flywheel attachments to the disc shaft. This type of machinery allows the use of a lower horsepower motor than needed otherwise. However, this type of chipper is limited to handling large diameter logs that are short, i.e., six to eight feet in length. Another drawback is that discs with flywheels spend more power to accelerate up to speed.
4. Additional Power Problem
A related power problem within the design of disc chippers is the number of knives on a given disc. The production rate for a disc chipper is primarily determined by the rate at which small diameter logs are processed. By doubling the number of knives on a given disc, the production rate for these small logs is doubled. Unfortunately, it is the amount of power required to chip the largest diameter logs that usually determines the number of knives on the disc, since the large diameter logs determine the peak power requirements. So, even though a designer may desire the higher production rates of a disc with many knives, ultimately the designer is limited by the high power requirements of chipping large diameter logs.
For the foregoing reasons, there is a need for a disc type log chipper that is capable of continuously chipping large diameter logs without being so powerful that it is uneconomical to operate. There is also a need that the entire disc chipper system, including log feed mechanism, be inexpensive to manufacture, simple in its construction, and both as small and light as possible to permit utilizing the chipper at a remote location.

Log chipper for lowering peak power requirements and raising chip quality


The present invention contemplates a method and apparatus to generate a laser probe beam free of speckles. The present invention employs a holographic phase plate inserted in a laser beam path to modulate the relative phase across the beam. The holographic phase plate is designed to optimize the phase modulation across the beam while to minimize the degradation of the beam quality. The modulated laser beam has only a small and confined divergent angle and can then be refocused or collimated into a narrow and near collimated probe beam. The present invention further rotates the holographic phase plate to randomize the speckles in a time sequence. As a result, the probe beam preserves substantially the beam quality of a laser and produces substantially no speckles on image of its, intersection with a surface or material.

Speckles are usually observed when a coherent light probe beam is scattered from a non-uniform surface or material. A typical coherent light probe beam is a laser beam. When such a coherent light probe beam hits a non-uniform surface or material, scattered lights from different scatters interfere with each other to form a speckle pattern in an observation screen.
Speckles limit the image quality of coherent light probe beam on a surface or material. In many applications, image quality of the probe beam on a surface or material can be important. For example, in an eye diagnosis instrument called wavefront analyzer, a probe beam is directed into a subject eye and intersected with the retina. The probe beam in this application needs to be narrow and near collimated such that the beam spot size is small on both the cornea and the retina. Scattered light from the retina exists from the pupil and is then collected to form, through a lenslet array called Hartmann-Shack sensor, a multiple-spots image of the probe beam on a CCD camera. In such an instrument, the centroid of each spot image shall be accurately determined in order to calculate the eye's aberration. However, speckles distort the quality of the spot image and degrade the precision of the centroid measurement.
In many applications, using a laser as a probe beam can be preferable while speckles are troublesome. A laser may be chosen as a probe beam for its superior beam quality, its incomparable brightness, its narrow bandwidth, and/or its wavelength availability. However, as a good coherent light source, laser probe beam produces most significant speckles. In the application of wavefront analyzer, for instance, a laser beam should be an ideal probe beam if there were no speckles.
A super luminescence diode (SLD) may replace a laser for a probe beam when high brightness, good beam quality, but less speckle is required. SLD probe beam has shorter coherent length than a laser beam and produces weak speckles when particularly the scatters are located at different depth along the beam. However, spatial coherence across the beam from a SLD is substantial the same as that from a laser. Therefore, speckle reduction with a SLD is not complete, especially for scattering from scatters on a surface. Besides, SLD has much limited selections in term of power, wavelengths, and vendors.
It is well known in the art that speckles can be diminished via either moving the coherent light probe beam or moving the scattering surface. In U.S. Pat. No. 6,199,986 B1 to Williams et al., a SLD probe beam is used in an experimental setup to measure eye's wave aberration and a turning mirror scans the probe beam rapidly to eliminate speckles in the Hartmann-Shack image, i.e. the multiple-spot image of the probe beam on retina. However, moving the probe beam in an eye diagnosis instrument is difficult to implement without effecting the measurement accuracy and reliability.
It is also well known in the art that speckles can be eliminated with a moving diffuser placing in the beam path of a coherent light beam. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,851,740 to Sawyer, a moving diffuser is used to reduce the speckles in a setup in which laser light is used as an illumination light source. In general, a diffuser diffuses light in a wide angle and degrades significantly the beam quality of a laser beam. Obviously, beam quality is not a design issue to consider when the laser beam is used only as an illumination light source, such as in the application described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,851,740.


A current source which provides a given ratio (G) of an output current (I) to an input current (i). The current source includes a first series combination of a first resistor (R.sub.1) connected in series with the main current path of a first transistor (T.sub.1) and a second series combination of a second resistor (R.sub.3) connected in series with the main current path of a second transistor (T.sub.2). The first and second transistors (T.sub.1, T.sub.2) form a current mirror circuit. A current equalizer is coupled to the current mirror circuit in such a way as to produce in the first series combination an equalizing voltage drop equal to ##EQU1## i.sub.s1 and i.sub.s2 denoting the characteristic current constants of the first and second transistors (T.sub.1, T.sub.2).

Current sources of this type are generally used having small ratios G (up to about 10) of output current to input current. For these uses the second transistor has an emitter surface G times greater than that of the first transistor (or it is constituted by G individual transistors which are identical to the first transistor and arranged in parallel) so as to obtain the same base/emitter voltage drop in the first and second transistors, and avoid variations of the ratio G as a function of temperature.
For higher ratios G, for example, ranging to 100, such a solution leads to prohibitive dimensions for the second transistor, and in that case arrangements with an operational amplifier will be used. Such solutions are used, for example, by MATRA COMMUNICATION (French patent application 88 01645, dated Feb. 11, 1988, more particularly, FIG. 5), SGS-THOMSON (report of the TEA 7063 circuit--Telephone Speech and Peripherals Line Control) and MOTOROLA (Product preview of the TCA 3385 circuit--Telephone Ring Signal Converter).
These embodiments have the disadvantage of requiring the presence of an operational amplifier which takes up a relatively large space in the integrated circuit, and which, furthermore, may present problems of stability, especially if the circuit forms part of a complex arrangement presenting cascaded stages.

High G temperature compensated current source


A magnetic recording and/or reproducing apparatus having a plurality of recording/reproducing modes, such as a long-time recording/reproducing mode and a high rate recording/reproducing mode for digital signals, is intended to form an ideal recording pattern for any head configuration. The apparatus includes magnetic heads 2a and 2b having positive/negative azimuth angles and which are opposed to each other by 180.degree.; magnetic heads 3a and 3b having positive azimuth angles and which are opposed to each other by 180.degree.; and magnetic heads 4a and 4b having negative azimuth angles and which are opposed to each other by 180.degree.; wherein recording/reproducing is performed by using the magnetic heads 2a and 2b in a standard recording/reproducing mode; by using the magnetic heads 3a, 3b, 4a and 4b in a high rate recording/reproducing mode; by using the magnetic heads 2b and 3b in a long-time recording/reproducing mode which is twice as long as the standard mode; and by using the magnetic heads 2a and 2b in a long-time recording/reproducing mode which is N times (N; integer being 3 or more) as long as the standard mode.

The present invention relates to an apparatus for recording and reproducing digital signals on and from a magnetic tape by using a rotary head; and, MORE particularly, the invention relates to a magnetic recording and/or reproducing apparatus having a plurality of modes matched to transmission rates of digital signals.
The present applicant has proposed, in Japanese Patent Laid-open No. Hei 8-180580, a magnetic recording/reproducing apparatus which is compatable with a conventional analog recording VTR and which also provides a plurality of recording/reproducing modes matched to the transmission rates of digital signals.
This magnetic recording/reproducing apparatus is characterized by recording/reproducing digital signals by using first and second magnetic heads opposed to each other by 180.degree. in a standard recording/reproducing mode; by using the first magnetic head and a third magnetic head disposed in proximity thereto in a long-time recording/reproducing mode which is twice as long as the standard recording/reproducing mode; and by using fourth and fifth magnetic heads opposed to each other by 180.degree. in addition to the second and third magnetic heads in a high rate recording/reproducing mode adapted to high-definition television (HDTV) signals and the like.

Magnetic recording and/or reproducing apparatus


When an overdrive cut is performed to an automatic transmission control when climbing uphill slopes, the actuator position An is stored in overdrive cut aperture storage value C with overdrive cut demands to the automatic transmission executed until the actuator position changes by a first predetermined value Ct1. If the condition C-An>Ct1 is satisfied for a predetermined period of time T0 until timer counter TMR becomes zero, then restoration to overdrive is allowed. Accordingly, even when cruising along long uphill roads, up-shifts to overdrive are prohibited during this time and because there are no up-shifts to overdrive during this time, vehicular speed does not change in fixed periods and thus, a high-level of passenger comfort is achieved.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicular constant speed cruising control device which is used in a vehicle that has an automatic transmission control device for automatically shifting the gears of the transmission.
2. Description of Related Art
For conventional vehicular constant speed cruising control devices, when constant speed cruising becomes difficult during overdrive cruising along upwardly sloping roads, speed is maintained by providing an overdrive cut signal to the automatic transmission controller to increase driving power. This prevents the occurrence of the commonly known "busy shift" in which the shift control of the vehicular transmission control device and the control of the constant speed cruising control affect each other.
Busy shift, which is a periodic fluctuation in the vehicular speed that occurs at fixed periods, occurs in the following way. Because vehicular speed declines when approaching an upwardly sloping road after overdrive constant speed cruising along a flat road, the constant speed cruising control device tries to maintain constant speed cruising by increasing actuator position and by adjusting the throttle valve to the open side. Because the throttle opening increases with the actuator position, in accordance with the transmission pattern, the automatic transmission control device down-shifts from overdrive. Accordingly, driving power increases, thus causing an increase in the vehicular speed. As a result, the constant speed cruising control device decreases actuator position and adjusts the throttle valve to the closed side to maintain constant speed cruising. The throttle opening decreases in connection with the decrease in the actuator position and thus, following the transmission pattern, the automatic transmission control device up-shifts to overdrive. Therefore, driving power goes down, causing vehicular speed to drop. In this way, vehicular speed is dropping again and hereinafter, the processes noted above are repeated again and again with the fluctuation in the vehicular speed occurring at fixed time intervals. This busy shift gives an unpleasant feeling to the passengers of the vehicle.
Japanese Patent Publication Hei-5-57933 discloses one method of preventing busy shifts in which the constant speed cruising control device prohibits up-shifts of the automatic transmission control device after the latter performs a down-shift from overdrive or the like. Also, the up-shift prohibition is released after a predetermined period of time lapses after the vehicular speed approaches the target cruising speed within a predetermined period of time.
However, for this method disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication Hei-5-57933, because up-shift is allowed after a predetermined period of time has lapsed after the vehicular speed reverts back to the target vehicular speed, then the following cycle occurs when up-shift is executed while the vehicle is still cruising along an upwardly sloping road: drop in the vehicular speed.fwdarw.increase in the actuator position.fwdarw.execution of down-shift.fwdarw.prohibition of up-shift.fwdarw.increase in the driving force.fwdarw.vehicular speed reverts back to the target level.fwdarw.release of up-shift prohibition after a predetermined period of time lapses.fwdarw.execution of up-shift .fwdarw.decline in the driving power.fwdarw.drop in the vehicular speed. Thus, a vehicular speed fluctuation cycle occurs at predetermined fixed periods and therefore, problems with vehicular passenger comfort still remain unsolved. In addition to this case, there were cases when the timing for releasing up-shift were inappropriate despite the fact that the driver manually prohibited overdrive.

Vehicular constant speed cruising control device


Techniques for isolating a portion of an online computing service referred to as a deployment unit and configured with a complete build of the online computing service may include routing production traffic away from the deployment unit, applying one or more changes to the complete build, and after applying one or more changes to the complete build, using the deployment unit for testing these changes using end-to-end tests. In one embodiment, the deployment unit may be dedicated to a specific group of tenants that require at least some isolation from other tenants.

An online computing service may be continuously updated with changes to meet the demands imposed by production traffic and provide business value. There are considerable risks involved with updating a component of the online computing service. Different online computing services employ conventional mechanisms to manage the conflicting requirements of managing the risk and deploying fixes/customer-asks with high agility and negligible customer impact.
There are multiple types of test environments for resembling a production environment in some capacity. However, no matter how close the test environment is to the production environment, the production environment most likely will have some unique characteristics distinguishing it from test environments. There is a strong possibility of discovering issues in the production environment even when a change has been validated in the test environments. Furthermore, employing multiple test environments increases costs significantly. In addition, before a change is rolled out to the production environment, development teams employ deployment verification tests that are run on each changed component. These tests, however, do not resemble real-world scenarios that normally occur in the production environment. Typically, deploying the changed component across the online computing service consumes multiple days.
It is with respect to these and other considerations that the present improvements have been needed.

Isolating a portion of an online computing service for testing


A level detecting part detects image data levels for the respective output directions of the first half and the second half to be used for the linearity correction, which image data levels correspond to image data around a connection point between the first half and the second half and are obtained from respective combinations for the respective output directions of the first half and the second half. A calculating part calculates linearity correction values or correction value calculating parameters from the detected image data levels for any one of the first half and the second half; and a defect detection part detecting a defect in the image data levels thus detected around the connection point are provided.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image reading apparatus employing a CCD image sensor having multi-channel shift registers, an image forming apparatus such as a digital copier, a scanner, a facsimile machine, a digital multi-function machine or such provided with the image reading apparatus, an image inspecting apparatus for inspecting for a defect from an image read by means of the image reading apparatus, and an image forming system including the image inspecting apparatus, the image reading apparatus and the image forming apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently an image reading apparatus has been proposed, which apparatus carries out line scanning of image information such as an original in a sub-scanning direction, forms the image information on a sensor surface of a photoelectric converting part (CCD) which acts as an image reading part, and reads the image information with the use of an output signal obtained from the photoelectric converting part. FIG. 1 (a) shows one example of such an image reading apparatus.
In FIG. 1 (a), an image reading apparatus 100 carries out operation of reading an original 5 by scanning the original 5 in a right direction with moving a first carriage 9 and a second carriage 12 by means of a scanner motor with lighting the original 15 by means of an original light source (lamp) 7, when the original 5 is placed on a contact glass 1. At this time, original image information of the original 5 on the contact glass 1 (original placement glass part) lit by means of the original light source 7 is formed on a CCD (photoelectric converting part) sensor surface by means of an imaging lens 13 through scanning first, second and third mirrors 8, 10 and 11, the original image information thus formed on the CCD sensor surface is read by the CCD, and is converted into digital data by an A-D converter mounted on a circuit substrate 14 together with the CCD. Thus, the original image data is digitally read. The original image information in the form of digital data is sent to an output apparatus, for example, and therewith, the image information is printed out. Alternatively, it is sent to a storage apparatus, and is stored therein. Thus, the thus-read image information is used in various ways.
When the original image is read with the carriages 9 and 12 moving to scan the original 5, the scanning first and second carriages 9 and 12 are moved with a fixed relationship in a direction of an arrow (sub-scanning direction) for scanning the original 5 in the sub-scanning direction. At this time, scanning speeds of the respective carriages 9 and 12 are set so that the scanning speed of the second carriage 12 is half the scanning speed of the first carriage 9.
In prior to actually reading image data by thus scanning the original, read data of a shading correction standard white plate 3 shown in FIG. 1 (a) is obtained, shading correction data is generated, which is then stored in a memory, the shading correction data is then used to normalize image data of the original 5, thus, a light quantity distribution variation, a CCD sensitivity variation, and an output variation and so forth are corrected and thus, the image information of the original is finally read with a high accuracy.
Further, along with a recent increase in the speed of the scanner, an increase in operation speed of the CCD has been demanded. In order to meet the demand, for the purpose of increasing the reading speed while the processing speed is left unincreased much, a CCD image sensor configured such that the CCD shift registers are divided into even-numbered pixels and odd-numbered pixels, and output is made therefrom separately, has been used recently.
In order to achieve further increase in the reading speed, an CCD image sensor having a plurality of register groups, i.e., more than four groups (i.e., more than four-series CCD shift registers), from which output is made separately, has been used recently. As such a type of the four-series CCD shift registers, a type in which outputs of the four series are made in a same direction, another type in which, from the two series outputs are taken in each of first half and second half directions, or such, may be used. FIG. 2 shows the latter type of a CCD image sensor. The image sensor shown in FIG. 2 is of a well-known type, includes photodiodes 21, shift gates 22, CCD analog shift registers 23, output buffers 24 and output terminals OS1, OS2, OS3 and OS4. From CP terminals, RS terminals, SH terminals, φ1, φ2 terminals and φ2B terminals, clamp clock signals, reset clock signals, shift control signals, transfer clock signals and driving clock signals are provided, respectively. The driving clock signals provided via the φ2B is the same as those of the φ1 and φ2 terminals, but are provided only to the output stages. Commonly, CCD output timing is determined by the timing of the driving clock signals provided from the φ2B terminals.
A voltage potential in the shift register's last stage varies due to a variation in the process condition when the CCD is produced, in the image sensor employing the plurality of CCD shift registers 23. Thereby, analog output delay time may have a variation. Such a variation in the analog output delay time may adversely affect the linearity of the analog output for when an entrance light quaintly is relatively low, and, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, a difference occurs in the linearity among the outputs of the respective CCD shift registers.
That is, difference occurs in the output delay time due to a variation in the φ2B potential well, as shown in FIG. 3. This difference results in the difference in the linearity where a difference occurs between a true signal and a CCD output due to a charge quantity. Thereby, the φ2B output and the CCD output do not correspond to one another in a one-to-one manner. As shown in FIG. 5, the difference in the linearity among the CCD shift register outputs cannot be corrected by means of shading correction. Accordingly, especially a level difference at a connection point between the first half and the second half from a middle tone through a high tone may result in a problematic image quality degradation on a finally obtained image, when the CCD in a type such that the outputs are made in opposite directions in the respective ones of the first half and the second half shift registers. It is noted that, in FIGS. 4 and 5, OSn denotes the first half part CCD output (i.e., OS1 and OS2 in the example of FIG. 2) while OSm denotes second half part CCD output (i.e., OS3 and OS4 in the example of FIG. 2).
In order to solve the problem due to the difference in the linearity among the respective CCD shift registers, a method has been proposed in which γ correction is carried out for each of the two series (even/odd-numbered pixel output type) of the shift registers. Further, as mentioned above, patent documents 1 and 2, described below, disclose a method in which, in a CCD of a four-series output type, γ correction is carried out for each CCD shift register.
In the art of the patent document 1, in order to remove variation between the right and left CCD characteristics due to difference in the CCD devices, to reproduce stable image tones with no tone difference between the left and right machine bodies, and also, to carry out image tone representation including no variation in the tones between the machine bodies, tone patterns generated by the machine bodies are output, correction processing calculation is carried out with the use of a difference in the image data between the left side and the right side of the four channel outputs for the respective tone data, which is obtained from reading of the tone patterns, correction data thus calculated is set in the left and right correction tables of the left and right correction circuits, γ correction is carried out based on the image data of the left side as standard data, and setting is made in a γ correction table.
According to the patent document 2, in an image sensor of a left and right separate reading system, in order to reduce a signal difference, and also, in order to make linearity characteristics of respective outputs coincident, the following components are provided: a color linear image sensor in the left and right separate reading system; a plurality of signal processing parts carrying out predetermined signal processing on the image signals output from the respective output terminals of the color linear image sensor; a white plate; a grey standard plate; a CPU which makes an image signal level from the white plate coincident with a first predetermined level, makes an image signal level from the gray stranded plate coincident with a second predetermined level, and obtains adjustment data for adjusting the image signal levels of other tones into levels obtained from interpolation between the first and second predetermined levels; and a lookup table (abbreviated by LUT, hereinafter) for adjusting the image signals output form the plurality of signal processing parts with the use of the adjustment data.
The following patent documents 1-3 disclose the related arts:
Patent document 1: Japanese Laid-open Patent Application No. 2000-188686;
Patent document 2: Japanese Laid-open Patent Application No. 2002-218186; and
Patent document 3: Japanese Laid-open Patent Application No. 2005-348351.

Image reading apparatus, image forming apparatus, image inspecting apparatus and image forming system


The invention relates to a process for providing fuels from biomass such as seed oils or plant fruits. Generally the process utilizes a metal catalyzed conversion to step to provide fuel mixtures with compositions that may be varied depending on conditions of temperature, pressure and time of reaction. Mixtures of hydrocarbons produced from limonene feedstocks include alicyclic, alkyl and aromatic species. Monocyclic aromatic compounds may be obtained in high yields depending on the reaction conditions employed.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to biomass fuels derived from plant sources. In particular aspects, the invention relates to a terpenoid-based fuel produced by a cracking/reduction process or by irradiation. The process may be controlled to produce a biomass fuel having variable percentages of benzenoid compounds useful, for example, as per se fuels, as fuel additives or as octane enhancers for conventional gasoline fuels.
2. Description of the Related Art
Increasing attention is being focused on problems associated with diminishing supplies of fossil fuels. These problems center on economic and ecologic considerations. It is recognized that oil and gas sources are exhaustible and that world politics may seriously jeopardize attempts to manage presently identified petroleum reserves. These are strong economic factors having potential effects on many facets of business and quality of life. There is also increasing concern over the pollution generated by fossil fuel burning which causes extensive and perhaps irreversible ecological harm. Consequently, fuel performance is becoming more of a concern, since highly efficient fuels, especially for internal combustion engines, will decrease or eliminate toxic emissions and cut operation costs.
Approaches to these problems have included efforts to develop total substitutes or compatible blends for petroleum-based fuels. For example, engines will operate efficiently on natural gas or alcohol. However, this requires engine modifications that are relatively expensive and at the present considered impractical in view of present production and sheer numbers of extant engines. With pure methanol, corrosion, particularly evident in upper-cylinder wear may be a problem (Schwartz, 1986).
Biomass sources have been explored as fuel source alternatives to petroleum. Biomass is defined as organic matter obtained from agriculture or agriculture products. Many side-products of foods, for example, are inefficiently used, leading to large amounts of organic waste. Use of such waste as a fuel per se or as a blend compatible with existing petroleum based fuels could extend limited petroleum reserves, reduce organic waste and, depending on the processing of the organic waste, provide a less expensive alternate fuel or fuel blends.
One of the more common components of plants and seeds is a group of alicyclic hydrocarbons classified as terpenes. Pinene and limonene are typical examples of monocyclic terpenes. Both have been tested as fuels or fuel additives. The Whitaker reference (1922) discloses the use of a terpene, as a blending agent for alcohol and gasoline or kerosene mixtures. A fuel containing up to about 15% of steam distilled pine oil was claimed to be useful as a motor fuel. Nevertheless, pinene was useful mainly to promote soluble mixtures of ethyl alcohol, kerosene and gasoline. There were no disclosed effects on fuel properties nor was there disclosed any further processing of the pinene.
Two United States patents describe a process for purifying limonene for use as a fuel or fuel additive (Whitworth, 1989, 1990). The process includes distillation of limonene-containing oil followed by removal of water. The distilled limonene, blended with an oxidation inhibitor such as p-phenylenediamine, is claimed as a gasoline extender when added in amounts up to 20% volume. Unfortunately, in actual testing under a power load in a dynamometer, addition of 20% limonene to unleaded 87 octane gasoline results in serious preignition, casting serious questions as to its practical value as a gasoline extender.
On the other hand, Zuidema (1946) discloses the use of alicyclic olefins such as limonene, cyclohexene, cyclopentene and menthenes without modification as stabilization additives for gasoline. These compounds contain at least one double bond, a characteristic that apparently contributes to the antioxidant effect of adding these compounds to gasolines in amounts not exceeding 10% by volume.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,300,009 (Haag, 1981) is concerned with the conversion of biological materials to liquid fuels. Although relating in major part to zeolite catalytic conversion of plant hydrocarbons having weights over 150, a limonene/water feed was shown to produce about 19% toluene when pumped over a fixed bed zeolite catalyst at 482.degree. C. at atmospheric pressure. Unfortunately, monocyclic aromatic compounds were reported to comprise only about 40% of the total products, of which major components were toluene and ethylbenzene. A disadvantage with the use of zeolite catalyst was the need to fractionate the aromatic compounds from the product mixture to obtain gasoline or products useful as chemicals. Formation of undesirable coke was also disclosed as a potential problem, in view of its tendency to inactivate zeolite catalysts.
Biomass fuel extenders such as methyltetrahydrofuran (MTHF) have been tested as alternative fuels (Rudolph and Thomas, 1988), but appear to be relatively expensive as pure fuels. As an additive in amounts up to about 10%, MTHF compares favorably with tetraethyl lead.
Fuel mixtures suitable as gasoline substitutes have also been prepared by mixing various components, for example C.sub.2 -C.sub.7 hydrocarbons, C.sub.4 -C.sub.12 hydrocarbons and toluene (Wilson, 1991). Toluene, and other substituted monocyclic benzenoid compounds such as 1,3,5-trimethylbenzene, 1,2,3,4-tetramethylbenzene, o-, m- and p-xylenes, are particularly desirable as octane enhancers in gasolines and may be used to supplement gasolines in fairly large percentages, at least up to 40 or 50 percent.
Generally, processes for obtaining aromatic compounds are synthetic procedures. Therefore it is relatively expensive to use aromatic liquid hydrocarbons as fuels or blends for gasoline fuels. On the other hand, a biomass source of easily isolated aromatic compounds would be less expensive, provide an efficient disposal of organic waste, and conserve petroleum reserves by extending or possibly replacing gasoline fuels. Although aromatic hydrocarbons occur naturally and are isolable from plant sources, it is impractical to isolate these compounds from biomass material because of the relatively low amounts present.