The present invention relates to a method of minimizing the noise emitted by a ducted rail rotor anti-torque device at a frequency FE and perceived at a frequency FP, in which method the diameter D, the number of blades b, and the tangential speed U of the rotor are determined so that the perceived frequency FP is less than or equal to the bottom limit frequency FL of a predetermined one-third frequency octave centered on a frequency FC.

A rotorcraft, and in particular a helicopter, is fitted with at least one engine to provide it with lift and propulsion. The engine is fastened to the structure of said rotorcraft and produces driving torque used for rotating the main rotor. The reaction to a single main rotor generates torque in yaw tending to cause the fuselage to turn in the opposite direction to the direction of rotation of the main rotor. In order to compensate this torque, manufacturers generally install a tail or "anti-torque" rotor at the rear of a rotorcraft fuselage, which rotor has blades that are nearly always of variable pitch and under the control of the pilot using the pedals.
Naturally, such an anti-torque rotor also contributes to performing yaw maneuvers and to steering the rotorcraft.
The Fenestron® anti-torque device comprises a ducted rotor or propeller of diameter that is smaller than the diameter of a conventional tail rotor, in particular because of the need to incorporate it in the tail structure of the rotorcraft. Ducting covers the propeller and channels the aerodynamic flow. The rotor housed in this way within a duct has a larger number of blades than that of a conventional tail rotor because of the small diameter of the propeller. For example, the Fenestron® of the Gazelle® helicopter (total weight 2000 kilograms (kg)) designed by the Applicant has 13 blades, whereas the conventional tail rotor of the Super Puma® helicopter, also from the same Applicant, has only four blades even though the rotorcraft has a total weight of about 9000 kg.
Whether conventional or ducted, a tail rotor is a source of noise of aerodynamic origin, as are the engines. The other noises have mechanical sources: engine gearboxes, main transmission box and auxiliary equipment, tail transmission, structural vibration.
In general, the noise problem has two distinct aspects:                noise external to the rotorcraft; and        internal noise, i.e. noise within a cabin of the rotorcraft.
Under such conditions, the invention applies more particularly to a method of minimizing the external noise generated by a ducted tail rotor anti-torque device, and consequently the invention also relates to a ducted tail rotor anti-torque device obtained by said method. As a natural consequence, internal noise is also reduced.
From the point of view of external noise, it is fundamental that the noise produced at short distances from the takeoff and landing zone does not lead to excessive annoyance.
Furthermore, the use of a rotorcraft in a built-up area also implies flying over an inhabited area and consequently to generating sound nuisance for the population.
Similarly, using a rotorcraft for military purposes also requires consideration to be given to sound emission, since noise enables a rotorcraft to be detected prematurely and to be identified.
Furthermore, it is specified by way of information that the design and disposition of a ducted tail rotor anti-torque device, its rotary drive means, and its means for collective control of the pitch of its blades, and also the advantages of this configuration, are all described in numerous patents in the name of the Applicant, amongst which particular mention can be made of French patents FR 1 531 536 and FR 2 534 222 that describe rotors with blades that are uniformly distributed angularly and that correspond respectively to means for changing the pitch simultaneously of all of the blades, and to various features concerning in particular the blades, and also to an arrangement whereby a rotor and a "deflector" stator are combined for the purpose of recovering the rotary energy from the airflow downstream from the rotor, and using it in the form of axial thrust.
It is also important to mention French patents FR 2 719 549, FR 2 719 550, and FR 2 719 551 in the name of the Applicant and relating to a ducted tail rotor anti-torque device comprising a rotor with a deflector stator, the blades of the ducted rotor then not being uniformly distributed angularly. More precisely, said blades have an angular distribution with an irregular azimuth modulation determined by a sinusoidal relationship so as to contribute to diminishing the noise caused by air flowing through the duct.
That said, it is established that the noise from a rotor comes both from stable and from fluctuating aerodynamic loads acting on the blades. When analyzed using narrow band noise analysis, that noise appears in the form of multiple distinct frequencies, with multiple tones at the frequency at which the blades go past a reference point, referred to more simply as the "blade frequency".
In other words, the product of a speed of rotation Ω expressed in hertz (Hz), i.e. in revolutions per second, multiplied by a given number b of blades (where b is greater than the number to be found on a conventional tail rotor) gives a blade frequency (bΩ) and multiples thereof ("x": multiplication sign), in the following form F:                for a rotor with uniform distributed blades:F=n×b×Ωwhere n equals a positive integer;        for a rotor having non-uniformly distributed blades:F=[(n×b)±m]×Ωwhere n, m are positive integers.
These frequencies in which acoustic energy is concentrated are much higher than the frequencies that occur with a conventional tail rotor, and these frequencies typically lie in the range 400 Hz to 2000 Hz, with the fundamental frequency generally being situated in the range 400 Hz to 600 Hz, and with harmonics of significant level up to very high numbers, the acoustic levels of these harmonics increasing in principle with the "helical" Mach number at the ends of the blades (combination of the circumferential speed at the tips of the blades and the axial speed of the airflow, i.e. substantially normal to the plane of rotation of said blades).
The above frequencies that apply to any ducted anti-torque rotor are attenuated very quickly in the atmosphere. Nevertheless, the fact of raising the frequencies at which acoustic energy is concentrated places said frequencies in a frequency zone where the human ear has maximum sensitivity. Furthermore, the highly impulsive appearance of the noise spectrum of a ducted anti-torque rotor, where most of the acoustic energy is concentrated on two or three very narrow primary spectrum lines, gives rise to a whistling sound that is painful for the human ear, and that is penalized by the criteria for acoustic certification that make use of "emerging spectrum line or pure tone correction".
The above-mentioned solution consisting in placing the blades so that they are not uniformly distributed performs acoustic interferometry, thereby avoiding concentrating all of the acoustic energy essentially on the fundamental frequency (highest acoustic level), or on a few harmonics, but instead spreading said acoustic energy over intermediate frequencies (between 0 and bΩ, bΩ and 2bΩ, . . . for example), better tolerated by the human ear, which cannot distinguish between two pure tones when they are separated by less than one-third of an octave, thereby attenuating the whistling sound.

Method of optimizing a ducted anti-torque rotor of a rotorcraft, in particular a helicopter, to minimize acoustic annoyance, and a ducted anti-torque rotor obtained thereby


A footwear apparatus includes multiple first reservoirs and multiple second reservoirs joined with a substrate. Selected ones of the multiple first reservoirs include a reducing agent, and first reservoir surfaces of selected ones of the multiple first reservoirs are proximate to a first substrate surface. Selected ones of the multiple second reservoirs include an oxidizing agent, and second reservoir surfaces of selected ones of the multiple second reservoirs are proximate to the first substrate surface.

Feet, toes, ankles, and lower legs commonly are injured and/or exposed to various bacteria, viruses, fungi, and other organisms or organic matter. In some cases, an injury or exposure to a microbe may result in compromised/damaged tissue, discomfort, infection, and/or colonization. In other cases, infected injuries or microbes may cause unpleasant odors or altered appearances.

Footwear apparatus and methods of manufacture and use


In an electric connector having a first end and a second end opposite to the first end, an insulator supports conductive contacts including signal contact pairs and ground contacts. Each of the signal contact pairs includes a pair of the conductive contacts. At the first end, the signal contact pairs and the ground contacts are arranged in a first and a second row, respectively, which are parallel to each other and extend in a first direction. At the second end, the signal contact pairs and the ground contacts are arranged in a single row so that each of the ground contacts are interposed between each of the signal contact pairs on the first row at the first end and each of the signal contact pairs on the second row at the first end.

The present invention relates to electric connectors for connecting connection objects.
There is an electric connector that transmits a single data signal as a differential signal using two signal lines, or in other words, an electric connector used for connecting signal circuits of a differential-signal-transmission type. Two types of transmission for digital signals are known, which are an unbalanced type (i.e. a single-ended type) and a balanced type (i.e. a differential type).
In unbalanced-type (single-ended type) signal transmission, a digital signal is determined to be high or low based on a potential difference between a ground line and a single signal line. On the other hand, in balanced-type (differential type) signal transmission, a digital signal is determined to be high or low based on a potential difference between two signal lines. In the latter case, the magnitude of the signal voltage between the two signal lines is the same, whereas the phase between the two signal lines is different by 180°. Furthermore, in transition minimized differential signaling, or TMDS, data transmission is achieved by using two signal lines and a single ground line.
In the balanced-type (differential-type) signal transmission, the impedance matching between positive-signal contacts and ground contacts and between negative-signal contacts and ground contacts must be evenly attained.
In the balanced-type (differential-type) signal transmission, since a noise generated in the two signal lines is cancelled at the input stage of a receiver, the signal transmission can be achieved with higher reliability in comparison to the unbalanced-type (single-ended type) signal transmission.
A known connector for differential signal transmission includes contacts and an insulator supporting the contacts. When using such a connector for transmitting a differential signal, each pair of signal contacts S is connected to a corresponding pair of signal lines, and each ground contact G is connected to a corresponding ground line.
The contacts include a plurality of signal contacts S, a plurality of ground contacts G, and a plurality of general (low-speed) contacts D. The signal contacts S, the ground contacts G, and the general contacts D are arranged in the following order: S, S, G, S, S, G, S, S, D, D, D. An example of such a connector is disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication (JP-A) No. 2002-334738.
Furthermore, an intermediate connector is also known, which includes a connection member and a housing that houses the connection member. The housing has a jack portion and a plug portion. The connection member has a first contact segment, a second contact segment, and a coupling segment. The first contact segment is substantially U-shaped so that the first contact segment is engageable to a connection terminal of a modular plug. The second contact segment is connectable to an input-output connector. An example of such an intermediate connector is disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication (JP-A) No. 2000-182733.
In the connector according to Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication (JP-A) No. 2002-334748, however, the contacts are combined simply by arranging each pair of signal contacts S adjacent to each other and disposing each ground contact G adjacent to the pair.
For this reason, in a case where the signal contacts S of each pair are switched with each other, the electrical relationship between the pair of signal contacts S and the ground contact G cannot be maintained. Accordingly, when a differential signal is to be transmitted, a high performance cannot be maintained with respect to high-frequency characteristics.
On the other hand, the connection member of the intermediate connector disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication (JP-A) No. 2000-182733 is not used in view of high-frequency characteristics.

Electric connector including signal contact pairs and ground contacts provided in rows at a first end, in which the ground contacts are provided between signal contact pairs from the respective rows at a second end

Japan Aviation Electronics Industry, Limited


A system and method of recognizing resources of a computer comprising a system serial number and a broken hardware unit comprising a non-volatile memory unit and enablement definition data relating to functions of the broken hardware unit, wherein the method comprises starting the computer; entering a serial number in a read/write non-volatile memory field of the non-volatile memory unit; reading the read/write non-volatile memory field; and matching the serial number of the read/write non-volatile memory field with the system serial number. The method may further comprise detecting failure of the broken hardware unit after the starting of the computer. Preferably, a reading that the serial number of the read/write non-volatile memory field matches with the system serial number permits acceptance of the enablement definition data of the broken hardware unit.

1. Field of the Invention
The embodiments of the invention generally relate to computer systems, and, more particularly, to identifying defective components in a computer system.
2. Description of the Related Art
A computer system may be comprised of multiple similar or identical hardware units providing the same type of resources. For example, such hardware units may comprise memory cards, multi-chip modules, input/output cards with multiple ports, etc. For granularity and other reasons, those units may not provide their entire physical capacity but by some firmware supported control mechanisms, the exploitation may be limited. For example, only 3 of 12 physical processors may be enabled for execution.
The enablement definition data (i.e., how each processor is to function) is stored in a device that is part of the respective hardware unit. Typically, during system initialization, the totals per enabled hardware entities are calculated by type. The actual allocation of resources at the system level does not have to reflect the enablement definition data per hardware unit, but can be allocated on any of the available physical hardware units of the respective type, just the system totals have to be respected.
In case a single hardware unit of such a system comprised of multiple identical hardware units breaks, the enablement definition data of the broken hardware unit can still be assumed accessible. The enablement definition data of the broken unit can still be respected at the system level if enough physical resources of the respective type are available on other hardware units providing the same type of physical resources. For best system availability, it may be recommended to plug as much physical resources per type into the system such that a complete loss of a single hardware unit still leaves enough physical capacity in the system to fulfill the needs according to the system totals of the enablement definitions as defined across the multiple hardware units.
Even though the broken hardware unit may not have any healthy physical capacity, it still carries the enablement definition data. By moving the broken hardware unit to a different system, the enablement definition data is moved to the target system. If it has unused physical resources, the addition of the broken hardware unit would enable physical resources from the pool of unused physical hardware. For certain reasons, the hardware manufacturer or distributor may not want substandard substitute components for broken hardware that simply deals with the enablement definition data. Therefore, there is a need for a novel technique of identifying resources of a defective hardware unit in a computing system.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method and infrastructure for recognition of the resources of a defective hardware unit

International Business Machines Corporation


A brain implant system consistent with embodiments of the present invention includes an electrode array having a plurality of electrodes for sensing neuron signals. A method for manufacturing the electrode array includes machining a piece of an electrically conductive substance to create a plurality of electrodes extending from a base member. Each electrode also has a corresponding base section. A nonconductive layer is provided around at least a portion of the base section of each electrode to support the plurality of electrodes. The base section of the electrodes are then cut to separate the base member from the plurality of electrodes supported by the nonconductive support layer. The present invention also includes a complete brain implant system using the above electrode array.

Recent advances in neurophysiology have allowed researchers to study the activity of groups of neurons with high temporal resolution and in specific locations in the brain. These advances create the possibility for brain-machine interfaces allowing an amputee to control a prosthetic limb in much the same way that person would control a natural limb. Although noninvasive sensors, such as multichannel electroencephalogram (EEG), have shown some promise as simple interfaces to computers, they do not currently offer the spatial resolution needed for prosthetic control. Current research into the electrical activity of small groups of neurons has thus been done primarily with arrays of microelectrodes inserted into the brain.
Current intra-cortical microelectrode recording systems can record electrical signals from groups of neurons. These systems typically use a microscopic tapered conductive element, insulated except at its tip, to record the neuron signals. Other conductor designs, such as blunt cut wires, may record single neurons, but have sub-optimal recording characteristics. Further, nearly all recording systems rely on arrays of fixed electrodes connected to data acquisition systems through long wiring or cable harnesses. The percutaneous connectors associated with these cables present a potential source of infection that limits the useful life of these systems. The cables themselves also present additional problems in the design of a prosthesis that must continue to function over many years and not interfere with the patient's daily life. For instance, the cables limit the patient's mobility by being tethered to a signal processing device. Relatively long cables may also present a source of electrical interference and may break after repetitive use.
The current microelectrode systems for recording single neurons can be grouped into two broad classes: those having microdrive mechanisms and those having fixed electrode arrays. Systems with microdrive mechanisms allow one to vertically position the electrodes in the brain tissue. Thus, a user can actively search for neurons of interest and accurately position the electrode tip near the soma of the neuron to improve the signal-to-noise ratio. These systems, however, have their disadvantages. First, even individual microdrive systems are bulky and cannot be fully implanted in a human. Second, microdrive systems typically cannot use more than a few dozen electrodes due to space limitations and the time it takes to independently position each electrode near a neuron.
Fixed electrode array systems overcome some of these problems, but have their own problems as well. Once placed in the brain, fixed electrode arrays can not be repositioned, so they rely on chance proximity to neurons. The most basic fixed electrode arrays record neural activity using multiple micro-wires or hatpin-like electrodes individually inserted into the brain. Because it can take a relatively significant amount of time to insert each electrode, however, these systems have not been widely used. More recently, wire bundles have been developed which are inserted into the cortex as a unit, but they lack features of ideal recording electrodes, such as tip shape, overall size, and impedance. In particular, the common square tip of such microwires can damage the cortex and can have difficulty penetrating the tough cerebral membranes, as well as brain tissue.
A major disadvantage of these fixed array systems is that they do not offer the ability to actively hunt for neurons since the electrode tips cannot be easily placed near the soma of the neurons. To help overcome this, large numbers of electrodes are inserted to increase the chance that the electrodes are positioned in close proximity to neurons. The input impedances of the electrodes may also be lowered to enhance their ability to record distant signals. Lowering the input impedance, however, also lowers the signal-to-noise ratio.
Accordingly, there is a need for a fixed microelectrode array system that may have numerous electrodes providing a high signal-to-noise ratio. Further, there is a need for a fixed array system that has a flexible design and that does not rely upon percutaneous cabling systems to communicate with a data acquisition system.

Microstructured arrays for cortex interaction and related methods of manufacture and use


A frame system for a motor vehicle includes a plurality of frame members each having a connector socket defined therein. The system further includes a connector having an outer profile configured to engage the sockets of two of the frame members so as to connect them in a fixed angular relationship. The connectors are composite bodies including a core member and an exterior body which covers at least a portion of the core member and defines a portion of the outer profile of the connector. Also disclosed are frames which employ the system and methods for manufacturing the frames.

Motor vehicles such as automobiles, trucks and the like generally include a relatively simple, planar, frame structure which supports the engine, drive train and wheels. This frame also supports a body of the vehicle, which is typically fabricated from a number of support pillars which are retained upon the frame and have sheet metal body panels affixed thereto. The assembly of such vehicular bodies is fairly complex and requires specializing tooling and fixtures to enable the placement and welding of the various posts and panels.
The automotive industry is now considering using space frames in the construction of motor vehicle bodies. Space frames have previously been employed in the construction of aircraft, racing cars, and other high performance motor vehicles. A space frame comprises a rigid cage which defines the body of the vehicle and operates to support body panels and other structural elements. Space frames provide a rigid, lightweight, high strength structure which increases the crashworthiness of the vehicle. Space frames for specialty applications such as aircraft and performance vehicles are typically fabricated from welded components; however, such construction is not generally practical for high volume production motor vehicles. Consequently, the industry is looking for other methods for fabricating relatively inexpensive, high strength space frame structures. In one approach, specially designed connectors are employed to join tubes, bars, rails or other such frame members in a precise geometrical relationship so as to assemble the space frame. Space frames of this type are shown, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,412,857; 6,276,111; 6,282,790; 5,458,393 and 5,209,541. One problem limiting the use of such technologies is the fact that each particular vehicle style will require a plurality of differently configured connector members. Such connectors must be relatively high in strength, and have precise geometries. Hence, such connectors are typically fabricated from metals or other such high strength materials. This unduly complicates the use of such space frame systems and greatly increases their cost.
As will be explained hereinbelow, the present invention provides a space frame system which utilizes connector members fabricated as composite bodies. The connectors of the present invention are very high in strength, yet are relatively easy to fabricate as high precision items, in large volumes, and at relatively low costs. As a consequence, the present invention provides a practical, low cost, readily reconfigurable space frame system. These and other advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the drawings, discussion and description which follow.
A frame system for a motor vehicle includes a plurality of frame members, each having a connector socket defined therein. The frame system further includes at least one connector. The connector has an outer profile configured to engage the sockets of two of said plurality of frame members so as to connect the frame members in a fixed angular relationship. The connector is a composite body comprising a core member and an exterior body which covers at least a portion of the core member and defines at least a portion of the outer profile of the connector. In specific embodiments, the core and exterior body are fabricated from different materials, and in one particular instance, the core is metal and the exterior body is a polymeric material.
The core may be elongated along the linear axis and the exterior body may cover substantially all of the length of the core, or it may cover only a portion of the length of the core. In some instances, a portion of the core is exposed upon or projects from a surface of the exterior body. The system may include auxiliary connectors configured and operable to retain the connector and frame member in a joined state. In yet other instances, either the frame member or the connector may have a connection feature associated therewith. The connection feature may comprise a mechanical connector such as a raised boss, a locking tooth, or the like, or it may comprise a body of adhesive.
Also disclosed herein is a method of assembling a frame structure for a motor vehicle using the system of the present invention.


Radiation is captured without fail, and a sharp image of a region where radiation is generated is acquired. A capsule medical device (3) includes an excitation light source (7) that generates excitation light for irradiating an inner wall (4) of a body cavity, a CCD (9), having variable sensitivity, that captures fluorescence generated at the inner wall (4) of the body cavity by the excitation light emitted from the excitation light source (7) to acquire a two-dimensional fluorescence image, and a control unit (35) that performs control so as to reduce the sensitivity of the CCD (9) when the fluorescence intensity in at least part of the fluorescence image acquired by the CCD (9) exceeds a predetermined threshold.

Hitherto, there have been known endoscope devices with which a fluorescent material having affinity for diseased tissue, such as cancer, is introduced in advance into the body of a subject under examination, and excitation light that excites the fluorescent material is radiated to detect fluorescence from the fluorescent material accumulated in diseased tissue (see Patent Document 1).
According to Patent Document 1, a plurality of fluorescence wavelengths in a near infrared wavelength region is detected by a wired endoscope device, and functions equivalent to those of the wired endoscope device are employed in a wireless capsule endoscope by using a plurality of light-emitting elements with different wavelengths, such as LEDs.
Usually, a capsule endoscope is swallowed through the mouth of a subject for inspection, and then sequentially captures images while moving in the body cavity by means of peristalsis until it is naturally evacuated. While the capsule endoscope moves in the body cavity, image data captured in the body by the capsule endoscope is transmitted to the outside by wireless communication or the like and is stored in a memory provided outside. Then, after the capsule endoscope is evacuated, images of organs based on the image data stored in the memory are displayed on the display to perform diagnosis.
Patent Document 1:
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, Publication No. 2006-25802

Capsule medical device and capsule medical system


A transistor device having a conformal depth of impurities implanted by isotropic ion implantation into etched junction recesses. For example, a conformal depth of arsenic impurities and/or carbon impurities may be implanted by plasma immersion ion implantation in junction recesses to reduce boron diffusion and current leakage from boron doped junction region material deposited in the junction recesses. This may be accomplished by removing, such as by etching, portions of a substrate adjacent to a gate electrode to form junction recesses. The junction recesses may then be conformally implanted with a depth of arsenic and carbon impurities using plasma immersion ion implantation. After impurity implantation, boron doped silicon germanium can be formed in the junction recesses.

Increased performance in circuit devices on a substrate (e.g., integrated circuit (IC) transistors, resistors, capacitors, etc. on a semiconductor (e.g., silicon) substrate) is typically a major factor considered during design, manufacture, and operation of those devices. For example, during design and manufacture or forming of metal oxide semiconductor (MOS) transistor devices, such as those used in a complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS), it is often desired to increase movement of electrons in N-type MOS device (NMOS) channels and to increase movement of positive charged holes in P-type MOS device (PMOS) channels. To increase movement of electrons and holes, (e.g., also referred to as "charge carriers"), feature sizes of the transistor devices are often reduced. For example, the channel length of a device may be shortened so that charge carriers move from one junction region to another more quickly. Reduction in channel length may lead to excessive leakage current if the doped junction (or source/drain) regions of the transistor become too close together. This can happen if the junction region dopants diffuse beyond the desired doping region due to subsequent thermal treatment. For example, for a PMOS device, boron out-diffusion may extend from the junction regions into the channel, thus increasing leakage current between the junction regions. Similarly, when gate length is reduced, short channel effects may suffer unless the lateral depletion region is reduced as well. Thus, during design and manufacture of PMOS devices, it is often desired to reduce boron out-diffusion from P-type junction regions into the channel during thermal treatment of the device after forming the junction regions. Similarly, during such design, it is often desired to reduce leakage current amounts and the lateral depletion width between junction regions and the channel.

Plasma implantated impurities in junction region recesses


This invention can be attached to the head of a milling machine and performs the functions of a center scope and an edge finder. Unlike a center scope or an edge finder it does not have to be removed from the machine before the machine is used. The invention performs this function by processing images from two cameras that are shot from off axis vantage points. The two images are processed to create a synthetic image that appears to be shot from the on axis vantage point. The processor adds a cross hair to the image to indicate that point on the workpiece that is exactly at the center axis of the quill. This allows the machine operator to exactly position the spindle precisely over a target point on the workpiece in a convent and safe manner.

1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to the field of instruments for machine tool setup and calibration.
2. Prior Art
A common task facing a machinist is the alignment of a cutting tool with the workpiece. A number of tools have been developed to aid in this task. They range from simple rulers to precision instruments such as dial indicators and center scopes.
One useful tool used with milling machines is the edge finder as described by Cole et al in U.S. Pat. No. 1,984,864. This is a simple tool that is mounted in the quill and slowly brought into contact with the edge of the workpiece while the spindle is rotating. The spring loaded end of the edge finder will indicate when the edge is in alignment with the quill.
Another useful tool is the coaxial indicator. This is used to align the quill over the center of an existing hole. It is a specialized dial indicator that mounts in the quill and has a long feeler arm. As the spindle is rotated by hand the feeler arm rotates around the inner surface of the hole and will show any misalignment.
A centerscope is a specialized type of microscope had been adapted for machine tool use. It uses similar optics to a microscope but has a mirror in the optical path allowing the body to have a bend. The objective lens is vertical, in line with the quill axis, but the eyepiece is off to the side at an angle. This arrangement allows the machinist to see where the quill center line intersects with the surface of the workpiece. When the centerscope is removed from the quill and the cutting tool mounted, the cutting tool will be exactly aligned with the workpiece.
3.Objects and Advantages
Most of the current alignment methods require that the tool be removed from the spindle. This is time consuming and disruptive of work flow. Some of these methods only work for edges and not for scribed lines. They all require that the machine be shut down. All of these devices require the machine operator to work in close proximity to the spindle thereby increasing the risk of injury.
The present invention solves the problem with other alignment methods.
The advantages to the present invention are;                (a) Does not need to be removed while machine is operating.        (b) Magnifies the image of the workpiece resulting in better alignment.        (c) No moving parts.        (d) Safer, can be used remotely.        (e) Changing tools does not affect the calibration.        (f) Easily removed.        (g) Easily calibrated.
The invention combines these features in a way that provides significant advantages over other means of machine tool alignment.


An ozone detector in the form of two basic embodiments which can measure ozone concentration in ambient air at 0.001-1 ppm. The first embodiment includes a stretched elastic material and a standard which can give ozone concentration in response to degree of microcracking or frosting of the elastic material. The second embodiment includes a chamber containing a long strip of elastic material wound on a spool, a small amount of manganese dioxide in the chamber to neutralize any ozone therein so that the ozone does not attack and frost the elastic material, a take-up spool mounted away from the chamber and adapted to wind the material from the chamber, a component for stretching the material, a light source for generating a light beam and illuminating the film between the chamber and the take-up spool and a detector for the light beam after the light beam passes through the material.

Ozone is deleterious to materials and to humans. OSHA's limits for average ozone concentration are up to 0.1 ppm over 8 hours or up to 0.3 ppm over 15 minutes.
Presently, there are a number techniques for measuring atmospheric ozone concentration. One technique employs ultraviolet light absorption whereas another employs the differential creep rubber technique.
The technique of ultraviolet light absorption takes advantage of a 254 nm absorption line of ozone in the electromagnetic spectra and thus measures the concentration of ozone directly. Here, a measured sample of air is pumped into a chamber and illuminated at one end with a low pressure cold cathode mercury vapor ultraviolet light. The ultraviolet light from the mercury lamp has emission at 254 nm. At the opposite end of the chamber is a cesium telluride vacuum diode detector. The determination of ozone is carried out in two steps. Initially, an ozone-free reference gas sample is pumped into the chamber and the transmitted light intensity is measured. Any ozone present in the reference gas is rapidly destroyed by passing the gas over manganese dioxide. In the second step, an "ozone gas sample" is pumped into the same chamber and the transmitted light is measured. The ozone concentration in the "ozone gas sample" can be easily determined by application of a formula.
Ozone detectors which operate on the basis of ultraviolet light absorption can detect as little as about 0.001 ppm of ozone but have the disadvantage of being somewhat large at about 19".times.12".times.6.5"; of being heavy at about 22 pounds; of requiring a full line voltage of 115V; of requiring a warmup time of about 2 hours; of being expensive at about $4,500-$12,000 per detector; and of requiring to be stationary. In short, such detectors are sensitive, expensive and are intended for stationary laboratory use.
The fact that a detector must remain in the lab is a serious disadvantage because ozone concentration often needs to be measured in widely separated locations, such as when one is determining the average ozone concentration over an entire city or when one needs to measure the ambient ozone in every room in a building. Furthermore, another critical disadvantage of an absorption ozone detector resides in the fact that ozone is very chemically active and thus easily destroyed inside many containers, which precludes sample collection.
In a differential creep of rubber technique, a standard rubber thread is divided in half, one part is exposed to the atmospheric ozone whereas the other part is protected from ozone. The unexposed portion creeps at a lower rate than the exposed portion and pulls an indicating needle attached to the exposed rubber along a scale, thus giving a measure of ozone concentration.
For purposes of a reference, summer day ozone concentration in the ambient air at about the ground level is about 0.08 ppm whereas at night it is about 0.02 ppm. In winter, the day ozone concentration is about 0.03 ppm whereas at night it is about 0.02 ppm. In some locations, such as in Los Angeles, ozone concentration exceeds these values. For instance, summer ozone daytime concentration in Los Angeles often exceeds 0.10 ppm whereas at night it is about 0.02 ppm. Since ozone concentration is lower in the morning than in the evening due to the absence of sunlight at night, it is recommended to carry out outdoor activities, such as running, in the morning rather than in the evening to avoid the higher deleterious ozone concentration.

Atmospheric ozone concentration detector

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


This invention relates to novel imines, some of which are in the form of ionic liquids, and a process for producing electron deficient olefins, such as 2-cyanoacrylates, using an imine, for instance such novel imines, many of which are in the form of an ionic liquid.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to novel imines, some of which are in the form of ionic liquids ("ILs"), and a process for producing electron deficient olefins, such as 2-cyanoacrylates, using an imine, for instance such novel imines, many of which are in the form of an IL.
2. Brief Description of Related Technology
Cyanoacrylate adhesives are known for their fast adhesion and ability to bond a wide variety of substrates. They are marketed as "super glue" type adhesives. They are useful as an all-purpose adhesive since they are a single component adhesive, very economical as only a small amount will do, and generally do not require any equipment to effectuate curing.
Traditionally, cyanoacrylate monomers have been produced by way of a Krioevenagel condensation react ion between a formaldehyde precursor, such as paraformaldehyde, and an alkyl cyanoacetate with a basic catalyst. During the reaction, cyanoacrylate monomer forms and polymerises in situ to a prepolymer. The prepolymer is subsequently thermally cracked or depolymerised, yielding cyanoacrylate monomer. This approach has remained essentially the same over time, though various improvements and variants have been introduced. See e.g. U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,245,933, 5,624,699, 4,364,876, 2,721,858, 2,763,677 and 2,756,251.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,142,698, the synthesis of difunctional cyanoacrylates using a Knoevenagel condensation reaction is described. However, the ability to thermally depolymerise the resulting, now crosslinked, prepolymer in a reliable and reproducible manner to produce pure difunctional monomers in high yields is questionable [see J. Buck, J. Polym. Sci. Polym. Chem. Ed., 16, 2475-2507(1978), and U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,975,422, 3,903,055, 4,003,942, 4,012,402, and 4,013,703].
A variety of other processes for producing cyanoacrylate monomers are known, some of which are described below. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 5,703,267 defines a process for producing a 2-cyanoacrylic acid which comprises subjecting a 2-cyanoacrylate and an organic acid to a transesterification reaction.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,455,369 defines an improvement in a process for preparing methyl cyanoacrylate, in which methyl cyanoacetate is reacted with formaldehyde to form a polymer that is then depolymerized to the monomeric product, and in which the purity of yield is 96% or better. The improvement of the '369 patent is reported to be conducting the process in a poly(ethylene glycol) diacetate, dipropionate, or dibutyrate, having a number average molecular weight 200-400, as the solvent.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,096,848 defines a process for the production of a biscyanoacrylate, which comprises the steps of esterifying a 2-cyanoacrylic acid or transesterifying an alkyl ester thereof to obtain a reaction mixture; and fractionally crystallizing the reaction mixture to obtain the biscyanoacrylate.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,587,059 defines a process for the preparation of monomeric 2-cyanoacrylates comprising the steps of (a) reacting (i) a 2,4-dicyanoglutarate with (ii) formaldehyde, cyclic or linear polymers of formaldehyde, or a mixture thereof, in the presence of between about 0.5 and about 5 mols of water per mol of 2,4-dicyanoglutarate, at an acid pH of about 3 to slightly less than 7, and at a temperature of about 70 to about 140, to form an oligomeric intermediate product, and (b) removing water that is present from step (a) and thermalizing the oligomeric intermediate product for a period of time sufficient to effect its conversion to monomeric 2-cyanoacrylates.
Commercial production of cyanoacrylate monomers ordinarily relies on the depolymerisation of a prepolymer formed under Knoevenagel condensation reaction conditions, as noted above. Still today the Knoevenagel condensation reaction is believed to remain the most efficient and prevalent commercial method for producing high yields of monofunctional cyanoacrylates. Nevertheless, it would be desirable to not have to resort to thermally induced depolymerisation of a prepolymer produced by the Knoevenagel condensation reaction. This prospect may also enable facile access to highly useful difunctional monomers, such as so-called bis-cyanoacrylates or hybrid materials of cyanoacrylate and other polymerisable or reactive functionality.
Absent from the published literature, however, is the use of imines in the preparation of electron deficient olefins, such as 2-cyanoacrylates. Until now.

Imines and methods of preparing electron deficient olefins using such novel imines


A dual flush mechanism equipped with a two independent flush valves which are each separately controlled by a separate spring loaded button. The flush valves are at different heights in the toilet tank such that actuation of the upper flush valve, by pressing a first button on top of the tank, will produce a short flush, while pressing of the second button will actuate the lower flush valve to produce a long flush. Pivot rods are pivotably supported on a common axis below the first and second buttons. The upper end of each pivot rod is coupled through a spring to its respective push button on top of the tank. The opposite ends of the pivot rods are coupled respectively through a chain to the upper and lower flush valves. Pressing the first button exerts a downward force through the spring on the first pivot rod to raise the opposite end thereof which in turn raises the upper flush valve. Pushing the second button actuates the second pivot rod in the same manner to raise the lower flush valve. The height of the upper flush valve can be adjusted.

The present invention relates generally to a flushing device for water closets and more particularly to a water closet flushing device with a dual flush mechanism which uses a dual flush valve equipped with a height regulator.
Various dual flush mechanisms have been developed over the years for the purpose of providing the option of a full or long flush cycle for solid waste, or a short or partial flush cycle for liquid waste to save water during flushes that do not require the use of a full flush cycle. Conservation of natural resources such as water is important. Water closets which use less water to flush waste are most desirable.
Dual flush mechanisms have been constructed with two flush valves whereby each valve is operated by a separate knob or handle. The flush valves may be placed at different heights with respect to the bottom of the closet's tank. The actuation of the knob linked to the upper valve will produce a short or partial flush, while the actuation of the lower flush valve will produce a long or full flush. The length of the flush cycle is a function of the height of the flush valves with respect to the closet's bottom wall. The higher the valve is from the closet's bottom wall, the smaller the volume of water that will be discharged. Accordingly, the flushing of liquid waste, for example, requires the pressing of the upper flush valve operating knob since only a small amount of water is required for the flushing, while the flushing of solid waste requires the pressing of the knob linked to the lower flushing valve whereby a longer flush or a larger volume of flush water is produced. In this way, water conservation is ensured.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,333,332 to Kam, discloses a dual flush valve system in a closet using separate flush valve operating knobs. The system includes at least eight hinge points located between the lower and upper flush valve knobs and operating rods which effect a long or a short flush. Although there is a distinction between the short flush and long flush cycles, the dual flush system is very complicated, having many hinges operating the flush valve rod such that damage or failure of any of the hinges will effect failure of the overall function.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,839,759 and 2,864,095, both issued to the same inventor, Martino, disclose dual flush valves in which the base of the upper valve is controlled by means of a groove that regulates different heights of water in the closet tank. However, the structure of the valve rod operating hinges and the distance between the operating knobs are unable to ensure optimum performance. U.S. Pat. No. 3,795,016, discloses a water closet with dual flush valves which enable telescopic control, or lengthening or shortening, of the upper valve, which is strongly fixed by means of flanged bolts. In this invention, the arrangement of the flush valve operating hinges and the use of a single knob for operating the flush valve combine to give convenience to the user. However, the construction of the valve system is relatively complicated and the potential failure of the upper and lower flush valve operating hinges due to inadvertent excessive pressure on the knob can cause a large discharge of water.
Furthermore, U.S. Pat. No. 4,829,605 to Agustino, also discloses a dual flush valve having dual levers. One of the levers is for operating the half-volume flush valve and the other is for operating the full-volume flush valve. The two levers function as pressing knobs which are fixed in a non-parallel row. This invention does not give importance to the construction of the hinges of the lever or rod used for operating the individual valves. U.S. Pat. No. 4,011,604 to Goldswarthy relates to a dual flush system for closets with a lever operating construction that drives the flush valves separately. The weakness of the construction is in the length of the operating rod with respect to the handle or pressing knob. It is possible that the operating hinge which forms an "upside-down U" could lessen the operating capacity of the two flushing valves.
Accordingly, an improved dual flush mechanism that reduces unnecessary water consumption and which is of sound, simple construction is desired. It is preferable that the height of the mechanism be adjustable to accommodate the variation in tank size.


Automatic generation of electronic messaging templates is provided. After a first email/message is generated and used, a second or a plurality of subsequent messages may be compared against the first or other similar emails/messages. Common elements among the similar emails/messages and elements not in common in the compared emails/messages are identified. An email/message template is automatically generated having textual content comprising all elements (e.g., text) common to each compared email/message and having highlighting components, such as an “XXX” or other acceptable highlighting notation at a location in the textual content corresponding to each uncommon element. Upon subsequent use, when a sender opens the template and enters any information particular to the intended recipient, that information may be used to query a database or other data source for information that may be used to automatically fill-in (autofill) each highlighted uncommon element in the template.

In a typical business, educational, or social setting, users often find a need to send very similar electronic mail items or other electronic messaging items to tens, hundreds, or even thousands of recipients where only minor changes are made to each email/message item before it is sent. For example, a business may send a nearly identical electronic mail item to hundreds of customers enclosing an invoice for services where the only difference in the hundreds of mail items is the name to which each item is addressed and one or more other items such as an invoice number, price, due date, and the like. Similarly, a teacher may send a very similar email to parents of fifty students reminding the parents of an upcoming parent/teacher conference where the only difference in the fifty email messages is the name to which each message is addressed and a date/time of the upcoming conference.
In a typical case, for each successive email/message, senders copy a previously sent message and then manually change information that is not common to all messages, for example, recipient name, invoice number, invoice amount, date/time of a particular meeting, and the like. However, such senders often forget to change a given item from a previous message, and erroneous information is sent to a recipient that may embarrass the sender and/or make the sender appear unprofessional. In addition, sensitive information such as financial data particular to a given recipient may be sent to the wrong recipient. In addition to the social and security issues caused by such situations, manually creating each successive message is time-consuming and results in significant computational waste where the sender must create each message manually, including searching one or more data sources for information particular to each message.
It is with respect to these and other considerations that the present invention has been made.

Smart electronic mail and messaging templates


An inflatable air bag (20') having an inlet (24) adapted to be attached to a source of inflation gas (70), initially maintained in a folded configuration prior to being inflated, the air bag being rapidly inflated by the inflation gas creating certain stresses within the material, the air bag including a plurality of seams (90) formed along joined arcuate edges of a single piece of material (50), wherein the seams are arranged about the air bag at locations remote from the location of maximum stress.

The present invention generally relates to air bags used in an occupant protection safety system and more particularly to an air bag made from a single piece of material.
Conventional air bags are typically manufactured using several pieces of cloth that are cut in a prescribed pattern and sewn together to create an inflatable cushion having the desired shape. It is also known in the art that an air bag can be manufactured from a single piece of material. This type of air bag is shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,316,337 and 5,310,216. As can be appreciated, the use of a single piece of material may lead to economies of manufacture.
Reference is made to FIG. 1 which illustrates an inflated air bag 20 which is made from a single piece of material which when laid flat is similar to the pattern shown in the above mentioned patents. This pattern of material (arranged as a single piece of material or using a plurality of pieces of material) typically includes geometric shapes having straight edges adjacent each other. When assembled, the air bag 20 will include a first, face or front portion 22, an inlet or neck 24 adapted in a known manner to be wrapped or fitted about an air bag manifold, which holds an inflator (or directly to an inflator), and a middle portion 26 interconnecting the front 22 and inlet 24 portions. Prior to inflation the cushion is folded or rolled into a compacted configuration and positioned about an inflator (not shown) and secured to a housing 25. The middle portion 26 is formed by joining various straight edges of the material pattern together at a plurality of seams 28a,b,c. As can be appreciated, FIG. 1 illustrates the right hand side of air bag 20. The left hand side of air bag 20 will also include a similar or identical pattern of seams. As can be appreciated, if the material pattern comprises a series of straight edges, the resulting seams will also be straight. The typical layout of the seams of this type of air bag 20 has a straight side seam such as 28a running from the inlet 24 toward the front portion 22 and radially diverging straight seams such as 28b and 28c. Experience has shown that the straight sides of the material pattern and resulting straight seams constrain design alternatives by limiting the number of shapes a cushion can have. In addition, such a cushion may require unwanted and unneeded folds and tucks to achieve its folded or compact configuration. This type of air bag also displays a less than optimal stress distribution, which overly stresses the material at the seams, which may result in leakage or tearing (at or near the seams) when the air bag inflates. This stress distribution results because the seams lie in a straight line along the contour of the inflated cushion and in line with the direction of air bag inflation. Upon activation of the inflator, inflation gas is produced or transmitted to the air bag which causes the air bag to unfold or unroll in a rapid manner, rapidly propelling the cushion material in a direction away from the housing 25 (generally toward the occupant to be protected, see arrow 27) at a high rate of speed. As the material reaches its maximum extension and decelerates, high stresses will be developed in the straight seams which tends to pull the seams apart especially at the common point such as 36 which often exhibits a region of maximum stress. During inflation the cushion 30 will generally become pressurized evenly throughout such that the top 32, bottom 34 and sides 35 of the cushion 30 will expand outwardly and the face or front portion 22 of the cushion material will pull away from the inlet (housing) stressing the seams. The momentum of the inflation gas particles generally acts to propel the bag toward the occupant in direction 27 while at the same time push the cushion generally in the direction of arrows 36 and 37. As can be appreciated, stresses are produced which are tangent or parallel to the seams (running along the exterior contour of the bag) which tends to pull the seams apart. In general, the seams represent a discontinuity in the cushion material, and therefore are the weakest part of the cushion.
In contrast, the present invention utilizes a one-piece, material pattern with a series of concave and convex edges that are joined together forming corresponding Princess seams or seam lines. As will be seen, this construction permits the cushion material, rather than the seams, to absorb the developed stresses. Further, the convex and concavely seams give the designer (of the air bag) the ability to achieve a greater number of bag shapes and to reposition the seams away from the regions of maximum stress such that the material, rather than the seams, absorbs the stresses. As such, the stresses generated are less prone to break the seams.
Accordingly the invention comprises: an inflatable air bag having: an inlet portion adapted to be attached to a source of inflation gas and a cushion portion, initially maintained in a folded or rolled configuration prior to being inflated, the cushion portion being rapidly inflated by the inflation gas wherein certain stresses are created within the material of the cushion during the inflation interval, the cushion including a plurality of convex/concave sets of seams joining certain edges of the cushion material together to thereby form the cushion, wherein the seams are arranged about the cushion at locations remote from the location of maximum stress.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a robust air bag and one that is easy to manufacture. The manufacturability of this cushion is improved by reducing the number of manual steps (such as the number of seams) and equipment (as an example quilting machines, may not be required), the number of parts, the amount of cloth required, and the amount of time to cut the cloth and sew the cushion. All of these improvements create a cushion that improves quality while reducing manufacturing costs.

Single piece air bag with improved stress distribution


A portable electronic device includes a lower member, an upper member, a strip-storing unit and an electric connecting strip. The lower member is provided with a keyboard module. The upper member is slidably disposed on the lower member. The strip-storing unit is disposed in the lower member. The electric connecting strip is retractably disposed in the strip-storing unit, and two ends thereof are respectively connected to the upper member and the lower member. When the upper member slides on the lower member, a part of the electric connecting strip is pulled out or pulled back into the strip-storing unit.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a portable electronic device, and more particularly to a portable electronic device capable of hiding a flexible printed circuit thereof.
2. Description of Related Art
In a conventional portable electronic device such as a slider computer, the screen is slidably disposed on the keyboard. As the slider computer in use, the screen is slide to one side of the keyboard exposing a keyboard thereof and upwardly being lifted on the keyboard. However, in sliding the screen of the slider computer to stand on the keyboard, an electric connecting strip (e.g., a flexible printed circuit) for connecting the screen and the keyboard or host would be exposed outside the slider computer, so that the electric connecting strip may have higher possibility of being damaged.
In this regard, how to develop a portable electronic device for solving the mentioned disadvantages is an urgent issue in the art.


Nano-particles of calcium and phosphorous compounds are made in a highly pure generally amorphous state by spray drying a weak acid solution of said compound and evaporating the liquid from the atomized spray in a heated column followed by collection of the precipitated particles. Hydroxy apetite (HA) particles formed by such apparatus and methods are examples of particle manufacture useful in bone and dental therapies.

In a principal aspect the present invention comprises apparatus and preparation methods, by a spray drying technique, for nanostructured bioactive material that has high reactivity derived from small particle sizes and high surface areas comprising the material. Such manufactured material has performance advantages in a range of biomedical applications.
The mineral component of bone and teeth consists primarily of non-stoichiometric and highly substituted hydrozyapatite (HA) in poorly crystalline or nearly amorphous forms. The "impurity" components that are present at significant levels in biominerals include sodium, potassium, magnesium, and strontium substituting for calcium, carbonate for phosphate, and chloride and fluoride for hydroxyl ions. Because HA is stable under in vivo conditions and is osteoconductive, synthetic HA has been widely used in hard tissue repair application, such as implant coatings and bone substitutes. Other calcium phosphate phases have also been shown to be highly biocompatible and/or osteoconductive. As a result, with the exception of fluorapatite (FA), all calcium phosphate compounds listed in Table 1 have been used in some form of bone repair applications.
TABLE 1Calcium Phosphate Compounds that Have Being Used in Bone Repair ApplicationsCompoundFormulaBone repair applicationsMonocalcium phosphateCa(H2PO4)2H2OComponents of calcium phosphatemonohydrate (MCPM)cement (CPC) [Mejdoubi et al.,1994]Dicalcium phosphateCaHPO4CPC component [Brown and Chow,anhydrous (DCPA)1987]Dicalcium phosphateCaHOP42H2OCPC product [Bohner et al., 1995]dehydrate (DCPD)CPC component [Brown and Chow,1987]Octacalcium phosphateCa8H2(PO4)65H2OCPC product [Bermudez et al., 1994](OCP)α-Tricalcium phosphateα-Ca3(PO4)2CPC component [Ginebra et al. 1997](α-TCP)β-Tricalcium phosphateβ-Ca3(PO4)2CPC component [Mejdoubi et al., 1994](β-TCP)Granular bone graft [Ogose et al., 2002]Amorphous calciumCa3(PO4)2CPC component [Lee et al., 1999]phosphate (ACP)Hydroxyapatite (HA)Ca5(PO4)3OHCPC product [Brown and Chow, 1987];granular bone graft [den Boer et al.,2003]; Implant coating [Jaffe andScott, 1996]Fluorapatite (FA)Ca5(PO4)3FTetracalcium phosphateCa4(PO4)2OCPC component [Brown and Chow,(TTCP)1987]
Calcium phosphate compounds are also useful in various dental applications. For example, a slurry or gel that contained MCPM and fluoride was used as topical F agents that produced significant amounts of both tooth-bound and loosely bound F deposition on enamel surfaces. A chewing gum that contained α-TCP as an additive released sufficient amounts of calcium and phosphate ions into the oral cavity and significantly alleviated cariogenic challenges produced by sucrose. A calcium phosphate cement that contained TTCP and DCPA was shown to provide effective apical seal when used as a root canal filler/seal, or as a sealer with as a retrievable master cone. The cement was also effective as a perforation sealer. ACP or a TTCP+DCPA mixture has been used as the mineral source in remineralizing dental restorative materials.
In addition to calcium phosphates, a number of calcium-containing compounds also have significant dental applications. Calcium fluoride, CaF2, which is the major product of most topically applied F (F dentifrices, F rinses, professionally applied F gel, etc.), is the source of ambient F in the mouth that is primarily responsible for the cariostatic effects of F. The greater the amount of CaF2 that adheres to the oral tissue surfaces after a F application, the greater is the oral F retention and therefore the F cariostatic effects. Calcium-silicate compounds, tricalcium silicate and dicalcium silicate, are the major components of mineral trioxide aggregates (MTA), a material that finds wide uses in endodontic procedures, such as root end and perforation fills and for apical closure in the apexification procedure. Calcium silicate hydrates (CSH), xCa(OH)2 ySiO2zH2O, of varying Ca/Si/H2O ratios are among the products formed in MTA.
Defined broadly, the term "nanostructured" is used to describe materials characterized by structural features of less than 100 nm in average size (WTEX Panel Report on Nanostructure Nanodevices, 1999). Clusters of small numbers of atoms or molecules in nanostructured materials often have properties (such as strength, electrical resistivity and conductivity, and optical absorption) that are significantly different from the properties of the same matter at the bulk scale. In the case of calcium phosphates and other bioactive inorganic materials, one of the most small particle size and high surface areas. There are a number of reasons to believe that the combination of small particle size and high reactivity can lead to performance advantages in a range of clinical applications. For example, as set forth in the description of the preferred embedment hereinafter, experimental results showed that nano sized HA, when incorporated into a TTCP+DCPA calcium phosphate cement caused a drastic reduction in setting time from 30 min to 10-12 min. It is anticipated that nano particles of other calcium phosphate phases, which are ingredients of the various calcium phosphate cements in clinical use, will also significantly improve the setting and other handling properties, e.g., cohesiveness, injectability, etc., of the cements.
The apatite crystallites in human bone, enamel, dentin and cementum are all extremely small in size and can be considered as nanstructured materials. Because HA is the prototype for bioapatites, which are in nano crystalline forms, extensive efforts have been made to produce synthetic nano HA materials. Methods that have been used for preparing nano HA material included chemical precipitation, in some cases followed by spray drying or hydrothermal treatment, sol-gel approach, microemulsion techniques, precipitation from complex solution followed by microwave heating, wet chemical methods incorporating a freeze drying step, mechanochemical synthesis, and eletrodeposition. Additional studies reported synthesis of composites of nano HA and bioactive organic components including HA-collagen, HA-chondroitin sulfate or HA-chitosan using direct precipitation method, nano HA-polyamide using HA slurry and solution method, and Ca-deficient nano HA-high molecular weight poly (D,L-lactide) through a solvent-cast technique.
Preparation of microcrystalline and nanocrystalline HA have also been disclosed in the patent literature. U.S. Pat. No. 5,034,352 discloses that Spray drying is the preferred technique for converting the gelatinous precipitate of hydroxylapatite into the fine dry articles suitable for use in the agglomeration process. U.S. Pat. No. 4,897,250 discloses that calcium phosphate, icnlduing hydroxyapatite, precipitated by the reaction can be withdrawn in a powder form by any conventional techniques such as filtration, centrigual separation, and spray drying. U.S. Pat. No. 6,033,780 discloses that manufacturing method of the spherical apatite is that a slurry comprising hydroxyapatite as its main component is dried and powdered to prepare aggregates of primary apatite particles, preferably, spray dried to form spherical particles. U.S. Pat. No. 6,558,512 discloses that one method for preparing dense, rounded or substantially spherical ceramic particles such as calcium hydroxyapatite is by spray dring a slurry of about 20 to 40 weight % submicron particle size calcium hydroxyapatite. U.S. Pat. No. 6,592,989 provides a method of synthesizing hydroxyapatite comprising the steps of preparing a mixed material slurry be dispersing calcium hydroxide powder into a phosphoric acid solution; conducting a mechanochemical milling treatment. U.S. Pat. No. 5,585,318 provides methods for producing non-porous controlled morphology hydroxyapatite granules of less than 8 μm by a spray-drying process. Solid or hollow spheres or doughnuts can be formed by controlling the volume fraction and viscosity of the slurry as well as the spray-drying conditions. Finally, U.S. Pat. No. 6,013,591 discloses a method for preparing nanocrystalline HA that involves precipitating a particulate apatite from solution having a crystallite size of less than 250 nm and a BET surface area of at least 40 m2/g. In all of the prior art methods cited above, HA was precipitated from a solution. The slurry or emulsion containing the precipitated HA was spray-dried to produce fine particles.
In the above methods described in the scientific or patent literature, the nano HA materials are formed in a solution environment, and in most cases, the product is washed with water or other solvents to remove impurity or undesired components. Exposure of the nano particles to additional solution environments is likely to result in significant interactions between the particle surfaces and the solvent, leading to modifications of the surface properties and a reduction in the high reactivity innate to the nano particles. Thus, there has persisted the need to identify methods and apparatus for the manufacture of high purity, amorphous or nearly amorphous nano particles, especially those comprised of [Ca] and [P].

Nanostructured bioactive materials prepared by spray drying techniques


A method and system for providing arbitration within a ringlet-type interconnect of a computer system are described. By providing different arbitration values as part of out-of-band information and introducing asymmetry at a scrubber node, fair allocation of interconnect bandwidth is achieved. The number of arbitration values can be extended from a basic set to provide additional functionality to handle specialized traffic situations.

The present invention relates generally to multiprocessor systems and, more particularly, to systems and techniques for efficiently allocating communication bandwidth among nodes in such systems using a ringlet-type interconnect.
As the performance demands on personal computers continue to increase at a meteoric pace, processors have been developed which operate at higher and higher clock speeds. The instruction sets used to control these processors have been pared down (e.g., RISC architecture) to make them more efficient. Processor improvements alone, however, are insufficient to provide the greater bandwidth required by computer users. The other computer subsystems which support the processor, e.g., interconnects, I/O devices and memory devices, must also be designed to operate at higher speeds and support greater bandwidth. In addition to improved performance, cost has always been an issue with computer users. Thus, system designers are faced with the dual challenges of improving performance while remaining competitive on a cost basis.
Early personal computers typically included a central processing unit (CPU), some type of memory and one or more input/output (I/O) devices. These elements were interconnected to share information using what is commonly referred to as a "bus". Physically, buses are fabricated as a common set of wires to which inputs and outputs of several devices are directly connected.
Buses convey data and instructions between the elements of a digital computer. Local buses provide data transmission capability within a device, whereas system buses interconnect devices, such as I/O subsystems, memory subsystems and a central processor, together. In many systems, several devices compete for use of the system bus. In industry parlance, devices which can control the system bus are termed bus masters, while other devices, which are passive and respond to requests from the bus masters, are termed slaves. Some devices may operate at different times either as a slave or a bus master to accomplish different objectives.
In order to avoid bus contention, i.e., the situation where two bus masters have simultaneous control over the system bus, a bus arbiter can be provided to prioritize requests to use the bus. In such systems, a device which wishes to become a bus master will send a bus request signal to the arbiter over a dedicated line in the control bus. If the arbiter grants the bus request, then an acknowledgement or granting signal is transmitted back to the requesting device over another control line. The methodology by which the arbiter prioritizes requests is called the bus arbitration protocol. These protocols can be implemented as an ordered list of bus masters (i.e., the highest requesting bus master on the list receives a bus grant) or as state machines inside the arbiter.
The advent of multiprocessor architectures for personal computers is a recent trend in the design of these systems, intended to satisfy consumers' demand for ever faster and more powerful personal computers. In a typical multiprocessor computer system each of the processors may share one or more resources. Note, for example, the multiprocessor system depicted in FIG. 1. Therein, an exemplary multiprocessor system 5 is illustrated having seven nodes including a first CPU 10, a bridge 12 for connecting the system 5 to some other computer system 13, first and second memory devices 14 and 16, a frame buffer 18 for supplying information to a monitor, a direct memory access (DMA) device 20 for supplying information to a storage device or a network and a second CPU 22 having an SRAM device 24 connected thereto. According to the conventional paradigm, these nodes would be interconnected by a bus 26. Caches can be provided as shown to isolate some of the devices from the bus and to merge plural, small bus accesses into larger, cache-line sized accesses.
As multiprocessor systems grow more complex, i.e., are designed with more and more nodes, adapting the bus-type interconnect to handle the increased complexity becomes problematic. For example, capacitive loading associated with the conductive traces on the motherboard which form the bus becomes a limiting factor with respect to the speed at which the bus can be driven. Thus, an alternative interconnect architecture is desirable.
One type of proposed interconnect architecture for multiprocessor personal computer systems replaces the bus with a plurality of unidirectional point-to-point links and uses packet data techniques to transfer information. FIGS. 2(a) and 2(b) conceptualize the difference. Ringlets overcome the aforementioned drawback of conventional bus-type interconnects since their individual links can be clocked at high speeds regardless of the total number of nodes which are linked together. FIG. 2(a) depicts four of the nodes from FIG. 1 interconnected via a conventional bus. FIG. 2(b) illustrates the same four nodes interconnected via unidirectional point-to-point links 30, 32, 34 and 36. These links can be used to provide bus-like functionality by connecting the links into a ring (which structure is sometimes referred to herein as a "ringlet") and having each node pass-through packets addressed to other nodes. As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, packets are formatted to include payload data as well as various overhead information including, for example, information associated with the target and source nodes' addresses. An exemplary packet format is illustrated in FIG. 2(c). Therein, the packet includes a target node identification field (Target ID), an old bit field, a command field, a source node identification field (Source ID), as well as payload data and, potentially, other fields including error detection, e.g., cyclic redundancy check (CRC) fields. Between the data packets, the system circulates filler data referred to herein as out-of-band information or idle symbols.
Like bus-type interconnect architectures, ringlets also require arbitration schemes to handle the eventuality of heavy loading and the prioritization of packets transmitted by the various nodes. For example, certain types of information may be guaranteed a predetermined amount of bandwidth, e.g., information used to generate audio and video output, regardless of the loading placed on the ringlet by the other tasks being performed by the processors. This type of information is referred to herein as "isochronous data", whose servicing may require a temporary restructuring of packet data transmission priorities. Moreover, if a node becomes blocked, i.e., is unable to transmit a packet of its own because its bypass queue is full of packets that it has received from another node and is supposed to pass on, then some technique is necessary to command the other nodes to stop sending packets until the node becomes unblocked.
Unlike bus-type interconnects where arbitration signals can be sent on dedicated signal lines, ringlets may send out-of-band control information as part of the idle symbols transmitted over the links. One example of this type of arbitration is found in the industry standard referred to as Scalable Coherent Interface (SCI), which standard is described in IEEE Publication Std 1596-1992. According to this standard, "go" bits are circulated in the ringlet as a sort of replicatable/mergeable token. A node may transmit a packet only if it has received a "go" bit as part of the out-of-band information received in an incoming packet, which "go" bit is replicated and forwarded in addition to the transmitted packet. When the need arises to throttle one or more nodes so that a blocked node can transmit a packet, the blocked node merges incoming "go" bits so that "go" bit propagation stops, which in turn precludes other nodes from transmitting packets.
This approach has several potential drawbacks. First, the "go" bits may be lost due to transmission errors, which in turn would prevent nodes from transmitting packets and reduce throughput. Second, after arbitration is resolved, "normal" packet transmission on the ringlet needs to be restarted by circulating "go" bits to the various nodes. This increases latency since "go" bit replication rates have to be constrained to provide adequate arbitration response time. I
Another type of ringlet arbitration has been described in early drafts of a proposed IEEE Standard entitled "SerialExpress--A Scalable Gigabit Extension to Serial Bus". Therein, instead of "go" bits being circulated to permit nodes to transmit packets, a blocked node sends a stop indication having a six bit node identifier. Each node in the ringlet that receives this stop indication stops sending packets and passes the stop indicator on until it is received again by the originating node, which can then transmit packets.
Like the "go" bits in the first described approach, this solution is also susceptible to transmission errors which may alter the node identifier associated with the stop indicator. Special circuitry is then needed to identify and remove aberrant stop indicators which would otherwise circulate endlessly in the ringlet. Another problem associated with the arbitration proposed in the SerialExpress standard is handling of the post-arbitration recovery phase which relies on the propagation of a special "start-now" token. This token may be difficult to reliably maintain through elasticity buffers associated with the nodes which selectively delete passing-through idle symbols.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to have a more efficient arbitration scheme for ringlet-type interconnects associated with, for example, multiprocessor personal computer systems.

Efficient arbitration within point-to-point ringlet-based computer systems


A positive electrode material for a lithium secondary battery, which is high in safety, high in capacity, excellent in cycle performance, and high in charge/discharge efficiency, is provided. The positive electrode material for a lithium secondary battery is a powder containing a Li—Ni—Co—O or Li—Ni—Co—Ba—O system component as a main component and having an amorphous phase of an oxide mixed in each of particles or formed at the surface of the particle.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a positive electrode material for a lithium secondary battery, to a method for producing the same, and to a lithium secondary battery using the same. More particularly, it relates to a novel material obtained by improving a positive electrode material for a lithium secondary battery having a Li—Ni—Co—O or Li—Ni—Co—Ba—O system composition, to a method for producing the same, and to a lithium secondary battery using the novel material.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recent years have seen various improvements in a positive electrode material for a lithium secondary battery. As a positive electrode material for a high-capacity secondary battery, a material having a Li—Ni—Co—O or Li—Ni—Co—Ba—O system composition can be listed.
For example, there is a positive electrode material which is a compound represented by a chemical formula Li1-x-aAxNi1-Y-bByO where
A: one alkaline earth metal element of either strontium or barium, or at least two alkaline earth metal elements selected from magnesium, calcium, strontium and barium
B: at least one transition metal element other than Ni
X: a total number of moles of A and 0<X≦0.10
Y: a total number of moles of B and 0<Y≦0.30
a: −0.10≦a≦0.10
b: −0.15≦b≦0.15
(see, e.g., Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. HEI 9-17430 (pp. 2-8)).
There is another positive electrode material which is a compound represented by a chemical formula Li1-x-aAxNi1-Y-bBYO and forming secondary particles with an average diameter of 5.0 μm to 50 μm as an aggregate of primary particles with an average diameter of 0.01 μm to 5.0 μm where
A: strontium or barium
B: at least one transition metal element
X: a total number of moles of strontium or barium and 0<x≦0.10
Y: a total number of moles of all transition metal elements other than Ni and 0<Y≦0.30
a: −0.10≦a≦0.10
b: −0.15≦b≦0.15
(see, e.g., Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. HEI 10-79250 (pp. 2-7)).
Although the foregoing materials are excellent in cycle performance of a secondary battery when used in a positive electrode for a lithium secondary battery, no mention has been made to the thermal stability, capacity, rate performance, and charge/discharge efficiency thereof.
The present inventors had conducted research on a positive electrode material for a lithium secondary battery, made a further examination of an amount of Ba in Li—Ni—Co—Ba—O system technology similar to the technology mentioned above, and proposed a material giving a high thermal stability and a large capacity under a limited range of Ba content (see, e.g., Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2001-173285 (pp. 3-11)).
As a result of pursuing research on the improvement of the properties of the positive electrode material for a lithium secondary battery, the present inventors have developed a material with more excellent charge/discharge efficiency and cycle performance.

Positive electrode material for lithium secondary battery, method for producing the same, and lithium secondary battery


A serial memory may have memory arranged in a plurality of memory blocks, a serial interface for receiving a read instruction and associated memory address; and a controller configured to only store a plurality of most significant bits from each memory block which are accessed in parallel before an entire address has been received through the serial interface. The controller is further configured to stream out one of the plurality of most significant bits upon full reception of the memory address while retrieving the remaining bits from memory using the entire address and stream out the remaining bits after the most significant bits have been streamed out.

Serial memory device comprise memory, associated memory controller, power supply and a serial interface in a housing. These devices are intended as stand alone external devices that can be coupled with a microcontroller or microprocessor in systems where additional memory is needed to store data or program instructions that need to be stored in a non-volatile fashion. The housing can be very small because external pins are only required for power supply, the serial interface and optionally one or more address pins. The serial interface can be a serial peripheral interface (SPI) which generally only requires four external pins for bi-directional communication. Other serial interfaces may apply, such as I2C, single wire serial busses, etc. which require even less pins.
The respective protocol used depending on the serial interface defines how data is transmitted and received. To read a specific memory location, a master device must transmit a respective request to the serial memory which includes the address from which data is to be read. Once this command has been received the serial memory device retrieves the data and sends the data back to the master. In particular, in the SPI protocol, there is only a half clock between receiving the last address and streaming out the first data byte, while the read process within the serial memory device requires two full clocks at maximum frequency. Hence, the serial memory device requires substantial decoding circuitry, in particular a high number of sense amplifiers, to provide the data and meet the SPI transmission requirements. Other serial protocols may face similar timing problems.

Serial memory with fast read with look-ahead


An apparatus for monitoring whether a predetermined treatment has been effected at a predetermined working station on each of objects which are successively moved relative to the working station along a predetermined path includes an object detector for generating a first signal when each of the objects moved along the path passes a predetermined position of the working station; a timer for generating a second signal for instructing the working station to start execution of the predetermined treatment when a predetermined condition relating to execution of the predetermined treatment has been established after a lapse of a first predetermined time interval from generation of the first signal; and another timer for generating a third signal indicating failure of normal execution of the predetermined treatment when the second signal is not generated before a lapse of a second predetermined time interval from generation of the first signal, the second predetermined time interval being longer than the first predetermined time interval.

1. FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an apparatus for monitoring a predetermined treatment effected on objects successively moved along a given path, and particularly relates to an apparatus for monitoring whether a predetermined treatment has been effected, at a predetermined working station, on each of objects which are successively moved to the working station along a predetermined path.
2. DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART
In a system in which a predetermined treatment, such as printing of desired characters, marks, etc., laser machining or the like, is effected on objects successively transported by transporting means such as a conveyer line, generally, monitoring is made as to whether the predetermined treatment has been effected on the objects or not.
For example, there is a system in which desired items such as a product number, a production date, and so on are printed by an ink jet printer on objects successively transported by means of a conveyer line. Such a system is provided with a printer having a print head disposed opposing the conveyer line, an object sensor for producing a detection signal when the sensor detects that a leading end of each object has reached a position opposing the print head, and print control means including a microcomputer for controlling the printer so that the printer executes a predetermined printing operation in response to the detection signal.
The microcomputer of the print control means has a timer function to start counting of clock pulses in response to the detection signal of the sensor so as to produce a signal when the count value has reached a value corresponding to a predetermined time interval. Further, the microcomputer executes data processing including preparation of data to be used for controlling the print head in order to print the above-mentioned items on each of the objects in response to an output signal of the timer function, for example, data of binary codes of characters when the item is the characters, and storing the prepared data in a predetermined register. Upon completion of the data processing, the microcomputer produces a printing start signal.
Theoretically, the above-mentioned predetermined time interval must be equal to the time interval required for each of the objects to move a distance from the leading end of the object to a starting point of the printing on the object subtracted by a time interval usually required for the microcomputer to execute the data-processing. However, since the latter is negligibly small as compared with the former in normal case, there is no significant problem in practical application by setting the predetermined time interval at a value equal to the former. Accordingly, upon generation of the printing start signal, the printing start position on the object is opposing to the print head. The print control means includes means for causing the printer to start its printing operation in response to the printing start signal so that the printer prints the above-mentioned items on the object by using data stored in the register.
In the conventional printing system, however, there is a problem that the timer function of the microcomputer operates erroneously or the microcomputer fails to execute the above-mentioned data processing because the data processing may be complicated depending on the contents of the item, so that the printing start signal is not generated and printing is not started though the printing start position of the object has reached the position opposing the print head to thereby allow the object to be conveyed without being printed.
For example, as disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. JP-A-61-138054 (UM), it is known to provide a microcomputer with a watch dog timer function to detect erroneous operation of the microcomputer to thereby monitor whether the microcomputer is executing a predetermined calculation processing operation. By use of such a watch dog timer function, it is possible to detect erroneous operation of the timer function of the microcomputer. However, the watch dog timer function judges that the microcomputer is normal so long as the timer function operates normally, and it is therefore impossible to detect an event such that the microcomputer fails to execute the data processing because it is complicated. Accordingly, by means of the above-mentioned known technique, it is impossible to reliably detect the object transported without being printed.

Apparatus for monitoring a predetermined treatment effected on objects successively moved along a given path


A laminating resin comprising (A) an acrylated or methacrylated cycloaliphatic epoxide, (B) an acrylated or methacrylated alkoxylated bisphenol-A, in a weight ratio of (A) to (B) of about 3 to 1 to about 1 to 5, and (C) about 5% to about 50%, based on the total composition, cyclohexyl methacrylate. Vinyl toluene and ethylene glycol dimethacrylate are also used to modify certain properties of the resin.

Many attempts have been made to devise laminating resins having low volatile emissions and still meet the physical specifications and other desirable properties of the end products, while remaining relatively easy to use. In Lee U.S. Pat. No. 4,465,806, for example, a more or less conventional unsaturated polyesters resin is combined with, instead of the usual styrene, a reaction product of a polyepoxy compound and acrylic or methacrylic acid which may be the diacrylate of a polyglycidyl ether of bisphenol-A.
Cycloaliphatic epoxides are well known. They have been reacted with various other materials and used in various environments. See the bulletin on cycloaliphatic epoxide systems published by union Carbide Corporation. The reaction product of such materials with acrylic acid or methacrylic acid are not well known, and although aliphatic epoxys are enumerated as potential ingredients in some vinyl ester resin patents, they are not demonstrated in any nor are they mentioned as a possible use for cycloaliphatic epoxy resins in any of Union Carbide's (the manufacturer) literature. Further, when we formed these vinyl ester reins we found it necessary to depart radically from the accepted ratio of one monounsatured acid per unreacted epoxy group to a preferred ratio of one monounsaturated acid per 1.6 epoxy groups. This indicted a difference chemistry from that found in forming BPA epoxy vinyl ester resins.
Ethoxylated dysfunctional, bisphenol-A has been used in the past as an ingredient in various types of resins, generally resins which include a significant diisocyanate component, as in Ford, Jr. et al U.S. Pat. No. 3,876,726.
However, we are not aware of ny combinations in the prior art of the types of laminating resins we employ in our invention, namely combinations of alkoxylated difunctional bisphenol-A and vinyl ester resins based on cycloaliphatic epoxides.

Laminating resins having low organic emissions

Mount Lebanon Township, Allegheny County


A detection method for detecting quality of an optical element includes the following steps. Firstly, a point light source is provided. Then, the point light source is allowed to penetrate through the optical element, thereby forming a first optical image on an optical image processing device. Then, the position of the optical element is adjusted when there is a shade block included in the first optical image, and the point light source is allowed to penetrate through the optical element after the adjusting step, thereby forming a second optical image on the optical image processing device. Afterward, the first optical image is compared with the second optical image to discriminate whether the shade block is synchronously moved with position adjustment of the optical element so as to realize the quality of the optical element.

Since digital consumable electronic products have experienced great growth and are now rapidly gaining in popularity, these electronic products have attached thereto a photographing function. With the increasing development toward minimization, the overall volume of such a digital consumable electronic product becomes smaller and smaller. Accordingly, the volume of the camera module contained in the electronic product and the optical lens used in the camera module should be reduced.
For example, the procedure for detecting quality of this small-size optical lens is restricted because the mirror surface of the optical lens may be readily defected or contaminated when the mirror surface of the optical lens is scraped, there is any dust thereon or the material thereof is inhomogeneous.
Traditionally, the method for discriminating whether the mirror surface of the optical lens is defected or contaminated is performed by utilizing a high power microscope and a intense light to visually detect the mirror surface of the optical lens with the naked eye. This detection method, however, still has some drawbacks. For example, the obstructers obstructing the optical path and remained in the optical lens or other defects not readily visible to the naked eye fail to be effectively detected according to this method. Once the defective optical lens is mounted onto the electronic product, the resulting image quality would be unsatisfactory and the costs involving in post-control and maintenance would be increased.
In views of the above-described disadvantages resulted from the prior art, the applicant keeps on carving unflaggingly to develop a detection method and a detection device for detecting the quality of an optical element according to the present invention through wholehearted experience and research.

Detection method and device for detecting quality of optical element