A data processor composed of: a main body including a CPU, a keyboard provided at the top of the main body, a pair of sliding rails provided at both sides of the keyboard, a pair of sliders each for sliding on one of the sliding rails, a lid pivotably connected to the sliders and a display panel attached on one face of the lid. When the data processor is not used, the sliders are moved to the rear end, and the lid is tilted down, whereby the keyboard is covered by the lid. When the keyboard is used, the lid is raised up with the sliders at the rear end. After the keyboard operation is finished, the sliders are (and the lid is) moved to the front end. When the lid is tilted down with the sliders at the front end, the data processor becomes compact and the display panel can be seen from the outside. Since the keyboard is covered by the lid, the keys are secured from mistouches, and the operator can see the display without bending low.

A data processor for an analytical instrument (such as a chromatograph) should include a main processing unit connected to the analytical instrument, a keyboard for the input device and a display for the output device. With appropriate software, a general personal computer can be used as a data processor. But a specialized data processor is desirable for an analytical instrument because a specialized circuit can process data from the analytical instrument faster than a general circuit and specialized direct command keys make the operation more convenient.
Referring to a notebook type personal computer, a compact data processor is proposed as in FIGS. 7 and 8. The data processor is composed of a main body 21, a keyboard 22 provided on the top of the main body 21, and a lid 23 pivotally connected to the main body 21. On one face of the lid 23 is provided an LCD (liquid crystal display) panel. When the data processor is used, the lid 23 is raised upright as shown in FIG. 7 with the LCD panel facing the front. When the data processor is not used, the lid 23 is tilted down on the main body 21 as shown in FIG. 8, in which case the keyboard 22 cannot be operated and the LCD panel cannot be seen.
There is often a case where the keyboard of the data processor is used only at the beginning of an analysis (e.g. for setting up the conditions of the analysis) and no keyboard operation is necessary afterwards when data is being gathered and sent from the analytical instrument to the data processor. In such a case, if the lid 23 is tilted down, the operator cannot see the LCD panel and cannot recognize the progress of the analysis. If, on the other hand, the lid 23 is raised up, the data processor occupies a large space, and an unintentional touch of the keyboard may arise, which may cause an error in the analytical system. Another disadvantage of the structure is that the maximum rising angle of the lid 23 is not large enough in some cases so that the operator has to bend low to look into the LCD panel.
When the data processor is used for a chromatograph, it is desirable that the operator can perform, when necessary, a complicated data processing (such as an intensive and many-sided data analysis on the data collected through an analysis or a development of a new analytical method) using a full keyboard (including the a to z alphabetical keys). Once an analysis is begun, it is necessary to use only a minimum number of keys to operate the analysis (e.g., start/stop of the analysis or minor changes in the analytical conditions). The other keys are unnecessary and may even bring about an unintentional touch causing malfunctions of the analytical instrument.

Compact data processor having a tilting and sliding display


An improved system and method for a context-awareness platform that may be used to adapt an execution environment is provided. A framework with interfaces for setting, tracking, and getting context information about the execution environment of a computer system includes a context engine and a unified data store for aggregating context information at a platform level for access by executables running on the platform. The context engine may receive requests to perform context information operations from executables such as setting, tracking and getting context information in the data store. Upon receiving a notification of a change in context information, one or more executables may change the execution environment such as reconfiguring system settings. In this way, an executable may adapt its execution environment using context information.

Computer users have been frustrated for a long time by the inability of computer systems to intelligently adapt to new or changed computing and/or operating environments. This frustration may be even more acute for users of mobile computers who may work on numerous different activities, often at multiple physical locations and under varying circumstances. For instance, at the beginning of a day, a mobile computer user may be home, interacting with family or friends using email or instant messaging. The mobile computer user may then later make a presentation during a meeting at work. In the evening, the mobile computer user may be preparing a business proposal while traveling on an airplane for a business meeting the next day.
Unfortunately, the computer may remain similarly configured for each of these different environments and uses, even when the configuration for one environment no longer remains relevant and needs to be changed in another environment. For example, a user may need to configure the mobile computer for changes in physical location when the user moves between a home network and a work network. In this case, the user may need to change the default printer setting, the default internet browser home page, the internet browser proxy settings, and other related settings. A user may also need to configure the computer for changes in activity. For instance, a user preparing to make a presentation may adjust the volume of the computer, turn off instant message notifications, turn off a screensaver time-out, and make other setting adjustments. The user may also need to configure the computer to interact with different people at work than those at home. For example, a different default email account may be used at home to communicate with friends and family than the email account used at work. As a result, a mobile computer user may have to reconfigure a mobile computer each time the computing environment changes.
What is needed is a way for a computer system to accumulate and expose context information about the computing environment, such as the physical location, the people the user may interact with at the physical location, the user's activities, etc., so that the context information may be used to intelligently adapt the computer to the computing environment. Such a system and method should accumulate and expose context information in a uniform and systematic way so that any executable may provide or use the context information to intelligently adapt the computer system.

System and method for a context-awareness platform


A delay locked loop (DLL) for compensating for a skew in a synchronous dynamic random access memory includes: a delay model means for delaying an external clock signal by the skew to generate a delayed clock signal; a control unit, in response to the external clock signal and the delayed clock signal, for generating control signals, wherein the control signal includes a control clock signal, a delayed control signal, a replication signal and a replication enable signal; a first voltage controlled oscillator, in response to the control clock signal and the delayed control signal, for generating a measurement oscillating signal; a second voltage controlled oscillator, in response to the replication signal and the replication enable signal, for generating a replication oscillating signal; a first unit, in response to the measurement oscillating signal and the replication oscillating signal, for generating a DLL clock signal; and a second unit for comparing a phase difference between the DLL clock signal and the external clock signal to generate a voltage control signal, wherein time periods of the measurement oscillating signal and the replication oscillating signal are changed by the voltage control signal.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor integrated circuit; and, more particularly, to a delay locked loop for use in synchronous dynamic random access memory, which is capable of obtaining a fast locking time and a reduced jitter.
2. Description of the Prior Art
For achieving a high speed operation in a semiconductor memory device, a synchronous dynamic access memory (SDRAM) has been developed. The SDRAM operates in synchronization with an external clock signal. The SDRAM includes a single data rate (SDR) SDRAM, a double data rate (DDR) SDRAM, and the like.
Generally, when data are outputted in synchronization with the external clock signal, a skew between the external clock, signal and the output data is occurred. In the SDRAM, a delay locked loop (DLL) can be used to compensate for the skew between an external clock signal and an output data, or an external clock signal and an internal clock signal.
A digital DLL is implemented with a plurality of unit delay elements that are coupled in series. For increasing a resolution, a unit delay time should be minimized. As the unit delay time becomes smaller, however, more unit delay elements are needed. Consequently, power consumption as well as a chip size is increased much more.

Delay locked loop for use in synchronous dynamic random access memory


A switched capacitor circuit utilizes a pair of serially connected differential amplifiers that have plus inputs, minus inputs, plus outputs, and minus outputs. Feedback to the plus/minus inputs is in a first configuration relative to the output of the pair of differential amplifiers in a sampling mode and a second configuration in a hold mode. Similarly, the plus/minus inputs relative to the plus/minus outputs of the serially connected differential amplifiers is reversed between the sampling and hold modes.

1. Field
This disclosure relates generally to switched capacitor circuits, and more specifically, to a gain enhanced switched capacitor circuit.
2. Related Art
Switched capacitor circuits are commonly used in mixed signal circuitry, such as to form buffers, gain stages, integrators, etc. For example, a switched capacitor circuit is commonly used within a sample and hold circuit. One type of switched capacitor circuit available today is a gain enhanced switched capacitor circuit. In such a gain enhanced switched capacitor circuit, the input is sampled with respect to virtual ground of a closed loops amplifier; however, an inverting configuration (which results in a negative integration) in the sampling phase is utilized. This negative integration causes the output of the circuit to move in the opposite direction to what is desired. This, in turn, increases the slew rate requirement of the operational amplifier during transition from the sampling phase to the holding phase, which limits the speed of the circuit. Therefore, a need exists for an improved gain enhanced switched capacitor circuit.

Gain enhanced switched capacitor circuit and method of operation


A cover for sealing a munition within a canister has an inner layer of tempered glass bonded by an adhesive to an outer layer of structural foam having at least one score mark thereon. Upon launch of the munition, the inner layer of tempered glass breaks into numerous fragments which remain bonded to the outer layer of scored foam by the adhesive layer. The outer layer of foam then breaks along its score marks into two or more pieces that have pieces of the inner layer of glass bonded thereto. The pieces of foam with glass fragments bonded thereto are then blown out and away from the canister so that the munition can egress unimpeded and undamaged from the canister. A method for sealing a munition within a canister until munition launch includes the step of sealing the munition within the canister by a cover having an inner layer of tempered glass bonded by an adhesive to an outer layer of structural foam having at least one score mark thereon. Upon munition launch, the method further includes the steps of breaking the inner layer of glass into numerous fragments, which remain bonded to the outer layer of foam by the adhesive layer; breaking the outer layer of foam along its score marks into two or more foam pieces each having glass fragments bonded thereto; and removing the pieces of foam with the glass pieces bonded thereto from the proximity of the munition. Thus, the munition can egress unimpeded and undamaged from the munition canister.

Munitions such as missiles and rockets are often packaged in canisters for environmental protection, ease of handling, and efficient and long term storage. These canisters are typically round or square tubes that contain the munition, the munition launch hardware such as rails and/or sabots, and electronics for initiating the launch of the munition. In order to provide full environmental protection of the munition and these components, covers must be installed to seal the canister and thereby contain the munition and components in a completely closed environment. The cover must be able to provide environmental protection to the munition under a variety of extreme conditions, e.g., high altitude, variations in humidity, low and high temperatures, debris impact from transportation, and exposure to water. Upon initiation of a munition launch, the canister cover must be easily and quickly removed to allow unimpaired exit of the munition from the canister.
There are several types of canister covers currently utilized. For example, a flexible membrane can be stretched over a frame which is permanently attached to the canister. Upon launch initiation, the munition tears through the membrane. Disadvantages of using a membrane as a canister cover include limited durability, limited environmental protection, and inefficient storage due to the space required for the frame used to attach the membrane to the canister.
Another currently used canister cover is a hard cover made of plastic or metal, with the cover being adhesively bonded or attached to the canister. Upon launch initiation, the cover is blown off the canister by either launch pressure or the forward motion of the munition. The hard cover may be partially cut or scored to allow the cover to break into a predetermined number or size of pieces, such as into quarters or halves. Disadvantages of such a cover include the high launch pressures required to break the hard cover or to break the bond between the cover and the canister, inconsistent breaking of the bond between the cover and the canister, damage to the munition caused by impact with the cover, and damage to launch equipment caused by cover fragments.
Foamed plastic covers, comprised of a solid layer of plastic foam, are also currently utilized to cover munition canisters. Upon initiation of munition launch, the munition strikes the foamed plastic cover which then breaks into multiple pieces. Foamed plastic covers, however, provide a poor environmental seal because they are comprised of a porous material that has limited resistance to air or moisture. Furthermore, because the foamed plastic is hard and brittle, it is difficult to attach to a canister without breaking or cracking the foamed plastic.
Canister covers fabricated from glass have also been considered. Glass is low cost, lightweight and provides excellent environmental protection. Glass can be heat treated (tempered) in such a manner that it becomes frangible, i.e. a very small point load will completely shatter a large plate of the glass. Variations in the heat treatment allow the size of the shattered pieces to be predetermined and controlled. Tempered glass is often used in applications such as automobile windows or glass doors. One disadvantage of using tempered glass for canister covers is that such a cover has low overall durability, primarily due to the ease with which the glass can be shattered. Another disadvantage of tempered glass is that, even with the ability to control fragment size through heat treatment, the size of the fragments cannot be made big enough so that they do not interfere with the forward movement of the munition from the canister and do not damage the surfaces of the munition. Small fragments interfere with the egress of the munition by becoming wedged between the outer surfaces of the munition and the inner surfaces of the canister; small fragments can also scratch the outer surfaces of the munition, thereby changing the aerodynamics of the munition. In contrast, large fragments would be blown away from the canister due to pressure from the launch or from impact by the munition. It would therefore be desirable to have a glass canister cover having both high durability and large fragment size upon munition launch.

Device and method for sealing a munition within a canister until munition launch


A brake drum for mounting on a wheel hub has first and second drum pilots for facilitating proper alignment when installing the brake drum on the hub. The first drum pilot is configured to engage a first hub pilot and the second drum pilot is configured to engage a second hub pilot. When the brake drum is initially moved toward the hub during installation, the first drum pilot engages the first hub pilot and the second drum pilot is sufficiently spaced away from the first hub pilot to prevent the front edge of the second drum pilot from being caught on the corner edge of the second hub pilot and the drum becoming eccentrically mounted.

Proper alignment between a wheel hub and a brake drum is an important consideration when installing the brake drum onto the wheel hub, particularly regarding a heavy vehicle such as a truck. Misalignment causes vibration, shimmy, excessive brake wear, and possible breakage of the drum or hub. Even if the drum is off-center by only 1/16", these problems can occur. Errors in alignment of such a small magnitude are often very difficult to detect when the brake drum is being installed. Thus, means for ensuring proper alignment between the brake drum and wheel hub during installation is needed.
Conventional wheel hubs have hub mounting assemblies which include a wheel bolt for securing a brake drum and wheel onto the hub, a first hub pilot for guiding installation of the wheel onto the hub, and a second hub pilot for guiding installation of the brake drum onto the hub. The first and second hub pilots generally comprise radial guide surfaces confronting the wheel bolt. Typically, the second hub pilot has a larger diameter than the first hub pilot (measured from the center of the wheel hub). The second hub pilot is defined by a corner edge which is set back from the mounting side of the hub such that the first hub pilot sits between the second hub pilot and the mounting side of the hub.
Brake drums have a plurality of drum mounting means which mate with the hub mounting assemblies to hold the brake drum on the hub. A conventional drum mounting means comprises an aperture for receiving the wheel bolt and a drum pilot near the aperture and configured to engage the second hub pilot to guide the brake drum onto the hub. The drum pilot typically comprises a radial surface with a beveled front edge.
When mounting the brake drum onto the hub, it is possible for the beveled front edge of one or more of the drum pilots to catch on one of the corner edges which defines one of the hub pilots. If less than all of the drum pilots are caught, the brake drum is eccentrically mounted relative to the rotational center of the wheel. If all drum pilots are caught, then the drum will be improperly spaced from the hub. Thus, there is a need for an improved drum mounting means for ensuring proper alignment and installation of a brake drum onto a wheel hub.


Provided is an MR effect element in which the magnetization of the pinned layer is stably fixed even after going through high temperature process. The MR effect element comprises: a non-magnetic intermediate layer; a pinned layer and a free layer stacked so as to sandwich the non-magnetic intermediate layer; an antiferromagnetic layer stacked to have a surface contact with the pinned layer, for fixing a magnetization of the pinned layer to a direction in-plane of the pinned layer and perpendicular to a track width direction; and hard bias layers provided on both sides in the track width direction of the free layer, for applying a bias field to the free layer, a product λS×σ of a saturation magnetostriction constant λS of the pinned layer and an internal stress σ on a cross-section perpendicular to a layer surface of the hard bias layer being negative.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a magnetoresistive (MR) effect element that provides an output based on resistance change according to the intensity of a signal magnetic field, a thin-film magnetic head including the MR effect element, a head gimbal assembly (HGA) provided with the thin-film magnetic head, and a magnetic recording/reproducing apparatus provided with the HGA.
2. Description of the Related Art
As magnetic recording/reproducing apparatuses as represented by magnetic disk drive apparatuses increase in capacity and reduce in size, thin-film magnetic heads are required to have higher sensitivity and larger output. To respond to the requirement, a giant magnetoresistive (GMR) effect element and a tunnel magnetoresistive (TMR) effect element have been developed, which can detect extremely local signal magnetic field and provide significantly high resistance-change ratio. Actually, in thin-film magnetic heads having the element as a read head element for reading data, output characteristics of the heads are being intensively developed.
The MR effect elements such as the above-described TMR and GMR effect elements have a magnetization-pinned layer (pinned layer) and a magnetization-free layer (free layer) which are two ferromagnetic layers opposed to each other so as to sandwich a non-magnetic intermediate layer. The magnetization direction of the pinned layer is fixed due to the exchange coupling with an antiferromagnetic layer having a surface contact with the pinned layer on the opposite side to the non-magnetic intermediate layer. On the other hand, the magnetization direction of the free layer can change according to a signal magnetic field generated from a magnetic recording medium. In this configuration, the signal magnetic field is detected by measuring the element resistance variation as a function of the magnetization direction of the free layer.
Therefore, in developing the element output characteristics such as an output intensity and the symmetry of output waveform, it has been one of most significant problems to appropriately control the magnetization directions of respective constituent layers above-described.
Generally, as for the magnetization direction of the free layer, it is important to apply an appropriate bias magnetic field to the free layer so that the magnetic domains of the free layer is stabilized and an output responding linearly to the signal magnetic field is obtained. As a method for applying the bias magnetic field, generally used is an abutted junction biasing method. In the method, bias layers formed of a hard-magnetic material are disposed near both ends in the track width direction of the free layer, and then a bias magnetic field in the track width direction is applied to the free layer. The abutted junction biasing method can cause the magnetic domains of the free layer to be stabilized effectively because both end portions in the track width direction of the free layer, which are most affected by demagnetizing field, can receive most amount of bias magnetic field.
In the meanwhile, the magnetization of the pinned layer is usually fixed to the direction in-plane of the pinned layer and perpendicular to the track width direction through a pin-annealing process. When the magnetization of the pinned layer is rotated to be tilted from the just perpendicular direction or is dispersed, a problem is likely to occur that sufficient element output cannot be obtained or that the symmetry of the output waveform is degraded. Against the problem, conventionally, many measures with respect to the pin-annealing process have been devised, as described, for example, in Japanese Patent Publication No. 2005-56538A.
However, even if the magnetization of the pinned layer was fixed by a predetermined pin-annealing process, there has been a problem that the magnetization may be rotated or dispersed by annealing afterward under the condition of narrower read gap required for the recent higher density recording. Here, the read gap is defined as a distance between two shield layers sandwiching a magneto-sensitive portion of the MR effect element. The read gap tends to be narrower so that an extremely local signal magnetic field can be detected.
Actually, in the wafer thin-film process of the head manufacture, an electromagnetic coil element for writing data is usually formed after forming the MR effect element. The formation process of the electromagnetic coil element involves an annealing step with significantly high temperature. Further, in the machine process in which the wafer substrate that has gone through the wafer thin-film process is separated into individual sliders, various annealing processes are performed. The high temperature environment in these annealing processes causes the exchange coupling between the antiferromagnetic layer and the pinned layer to be weakened. The decrease in the coupling force becomes more significant especially when the thickness of the antiferromagnetic layer becomes smaller according to narrowing the read gap. As a result, even if the magnetization of the pinned layer was fixed by a predetermined pin-annealing process, there has been a case that the magnetization is rotated or dispersed through the annealing afterward, so that the element output decreases and the symmetry of the output waveform is degraded.

Magnetoresistive effect element having bias layer with internal stress controlled


The present invention provides a knowledge-based management diagnosis system which evaluates/diagnoses enterprise management and automatically generates a community for enhancing the enterprise management. A questionnaire on the awareness, and etc. of employees is conducted, whereupon on the basis of the questionnaire, the management situation of an organization is diagnosed, the course of improvement/reform is indicated, and a community of persons who are interested in particular knowledge or whose work styles are similar is automatically generated. Knowledge assets are classified into the characteristic of individual working manners, the characteristic of working manners in the organization, and a characteristic expressive of the sources of profits at present and in the future, to which the characteristic of knowledge-based management may well be added. A correlation analysis is made using these characteristics, and evaluation/generation evaluates analytical results based on the correlation analysis or generates the community from the analytical results.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a knowledge-based management diagnostic method, apparatus and storage medium, and more particularly to a knowledge-based management diagnostic method, apparatus and storage medium which present the characteristics of an organization as various types of information in diagnosing its knowledge-based management.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is not easy to convey or make understood one's knowledge or style. More specifically, it is generally difficult to express exactly the thought or idea of each person or to convey it exactly to a third party, and one needs to empirically accumulate know-how in order to understand another's thoughts or ideas. Especially in an organization where individuals are expected to operate in groups, it is required from the viewpoint of knowledge-based management to grasp the abilities and features of each individual or to collectively group individuals who have abilities and features serving a particular purpose.
Various approaches for determining the features of organizations from the viewpoint of knowledge possessed by individuals have hitherto been suggested. For example, there are various methods wherein a questionnaire is distributed among employees or among the management of an enterprise so as to ascertain averages and deviations. In order to automatically perform organization design, there has been suggested an automatic organization design system wherein the knowledge of persons skilled or experienced in designing organizations is stored as a database, and wherein the organization design conforming to a situation is automatically performed by employing the database (see Japanese Patent Application (JPA) Laid-Open No. 07-319970). This technique discloses a database system for easily designing an organizational structure on the basis of accumulated know-how.
Knowledge-based management existing method for measuring the features of an organization from the viewpoint of knowledge is chiefly aimed at understanding the "status quo" of the organization, and does not consider the temporally changing aspects of the organization. An organization is expected to fluctuate at all times, and is sometimes motivated to actively change. Therefore, it is insufficient to merely consider the knowledge aspects of an organization in order to diagnose its knowledge-based management.
The importance of informal communities, as well as formal organizational structure, has come to be recognized as a circulation platform for information or knowledge in an organization (refer to Etienne Wenger, William Snyder: Communities of Practice: The Organizational Frontier, Harvard Business Review, January-February, 2000). No technique has taken into consideration the viewpoint of discovering or building such an informal community, or to effectively utilize such community in enterprise management.

Knowledge-based management diagnostic system


According to one embodiment a method is disclosed. The method includes applying a photoresist layer to a first wafer, etching the first wafer, bonding the first wafer to a second wafer and thinning the first wafer; wherein an unsupported bevel portion of the first wafer is removed.

Three-Dimensional Structure (3DS) integrated circuits (ICs) allows for physical separation of circuits and the control logic onto different layers such that each layer may be separately optimized. Fabrication of 3DS ICs involves aligning and bonding to a common substrate a topside of a second circuit substrate, grinding the backside or exposed surface of the second circuit substrate to a predetermined thickness, and then polishing the surface.
A problem, however, often occurs during the grinding step. The wafer substrate that is to be grinded includes a bevel component that is unsupported during the grinding step of the process. Therefore, whenever pressure from the grinder is applied to thin the wafer substrate, the unsupported component may chip.
Edge chipping is considered a serious problem in the fabrication process since it may result in relatively large portions of the wafer substrate being delaminated. Delamination may potentially lead to down stream processing inefficiencies and/or yield problems on the edge of the substrate.


An air/fuel pre-mixer for a gas turbine combustor and a method of pre-mixing air and fuel for a combustor are provided. In one embodiment the pre-mixer includes a first annular premix fuel manifold disposed upstream of the combustor and an annular member concentric with the first premix fuel manifold. Together the annular premix fuel manifold and the annular member define a first venturi shaped air/fuel pre-mix volume between them that has a throat. At or upstream from the throat, the first premix fuel manifold has a plurality of pores whereby the fuel is injected from the first premix fuel manifold to mix with air in the first pre-mix volume. In another embodiment, the annular member is an outer wall, whereas in yet another embodiment, the annular member is a second premix fuel manifold.

The U.S. stationary power industry is continually being required to lower its pollution levels, especially those of nitrogen oxide gas (NOx), to very low levels. Currently, the industry standard for NOx emissions ranges from 3 to 20 parts per million (ppm). However, federal and state environmental protection agencies are now demanding exhaust emission levels to 3 ppm or below in most areas of the country. Thus, a combustor delivering NOx levels below 1 ppm would likely become certified as the "Best Available Technology" for lowering NOx levels.
Some prior art combustors employ a single central diffusion pilot swirler operating at equivalence ratios between 0.8 and 1.2 surrounded by eight premix swirlers operating at equivalence ratios of approximately 0.4. Other prior art combustors employ multiple large scale (>1.0 inch) swirl injectors and pre-mixers to minimize NOx formation. At best, however, such technology generally obtains NOx emissions as low as 25 ppm. Still other previous devices employ air/fuel premixing within the vanes of a swirler while injecting the pilot fuel from the swirler's center nozzle in order to stabilize the swirler's central diffusion flame. Because the fuel/air mixing distances with these swirler's are lower than those of the other previous devices, this approach can achieve NOx emissions down to about 9 ppm, but no further.
One source of NOx emissions occurs in the high temperature recirculation flame holding zones created by the prior art pilot injectors. These pilot injectors produce the bulk of the combustor's NOx in these flame holder areas. Clearly, such technology falls short of the current upper limit of 3 ppm NOx emissions.
In a typical combustor, air from a multistage axial compressor is discharged radially outward and around the annular combustor. The air flows through the swirl injectors and mixes and burns with the natural gas fuel in the combustor. The combustion product gas is subsequently expanded through a multi-element axial expander (i.e. a turbine) and exhausted to atmosphere.
These swirlers are highly susceptible to acoustic combustion instability. This is because gas turbines require very low air side pressure drops across the combustion chamber in order to maintain high turbine operating efficiencies. Swirler combustors essentially take all of the air-side pressure drop at the axial location of the swirler. Accordingly, the combustion chamber and air plenums within the combustor lack sufficient damping to avoid acoustical instabilities.
Furthermore, pre-mix swirlers are very susceptible to detrimental combustion flashback during turn-down and start-up operation because of their large characteristic dimension (e.g., above 1.0 inch). For proper combustor operation, all combustion is designed to take place downstream of the swirlers where there is sufficient air film cooling and ceramic coatings to protect the combustor walls. Flashback, via the associated internal combustion in the swirler, frequently damages the swirler by overheating it.
Another problem with the previously implemented swirl combustors occurs during power turn-down wherein the overall fuel flow is reduced to equivalence ratios below 0.4. Industry currently handles turn-down operation by shutting off the fuel to selected pre-mix swirlers in order to maintain stable combustion. However, the air from these non-fueled swirlers rapidly mixes with and cools the combustion products from the active pre-mix swirlers before the partially combusted carbon monoxide (CO) can be effectively oxidized to CO2. Hence, during turndown operation, swirler combustors inherently produce excessive amounts of carbon monoxide (well above the adiabatic equilibrium combustion amounts of approximately 3 ppm).
Thus, a need exists to improve the previous combustors, particularly with regard to NOx and CO emissions. Additionally, a need exists to reduce, or eliminate, the acoustic instabilities and flashback that conventional combustors suffer from. Furthermore, a need exists for the capability to burn essentially pure hydrogen fuel having very high air premix flame speeds to reduce the occurrence of detrimental flashbacks and burnouts known to occur in conventional swirler injectors.


Multi-component vane segment and method for forming the same. Assembly includes: positioning a pre-formed airfoil component (12) and a preformed shroud heat resistant material (18) in a mold, wherein the airfoil component (12) and the shroud heat resistant material (18) each comprises an interlocking feature (24); preheating the mold; introducing molten structural material (46) into the mold; and solidifying the molten structural material such that it interlocks the pre-formed airfoil component (12) with respect to the preformed shroud heat resistant material (18) and is effective to provide structural support for the shroud heat resistant material (18). Surfaces between the airfoil component (12) and the structural material (46), between the airfoil component (12) and the shroud heat resistant material (18), and between the shroud heat resistant material (18) and the structural material (46) are free of metallurgical bonds.

Gas turbine engine components that form part of the hot gas path are exposed to extremely high operating temperatures and stresses, and the temperatures and stresses continue to rise as technology improves and lower emissions and higher efficiencies are required. Several methods exist for creating hot gas path components such as vane segments or blades. Vane rings, for example, may be a single piece for smaller configurations, or may be composed of multiple vane segments in larger configurations. Vane segments may, in turn, be composed of multiple airfoils joined at one end by an outer ring segment, and at the other end by an inner ring segment, or a single airfoil with an outer ring segment and an inner ring segment.
Different materials and structures are known for use in vane segments. For example, monolithic airfoil segments made of polycrystalline superalloys have been used. Polycrystalline superalloy structures have good heat resistance, good mechanical properties, and good oxidation and corrosion resistance. However, modern gas turbines are exceeding the capacity of even these materials. One solution has been to produce monolithic vane segments using a single crystal superalloy. Single crystal superalloys offer exceptional mechanical properties (strength, fracture toughness, fatigue) and a good balance of mechanical properties, heat resistance, and oxidation and corrosion resistance, and are thus well suited for airfoil applications. However, the process for making a monolithic single crystal superalloy vane segment is challenging and unacceptable casting defects frequently result in low part yields, thereby making such parts very expensive. The casing difficulties limit larger sized vane segments to a single airfoil. It is also known in the art to assemble multiple airfoils in a jig and join them together via a casting operation. In this method, commonly referred to as bi-casting, the airfoils are a single type of preformed component and are joined by one material. Other methods for manufacturing vane segments include making an airfoil from more than one component of dissimilar materials and then brazing the assembly to the shroud segments.
However, there is room for improvement with these methods because they retain negative characteristics in terms of their performance, their cost, and/or the performance of the hot gas flowing there through.


The invention provides vertically-stacked photodiodes buried in a semiconductor material that are isolated and selectively contacted by deep trenches. One embodiment of the invention provides a pixel sensor comprising: a plurality of photosensitive elements formed in a substrate, each photosensitive element being adapted to generate photocharges in response to electromagnetic radiation; and a plurality of photocharge transfer devices, each photocharge transfer device being coupled to at least one of the plurality of photosensitive elements.

1. Technical Field
The invention relates generally to photodetectors, and more particularly, to the use of deep trenches to contact and isolate vertically-stacked photodiodes buried in a semiconductor material.
2. Background Art
Pixel sensors and multiple wavelength pixel sensors are known in the art. Vertically-stacked multiple-wavelength pixel sensors have also been employed to reduce the surface area of the device occupied by such sensors.
For example, referring first to FIG. 1A, a cross-sectional view of a vertically stacked multiple wavelength pixel sensor 10 is shown, such as that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,965,875 to Merrill. As shown, pixel sensor 10 includes four alternating, oppositely-doped semiconductor layers. The junction between n-type well 20 and p-type well 22 comprises a first photodiode 32. The junction between p-type well 22 and n-type well 24 comprises a second photodiode 34. The junction between n-type well 24 and p-type substrate 26 comprises a third photodiode 36. Each of the first photodiode 32, second photodiode 34, and third photodiode 36 is adapted to respond to a different wavelength of electromagnetic radiation. For example, first photodiode 32 is adapted to respond to blue light of approximately 450 nm, second photodiode 34 is adapted to respond to green light of approximately 550 nm, and third photodiode 36 is adapted to respond to red light of approximately 650 nm. The sensitivity of each photodiode to a particular wavelength is determined, primarily, by its depth within pixel sensor 10, as is known in the art.
A significant drawback of such an arrangement, however, is that the photodiodes 32, 34, 36 are connected in series and of alternating polarity, i.e., first photodiode 32 and third photodiode 36 are of one polarity and second photodiode 34 is of an opposite polarity. Such an arrangement requires modified circuits or voltage ranges and may require PMOS access transistors in addition to the usual NMOS access transistors, which increases and complicates the circuitry of pixel sensor 10.
In order to eliminate these disadvantages of sensor 10 of FIG. 1A, additional wells of alternating, oppositely-charged semiconductor layers may be employed. FIG. 1B shows a pixel sensor 110 having six alternating, oppositely-charged semiconductor layers. As in FIG. 1A, the junction between n-type well 120 and p-type well 122 comprises first photodiode 132. However, unlike sensor 10 of FIG. 1A, second photodiode 134 comprises p-type well 122, n-type well 124, and p-type well 126. P-type wells 122, 126 act as the anode and n-type well 124 acts as the cathode of second photodiode 134. Similarly, third photodiode 136 comprises p-type wells 126, 130 acting as the anode and n-type well 128 acting as the cathode. As in FIG. 1A, p-type well 130 may be a semiconductor substrate or another p-type well.
In order to ensure that each photodiode has the same polarity, the output 142, 144, 146 of each photodiode 132, 134, 136 is taken from the n-type cathode 120, 124, 128, while the p-type anodes 122, 126, 130 are coupled to a fixed potential such as a ground 140. Thus, pixel sensor 110 avoids the drawbacks associated with serially-connected photodiodes of alternating polarity.
However, significant drawbacks remain in devices such as that of FIG. 1B. Crosstalk between adjacent sensors is common, due to their lack of isolation. In addition, the fact that the upper-most layer in known devices is an n-type layer (20 in FIG. 1A; 120 in FIG. 1B) leads to electron generation at the surface of the sensor 10, 110. Surface electron generation increases dark current in a sensor.
Further, sensor 110 still relies on "reachthrough" diffusions. Reachthrough diffusions suffer from at least two significant drawbacks. First, in order to efficiently contact photodiodes buried deep in a semiconductor substrate, the columns of dopant, e.g., the vertical portions of 120, 122, etc. (FIG. 1B), must be heavily doped Second, in order to introduce the dopant deep enough into the substrate, high-energy implants or long, high-temperature anneals must be used. Both high dopant concentrations and high implant energies create damage to the silicon, increasing dark current and thus degrading the photodiode signal-to-noise ratio. Further, high energy implants and long, high temperature furnace anneals will result in wide columns of dopant, with the width of the column being proportional to the depth. Thus a large pixel area penalty must be paid the for the use of reachthrough diffusions as the photodiode contacting method.
To this extent, a need exists for photodiodes and related structures that do not suffer from the defects described above.

Deep trench contact and isolation of buried photodetectors

International Business Machines Corporation


The present invention is directed to securely stackable, box pallet merchandising storage and display box and system for use in storing and displaying clothing or other merchandising goods. The merchandising display box generally includes a bottom panel, U-shaped front panel foldably connected to the bottom panel and defining a display opening and a rear panel also foldably connected to the bottom panel. First and second side panels are further foldably connected to the bottom panel and include securing flaps for securing the first and second side panels to the front and rear panels. Projections extend upwardly from the first and second side panels and cutouts are formed along bottom edges of the first and second side panels. The projections are configured to engage cutouts formed in a second merchandising display box positioned on top of the merchandising display box to secure or lock the merchandising display boxes together to prevent slippage therebetween.

It is often desirable in stores to display merchandise in shelves or racks for the customers' ease of viewing and access. Oftentimes, the merchandise is arranged in boxes stacked one on top of another to conserve space and provide a novel or unique way of displaying the merchandise. Additionally, it is often desirable to store merchandise in easily visible shelves or racks for ease of access by employees when selecting items for a customer to view or when filling customers' orders from warehouse storage.
Some of the types of boxes used to display merchandise in this manner include metal or plastic milk crates, open-faced cardboard boxes, etc. Unfortunately, the milk crates and cardboard boxes are typically incapable of being easily secured together resulting in the boxes falling off of each other as the customers remove the merchandise. Additionally, the milk crates are rigid and permanently formed and cannot be easily stored without taking up a lot of space.
Cardboard boxes are even more prone to slip or fall off each other as the merchandise is handled. In order to prevent the cardboard boxes from falling relative to each other, various types of rack systems are needed to secure the cardboard boxes in place.
Accordingly, there is need for a solution to at least one of the aforementioned problems. For instance, there is an established need for cardboard merchandise storage and display boxes that can be stacked one on top of another without the need for a separate rack system. There is a further established need for such a merchandise display box that can be easily and economically stored prior to use.


The present disclosure is directed to a dragger. The dragger may have a plurality of sensors configured to be located adjacent a railroad track. Each of the plurality of sensors may be oriented at an angle relative to a horizontal plane. The dragger may also have a controller in communication with the plurality of sensors. The controller may be configured to receive signals from the plurality of sensors, determine a parameter based on at least one of the received signals, and detect a fault condition when the parameter exceeds a threshold.

Draggers or dragging equipment detectors are used in the railroad industry to detect the presence of objects loosely hanging below a railroad car. Low hanging objects can impact and severely damage switches, tracks, ties, and other equipment placed adjacent and/or between the rails. Low hanging objects also have the potential to derail railroad cars.
One type of detector, known as a static dragging equipment detector, has a plurality of fixed position paddles. Each paddle has one or more force sensors, for example acceleration sensors, to sense a force impact against the paddle. One shortcoming of such detectors is that not much can be ascertained from a force impact except that something hanging low on the train hit one or more paddles.
An exemplary dragging equipment detector is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,412,332 to Bartonek that issued on Jul. 2, 2002 ("the '332 patent"). Specifically, the '332 patent discloses a dragger that has four impact elements, two located outside of a track and two located inside the track. The '332 patent discloses that each impact element houses a single axis sensor, which is mounted such that it can detect a horizontal component but not a vertical component of any impact forces imparted by objects dragging beneath the train. The '332 patent further discloses that a detection circuit connected to the sensor determines whether the g-force corresponding to the impact exceeds an alarm threshold. Moreover, the '332 patent notes that exclusion of vertical forces avoids the problem of triggering false alarms by detecting vibrations from flat wheels.
Although the '332 patent discloses a static dragging equipment detector with multiple sensors, the sensors of the '332 patent are configured to detect only horizontal impacts. As such the dragging equipment detector of the '332 patent can detect low hanging equipment on a train but cannot detect other fault conditions such as flat wheels or derailment of the train. Additionally, the alarm threshold has a fixed level in the '332 patent. As a result, when a train is moving at a low speed, the impact of low hanging objects on the impact elements may not be detected by the dragging equipment detector of the '332 patent. At high train speeds, the dragging equipment detector of the '332 patent may trigger a false alarm resulting from the impact of spurious objects, for example, icicles, which do not pose a danger to the train or the railroad track.
The dragger of the present disclosure solves one or more of the problems set forth above and/or other problems in the art.


A sheet processing apparatus according to the present invention including a saddle-stitcher configured to fold and discharge a sheet supplied from an image forming apparatus, and an assisting mechanism arranged in a sheet carrier path extending from the image forming apparatus to the saddle-stitcher and configured to form a folding line on the sheet in a first direction orthogonal to a direction of the carrying of the sheet in order to assist folding of the sheet. The assisting mechanism has a disc-shaped roller blade rotatably attached to a moving body that is movable in the first direction.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a sheet processing apparatus that performs postprocessing on a sheet discharged from an image forming apparatus such as a copy machine, printer or multi-function peripheral (MFP).
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, some of image forming apparatuses have a sheet postprocessing apparatus provided next to the image forming apparatus body in order to perform postprocessing such as sorting sheets after image formation and staple processing on sheets. There are also apparatuses that discharge a sheet bundle folded in two.
JP-A-2004-284750 discloses sheet postprocessing to bind sheets in a double-leaved form. In this example, a pair of folding rollers and a folding plate are provided, and sheets are pushed out to the pair of folding rollers by the folding plate, thus folding the sheets at their center. Also, before folding at the center, perforation forming means having multiple needles are pressed to the sheets and perforations are formed on the sheets.
Moreover, JP-A-2004-231422 discloses a sheet preparation system that drills or forms perforations on sheets. As the perforation forming means in this example, a rotary drilling wheel having a backer roll is applied, for example. However, its specific configuration is not described.
The two examples described above also have a problem that it is difficult to fold sheets when the sheets have a large thickness or the number of sheets is large in the case of forming perforations.
The present invention provides a sheet processing apparatus that has a finisher having a sheet folding mechanism and that is capable of forming a folding line such as perforations in advance in accordance with the need when folding sheets.


A rocket engine protection system for a recoverable rocket booster which is arranged to land in a salt water body in substantially a nose down attitude. The system includes an inflatable bag which is stowed on a portion of a flat annular rim of the aft skirt of the booster. The bag is hinged at opposing sides and is provided with springs that urge the bag open. The bag is latched in a stowed position during launch and prior to landing for recovery is unlatched to permit the bag to be urged open and into sealing engagement with the rim. A source of pressurized gas further inflates the bag and urges it into sealing engagement with the rim of the skirt where it is locked into position. The gas provides a positive pressure upon the interior of the bag to preclude entry of salt water into the skirt and into contact with the engine. A flotation arrangement may assist in precluding the skirt of the booster from becoming submerged.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an improvement in space vehicles and more particularly, but not by way of limitation, to a deployable pressurizable bag to cover the aft end of the skirt of a recoverable rocket booster to preclude entry of salt water into the booster upon landing in a salt water body for recovery and thereby protect the rocket engine from damage.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is well known in the art, to associate a number of solid and liquid rocket boosters and a space vehicle in order to launch a space vehicle or a payload into a desired orbit around the earth or other desired extra-terrestrial path. It is common to use solid rocket boosters and liquid propellant rocket boosters to propel the associated space vehicle to at least a desired first stage of travel. At present, after a launch an attempt is made only to recover, refurbish and reuse solid rocket boosters. The reason for this is that rocket boosters commonly descend into salt water bodies for recovery. Salt water damage to a solid rocket booster is considered to be of minor consequence since the relatively simple rocket motors of such boosters are completely rebuilt prior to reuse. However, in the instance of liquid propellant rocket boosters the crash damage to the rocket body and the subsequent entry of salt water into the thrust chambers and interior of the complex liquid propellant turbopumps render a liquid propellant rocket booster incapable of reuse without having first undergone expensive major overhaul.
Accordingly, it is of paramount importance if an attempt is to be made to reuse a liquid propellant rocket booster to protect the rocket engine from potential impact damage as the liquid rocket booster descends into a salt water body, such as an ocean, and to preclude resulting environmental damage to the engine prior to recovery of the rocket booster from the sea water. Failure to provide adequate protection from these dangers would render a liquid propellant rocket booster uneconomical to use in comparison to a solid rocket booster.
Past attempts at protecting a liquid propellant rocket from such damage have proved to be unsatisfactory. Such efforts have included large mechanically operated closures for the thrust end of the rocket engine. Such a closure was moved from a stowed position outboard of the booster to a deployed position so that the open end of the rocket engine would be sealed in the manner of sealing a jar with a lid.
These devices unfortunately are very heavy, involve complex mechanisms, and cause severe interface problems with the conventional means for securing a rocket booster and associated space vehicle to a launch pad. The problem of adequately protecting a liquid propellant rocket booster for recovery from a salt water body in a practical manner has not been provided by the prior art.
The present invention does provide a simple, low cost, lightweight practical solution to the problem of providing adequate protection for a liquid propellant rocket booster to enable reuse thereof after recovery from a salt water body.
The following patents, while of interest in the general field to which the invention pertains, do not disclose the particular aspects of the present invention that are of significant interest.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,961,550, assigned to the assignee of the present invention, is concerned with the same problem and discloses a rocket booster having a double walled skirt extension in which is disposed a water impermeable flexible sleeve means which extends from the booster after it has landed and is floating in sea water. The sleeve collapses against itself along its length and precludes migration of the sea water into the 15 rocket engine and associated turbopumps. For a more complete description of the rocket booster, the disclosure of U.S. Pat. No. 4,961,550 is incorporated herein by reference.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,504,031 discloses an inflatable braking member that is deployed around a space vehicle by introducing gas into it. The braking member is jettisoned after the space vehicle leaves the atmosphere to enter a low earth orbit.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,638,947 relates to a rocket engine nozzle extension. A pneumatic bag within the fixed nozzle of a rocket engine is inflated to push and unfold the nozzle extension. After the nozzle extension is completely formed, the pneumatic bag may be jettisoned by firing the rocket engine.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,711,027 relates to an extendable nozzle for a rocket engine. The nozzle extension is deployable from a compactly stowed condition to an extended condition. A temporary jettisonable cover member is pressurized to unfurl the extendible nozzle and then is detached.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,482,783 relates to an inflatable rocket nozzle which includes pressure means that expand the inflatable nozzle when the rocket has risen to an altitude in the earth's atmosphere.
None of the prior art uncovered disclose an arrangement utilizing an inflatable pressurized bag to close the aft skirt of a liquid rocket in a water sealing engagement prior to the landing of the booster in sea water. This arrangement protects a liquid propellant booster rocket from crash damage and environmental damage for recovery of the rocket booster from a sea water landing so as to permit reuse thereof without major overhaul. None of these previous efforts, however, provides the benefits attendant with the present invention.
It is a general object of this invention to provide an improved arrangement for precluding crash damage and sea water damage to a liquid propellant rocket booster when the booster returns to a salt water body for recovery.
It is a further general object of the invention to provide an improved engine protection arrangement for a recoverable rocket booster which is practical, economical to produce and install, and which is lightweight.
It is a specific object of the invention to prove an engine protection arrangement which utilizes a deployable pressurizable bag to cover the aft end of the skirt of a recoverable rocket booster to preclude entry of salt water into the booster upon landing for a predetermined period of time to permit recovery.
The foregoing has outlined some of the more pertinent objects of the invention. These objects should be construed to be merely illustrative of some of the more prominent features and applications of the intended invention. Many other beneficial results can be attained by applying the disclosed invention in a different manner or by modifying the invention within the scope of the disclosure. Accordingly, other objects and a fuller understanding of the invention may be had by referring to the summary of the invention and the detailed description of the preferred embodiment in addition to the scope of the invention defined by the claims taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Engine protection system for recoverable rocket booster

General Dynamics Corporation, Space Systems Division


A measuring apparatus 10 for a golf club 34 includes: a club camera 20 capable of photographing the golf club; a control part 30 capable of controlling a timing at which the golf club is photographed; and three sensors capable of detecting passage of the golf club 34. The three sensors are defined as a first sensor S1, a second sensor S2, and a third sensor S3 in this order from a point close to a position of a golf ball. When a club speed calculated based on the passage of the golf club detected by the second sensor S2 and the third sensor S3 is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold value, the control part generates a trigger signal for starting to photograph the golf club. The measuring apparatus 10 can effectively suppress erroneous generation of the trigger signal.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a measuring apparatus for a golf club.
2. Description of the Related Art
An apparatus capable of measuring the behavior of a golf club or a golf ball has been known.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2006-43239 (US2006-0030432) discloses an apparatus measuring a golf ball. The apparatus has a sensor part sending a trigger signal determining a photographing timing of the golf ball. The sensor part includes two optical sensors. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-186474 (U.S. Pat. No. 6,042,483) also discloses the same apparatus as that of Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2006-43239.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2005-34619 discloses an apparatus for measuring the behavior of a head. In the apparatus, the behavior of the head is measured by utilizing a marker provided on the head or the like.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-66315 discloses an apparatus measuring the behavior of a golf club utilizing an image. In the apparatus, two sensors are used. When a first sensor detects passage of a head, a trigger output acts. A head speed is calculated based on a distance between the first sensor and a second sensor.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-215807 discloses a swing behavior measuring apparatus which analyzes a head behavior using an image obtained by continuous stroboscopic photographing.


A plasma processing apparatus that allows processing of high quality under a wider processing condition is provided by optimizing the distance between a plasma region and a substrate even in the case where the processing condition such as process pressure or high frequency output differs. A plasma chamber is divided into a lower plasma chamber and an upper plasma chamber. A process chamber and the lower plasma chamber are connected flexibly by a lower chamber bellows. The lower plasma chamber and the upper plasma chamber are connected flexibly by an upper chamber bellows. Since the radioactive species volume is increased when the process pressure is low, the lower and upper plasma chambers are respectively raised. In contrast, since the radioactive species volume is reduced when the process pressure is high, the upper and lower plasma chambers are respectively lowered.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for fabricating a semiconductor device such as an integrated circuit, a liquid crystal display, a solar cell or the like, particularly to a plasma processing apparatus.
2. Description of the Background Art
In recent years, a diode parallel plate plasma enhanced CVD system having electrodes arranged in parallel is employed in the method of forming a thin film on a substrate. Using the diode parallel plate plasma enhanced CVD system, gas is excited and disintegrated by the plasma potential due to the presence of the plasma 2-5 cm above the surface of the substrate. The disintegrated gas reacts with the surface of the substrate, whereby the surface of the substrate is damaged or contaminated.
Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 8-279498 discloses a plasma processing apparatus having plasma located remote from the substrate as a method of solving the aforementioned problem. This plasma processing apparatus is shown in FIG. 6.
Referring to FIG. 6, the plasma processing apparatus has a substrate 8 to be processed mounted on a substrate holder 7 to be shifted in the direction of arrow A below a plasma chamber 1 by a substrate transport unit 10. A substrate heater 9 is arranged under substrate transport unit 10.
An electric field generator 21 formed of a high frequency power supply 3 and a resonator 4 is arranged outside plasma chamber 1. The high frequency generated by high frequency power supply 3 is guided into plasma chamber 1 through a dielectric window 6 to produce an electric field by resonator 4.
An excitation gas introduction nozzle 15 is provided at the upper region in plasma chamber 1 to introduce excitation gas. A reaction gas introduction nozzle 16 is arranged at the lower region in plasma chamber 1 to introduce reaction gas. The excitation gas input through excitation gas introduction nozzle 15 is converted into plasma and mixed with the reaction gas input through reaction gas introduction nozzle 16. The mixture is discharged from a plasma chamber opening 35 so as to effect gas-phase reaction at the surface of substrate 8.
Plasma chamber 1 is functionally divided into a plasma region 30 and a drift region 31. Plasma region 30 includes a radioactive species volume 34 including plasma 32 in which activated species are generated and an afterglow 33 in which collapsing radioactive activated species move.
Drift region 31 is located between radioactive species volume 34 and plasma chamber opening 35 where non-radioactive activated species move. Drift region 31 serves to filter and remove activated species that are not selected to promote collision of extremely dynamic activated species, whereby damage onto the surface of substrate 8 is suppressed. Drift region 31 includes an excitation gas flow to reduce reaction gas flowing backwards towards plasma 32.
In FIG. 6, a process chamber 2 is provided below plasma chamber 1. A shield plate 5 is arranged outside plasma chamber 1. Substrate 8 is introduced into plasma chamber 2 through a gate valve 11 and output from process chamber 2. An evacuation outlet 13 is arranged at the upper wall of process chamber 2.
In the plasma processing apparatus of the above-described structure, the volume of radioactive species volume 34 including plasma 32 and afterglow 33 changes depending upon the processing condition such as the process pressure or high frequency output. The change in volume of radioactive species volume 34 corresponding to different process pressure is shown in FIGS. 7A-7C.
FIG. 7C corresponds to the case where the process pressure is lower than that of FIG. 7B. It is appreciated from FIG. 7C that radioactive species volume 34 is increased so that afterglow 33 reaches the neighborhood of reaction gas introduction nozzle 16 to induce the possibility of the reaction gas being converted into plasma when the process pressure is low. This means that the surface of substrate 8 may be damaged or contaminated despite the improved processing rate.
FIG. 7A corresponds to the case where the process pressure is higher than that of FIG. 7B. It is appreciated from FIG. 7A that radioactive species volume 34 becomes smaller when the process pressure is high. Occurrence of damage or contamination at the surface of substrate 8 is reduced whereas the processing rate is degraded.
The volume of radioactive species volume 34 changes corresponding to difference in the high frequency output, so that similar problems are encountered.
Thus, the volume of radioactive species volume 34 changes depending upon the processing condition, so that the degree of damage or contamination on the surface of substrate 8 and the processing rate differ. The system is subject to two competing considerations which represent the relationship of tradeoff.
In view of the foregoing, an object of the present invention is to provide a plasma processing apparatus that allows processing of high quality under a processing condition of a wider range by setting the distance between the plasma region and the substrate in optimum even when the processing condition such as the process pressure or high frequency output differs.
According to an aspect of the present invention, a plasma processing apparatus includes a plasma chamber having a plasma region to generate plasma, a process chamber arranged below the plasma chamber and having a region where a plasma process is applied on a substrate to be processed, and a distance variable mechanism rendering the distance between the plasma region and the substrate to be processed variable.
In the foregoing plasma processing apparatus, the distance variable mechanism preferably includes a jack mechanism fixed to the plasma chamber and the process chamber. In this case, it is further preferable for the distance variable mechanism to include a motor connected to the jack mechanism. The jack mechanism is preferably connected to the motor through a gear and a rod.
According to another aspect of the present invention, a plasma processing apparatus includes a plasma chamber having a plasma region to generate plasma, a process chamber arranged below the plasma chamber and having a region to apply a plasma process on a substrate to be processed, and a plasma chamber expansion/contraction mechanism to expand or contract the length of the plasma chamber.
In the above plasma processing apparatus, the plasma chamber expansion/contraction mechanism preferably includes a bellows to provide flexible connection between the plasma chamber and the process chamber.
In the above plasma processing apparatus, the plasma chamber preferably includes a first plasma chamber connected to the process chamber and a second plasma chamber connected to the first plasma chamber. The plasma chamber expansion/contraction mechanism preferably includes a bellows providing flexible connection between the first and second plasma chambers. In this case, the plasma chamber expansion/contraction mechanism preferably includes a bellows providing flexible connection between the first plasma chamber and the process chamber. In this case, it is preferable for the second plasma chamber to include a window to introduce a high frequency electric field therein.
It is preferable for the plasma processing apparatus to further include a partition member between the plasma chamber expansion/contraction mechanism and the plasma region.
According to a further aspect of the present invention, a plasma processing apparatus includes a plasma chamber having a plasma region to generate plasma, a process chamber arranged below the plasma chamber and having a region to apply a plasma process on a substrate to be processed, an excitation gas introduction nozzle to introduce into the plasma chamber excitation gas to generate plasma, a reaction gas introduction nozzle to introduce in the process chamber reaction gas to apply a plasma process on the substrate to be processed, and a nozzle distance variable mechanism rendering the distance between the excitation gas introduction nozzle and the reaction gas introduction nozzle variable.
In the above plasma processing apparatus, the plasma chamber preferably includes a first plasma chamber connected to the process chamber and a second plasma chamber connected to the first plasma chamber. The excitation gas introduction nozzle is provided at the second plasma chamber. The reaction gas introduction nozzle is provided at the first plasma chamber. The nozzle distance variable mechanism preferably includes a jack mechanism fixed to the first plasma chamber and the second plasma chamber. In this case, the nozzle distance variable mechanism preferably includes a motor connected to the jack mechanism. The jack mechanism is preferably connected to a motor through a gear and a rod.
In the above plasma processing apparatus, the nozzle distance variable mechanism preferably renders the distance between the plasma region and the substrate to be processed variable.
Since the distance between the plasma region and the surface of the substrate to be processed can be set variable by the plasma processing apparatus of the present invention, the distance between the plasma region and the surface of the substrate to be processed can be set in optimum according to the processing condition. Damage on the surface of the substrate to be processed can be prevented by optimizing the drift region. Therefore, a plasma process of high quality is allowed under a wide range of processing condition.
The distance between the plasma region and the surface of the substrate to be processed can be set in optimum according to the processing condition by expanding or contracting the plasma chamber. Damage onto the surface of the substrate to be processed can be prevented by optimizing the drift region. Therefore, a plasma process of high quality is allowed under a wide range of processing condition.
By rendering variable the distance between the excitation gas introduction nozzle and the reaction gas introduction nozzle, only the effective activated species can be coupled with the reaction gas without coverage of the reaction gas introduction nozzle with the radioactive species volume. A plasma process can be carried out always in stability.
By rendering variable the distance between the plasma region and the surface of the substrate to be processed and also the distance between the excitation gas introduction nozzle and the reaction gas introduction nozzle, the distance between the plasma region and the surface of the substrate to be processed can be optimized according to the processing condition. Damage onto the surface of the substrate to be processed can be prevented by optimizing the drift region. A plasma process of high quality is allowed under a wide range of processing condition. Only the effective activated species can be coupled with the reaction gas without coverage of the reaction gas introduction nozzle with the radioactive species volume. A plasma process can be carried out always in stability.
By providing a partition wall between the plasma expansion/contraction mechanism and the plasma region, damage and product adherence caused by the plasma towards the mechanism can be prevented. Also, the scatter of dust particles from the mechanism can be prevented.
The foregoing and other objects, features, aspects and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of the present invention when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.


A sliding sleeve blank for producing a sliding sleeve for a steering spindle shaft of a motor vehicle steering spindle and the motor vehicle steering spindle assembly are provided. The sliding sleeve blank has a cylindrical form and has a section on one end, which has a collar, from which winged webs extending away radially extend in the direction of the second end. The sliding sleeve blank is a cold impact extrusion component, which, at the section has a preliminary toothing system extending over one part of the length of the section.

Exemplary embodiments of the present invention relate to a sliding sleeve blank suitable for creating sliding sleeves for steering spindle shafts of motor vehicle steering spindle assemblies and the motor vehicle steering spindle assemblies themselves.
Known steering spindle assemblies have a steering spindle shaft, which has a shaft section with an external toothing system at its end, and a sliding sleeve, which has an internal toothing system over a large part of its length. The internal toothing system of the sliding sleeve is geared moveably with the external toothing system of the steering spindle shaft in the steering spindle assembly. To achieve as direct a steering torque transfer of the steering spindle as possible, while at the same time creating a connection between the sliding sleeve and the steering spindle shaft, which functions quietly during operation, the steering spindle shaft is typically coated with plastic.
It is known to produce the toothing system of the sliding sleeve by hammering, which achieves a highly precise configuration of the gearing. During the hammering, a pin with a toothed contour is inserted into the hollow sliding sleeve; then the sleeve is acted on radially from the outside by hammering, wherein the inner contour of the sleeve receives the toothing contour of the pin, while the cross-section of the sleeve is reduced at the same time. The external contour of the sleeve remains smooth.
For constructional reasons, such sliding sleeves are equipped with a collar at its end facing away from the direction of the torsional damper in an assembled state, on the connection of which winged webs are provided, by means of which the sleeve is immersed into corresponding recesses of the torsional damper located on one end of the steering spindle assembly. In this way, the sleeve adopts a defined angular position.
The collar, which forms a contact at the torsional damper, is located in the section until the preparation for being acted on by means of hammering. No hammering from the outside can operate in the region in which the wings and the collar are present.
Thus, the sliding sleeve arising due to the above-described toothing system is restricted with respect to the sliding path. This is therefore disadvantageous, since, when the engine is being fitted into the vehicle, the steering spindle is to be withdrawn as far as possible so that it does not collide with the engine. In this instance, the rotational angle position must remain in a maintained state at the same time, so that assembly of the steering spindle on the steering gear is unhindered.
If, however, the steering spindle is withdrawn accordingly, this requirement cannot be fulfilled since, due to the lack of internal toothing system at the one end of the sliding sleeve, the steering spindle can be freely rotated.
Essentially, hollow cylindrical precision parts made from metal can be reshaped in cold impact extrusion instead of by hammering. Such a method is disclosed in German Patent Publication DE 10 2005 033 188 A1. Here, bar stock is used as the raw material and, after this has been trimmed, a raw component is produced, which has its external lateral area trimmed and has an inner bore-hole added to it. The raw part is reshaped with a desired inner and outer geometry by cold impact extrusion and an external toothing system is provided.
A length-adjustable steering spindle, which enables withdrawal of the same during the assembly of the engine, is also disclosed in German Patent Publication DE 19 750 005 C1. Here, the length-adjustable steering spindle has at least two raw pieces that are arranged coaxially and that are axially displaceable, wherein one of them is mounted to transfer a torsional moment by positive engagement. The outer and inner peripheral contours of the inner and outer profile are formed by curved sections with alternating radii of curvature; a circumferential gap space is present between both profiles. A gliding sleeve made from macro-molecular material is received in the gap space, which rests against the walls of the profile that delineate the gap space along its peripheral contour only in sections and according to choice. The gliding sleeve rests alternatingly on convex sections of the inner profile and on concave sections of the outer profile.
Exemplary embodiments of the present invention provide a steering spindle assembly that can be constructed in a simple and cost-effective manner, which still enables the retention of a rotational angle position of the spindle on the steering gear during axial displacement of the steering spindle at the sliding sleeve.
In order to create a motor vehicle steering spindle assembly according to the invention, first a sliding sleeve blank is provided according to the invention, which enables a sliding sleeve for a steering spindle shaft of a motor vehicle steering spindle assembly to be provided. The blank has a cylindrical shape and has a section on its one end, which comprises a circumferential collar and winged webs extending radially away from the collar to the end of the sleeve.
The sliding sleeve blank according to the invention is now a cold impact extrusion component, which has been directly obtained during the creation of an internal toothing system, which extends over part of the length of the above-mentioned section. This section is indeed any section that cannot be acted on by hammering.
In this way, a component is now provided by the sliding sleeve blank according to the invention, which, during further action by means of hammering, can be reshaped into a sliding sleeve in a known manner, which has a further, hammered toothing system.
The sliding sleeve made from the sliding sleeve blank according to the invention therefore now has two internal toothing systems: a first, which extends from the section having one of the sliding sleeves to the section having the collar, wherein this internal toothing system is producing by hammering, and a second, so-called preliminary toothing system, which is present in the section that rests on the second end. A sliding sleeve thus has been created having an internal toothing system over virtually its entire length and that, in this respect, enables a longer, controlled sliding path for a steering spindle shaft to be prepared.
A motor vehicle steering spindle assembly according to the invention comprises such a steering spindle shaft with an external toothing system, which is part of the steering spindle, in which the steering spindle shaft can be received in an axially displaceable manner. The sliding sleeve is advantageously made from a sliding sleeve blank according to the invention and thus has the known hammered internal toothing system, which extends from the one first end of the sliding sleeve in the direction of a section that is near to the second end of the sleeve, which section has the collar and the winged webs that extend radially away. In one installation position of the steering spindle assembly, the hammered internal toothing system is in sliding engagement with the external toothing system of the steering spindle shaft.
Furthermore, the steering spindle shaft according to the invention has a preliminary toothing system according to the invention over one part of the length of the cited section, which is geared with the external toothing system in one assembly position of the steering spindle shaft. Here, a rotational angle position, which has engaged the steering spindle shaft with the toothing system in the installation position, or which was positioned with the steering spindle shaft, is retained by transferring the steering spindle shaft from the hammered internal toothing system to the preliminary toothing system.
The length of the external toothing system of the steering spindle shaft can be selected in such an advantageous way that the steering spindle shaft is guided without interruption through the hammered internal toothing system and through the preliminary toothing system of the sliding sleeve during the transfer from the installation position to the assembly position.
The external toothing system of the steering spindle shaft can be provided by a plastic coating.
Furthermore, the preliminary toothing system of the steering spindle shaft can have such a tooth size that a tolerance compensation gap is provided between the preliminary toothing system and the external toothing system in the assembly arrangement. Production tolerances, such as those that arise due to cold impact extrusion, are hereby compensated for.
A further possibility for the compensation of production tolerances can be created by the fact that the toothing system has a missing tooth in the sliding sleeve in the hammered region. In the hammered region, the steering spindle shaft can then have a block tooth. In the preliminary toothing region of the sliding sleeve, there is, however, only one missing tooth.
These and other advantages are demonstrated by the description below with reference to the accompanying figures.

Sliding sleeve blank and motor vehicle steering spindle assembly having a sliding sleeve made from the blank


An apparatus, system, method, and computer readable medium containing computer-executable code for implementing image analysis uses multivariate statistical analysis of sample images, and allows segmentation of the image into different groups or classes, depending on a correlation to one or more sample textures, or sample surface features. In one embodiment, the invention performs multivariate statistical analysis of ultrasound images, wherein a tumor may be characterized by segmenting viable tissue from necrotic tissue, allowing for more detailed in vivo analysis of tumor growth beyond simple dimensional measurements or univariate statistical analysis. Application of the apparatus and method may also be used for characterizing other types of samples having textured features including, for example, tumor angiogenesis biomarkers from Power Doppler.

Changes in tissue types are manifested in ultrasound propagation as changes in acoustic properties, which in turn lead to the bright echoes from the interfaces. In the case of tumors, the interior tissue is generally a homogeneous mixture of viable cancer cells, capillaries, connective tissue and necrotic cells. The amount of necrosis can provide some valuable clues to the viability of the tumor, itself.
Conventionally, since capillaries are the sites of the vital interchange of blood nutrients and cellular metabolites in healthy tissue, a measurement of vascularity may be used as an indicator of tissue viability, often calling for excision of a treated section of tissue for histopathology. The tissue is stained for vascular endothelia, usually the stain CD31, and the microvascular density (MVD) is measured under a microscope. The MVD is a standard measurement of the efficacy of angiogenic and anti-angiogenic drugs. Additionally, optical microscopy can also be used to image and measure the amount of dead, or necrotic tissue within a tumor.
Typical histopathology analysis of a tumor involves removal of the tumor from the animal, fixing the tumor with a fixative agent, usually Neutral Buffered Formalin (NBF) or ethanol (ETOH), and examining the specimen one thin slice at a time. This conventional approach necessarily requires more specimens (i.e. animals) than a longitudinal experiment over time, and is very labor intensive.
Necrosis in tissue occurs as a result of a fatal injury to a cell. Cells, upon death, elicit an inflammatory response and quickly deteriorate. Cell structure disintegrates, cell walls break down (lyse) and the fragmented cell contents, including nuclear material, spill into the interstitial spaces between the cells. Necrotic tissue even appears different from viable cells under the microscope, and it is recognizable by the complete absence of structure. Necrosis is histologically identified by the structure of the tissue using stains differential to nucleic proteins. However, histopathology is necessarily post-mortem, and a longitudinal analysis of the tumor over time is not possible.
Additionally, cancer treatments that target the cells increase the regions of necrosis around the intratumoral blood vessels. The presence of necrosis can therefore be used to analyze such characteristics as tumor morphology, tumor angiogenesis and efficacy of anti-cancer therapy; however, the study of these metrics has traditionally been done using optical microscopy and histopathology biomarkers. In laboratory research, where the number of animals used for research can be quite large, histopathology measurements are time consuming, expensive and require terminating the study of the subject. Additionally, tissue fixing can result in damage to some aspect of the tumor and loss of information.
As indicated above, past study of tumors and development of anti-cancer therapies have primarily relied on terminating the study at specified time points and performing histological tests on the excised tumor. This process is time consuming, requires the use of a large number of subjects, and necessarily precludes the use of longitudinal measurements on the same tumor. In addition to the statistical problems posed by the lack of repeated measurements, the histological analysis of tumors is done using microscopically thin slices of the tumor, providing information on a very limited region, in a non-realtime manner.
Ultrasonic imaging techniques are widely used in imaging portions of the body, including analysis of tumors. Changes in tissue types are manifested in ultrasound propagation as changes in acoustic properties, which in turn lead to the bright echoes from the interfaces.
Clinical ultrasound instruments can be classified into two broad categories: Continuous Wave and Pulsed Wave. Continuous Wave ultrasound is used primarily for its Doppler capabilities as an audio aid to detect flowing blood. Pulsed ultrasound is used for imaging, and nearly all modern pulsed wave ultrasound devices employ color representations of blood flow (CD) to associate movement to a pixel.
Ultrasound imaging equipment has made significant improvements, and now has capabilities that were not possible only a few years ago. With an increase in frequency and resolution, it is now possible to use ultrasound in a number of clinical settings that were previously reserved only for X-ray imaging. Increased resolution and decreased noise can now provide clear images able to detect details that would have, in many situations, required extensive interpretation in the past. In the late 1980's and early 1990's, ultrasonic tissue characterization had mixed results due to the characteristic coherent interference phenomenon known as "speckle". With the improvement in devices and the increase in ultrasound frequency, also came an increase in the bandwidth with concomitant speckle reduction. The engineering advances in clinical ultrasound equipment can now allow tissue characterization, at least in research environments that were previously reserved for special instrumentation.
The ultrasound image is characterized by pixels of differing intensities that may be used to differentiate different regions of interest. Additionally, some tissue types can be subjectively identified by their texture. Intensities of the necrotic core of a tumor are brighter than the viable border tissue, for example. Observing necroses obtained from histopathologic sampling under the microscope and correlating the observed features with the corresponding ultrasound images, shows that there is a coarse texture to the necrotic regions, as illustrated in FIG. 1, which shows a B16-F10 tumor stained for CD34. FIG. 1(a) shows a region of healthy tumor cells, and FIG. 1(b) shows a region of necrosis.
In the case of tumors, the interior tissue is generally a homogeneous mixture of viable cancer cells, capillaries, connective tissue and necrotic cells. As mentioned above, the amount of necrosis can provide some valuable clues to the viability of the tumor, itself. Tumor cells lack the normal, programmed cell-death mechanisms that keep normal cells in check. However, tumor cells, like all living cells, can die if exposed to a fatal environment. For a new tumor without medical intervention, the cells farthest away from the peritumoral regions and outside the perfusion range of newly formed microvasculature die from lack of oxygen and nutrients.
The ability of ultrasound to discriminate between viable and necrotic tumor regions has previously been accomplished using the ultrasound backscatter microscope (UBM). The necrotic core of a tumor spheroid is known to be detectable using very high ultrasound frequencies. There are morphological differences between the two regions, as determined by histopathology. In a very high frequency (e.g., 100 MHz) ultrasound image, the necrotic core appears as a bright circular region in the middle of the tumor spheroid, because of the increased density of nuclei. However, such high frequency ultrasound devices are relatively expensive, and are not readily available in clinical settings, in comparison to lower frequency devices, e.g., devices operating in the 4–12 MHz region, for example.
There are three primary characteristics of tissue that can increase backscattered energy, and result in brighter pixels in the resulting image:    1. the number of scattering bodies;    2. the reflectivity of the scattering bodies; and    3. the spatial distribution of scattering bodies within the resolved area of the image.
However, previous efforts in analyzing image pixel data to place the pixels into one of two groups, e.g., necrotic tissue and viable tissue, have used conventional univariate approaches, as shown in FIG. 2, which provides a flowchart of a conventional univariate K-Means segmentation algorithm for normally distributed clusters. Such an approach relies upon a relatively simple univariate statistical "distance" related to the difference between an intensity value of a particular pixel, and the "average" or mean intensity value representative of a group of pixels. Unfortunately, and as determined by the use of histopathologic sampling and training images, this univariate approach results in a higher probability of misclassifying a significant portion of the various pixels into the wrong class. Further, univariate statistical analysis of image pixel data increases the probability of both Type I and Type II errors, along with the misclassification of pixels.
What is needed then is an apparatus and method that allows more powerful statistical test of differences over time, and which includes the repeated longitudinal measurement of a tumor as it progresses in a single subject.
What is further needed is an apparatus and method for ultrasound imaging, using multiple image characteristics, to provide a means of performing non-histopathologic longitudinal segmentation of an image, including identification and differentiation of tumor necrosis and viable tissue.
What is still further needed is an apparatus and method for multivariate analysis of necroses using tissue differentiation based on pixel gray-scale values, augmented by differences in texture to increase the power of the statistical analysis and lower the incidence of misclassification of the different tissue types.

Method for determining the efficacy of an anti-cancer treatment using image analysis


Systems and methods for controlling transmissions and associated vehicles, machines, equipment, etc., are disclosed. In one case, a transmission control system includes a control unit configured to use a sensed vehicle speed and a commanded, target constant input speed to maintain an input speed substantially constant. The system includes one or more maps that associate a speed ratio of a transmission with a vehicle speed. In one embodiment, one such map associates an encoder position with a vehicle speed. Regarding a specific application, an automatic bicycle transmission shifting system is contemplated. An exemplary automatic bicycle includes a control unit, a shift actuator, various sensors, and a user interface. The control unit is configured to cooperate with a logic module and an actuator controller to control the cadence of a rider. In one embodiment, a memory of, or in communication with, the control unit includes one or more constant cadence maps that associate transmission speed ratios with bicycle speeds.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to mechanical transmissions, and more specifically to automatic transmissions and methods of controlling said transmissions.
2. Related Technology
Automatic transmissions are found in a variety of machines. However, in certain fields manual operation of the transmission is still prevalent. For example, in the bicycle industry, most bicycles are configured for manual operation of the transmission, which generally involves manually actuating levers, cables, and linkages to cause a chain to move from one rear sprocket to another. However, an ongoing need has been manifested for systems and corresponding methods to facilitate the automatic control of the transmission of a bicycle.
Inventive embodiments disclosed here address this need, among others, by providing systems for, and methods of, automatically controlling transmissions, which systems and methods in some cases are particularly suitable for human powered vehicles such as bicycles.

Automatic transmissions and methods therefor

Fallbrook Intellectual Property Company LLC