A power generation system (200) of the present invention comprises a power generation portion (202) configured to generate power, a load power detecting means (205) configured to detect a load power supplied from a power source including the power generation portion to a load, an operation stop determination means (209) configured to stop a power generation operation of the power generation portion based on the load power detected by the load power detecting means and a stop condition; and a stop condition setting means (220) configured to set the stop condition, wherein the stop condition setting means sets different stop conditions in a plurality of time periods, and wherein the operation stop determination means stops the power generation operation of the power generation portion based on each of the different stop conditions set by the stop condition setting means and the load power detected by the load power detecting means.

Traditionally, a fuel cell system capable of highly efficient and small-scale power generation easily constructs a system for utilizing a heat energy generated during power generation and achieves high energy utilization efficiency. Therefore, the fuel cell system is suitably used as a distributed power generation system.
The fuel cell system comprises a fuel cell which is a base portion of a power generation portion. As the fuel cell, for example, a polymer electrolyte fuel cell or a phosphoric acid fuel cell is typically employed. In these fuel cell systems, a hydrogen-rich gas containing plenty of hydrogen (hereinafter referred to as a fuel gas) and air (hereinafter referred to as an oxidizing gas) are used to generate power. To this end, the fuel cell system is equipped with a fuel processor configured to generate the fuel gas required for power generation. In the fuel processor, for example, a natural gas supplied from a natural gas supply means or the like goes through a steam reforming reaction and is converted into hydrogen, thus generating the fuel gas containing plenty of hydrogen. In this case, a reaction space in which the steam reforming reaction takes place in the fuel processor is heated up to and kept at a predetermined temperature by heat resulting from combustion of, for example, the natural gas.
In an operation of the conventional power generation system including the fuel cell system, in order to inhibit wasteful consumption of the fuel gas or the like used in power generation, it is desirable to properly control the supply amount of the fuel gas or the like to the fuel cell or the like according to a power consumption of a power load such as electronic equipment (hereinafter referred to as a power load) connected to the power generation system. In other words, in the fuel cell system, in order to inhibit wasteful consumption of the natural gas or the like used to generate the fuel gas, it is desirable to properly control the amount of the natural gas supplied to a fuel reformer according to the power consumption of the power load. Accordingly, there has been disclosed a power generation system in which power resulting from power generation and commercial power are used together in a time period in which the power consumption of the power load connected to the power generation system is large in amount, while the power generation is stopped and only the commercial power is supplied in a time period in which the power consumption of the power load is small in amount (e.g., Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application Publication No. 2000-299116). In addition, there has been disclosed a power generation system in which when the power consumption of the power load is not less than a predetermined threshold, an output power is controlled according to a variation in the power consumption of the power load detected by a load power detecting means, while when not more than the predetermined threshold, the power generation operation is stopped (e.g., Laid-Open Patent Application Publication No. 2002-352834). According to these disclosures, since the consumption amount of the feed material such as the natural gas, required for power generation is properly controlled according to the power consumption of the power load, it is possible to construct a suitable power generation system with higher energy utilization efficiency.
Hereinafter, a construction and operation patterns of the conventional fuel cell system will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 6 is a block diagram schematically showing a construction of the conventional fuel cell system.
As shown in FIG. 6, a conventional fuel cell system 100 comprises a fuel cell 100a configured to generate power using a fuel gas and an oxidizing gas, an output control means 100b configured to control an output power of the fuel cell 100a and to control start-up and stop of a power generation operation of the fuel cell 100a, a load power detecting means 100c configured to detect a power consumption of a power load 100e described later and to output a control signal necessary for, for example, the output control means 100b to control the output power of the fuel cell 100a, and a storage battery 100d configured to store excess output power. The storage battery 100d is electrically connected to a connecting portion between the output control means 100b and the load power detecting means 100c. In addition, a commercial power 100f is connected to the connecting portion. The power load 100e, such as electronic equipment, is configured to consume the power output from the fuel cell system 100 and is connected to the load power detecting means 100c.
In the conventional fuel cell system 100 of FIG. 6, a fuel gas generated in a fuel gas generation means such as a fuel processor which is not shown in FIG. 6 and an oxidizing gas are supplied to the fuel cell 100a. Using the fuel gas and the oxidizing gas, the fuel cell 100a generates power. The output power resulting from power generation in the fuel cell 100a is supplied to the power load 100e through the output control means 100b and the load power detecting means 100c. The power load 100e consumes the power supplied from the fuel cell system 100. At this time, excess output power is stored in the storage battery 100d. When the output power of the fuel cell 100a is insufficient for the power consumption of the power load 100e, the commercial power 100f makes up for the deficiency.
An example of an operation pattern during a day regarding the power generation operation in the conventional fuel cell system will be described in detail.
FIG. 7 is a view schematically showing an operation pattern during a day of the conventional fuel cell system. In FIG. 7, an ordinate axis indicates a power axis and an abscissa axis indicates a time axis.
In FIG. 7, a curve 111 indicates a time lapse variation in the power consumption of the power load 100e, and a curve 112 indicates a time lapse variation in the output power of the fuel cell 100a. In FIG. 7, a maximum output power W1c indicates a maximum value of the power that is capable of being output from the fuel cell 100a, and a minimum output power W1d indicates a minimum value of the power that is capable of being output from the fuel cell 100a.
As illustrated by the curve 111 of FIG. 7, typically, the power consumption at general home in a first time period 101a from about 0:00 at midnight until about 5:00 in early morning is small in amount, but is large in amount in a second time period 101b that elapses from when users wake up until about 13:00 when household tasks may be finished. The power consumption is small in amount in a third time period 101c from about 13:00 until about 17:00 because of a decrease in the number of power loads 100e that are in operation, but is large in amount in a fourth time period 101d from about 17:00 until about 23:00 because of an increase in the number of the power loads 100e that are in operation. The power consumption in a fifth time period 101e after the users go to sleep is small in amount as in the power consumption in the first time period 101a.
The fuel cell 100a in the conventional fuel cell system 100 outputs power as indicated by the curve 112 of FIG. 7 in response to the variation in power consumption during a day. Specifically, when the load power detecting means 100c of the fuel cell system 100 detects that the power consumption of the power load 100e is above an operation start power threshold W1a which is a preset threshold at which the fuel cell 100a starts a power generation operation for a predetermined time period T1a or more in the first time period 101a in FIG. 7, the power generation operation of the fuel cell 100a is started-up (first start-up). The fuel cell 100a starts to output power as indicated by the curve 112 after an operation preparation time period Ts in which, for example, a fuel gas is generated in a fuel processor or the like. When the power output of the fuel cell 100a becomes substantially equal to the power consumption of the power load 100e in the second time period 101b, the output control means 100b controls the output power of the fuel cell 100a between the maximum output power W1c and the minimum output power W1d according to the variation in the power consumption of the power load 100e which is detected by the load power detecting means 100c. At this time, if the power consumption of the power load 100e is above the output power of the fuel cell 100a, the commercial power 100f makes up for the deficiency. As illustrated by the third time period 101c, when the power consumption of the power load 100e is below an operation stop power threshold W1b for a predetermined time period T1b or more, the output control means 100b stops the power generation operation of the fuel cell 100a. At this time, the operation for generating the fuel gas in the fuel processor or the like is stopped. In a stopped state of the power generation operation in the fuel cell 100a, the commercial power 100f supplies the power to the power load 100e.
As illustrated by the third time period 101c, when the load power detecting means 100c of the fuel cell system 100 detects that the power consumption of the power load 100e is above the operation start power threshold W1a for the predetermined time period T1a or more, the power generation operation of the fuel cell 100a is re-started-up (second start-up). As in the first start-up, the fuel cell 100a re-starts to output the power as indicated by the curve 112 after the operation preparation time period Ts. As in the second time period 101b, as illustrated by the fourth time period 101d, the output control means 100b controls the output power of the fuel cell 100a between the maximum output power W1c and the minimum output power W1d according to the variation in the power consumption of the power load 100e which is detected by the load power detecting means 100c.
As illustrated by the fifth time period 101e, when the power consumption of the power load 100e is below the operation stop power threshold W1b for the predetermined time period T1b or more again, the output control means 100b stops the power generation operation of the fuel cell 100a again. As in the third time period 101c, at this time, the operation of the fuel processor or the like is stopped. In this case, the commercial power 100f supplies the power to the power load 100e.
As should be appreciated, in the conventional fuel cell system 100, the output power of the fuel cell 100a is controlled according to the variation in the power consumption of the power load 100e. When the power consumption of the power load 100e transitions from a large amount state in, for example, the second time period 101b, to a small amount state in, for example, the third time period 101c, and the power consumption of the operation stop power threshold W1b or less continues for the predetermined time period T1b or more, the power generation operation of the fuel cell 100a and the operation of the fuel processor or the like are stopped.
However, in the above described conventional fuel cell system 100, when the power generation operation of the operation pattern illustrated in FIG. 7 is performed, wasteful consumption of the natural gas or the like occurs because of the second start-up. More specifically, in the conventional fuel cell system 100, the start-up of the fuel cell 100a, the fuel processor or the like is performed twice during a day, like the first start-up and the second start-up. It is important that, in stopping the power generation operation of the fuel cell 100a during a relatively long time period, for example, in a range from the fifth time period 101e to the first time period 101a, the operations of the fuel cell 100a, the fuel processor and the like be stopped in order to increase energy utilization efficiency. However, when the power generation operation of the fuel cell 100a is stopped during a relatively short time period as illustrated by the third time period 101c, the energy required to start-up the fuel cell 100a, the fuel processor, or the like is more than the energy consumed by continuing the power generation operation of the fuel cell 100a. In other words, when the power consumption of the power load 100e is less for a relatively short time period, a total energy utilization efficiency increases by continuing the power generation operation of the fuel cell 100a. According to this, since the natural gas or the like is wastefully consumed to start-up the fuel cell 100a, the fuel processor, or the like, which is believed to be unnecessary, the total energy utilization efficiency decreases. As compared to other power generation systems, for example, an engine power generation system or the like, such unnecessary start-up operation increases wasteful power consumption in the fuel cell system that reforms a feed material such as the natural gas (city gas) to generate the fuel gas, because of its longer time period of the start-up operation, and as a result, the total energy utilization efficiency decreases.

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


A single frame buffer is used in displaying on a display both an image from a first-type image source specified by a red-green-blue (RGB) value and an image from a second-type image source specified by an index value for a look-up table. A data-type buffer stores a data-type indicating whether each value stored in the frame buffer is the RGB value or the index value corresponding to each pixel on the display. A buffer writer may compress the RGB value. A buffer reader may decompress the RGB value from the compressed RGB value.

The present invention is related to a color image display apparatus having a frame buffer and a look-up table (LUT), and more particularly to a color image display apparatus in which a single frame buffer is used to display a plurality of types of image data, for example, image data for which a pixel value is specified by an index value of the look-up table, and image data for which it is specified by an RGB (red, green, and blue) value.
In a conventional color image display apparatus, a frame buffer is provided for holding the pixel value of each pixel on a color bit-mapped display screen. Image data are stored once in the frame buffer, and then periodically read out to generate a video signal. The conventional color image display apparatuses are classified into one of two categories depending on the form of the pixel values held in the frame buffer.
A first type of color image display apparatus is one which holds RGR values as the pixel values in the frame buffer. Each of the RGB value has a red value, a green value, and a blue value. A second type of color image display apparatus is one which has a look-up table for holding the RGB values corresponding to each index value and which holds the index values of the look-up table as the pixel values in the frame buffer.
In a computer system having a color image display apparatus, the display area is divided into a plurality of areas, and the images from different image sources are concurrently displayed on the respective display areas. In this case, if all of the image sources specify a pixel value by an RGB value, then a color image display apparatus requires the frame buffer for holding the RGB value. In contrast, if all of the image sources specify a pixel value by an index value of a look-up table, then a color image display apparatus requires the frame buffer for holding the index value.
However, multi-media technology has increased the variety of image sources existing in the same system, and there are both image sources for which a pixel value is specified by an RGB value, and image sources for which a pixel value is specified by an index value of a look-up table.
Under such circumstances, in the color image display apparatus of the type holding an RGB value in the frame buffer, images for which a pixel value is specified by an index value cannot be displayed. Similarly, in the color image display apparatus of the type holding an index value in the frame buffer, images for which a pixel value is specified by an RGB value cannot be displayed.
If two frame buffers are provided so as to combine their outputs, the required frame buffer capacity is doubled. If the specifications of a plurality of image sources are changed to unify their outputs to one of an RGB value and an index value, a substantial specification change of the image sources is required.

Color image display apparatus and method therefor


A pinch valve includes a body with a passageway extending therethrough, a flexible sleeve mounted within the body and surrounding the passageway, and a cavity between the sleeve and the body. An inlet opening provides control fluid flow into the cavity, while an outlet opening allows for fluid exhaust from the cavity. The diameters of the inlet and outlet openings are fixed, with the inlet diameter being smaller than the outlet diameter. A two-way control valve opens and closes the outlet opening, and thereby controls opening and closing of the pinch valve.

Conventional pinch valves include a single port for inlet and outlet of control fluid to and from the valve cavity surrounding the flexible sleeve which opens and closes the passageway through the valve. A three-way valve is provided upstream from the port to control the inlet and outlet of fluid to the cavity. In a first position, the three-way control valve allows fluid to flow into the cavity, and thereby close the valve. In a second static position, the control valve is closed so that fluid does not flow to or from the cavity, such that the pinch valve remains closed. In a third position, the control valve exhausts fluid from the cavity, thereby opening the pinch valve. Such a three-way valve is normally more expensive than a two-way valve, and thus increases the cost of the pinch valve.
Pinch valves having dual inlet and outlet ports are also known, although expensive controls are necessary for opening and closing the valve. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,549,793 uses a control valve on a inlet opening operated in a pulse width modulated manner to control pressure within the pinch valve cavity, and has an inlet opening and a bleed or leak outlet to release pressure from the pinch valve cavity. The means for varying the diameter of the opening in the U.S. Pat. No. 5,549,793 patent increases the cost of the pinch valve. U.S. Pat. No. 4,454,983 also shows a pinch valve with an inlet opening to the pinch valve cavity and a smaller outlet opening which is controlled by a manual valve to open and close the pinch valve. The smaller outlet opening, as compared to the inlet opening, slows or delays the opening of the pinch valve, since pressure in the cavity is slowly released from the cavity.
Accordingly, a primary objective of the present invention is the provision of an improved pinch valve having separate inlet and outlet openings for controlling opening and closing of the pinch valve.
Another objective of the present invention is the provision of an improved pinch valve having inlet and outlet openings with a fixed diameter, to reduce cost of the pinch valve.
A further objective of the present invention is the provision of an improved pinch valve wherein the inlet opening is smaller than the outlet opening to facilitate opening of the pinch valve.
Another objective of the present invention is the provision of an improved pinch valve having inlet and outlet openings, with a control valve for the outlet opening.
Yet another objective of the present invention is the provision of an improved pinch valve which controls opening and closing of the valve without anemically controlling the fluid flow rate into the pinch valve cavity.
Another objective of the present invention is the provision of an improved pinch valve which controls only the outflow of control fluid from the pinch valve cavity, without controlling the inflow of fluid into the cavity.
Still another objective of the present invention is the provision of an improved pinch valve having a check valve for the control fluid inlet opening to prevent backflow of fluid from the inlet opening.
Another objective of the present invention is the provision of an improved pinch valve which is economical to manufacture and durable and efficient in use.
These and other objectives will become apparent from the following description of the invention.


An image processor has image processing logic for detecting pixel data representing stepped chrominance or luminance transitions characteristic of staircase aliasing in a source image and for producing an output image including selective antialiasing on the detected stepped transitions. The image processing logic operates as a post processor, but is able to give much better results than conventional convolution filtering.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to information handling systems and more particularly to an image processor for producing antialiased images.
2. Description of the Related Art
There are a number of different types of aliasing effects which appear in images. Staircase aliasing is the effect which can be observed on lines and edges which are at an angle to the horizontal and vertical directions on a pixel-based display such as a raster-scanned visual display device or a matrix printer. This invention is directed to reducing staircase aliasing and does not specifically address other aliasing problems such as the Moire patterns associated with sampling aliasing.
Antialiasing is a technique which reduces this effect as perceived when viewing the displayed image by adjusting the intensity of the displayed pixels along the line or edge. It has been proposed to perform antialiasing at various times and in various ways during the generation of the images for display.
Where an image is the result of some rendering process, such as the creation of two-dimensional views of a three-dimensional object in a solid modeling system, the antialiasing can be performed on each edge or line as it is generated. Antialiasing in this manner can be termed prefiltering. This can be performed by a technique termed "supersampling", where extra values are calculated and then averaged. This and other prefiltering approaches, are, however, expensive in terms of processing time.
It has also been suggested to perform antialiasing after an image has been created by convolution filtering. Antialiasing after an image has been created can be termed postfiltering. This technique has the disadvantage, however, of blurring the image too much with the result that even horizontal and vertical lines become blurred.
There is a need, therefore, for another approach to the antialiasing of images which is not as expensive as prefiltering, yet produces better results than convolution filtering. The object of the invention is to fulfill this need.

Image processor and method for processing pixel data

International Business Machines Corporation


A rotor core (12) of a squirrel-cage rotor of an induction motor is housed in a recess (14) of a mold (18) of a conductor casting apparatus (10). A composite cylinder device (68) is fixed on the upper side of the mold (18) or on the side remoter from the pouring gate thereof, and the rotor core 12 is held in a predetermined position in the recess 14 by one piston (70). The other piston (72) locally pressurizes a molten metal that fills an end-connector ring cavity (66) defined between the rotor core (12) and the recess (14) on the side remoter from the pouring gate.

As shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B, a rotor core 12 of a squirrel-cage rotor used in an induction motor is formed of a laminate of magnetic sheets, such as silicon steel sheets, and comprises a plurality of conductor rods 46 arranged individually in a plurality of slots 44 that are formed in the axial direction along the substantially cylindrical outer peripheral edge, and a pair of end-connector rings 48 which are arranged individually at the axially opposite ends of the core 12 to short-circuit the conductor rods 46 one another.
These conductor rods 46 and the pair of end-connector rings 48 are integrally molded by casting, such as aluminum die casting. A cylindrical axial hole 50 in the center of the rotor core 12 which is integral with molded conductor portion is fixed on a shaft 52 by shrink fitting or the like, whereupon the well-known squirrel-cage rotor is formed.
This conductor molding method is excellent in productivity and facilitates molding of a conductor in a desired shape, so that it has an advantage of being able to improve the characteristics of the motor. Heretofore, it has been widely used for a small-sized induction motors, in particular.
Conductor molding by casting, however, may bring on a problem that shrinkage cavity or gas cavity is caused in a molded conductor. According to the die casing method in which a molten metal, such as aluminum, is loaded at high speed and under high pressure, in particular, the molten metal is liable to form a turbulent flow and trap gas as it is loaded, so that development of blowholes is unavoidable. In the squirrel-cage rotor, moreover, the radial sectional area of each conductor rod is much smaller than the radial sectional area of each end-connector ring. During the casting operation, therefore, the molten metal first solidifies in the slots (in which the conductor rods are arranged to form the squirrel-cage rotor) that axially penetrate the laminate of magnetic sheets, such as silicon steel sheets, so that a sufficient pressure cannot be transmitted to those end-connector ring portions which solidify after a delay (especially those end-connector ring portions which are located on the side remoter from the pouring gate), and blowholes tend to be easily formed. Since a conductor having blowholes is low in mechanical strength, it is difficult to apply a squirrel-cage rotor including such a conductor to a high-torque induction motor or high-speed induction motor with a speed of tens of thousands of rpm.
Already proposed is a casting method in which a molten metal filling an end-connector ring cavity between a mold and a rotor core is locally pressurized independently of the filling pressure, in order to prevent the formation of blowholes in the conductor (end-connector ring in particular). According to this method, the molten metal is loaded from one end-connector ring cavity, which communicates with a pouring gate, into the other end-connector ring cavity, on the side remoter from the pouring gate, through a plurality of slots, and first solidifies in the slots with a small sectional area, thereby cutting off applied pressure from the end-connector ring cavity on the side remoter from the pouring gate. As this is done, pressure is additionally applied to the molten metal in the end-connector ring cavity on the side remoter from the pouring gate before this molten metal solidifies. Thus, the end-connector ring on the side remoter from the pouring gate can be molded under a desired pressure, so that the formation of blowholes can be prevented.
This local-pressurization casting method requires use of local pressurization means that can apply a uniform pressure to the whole end-connector ring on the side remoter from the pouring gate. For ease of manufacture, however, many molds for squirrel-cage rotors are generally constructed so as to be able to open and close in the same direction as the axial direction of the rotor core. In installing the local pressurization means on the side remoter from the pouring gate of one such mold, the installation space for the local pressurization means must be provided in the mold so as not to influence external structures, such as a mold supporting structure. Thus, the mold is increased in thickness and external dimensions, so that its manufacture is difficult, and its practicability is ruined.
Further, the molds for squirrel-cage rotors must be provided with a retaining structure for firmly holding the rotor core in a predetermined position in the mold, resisting the molten metal filling pressure, on the side remoter from the pouring gate. How to arrange this retaining structure, together with the aforesaid local pressuring means, orderly on the side remoter from the pouring gate of the mold is also a problem to be solved.
Also proposed is a local pressurization method in which the gate-side portion of the mold is designed so as to be movable in the axial direction, and the movable pouring gate-side portion of the mold is axially moved together with the rotor core by the filling pressure after the molten metal is loaded from the pouring gate-side end-connector ring cavity into the end-connector ring cavity on the side remoter from the pouring gate through the slots, whereby pressure is additionally applied to the end-connector ring on the side remoter from the pouring gate. Although the local pressurization means need not be located on the side remoter from the pouring gate, according to this method, the construction of the mold is complicated, and moreover, a special casting machine (injection molding machine) with a very high pressure is needed to move a movable part of the mold together with the rotor core, so that the installation cost is very high.

Conductor casting apparatus for a squirrel-cage rotor of an induction motor


This invention relates to recombinant-DNA-technology. Specifically, this invention relates to new recombinant yeast strains transformed with xylose reductase and/or xylitol dehydrogenase enzyme genes. A yeast strain transformed with the xylose reductase gene is capable of reducing xylose to xylitol and consequently of producing xylitol in vivo. If both of these genes are transformed into a yeast strain, the resultant strain is capable of producing ethanol on xylose containing medium during fermentation. Further, the said new yeast strains are capable of expressing the said two enzymes. Xylose reductase produced by these strains can be used in an enzymatic process for the production of xylitol in vitro.

Xylose utilization
Xylose appears in great abundance in nature. It can constitute as much as 40% of a lignocellulosic material (Ladisch et al., 1983). By fermentation xylose can be converted to ethanol which can be used as a liquid fuel or a chemical feedstock. Enzymatically or as a by-product of fermentation xylose can also be converted to xylitol which is a promising natural sweetener having dental caries reducing properties. Xylitol can also be used by diabetics. For the production of ethanol which is a cheap product it is important that the raw material can be fermented directly with as little pretreatment as possible. For the production of xylitol which is meant for human consumption it is important that the process involves GRAS organisms.
Natural xylose utilizers are found among bacteria, yeast and fungi. In all organisms xylose is converted to xylulose which is phosphorylated to xylulose-5-phosphate (X5P) with xylulokinase. X5P then enters the Embden-Meyerhof pathway (glycolysis) via the pentose phosphate shunt.
Bacteria like Escherichia coli, Bacillus sp., Streptomyces sp. and Actinoplanes sp. convert xylose directly to xylulose with a xylose isomerase (XI). Thus bacteria do not produce xylitol as an intermediate during xylose utilization. Those which ferment xylose to ethanol do so with poor yields because a number of by-products are also produced (Skoog and Hahn-Hagerdal, 1988). In xylose utilizing yeasts such as Pichia stipitis, Candida shehatae and Pachysolen tannophilus this reaction occurs in two steps: first xylose is reduced to xylitol with a xylose reductase (XR) and the xylitol is oxidized with a xylitol dehydrogenase (XDH) to xylulose.
Pure xylose solutions are fermented with high yields and good productivities by xylose utilizing yeasts such as P. stipitis, C. shehatae and P. tannophilus (Slininger et al., 1987; Prior et al., 1989). However, they do not generally survive in the hostile environment of an untreated raw material such as eg. spent sulphite liquor or hydrogen fluoride-pretreated and acid-hydrolyzed wheat straw (Linden and Hahn-Hagerdal, 1989). The one exception, P. tannophilus, produces mainly xylitol and glycerol in response to this environment. In order to efficiently ferment such raw materials with the xylose utilizing yeasts such as P. stipitis, C. shehatae and P. tannophilus the raw material has to undergo expensive pretreatments with ion-exchange resins (Clark and Mackie, 1984) or steam stripping (Yu et al., 1987).
Saccharomyces cerevisiae, bakers' yeast, ferments spent sulphite liquor or hydrogen fluoride-pretreated and acid-hydrolyzed wheat straw to ethanol (Linden and Hahn-Hagerdal, 1989). S. cerevisiae cannot utilize xylose efficiently and cannot grow on xylose as a sole carbon source. In the presence of the bacterial enzyme xylose isomerase, which converts xylose to xylulose, S. cerevisiae can, however, ferment both pure xylose solutions (Hahn-Hagerdal et al., 1986) and untreated raw materials (Linden and Hahn-Hagerdal, 1989a,b) to ethanol with yields and productivities that are in the same order of magnitude as those obtained in hexose fermentations.
Similar results have been obtained with Schizosaccharomyces pombe (Lastick et al., 1989). Thus, both S. cerevisiae and Sch. pombe have a functioning xylulokinase enzyme. It has also been found that S. cerevisiae can take up xylose (Batt et al., 1986; van Zyl et al., 1989; Senac and Hahn-Haigerdal, 1990).
Gong (1985) discloses a process for obtaining ethanol directly from D-xylose by xylose fermenting yeast mutants. According to Gong a parent yeast strain is selected (e.g. Candida sp. or Saccharomyces cerevisiae), which originally may have the ability to utilize D-xylose, and this parent strain is then exposed e.g. to UV-radiation so as to induce mutation. However, no information about the reason why the mutants obtained are able to utilize xylose, is given in the reference. Further, Gong did not introduce any new coding and/or regulatory sequences to said strains by genetic engineering techniques to enhance xylose fermentation.
Xylitol is industrially manufactured at the moment by chemical reduction of hemicellulose hydrolysates. Poisoning of the expensive catalyst used in the reduction step and formation of side-products difficult to be separated from the end product are the main problems in this process.
In literature there are numerous examples of microbiological methods to produce xylitol from pure xylose (eg. Onishi and Suzuki, 1966; Barbosa et al., 1988). Best producers in this method are yeasts especially belonging to the Candida-genera. Also some bacteria such as Enterobacter (Yoshitake et al., 1973a) and Corynebacterium species (Yoshitake et al., 1973b) and some molds eg. Penicillium chrysogenum (Chiang and Knight, 1960) produce xylitol from pure xylose.
In a microbiological method describing the best yields of xylitol production (Ojamo et al., 1987) Candida guilliermondii yeast is cultivated under strictly controlled aeration in a xylose containing medium either as a batch or a fed-batch process. Xylitol yields 50-65% were obtained. The yield could be increased to 76% by adding furfuraldehyde to the cultivation medium. Cell-free extracts from Candida pelliculosa (xylose reductase) and Methanobacterium sp. (hydrogenase, F.sub.420, NADP, F.sub.420 /NADP oxidoreductase) has been used to produce xylitol in a membrane reactor with 90% conversion (Kitpreechavanich, 1985). With a cell-free extract from a Corynebacterium species 69% conversion has been obtained when 6-phosphogluconate was used for regeneration of the cofactor.
It has been shown that glucose dehydrogenase from B. megaterium has suitable properties as a NADPH regenerating enzyme (Kulbe et al., 1987). Thus gluconic acid from glucose can be produced simultaneously with xylitol in the enzymatic process. For the retention of the enzymes and the cofactor one can use ultrafiltration membranes. Cofactor retention may be achieved by the use of a derivatized cofactor having high enough molecular weight for the retention (Kulbe et al., 1987) or better by using negatively charged ultrafiltration membranes (Kulbe et al., 1989).
Attraction to use an enzymatic method is based on the possibility to use impure xylose containing raw materials which in the microbiological methods would inhibit the metabolism of the microbe used. Also the yields of xylitol are higher than in the microbiological methods with natural strains. On the other hand any microbiological method is more simple in large-scale practice at the moment.
The natural xylose utilizing yeasts such as P. stipitis, Candida sp. and P. tannophilus are not suitable for the production of either ethanol or xylitol for several reasons. The fermentation to ethanol requires pretreatment of the raw material which is cost-prohibitive for a cheap end-product such as ethanol. These species also lack the GRAS-status. Thus xylose utilization would most suitably be based on the use of baker's yeast which has a GRAS-status.
In order to make S. cerevisiae an efficient xylose utilizer for the production of xylitol and ethanol an efficient enzyme system for the conversion of xylose to xylitol and xylulose should be introduced into this yeast. For the production of ethanol from xylose the XI genes from E. coli (Sarthy et al., 1987), B. subtilis and Actinoplanes missouriensis (Amore et al., 1989) have been cloned and transformed into S. cerevisiae. The XI protein made in S. cerevisiae had very low (1/1000 of the enzyme produced in bacteria) or no enzymatic activity. Thus, for some reasons the bacterial enzyme can not be made functional in yeast. Another possibility would be to transfer into S. cerevisiae the genes encoding XR and XDH from another yeast. The enzymes of P. stipitis should be good candidates in the light of the efficient utilization of pure xylose solutions discussed above. It can be anticipated that enzymes from another yeast would function better than bacterial enzymes when expressed in yeast. In addition, xylitol and ethanol could be produced with the same system and the system would combine the good xylose utilization of P. stipitis with resistance to inhibitors and general acceptance of S. cerevisiae.

Xylose utilization by recombinant yeasts


An apparatus and a method for removing a coating film capable of stable treatment for removing unnecessary coating film at a substrate edge are provided. A substrate is clamped by approach stages from front and rear directions on a chuck, and fixed when accurate registration thereof is achieved. Then, the substrate edge is moved back and forth together with the chuck and the approach stage, so that the edge of the substrate is introduced in a space between an upper piece and a lower piece of a fixed arm portion. While the substrate is being moved, a solvent is fed from a nozzle portion onto a surface thereof and a purge gas is fed through a purge gas feeding pipe, so as to remove the coating film from the surface of the substrate by sucking and discharging the solvent and dissolved coating film through a discharge pipe.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a coating film removal apparatus and a coating film removal method for removing an unnecessary coating film at an edge portion of a quadrangular substrate on which the coating film is formed.
2. Description of the Background Art
In a process for manufacturing a semiconductor device, an exposure mask is formed in the following manner. First, a resist liquid is applied to a quadrangular mask substrate. Then, the resist film is exposed using a photomask and thereafter developed, thus fabricating a desired resist pattern. The resist liquid is applied to the mask substrate using spin coating, however, the resist liquid inevitably has a locally large thickness at a peripheral portion of the substrate, due to surface tension or the like. Accordingly, the resist film at the peripheral portion is not completely removed but left when developed, and the remaining resist peels off while the substrate is conveyed, which results in particles.
In view of the foregoing, after the resist liquid or the like is applied to a surface of the substrate, a treatment for removing an unnecessary coating film at an edge portion outside a pattern forming region on the substrate is carried out. Known examples of such a treatment include a method including the steps of holding a quadrangular substrate on a chuck, moving back and forth an arm portion with a washing block along an edge of the substrate, and removing a resist liquid film using a solvent fed from the arm portion (Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 11-160891), and a method including the steps of using a carrier arm serving for loading/unloading a substrate in/out of a coating film forming apparatus so as to hold the substrate, and moving back and forth the substrate several times along a coating film removal portion equipped with a solvent feeding portion, so as to remove a resist liquid film (Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 11-76908).
According to the invention in Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 11-160891, the arm portion is moved back and forth, a solvent feeding pipe provided in the arm portion feeds a solvent, and a discharge pipe serves for suction and discharge of the solvent and dissolved coating film, so as to remove the coating film at the edge portion of the substrate.
In order to suck the solvent while the arm portion is being moved rapidly for ensuring a throughput so that the solvent fed to the edge portion of the substrate is quickly sucked for preventing introduction into the inner portion of the substrate, a discharge amount should be large, and preferably the discharge pipe has a large diameter. In the arm portion, a plurality of pipes and cables such as the solvent feeding pipe, a purge gas feeding pipe and the discharge pipe are provided in a complicated manner, and a large number of pipes and cables are routed. Accordingly, if the discharge pipe has a large diameter, large tension is applied to the arm portion. In addition, a driving portion with large power is required in order to drive such an arm portion. Further, each pipe or cable of a length adapted to movement of the arm portion should be provided, which also requires a space for routing these pipes and cables.
On the other hand, the discharge pipe bends as the arm portion moves. Depending on a position of the arm portion, however, a degree of bending varies. Hence, a discharge amount fluctuates corresponding to the degree of bending of the discharge pipe, leading to unstable discharge. That is, it has been difficult to remove the coating film in a stable manner.
In order to remove the coating film, the edge portion of the substrate should be moved back and forth a plurality of times with the edge portion lying between the coating film removal portions. According to the invention in Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 11-76908, however, the substrate is moved by the carrier arm serving for loading/unloading the substrate in/out of the coating film forming apparatus, which means that the carrier arm is dedicated for such a removal operation. Then, its primary operation to carry the substrate itself is suspended, resulting in lower throughput.
Moreover, following problems also arise in addition to the disadvantages described above. It is preferable to provide in the arm portion a plurality of solvent nozzle portions such as a first solvent nozzle portion and a second solvent nozzle portion along a direction in which the substrate is moved forward, instead of providing a single solvent nozzle portion. If the first solvent nozzle portion and the second solvent nozzle portion are provided, for example, the solvent nozzle portion in the front mainly serves to dissolve the coating film, while the solvent nozzle portion in the rear mainly serves to blow away the dissolved coating film. On the other hand, in order to remove the coating film, the arm portion should move back and forth along the edge portion of the substrate a plurality of times. Therefore, a scanning speed of the arm portion should not be too slow to ensure throughput. If a space between the first solvent nozzle portion and the second solvent nozzle portion is too narrow, the dissolved coating film tends to be blown away while dissolving is not sufficiently achieved. Then, a washing effect is lowered, resulting in a larger number of scanning operations of the arm portion. Accordingly, the space between the nozzle portions is set so as not to be smaller than a certain value.
Recently, it has been demanded that a removal width of the coating film at the edge portion of the substrate is partially made larger than normal width. That is, it has been demanded that a removal area of the coating film is partially enlarged toward inside of the substrate. A conventional apparatus, however, has not been able to satisfy such a demand.

Apparatus and method for removing coating film


A blister pack making mechanism includes a console, a piercing device, a sealing device, and a control unit. A roller and a blower are provided on the console. The roller takes up a bag film. An air inlet block is provided to be inserted into the bag film. A cutting unit is provided on the piercing device for piercing the bag film to admit air to inflate the bag film. The opening of the bag film is sealed up with the sealing device, and the bag film is cut into a proper length to form a blister pack.

(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a blister pack making mechanism, and more particularly to one that having an air inlet block inserted into a bag film to separate an upper layer from an lower layer of the bag film and the lower layer pierced by means of a cutting unit to be inflated with air to form a blister pack.
(b) Description of the Prior Art
To prevent from damage in transit, a package containing an object is usually buffered with a blister pack to fend off impact. The blister pack making machine generally available in the market essentially operates by injecting air into a bag film to inflate it into a blister pack.
As disclosed in M297906 utility patent published in Taiwanese Gazette, a blister pack sealing machine of the prior art is provided with a transmission unit on a console to deliver a bag film; an opening on one side of the bag film is injected into air by means of a blower before being sealed up by a sealing unit in making the blister pack.
However, two layers of the bag film at the opening is difficult to open up before being inflated with air thus to frustrate injection of the air through the opening between two layers of the bag film. Furthermore, the prior art is designed for batch operation involving large quantity thus to prevent customized production depending on the size of individual item of an object to be packaged with the blister pack.
Another prior art as taught in U.S. Pat. No. 4,769,974, two bag films are abutted before being inflated with air to form a blister pack. However, the manufacturing process is found with the defective of poor positioning in abutting both bag films.


An analyzer includes a reforming unit which reforms fuel containing an organic compound which contains carbon and hydrogen into a reformed gas containing hydrogen, a flame ionization detector which is connected to the reforming unit, and detects an ion generated by combusting the reformed gas supplied from the reforming unit and a sample gas, or ionizing a sample gas by reaction with the reformed gas supplied from the reforming unit, and outputs an output signal representing the ionic amount, and an analysis controller which analyzes the output signal from the flame ionization detector, and provides data capable of identifying a component contained in the sample gas.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an analyzer.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, environmental protection activities are becoming much more pronounced. This increases the number of opportunities to perform various analyses on samples existing outdoors, such as the atmosphere, water in rivers and the like, and soil. Especially when changes in sample with time are to be analyzed outdoors, when a sample is to be analyzed immediately after being sampled, or when subsequent sampling is to be performed in accordance with the obtained measurement, a safe, portable analytical system which is compact and lightweight and can be carried to a sampling point is necessary.
As an analyzer for analyzing these samples existing outdoors, e.g., for the analysis of gases, a gas chromatograph analytical system is used. In the conventional gas chromatograph analytical system, heating is performed to separate the component of a sample gas. For example, Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 8-211038 describes that a portable analyzer is implemented by obtaining heat necessary for this heating by using the exothermic reaction of a combustion gas.
In the gas chromatograph analytical system, a flame ionization detector (FID) can be used as an analyzer for analyzing a sample gas. Hydrogen gas is necessary to analyze a sample gas by using this FID. Since, however, hydrogen gas is explosive, the transportation, storage, or use of hydrogen gas requires a rigid and safe vessel and vehicle, and further requires a vessel, worker, and storage facility which comply with the law. Therefore, the conventional analyzer cannot simply transport nor handle hydrogen gas.
There are some gas chromatograph analyzers in which hydrogen is generated in its actual use, and then the generated hydrogen is used in analysis. More specifically, hydrogen is generated by a hydrogen generator which generates hydrogen by electrolyzing water.
Unfortunately, the hydrogen generator is mainly used in a stationary analyzer because the generation of hydrogen requires high power. To transport the hydrogen generator and use it in analysis, a power supply for obtaining high power must be transported at the same time. This makes the hydrogen generator difficult to transport.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an analyzer which is compact, lightweight, and easy to handle.


A method and system for assessing quality of service for multimedia traffic under aggregate traffic conditions in a shared transmission network, such as an ATM network. A total number of different traffic services as well as a maximum number of sources for each traffic service are specified by a network operator/designer. Next, for each traffic service a specification of peak rate, average idle sojourn time and an average burst sojourn time are determined, either based upon available standards or calculated based upon models of the traffic services. The total available system bandwidth is specified by a network operator/designer. Finally, the number and size of queues utilized for receiving packetized telecommunication traffic within the network are specified. The maximum packet loss ratio, average delay for a packet traversing the network and the probability that jitter (delay variations) will exceed a specified threshold are then calculated for the size and number of queues specified, permitting the quality of service within the network to be accurately and efficiently assessed.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to improvements in network design and in particular to improved methods and systems for quality of service assessment for multimedia traffic within a network. Still more particularly, the present invention relates to a method and system for quality of service assessment for multimedia traffic under aggregate traffic conditions in a shared transmission medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
No where has the explosion of modern technology been more evident than in the field of communication. The number and type of communication services has been rapidly expanding, including so-called "multimedia" services such as video teleconferencing, video/movies on demand and the like.
The intermixing of these multimedia services with traditional data and voice communications within a shared transmission medium has presented various design problems. For example, a system which receives packetized telecommunication traffic from multiple multimedia services typically places the received packets within a queue within either a central queue or within a queue which is dedicated to a particular service. This can occur, for example, in ATM networks wherein multiple users subscribe to diverse services, such as video-conferencing and data retrieval, and share the same network.
Since a system can typically process, at most, n packets per time unit, if there are more than n subscribers for the services, the received packets are not immediately processed by the system but instead are queued either in one central queue or within a queue dedicated to a particular service, for future processing. During heavy use periods, these queues may become quite large and packets may be selectively discarded based upon a priority scheme.
Three network quality of service measures are of prime importance to network designers. Network designers must consider the maximum packet loss rate within the network, the maximum delay for a packet traversing the network and the maximum jitter (delay variation) which packets experience during network traversal. These three measures are utilized to indicate the quality of service within a network. In order to efficiently design a multimedia network, an accurate assessment of the quality of service measures is necessary, so as to satisfy customer expectations, build the network economically and utilize the network efficiency. Since diverse multimedia services may have diverse quality of service requirements, it is desirable to provide a technique for calculating quality of service values rapidly with as few traffic parameters as necessary so as not to waste network bandwidth on measurements.
In the past, attempts at statistically modeling aggregate traffic which originates from homogenous services with similar traffic types and similar characteristics have been proposed. For example, the Poisson Process is widely utilized to model aggregate traffic from voice sources. Similarly, the discreet Auto Regressive Process has been utilized to model aggregate traffic from video-teleconferencing sources. A Markov Modulated Poisson Process is often utilized to model aggregate traffic from data sources. These techniques typically required complex mathematical expressions which are not explicit and which required time-consuming numerical methods to solve. In high speed multimedia networks, the assessment of quality of service value must be performed rapidly and in real-time. Furthermore, prior art techniques for assessing quality of service within a network did not distinguish between networks which utilize a central queue and networks which utilize multiple queues, that is, one queue per service.
Thus, those skilled in the art will appreciate that a method and system for accurately and efficiently assess calculating the quality of service of multimedia traffic within a shared transmission medium would greatly enhance the efficiency of a network design and the level of customer satisfaction.

Method and system for quality of service assessment for multimedia traffic under aggregate traffic conditions


A backlight assembly and a display device are provided in the present disclosure. The backlight assembly includes an optical lamination layer and a die-casting back plate. The die-casting back plate defines an accommodation space for accommodating the optical lamination layer, the die-casting back plate includes an inner surface and an outer surface arranged opposite to each other, the inner surface is a surface facing a bottom surface of the optical lamination layer, a recess region is arranged on the inner surface, and a plurality of rivets configured to assemble the die-casting back plate onto an object to be assembled is arranged on the outer surface. The plurality of rivets is located in a region corresponding to the recess region and spaced apart from a boundary of the recess region by a spacing.

In the related art, a vehicle-mounted liquid crystal display screen has been widely used in the field of automobiles. A rotating screen has been further provided by some automobile manufacturers. The rotating screen may rotate by 90° under the control of a motor, so as to switch between a horizontal state and a vertical state. A die-casting back plate is used in a backlight assembly of a vehicle-mounted display screen in the relevant art, the backlight assembly and an entire machine are fixed onto a vehicle by using several screws, and the rotating screen switches between the horizontal state and the vertical state through the rotation of a motor.

HEFEI XINSHENG OPTOELECTRONICS TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.


A cab for a work vehicle includes: walls enclosing a cab environment; a door coupled to one of the walls, one of the walls or the door comprising a vent opening; a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system coupled to the cab environment and configured to regulate a temperature and a pressure of the cab environment; and a pressure control flap associated with the vent opening and comprising a pressure-relief opening and a magnetic portion that is configured to hold the flap closed when the pressure of the cab environment is below a threshold pressure and allow the pressure to open the flap when the pressure exceeds the threshold pressure.

Certain work vehicles (e.g., tractors, harvesters, skid steers, etc.) include a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system configured to control an airflow into a cab of the work vehicle. In addition to heating and cooling the cab of the work vehicle, the HVAC system also may pressurize the cab to a pressure higher than atmospheric pressure. Pressurizing the cab may reduce the ingress of dirt and/or other contaminants, such as crop material dust, enhance passenger comfort, reduce noise, or a combination thereof. In certain scenarios, known HVAC systems do not maintain some parameters of the cab environment to levels that are comfortable for the operator.
What is needed in the art is a cab for a work vehicle that can maintain a comfortable cab environment in various scenarios.

Work vehicle with flap for cab pressure control


A substrate transport apparatus including a frame, at least one arm link rotatably connected to the frame and a shaftless drive section. The shaftless drive section including stacked drive motors for rotating the at least one arm link relative to the frame through a shaftless interface, each of the stacked drive motors including a stator having stator coils disposed on a fixed post fixed relative to the frame and a rotor substantially peripherally surrounding the stator such that the rotor is connected to a respective one of the at least one arm link for rotating the one of the at least one arm link relative to the frame causing an extension or retraction of the one of the at least one arm link, where the stacked drive motors are disposed in the at least one arm link so that part of each stator is within a common arm link.

1. Field
The exemplary embodiment generally relates to drives for robot systems, and more particularly, to spindle drives for robot systems.
2. Brief Description of Related Developments
Current vacuum robots either use a ferrofluidic or lip seal to isolate the motors and encoders from vacuum, or in the case of the Brooks MAGNATRAN® products, isolate the motor stators using a barrier wall but place the magnet rotor and encoders directly in the vacuum environment. In both of these cases, the motor is placed below the bellows and shafts are used to connect the motor to the robot arm links.
It would be advantageous to leverage an inverted drive design that places the stators on a stationary inner post and the rotor to the outside of the stators.


An apparatus for monitoring the environment of a person from any dialable telephone includes a small transmitter/receiver which is attached to the person whose environment is to be monitored. The transmitter/receiver contains cellular/wireless/mobile electronics and programming and may be dialed similarly to the dialing of any cellular phone. The transmitter/receiver is provided with an automatic answer means which enables connection between the cellular/wireless/mobile network and the transmitter/receiver without intervention from the person whose environment is to be monitored. In a preferred embodiment, a password would be required to enhance privacy. The transmitter/receiver automatically disconnects when the caller ends the call.

There is a need for persons to be able to check on and monitor the sounds in the environment of a loved one who may be very young, very old or otherwise infirm and in the care of others.
Efforts have been made in this area in the past. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,640,147—Chek et al. discloses a child monitoring device which requires the parent or guardian to have a special device to generate an enabling signal to enable a monitoring device on a child. Chek et al. requires the parent or person who is doing the monitoring to have special equipment.

Apparatus for monitoring the environment of a person by telephone


A scanning element includes a multilayer circuit board having a first detector unit arranged in a first layer and in a second layer. In addition, the circuit board has a second detector unit, which is arranged in a third layer and in a fourth layer, and a first shielding layer, which is arranged in a fifth layer. The circuit board moreover has a geometrical center plane, which is located between the detector units, and furthermore has vias, which are arranged at an offset from one another in a direction parallel to the center plane. The fifth layer is structured such that that a web that is electrically insulated with respect to this first shielding layer is arranged next to the first shielding layer, the web being electrically contacted with the vias and electrically connecting the vias to one another.

Japanese Patent Document No. 2006-208239, for example, in FIG. 6, describes a position measuring device which has two rotors between which a stator is arranged. The position measuring device is used in a micrometer screw, for instance.
PCT Patent Document No. WO 2006/208239 describes a scanning element that has a transmission coil and sensor coils, which are arranged on a multilayer circuit board, the circuit board having layers that are arranged as shields.

Scanning element and inductive position measuring device having a scanning element


The present invention provides a photoconductor element for use in electrophotographic imaging, including a support, a photoconductive layer coated on the support, and a barrier layer coated on the photoconductive layer. The barrier layer includes an organic polymer and silica.

The present invention relates to a photoconductor element for use in electrophotographic imaging and, in particular, to a barrier layer for a photoconductor element. The invention also relates to a method of producing a photoconductor element having a barrier layer.
The formation and development of images through electrophotographic imaging is well known. One electrophotographic imaging process involves the sequential steps of charging a photoconductor element, usually with a high voltage corona, forming an electrostatic latent image with laser exposure, developing the image by applying toner particles thereto to form a visible toner image corresponding to the electrostatic latent image, and transferring the toner image from the photoconductor element to a final substrate, such as paper, either by direct transfer or via an intermediate transfer material. The toner particles may be dispersed in either a dry or liquid medium, and may form black and white or full color images. Heat and pressure are often used to facilitate image transfer from the photoconductor element to the substrate.
The photoconductor element may take the form of a continuous belt which is supported and circulated by rollers, or may be adhered to the outer surface of a rotatable drum. Further, many different constructions exist for the photoconductor element. Common to all such constructions is a photoconductive layer which is formed from a material which acts as an insulator except when exposed to light. That is, the photoconductive layer does not conduct an electric current unless it is being exposed to light. Various organic and inorganic materials exist from which the photoconductive layer may be formed.
The photoconductive layer is generally affixed to and supported by an electroconductive support. The electroconductive support may be either negatively or positively charged such that when light strikes the photoconductive layer, electrons either flow from the electroconductive support and through the photoconductive layer (in the case of negatively charged electroconductive support), or through the photoconductive layer and into the electroconductive support (in the case of a positively charged electroconductive support).
In addition to the photoconductive layer and electroconductive support, other layers may be included in the photoconductor element. For example, a release layer topcoat may be included on the uppermost surface of the photoconductor element. This layer is constructed from a material having a low surface energy and serves to increase the efficiency with which toner particles are transferred from the surface of the photoconductor element. Silicone and fluorocarbon polymers have been previously described as effective for release layer applications.
Another type of layer which may be included in the photoconductor element is a barrier layer. A barrier layer may be positioned between the photoconductive layer and the release layer to protect the photoconductive layer. In this manner, the barrier layer enhances the durability and extends the service life of the photoconductive layer. To be effective in this capacity, the barrier layer should ideally meet many different performance criteria. First, the barrier layer should protect the photoconductive layer from damage due to corona-induced charge injection.
Such damage reduces the useful life of the photoconductive layer, and can be caused by the corona when placing a charge upon the surface of the photoconductor element. Damage occurs when the charge is permitted to directly contact the photoconductive layer. The corona also creates ozone and ionized particles which can further damage the photoconductive layer if permitted to directly contact that layer. Ozone, ionized particles, and charge from the corona are believed to damage the photoconductive layer by directly or indirectly causing unwanted reactions with the photoconductive layer, e.g., oxidation. An effective barrier layer is one which can prevent or substantially minimize direct contact of the photoconductive layer by the ozone, ionized particles, and charge which are produced by the corona.
A second requirement of the barrier layer is that it should be substantially inert with respect to the photoconductive layer. That is, the barrier layer should not chemically react with the photoconductive layer to the extent that the performance of the photoconductive layer is detrimentally affected and "trap sites" form between the barrier layer and the photoconductive layer. Trap sites are localized electrical voids which can retain electrons as the electrons attempt to flow through the photoconductor element in the areas which have been light struck, e.g., from a negatively charged electroconductive support to neutralize a positively charged surface of a photoconductor element, the positive charge being placed there by a corona (the inverse case is also possible where the electroconductive support is positively charged and a negative charge is placed upon the surface of the photoconductor element by the corona). Current cannot flow between the support and the surface until a sufficient number of electrons are retained in the trap sites to provide a conductive path therethrough. Until the trap sites are adequately filled with electrons in this manner, the surface of the photoconductor element cannot be adequately discharged when exposed by a light source because a sufficient number of electrons will not be able to flow between the electroconductive support and the surface to neutralize all of the charge in the light struck areas.
Trap sites thus result in long warm-up (or burn-in) periods before the photoconductor element is ready to produce high quality toner images. During such warm-up periods, the photoconductor element is repeatedly charged by the corona and discharged by a light source in order to allow the trap sites to fill with electrons. Any images produced before adequate warm-up will be of poor quality due to insufficient toner particle attraction in the image-wise exposed areas. Moreover, when the imaging device housing the photoconductor element is turned off, the trap sites may become emptied once again. Thus, the next time the imaging device is turned on, another warm-up period is required. This problem is known as "reset."
A third requirement of the barrier layer is that it should adhere well to the photoconductive layer and the release layer without the need for adhesives. Fourth, when the photoconductor element is used in belt form, the barrier layer should exhibit sufficient resiliency to withstand the compressional and tensional forces exerted on the photoconductor element as it travels around the aforementioned system of rollers.
A fifth requirement exists when liquid toner systems are used. Liquid toner systems generally include toner particles dispersed in a carrier liquid, and may include other constituents such as charge control agents. The barrier layer should be capable of substantially limiting or preventing the liquid toner system from coming into contact with the photoconductive layer. The toner particles, carrier liquid, and other constituents can damage and/or shorten the service life of the photoconductive layer.
Although many barrier layer formulations have been proposed, none have been found which are capable of satisfactorily meeting all of the above-stated performance criteria. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,439,509, 4,606,934, 4,595,602, and 4,923,775 disclose a protective overcoating utilizing a cross-linkable siloxanol-colloidal silica hybrid material. The siloxanol-colloidal silica hybrid material is generally formed by combining a trialkoxysilane, a colloidal silica hydrosol, and an organic acid. U.S. Pat. No. 4,439,509 discloses that the siloxanol-colloidal silica hybrid material is cross-linked with ammonia gas to form the protective overcoating. U.S. Pat. No. 4,606,934 discloses that when no organic acid is used to form the siloxanol-colloidal silica hybrid material, an acid number of less than 0.5 can be achieved. U.S. Pat. No. 4,595,602 discloses that the siloxanol-colloidal silica hybrid material is combined with a hydrolyzed ammonium salt of an alkoxy silane to produce the protective overcoating. U.S. Pat. No. 4,923,775 provides that the siloxanol-colloidal silica hybrid material is combined with a silane having an electron accepting moiety.
Each of above-described protective overcoatings as recited in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,439,509, 4,606,934, 4,595,602, and 4,923,775 result in photoconductor elements which require relatively long warm-up periods, and which often "reset" such that long warm-up periods are required each time the respective photoconductive imaging device is turned on. These problems are believed to result from the formation of trap sites between the overcoating and the photoconductive layer due to chemical reaction between the overcoating and the photoconductive layer.
Moreover, the above overcoatings do not provide the photoconductive layer with adequate protection from liquid contact when a toner dispersed in a carrier liquid is utilized. In addition, such overcoatings provide insufficient resiliency to be used in belt form. When tested as such, the overcoatings developed stress fractures.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,565,760 discloses a protective overcoating formed from a dispersion of hydroxylated silsesquioxane and colloidal silica in an alcoholic medium. Such an overcoating, however, suffers from the same deficiencies as those described immediately above (i.e. long warm-up periods, reset problems, poor liquid toner carrier protection, and insufficient resiliency).
U.S. Pat. No. 5,124,220 discloses a photoconductor element having a barrier layer and a release layer. The barrier layer is formed from an organic polymer such as one resulting from a mixture of polyvinyl alcohol with methylvinylether/maleic anhydride copolymer. This barrier layer provides good carrier liquid protection but does not protect the photoconductive layer from corona-induced charge injection and ozone/ionized particle creation.
Accordingly, a need exists in the art for a barrier layer which meets all of the above-listed performance criteria, i.e., one which provides charge injection protection, is substantially inert with respect to the photoconductive layer, adheres well to the photoconductive layer and to the release layer, exhibits sufficient resilience to be used in belt form, and protects the photoconductive layer from contact with toner carrier liquid.

Barrier layer for photoconductor elements comprising an organic polymer and silica


An acoustic tube that can be manufactured simply and can also be reduced in size easily is obtained. By using the acoustic tube, a directional microphone which has a simple structure and can be reduced in size easily is obtained. In an integrally molded acoustic tube, an acoustic resistance material arranged on the inner circumferential surface of the acoustic tube is integrated to the acoustic tube by molding of the acoustic tube. It is preferable to select resin as the material of the acoustic tube and resin mesh as that of the acoustic resistance material. It is preferable that the acoustic tube have a slit-like acoustic resistance part and the acoustic resistance material be present in the acoustic resistance part. It is preferable to configure a directional microphone by using the acoustic tube.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an acoustic tube that can be used in, for example, a microphone, and a directional microphone using the same, and more particularly to an acoustic tube and a directional microphone, the manufacturing process of which can be simplified and the size of which can be reduced.
2. Related Background of the Invention
For example, a microphone with narrow directivity is configured so that sound waves at angles other than that of the main sound collection axis enter into an acoustic tube through a front surface of the acoustic tube and an acoustic resistance part on the side thereof by arranging the acoustic tube with leakage at a front acoustic terminal of a microphone unit. The sound waves that have entered through the front surface of the acoustic tube and the sound waves that have entered through the acoustic resistance part attenuate due to a difference between both phases and the sound waves along the main sound collection axis are emphasized, and thereby a narrow directivity is obtained.
As an example of a specific configuration of the acoustic tube, there is one having a plurality of through holes for acoustic resistance on a circumferential surface and provided with an acoustic resistance material composed of felt, resin mesh, nonwoven fabric, etc. on the outer circumferential surface of the acoustic tube. The acoustic tube is known which further has an outer case engaged with the outer circumferential surface thereof, the inner diameter of which is greater than the outer diameter of the acoustic resistance and in the circumferential surface of which a plurality of through holes are formed, and has a microphone unit disposed in the acoustic tube (for example, refer to the patent document 1).
However, for the configuration of the acoustic tube described in the document patent 1, it is necessary to further engage an outer case with the outer circumferential surface side because the acoustic resistance material composed of unwoven fabric etc. is provided on the outer circumferential surface of the acoustic tube, thus the structure becomes complex and the manufacturing process becomes intricate. Therefore, there is known a narrow directional microphone that has obviated the need for the outer case by providing the acoustic resistance material on the inner circumferential surface side of the acoustic tube (for example, refer to the patent document 2).
FIG. 2 shows a conventional example of an acoustic tube based on the same idea as that of the acoustic tube described in the patent document 2. In FIG. 2, on the circumferential wall of an elongated, cylindrical acoustic tube 1 made of metal, a plurality of slits 2 constituting an acoustic resistance part in the direction parallel to the center axis line of the acoustic tube are formed in such a manner as to be arranged aligned in the direction of the center axis line, penetrating through the circumferential wall of the acoustic tube 1. There is a case where only one row of the slits 2 is formed or a case where two or more rows, for example, two rows in total are formed, each row being formed on the respective positions of the circumferential wall in opposition to each other. An acoustic resistance material 3 is bonded to the inner circumferential surface of the acoustic tube 1. The acoustic resistance material 3 is made of, for example, resin mesh and by bonding, for example, by using a double-sided adhesive tape, is bonded to the inner circumferential surface of the acoustic tube 1. The right-hand side of the acoustic tube 1 in FIG. 2 is the proximal end and the left-hand side is the front end and to the proximal end portion, a microphone unit, not shown, is attached. The front end side is fitted with a front damper 4 and its outside is fitted with a grill mesh 5 and its further outside is fitted with a grill 6.
[Patent document 1] Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-Open No. Hei 6-48294
[Patent document 2] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-83292

Acoustic tube and directional microphone


Adjuvant compositions comprising an effective amount IL-12 and QS-21 are disclosed. Immunogenic, vaccine and pharmaceutical compositions comprising a mixture of antigen and an adjuvant composition comprising an effective amount of IL-12 and QS-21 are also disclosed. These compositions elicit functional cell-mediated and humoral immune responses against at least one antigen. Methods of using the disclosed compositions are also disclosed.

IL-12 is a heterodimeric cytokine that is primarily produced by dendritic cells, macrophages and neutrophils and plays an essential role in the generation of type 1 immune responses and cell-mediated immunity (Brunda, J. Leukocyte Biol. 55:280-288 (1994); Scott and Trinchieri, Semin. Immunol. 9:285-291 (1997)). The results from several studies in a variety of animal models support the idea that rIL-12 has great promise as an adjuvant for prophylactic or therapeutic vaccines against infectious and metastatic diseases (Rodolfo and Colombo, Methods 19:114-120 (1999); Scott and Trinchieri, Semin. Immunol. 9:285-291 (1997)). Recently, it was reported that rIL-12 has the potential to serve as an adjuvant for natural F protein of RSV (Hancock et al. Viral Immunol. 13:57-72 (2000)). In BALB/c mice, the results suggested that rIL-12 enhanced the capacity of F protein, when adsorbed to aluminum hydroxide adjuvant (F/AIOH), to elicit T cell responses that were more balanced and not polarized towards a type 2 phenotype. However, co-formulation with rIL-12 did not completely regulate all type 2 responses elicited by F/AIOH. That is, upon challenge of mice primed with F/AIOH plus rIL-12, IL-5-dependent pulmonary eosinophilia was still observed. Furthermore, the data from recent phase I clinical trials (Atkins et al. Clin. Cancer Res. 3:409-417 (1997)) also suggest that high doses of rIL-12 may be too reactogenic for use in routine vaccination.
The ability of the highly purified saponin QS-21 (Kensil et al., J. Immunol. 146:431-437 (1991)) to improve the quality and quantity of immune responses to F protein has been reported (Hancock et al., Vaccine 13:391-400 (1995); Hancock et al., J. Virol. 70:7783-7791 (1996)). Compared to F/AIOH, vaccination of naïve mice with F/QS-21 resulted in the generation of augmented serum neutralizing titers that were associated with a shift in F protein-specific Ig production from the predominant G1 to G2a subclass. Upon challenge there was also an increase antigen dependent killer cell activity mediated by MHC class I restricted CD8+T cells and protein-specific antibody secreting cells in the lungs. Importantly, there was a significant reduction in IL-5-dependent pulmonary eosinophilia. However, clinical data has implied that QS-21 in this formulation was associated with local acute toxicity immediately after injection.

QS-21 and IL-12 as an adjuvant combination


A method includes receiving compensation information of a particular employee of a first company from a database, receiving compensation information associated with a second company from a different database, and presenting in a graphical user interface (GUI) a graphical representation comparing the compensation information of the particular employee of the first company and the compensation information associated with the second company.

The present invention relates to data processing by digital computer, and more particularly to monitoring employment compensation.
To hire and retain employees, a company, organization, or enterprise monitors the current compensation rates used by smaller and larger companies along with companies of similar size. By monitoring employee compensation supported by the current marketplace, an employer can plan budgets and determine compensation adjustments for its current employees and set potential salaries for new employees. Also, by monitoring the current compensation levels supported by the market, compensation changes can be proposed to company officials in management positions. Furthermore, by monitoring compensation, a company can track how compensation varies for particular employment positions as a function of geographic location, market sector, or other metric.


The present invention provides a single fiber bidirectional optical transmission system capable of realizing the extension of a single fiber bidirectional long distance at a moderate price.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a single fibre bidirectional optical transmission system and a single fibre bidirectional optical amplifier, and more in particular, it relates to a single fibre bidirectional optical amplifier for performing the collective amplification of a bidirectional optical signal by an optical amplifier in a single fibre bidirectional optical transmission to perform a bidirectional transmission by a single optical fibre.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a single fibre bidirectional optical transmission technology for performing a bidirectional transmission by one piece of an optical fibre, comparing to a two fibre bidirectional transmission in which two pieces of fibres perform single directional transmission, respectively, the number of optical fibres to be used is reduced one half. Hence, when the optical fibres are to be newly laid down, the lying fibres is reduced one half, and when dark fibres are used, the fibre charges are reduced one half. Consequently, it is possible to construct an economical system.
In optical communications, in order to realize a long distance transmission, an optical amplifier is used to amplify an optical signal attenuated due to a transmission path loss as it is as a light beam without performing an optic-electric (O/E) conversion and an electric-optic (E/O) conversion. The optical amplifier is characterized in that it does not depend on a bit rate and a signal format and is capable of collectively amplifying a wavelength multiplexing signal and, therefore, it is possible to realize a flexible and low cost network.
In general, as for the optical amplifier, an erbium doped fibre amplifier for entering an excited light together with a signal beam into the erbium doped fibre and amplifying the signal beam is used. This optical amplifier is manufactured in such a way as to amplify the light beam transmitting single direction, and its configuration is not so complicated. For this reason, the optical amplifier cannot be simply inserted into a single fibre bidirectional transmission path in which the optical signal is transmitted bidirectional in the single optical fibre.
Hence, though the configuration is complicated, various techniques have been proposed as the single fibre bidirectional transmission optical amplifier. For example, as shown in FIG. 17, there is a method available, in which signals 252, 262, 272 and 282 advancing up and down into different directions, respectively in single fibre bidirectional transmission paths 84 and 89 are separated by optical circulators 83, 85, 88 and 90, and are amplified separately up and down, respectively, by using conventional optical amplifiers 86 and 87, and after that, are multiplexed again by the circulators 83, 85, 88 and 90.
At this time, in the optical amplifiers 86 and 87, there is required an optical multiplexer for multiplexing the excited light and the signal beam. Further, in order to separate the signals 252, 262, 272 and 282 up and down in the single fibre bidirectional transmission paths 84 and 89, there is required an optical demultiplexer. There has been proposed a technique for commonly using the optical multiplexer and the optical demultiplexer by the optical circulator having four ports (for example, refer to patent document 1).
Further, there has been also proposed a configuration (for example, refer to patent document 2), in which the common use of the optical multiplexer and the optical demultiplexer is attempted by using a reflector when the excited light and the signal beam in the optical amplifier are multiplexed, or the configuration similar to this (for example, refer to patent document 3).
On the other hand, as for the method for amplifying the up and down optical signals without separating them, there is also available a technique, in which the erbium doped fibre is connected to a bidirectional transmission path so as to add the excited light bidirectional up and down, thereby amplifying the up and down optical signals in bidirection (for example, refer to patent document 4).
[Patent Document 1]
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 6-342950 (Pages 4 to 6, FIG. 1)
[Patent Document 2]
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-274625 (Pages 7 and 8, FIG. 1)
[Patent Document 3]
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-118313 (Pages 5 and 6, FIG. 1)
[Patent Document 4]
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 3-92827 (Page 161, lower right column, Page 162, upper left column, FIG. 6)
When an optical communication system aims specially at a metropolitan area, it places the first priority on the cost, and it is desirable to use low cost products. According to the technique in which the up and down optical signals are separated and separately amplified respectively similarly as described in the patent documents 1, 2 and 3, two sets of the optical amplifiers are required up and down among the conventional single fibre bidirectional optical amplifiers. This makes the cost expensive and the device size large, and causes a problem in that the consumption power becomes large and the like.
Further, according to this technique, by combining the separation of the up and down signals of the bidirectional transmission and the multiplexing of the signal beam with the excited light of the optical amplifier, the optical multiplexing and demultiplexing elements are commonly used. Therefore, it is necessary to newly develop an element for exclusive use of the single fibre bidirectional optical amplifier, and this causes a problem in that the cost becomes expensive.
On the other hand, as for the technique for amplifying the optical signal without separating up and down optical signal, though there is a technique disclosed in the patent document 4, it is indispensable for the optical amplifier to insert an optical isolator so that an oscillation does not build up in the interior of the optical amplifier by a reflection occurred at a connecting point of the erbium doped fibre and the transmission path and in the transmission path. Consequently, there arises a problem in that such a configuration is not possible to realize.
Further, according to the conventional single fibre bidirectional optical amplifier, a vertically symmetrical transmission path is conceived so that the up and down optical signal is equally amplified. Thus, the optical amplifier has to be installed in the center of the single fibre bidirectional transmission path, and consequently, there is a problem in that an installing condition is limited.
Further, a transmission distance goes beyond 60 km, and in the case where the transmission rate is not less than 10 Gbps per one wavelength, not only an optical amplification, but also a dispersion compensation is required. However, there is a problem in that no consideration has been given to this so far.
Hence, the object of the present invention is to solve the above-described problems and to provide a single fibre bidirectional optical transmission system and a single fibre bidirectional optical amplifier which can attempt the extension of a single fibre bidirectional long distance at a moderate price.

Single fibre bidirectional optical transmission system and single fibre bidirectional optical amplifier

Abstract: An optical signal outputted from a second optical transmitter is incident on an optical amplifying portion passing through an optical circulator, a single fiber bidirectional transmission path, an optical circulator and an optical Blue/Red filter. The optical signal outputted from a first optical transmitter is incident on the optical amplifying portion passing through a dispersion compensator and the optical Blue/Red filter. By inserting the dispersion compensator immediately after the first optical transmitter, a difference between a power level by which the optical signal from the first transmitter is inputted to the optical amplifier and the power level by which the optical signal from the second optical transmitter is inputted to the optical amplifier is made small, so that, even when the optical amplifier is installed at one end of the transmission path, both of the bidirectional signals can obtain sufficient gains, thereby realizing a bidirectional collective amplification.


Spray assemblies for use in coating a regular or irregular internal surface of a cylinder, and methods for coating the inside of a cylinder are disclosed. The spray assemblies may include: a spray head comprising a nozzle for spraying a coating material on an internal surface of a cylinder; a support wand coupled to the spray head; and a roller sleeve rotatably connected to the support wand and configured to contact the internal surface of the cylinder and to rotate radially as the cylinder is rotated. The spray assemblies may be used to provide a consistent and repeatable coating thickness, regardless of cylinder internal diameter. In some embodiments, the spray assemblies may be used to coat the internal surface of a stator tube.

Coating of an interior surface of a cylinder, such as a pipe or tube, may be accomplished, for example, by pouring a coating composition and rotating the cylinder. However, the resulting coating may have a significant variance in the thickness of the resulting thin film of the coating composition.
Spray coating the interior of a cylinder may be accomplished by an air atomizing or airless spray nozzle mounted on a lance that is reciprocated into and out of the cylinder while the cylinder is rotated. Various issues associated with spray coating may include uneven film thickness, helical streaks or runs along the cylinder wall, such as may be due to a low viscosity for the coating material), and slumping, as may result when the coating solution is too thick. Overspray and the maintenance issues associated with overspray should also be considered with respect to costs and maintenance.
Spray coating may be performed, for instance, using a bore centralizer to control or maintain the position of the spray nozzle or the lance at the center of the cylinder. For example, a spray nozzle may be provided with multiple spring-loaded legs to maintain the nozzle in the center of the cylinder. The length of the legs may be such that the centralizer may be used for cylinders having different internal diameters.
Use of a bore centralizer may be potentially satisfactory for a single cylinder internal diameter. However, such may not be suitable for use with different diameters, as significant issues may be encountered with respect to volume of delivery, atomization/dispersion of the coating material, differences in overspray turbulence, and control of the overlap of the resulting spray per cylinder rotation, among other challenges that may result due to differences in the distance between the internal surface of the cylinder and the spray nozzle. Control issues may also be exacerbated by a cylinder having an irregular internal surface, including maintenance of the spray nozzle in the center of the bore.

Spray system for application of adhesive to a stator tube


Polarizing glass articles and methods of manufacturing polarizing glass articles are disclosed. The method involves forming a polarizing layer on the surface of the glass article by ion-exchanging silver or copper into the surface.

Several methods are known for making polarizing glasses. For example, it has been demonstrated that polarizing glasses can be produced from silver halide-containing glasses by a redraw process as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,540,793 (Araujo et al.), or by subjecting stretched glass to a reducing gas atmosphere as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,304,584 and 4,479,819 (Borrelli et al.). In the redraw process, glass containing a separable phase is stretched or redrawn above its softening temperature, during which process, the separable phase is elongated. The thermal treatment which leads to the phase separation is carried out before the redraw process. In one version of the above process, the separated phase is initially spectrally non-absorbing material such as AgClBr, CuClBr or copper/cadmium halides, which must be subsequently modified to create a desired dichroic property necessary for the polarizing effect. This is accomplished by treating the stretched glass in a reducing gas (e.g., hydrogen) environment at elevated temperatures for sufficient time to effect the chemical reduction of the spectrally non-absorbing materials to their corresponding metals. The chemical reduction process is a combined process involving both the diffusion of hydrogen in the glass and the chemical reaction of the hydrogen with the halide phase. The polarizing behavior derives from the reduced layer. Also, when the polarizing glass is heated to the vicinity of 500° C. for any prolonged period of time, the elongated particles respheroidize and the polarizing property is lost. That is, the elongated particle returns to its spherical shape. This is explained by the fact that once the glass is soft enough, the interfacial forces act to undo what the redrawing forces had accomplished.
Hydrogen firing at elevated temperatures to change the color of glasses whose compositions contain reducible ions is also well known. A notable commercial application of that technique is found in the Corning incorporated eyewear product lines marketed under the SERENGETI® and CPF® trademarks. The color changes induced are attributed to the reduction of a portion of the silver halide in the glass to form quasi-spherical silver particles. The chemical reaction proceeds very fast relative to the hydrogen diffusion which leads to the condition of a sharp boundary between the reduced region near the surface, and the unreduced region below the surface.
In addition to silver halide-containing glasses, it has also been shown that copper and cadmium halide photochromic glasses disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,325,299 can also be rendered polarizing in the darkened state when thermally softened and stretched, or otherwise elongated. This action elongates the halide crystals and is described in detail in U.S. Pat. No. 3,954,485 (Seward III, et al.). U.S. Pat. No. 5,517,356 (Araujo et al.) discloses a glass polarizer having a precipitated crystal phase selected from cuprous, cadmium and mixed cuprous-cadmium halide.
For certain applications, particularly telecommunications applications, one disadvantage of manufacturing polarizing glass elements by the methods referenced above is that phase-separated silver halide phase remains in the central layer of the glass element after the outer layer has been reduced to elemental silver. This phase-separated silver halide phase contributes to scattering of light and decreased transmission through the polarizing element. It would be desirable to provide methods capable of producing polarizing glass elements that reduce or eliminate the presence of a phase-separated phase in the central layer of the glass. Thus, there continues to be a need for new and improved methods of forming polarizing glass elements.