A nuclear magnetic resonance apparatus including: a cup-shaped high-temperature superconductor 20 having a hollow cylindrical shape or portion cooled to not more than a superconducting transition temperature in a vacuum insulating container 22; and a detection coil 12 for detecting an NMR signal of a material 11 to be measured inserted into the hollow cylindrical portion 20a of the high-temperature superconductor. The high-temperature superconductor is magnetized in an axial direction, a static magnetic field is thereby generated in the hollow cylindrical portion in a cylinder axial direction, and the NMR signal of a material is detected by the detection coil and the existing spectrometer. A strong static magnetic field comparable to a conventional superconducting magnet is formed without using a refrigerant (liquid helium) essential for operating the conventional superconducting magnet, and a strength distribution of the static magnetic field is homogeneous.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a nuclear magnetic resonance apparatus which uses a nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) signal and which can be utilized in a medical field, and in analyzing a component and structure of an industrial material, agricultural produce, and the like. The present invention particularly relates to a nuclear magnetic resonance apparatus for generating a strong static magnetic field which is comparable to a conventional superconducting magnet in a homogeneity aria without using liquid helium.
2. Description of Related Art
A nuclear magnetic resonance is a phenomenon in a magnetic system including a magnetic moment and angular momentum, and is a resonance phenomenon in a frequency (Larmor frequency) inherent in the magnetic system. For example, as shown in FIG. 1, a static magnetic field H0 made by a magnet is applied to a sample, and a radio frequency magnetic field H1 is further applied to the sample from a direction vertical to the static magnetic field via a transmission coil. At present, a pulse nuclear magnetic resonance(NMR) apparatus is a mainstream, in which a very short (3 to 6 xcexcs) and strong high-frequency pulse is applied to the sample, and all signals spreading in a chemical shift are simultaneously resonated and simultaneously observed.
Moreover, in order to obtain a image, a magnetic field whose strength differs with a position called a gradient magnetic field is superimposed onto the static magnetic field, and a position is identified by shifting a resonance frequency for each position. An image method of exciting (selectively exciting) a predetermined section only by a necessary thickness with a high frequency, subsequently applying the gradient magnetic field in two directions in the section, and obtaining the sectional image by a two-dimensional Fourier method is generally used.
The aforementioned nuclear magnetic resonance apparatus (hereinafter referred to as an NMR apparatus) utilizing the aforementioned nuclear magnetic resonance phenomenon is basically constituted of a magnet for forming the static magnetic field, a coil for generating another high-frequency pulse and detecting an NMR signal, a receiver for receiving the NMR signal, and the like. Data useful in analyzing a structure of an organic compound, such as a chemical shift amount of each atom and spin-spin coupling constant can be obtained by the NMR apparatus.
Moreover, a magnetic resonance imaging apparatus (hereinafter referred to as an MRI apparatus) utilizing the nuclear magnetic resonance phenomenon is constituted of: at least a magnet as static magnetic field generation means; a gradient magnetic field for applying space information to the signal; a high-frequency irradiation system; an NMR signal detection system; a probe coil which surrounds a test object such as a human body and actually performs high-frequency irradiation and signal detection; and a controller for controlling these components and processing the obtained signal. A space distribution of a nuclide which generates the signal is visualized by the nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) signal obtained by irradiating the test object disposed in the presence of the static magnetic field with the high frequency. Since the MRI apparatus does not use a X-ray, the apparatus is safe not only for the human body subjected to a measuring operation but also for an object to be measured including the human body, a sufficient resolution is obtained, and a practical value is remarkably high.
As the static magnetic field generating magnet constituting the nuclear magnetic resonance apparatus, a resistive magnet of 0.5 to 2.2 T, and a superconducting magnet of 0.5 to 18.8 T have heretofore been used, and a permanent magnet is also used in some case. The static magnetic field generating magnet of the nuclear magnetic resonance apparatus has an enhanced sensitivity for a ferromagnetic field, and enables analysis of a large amount of detailed information. Therefore, the superconducting magnet using a superconducting material is superior in the strength, stability and uniformity of the magnetic field.
Therefore, in the recent nuclear magnetic resonance apparatus, the superconducting magnet using a superconducting coil formed of a metal-based superconducting wire material such as niobium and titanium is used to form a main magnetic field (static magnetic field). However, when the superconducting coil is utilized, liquid helium is used to cool the coil at an extremely low temperature. This raises a problem that a large amount of expensive liquid helium is required and running cost is high.
Moreover, the metal-based superconducting wire material such as niobium and titanium is produced by a complicated manufacturing process and thermal treatment. Therefore, the superconducting coil is much more expensive than a usual electromagnet coil formed of a copper wire, and the apparatus main body becomes extremely expensive. Additionally, a refrigerant (liquid helium and liquid nitrogen) utility for operating the superconducting magnet requires a special technique, and is technically complicated and intricate. Therefore, it is difficult to say that the utilization is a simple technique. These big problems hinder a high-performance nuclear magnetic resonance apparatus from spreading.
Furthermore, since the superconducting magnet requires a large cooling structure, and a leak magnetic field is also huge, an exclusive room for installing the magnet is necessary. This remarkably limits an apparatus installation condition, and also limits an apparatus utilization field.
On the other hand, an example of a small and simple nuclear magnetic resonance apparatus is proposed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 135823/1997, in which a direct cooling type superconducting magnet is used instead of the conventional helium cooling type superconducting magnet. This nuclear magnetic resonance apparatus is more convenient than the apparatus using the conventional helium cooling type superconducting magnet, but the superconducting coil formed of the superconducting wire material is used to form the main magnetic field. Since the superconducting wire material is extremely expensive, the whole apparatus becomes expensive. Moreover, since a refrigerator is used to cool the superconducting coil in a vacuum container, a coil portion becomes large-sized. In this case, the advantage that the apparatus is small-sized and convenient cannot sufficiently be utilized. Furthermore, since a heat capacity of the superconducting coil is large, a time necessary for cooling the coil at a predetermined temperature with the refrigerator is long. There is also a problem that a time from the start of cooling until the start of measurement is long.
To solve the aforementioned conventional problem, the present applicant of the present invention has developed and filed a prior application for the nuclear magnetic resonance apparatus in which a high-temperature superconductor is used (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 248810/1999). In this apparatus, a superconducting current flows through the high-temperature superconductor which is cooled in a vacuum insulating container and to which the magnetic field is applied. Then, the superconductor captures the magnetic field to constitute a magnetic field supply member, the magnetic field is used as the main magnetic field, and the NMR signal of a material to be measured disposed in the magnetic field is detected by a detection coil and spectrometer disposed adjacent to the material to be measured.
In the nuclear magnetic resonance apparatus, the superconducting current flows through the high-temperature superconductor, the magnetic field is captured, and the magnetic field supply member is constituted. Therefore, a strong static magnetic field comparable to the conventional superconducting magnet can be formed without using the expensive liquid helium.
However, as shown in FIG. 2, a magnetic field distribution generated in the conventional high-temperature superconductor forms a mountain-shaped distribution whose center is high in strength. This raises a problem that a uniform magnetic field cannot be applied to the material (sample) to be measured. Moreover, for example, when another permanent magnet, electromagnetic soft iron, or the like is disposed in a position apart from the high-temperature superconductor in order to uniform the magnetic field, a uniform magnetic field area can be formed. However, there is a problem that the magnetic field strength is remarkably lowered.
The present invention has been developed to solve the problem. That is, an object of the present invention is to provide a nuclear magnetic resonance apparatus which can form a strong static magnetic field comparable to a conventional superconducting magnet without using a refrigerant (liquid helium) essential for operating the conventional superconducting magnet, and which can make homogeneity aria of the static magnetic field.
According to the present invention, there is provided a nuclear magnetic resonance apparatus comprising: a cup-shaped high-temperature superconductor (20) having a hollow cylindrical shape or a hollow cylindrical portion cooled at a temperature not more than a superconducting transition temperature in a vacuum insulating container (22); and a detection coil (12) for detecting an NMR signal of a material (11) to be measured inserted into the hollow cylindrical portion (20a) of the high-temperature superconductor. The high-temperature superconductor is magnetized in an axial direction, a static magnetic field is thereby generated in the hollow cylindrical portion in a cylinder axial direction, and the NMR signal of the material to be measured disposed in the magnetic field is detected by the detection coil and a spectrometer.
According to the constitution of the present invention, when a hole is made in a center of a bulk magnet calcined in a cylindrical shape in the axial direction, a uniform magnetic field distribution can be obtained inside the hole.
That is, when the center of the bulk magnet calcined in the cylindrical shape is holed in the axial direction, the high-temperature superconductor (20) having the hollow cylindrical shape can be formed. A superconducting current is generated centering on an axial center of the high-temperature superconductor to magnetize the high-temperature superconductor, so that the high-temperature superconductor can function similarly as the conventional superconducting coil. Therefore, a substantially uniform magnetic field distribution can be obtained in a state equivalent to a state in which the coil is wound.
Therefore, the strong static magnetic field comparable to the conventional superconducting magnet can be formed without using the refrigerant (liquid helium) essential for operating the conventional superconducting magnet, and the strength distribution of the static magnetic field can be homogeneous.
According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a plurality of high-temperature superconductors (20) are coaxially disposed opposite to each other in the axial direction, or at a gap therebetween.
According to the constitution, when the static magnetic field formed by the plurality of high-temperature superconductors (20) is multilayered, the strong static magnetic field can be formed in a broader area.
Moreover, the detection coil (12) is preferably disposed in the vacuum insulating container (22). In the constitution, the detection coil (12) is thermally shut off from the outside in the vacuum insulating container and cooled in the same temperature range as that of the high-temperature superconductor under insulation. The detection coil (12) reduces a thermal noise, and improves electric conductivity, and sensitivity is enhanced.
Furthermore, the high-temperature superconductor (20) is an oxide superconductor whose main component is represented by RExe2x80x94Baxe2x80x94Cuxe2x80x94O. The superconductor contains 0 to 50% of at least one of silver, platinum and cerium, and RE is synthesized by at least one of yttrium (element symbol: Y), samarium (Sm), lanthanum (La), neodymium (Nd), europium (Eu), gadolinium (Gd), erbium (Er), ytterbium (Yb), dysprosium (Dy), and holmium (Ho). Moreover, a structure is included in which a superconducting phase having a superconducting transition temperature of 90 K to 96 K in terms of an absolute temperature and an allotrope insulating phase disposed inside the superconducting phase are dispersed with a particle size of 50 xcexcm or less, preferably 10 xcexcm or less.
The yttrium-based, neodymium-based, samarium-based, and other high-temperature superconductors having the superconducting transition temperature Tc of 90 Kelvin (K) or more in terms of the absolute temperature are synthesized in a so-called melting method of heating and melting the materials once at a temperature higher than a melting point, and coagulating the materials again. Then, a molded material with a rough and large grown crystal is obtained, and this is called the superconducting bulk. A structure in which the insulating phase is finely dispersed is obtained in a superconducting parent phase, a pinned point attributed to the presence of the dispersed phase captures a magnetic flux, and the superconducting bulk serves as a pseudo permanent magnet.
The superconducting bulk synthesized by the melting method has the superconducting transition temperature of 90K to 96K in terms of the absolute temperature, and includes a structure in which a large crystal formed of the superconducting phase with a size of 1 mm to 100 mm, and the allotrope insulating phase disposed inside the large crystal are dispersed with a particle size of 50 xcexcm or less (preferably 10 xcexcm or less).
When the allotrope insulating phase dispersed in the structure is 50 xcexcm or less during synthesis of the high-temperature superconductor, a satisfactory magnetic field capture property appears, a 0.5 T class magnetic field is generated, and the high-temperature superconductor can be used in the present invention. In a certain system to which platinum and cerium are added, the insulating phase can be controlled to be 10 xcexcm or less. In this case, the magnetic field having an extremely excellent property of 1 T class or a higher class or several T can be captured, and the present invention can highly be utilized. Moreover, in a system to which 0 to 50% of silver is added, a crack easily introduced in a synthesis stage or a use stage is prevented from being generated or propagated, and a large-sized high-temperature superconductor can advantageously and soundly be synthesized and used.
When the high-temperature superconductor is used, a superconducting state can be realized at the absolute temperature of 90K or more which exceeds a boiling point of 77K of liquid nitrogen. Additionally, when the high-temperature superconductor is cooled at a lower temperature, the strong static magnetic field comparable to the conventional superconducting magnet can be formed.
The magnetic field of the high-temperature superconductor can be magnetized by the static magnetic field. When the strong static magnetic field is generated by the conventional metal-based superconducting coil, and the magnetic field is captured by the high-temperature superconductor, the high-temperature superconductor can be magnetized by the strong static magnetic field able to be generated by the metal-based superconducting coil.
Moreover, the high-temperature superconductor may also be magnetized by a pulse magnetic field. When a large magnetic field is momentarily generated in the coil to magnetize the high-temperature superconductor, the high-temperature superconductor can more easily be magnetized.
Furthermore, it is preferable to cool the high-temperature superconductor at a temperature not more than the superconducting transition temperature in a refrigerant, by a cooling portion of a refrigerator, or by the refrigerant cooled by the refrigerator. As the refrigerator, a pulse tube refrigerator, GM cycle refrigerator, Solvay cycle refrigerator, Stirling cycle refrigerator, and Peltier refrigerator are preferably used alone or as a combination of two or more thereof.
As the refrigerant, a gas, liquid, or solid (excluding helium) of nitrogen, oxygen, argon, helium, neon, hydrogen, or the like can be used. This can easily cool the high-temperature superconductor at a temperature which is not more than the superconducting transition temperature (e.g., about 90K).
In a structure for cooling the high-temperature superconductor, copper or another metal, or an alumina single crystal or another heat transfer material directly contacts and cools the high-temperature superconductor, and the metal or the heat transfer material is cooled by the refrigerants such as liquid nitrogen or the aforementioned various refrigerators.
In another structure, the high-temperature superconductor is cooled by the liquid, gas or solid refrigerant such as liquid nitrogen, liquid helium, and solid nitrogen gas which is cooled by the refrigerator. In this case, since the superconductor is separated from the refrigerator, a mechanical influence of the refrigerator can be cut off, and measurement precision can be enhanced.
Other objects and advantageous characteristics of the present invention will be apparent from the following description with reference to the accompanying drawings.


A radio-frequency antenna for acquisition of a magnetic resonance signal has two electrodes that are connected with one another via a discrete tuning device. The first radio-frequency antenna) is tuned to a resonance frequency by the tuning device. The tuning device has a first tuning element influencing the resonance frequency of the radio-frequency antenna and a second tuning element influencing the resonance frequency of the first radio-frequency antenna. The tuning elements are connected in series and fashioned as inductors. The radio-frequency antenna also has two tap points at which an acquisition signal representative of the acquired magnetic resonance signal is tapped and conducted away via feed lines. The tap points are respectively arranged between the electrodes and the tuning element and one of said tap points is between the first and second tuning elements.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention concerns a radio-frequency antenna arrangement for acquisition of a magnetic resonance signal.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Magnetic resonance signals are very weak signals. A good signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) is therefore of decisive importance for a qualitatively high-grade evaluation of the magnetic resonance signals acquired by a radio-frequency antenna in a magnetic resonance system. In the prior art significant efforts are made in order to optimize the SNR.
Radio-frequency antennas for magnetic resonance signals are always fashioned in the prior art as antennas that acquire the magnetic component of the electromagnetic signals that arise due to magnetic resonance. They are tuned to a resonance frequency by capacitors. The resonance frequency corresponds in the ideal case to the Larmor frequency of the magnetic resonance system. The radio-frequency antennas are fashioned, for example, as a single winding or as a group of windings, as a saddle coil, as a birdcage resonator, etc. In magnetic resonance systems with a basic magnetic field up to approximately 1.5 T, good SNR can be achieved for most purposes with such radio-frequency antennas. In practice the actual achieved SNR lies relatively close to the theoretically possible SNR.
More recently, magnetic resonance systems have been developed with higher basic magnetic fields, for example with basic magnetic fields of 3 T, 5T or even more. In these magnetic resonance systems it has surprisingly occurred that the SNR achieved in practice always lags further behind the theoretical optimum. The SNR therefore must be improved in order to enable a qualitatively high-grade evaluation of the magnetic resonance signal.
A dipole antenna that is divided into two dipole halves is known from WO 03/044892 A1. The dipole halves are connected with one another by an inductor. A signal acquired from the dipole antenna is tapped via the inductor.
A radio-frequency antenna arrangement for acquisition of a magnetic resonance signal is known from EP 1 624 314 A1. The radio-frequency antenna has two electrodes that are connected with one another by a discrete tuning device. The radio-frequency antenna is tuned to a resonance frequency by the tuning device. The tuning device has a tuning element that influences the resonance frequency of the radio-frequency antenna, this tuning element functioning as an inductor. The radio-frequency antenna furthermore has two tap points at which an acquisition signal representative of the acquired magnetic resonance signal is tapped and conducted away via feed lines. One of the tap points is arranged between each of the electrodes and the tuning element.

Radio-frequency antenna arrangement for acquisition of a magnetic resonance signal


A circuit board includes a board having a hole formed therein, and an imager that is bonded to a first region including at least a portion of the hole in a front surface of the board.

The present technology relates to a circuit board which mounts an imager, and more particularly, to a circuit board which has a compact structure without blocking a light receiving surface of the imager and is capable of efficiently regulating a temperature of the imager.
From the past, dark current noise is a target to be suppressed for an imager which detects very weak signals. The dark current noise arises because of electric charges generated by heat. Therefore, it is contemplated that the temperature of the imager is regulated constantly as one of measures to suppress the dark current noise. Moreover, in a case of evaluating characteristics of the imager, evaluation conditions need to be constant. Even in this point, it is desirable that the temperature of the imager be regulated constantly.
Thus, it is important to regulate the temperature of the imager constantly and as techniques according to the related art for regulating the temperature of the imager constantly, the following three techniques are well-known.
A first technique is a technique for constantly regulating the temperature of the imager indirectly (hereinafter, referred to as an indirect temperature regulation technique) by bringing a temperature regulation member such as a heat sink and a Peltier element into contact with a circuit board to which the imager is mounted (see, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 6-233311). A second technique is a technique for constantly regulating the temperature of the imager (hereinafter, referred to as a thermostatic bath temperature regulation technique) by installing an entire circuit board to which the imager is mounted in a thermostatic bath. A third technique is a technique for constantly regulating the temperature of the imager (hereinafter, referred to as an air supply temperature regulation technique) by supplying air to the entire circuit board to which the imager is mounted.


A fuel tank includes a tank body having an outer wall formed of a synthetic resin layer having a multilayer structure. The tank body has at least an inner body layer (an inner adhesive layer and an inner base layer) and an outer body layer (a skin layer, an outer base layer, and an outer adhesive layer) between which a barrier layer is interposed. A structure having an air layer therein is attached to the outer side of the skin layer of the outer body layer.

For example, Japanese Patent No. 5333116 discloses a fuel tank including a tank body formed of resin material in a substantially box-like shape, upper and lower thermal insulators disposed so as to entirely surround the periphery of the tank body, base members fixed to fixing holes formed in the upper and lower thermal insulators, and anchor members connecting the upper and lower thermal insulators.
In this case, the anchor members each have a pair of insertion pins. By inserting the pair of insertion pins into insertion holes of the base members, the upper and lower thermal insulators are connected.
In the fuel tank structure disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 5333116, attaching the divided upper and lower thermal insulators to the tank body requires a plurality of members, such as a plurality of base members fixed to the thermal insulators, and anchor members having insertion pins inserted into insertion holes of the base members.
For this reason, manufacturing the fuel tank disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 5333116 requires, for example, the step of inserting and fixing the base members into the fixing holes of the upper and lower thermal insulators, and the step of inserting the insertion pins of the anchor members into the insertion holes of the base members. This makes the manufacturing process cumbersome.


A laser pointer may include a laser light emitter that emits a laser beam, a housing accommodating the laser light emitter; a vibration detection sensor that detects a vibration produced in the housing, a shake correction mechanism that changes a direction of the laser beam emitted by the laser light emitter, and a controller that controls the direction of the laser beam, which is changed by the shake correction mechanism, into a direction so as to offset the vibration detected by the vibration detection sensor. The controller may be configured to calculate a frequency of the vibration; calculate a movement amount of the vibration; determine whether a vibration applied to the housing is caused by a hand-shake based on the frequency of the vibration and the movement amount of the vibration; and activate the shake correction mechanism in response to a determination that the vibration is caused by a hand-shake.

At least an embodiment of the present invention relates to a laser pointer with a shake correction mechanism having a function of suppressing a vibration caused by a hand-shake on a laser beam emitted by a laser light emitter, and a vibration suppressing and controlling method for suppressing and controlling a vibration.
A related art laser pointer with a shake correction mechanism is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 7-27999. The laser pointer includes a light direction changing portion that receives light from a laser light emitting portion and emits after changing an optical axis in a Z axis direction into an X axis direction and a Y axis direction. The rotational angular velocity dθx in the X axis direction and dθy in the Y axis direction are detected by a rate sensor. Then, the rotational angular velocities dθx and dθy are integrated by using an integrator, and rotational angle signals θx in the X axis direction and θy in the Y axis direction are output. A motion of which frequency of a vibration of the laser pointer is relatively high is an unintentional vibration, and a motion of which frequency of the vibration is significantly low is an intentional point change. Therefore, a controller inputs rotation angle signals θx and θy of which low-frequency components are cut by using a high-pass filter, and a direction of light is changed by an angle of −θx in the X axis direction and an angle of −θy in the Y axis direction.
Another related art laser pointer is disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2011-221341. This laser pointer includes: an actuator as a vibration suppressing mechanism that corrects blur by moving a light source or at least a part of a projection optical system with respect to a housing; and a controller that controls movement of the actuator based on a signal output from an angle sensor. The controller includes a filter portion through which only signals of specified frequency bands among signals output from an angular velocity sensor are passed. The filter portion removes, among the signals output from the angular velocity sensor, signals of a specific frequency component with determination that a person who supports the laser pointer is intentionally moving the laser pointer relatively slowly, and the filter portion causes a hand-shake correction not to activate.
In any of the related art laser pointers disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 7-27999 and Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2011-221341, among the vibrations applied to the laser pointer, a vibration of a specific frequency of the vibration is determined as a vibration caused by an intentional change in a pointing point of the laser pointer, and the vibration of this specific frequency of the vibration is removed by using a filter to perform a hand-shake correction. However, not all the vibrations of a specific frequency of the vibration are caused by an intentional change in a pointing point of the laser pointer, and a hand-shake correction in the related-art laser pointer cannot sufficiently remove vibrations caused by a hand-shake.

Laser pointer with shake correction mechanism and method for suppressing and controlling vibration


An aluminum alloy for pistons and a method of manufacturing pistons making use of said alloy, enabling casting without sacrificing the ease of casting, and restricting deformation and melting at high temperatures, and fatigue and wear caused by high speed sliding movement. The aluminum alloy contains Si+SiC in an amount in the range of 8% to 20% by weight, and SiC in an amount of 2% or more by weight. An ingot containing the aluminum alloy is melted, sprayed in the state of mist, rapidly cooled and solidified into rapidly cooled powder. The rapidly cooled powder is heated and solidified into a blank from which the piston is forged, heat-treated, and machined.

This invention relates to a piston particularly utilized in an internal combustion engine and more particularly to an improved alloy for such pistons and method for manufacturing them.
As is well known, the piston for an internal combustion engine has a number of rigid and yet diverse requirements. That is, the piston should be light in weight and yet also high in strength. The sliding surfaces of the piston should provide low friction and be able to withstand high compressive forces. Furthermore, different areas of the piston have quite different conditions which they must withstand. For example, the head of the piston must be capable of withstanding high temperatures as occur during combustion and also the coefficient of thermal expansion should be controlled so as to minimize the differences in dimensional clearances between the piston and the cylinder bore during temperature changes as occur in engine operation.
Conventionally, aluminum has been utilized as the basic material for pistons in engines. In order to improve the characteristics of the piston, frequently silicon (Si) is employed as an alloying element. By adding silicon, the ability to cast the piston can be improved since the melting point is lowered and the flow of molten material is facilitated. Also, the silicon resists deformation at high temperatures by lowering the coefficient of thermal expansion. In addition, resistance against wear and fatigue under high speed sliding action is improved.
Certain of these characteristics such as the lowering of the thermal expansion and the improved resistance against wear are somewhat proportional to the amount of silicon used in the alloy. Thus, the output of the engine and thermal load on the piston the greater amount of silicon is added.
However, silicon has a considerably lower thermal conductivity than aluminum. Thus, aluminum alloys having large amounts of silicon have low thermal conductivity. Therefore, heat dissipation is deteriorated and thus, overheating particularly in the head area results. In fact, the degree of overheating may be such that actual melting of the piston head may occur.
It is, therefore, a principal object of this invention to provide an aluminum alloy for use in forming pistons that will provide improved strength and heat dissipation performance.
It is a further object of this invention to provide an aluminum alloy for use in forming pistons that will increase thermal conductivity without increasing the coefficient of thermal expansion and to improve resistance against wear and fatigue strength, particularly under conditions of high temperature and high speed.
In conjunction with the formation of the piston from the material, it is also important to ensure that the properties of the material and way in which the piston is formed is such that cracks cannot develop during the formation process. The use of silicon and silicon and certain other alloying materials can give rise to problems in connection with forming the piston which can result in defects being created in the actual forming process.
It is, therefore, a still further object of this invention to provide an improved method for forming a piston.

Aluminum alloy for piston and method for producing piston


A fire extinguisher including a spring biased plunger controlled by a trigger mechanism wherein the plunger is mounted in a flame retardant compound container and the spring and plunger cooperate, when the trigger mechanism is activated, to discharge flame retardant compound from the container toward a fire. The extinguisher has a handle end and an outlet end at opposite ends of its length such that a user can hold the outlet end in a remote location away from the user when compound is discharged. The extinguisher can also be mounted and provided with a heat sensor for automatic activation.

The present invention relates to fire extinguishers generally and more particularly to a simple spring loaded tubular fire extinguisher which can be either hand held and manually operated or equipped with a heat sensitive fuse link and mounted for automatic operation.
There are many different hand held fire extinguisher systems which can be used to manually extinguish a fire. Most manual extinguishers include either a dry or wet flame retardant chemical compound placed under pressure within a cylindrical canister which includes an opening in a bottom end, a siphon tube connected at one end to the opening and at an opposite end to a valve sealed outlet, an activation device for opening and closing the valve and a nozzle or a nozzle at the end of a hose which can be used to direct the compound toward a flame to extinguish the flame.
In operation, to extinguish a fire, a user directs the nozzle end of the hose toward the base of the fire and triggers the activation device to open the valve. Where the extinguisher includes a hose, the compound is forced therethrough and out the nozzle end to extinguish the fire. Usually, because the compound must travel through the hose prior to being discharged, hose length is limited so that activation time is reduced, pressure required to force the compound through the hose is minimal and minimal compound is wasted within the hose.
These types of extinguishers only work if pressure inside the canister is maintained at a high level. To ensure that pressure is sufficient, most of these types of extinguishers include, in addition to the hardware identified above, a pressure gauge fitted on the valve to visually indicate canister pressure. When canister pressure drops below a threshold level the canister must be recharged prior to use.
While these types of extinguishers are relatively inexpensive, unfortunately, they have a number of shortcomings. For example, while these extinguishers can put out relatively small fires efficiently, they are typically not suitable for extinguishing larger fires. These extinguishers require a user to be located relatively close to a fire in order to extinguish the fire. While a user can get close to a small fire without suffering heat related effects, large fires generate dangerous levels of heat which can scorch a person even though actual contact with the fire is avoided. It is particularly dangerous when an extinguisher is not equipped with an extension hose connected to the nozzle as a user must hold the nozzle adjacent a fire during extinguishment. Even when a hose is provided, as indicated above, to minimize activation time, reduce required canister pressure and minimize wasted compound, most extinguisher hoses are relatively short which means a user has to be near the fire during extinguishment.
Another problem with these types of extinguishers is that required components are expensive. For example, the pressure gauge is expensive. Another relatively expensive component is the canister which must maintain the compound under extreme pressure for extended periods. In addition to meeting pressure requirements under normal conditions, canisters must also meet varying pressure requirements which depend on ambient temperatures which can vary from below freezing to temperatures above 100.degree. F. Moreover, because many of the extinguisher chemical compounds are corrosive, the canisters have to be formed from materials which do not deteriorate when in contact with corrosive chemicals. All of these limitations require specifically constructed canisters which, due to their special construction are relatively expensive.
The task and related expense of providing a suitable canister is even more problematic when exotic canister shapes are desired. For example, space limitations might restrict the depth of a canister even though a space can accommodate a greater relative width. In this case, a canister having an oval or rectangular cross section might be most advantageous. Unfortunately, while such shapes are possible, they are usually cost prohibitive.
In addition, canisters which have to withstand high pressure tend to be heavy. Heavy metals which maintain their shape under pressure are typically used to form the canisters. For example, to provide a canister which can maintain ten pounds of extinguisher material under pressure for an extended period, extinguisher hardware will typically weigh as much as fifteen to twenty pounds for a total loaded canister weight of between twenty-five and thirty pounds.
Another related problem is that heavy extinguishers are difficult to operate. For example, where a large fire occurs or fire exists in a relatively high location (e.g., 6 or more feet above floor level), a user must lift an extinguisher up above the user's head in order to direct retardant compound at the fire. The task of lifting a heavy extinguisher is exacerbated by the necessity that extinguisher position must be relatively controlled so that compound is delivered in intended directions.
Moreover, the task of directing the extinguisher toward a fire is made more difficult by the reality that these extinguishers have to remain upright in order to operate properly. When upright, the retardant compound is located above the canister opening and the pressure causing gas is located thereabove as desired. When the valve is opened, the gas forces the compound out the opening.
Unfortunately, when the canister is not upright, the compound therein shifts under the force of gravity and will assume the lowest possible position inside the canister. For example, if the canister is upside down so that the opening is at the top of the canister, the compound will be opposite the opening. In this case, when the valve is opened the gas, not the compound, is discharged and the extinguisher is ineffective. This is also true where the canister is oriented longitudinally.
To overcome the weight limitations associated with these extinguishers, the pressure inside these extinguishers and the nozzle design are such that compound is discharged at extremely high speeds so that it can travel several feet relatively quickly. Unfortunately, a high pressure compound can often lead to "fire blast" and spreading. "Fire blast" is a term used herein to refer to the occurrence wherein fire can be spread from its original location when combustible materials thereat are blasted from their location. For example, where an extinguisher is used to extinguish a grease fire, the impact of high speed discharged compound can cause ignited grease to be splattered all over an adjacent area which, instead of extinguishing a fire, can spread the fire to the adjacent area.
Yet another problem with these extinguishers is that they have to be routinely maintained in order to remain operable. At the very least, pressure gauges have to be checked every few months to ensure canister pressure is above the required threshold level. Where canister pressure is insufficient, the canister has to be recharged prior to use.
One other problem with these extinguishers which is related to their having to be upright to operate properly is that they malfunction in zero gravity environments. For example, in outer space, where there is no gravity, even when oriented in an upright position with the canister opening at the bottom, because there is no gravitational force on the compound, the compound tends to float inside the canister, compound and gas inside the canister mix and, when the valve is opened, the mixture is discharged instead of pure compound.
In addition to hand held fire extinguishers there are also many different types of mounted fire extinguisher systems configured to automatically extinguish a fire. For example, there are water sprinkler systems which, when heat or smoke are sensed, deliver water through plumbing to one or more areas in a building to extinguish a perceived fire. While these systems are effective, they typically are the most expensive systems available as the plumbing hardware required can be extensive, particularly in large buildings.
Another example of a mounted extinguisher is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,979,572 entitled FIRE EXTINGUISHER INSTALLATION which issued on Dec. 25, 1990 to the present inventor. That system includes a compact design wherein an extinguisher canister is secured by a two bolt bracket within a stove hood and is connected at an outlet end to a complex configuration of pipes, cables and one or more heat sensitive fuse links. The fuse links are located above the stove so that a fire on or near the stove will melt at least one link. When a link melts the cables cooperate with a trigger mechanism to open the outlet end of the canister. When opened the canister dispenses its contents (i.e. flame retardant compound) through the outlet and pipe configuration downwardly toward the stove to extinguish the fire.
This and other stove mounted systems are extremely important as a large majority of fires occur on or around a stove. By extinguishing stove fires rapidly most fire damage can be minimized and many fire related deaths and injuries can be avoided.
This system had many advantages over prior art stove top extinguishers including compact size, relatively unobtrusive appearance and ease of installation. Nevertheless, through use it has become apparent that this system has a number of shortcomings.
First, while requiring smaller and fewer components than the prior art, this system is still relatively complex and therefore expensive to manufacture. For example, this system requires at least two interconnected pipes for dispensing retardant material, several cable sections located outside the pipes and connected by fuse links, and a complex connection system for linking the canister to the pipes. In addition, the gas and electricity shut off mechanisms require many different mechanical components which are subject to breakdown.
Second, this system is still difficult to install. When installed the canister is located up and in a back portion of the hood. To install this system the bracket has to be fastened to a rear area of the hood's internal under surface. Where the hood is deep enough to facilitate installation access, to the hood's rear area is difficult. In addition, because the canister outlet must be at a specific angle and location with respect to the pipe system, the bracket must be adjustable and must be adjusted through trial and error during installation.
Third, once installed, this system may not have an appealing appearance. For example, where the internal portion of the hood is not sufficiently deep, the pipe and cable configuration might be readily observable below the front portion of the hood. In addition, the canister may be observable. This is particularly true where the hood is not deep enough to accommodate both the bracket and the canister.
Fourth, this system has some operational constraints. For example, the fuse links and cable sections are generally unprotected and could accidentally break dispensing canister material.
Fifth, after a fuse link breaks, the entire cable and fuse link assembly must be replaced in order to reset the trigger mechanism.
Sixth, part of the trigger mechanism is located outside a protective housing (e.g., pipe or other rigid housing). In this case, if the system is installed in a small area the moving trigger mechanism could be placed adjacent a hood section which might hinder triggering action thus rendering the system ineffective when the link breaks.
Seventh, these systems have many of the shortcomings that are described above in relation to the hand held extinguishers. For example, the high pressure canisters and gauges for these systems are typically expensive. In addition, the canisters are usually heavy so that mounting hardware has to be extensive and these systems have to be routinely maintained.
Thus, it would be advantageous to have a hand held extinguisher which is light weight, relatively inexpensive to manufacture, has a small size and is suitable for use in extinguishing large and small fires. In addition, it would be advantageous to have a mounted and automatic system which is also light weight, inexpensive, small and overcomes the other limitations associated with mounted systems above.


A liquid applicator is provided which is particularly useful in applying preoperative surgical scrubs or paints to skin. The article is provided with an inner layer of flexible porous material and an outer layer of open cell foam sponge material. The flexible, porous layer regulates the flow of liquid therethrough to provide acceptable wetting of the foam sponge while preventing dripping therefrom. The applicator includes a means of maintaining atmospheric pressure within the applicator while the liquid is being dispersed.

Antiseptic preparation of patients for surgery conventionally includes a 3-10 minute scrubbing of the affected area with a soap solution followed by the application of a water soluble antiseptic paint solution. These solutions are generally applied with saturated sponges that are attached to a blade or held with forceps. The sponges are saturated by soaking in open pans of solution. Numerous devices have been developed in an attempt to prevent the dripping of solution associated with the original technique. Another goal was to reduce the time required for application of the antiseptic solution.
An important problem associated with the original prior art devices developed to apply surgical prep solutions was the lack of control of the delivery of the liquid to the sponge in a manner that prevented dripping. Additional problems encountered with such devices include reliability of rupturable surfaces, manufacturing complexity and inappropriate geometries.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,415,288; 4,507,111; and 4,498,796 describe surgical scrub devices that include a liquid containing, rupturable, cylindrical cartridge which is slidable within a tubular handle having one or two longitudinally oriented hollow spikes that communicate to recesses in the interior of a sponge. Sliding the cartridge in the tubular handle causes the spikes to rupture one end of the cartridge. Liquid from the cartridge flows through the lumen of the spikes to the sponge. Liquid can flow through the spikes by gravity or by application of external pressure by deforming a flexible handle and cartridge. In order for liquid to flow by gravity from this device, air must be entrained into the cartridge through the sponge and at least one hollow spike. For the following two reasons, this is not a reliable and predictable means to control the rate of delivery of liquid to the sponge. First, as the sponge becomes wet its air permeability decreases thereby restricting the entrainment of air. Second, hollow tubes with sufficiently small inside diameters to effectively meter the liquid flow rate to prevent dripping tend to "air lock" due to the surface tension of the liquid. Although external pressure can be applied to a flexible device, in practice it is very difficult to deliver precisely the correct volume of liquid to saturate the sponge without dripping.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,342,522 describes a roll on dispenser which includes a porous open cell foam membrane deformable by an applicator ball to regulate the dispensation of controlled amounts of powders. The amount of material dispensed is dependent upon the porosity of the membrane which is dependent upon the degree of deformation of the membrane by the ball upon operation of the dispenser.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,393,963 discloses a dispenser for liquids which has particular utility in applying deodorants, perfumes, liquid lipsticks and the like. The device includes a container holding a supply of liquid, a reservoir body mounted on the outlet of the container and an applicator membrane mounted over, but spaced apart, from the reservoir member. Both the reservoir body and the membrane are made from elastic, porous, preferably foamed material. In use, the dispenser is shaken so as to cause liquid to flow into the porous reservoir member. The porous membrane is then pressed against the skin of the body, causing it to contact the upper surface of the porous reservoir body so that liquid contained therein is pressed through the porous membrane for application to the skin. The amount of liquid to be applied to the skin is regulated by pressure exerted during application of the liquid.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,183,684 describes a fluid dispenser that includes a liquid-containing ampoule in a flexible housing. A porous pad element which may include a gauze like layer and a sponge layer is disposed over the bottom opening. The liquid is released to the porous pad by crushing the ampoule through the flexible housing walls.
Coassigned U.S. Pat. No. 4,925,327, which is hereby incorporated by reference, describes a liquid applicator which incorporates a rigid, porous metering insert to regulate the flow rate of liquid into a sponge. The metering insert is disposed between the applicator handle and a foam sponge covering the major orifice of the handle. The applicator handle incorporates a vent to entrain air into the applicator as liquid flows through the metering element into the sponge. A bonding insert comprised of a thermoplastic or heat activatable material filled with an inductively active material is adapted to bond the applicator handle, metering insert and sponge together. This applicator, while an improvement over the art due to its dripless nature, employs a relatively expensive porous metering insert which is difficult to manufacture so as to provide reproduceable units.

Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company


To restrain an increase in the numbers of components and process steps and achieve an easy mounting and dismounting of a pivot shaft. An arm supporting member includes a pair of left and right plate members, a middle cross pipe extending between the plate members and a center pivot plate mounted to the middle cross pipe. A pivot shaft is supported by the plate member and the center pivot plate, and a drive shaft is arranged between the plate member and the center pivot plate. The middle cross pipe is arranged above the pivot shaft on a front portion of a vehicle. The center pivot plate is provided with an upright wall as a receiving portion for aiding the positioning of the bearing member by receiving the bearing member, more specifically, the collar when assembling the swing arm to the center pivot plate and the plate member.

A swing arm supporting structure for a motorcycle is known wherein a pivot shaft for mounting a rear arm as a swing arm to a rear portion of a vehicle frame is arranged on a side of a drive shaft for transmitting power to a rear wheel. See, for example, JP-A-2002-87364.
FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 in JP-A-2002-87364 will be described below. Reference numerals used hereinafter are the same reference numerals as set forth in JP-A-2002-87364.
FIG. 4 in JP-A-2002-87364 illustrates a state wherein rear arm brackets 7 are mounted to a pair of left and right main frames 6, 6 with a pivot shaft 10 is mounted to left and right frame portions 7e, 7f extending downwardly from upper joint portions 7c of the rear arm brackets 7. A rear arm 14 is swingably mounted to the pivot shaft 10 with a universal joint portion 42 of a drive shaft being provided for transmitting power to a rear wheel. The universal joint portion 42 is arranged in a recess 7b of the rear arm bracket 7, and the universal joint portion 42 and the pivot shaft 10 are arranged in a direction of the width of the vehicle. A foot rest bracket 70 is provided for covering a side of the recess 7b.
The pivot shaft 10 is formed with a screw portion 10a at one end thereof, a screw portion 10b at the other end thereof. The screw portion 10a is screwed into the frame portion 7e and the screw portion 10b is fixed to the frame portion 7f with a nut 11.
FIG. 3 of 0505-1448PUS1 illustrates a state in which the rear arm brackets 7 are substantially aligned one above another. The universal joint portion 42 connected to a front end of the drive shaft 43 is positioned on the side of the rear arm brackets 7, and shock absorbers 28 are mounted across upper portions of the rear arm brackets 7 with links 22 mounted to lower ends of the rear arm brackets 7.
A swing arm supporting structure for a motorcycle in the related art is known wherein a rear arm is provided for supporting a rear wheel to a rear arm bracket on a vehicle body frame side via a pivot shaft. See, for example, JP-A-2002-87364.
FIG. 4 of JP-A-2002-87364 illustrates a structure in which a pivot shaft 10 is mounted to left and right frame portions 7e, 7f provided on a rear arm bracket 7. A front end portion of a rear arm 14, that is, a cylindrical head portion 14c is supported by the pivot shaft 10.
When the rear arm 14 is mounted to the rear arm bracket 7, the head portion 14c of the rear arm 14 is inserted between the frame portions 7e, 7f of the rear arm bracket 7, and the pivot shaft 10 is inserted into a mounting hole on the frame portion 7f, a pivot shaft insertion hole 14d of the head portion 14c, and a female screw of the frame portion 7e in sequence.
In JP-A-2002-87364, the frame portion 7e of the rear arm bracket 7 is formed with a female screw for receiving the screw portion 10a of the pivot shaft 10 screwed therein. However, since the foot rest bracket 70 is adapted to be detachably attached to the rear arm bracket 7 in order to form the female screw, the foot rest bracket 70 itself and a plurality of bolts are added for mounting the foot rest bracket 70 to the rear arm bracket 7. Thus, the number of components is increased in comparison with the foot rest bracket provided integrally with the rear arm bracket. In addition, the number of process steps for forming a bolt insertion hole for passing or screwing the bolt therein and the female screw is increased.
Therefore, by employing a structure in which a simple bolt insertion hole for passing the screw portion 10a at one end of the pivot shaft 10 is formed on the frame portion 7e from the frame 7f side so that the nut is screwed into the screw portion 10a passed through the bolt insertion hole instead of forming the female screw on the frame portion 7e, the foot rest bracket 70 can be formed integrally with the rear arm bracket 7.
However, since the upper connecting portion 7c of the rear arm bracket 7 is located above the pivot shaft 10, and the shock absorber 28 is located behind the pivot shaft 10 in the vicinity of the rear arm 14 or the rear arm bracket 7. Thus, it is difficult to rotate the nut and screw in the screw portion 10a or to insert a tool for rotating and removing the nut to a position of the nut on the pivot shaft 10 side. In addition, it is further difficult to rotate the nut with the tool.

Swing arm supporting structure for motorcycles


The invention provides for a cylinder bore coating system that includes at least one cylinder bore configured to receive an axially movable piston. The at least one cylinder bore has a recessed area having an axial length and a radial depth. A first coating layer is arranged within at least the recessed area. A second coating layer covers the first coating layer and a portion of the at least one cylinder bore axially spaced from the recessed area.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a cylinder bore coating system and method of coating a cylinder bore.
2. Discussion of Background Information
A workpiece in the form of an engine block or of a crankcase of an internal combustion engine is described in EP 1 022 351 A1 which has a plurality of cylinder bores for receiving a piston movable to and from along an axial direction. The cylinder bores in the form of the piston receiving cylinders have a coating which forms a running surface for the piston, with the running surface being hollow-cylindrical in shape. The coating is applied to achieve a coefficient of friction between the piston and the cylinder which is as small as possible and additionally to achieve a very small tendency to scuffing.
In addition to the named effects of the coating, it also influences a heat exchange between the cylinder and a coolant flowing around the cylinder. The thicker the coating is, the smaller the named heat exchange typically is. The heat exchange can thus be influenced by the selection of the thickness of the coating.

Workpiece having a cut-out for receiving a piston


Systems and methods are described for determining candidates for handover of wireless devices in a wireless network. An application requirement, a mobility, and an activity factor associated with wireless devices in communication with a first access node may be used to classify wireless devices. The first access node may then receive signal information and identifiers of second access nodes from the wireless devices. The second access node identifiers may be transmitted in response to a reporting event based on a first signal level of the first access node and second signal levels of the second access nodes. A communication link between the first access node and each second access node may be used to transmit second access node network characteristics to the first access node in order to determine if the second access node is a candidate for handover of wireless devices having classification criteria.

Cell selection and cell re-selection are mechanisms by which wireless devices in a wireless network determine which cell will connect to each wireless device. Initially, a wireless device may detect a reference signal from a cell (i.e. access node). If the reference signal is above a threshold signal level, the wireless device may attempt to connect to this cell by a connection protocol in order to establish communication with the wireless network. Once wireless communication is established, this cell becomes the serving cell for the wireless device. If the serving cell reference signal drops below a threshold, or for other network reasons such as new cell integration, maintenance, or monitoring, the wireless device may be triggered to begin a process for cell re-selection.
Cell re-selection may include measurement by the wireless device of signal levels for all detected cells. The wireless device may report these measurements to the serving cell for use during the handover process. Typically, cell re-selection has been determined by relative signal levels and priority of detected access nodes. However, this process may result in attempting handovers to cells that cannot support the new wireless devices. When cells should not be re-selected for handover, it is known to "blacklist" those cells in the memory of a serving cell. It may be desirable to determine and update information regarding suitable candidates for handover of wireless devices due to the network characteristics of these cells. It may further be desirable to relate candidate cell network characteristics to wireless device classifications.

Systems and methods for determinng access node candidates for handover of wireless devices


The present invention relates to a system and methodology to facilitate collaboration and communications between entities such as between automated applications, parties to a communication and/or combinations thereof. The systems and methods of the present invention include a service that supports collaboration and communication by learning predictive models that provide forecasts of one or more aspects of a users' presence and availability. Presence forecasts include a user's current or future locations at different levels of location precision and usage of different devices or applications. Availability assessments include inferences about the cost of interrupting a user in different ways and a user's current or future access to one or more communication channels. The predictive models are constructed from data collected by considering user activity and proximity from multiple devices, in addition to analysis of the content of users' calendars, the time of day, and day of week, for example. Various applications are provided that employ the presence and availability information supplied by the models in order to facilitate collaboration and communications between entities.

Although electronic calendar systems for storing reminders and creating contacts with others about meeting times and locations provide one type of opportunity for people to collaborate, a great deal of collaboration is based on opportunistic communication arranged under uncertainty. This informal coordination between people often depends on peoples' shared understandings about current and future locations and activities of friends and associates. Even with employment of online group calendar systems, for example, people are often challenged with trying to understand how available others are for a respective collaboration such as knowing what the current status of someone they are trying to contact. However, knowing a person's current status does not necessarily facilitate future or desired collaboration between communicating parties.
In just one example, conventional e-mail systems provide an example of communications and message coordination difficulties between parties. In one possible scenario, an employee may be situated in a foreign country or remote region, wherein voice communications via telephone or other medium is not always possible. The employee may have indicated beforehand to fellow workers, supervisors and loved ones that e-mail provides the most reliable manner in which the employee will actually receive and be able to subsequently respond to a message. Although, conventional e-mail systems can indicate that a transmitted message has been received and opened by the employee, and can include a predetermined/pre-configured reply such as "On vacation for one week", or "Out of the office this afternoon"—assuming the employee remembers to configure the e-mail system, there is currently no automatically generated indication provided to the message sender when and/or how long it will be before the employee may actually respond. Thus, if a home crisis situation were to occur or an important business message needed to get through, message senders can only guess when the employee will potentially receive the message and hope that the message is received and responded to in a timely manner. Similar difficulties arise when attempting to schedule meetings with parties that are difficult to determine whether or not they can attend a meeting set for some time in the future.
As is common in everyday situations, messages are transmitted with varying degrees of urgency, importance, and priority. Often, key meetings need to be arranged at a moments notice in order to address important business or personal issues. Consequently, one or more messages are directed to one or more parties to indicate the urgency of the meeting. Also, messages are often communicated over multiple communications modalities in order to attempt to reach potential parties. For example, a business manager may send e-mails to key parties and follow the e-mail with phone calls, pages or faxes to the parties, wherein voice mails are typically left for non-answering parties. Unfortunately, the manager is often unsure whether non-responding parties have received the messages and is often unable to determine with any degree of confidence when all parties may be available to meet. Therefore, even though modern communications systems have enabled messages to be rapidly transmitted anywhere in the world over a plurality of mediums, there is a need for a system and methodology to provide improved coordination, communication, and collaboration between parties and to mitigate uncertainty associated with when and/or how long it will be before a message recipient receives a particular message.

Methods and architecture for cross-device activity monitoring, reasoning, and visualization for providing status and forecasts of a users' presence and availability


Disclosed herein is a control method of a robot including: calculating hardness information about the ground on which a wearer moves; and controlling the robot according to the calculated hardness information.

1. Field
Example embodiments relate to a robot and a control method thereof, and more particularly, to a robot, and a control method of controlling the robot stably according to a user's surrounding environment.
2. Description of the Related Art
Robots are used for various purposes, for example, in military, industrial, and medical fields. Walking assist robots have been developed to help and assist peoples having difficulty in walking in interior and exterior environments. The walking assist robots can be classified into support-type walking assist robots and wearable walking assist robots.
The support-type walking assist robot may determine a user's walking intention to assist the user with walking. The support-type walking assist robot may include a body, a handle bar mounted on the body, and a plurality of wheels provided in the lower part of the body to move the body.
The wearable walking assist robot may be used to help rehabilitation and muscle power enhancement of elderly peoples and patients having low physical strength of lower extremity. The wearable walking assist robot has an exoskeleton structure such that it can be worn on a user's lower extremity.


The present invention consists of a synergistic mixture of Si3N4, Al2O3, AlN, SiO2 and Nd2O3. The cost effective synergistic composition is useful for the preparation of dense neodymium stabilised β-Si3N4-α-SiAlON composite of the order of >98% theoretical density, having high hardness and high fracture toughness. The dense β-Si3N4-α-SiAlON composite will be useful for low temperature applications as wear parts like bearing and roller materials and particularly for grinding and milling operations like grinding balls.

It is known in the art to hot pressing green mixtures of Si3N4, AlN, Al2O3 and Nd2O3, at a temperature in the range of 1550° to 1750° C., and at a pressure of about 20 MPa (Wang et al. in Mater. Res. Soc. Symp. Proc., Vol. 287, 1993, pp. 387–392 titled "Formation and densification of R-α′ SiAlONs (R=Nd,Sm,Gd,Dy,Er,Yb)"). Shen et al. (J. Am. Ceram. Soc., Vol. 79, No. 3, 1996, pp. 721–32 titled "Homogeneity region and thermal stability of neodymium-doped α SiAlON ceramics") teach hot pressing to fabricate the material as stated above.
O'Reilly et al. (Mater. Res. Soc. Symp. Proc., Vol. 287, 1993, pp. 393–398 titled "Parameters affecting pressureless sintering of α′ SiAlONs with lanthanide modifying cations") discloses that green mixture containing similar starting materials as above were pressureless sintered but yielded only 50% α-SiAlON in the sintered product. Kall et al. (J. Eur. Ceram. Soc., Vol. 6, 1990, pp. 191–27, titled "Sialon ceramics made with mixtures of Y2O3—Nd2O3 as sintering aids") discloses that green mixtures were pressureless sintered above 1825° C. Although the high temperature firing could produce fully sintered material, the pressureless sintering at 1750° C. could only produce up to 96% of theoretical density even when α-SiAlON is completely absent.
The major drawbacks of the above noted hitherto known processes are that these involve selection of a composition that requires hot pressing for full densification, which is evidently expensive. It is also difficult to manufacture a complex-shaped material and also failed to produce high densification under pressure less sintering method.
Thus, there is a need to provide a composition for preparation of dense neodymium stabilised β-Si3N4-α-SiAlON composite, which overcome the above disadvantages.

Composition useful for preparation of dense neodymium stabilised β-silicon nitride-α-SiAlON composite

Council of Scientific and Industrial Research


A method for simultaneously constructing and displaying a dynamic preview display of a document. The method provides an accurate representation of the preview of the document and of the customized document itself. An initial preview display of the document is drawn displaying actual text as opposed to symbolic representations of text. A user then changes the characteristics of the preview display of the document and an updated preview display of the document is drawn after changing the characteristics of the preview display of the document. The update of the preview display is performed by the same drawing method used to draw the initial preview display of the document. Finally, an accurate customized document is output to an application program when there are no more desired changes to the characteristics of the preview display of the document. The output of the accurate customized document is performed by the same drawing method used to draw the initial preview display of the document and the updated preview of the document.

Computer application programs have traditionally been used to create functional and professional looking documents. However, the process to create such quality documents can be time consuming, tedious, and beyond the skill set of some computer users depending on the complexity of the document.
Many computer application programs assist the computer user by supplying pre-existing default documents that the computer user can use as a starting point in an effort to make this creative process more efficient. The computer user is then responsible for any customizing of the document beyond the default style, textual content, textual attributes, layout, and graphical attributes of the pre-existing default document.
To implement this concept, application programs typically use specialized software tools or "wizards", such as those found in Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Publisher, and Microsoft Word 6.0, to assist the computer user in making choices of what characteristics of the document are desired. For example, the computer user could choose the type of font to apply to text within a document, or the computer user could choose the style of letterhead to appear at the top of the document in order to customize the document while using the software tool. These specialized software tools also draw a preview display of the pre-existing default document with it's associated characteristics. A preview display attempts to give the computer user an idea of what the document would look like before actually creating or outputting the document to an application program. Such specialized software tools for document creation are well known in the art and is the subject matter of U.S. Pat. No. 5,301,326.
Typically, the specialized software tools or "wizards" have document preview displays that are low resolution. The computer user is forced to imagine what the created customized document will look like in detail. Accordingly, errors may be displayed in the preview display yet are unrecognizable errors to the computer user. For example, lines may be used to symbolize the content of text. A computer user would not be able to recognize textual attribute errors or other layout errors. In other cases the text may be represented by lower resolution or "greeked" text where errors still may not be recognizable by the computer user.
Furthermore, the document in the preview display may have different characteristics than the customized document created by the application program. The computer user may not be guaranteed that all of the customized characteristics of the document that were selected or entered during the construction of the document using the "wizard" will show up in the created customized document. This is because different software code is used to create the preview display and to create the customized document by the application program.
Therefore, there is a need in the art for a method of simultaneously constructing and displaying a dynamic preview of a document that provides an accurate representation of a customized document using the same drawing process to initially draw the preview display, update the preview display, and to output the customized document to the application program.

Method for simultaneously constructing and displaying a dynamic preview of a document that provides an accurate customized document


An optical fiber connection structure is provided, in which a first optical fiber and a second optical fiber, which is optically connected to the first optical fiber via a solid refractive index-matching material which is provided on a tip surface of the first optical fiber, are held and fixed between a base member and a cover member, a tip of the second optical fiber is disposed so as to come into contact with the solid refractive index matching material or separated from the solid refractive index-matching material, and the entire solid refractive index matching material and the tip of the second optical fiber are disposed in a liquid refractive index matching agent which is provided between the base member and the cover member.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical fiber connection structure and an optical fiber connector which optically connect optical fibers to each other.
Description of Related Art
A so-called field assembly optical connector as an optical connector which allows assembly work to be easily performed with respect to a tip of an optical fiber on site is well known. In the related art, as a field assembly optical connector, a field assembly optical connector is known which includes a short optical fiber (bare optical fiber, and hereinafter, also referred to as a built-in optical fiber) which is inwardly inserted into and fixed to a ferrule, and a mechanical splice type clamp portion which is provided on a rear side opposite to a front end surface of the ferrule for butting (for example, refer to FIGS. 2 to 5 of Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. 2011-33731).
The clamp portion of the field assembly optical connector includes a base member, a cover member, and a plate spring which elastically biases the cover member toward the base member. A rear end portion of the built-in optical fiber is disposed between the base member and the cover member of the clamp portion. Another optical fiber (for example, an optical fiber core wire, and hereinafter, also referred to as an insertion optical fiber), which is inserted between the base member and the cover member of the clamp portion from a rear side opposite to the ferrule side, can be butt-connected to a rear end of the built-in optical fiber. In the field assembly optical connector, the rear end portion of the built-in optical fiber, and a tip portion of the insertion optical fiber which is butt-connected to the rear end of the built-in optical fiber are held between the base member and the cover member of the clamp portion so as to be fixed by elasticity of the plate spring, and the rear end portion of the built-in optical fiber is assembled to the tip of the insertion optical fiber.
In the field assembly optical connector, in order to decrease connection loss, a liquid refractive index matching agent such as silicone-based grease is provided on a butt-connection portion between the built-in optical fiber and the insertion optical fiber (for example, refer to FIG. 16(c) of Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. 2011-33731)
In addition, in the field assembly optical connection, it is suggested that a light-transmitting solid refractive index matching material formed of a polymer material be provided on the rear end of the built-in optical fiber, and the insertion optical fiber and the built-in optical fiber having tips abutting on the solid refractive index matching material be optically connected to each other via the solid refractive index matching material (for example, refer to FIGS. 7(a) and 7(b) or the like of Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. 2011-33731).
In general, a rear end surface (an end surface of a rear end side opposite to the tip exposed to a joining end surface of the ferrule) of the built-in optical fiber of the field assembly optical connector is configured of a flat surface perpendicular to an optical axis of the built-in optical fiber. Meanwhile, a coating material of the tip of the insertion optical fiber is removed on site, the bare optical fiber is led out, the tip of the bare optical fiber is cut, thereafter, the tip of the bare optical fiber is inserted into the clamp portion from the rear side of the clamp portion, and the tip of the bare optical fiber is butted to the rear end of the built-in optical fiber. Cutting of the bare optical fiber (hereinafter, also referred to as an insertion-side bare optical fiber) is performed using a dedicated cleaver (cutter), and a flat mirror-shaped tip surface perpendicular to the optical axis of the bare optical fiber is formed on the bare optical fiber. However, cutting of the insertion side bare optical fiber may not be correctly performed on site, and irregularities may be formed on the tip of the insertion side bare optical fiber.
In the configuration in which the liquid refractive index matching agent is provided in the butt-connection portion between the built-in optical fiber and the insertion optical fiber, a portion between the tip of the insertion side bare optical fiber on which irregularities are formed and the rear end surface of the built-in optical fiber abutting on the tip of the insertion side bare optical fiber can be embedded with the liquid refractive index matching agent. As a result, it is possible to decrease connection loss.
However, in this case, concave portions of the irregularities on the tip of the insertion side bare optical fiber abut on an edge portion on an outer circumference of the rear end surface of the built-in optical fiber, cracks occur on the edge portion, and deterioration of mechanical characteristics of the rear end of the built-in optical fiber may occur. In addition, fragments generated by the cracks are interposed between the built-in optical fiber and the insertion side bare side optical fiber, and the fragments may obstruct the butt-connection.
In the configuration in which the solid refractive index matching material is provided on the rear end of the built-in optical fiber of the field assembly optical connector, it is possible to allow the solid refractive index matching material to function as a cushion layer. Accordingly, in this configuration, since the portion between the tip of the insertion side bare optical fiber on which irregularities are formed and the rear end surface of the built-in optical fiber can be embedded with the solid refractive index matching material, it is possible to realize an optical connection having low loss. In addition, since the solid refractive index matching material functioning as the cushion layer abuts on the convex portion of the tip of the insertion side bare optical fiber, cracks in the edge portion on the outer circumference of the rear end surface of the built-in optical fiber are effectively prevented from occurring.
However, in the configuration in which the solid refractive index matching material is provided on the rear end of the built-in optical fiber of the field assembly optical connector, when air is interposed between a core portion (or a mode field diameter portion) of the tip of the insertion side bare optical fiber particularly, and the solid refractive index matching material, connection loss is greatly influenced, and an optical connection cannot be performed. Accordingly, in this configuration, it is necessary to press the tip of the insertion side bare optical fiber to the refractive index matching material so as to securely come into close contact with each other. However, when close contact of the tip of the insertion side bare optical fiber with respect to the solid refractive index matching material is held and the field assembly optical connection is assembled to the tip of the insertion optical fiber, the tip of the insertion side bare optical fiber may be separated from the solid refractive index matching material due to unexpected tension of the insertion optical fiber 1 or the like, and operation may need to be performed again.
The present invention is made in consideration of the above-described problems, and is to provide an optical fiber connection structure and an optical fiber connector capable of preventing the occurrence of cracks in optical fibers due to abutment of optical fibers in a clamp portion, and of easily improving efficiency of an operation of optically connecting the optical fibers to each other in the clamp portion and holding and fixing the optical fibers.

Optical fiber connection structure and optical fiber connector


The invention relates to a new process for concentrating epothilones in culture media, a new process for the production of epothilones, a new process for separating epothilones A and B and a new strain obtained by mutagenesis for the production of epothilones, as well as aspects related thereto. New crystal forms of epothilone B are also described.

Of the existing cytotoxic active ingredients for treating tumours, Taxol® (Paclitaxel; Bristol-Myers Squibb), a microtubuli-stabilising agent, plays an important role and has remarkable commercial success. However, Taxol has a number of disadvantages. In particular, its very poor solubility in water is a problem. It therefore became necessary to administer Taxol® in a formulation with Cremophor EL® (polyoxyethylated castor oil; BASF, Ludwigshafen, Germany). Cremophor EL® has severe side effects; for example it causes allergies which in at least one case have led even to the death of a patient.
Although the Taxan class of microtubuli-stabilising anti-cancer agents has been commended as "perhaps the most important addition to the pharmaceutical armoury against cancer in the last decade" (see Rowinsky E. K., Ann. rev. Med. 48, 353–374 (1997)), and despite the commercial success of Taxol®, these compounds still do not appear to represent a really great breakthrough in the chemotherapy of cancer. Treatment with Taxol® is linked with a series of significant side effects, and a few primary classes of compact tumours, namely colon and prostate tumours, respond to this compound only to a small extent (see Rowinsky E. K., inter alia). In addition, the efficacy of Taxol can be impaired and even completely neutralised by acquired resistance mechanisms, especially those based on the overexpression of phosphoproteins, which act as efflux pumps for active ingredients, such as "Multidrug Resistance" due to overexpression of the multidrug transport glycoprotein "P-glycoprotein".
Epothilones A and B represent a new class of microtubuli-stabilising cytotoxic active ingredients (see Gerth, K. et al., J. Antibiot. 49, 560–3 (1966)) of the formulae:
wherein R signifies hydrogen (epothilone A) or methyl (epothilone B).
These compounds have the following advantages over Taxol®:    a) They have better water-solubility and are thus more easily accessible for formulations.    b) It has been reported that, in cell culture experiments, they are also active against the proliferation of cells, which, owing to the activity of the P-glycoprotein efflux pump making them "multidrug resistant", show resistance to treatment with other chemotherapy agents including Taxol® (see Bolag, D. M., et al., "Epothilones, a new class of microtubuli-stabilizing agents with a Taxol-like mechanism of action", Cancer Research 55, 2325–33 (1995)). And    c) it could be shown that they are still very effective in vitro against a Taxol®-resistant ovarian carcinoma cell line with modified β-tubulin (see Kowalski, R. J., et al., J. Biol. Chem. 272(4), 2534–2541 (1997)).
Pharmaceutical application of the epothilones, for example for tumour treatment, is possible in an analogous manner to that described for Taxol, see for example U.S. Pat. No. 5,641,803; U.S. Pat. No. 5,496,804; U.S. Pat. No. 5,565,478).
In order to be able to use the epothilones on a larger scale for pharmaceutical purposes, however, it is necessary to obtain appropriate amounts of these compounds.
Until now, the extraction of natural substances by means of myxobacteria, especially the epothilones from the cell strain Sorangium Cellulosum Soce90 (deposited under no. 6773 at the German Collection of Microorganisms, see WO 93/10121) was described in literature. In order to obtain a satisfactory concentration of the natural substances, especially the epothilones, in the culture medium for the subsequent extraction, previously an adsorbate resin based on polystyrene was always added, for example Amberlite XAD-1180 (Rohm & Haas, Frankfurt, Germany).
However, the disadvantage of this process is that, on a large scale, it leads to an abundance of problems. Valves are impaired by the globules of resin, pipes can block, and apparatus may be subject to greater wear due to mechanical friction. The globules of resin are porous and therefore have a large inner surface area (about 825 m2/gram resin). Sterilisation becomes a problem, as air enclosed in the resin is not autoclaved. Thus, the process cannot be practicably carried out on a large scale using resin addition.
On the other hand, without adding resin globules, a satisfactory concentration of epothilones cannot be achieved in the culture medium.
Surprisingly, the requirements for finding a way out of this dilemma have now been found, enabling a satisfactory concentration of natural substances to be obtained from micro-organisms, in particular myxobacteria, which produce epothilones such as epothilone A or B, in particular a concentration of epothilones A and B, in the culture medium, without the addition of resins, and thus enabling production of these compounds, especially epothilones to be carried out on a technical and industrial scale without the above-mentioned disadvantages.

Fermentative preparation process for and crystal forms of cytostatics


The invention relates to a membrane for the separation of material mixtures by the principle of vapor permeation or pervaporation, in particular for the dewatering of organic solvents, comprising at least one support layer and at least one material-selective separation layer located thereon, and a method for production of such a membrane. The material-selective separating layer is made from polyvinyl alcohol, containing at least one metallic element and/or a derivative thereof. The method includes the addition of polyvinyl alcohol to a solvent, adding an organometallic compound to the solvent/polyvinyl alcohol mixture, and then applying the solvent/polyvinyl alcohol/organometallic compound mixture to the support layer as the material-selective separating layer.

Known in the state of the art are numerous membranes in which the material-selective separation layer is made of polyvinyl alcohol. A chemical stability of these membranes and of the material-selective separation layers, for example with respect to water, is thereby achieved in that the polyvinyl alcohol is cross-linked. The known membranes of this kind are suited principally for use in the separation of vaporous media or of gas-vapor mixtures up to temperatures of 105° C. At temperature exceeding 105° C. stability problems occur with such membranes. Such a membrane, wherein the material-selective separation layer is made of cross-linked polyvinyl alcohol is described in DE-A-32 20 570.
However other membranes based on polyvinyl alcohol are known, for example from DE-C-40 04 153, wherein a membrane is described having an ordered structure with a large microcrystalline portion, with the crystallization having been achieved by holding the solution at temperatures from −10 to +10° C. for several days.
For this membrane also the guaranteed stability of the membrane does not hold for temperatures higher than 105° C.
In summary it can be stated that all known membranes whose material-selective separation layer is made on the basis of polyvinyl alcohol at temperatures lying above 105° C. do not exhibit sufficient mechanical and chemical stability for the dewatering of organic solvents by means of vapor permeation and also have an unsatisfactory stability with regard to the formation of a condensate on the outer surface of the membrane. Because of their unsatisfactory mechanical stability at temperatures above 105° C. they also have the disadvantage that they are not suited to being drawn upon for the making of padded membranes (membrane pads, membrane pockets), since such membrane elements for their making have to be welded at their edge regions, which with previous membranes based on a material-selective separation layer of polyvinyl alcohol is not possible.

Membrane for the separation of material mixtures and method for production thereof


A process for drilling a well into a subsurface formation includes receiving data representing depth maps for a given subsurface region, each depth map being generated from seismic data acquired in a seismic survey at a subsurface region. The process includes determining, for depth maps of the plurality, respective weight values; generating data representing a combination of the depth maps based on the respective weight values; generating a cumulative distribution function (CDF) for a particular location in the subsurface region based on the data representing a combination of the depth maps; determining, based on the CDF for that particular location, a probability value representing a depth at which a geological layer occurs in the subsurface region at the particular location; and drilling the well into the subsurface formation at the particular location to a target depth based on the probability value.

Wells drilled into deep subsurface regions, such as for hydrocarbon production or other purposes, are planned around a forecast (prognosis). The prognosis is a prediction of depths of key geological layers and a depth at which the well ends. The prognosis enables adequate preparation for drilling a new well, such as indicating a correct amount of drilling equipment or well hardware that is needed for the well. For example, well hardware can include well casing tubulars. This hardware is ordered and delivered to the drill site in advance of drilling. The prognosis indicates a chance of success of the well objective in relation to subsurface data such as oil-water contact. For example an oil producer may require a certain vertical distance of standoff above known oil water contact depth. When new wells are drilled, there is uncertainty on the forecast depth of geological layers of interest because the well is drilling a new location and the only information that constrains the depth at this new location is contained in maps that may be made from a variety of indirect techniques. By definition, maps of subsurface geological structure are only correct at the points of existing well penetrations which prove the depth to the layer of interest. In between these points, depth information on the map is either interpolated from the well control points or depth-converted from reflection seismic data that is acquired in the time domain using a velocity model that itself is an approximation. In either case, the mapped information is generally imprecise at the new, undrilled well location. The degree of uncertainty generally increases with distance away from existing wells and also with depth to the layers of interest.

Systems and methods for probabilistic well depth prognosis