There is disclosed a process for preparing a thermoplastic resin composition which comprises melting and kneading. (A) 100 parts by weight of a resin comprising 100% by weight in total of: PA0 and PA0 (B) 1.0 part by weight or more of an organic solvent in a kneader equipped with vent ports each having a vacuum device while maintaining each vent port at reduced pressure to make an organic solvent content in a final composition less than 1.0% by weight.. (a) 5 to 95% by weight of a non-crystalline thermoplastic resin, PA1 (b) 95 to 5% by weight of a crystalline thermoplastic resin, PA1 (c) 0 to 50% by weight of a compatibilizer and PA1 (d) 0 to 40% by weight of an impact modifier

This invention relates to a process for preparing a thermoplastic resin composition having excellent dimensional stability, heat resistance, impact resistance, solvent resistance and appearance of a molded product.
Non-crystalline thermoplastic resins for molding such as a polyphenylene ether (hereinafter referred to as "PPE") have been generally known as a polymer material or engineering plastics having excellent heat resistance, dimensional stability and electric characteristics, but there are drawbacks that some of them have bad melt fluidity (flowability when melting), whereby molding processing is difficult, and also solvent resistance and impact resistance are poor.
On the other hand, a crystalline thermoplastic resin such as a polyolefin and a saturated polyester has been generally used widely as a polymer material having excellent molding processability, solvent resistance and mechanical strength, low specific gravity and an inexpensive material in the fields of parts for automobiles and parts for electric and electronic equipments. However, the crystalline thermoplastic resin has drawbacks that molding shrinkage rate and linear expansion coefficient are high, and also rigidity is greatly lowered at high temperatures. In order to remove these drawbacks, there has been proposed a method of filling up a reinforcing agent such as glass fiber, but the method has a problem that appearance of a molded product is worsened so that application thereof is limited depending on the field.
If a composition having both good properties of the non-crystalline thermoplastic resin and the crystalline thermoplastic resin and compensating undesirable properties each other can be obtained, an excellent resin material having a wide application field can be provided, and it can be said that industrial significance of such a material is extremely great. Therefore, for the purpose of providing a molding material in which disadvantages of both resins are compensated each other without impairing advantages thereof, there have been proposed, for example, compositions in which a PPE which is a non-crystalline thermoplastic resin and a polyester which is a crystalline thermoplastic resin are simply melted and mixed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 21664/1976 and Japanese Provisional Patent Publications No. 50050/1974, No. 75662/1974 and No. 159847/1984, a composition in which a PPE and a polyamide which is a crystalline thermoplastic resin are simply melted and mixed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 41663/1984, and further a composition in which a PPE and a polyolefin which is a crystalline thermoplastic resin are simply melted and mixed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,361,851 and Japanese Patent Publication No. 7069/1967.
However, in such a simple blend system, the non-crystalline thermoplastic resin and the crystalline thermoplastic resin have inherently poor compatibility with each other so that adhesiveness at an interface of the two phase structure is not good, whereby two phases can hardly take uniform and fine forms. Therefore, when shear stress is applied during molding processing such as injection molding, laminar peeling (delamination) is easily caused, whereby appearance of a resulting molded product is worsened and an interface of two phases becomes a defective portion. Thus, it is impossible to obtain a composition having excellent mechanical characteristics such as impact resistance and rigidity and excellent physical characteristics such as solvent resistance.
Therefore, there have been proposed several techniques of improving compatibility of both resins. For example, in Japanese Provisional Patent Publications No. 218748/1988 and No. 40556/1989, it has been proposed that a specific block copolymer is added as a compatibilizing agent to a resin composition comprising a PPE and a polyolefin, and in Japanese Provisional Patent Publication No. 185553/1990, it has been proposed that polystyrene graft polypropylene is used in a resin composition comprising a PPE, a polyolefin and a rubbery substance. However, a resin composition which can satisfy utility in all points of heat resistance, rigidity, impact resistant strength, solvent resistance and moldability has not yet been obtained. Thus, improvement has been required. There have been also disclosed a method of using a modified PPE obtained by reacting a compound having both (i) a carbon-carbon double bond or a carbon-carbon triple bond and (ii) one or more selected from a carboxylic acid, an acid anhydride, an acid amide, an epoxy group and a hydroxyl group (Japanese Provisional Patent Publications No. 257958/1987 and No. 54427/1988 and PCT Provisional Patent Publication No. 500803/1988), a method of using an alkoxysilyl group-modified PPE (PCT Provisional Patent Publication No. 503392/1988), a method of using an oxazoline-modified PPE (Japanese Provisional Patent Publication No. 187453/1990), a method of using a polyester modified with a hydroxyl group or carboxyl group-terminated polystyrene (Japanese Provisional Patent Publication No. 170852/1990) and a method of formulating oxycarboxylic acids (Japanese Provisional Patent Publication No. 129259/-1990). However, even by using these methods, compatibility of PPE and the saturated polyester cannot be improved sufficiently in many cases, and it cannot be said that mechanical characteristics of resulting compositions are sufficient. Thus, further improvement has been demanded.

Process for preparing thermoplastic resin composition


A winch-actuated post puller is disclosed which applies a substantially linear withdrawal force to a post to be removed from the ground. A post gripper is attached to a slider that rides on a vertical shaft. The slider is raised by means of a cable attached to a winch at or near the top of the vertical shaft. In one preferred embodiment, the winch is actuated by a reciprocating lever acting on a ratchet wheel via a pawl.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to devices for removing posts from the ground. More specifically, it relates to hand-operated post pullers.
2. Description of the Related Art
The post pullers of the prior art typically comprise a lever-and-fulcrum mechanism acting directly on the post to be removed. In one commonly used device, a stand is placed next to the post. The top of the stand serves as a fulcrum for a lever attached at its short end to the post and actuated by pressing down by hand on its long end. The mechanical advantage of the lever is used to impart an upward force on the post.
However, for maximum mechanical advantage, the travel of the short end of the lever is small—typically a few inches. This means that the connection to the post must be repeatedly made and unmade as the post is withdrawn from the ground. Moreover, the geometry of the lever arrangement is such that a directly upward force cannot be imparted—the lever moves in an arc. Thus, a sideways force is also imparted to the post which acts to increase friction between the post and the ground. This is undesirable and makes withdrawing the post from the ground more difficult.
What is needed is a post puller which uses the mechanical advantage of a lever while imparting a linear, withdrawal force to the post and having sufficient travel to remove most posts without the need to reattach the device to the post. The present invention solves this problem.


Dynamic power consumption is reduced by clock gating registers that synchronize memory input signals in an embedded memory array. Where a memory enable signal associated with a memory interface input signal does not meet setup timing for clock gating input registers of the memory interface signal, a clock gate enable signal may be generated prior to evaluation of the memory enable signal. The clock gate enable signal includes all functions of the memory enable signal and additional conditions because it is generated prior to evaluation of conditions on which the memory enable signal may depend. Pre-evaluated clock gate enable signals may be generated within a processor core and used to clock gate read address registers, write address registers, data input registers, and/or CAM reference address registers of an embedded memory array.

1. Field of the Description
This Application relates generally to the field of memory arrays and, more particularly, to reducing power consumption in integrated circuits that employ embedded memory arrays.
2. Relevant Background
At the heart of modern computers and consumer electronic devices such as PCs, laptops, servers, smartphones, and tablets is one or more processing elements or central processing units ("CPUs"). These processing elements perform the processing for tasks of the computer or electronics, for example, through an operating system or other software components running on the processor. These processing elements are typically fabricated as one or more integrated circuit ("IC") semiconductor substrates or "chips." A single CPU may include millions or even billions of transistors on the same IC chip.
The processing capabilities of modern CPUs are increasing through advances in semiconductor processing technology that speed up the transistors as well as through use of new processing techniques that increase processing throughput. One such technique is to place multiple units that read and execute processing instructions ("cores") on the same CPU chip. Another such technique is the use of multiple levels of cache memory used to store the most commonly accessed memory locations (e.g., data cache) and/or blocks of processor instructions (e.g., instruction cache) that provide more rapid access to data and/or instructions. One or more of the levels of instruction and/or data cache memory may be embedded within the same CPU chip as the processing core(s). This technique speeds up processing operations because it is typically faster to access an embedded memory than to access a memory implemented as a separate IC chip. Specifically, because embedded memories may be placed physically closer to the processor core(s), the timing paths between the processor core(s) and the embedded memory may be either run at a higher clock frequency and/or require fewer overall clock cycles or latency for particular memory operations. Therefore, embedded memories such as cache can speed up processing operations by reducing the time required for memory operations.
As advances in IC process technology have reduced transistor dimensions, system clock speeds of IC components such as CPUs have also increased dramatically. For example, processor cores of modern CPUs now run at speeds greater than 1.0 GHz and commonly up to 3.0 GHz and beyond. At these higher clock speeds, many data paths within the CPU become critical timing paths. Critical timing paths are generally paths between sequential elements that include routing and/or combinatorial logic that constrain the maximum operating frequency of the CPU. Timing paths that perform large computations such as integer and floating point operations may be critical timing paths because of the amount of combinatorial logic required to perform the computations. Paths with extensive routing within the CPU may also be critical timing paths because of the routing delay caused by resistance and capacitance of the routing wires. Typically, paths within instruction pipelines and arithmetic units of processing core(s) within the CPU may be critical paths. Additionally, paths between blocks of a CPU are also commonly critical paths. For example, paths between a processor core and an embedded memory block on a CPU may be critical paths.
Running ICs at higher clock speeds also increases power consumption, and many IC designs may become power limited, meaning that the maximum operational clock frequency for the IC is determined by the power budget or maximum operating temperature instead of the propagation delays within critical timing paths or other timing constraints of the IC. Clock-gating is one technique that may be used to reduce power consumption. Clock-gating refers to inserting logic elements that turn off (i.e., force to a static state) some clock signals when the states of sequential elements driven by those clocks are not changing. However, inserting clock-gating elements adds delay within the clock path through the clock-gating element. In addition, clock-gating elements also require a minimum time period between the arrival of the clock-gating signal and the clock itself to ensure proper operation. Accordingly, for some critical timing paths, there may not be enough setup time between the clock-gating signal and the clock edge to insert a clock-gating element. Accordingly, reducing power consumption without impacting system clock speed and/or access timing is increasingly important for improving overall performance of systems that include embedded memory arrays.


A communications apparatus is capable of being disposed in-line in a communications link that supports a main communications channel. The communications link connects a first host to a second host. The communications apparatus comprises an application logic that supports a sub-channel within the main channel. When the main channel is potentially faulty, the application logic is arranged to monitor the main channel to determine an error condition and send a message by replacing data reserved for control purposes in order to communicate the error condition as sub-channel data.

In the field of network communications, network elements, for example routers, are provided to create communications links between routers separated by a physical distance, such as between domains. The network elements also have to be replaced from time-to-time.
In order to assist configuration of such network elements after physical installation, automatic configuration techniques have been implemented in the network elements to simplify configuration of the network elements. For example, Ethernet routers, operating in accordance with the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (EEEI) 802.3 standard, are able to perform a so-called auto-negotiation process.
Consequently, in respect of an optical Gigabit Ethernet link established between a pair of Gigabit Ethernet capable hosts that both support auto-negotiation, respective Physical Conversion Sub-layers (PCSs) of the two hosts use the link to establish their respective operational credentials after power-up and before normal communication is performed by the hosts. In this respect, special reserved code words are used by each PCS to indicate to each other the contents of various respective registers, thereby providing each other with information concerning their respective capabilities. In effect, each PCS advertises to its counterpart its respective capabilities. The register used is known as an "Advertisement register", contents of the "Advertisement register" that a first Ethernet host receives from a second Ethernet host, at an opposite end of the communications link, are placed into a similarly sized local register by the first Ethernet host, known as a "Link Partner Ability" register".
During expected operation, each host compares the contents of the locally stored Advertisement register with the Link Partner Ability register, and by following a set of simple rules, each PCS determines a common mode of operation achievable by both PCSs. A resolved set of operational characteristics is then sent back by each PCS to the other so that each PCS can "see" what the opposing end has determined as the common mode of operation. If both PCSs arrive at the same common mode of operation, and after a brief pause, the first and second Ethernet PCSs then offer their services to their respective higher protocol stack layers based upon the agreed common mode of operation, and normal communication then takes place between the first and second Ethernet hosts. On the other hand, if the common mode of operation cannot be agreed, the PCSs revert to exchanging the Advertisement registers again, implying a disagreement between the first and second Ethernet PCSs as to the proposed common mode of operation and a desire to re-start the auto-negotiation process.
However, since its inception, the auto-negotiation process used on Gigabit Ethernet links has proved problematic: problems have been found in various optical products produced by various vendors. System administrators have therefore been known to disable the auto-negotiation feature of networking devices when installing the devices, preferring manual configuration, which while taking more time and effort to configure, usually works more reliably. The benefits of having the auto-negotiation feature for gigabit Ethernet capable equipment are therefore lost. Consequently, if one of the networking devices in the communications link is replaced, a new unit has to be configured manually with exactly the same configuration of its counterpart device at the other end of the link. Whilst configuration parameters for optical Gigabit Ethernet are not too numerous, mistakes can still be made when configuring devices, leading to a link that does not operate correctly.
In order to facilitate the auto-negotiation process a so-called "Internet Advisor" unit having a so-called Gigabit Ethernet "Under-cradle" module is available from Agilent Technologies, Inc. and can be installed in the communications link. The Internet Advisor unit is primarily a Protocol analyser for capturing, displaying, and analysing messages that flow over the communications link. However, the Internet Advisor also has a secondary mode for capturing auto-negotiation messages that take place on a Gigabit Ethernet system link, allowing the systems administrator to diagnose any problems that can prevent normal communication taking place between nodes using the communication link.
Whilst useful as a protocol analyser, the Internet Advisor is bulky and requires a dedicated AC power supply, and a site to locate it during operation; space to site the Internet Advisor is not always easy to find in an already full equipment room containing many racks and closets of networking equipment. Additionally, it is necessary to re-route original optical fibres to connect the Internet Advisor unit into the communications link and a new pair of optical fibres also needs to be connected to provide the Internet Advisor with optical signals. Once any problem has been diagnosed and the communications link has been established and running, the Internet Advisor unit then has to be disconnected, the original optical fibre cabling re-established, and auto-negotiation has to take place once more.

Communications apparatus, system and method of creating a sub-channel


A cleaning device including a cleaning member and a handle connected to the cleaning member. The handle includes a first member and a second member. The first member includes a ball member and the second member includes a socket. The ball member being disposed in the socket to couple the first member and the second member and enable the second member to pivot with respect to the first member.

There are many different types of cleaning devices and tools which are used to clean counters, walls, floors and other surfaces. Some cleaning devices are handheld devices, such as scrub brushes and the like which are held in a user's hand and moved across a surface to remove and clean the surface. Other cleaning devices include handles which enable the user to extend the cleaning device to places spaced from the user. Such handles also enable a user to be able to stand while cleaning, such as the handles on most brooms, dust sweepers and mops.
In particular, brooms, dust sweepers and mops have elongated handles. These handles are typically made out of wood, steel or some other durable material which enables the user to hold the cleaning device and maneuver it along the floor, wall or other similar surface to clean those surfaces. Such handles, however, make cleaning under items such as couches and coffee tables, difficult, because the user has to bend down or significantly lower the handle of the cleaning device to be able to extend the cleaning end of the device under the item. This makes cleaning floors and other surfaces that underlie these items difficult. Additionally, a user typically has to bend his or her body, crouch down closer to the floor, or both, to be able to maneuver the end of the cleaning device under such items. This adds stress to the user's body as well as making such work burdensome, difficult and tiring.
It is known to provide handles with sections which can pivot relative to each other, but typically such handles can pivot about one axis or use as a pivot joint, a coil spring which lacks rigidity and impairs control.
Accordingly, there is a need for an improved handle for a cleaning device that overcomes the above problems.


This ferritic stainless steel for components of an automobile exhaust system includes, in terms of percent by mass: C: ≦0.015%; Si: 0.01% to 0.50%; Mn: 0.01% to 0.50%; P: ≦0.050%; S: ≦0.010%; N: ≦0.015%; Al: 0.010% to 0.100%; Cr: 16.5% to 22.5%; Ni: 0.5% to 2.0%; and Sn: 0.01% to 0.50%, and further includes either one or both of Ti: 0.03% to 0.30% and Nb: 0.03% to 0.30%, with a remainder being Fe and inevitable impurities.

Ferritic stainless steel sheets and steel pipes have been frequently used in components of exhaust systems. For example, SUH409L is a steel that contains 11% of Cr, in which C and N are fixed by Ti so as to prevent sensitization of welded portions and to attain excellent workability. SUH409 has sufficient high-temperature characteristics at 700° C. or lower, and in addition, SUH409 exhibits a certain degree of resistance to condensed water corrosion; and therefore, SUH409L is most frequently used. In addition, steels are also used which have enhanced resistance to condensed water corrosion and resistance to salt corrosion, such as AISI439 which contains 17% of Cr and in which C and N are fixed by Ti, SUS436J1L and SUS436L which further contain Mo, and the like.
Meanwhile, due to diversification of fuels such as bio-fuels and the like, or regulations for improving gas mileages in recent years, corrosion environments for materials for an automobile exhaust system are changing. In addition, in emerging markets, a decrease in the pH of exhaust gas-condensed water generated from poor fuels is becoming a problem. In consideration of such situations, it has come to be considered that a higher level of corrosion resistance is required. In response to the above, SUS436L and the like which contain Mo so as to enhance the corrosion resistance are regarded as being appropriate for materials for exhaust systems in the related art. However, in a situation of the current steep rise in resource prices, Mo is known as one of the most expensive alloying elements, and there has been a long desire for a new type of steel which contains no Mo or contains an amount of Mo as low as possible, and exhibits corrosion resistance similar to or superior to that of SUS436.
Regarding the above problems, several techniques have been proposed in the related art.
For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a steel that contains both of Cu: 0.3% to 2.0% and P: 0.06% to 0.5% instead of containing Mo so as to secure corrosion resistance similar to or superior to that of a 17Cr-1Mo steel. However, since both of Cu and P are solid solution strengthening elements, deterioration of the workability is inevitably caused when a large amount of Cu and P are included. Workability as well as corrosion resistance is also an indispensable property for materials that are applied to components in exhaust systems; and therefore, it is difficult to apply the above-described steel to the components in exhaust systems.
Patent Document 2 discloses a steel that contains both of Cu: 0.5% to 2.0% and V: 0.05% to 2.0% instead of containing Mo so as to secure corrosion resistance similar to or superior to that of a 17Cr-0.5Mo steel. However, similarly to the case of Patent Document 1, since Cu is a solid solution strengthening element, deterioration of the workability is inevitably caused when a large amount of Cu is included. In addition, similarly to Mo, V has a problem of being an expensive alloying element.
Patent Document 3 discloses a steel in which the amount of Si is reduced in order to secure workability, and 0.01% to 1.0% of Co is included in order to improve the corrosion resistance without impairing the workability, and in the steel, corrosion resistance similar to that of 18Cr—Mo steel is secured. However, a small content, approximately 0.05%, of Co is sufficient only in the case where approximately 25% of Cr is included. The content of Co needs to be approximately 0.5% in the case where approximately 18% of Cr is included. In addition, similarly to Mo, Co also has a problem of being an expensive and rare alloying element.
Patent Document 4 discloses a steel in which either one or both of Ni: 0.1% to 2.0% and Cu: 0.1% to 1.0% are included at a total amount of 0.6% or more so as to enhance the corrosion resistance without including Mo. However, in order to obtain corrosion resistance superior to that of SUS436L, it is necessary to include large amounts of alloying elements, such as a steel containing 20% of Cr and 1% of Ni. Therefore, there is a problem in that the above-described technique does not necessarily reduce the costs. In addition, Cu is an element that strengthens a steel more than Mo, and there is a problem in that the workability deteriorates even at a small content of Cu.
Meanwhile, as an interesting technique that is approximately consistent with the purport of the present invention, which is a lean alloy (composition having low contents of alloying elements), a technique has been disclosed in which a steel contains extremely small amounts of Sn and Sb, which are alloying elements and gained little attention in the related art, so as to improve the characteristics of the steel.
For example, Patent Document 5 discloses a ferritic stainless steel which contains 0.02% to 0.2% of Sb so as to improve the oxidation resistance. Patent Document 6 discloses a ferritic stainless steel sheet which contains either one or both of Sn and Sb at a content of 0.005% to 0.10% so as to prevent intergranular corrosion of P. Thereby, there does not occur surface scratches which are caused by intergranular corrosion when the steel sheet is pickled using sulfuric acid. In addition, Patent Document 7 discloses that it is effective to include 0.5% or less of Sn for suppressing intergranular corrosion that is caused by Cr carbonitrides in welded heat-affected zones.
However, in the above-described techniques, there is no description regarding the resistance to salt corrosion and the resistance to condensed water corrosion after heating of components in exhaust systems, which will be dealt with in the present invention.
Meanwhile, in recent years, attention has been paid to an effect of Sn and Sb for improving corrosion resistance so as to develop a new type of steel.
For example, Patent Document 8 discloses a ferritic stainless steel sheet that contains either one or both of Sn and Sb, and is excellent in crevice corrosion resistance. In addition, Patent Document 9 also discloses a ferritic stainless steel that contains Sn and Sb as selective elements in order to suppress flow of rusting from crevice portions.
All of the above-described techniques deal with crevice corrosion. In the ferritic stainless steel, it is necessary to include proper contents of alloying elements in order to suppress the crevice corrosion. Therefore, in these techniques, the contents of the alloying elements are generally large; and thereby, characteristics other than the corrosion resistance (for example, workability and costs) do not necessarily fulfill the satisfactory levels. Therefore, there is a possibility of better optimization.

Ferrite-based stainless steel for use in components of automobile exhaust system

NIPPON STEEL & SUMIKIN STAINLESS STEEL CORPORATION


A web rewet moisture actuator in which a plurality of air atomizing nozzles at spaced locations along a boom extending across the web are supplied with air under pressure by an air manifold on the boom and are supplied with water from a water manifold on the boom through respective proportional valve assemblies which permit flows therethrough in proportion to the magnitudes of control signals applied to the assemblies. A unit located downstream of the boom obtains a moisture profile across the web from which location and control signals are derived and fed to the valve assemblies to control the liquid flow through the valve assemblies in proportion to the magnitudes of the control signals.

In the manufacture of paper, the web emerging from the dryer section of the paper machine generally has an irregular moisture content in a direction transverse to the direction of web travel. For subsequent processing and testing operations, it is desirable that the web have as uniform a moisture profile in the cross web direction as is possible.
Various sytems have been devised in the prior art in attempts to maintain a relatively uniform cross web moisture content profile. In all of these systems, a cross web moisture content profile is taken and control signals derived therefrom are fed to a rewet actuator which applies moisture to the web.
In one fiber rewet actuator known to the art, solenoid type valves are used to control the flow of water through a spray nozzle onto the web. In an effort to achieve some measure of resolution, a number of solenoid valves configured in parallel are associated with each nozzle. Generally, this type of rewet actuator requires that four solenoid valves be provided per nozzle. This is independent of the number of data zones across the web. A single zone may have one, two or even three nozzles so that the number of solenoid valves required for the actuator is relatively large. Thus, actuators of this type are large and bulky and require an inordinate amount of machine floor space for cabinets containing the control valves. In addition, the large number of components required for these systems results in high failure rates and long troubleshooting periods. A typical system having one hundred data zones would have a minimum of four hundred solenoid valves.
In addition, in a system of the type described hereinabove, any customizing which must be done on-site results in a major down time of the system. Fine tuning of the system is lengthy and complex. Nozzles must be evenly matched in performance or any mismatch causes a notable error in the moisture profile.
In any system during a web break the spray boom does not spray any water. Where air atomizing nozzles are used the air continues to flow while the water is shut off. During the period when the water is shut off, the water supply units build up some pressure. When the web is back on line, the solenoid having the lowest flow rate in the parallel configuration is opened. Owing to the high pressure which has built up in the supply unit during the down time, the spray boom will always overshoot the amount of moisture required. Such overshoot continues until pressure in the water supply unit drops to the proper level.
As an alternate to the use of solenoid valves, it has been proposed to use a needle type valve with a stepper motor for positioning the valve shaft. Along with other problems, this arrangement suffers from low resolution and backlash.

Electronic flow modulated cross direction moisture actuator


An electromagnetic contactor includes: a lower frame having an accommodation space therein; a bobbin having a fixed core, and accommodated in the lower frame; a movable core inserted into the bobbin so as to be moveable up and down; a spring installed between the bobbin and the movable core, and configured to provide an upward restoration force to the movable core; and a ‘b’ contact switch installed at one side of the bobbin, wherein a button for operating a switch lever of the ‘b’ contact switch is provided at a movable core plate positioned above the movable core.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electromagnetic contactor, and more particularly, to an electromagnetic contactor including a 'b' contact switch at a coil circuit portion.
2. Background of the Invention
Generally, a direct current relay or an electromagnetic contactor is a type of electrical circuit switching device for performing a mechanical driving and transmitting a current signal using an electromagnet. The direct current relay or electromagnetic contactor is installed at various types of industrial equipment, machines, vehicles, etc.
The electromagnetic contactor may include a main contact mechanism for performing power supply to a load or disconnecting power supply to the load, and an auxiliary contact mechanism for performing power supply to a magnetic coil of the main contact mechanism or disconnecting power supply to the magnetic coil of the main contact mechanism.
FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of an electromagnetic contactor in accordance with the conventional art. FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a movable core of FIG. 1. FIG. 3 is a perspective view illustrating a state where a movable core of FIG. 1 is inserted into a bobbin. FIG. 4 is a longitudinal sectional view of an electromagnetic contactor in accordance with the conventional art.
As shown, the conventional electromagnetic contactor includes a lower frame 110, a bobbin 120, a spring 130, a movable core 140, a holder assembly 150, an upper frame 160, etc.
The upper frame 160 and the lower frame 110 are detachably assembled to each other, and form an accommodation space therein so as to accommodate the bobbin 120, the spring 130, the movable core 140, the holder assembly 150, etc.
The holder assembly 150 is provided with movable contacts 151 for respective phases. If the holder assembly 150 is downward moved, the movable contact 151 comes in contact with a fixed contact 152 installed at the bobbin 120. As a result, a current flows to a load side from a power side.
The movable core 140 includes a body portion 141 having a cylindrical shape, a movable core plate 142 coupled to an upper part of the body portion 141, and a coupling plate 144 coupled to an upper surface of the movable core plate 142. An extension portion 143 protrudes from a front surface of the movable core plate 142, and a switch manipulation protrusion 145 is provided on a lower surface of the extension portion 143.
The movable core 140 is inserted into the bobbin 120 so as to be movable up and down. When a magnetic field is applied to a coil 129, the movable core 140 moves downward by a magnetic force. Since the movable core 140 is in a coupled state to the holder assembly 150, it pulls the holder assembly 150 downward while performing a downward motion.
A fixed core 121 is installed at a core insertion portion 122 of the bobbin 120. A printed circuit board (PCB) 126 is provided on a front surface of the bobbin 120, and a 'b' contact switch 127 is installed at the PCB 126.
When a switch lever 128 is in an upwardly-moved state, the 'b' contact switch 127 connects an external power to the coil 129 to form a magnetic field at the coil 129. On the other hand, when the switch lever 128 is in a downwardly-moved state, the 'b' contact switch 127 makes an external power not be connected to the coil 120. In order for the movable core 140 to be moved downward, a large force is required initially. Accordingly, the movable core 140 is pulled by using a magnetic force of the coil 129. In a normal state, a magnetic force of the coil 129 may be removed, because a coupled state between the movable core 140 and the fixed core 121 is maintained by a sustained current. Accordingly, it is preferable to cut off an external power transmitted to the coil 129, as a switch manipulation protrusion 145 presses the switch lever 128 of the 'b' contact switch 127 after the movable core 140 has been moved downward.
However, in the conventional electromagnetic contactor, abrasion and damage occur due to repeated collisions between the switch manipulation protrusion 145 and the switch lever 128.


An fireproof door lock assembly comprises a handle seat frame being a U shape frame; a press unit installed in the U shape frame of the handle seat frame; the press unit having a driven mechanism; the driven mechanism including a driven unit; a plurality of buckling units, an elastic unit, at least one vibration reduction element, at least one driving bodies, a bottom plate and a pin unit; a press element having an L shape and being attached to the driving body by using a plurality of studs passing through a connecting unit, the press element and a driving unit; and fireproof door lock installed in front of the handle seat frame; so that the driven mechanism of the press unit having the effect of opening the fireproof door look.

Generally, in operation of a fireproof door lock, a press handle in a handle frame of the fireproof doorplate is pressed so that the lock stud in the lock casing is reduced inwards. Thus the door lock will release and thus is opened. However the handle slides along an inclined recess track at one of two sides of a retaining seat in the handle frame seat. The user must apply a great force and only the vertical component of the force is effective. Furthermore, if the force is too great, the lock will be locked.
Besides, no structure can provide proper restoring force to the retaining seat, when it is desired to close an opened lock, the operation is not smooth.


A tubular support for use with a hollow fiber membrane is made with an apparatus that comprises a forming machine and an ultrasonic welding machine. The apparatus may also include a coating nozzle for depositing a dope on the support. In operation, filaments are formed into a tubular structure in which the filaments cross each other in radial and circumferential directions, for example a braid. The filaments are ultrasonically welded together at intersections between them. The support is combined with a polymeric membrane wall to form a hollow fiber membrane.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,354,444 describes an asymmetric membrane comprising a tubular polymeric film supported on a tubular braid. The braid is flexible yet strong enough to withstand flexing and stretching when the membrane is used for microfiltration (MF) or ultrafiltration (UF). The braid is prefabricated according to specified physical parameters such that the braid has a wall thickness in the range of 0.2 mm to 1.0 mm and limited air permeability. The tubular polymeric film has a thickness of less than 0.2 mm and is formed by casting a dope on the braid while the braid is fed through a coating nozzle. Although the braid is self-supporting, the coating nozzle includes a rounding orifice to ensure that the braid is completely round before the dope is coated over it. The tubular polymeric film is supported on the outer circumferential surface of the braid without the braid being embedded in the tubular polymeric film. The coated braid travels through a coagulation tank in which the dope is converted into the polymeric film.
International Publication Number WO 2010/148517 describes various methods of making non-braided textile-reinforced hollow fiber membranes. Some of the methods provide a reinforcing structure that includes filaments extending around the circumference of the membrane but without the filaments being part of a braided or woven structure. Some of the reinforcing structures also include longitudinal filaments. The reinforcing structures are embedded in the membrane wall. The membranes have a ratio of inside-to-outside diameters of 0.5 or more.


A method for efficiently fabricating semiconductor wafers of good planarization without utilizing chemical solutions of high etching rate is disclosed. The method slices a single-crystal ingot into slices of wafers. The edge of each wafer is chamfered. A lapping step is carried out to planarize the chamfered wafer. Both side surfaces of the wafer are then polished. Next, the wafer surface is mirror polished. Finally, the wafer is cleaned.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for fabricating a semiconductor wafer by mirror polishing its surfaces.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional method for fabricating a semiconductor wafer by mirror polishing the surface, as shown in FIG. 6, includes the following steps.
(1) Referring to FIG. 7A, a wafer is sliced from a single-crystal silicon ingot by an inner diameter saw slicing step.
(2) Referring to FIG. 7B, the rim of the silicon wafer is chamfered to prevent from cracking.
(3) Referring to FIG. 7C, the sliced surfaces of the chamfered wafer are lapped to attain a consistent thickness of the wafers.
(4) Deformation caused by the lapping process is removed by an etching process, as shown in FIG. 7D.
(5) Referring to FIG. 7E, the wafer is polished and mirror polished after the etching process.
(6) After the mirror polishing process, the wafer is cleaned with a chemical solution.
In order to increase the manufacturing efficiency, chemical solutions of high etching rates, such as mixed acid, are utilized in the aforementioned etching step.
However, the chemical solution etches the wafer so fast that the rim portion thereof tends to be over-etched. Referring to FIG. 7D, the center portion is therefore thicker than the rim portion of the wafer after the etching process. A wafer after the single-side polishing process still has a thickness difference of .DELTA.t due to the thickness variation in the fast etching process.
It is difficult to control the thickness difference .DELTA.t under 1 .mu.m when etching solutions such as HF, HNO.sub.3, CH.sub.3 COOH and H.sub.2 O are used.
Some methods, for example, that disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 6-61681, entitled "Mirror Polishing Fabrication Method," have been provided to overcome the problem of thickness variation.
The mirror polishing fabrication method in which single or double sides of the wafer are polished has the single or double sides ground before a final polishing process.
However, the mirror polishing method introduces an additional single- or double-side polishing process into the conventional fabrication method thereby making the process more complicated.
Moreover, the grinding process on the wafer will result in processing deformation. In order to remove the deformation, other etching and polishing steps are required, thus further complicating the process.

Method for fabricating semiconductor wafers


A flux screen is provided for shielding a generator stator core from the magnetic field generated by end windings of the stator, wherein the flux screen comprises a frontside to be at least indirectly facing the end windings of the generator and a backside to be at least indirectly facing the stator core of the generator, and wherein the backside is provided with channels and/or grooves and/or pits.

The increasing size and power output of turbine generators have led to higher losses in the ends of the laminated stator core. Unless appropriate design innovations are incorporated into this region, these higher losses will lead to increased temperatures. These augmented temperatures in the vicinity of the stator coil can cause a reduction in the life of the stator coil insulation. If not properly controlled by design, this can limit the range of leading power factor operation of large generators.
Historically, end iron heating was resolved in the stator tooth area by splitting the last few inches of core iron and by stepping the tooth end packs. Providing radial cooling ducts in the ends of axially ventilated stator cores has proven to be satisfactory for existing ratings and machine sizes. However, the combination of several slits and radial ducts in the end pack region of the stator has the adverse effect of mechanically weakening the core end structure.
Other schemes had utilized flux shields in the tooth portion of the stator core. These eddy current shields are typically copper plates or loops situated directly in front of the stator teeth. They are conductive members of low magnetic permeability arranged to provide circulating currents which divert stray flux away from the tooth region. For highly rated machines, the currents induced in this type of shield produce extremely high losses, many times higher than that normally seen in the stator end iron. In most cases, liquid cooling of the shields may be required.
Additional losses in the stator core end packs result from axial magnetic flux caused by the rotor and stator end winding currents. Under normal machine operation, the terminal voltage is produced by magnetic flux which travels radially across the air gap and is distributed uniformly over the length of the core. In the end regions, this flux fringes from the ends of the rotor body to the stator end packs. This fringing flux enters the end packs at right angles to the plane of the lamination of the core. The loss generated by the ensuing eddy currents is considerably higher than the losses due to the same flux density entering parallel to the laminations. The net fringing flux is a vector sum of both the rotor and the armature components, varying in magnitude with both load and power factor. This flux continues to penetrate axially into the end pack until it can turn radially and join the peripherally travelling main synchronous flux system.
Flux screens consisting of several laminated sheets of material which are located between finger plates and end plates of a generator to reduce the axial flux striking the end region of the generator core are disclosed in different shapes for example in U.S. Pat. No. 4,152,615 as well as U.S. Pat. No. 4,281,266. A different type of shield for the end of the laminated dynamical electric machine stator core to reduce penetration of the stray end region flux into the tooth portion of the stator core is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,731,127 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,886,387.
A further design of a flux shield is disclosed in DE 2638908. Here the flux shield is mounted in the generator leaving an air gap behind the flux shield allowing cooling air to circulate in this air gap. In order to increase the heat transfer from the flux shield to the cooling air specific aids are provided. One possibility indicated in this document is to provide protrusions on the backside of the flux shield around which the cooling air flows.


A hybrid transmission/auto-conversion 3D format and scheme for transmission of 3D data towards various types of 3D displays is described. In the decoder (20) a stereo-to-depth convertor (24) generates a depth map. In the 3D video signal additional depth information called depth helper data (DH-bitstr) is sparsely transmitted both in time (partial depths in time) and/or spatially (partial depth within the frames). A depth switcher (25) selects the partial depths based on an explicit or implicit mechanism for indicating when these are to be used or when the depths must be automatically generated locally. Advantageously disturbing depth errors due to said stereo-to-depth convertor are reduced by the depth helper data.

The document "Working Draft on MVC extensions for inclusion of depth maps—ISO/IEC/JTC1/SC29/WG11/N12351, December 2011 by Teruhiko Suzuki, Miska M. Hannuksela, Ying Chen" is a proposal of new amendments to ITU-T Rec. H.264|ISO/IEC 14496-10 for adding 3D video technologies to MPEG coded video transfer signals (further called the ISO proposal). The ISO proposal describes coding of audio-visual objects, in particular amendments to said ISO standard Part 10: Advanced Video Coding, regarding Multi View Coding (MVC) extensions for inclusion of depth maps in the video format. According to the amendment MVC extensions for inclusion of depth maps video coding are specified allowing the construction of bitstreams that represent multiple views with related multiple supplemental views, i.e. depth map views. Similar to multiview video coding, bitstreams that represent multiple supplemental views may also contain further sub-bitstreams that conform to the proposed specification.
According to the ISO proposal depth maps may be added to a 3D video data stream having first video information representing a left eye view on a 3D display and second video information representing a right eye view on the 3D display. A depth map at the decoder side enables generating of further views, additional to the left and right view, e.g. for an auto-stereoscopic display.


An electric motor driven inline hydraulic apparatus comprising a housing having end members closing said housing, an electric motor stator mounted in said housing, an electric motor rotor, a shaft on which the rotor is mounted is journalled in the housing and a pump is integrally formed on one or both of the end members. The shaft extends through an opening in the end member and is connected to the rotating group of the pump. Hydraulic fluid is supplied to the interior of the electric motor housing and flows through passages in the housing to the intake of the pump integral with the end member. The end member associated with the pump is formed with an enlarged chamber adjacent the inlet of the pump which functions to reduce the flow velocity and separate the contained air from the hydraulic fluid thereby reducing the operating sound level of the pump.

In hydraulic pumps which are driven by an electric motor, it has been common to provide an electric motor in one housing and the hydraulic pump in another housing with the two housings positioned in line so that the motor and pump have their own sets of bearings and shafts that are usually engaged through internal and external splines or through flexible couplings. Such an arrangement is axially long and necessitates the use of mounting brackets and alignment guides.
As shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,729,717, an electric motor driven inline hydraulic pump comprises a common housing, a stationary shaft mounted in said housing and piston type spaced pump cylinder block subassemblies that rotate around and are mounted on the shaft. Each subassembly includes a cylinder block and a plurality of circumferentially spaced pistons. The cylinder block subassemblies are positioned such that the pistons of one subassembly extend toward the other subassembly. A common yoke plate is mounted between the two cylinder blocks and bears the two groups of piston shoes, one on each of its two bearing surfaces. Each cylinder block is driven independently of and in a direction opposite the other by an electric motor integrally mounted such that its hollow rotor houses the block and drives it. All components described above are contained in one housing and operate submerged in hydraulic fluid.
The aforementioned electric motor driven inline hydraulic pump provides an electric motor and pump embodied in the same housing and coupled directly without a rotating shaft; which utilizes a simple stationary shaft that is readily made and yet maintains an accurate support for the rotating pump components; which is relatively simple, axially compact and rugged in construction; which is less costly to manufacture; which reduces the audible noise; which results in equal and opposite radial and axial forces on the yoke plate thereby reducing its stresses and the force on the supporting pintle bearings to a negligible value; which results in smaller yoke spring and yoke control piston; which eliminates dynamic seals; which readily achieves a constant power operation without the aid of a compensator valve for this region; which automatically destrokes the yoke during starting should the pressure rise faster than the motor speed; which efficiently dissipates heat from the electric motor permitting the use of smaller and lighter motors capable of large overloads for short duration.
In the aforementioned patent application Ser. No. 07/687,173 U.S. Pat. No. 5,181,837 incorporated herein by reference, there is shown and claimed a combined electric motor and pump which has the aforementioned advantages but in addition permits the pump to be entirely submerged within the hydraulic fluid interior of the housing; which is applicable to electric motors of various types such as induction electric motors, permanent magnet motors, brushless motors; and which can be adapted to various startup and speed, rotor position, pressure and fluid temperature sensing.
In accordance with the aforementioned application, the electric motor driven inline hydraulic apparatus comprises a housing having end members closing said housing, an electric motor stator mounted in said housing, an electric motor rotor, a shaft on which the rotor is mounted is journalled in the housing and a pump is integrally formed on one or both of the end members. The shaft extends .through an opening in the end member and is connected to the rotating group of the pump. Hydraulic fluid is supplied to the interior of the electric motor housing and flows through passages in the housing to the intake of the pump integral with the end member. The end member associated with the pump is formed with an enlarged chamber adjacent the inlet of the pump which functions to reduce the flow velocity and separated the contained air from the hydraulic fluid thereby reducing the operating sound level of the pump.
Among the objectives of the present invention are to provide a combined electric motor and pump wherein a pump is integrated into one or both end members of the electric motor housing; wherein the electric motor housing and end member are constructed and arranged to stabilize and condition the flow of hydraulic fluid into the pump; and wherein the pump may comprise a piston pump, vane pump or gear pump, or combinations thereof.

Electric motor driven hydraulic apparatus with an integrated pump


The present invention relates to enzyme inhibitors. More specifically, the present invention relates to ligand-directed covalent modification of proteins; method of designing same; pharmaceutical formulation of same; and method of use.

Compounds that inhibit the activity of proteins, such as enzymes, are important therapeutic agents. Most inhibitors reversibly bind to their target protein and therefore reversibly inhibit the activity of their target protein. Although reversible inhibitors have been developed that are efficacious therapeutic agents, reversible inhibitors have certain disadvantages. For example, many reversible inhibitors of kinases interact with the ATP-binding site. Because the structure of the ATP-binding site is highly conserved among kinases, it has been very challenging to develop reversible inhibitors that selectively inhibit one or more desired kinases. In addition, because reversible inhibitors dissociate from their target protein, the duration of inhibition may be shorter than desired. Thus, when reversible inhibitors are used as therapeutic agents higher quantities and/or more frequent dosing than is desired may be required in order to achieve the intended biological effect. This dosing requirement may produce toxicity or result in other undesirable effects.
Irreversible inhibitors that covalently bind to their target protein have been described in the art. Covalent irreversible inhibitors of drug targets have a number of important advantages over their reversible counterparts as therapeutics. Prolonged suppression of the drug targets may be necessary for maximum pharmacodynamic effect and an irreversible inhibitor can provide this advantage by permanently eliminating existing drug target activity, which will return only when new target protein is synthesized. When an irreversible inhibitor is administered, the therapeutic plasma concentration of the irreversible inhibitor would need to be attained only long enough to briefly expose the target protein to the inhibitor, which would irreversibly suppress activity of the target and plasma levels could then rapidly decline while the target protein would remain inactivated. This irreversible binding has the potential advantage of lowering the minimal blood plasma concentration at which therapeutic activity occurs, minimizing multiple dosing requirements and eliminating the requirement for long plasma half-lives without compromising efficacy. All of these considerations could reduce toxicity due to any nonspecific off-target interactions that may occur at high or prolonged blood plasma levels. Irreversible inhibitors also likely have advantages in overcoming drug resistance requirements in two ways. First, irreversible inhibitors eliminate the requirement for long blood plasma half-lives without compromising efficacy. Second, because resistance mutations may compromise non-covalent binding, but even in the face of reduced non-covalent affinity, the inactivation mechanism will often, nonetheless, lead to protein target modification and irreversible inhibition. All of these considerations could reduce toxicity due to any nonspecific off-target interactions that may occur at high or prolonged blood plasma levels. Another advantage of irreversible inhibitors is that the inactivation mechanism that drives potency will often lead to a selectivity profile that is "orthogonal" to those readily achieved using only non-covalent binding interactions—a profile that is both pharmacologically advantageous and difficult to achieve using non-covalent inhibition.
Many reversible inhibitors of proteins are presently known, as are many of their binding sites in the proteins to which the reversible inhibitors bind. The binding sites of these reversible inhibitors are sometimes populated with amino acids that are capable of covalent modification with suitably reactive ligands. In other instances, amino acids are located near the binding sites of reversible inhibitors that are capable of covalent modification with suitably reactive ligands. Amino acids capable of covalent modification are typically those which have a heteroatom such as O, S, or N in the side chain, such as threonine, cysteine, histidine, serine, tyrosine, and lysine. Sulfur is amenable to covalent modification due to the nucleophilicity of sulfur, and as such there are examples of ligands that modify cysteine in proteins of interest. However, amino acids such as lysine are usually sufficiently unreactive that ligands do not react in vivo with lysine. In fact, highly reactive indiscriminate reagents are usually employed for lysine modification. And, as such, ligand-directed modification of lysine has heretofore remained unrealized. For this reason and others, there is a need for irreversible inhibitors of proteins of medicinal interest, which inhibitors exert their biological influence through a ligand-directed modification of lysine.

Ligand-directed covalent modification of protein


An improved process for producing a crystalline silicon ingot, a crystalline silicon wafer and a photovoltaic cell using the directional solidification process, and more particularly to loading and preparing a mold for the process of directional solidification. At least one rod polysilicon section and at least one chunk polysilicon, chip polysilicon or granular polysilicon is loaded into the mold, increasing packing density and thermal conductivity of the polysilicon contents while reducing contamination and resources expended to process a production cycle.

Components or products which generate electricity from light, commonly called solar panels, necessarily require one or more photovoltaic cells which essentially comprise silicon in a crystalline form. Typically, photovoltaic cells are produced from crystalline silicon wafers, which are sliced or produced from larger bricks of silicon called crystalline silicon ingots. Such photovoltaic cells, and likewise their parent crystalline silicon wafers and crystalline silicon ingots, may be either a monocrystalline (single-crystal) structure or a polycrystalline (multi-crystal) structure—creating two distinct families of photovoltaic cells, crystalline silicon wafers and crystalline silicon ingots in the photovoltaic industry.
Photovoltaic cells, crystalline silicon wafers and crystalline silicon ingots representing a monocrystalline structure are typically prepared in a process called the Czochralski process. To begin the Czochralski process, refined and reasonably pure silicon feedstock, commonly referred to as "polysilicon", is loaded into a cylindrical, rounded bottom crucible and melted. When the polysilicon in the crucible has thoroughly melted into a molten silicon mass, the primary function of the Czochralski process commences as one skilled in the art directs machinery to dip and withdraw a "seed crystal" into/from the molten silicon mass. By slowly withdrawing (or "pulling") the seed crystal and carefully controlling the slow cooling rate, a single-crystal ingot can be "grown" to a desired size or weight. This process can be costly and time-consuming to create crystalline silicon ingots on a per kilogram basis.
The second family of photovoltaic cells, crystalline silicon wafers and crystalline silicon ingots are polycrystalline and contain a plurality of crystal structures. This characteristic makes them slightly less efficient as a photovoltaic cell, however, in most applications the lower manufacturing costs of polycrystalline silicon wafers and polycrystalline silicon ingots more than offset the lower efficiency and thus provide the highest economic returns. Crystalline silicon ingots with a polycrystalline structure are produced by the Bridgman-Stockbarger crystal growth process, also called the "directional solidification" process.
In the directional solidification process known to those skilled in the art, a generally rectangular, flat bottom container (herein called a "mold") is filled with polysilicon and subsequently melted under an inert atmosphere. When the polysilicon contents of the mold, called the "charge", have thoroughly melted to a desired state of a molten silicon mass, the bottom of the mold (and thus the charge contained inside) is allowed to cool in a controlled manner. As this cooling occurs, one or more crystals nucleate and grow upward in the charge, thereby pushing impurities out of the expanding crystal microstructure. This slow cooling process of the entire molten silicon mass allows the crystals to grow to a large size.
While methods of loading polysilicon into a crucible intended for the Czochralski process are reasonably known to those skilled in the art, the present invention is instead directed toward improvements in loading and preparing a mold for the directional solidification process. The differences between the Czochralski and directional solidification processes are significant, both in terms of apparatus, processes and results.
First, crucibles utilized in the Czochralski process are cylindrical, typically 45 to 60 cm in diameter, and have a hemispherical bottom or a bottom with substantially rounded corners. These round features are necessary for optimum crystal dipping/pulling conditions. On the other hand, molds utilized for the directional solidification process tend to be rectangular (or square) with generally right angle corners, flat sides and a flat bottom—resembling a box rather than a cylinder.
It follows that the crystalline silicon ingot produced by a Czochralski crucible will be rounded or cylindrical in shape, whereas a crystalline silicon ingot produced by a directional solidification mold will be a generally rectangular ingot with generally right angle corners. This rectangular shape resembling a block results in a more efficient shape for a subsequent wafer slicing operation when manufacturing photovoltaic cells.
There are also significant contrasts between the melting phases of the Czochralski process and the directional solidification process. Crucibles utilized for the Czochralski process are heated by a furnace that directs heat to the sides of the crucible, one crucible at a time. This is necessary due to the fact that the top of a Czochralski crucible must be kept clear for the seed crystal and for the dipping/pulling apparatus. On the other hand, directional solidification molds are typically heated from the top and bottom, with multiple molds placed adjacent to one another in a large furnace for batch processing.
The cooling and crystallization phases of the Czochralski process and directional solidification process are also significantly different. Cooling of a Czochralski crucible occurs only when the crucible is effectively empty and no more silicon can be practically withdrawn at the end of a production cycle. To note, in the Czochralski process the majority of molten silicon mass is cooled as it is withdrawn and crystallized upon the seed crystal—occurring near the top surface of the molten silicon mass or outside the crucible altogether. To the contrary, directional solidification molds and the entire molten silicon mass contained within the mold are cooled from the bottom, with the crystallization phase beginning at the bottom of the molten silicon mass and traveling upwards.
Since crystallization by directional solidification forces impurities upwards, the topmost layer of a directional solidification ingot is often contaminated, whereas on the Czochralski process these corresponding impurities remain leftover in the bottom of the crucible after the ingot has been permanently withdrawn from the crucible.
Since the directional solidification process does not require the slow dipping/pulling process required of the Czochralski process, directional solidification is a quicker and more cost effective means to produce crystalline silicon ingots on a per kilogram basis. When utilizing the directional solidification process, the cost of producing a given crystalline silicon ingot by directional solidification remains largely independent of the actual weight of the polysilicon placed into the mold prior to the melting phase. It follows, therefore, that if more polysilicon can be loaded into the mold and processed for a given amount of power, time and labor, then the cost per kilogram of a crystalline silicon ingot is reduced.
However, certain factors which tend to increase the yield or weight of a given resultant ingot using directional solidification may also tend to also increase contamination, power consumption, time and labor required to process the batch. A discussion of these issues and the disclosed improved process for directional solidification is further detailed in the following paragraphs.

Process for producing a crystalline silicon ingot


In a plurality of working interface circuits (12-19), each circuit has at least one transmitter (86) and at least one receiver (88). A spare interface circuit (35) has at least one transmitter (158) and at least one receiver (154). A switch circuit (21) is coupled to the working interface circuits (12-19) and the spare interface circuit (35) and includes a plurality of switches (110-117; 109; 122, 138, 130, 150) which are operable to create a selected one of at least two data paths. A first of these data paths may be selectively formed from a selected one of the working interface circuits (12-19) to the spare interface circuit (35) to monitor the operation of the selected one of the working interface circuits (12-19) without affecting any communications signal transmitted by that working interface circuit. Another data path may be selectively established from a malfunctioning one of the working interface circuits (12-19) to the spare interface circuit (35). For substituting at least a portion of the spare interface circuit (35) for a like portion of malfunctioning one of the working interface circuits (12-19). In a preferred embodiment, a third data path may be selectively established from the spare interface circuit, through the switch circuit and back to the spare interface circuit to monitor the operation of the spare circuit (21).

Transmission systems that take in DS3 of STS (Synchronous Optical Network Transport Signal) signals in large numbers often employ a 1-for-n or m-for-n protection scheme whereby a number of interface cards (n) are protected by one or m spare interface cards. The incoming signals and outgoing signals can be routed to the spare card in a variety of ways. The most common is to pass the signal first to a switch card, which can route the signals either to the working cards or to the spare cards. One problem with this approach is that if the switch card is removed from the system, the paths to both the working and the spare card are broken and the signals are lost. Some systems employ special connectors which, when the card is removed, connect the signal paths. Unfortunately, these connectors have proven unreliable in service.
Another problem is that the output circuits on the working cards cannot be tested without affecting the output signals. If an incoming signal fails outside the system, the system of course cannot protect against it. However, conventional testing methods do not know whether the failure is external until they switch the signal to the spare card to try to protect it. This switching event may affect other signals. The performance of transmission systems is sometimes gauged by customers by the number of switches that the transmission systems make in changing in and out working interface cards. Conventional testing methods are undesirable because of the unnecessarily large number of switching events.
A need therefore exists for an ability to bridge onto a high-speed telecommunication signal to test it without affecting the signal, and to provide a monitoring and testing method which does not cause countable switching events in the working interface cards.

Spare card connection and switching circuitry for high-speed telecommunications interfaces


A static random access memory (SRAM) cell structure is created in a three-dimensional format as a vertical stack of wired transistors. These transistors are fabricated from crystalline silicon, and supplemental wiring structure features are fabricated to comprise a circuit along the walls of a vertical pillar. The three-dimensional cell integrated circuit can be created by a single mask step. Various structural features and methods of fabrication are described in detail. Peripheral interface, a two pillar version and other supplemental techniques are also described.

Various three-dimensional integrated circuits structures have been disclosed for DRAM cell structures. An integrated circuit structure incorporating multiple vertical components was disclosed in a co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/769,850 (with subsequent continuations-in-part).
These earlier vertical integrated circuit structures do not conveniently lend themselves to incorporation of crystalline silicon regions in the various components of a multiple semiconductor component stack, particularly where a large number of such semiconductor components are present. Fabrication of these earlier integrated circuit structures typically require a large number of photolithographic steps.

Vertically wired integrated circuit and method of fabrication


A method for correcting the output sensitivity an angular velocity detector, in which, a first running directional data of the mobile object is successively calculated in accordance with the output signal of the angular velocity detector, a second running directional data of the mobile object is successively calculated in accordance with the positioning data obtained from a plurality satellites, the sensitivity correction coefficient is calculated in based on the stored first and second running directional data, and the sensitivity correction coefficient is multiplexed by the output signal of the angular velocity detector, so as to correct the output sensitivity of the angular velocity detector. Therefore, the dispersion of the output sensitivity of the angular velocity detector is eliminated to improve the accuracy of output sensitivity.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a sensitivity correcting method, a navigation system and a vehicle, and more particularly, is applied to a car navigation system for detecting the position of a vehicle and displaying its position on a map.
2. Description of the Related Art
Heretofore, various car navigation systems for reading out map data from the memory medium such as a compact disk read only memory (CD-ROM), and displaying a position of a vehicle on the map obtained to support the driver on his driving operation by guiding him along the road, have been provided. In such as car navigation system, a global positioning system (GPS) receiver has been widely used as a position detecting means for detecting the position of the vehicle. The GPS receiver receives positioning data from the plurality of satellites which rotate round the earth, and analyzes the positioning information to detect the position of the vehicle.
Since the GPS receiver basically detects the position by receiving radio waves from the GPS satellites, it causes a problem such as the position cannot be detected with sufficiently high accuracy when the vehicle is in an area like a city in which radio waves from the GPS satellites can hardly be received, or the vehicle is running at low speed.
To solve the above problem, various methods have been provided: One of them is a method of using a self-navigation system in addition to the GPS navigation described above. In the self-navigation system, the position of the vehicle is detected by obtaining a driving route of the vehicle based on a driving speed and running direction of the vehicle and adding the driving route to the coordinates at the start point of the vehicle. Therefore, in a car navigation system employing the GPS navigation and self-navigation systems, an angular velocity detector such as a piezo-electric vibrating gyroscope is provided. The running direction of the vehicle will be obtained by detecting its angular velocity when the vehicle changes the running direction. Note that, the driving speed is generally obtained from a speed detector provided in the vehicle.
In this manner, the latest car navigation system can accurately detect the position b vehicle by employing the GPS navigation to detect the position of which receiving radio waves from the GPS satellites, and the self-navigation to detect the position based on the driving speed and running direction (angular velocity) of the car.
In the self-navigation system, the position detection is performed on the basis of running directional data obtained by the angular velocity detector as described above. However, in general, the angular velocity detector has variations in its output sensitivity (that is the relationship between an angular velocity detected and the signal level of an output signal showing the angular velocity), thus it causes a problem that the running directional data obtained from the angular velocity detector varies so that an accurate position can not be detected.
To detect the correct position, the output sensitivity of the angular velocity detector is adjusted at the factory. However, the output sensitivity may vary again depending on the mounting manner of the car navigation to a vehicle. For example, in the case where an attachable position is limited, the car navigation system may be attached slanted, and thus the angular velocity detector is also slanted. As a result, the reference axis of rotating detection shifts from the desired direction (e.g., the perpendicular direction of the vehicle) and thus the expected output sensitivity can not be obtained.

Method and apparatus for correcting output sensitivity, and navigation system


A spinning play device for children is disclosed. The spinning play device includes a rotating mechanism mounted to a frame a predetermined distance above a supporting surface and a handhold depending from the rotating mechanism to allow a user to grip the handhold during rotation of the rotating mechanism. The rotating mechanism includes a rotating element that is weight activated by a user's weight. From its lowermost position, the rotating mechanism may be returned to its uppermost position by vertical or linear movement only.

Children love playground equipment that facilitate and promote movement from simple activity. Swings, teeter-totters, and slides are good examples of such equipment. Children also enjoy climbing on monkey bars, being spun by a merry-go-round, and kicking their legs on a swing set. The on-going popularity of the merry-go-round pointedly demonstrates how much kids like to move in a circle. Kids simply like to spin, as is also evidenced by U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,720,524 and 4,234,152.
However, children look for variety in their play and do not especially like this play to be centered around sitting, as devices in the aforementioned patents require. The spinning play device of the present invention allows children, through minimal effort, to spin their whole bodies with only their hands being connected to the spinning device, which is their sole support. Other than the hands, the children's bodies are left to free and total movement as the applied body weight creates a rotational motion.


A method for automatically storing and presenting digital images is disclosed. The method includes capturing digital images with a digital camera and storing the images in an image file, where the file includes at least one speech field and at least one text-based tag. A categorization process is then initiated whereby a user speaks at least one category voice annotation into the digital camera to categorize an image, and the category voice annotation is stored in the speech field of the corresponding image file. The category voice annotation is then translated into at a text annotation using voice recognition, and the image and the text annotation are automatically stored in a database. An album may then be dynamically created by retrieving selected images and corresponding text annotations from the database in response to a request from the user, and displaying each image on the album along with the text annotations.

The present invention relates to digital images, and more particularly to a method and system for automatically categorizing, storing, and presenting the images using a speech-based command language on a web server and a digital camera.
As digital photography and the digitization of old photographs become more and more prevalent, the number of digital images that are stored and archived will increase dramatically. Whether the digital images are stored locally on a user""s PC or uploaded and stored on a Web photo-hosting site, the number of images will make it increasingly difficult for a user to find desired images.
To alleviate this problem, some digital cameras allow a user to categorize images according to a single subject category, such that when the images are downloaded to a host computer, the images having the same category are stored in the same file folder (U.S. Pat. No. 5,633,678- Electronic Still Camera For Capturing And Categorizing Images).
Although categorizing images with a single subject matter category is useful for very high-level sorting, for searching a large number of images and for more powerful searching, multiple categories are required. However, selecting and/or entering information for multiple categories on a digital camera would be cumbersome and tedious for the user.
One solution is to first upload the images from the digital camera to a PC, and then categorize the images on the PC using an image management application, such as PhotoSee Pro by ACD Systems, for example. Such image management applications typically display thumbnail images and allow the user to enter properties, such as caption, date, photographer, description, and keywords, for each thumbnail image. The user may then search the entire photo collection by entering desired properties.
Although programs such as PhotoSee Pro, and image database programs in general, allow the categorization of images using multiple categories, these programs have major drawbacks. One problem is that when categorizing the images, the user must retype the category information for each image. When categorizing a large amount of images, manually entering category information for each image is extremely tedious and time-consuming.
Another problem with uploading the images to a PC and categorizing the images on the PC is that the user must remember all the pertinent information for each image, which may not be an easy task, especially if a significant amount of time has past between capturing the images and categorizing them. A further problem is that all the category information entered for a series of images is generally only used for indexing. That is, it may be difficult for the user to view the category information when the images are presented for viewing and/or printing.
Accordingly, what is needed is an improved method for automatically categorizing, storing, and presenting digital images. The present invention addresses such a need.
The present invention provides a method for automatically storing and presenting digital images is disclosed. The method includes capturing digital images with a digital camera and storing the images in an image file, where the file includes at least one speech field and at least one text-based tag. A categorization process is then initiated whereby a user speaks at least one category voice annotation into the digital camera to categorize an image, and the category voice annotation is stored in the speech field of the corresponding image file. The category voice annotation is then translated into at a text annotation using voice recognition, and the image and the text annotation are automatically stored in a database. An album may then be dynamically created by retrieving selected images and corresponding text annotations from the database in response to a request from the user, and displaying each image on the album along with the text annotations.
According to the system and method disclosed herein, the present invention allows a user to categorize images at the time of capture with multiple categories of information by merely speaking into the camera. And since the user""s voice annotations are automatically recognized, translated, and stored in a database, the need for the user to manually enter categorization information is eliminated.

Automatically storing and presenting digital images using a speech-based command language


An optically detectable security marker for emitting light at a pre-selected wavelength. The marker comprises a rare earth dopant and a carrier incorporating the rare earth dopant. The interaction of the carrier and the dopant is such that the fluorescent fingerprint of the marker is different from that of the rare earth dopant. The marker may be incorporated into a plurality of items, such as fluids, for example paint, fuel or ink, and laminar products such as paper or banknotes or credit cards.

The present invention relates to a security marker, and to an item incorporating a security marker. The invention also relates to a system for detecting a security marker.
Security markers are provided to enable an item to be validated. The need for security markers for valuable items, such as documents, is well known. Banknotes typically include advanced security features, such as watermarks, fluorescent inks, security threads, holograms, kinegrams, and such like. However, with advances in copying technology, it is becoming more difficult to provide security features, which are difficult to counterfeit, easy to detect, quick to detect in situ, and not too expensive to incorporate in an item.
Chemical and biochemical taggants (also known as labels, markers, or tags) are added to items as markers that can be detected to validate the items. However, to validate such taggants, the taggants typically have to be removed from the item and then analyzed. This is both time-consuming and expensive, which renders such taggants inappropriate for on-line, high speed examination.
Optical based techniques have been used for non-visual encoding of a range of products. One of the most widely employed optical labeling strategies uses fluorescent labels, for example labels printed using fluorescent ink or dye. Fluorescent materials emit light when excited by radiation of a particular wavelength. Information can be encoded by forming marks using fluorescent inks, which information can only be retrieved when the mark is illuminated with radiation of the appropriate wavelength. An example of a particular type of fluorescent ink is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,256,193. JP 8208976; U.S. Pat. No. 4,736,425; U.S. Pat. No. 5,837,042; U.S. Pat. No. 3,473,027; U.S. Pat. No. 5,599,578; GB 2,258,659; U.S. Pat. No. 6,344,261; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,047,033 describe various security labeling and printing applications. However, known inks and dyes have the disadvantage that they have very broad spectra, which limits the number of inks and dyes that can be used in an item.


Examples described include transport stream multiplexers that may not need to search for an appropriate source to use to generate a transport stream packet. Instead, the source to use may be indicated by a position (e.g. an entry) in a memory table, e.g. a metadata array. Methods for placing transport stream packets on a transport stream and initializing the metadata array are also described.

FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration of a media system. The media system 100 may receive media from a variety of sources—with source #1, source #2, and source #3 shown in FIG. 1. A source may be any type of information (e.g. audio, video, or data) and may be digital or analog. A source may represent a program (e.g. a television or video program such as but not limited to, a movie, a news cast, a sports or other event program), or a portion of a program. In some examples, sources may include combinations of audio, video, and/or data information. Examples of data information include, for example subtitles or other digital information.
The information from the sources may be encoded by an appropriate encoder, e.g. the encoders 105-107 shown in FIG. 1. The encoders 105-17 may encode the source information in any known way, for example, to compress the information. The encoders 105-107 may implement any appropriate encoding methodology for the information including, but not limited to MPEG-2, MPEG-4, H.264, H.HEVC, or combinations of these or other encoding standards. Encoded data may then be provided to a transport multiplexer 110.
The transport multiplexer 110 may receive the encoded data from multiple sources, and interleave them into a transport stream 115. The transport multiplexer 110 generally provides the received data as packets on the transport stream 115. Each transport stream packet may conventionally be 188 bytes, with a 4 byte header identifying the packet followed by control data, optional timing information, and a section of compressed data from one of the sources. A bitrate of the transport stream 115 is typically constant, e.g. the number of transport stream packets transmitted per second may be fixed. Stuffing packets may accordingly be inserted by the transport multiplexer 110 when insufficient data is available to fill the target bitrate.
Accordingly, the transport multiplexer 110 may serially provide packets of encoded data from selected sources to the transport stream 115. The transport stream 115 may be provided to any number of destinations that may unpack and decode the transport stream 115 and/or re-broadcast the transport stream 115. Examples of destinations include a satellite 120, terrestrial antenna 121, and network 122. Playback devices (e.g. set-top boxes) may also receive and decode the transport stream 115 for playback in some examples.

Transport stream multiplexers and methods for providing packets on a transport stream


This disclosure provides a method for treating a subject afflicted with tumor, which method comprises administering to the subject an antibody or an antigen-binding portion thereof that specifically binds to a Programmed Death-1 (PD-1) receptor and inhibits PD-1 activity. In some embodiments, the tumor is derived from a non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). In some embodiments, the tumor expresses Programmed Death Ligand 1. In some embodiments, the subject carries a wild-type STK11 gene.

Human cancers harbor numerous genetic and epigenetic alterations, generating neoantigens potentially recognizable by the immune system (Sjoblom et al. (2006) Science 314:268-74). The adaptive immune system, comprised of T and B lymphocytes, has powerful anti-cancer potential, with a broad capacity and exquisite specificity to respond to diverse tumor antigens. Further, the immune system demonstrates considerable plasticity and a memory component. The successful harnessing of all these attributes of the adaptive immune system would make immunotherapy unique among all cancer treatment modalities.
PD-1 is a key immune checkpoint receptor expressed by activated T and B cells and mediates immunosuppression. PD-1 is a member of the CD28 family of receptors, which includes CD28, CTLA-4, ICOS, PD-1, and BTLA. Two cell surface glycoprotein ligands for PD-1 have been identified, Programmed Death Ligand-1 (PD-L1) and Programmed Death Ligand-2 (PD-L2), that are expressed on antigen-presenting cells as well as many human cancers and have been shown to downregulate T cell activation and cytokine secretion upon binding to PD-1.
Nivolumab (formerly designated 5C4, BMS-936558, MDX-1106, or ONO-4538) is a fully human IgG4 (S228P) PD-1 immune checkpoint inhibitor antibody that selectively prevents interaction with PD-1 ligands (PD-L1 and PD-L2), thereby blocking the down-regulation of antitumor T-cell functions (U.S. Pat. No. 8,008,449; Wang et al., 2014 Cancer Immunol Res. 2(9):846-56).
NSCLC is the leading cause of cancer death in the U.S. and worldwide (NCCN GUIDELINES®, Version 3.2014—Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer, available at: nccn.org/professionals/physician_gls/pdf/nscl.pdf, last accessed May 14, 2014). NSCLCs are relatively insensitive to chemotherapy but patients with Stage IV disease who have a good performance status (PS) benefit from treatment with chemotherapeutic drugs, including platinum agents (e.g., cisplatin, carboplatin), taxanes agents (e.g., paclitaxel, albumin-bound paclitaxel, docetaxel), vinorelbine, vinblastine, etoposide, pemetrexed and gemcitabine, and various combinations of these drugs.

Methods of treating a tumor using an anti-PD-1 antibody


A valve for reducing the likelihood of ice-related blockage in a fuel cell and methods for starting a fuel cell system. The valve includes a valve plate and coupling plate that are cooperative with one another within a valve body such that flexural forces imparted to the valve plate from a pressurized fluid are transferred to localized contact surfaces between the valve plate and coupling plate. By concentrating these forces to such a localized area, improvements in the ability of the fluid to initiate and propagate a crack in built-up ice around the valve's seating region is improved. In this way, fuel cell starting in cold conditions—such as those associated with temperatures at or below the freezing point of water—is also improved.

This invention relates generally to valves used in fuel cell systems, and more particularly to valves used in moisture-prone environments in such fuel cell systems such that the valves do not become blocked due to ice buildup under freezing conditions, as well as methods of fuel cell system start-up under frozen conditions such that blockage due to ice formation is inhibited.
A significant benefit to fuel cells as an energy-producing means is that it is achieved without reliance upon combustion as an intermediate step. As such, they have several environmental advantages over internal combustion engines (ICEs) and related power-generating sources. In a typical fuel cell—such as a proton exchange membrane or polymer electrolyte membrane (in either event, PEM) fuel cell—a pair of catalyzed electrodes are separated by an ion-transmissive medium (such as Nafion™). An electrochemical reaction occurs when a gaseous reducing agent (such as hydrogen, H2) is introduced to and ionized at the anode and then made to pass through the ion-transmissive medium such that it combines with a gaseous oxidizing agent (such as oxygen, O2) that has been introduced through the other electrode (the cathode); this combination of reactants form water as a benign byproduct. The electrons that were liberated in the ionization of the hydrogen proceed in the form of direct current (DC) electricity to the cathode via external circuit that typically includes a motor or related load where useful work may be performed. The power generation produced by this flow of DC electricity can be increased by combining numerous such cells to form a fuel cell stack or related assembly that makes up a fuel cell system.
Various fuel cell system operating conditions can lead to high water content in one or both of the reactant streams. In one form, such conditions may arise out of the use of devices such as a water vapor transfer (WVT) unit that helps ensure adequate humidity levels within various parts of the fuel cell stack. In certain operating conditions (including those associated with WVT usage), it is desirable to remove excess moisture to ensure that ice blockage of key flowpaths is avoided in conditions where such moisture may be exposed to freezing temperatures. Avoiding ice blockage is especially important during vehicle starting, where access to electricity for use in ancillary vehicular systems (such as heating, cooling, lighting and other systems) is generally not available until the fuel cell stack is operational.
Valves—with their relative movement between adjacent surfaces as a way to provide selective flow—are particularly susceptible to ice blockage, especially between such surfaces that come into intermittent contact with one another during valve opening and closing. One example are check valves, which are frequently used in fuel cell systems to limit reactant backflow into the stack during periods of non-operation of the stack in order to minimize undesirable reactions between catalytic substrates within the stack and an oxygen-bearing or hydrogen-bearing fluid. The type of complete valve closure that is needed to avoid the aforementioned reactions is often difficult to achieve, especially in situations where ice bonds are formed on valve sealing interfaces after a cold soak in a humid environment. Conventional valves (which in one form may be formed as a diaphragm that is responsive to a pressurized reactant bearing against it) exist in a deformed state at temperature for the duration of stack operation; this in turn can lead to warpage or related sustained permanent deformation that exacerbates the sealing or leakage problems. Moreover, stresses imparted to the diaphragm from the reactant is nearly uniform around the diaphragm perimeter; such relatively larger surface contact requires a significantly high reactant force, which in turn delays the onset of ice breakup and the subsequent opening of the valve. In some circumstance, this force may not be sufficient to overcome the built-up ice, leading to the aforementioned failed start.