A hydraulic system provides failure protection by incorporating an isolator adjacent a hydraulic actuator. The isolator has a first port connected to the hydraulic actuator and a second port with an electrically operated isolation valve connected between those ports. A pressure relief valve responds when pressure in the hydraulic actuator exceeds a given level by relieving pressure thereby enabling the isolation valve to open without application of electricity and release the pressure in the hydraulic actuator. A control valve assembly is remote from the hydraulic actuator and connected to the second port for metering flow of fluid between a source and the hydraulic actuator.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to hydraulic systems that control fluid flow to a hydraulic actuator which produces movement of a mechanical component on a machine, and in particular to preventing the mechanical component from moving in the event of a hydraulic system failure.
2. Description of the Related Art
Construction and agricultural equipment employ hydraulic systems to operate different mechanical elements. For example, a telehandler is a common material handling machine that has a pair of forks or a platform attached to the end of a telescopic boom pivotally coupled to a tractor. Separate hydraulic actuators are utilized to raise and lower the boom, vary the boom length, and tilt the forks or platform, with each of those operations being referred to as a "hydraulic function" of the machine. "Hydraulic actuator", as used herein, generically refers to any device, such as a cylinder-piston arrangement or a motor, that converts hydraulic fluid flow into mechanical motion.
The operator of the machine sits in a cab and manipulates levers or joystick to control the hydraulic actuators and thus the mechanical components of the machine. That manipulation operates valves that govern the flow of fluid from a pump to the hydraulic actuators. The valves may be located near the cab or elsewhere on the machine and are connected to the hydraulic actuators by hoses. Even when a valves are located relatively close to the associated hydraulic actuator hoses still are used.
The hoses on construction and agricultural equipment are exposed to physical abuse and harsh environmental conditions which results in deterioration that leads a hose bursting. When a hose between the valve assembly and the hydraulic actuator bursts, the fluid within the actuator is able to rapidly escape. If the ruptured hose is connected to a machine component that carries a heavy load, such as the boom of a telehandler or excavator, that rapidly escaping fluid may allow that component to drop precipitately resulting in damage or injury.
Therefore, it is desirable to provide a mechanism that prevents motion of a machine component upon failure of a hydraulic component connected thereto.

Hydraulic system with a cylinder isolation valve


A primary processor manages metadata of a production dataset and a snapshot copy, while a secondary processor provides concurrent read-write access to the primary dataset. The secondary processor determines when a first write is being made to a data block of the production dataset, and in this case sends a metadata change request to the primary data processor. The primary data processor commits the metadata change to the production dataset and maintains the snapshot copy while the secondary data processor continues to service other read-write requests. The secondary processor logs metadata changes so that the secondary processor may return a “write completed” message before the primary processor commits the metadata change. The primary data processor pre-allocates data storage blocks in such a way that the “write anywhere” method does not result in a gradual degradation in I/O performance.

In the data processing art, there has been a general trend to specialize and distribute data processing tasks among an increasing number data processors. For example, more than a decade ago, it was common for a mainframe computer to be programmed with a file system manager and various application programs that invoked the file system manger in order to access files of the file systems. In turn, the mainframe computer sent logical block access commands to another mainframe processor of a cached disk array.
More recently, it has been common for application programs to be executed by workstations such as personal computers networked to file servers. Each file server is programmed with a file system manager. Each file server may include a volume manager for access to storage of disk drives in the file server. However, file servers have been networked or clustered in various ways to enable share access to storage subsystems or arrays of disk drives by multiple workstations.
Data consistency problems may arise if two file servers share access to the same file system in storage. As described in Xu et al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,324,581, one way to solve this data consistency problem is to designate one of the file servers to be an exclusive owner of access rights to each file system. The exclusive owner of the access rights to a file system, however, may delegate data access or metadata management tasks to other file servers. For example, if a first file server receives a request from a network client for access to a file system owned by a second file server, then the first file server sends a metadata request to the second file server. The second file server responds by placing a lock on the file and returning metadata of the file. The first file server uses the metadata of the file to formulate a data access command that is used to access the file data in the file system directly to the disk array over a bypass data path that bypasses the second file server.
As further described in Jiang et al. U.S. Patent Application Publication 2005/0240628 published Oct. 27, 2005, metadata management in a file server or storage network is delegated from a primary data processor to a secondary data processor in order to reduce data traffic between the primary data processor and the secondary data processor. The primary data processor retains responsibility for managing locks upon objects in the file system that it owns, and also retains responsibility for allocation of free blocks and inodes of the file system. The leasing of free blocks and inodes to the secondary and the granting of locks to the secondary enables the secondary to perform other metadata management tasks such as appending blocks to a file, truncating a file, creating a file, and deleting a file.
For data backup and recovery, it is often desirable to make a snapshot copy of a production dataset. In this context, a production dataset is a dataset that changes dynamically as one or more applications write to the dataset. A snapshot copy of the production dataset is a static, point-in-time copy of the production dataset.
A snapshot copy can be created concurrently with write access to the production dataset by preserving original data while applications write new data to the production dataset. A record is kept of data blocks that have been changed since the time of the snapshot. Typically this is done either at the logical volume level by keeping a bitmap of logical blocks that have changed in a logical volume, or at the file system level by keeping a map of file system blocks that have changed in a file system.
Basically, there are two methods for preserving the original data while applications write new data to the production dataset. In a "copy on first write" method, for the first time that new data is written to a block of the production dataset since the time of the snapshot, the original data is copied to a new block location for the snapshot copy, and the new data is written to the original block location of the production dataset. In a "write anywhere" method, at least for the first time that new data is written to a block of the production dataset since the time of the snapshot, the new data is written to a new block location, and the block mapping for the production dataset is changed so that the new block location is mapped to the production dataset, and the original block location is mapped to the snapshot copy.
The "copy on write" method has the advantage of preserving the original block mapping for the production dataset, so that physical co-locality of data is maintained in the production dataset. This advantage is obtained, however, at the expense of slower write performance because of the time required for copying the original data to a new block location.
The "write anywhere" method has the advantage of faster write performance because there is no delay needed for any copying of the original data to a new block location prior to completion of a write operation. This advantage is most significant for large I/O's of multiple blocks, and least significant for partial block writes because a partial block write involves a read-modify-write of the block. In any case, however, there may be a degradation of read-write performance over time due to loss of physical co-locality of the data of the production dataset. The block pre-allocation method described above may reduce this loss of physical co-locality by appropriate allocation and mapping of co-located physical storage to the new block locations allocated to the new data written to the production dataset.
Typically, the "copy on first write" method has been used for making snapshot copies of logical volumes or LUNs at the "backend" disk storage array of a data storage system. The snapshot copy process occurs "in band" with the write access to the disk storage array. An example of a commercial product using this method is the EMC Corporation Time Finder™ snapshot copy facility.
The "write anywhere" method has been used for making snapshot copies of file systems at the file system level in a file server. An example of a commercial product using this method is the EMC Corporation's ISCSI snapshot copy facility for its CELERA™ network file server.
For example, to create a "write anywhere" snapshot of a file, the file's metadata is made "read-only." Then the inode of the file is cloned to create a production file inode and a snapshot file inode. Initially, the indirect block tree of the file is linked to both of these inodes. When new data is first written to a block of the production file since the time of the snapshot, the new data is written to a newly allocated block, and the block pointer to the original data block is changed in the production file inode so that it points to the newly allocated block, and one bit in this block pointer indicates that this block has been written to since the time of the snapshot. For keeping a chronological series of snapshots of the file, this one bit is more generally used as an ownership bit indicating whether or not the data of the pointed-to data block changed prior to the time of the snapshot and after the time of the next oldest snapshot. Further details regarding this procedure of creating and maintaining write-anywhere snapshots of a file are found in Bixby et al., U.S. Patent Application Pub. No. 2005/0065986 published Mar. 24, 2005 entitled "Maintenance of a File Version Set Including Read-Only and Read-Write Snapshot Copies of a Production File," incorporated herein by reference.

Distributed maintenance of snapshot copies by a primary processor managing metadata and a secondary processor providing read-write access to a production dataset


In an automatic bobbin changing apparatus of a winding machine having a plurality of work stations disposed along the lengthwise direction of a machine frame, each winding portion of work station is provided with: a yarn treating device including a yarn sucking device (21), a yarn lifting guide (22), a yarn cutting device (24), a yarn gathering arm (61) and yarn threading arm (63) a cradle turning device including a cradle (13) and a cradle turning motor (31); an empty bobbin donning device including an empty bobbin arm (51); and a package receiver (83), and disposed in the winding machine is a control member for operating the yarn treating device, the cradle turning device, the empty bobbin donning device and the package receiver when at least one of packages at the winding portions reaches a state where it is to be changed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for automatically changing bobbins, i.e., dolling a package and donning an empty bobbin, at a winding machine having a plurality of work stations disposed along the lengthwise direction of a machine frame.
In machines for winding a yarn, such as a draw texturing machine (DTY) , a draw twister (DT machine), a twisting machine, a double twister, a rewinding machine, a yarn winding machine, a film winding machine, or a glass fiber winding machine, a plurality of work stations are disposed along the lengthwise direction of a machine frame.
When a package is wound in such a winding machine, after the full wound package is doffed, an empty bobbin is donned, and the winding operation is continued.
Winding machines are roughly classified into two types. In a first type, the work station has a vertical spindle and a bobbin for winding a yarn is vertically supported by the vertical spindle. In the other type, a bobbin for winding a yarn is almost horizontally supported by a cradle.
Although the present invention is applicable to both types, it is preferably an apparatus for changing bobbins, i.e., doffing a full package and donning an empty bobbin, in a winding machine wherein a bobbin Sot winding a yarn is almost horizontally supported by a cradle.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventional apparatus for doffing full packages and donning empty bobbins are roughly classified into two types:
(1) a so called simultaneous type doffer which is installed on a machine frame and which simultaneously doffs all full packages from the machine frame; and
(2) a so called movable type doffer wherein a truck moves along a machine frame and which sequentially doffs full packages and dons empty bobbins.
Since doffing operations are performed at all the work stations by the simultaneous doffer, small packages, which are less than the full package to be doffed, are also doffed. Further, it is very difficult to install such a simultaneous type doffer to an already installed winding machine, such as a DTY machine, which has not been prepared for the installation of doffer equipment prior to it being installed.
Contrary to this, it is said that the movable type doffer is superior to the simultaneous type doffer because of the following reasons. The movable type doffer can be introduced to an already installed winding machine. Further, the doffed full packages can be automatically stored in a peg type stand for storing packages together with a doffing operation by a movable type doffer. In addition, one movable truck is sufficient for a plurality of winding stations.
However, generally speaking, in winding machines, including draw texturing machines, although the precisions in prefabrication of each winding device are sufficiently high, the relative locational relationships between the winding devices, especially between those belonging to different work stations, are not taken into consideration. For example, if the heights from the floor on which the machine frame is installed or the distances from the working area are measured, there can be observed a large variation between the work stations.
The above-mentioned auto doffer repeats its movement and stoppage along the lengthwise direction of the machine frame and also repeats its doffing operations, which are entirely the same at all the work stations, based on the location where it stops.
As described above, a conventional winding machine per se has a large variation between its work stations, and accordingly, the locations, based on which the operations start, are not identical between the work stations. Therefore, doffing operations cannot be assured.
In order to enhance assurance of the doffing operation, when an auto doffer such as described above is intended to be used in a conventional winding machine, the floor on which the winding machine is installed is flattened first, and then base rails are disposed with high precision at the locations where the auto doffer moves. Further, the winding machine is reconstructed so that both the preciseness in the relative locational relationships between winding devices disposed along the lengthwise direction of the winding machine and the preciseness of the prefabrication of the winding devices are enhanced.
As a result, when a conventional auto doffer is intended to be used, a very large reconstruction and a lot of costs for reconstruction are required. Therefore, the conventional auto doffers have not been practically used.
Further, U.S. Pat. No. 4,615,493 proposes an improved movable type doffer, which can be referred to as a "doffing robot" by which such a large reconstruction of the floor can be neglected. However, since this doffing robot moves on base rails, it still requires a large amount of expense for installing accompanying equipments, such as base rails disposed outside the DTY machine, and accordingly, a large space for installing the accompanying equipments. Consequently, the doffing robot cannot be readily used in a plant which has not been intended to use such a doffing robot. In addition, there is a problem that setting of a doffing program for a doffing robot is somewhat complicated. Further, there is another problem that a small package, which is less than a full package due to some reason such as yarn breakage during winding operation, is doffed together with other packages because a doffing robot usually doffs all the package in a predetermined operational time.

Automatic bobbin changing apparatus for a winding machine


The present invention is directed to therapeutic methods and compositions for treating non-small cell lung cancer in a subject comprising administering an effective amount of an extract or powder of a herbal mixture, optionally with an anti-cancer agent to said subject. The herbal mixture comprises a component of at least one species from each of the genus Astragalus, Cimicifuga foetida rhizoma, Ophiopogon radix, Atractylodes lancea rhizoma, Panax ginseng-Red, Atractylodes rhizoma-White, Massa medicata fermentata, Citrus reticulata-viride, Citrus reticulata, Glycyrrhiza radix, Schisandra fructus, Angelica sinensis radix, Phellodendron cortex, Alisma rhizoma, Pueraria radix, Ziziphus fructus-Red, and Zingiber officinale radix.

Lung cancer is a disease which consists of uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. This growth may lead to metastasis, which is the invasion of adjacent tissue and infiltration beyond the lungs. The vast majority of primary lung cancers are carcinomas, derived from epithelial cells. Lung cancer, the most common cause of cancer-related death in men and women, is responsible for 1.3 million deaths worldwide annually, as of 2004. Common treatments for lung cancer include palliative care, surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy (radiotherapy) and target therapy.
The main types of lung cancer are small cell lung cancer (SCLC) and non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) is a fast-growing type of lung cancer. It spreads much more quickly than non-small cell lung cancer. There are three different types of small cell lung cancer: small cell carcinoma (oat cell cancer), mixed small cell/large cell carcinoma and combined small cell carcinoma. Most small cell lung cancers are the oat cell type. Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is the most common type of lung cancer. There are three forms of NSCLC: adenocarcinomas, squamous cell carcinomas and large cell carcinomas. Also there are several other types that occur less frequently, and all types can occur in unusual histologic variants and as mixed cell-type combinations. Adenocarcinomas are often found in an outer area of the lung. Squamous cell carcinomas are usually found in the center of the lung by an air tube (bronchus). Large cell carcinomas can occur in any part of the lung. They tend to grow and spread faster than the other two types. Sometimes the phrase "non-small-cell lung cancer" ("not otherwise specified", or NOS) is used generically, usually when a more specific diagnosis cannot be made. This is most often the case when a pathologist examines a small amount of malignant cells or tissue in a cytology or biopsy specimen.
As a class, NSCLCs are relatively insensitive to chemotherapy, compared to small cell carcinoma. When possible, they are primarily treated by surgical resection with curative intent, although chemotherapy is increasingly being used both pre-operatively (neoadjuvant chemotherapy) and post-operatively (adjuvant chemotherapy).

Methods and compositions for treating non-small cell lung cancer

Chang Gung Medical Foundation Keelung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital


A synchronization window for synchronizing data for a calendar in a client calendar data store on a calendar data client computer system with data for the calendar in a server calendar data store on a calendar data server computer system can be calculated using a current time. A request for synchronization data for calendar items for the calendar with calendar times that are within the synchronization window can be sent to the calendar data server. One or more responses to the request can be received from the calendar data server. The response(s) can include received records for calendar items that are at least partially within the synchronization window. The received records can include a master record of a recurring calendar item and an instance record of an occurrence of the recurring calendar item. The received records for the calendar items can be incorporated in the client calendar data store.

Calendar data is often maintained in a server calendar data store on a calendar data server computer system. A client computer system may also maintain a client version of the calendar data in a client calendar data store. The client version may be version of the entire calendar data from the server or the client version may be a subset of the calendar data from the server. Such systems can allow the calendar data on the client to be synchronized with the calendar data on the server. To do this, the calendar data can be sent from the server to the client. The synchronization data may include data for a recurring calendar item. For example, the data may include a master record for the recurring item.

Recurring calendar item master and instance synchronization


A system for varying an eyelet-to-eyelet distance of a vehicle. The system includes top and bottom mounting components defining the eyelet-to-eyelet distance, the top mounting component being operatively connected to a frame of the vehicle, and the bottom mounting component being operatively connected to a supporting component of the vehicle. The system also includes a telescopic component disposed about a housing of at least one of the top and bottom components, the telescopic component being displaceable with respect to said housing in response to a given input of a driver of the vehicle, for varying a distance between the top and mounting components, and thus varying the eyelet-to-eyelet distance of the vehicle. Also described is a vehicle including such a system, and a method of operating associated thereto.

Shock absorbers are well known in the art.
Indeed, conventional shock absorbers generally comprise a hydraulic circuit or path containing fluid (typically oil) for carrying out a damping of shocks that a vehicle may be subjected to when travelling over a given terrain. Essentially, the damping of shocks is done via a restriction of the fluid contained in the hydraulic path of the shock absorber.
Also known in the art are conventional shock absorbers that rely on a compressing of an elastic objet (e.g. spring) for carrying out a corresponding damping of shocks.
Also known in the art are conventional shock absorbers that rely on a combined effect of both a compression of fluid and a compression of a spring.
It is also known in the art that in certain conventional shock absorbers, when the shock compresses, the movement of a corresponding shaft will displace a certain amount of hydraulic fluid (e.g. oil). This displaced oil will pass through adjustments (ex. "shims"). The range of these adjustments can vary the opening of the flow channels for the oil to pass therethrough. If the passage is smaller or reduced, then the oil will encounter more resistance to flow therethrough. If the passage is larger or increased, then the oil will encounter less resistance to flow therethrough. This resistance will permit the shock to absorb a certain amount of energy, depending on the particular static and/or dynamic loads to which the vehicle, including such a conventional shock absorber, is subjected to.
Also known in the art are the following US patents which describe various devices (dampers, stabilizers, shock absorbers, etc.) for use with motorbikes, ATVs and the like: U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,628,811; 1,957,997; 2,009,678; 4,773,514; 5,516,133; and 6,401,884 B2.
Also known to the Applicant is U.S. Pat. No. 5,044,614 granted on Sep. 3, 1991, to John A. Rau, which relates to a shock absorber spring adjuster device. There is described a shock absorber assembly which includes a piston/tube shock mechanism provided with adjustment devices permitting variation of the effective length and thus operating parameters, of a coil spring surrounding the shock mechanism. Adjustment is obtained by the vertical displacement of a member surrounding a body sleeve disposed exteriorly of the shock mechanism and wherein this vertical displacement alters the elevation of one end of the coil spring. A lock nut secures the obtained adjustment and both the member and nut may be manipulated with a simple tool cooperating with a specific configuration on the periphery of the member and nut.
The majority of shock absorbers available on the market now, make it possible to increase or decrease the force applied on the shock absorber spring via a nut located on the absorber body. Typically, these nuts are adjustable using a tool that is provided with the suspension. Also known in the art are the substantial drawbacks associated with these types of conventional adjustment systems in that the adjustment of the nut could become fairly difficult considering the restricted room available around the suspension, such as on an ATV, for example. Also, each shock absorber spring has to be adjusted independently, increasing error in trying to have two or more equal spring preloads. Moreover, another substantial drawback associated with conventional adjustment systems of shock absorbers is that typically, the vehicle has to be stationary and the rider has to disembark from the vehicle, this task being also tedious and time consuming, even with the proper specialty tooling.
It is also known in the art that there are various preload systems for mechanical springs that are currently available on the market. These preload systems are typically used for motorcycles. Generally, an adjusting knob is used to manually move a piston which will displace a fluid into a chamber, said chamber can expand or retract to compensate for displacement changes of the fluid. The preload piston can be placed remotely from the chamber to ease the accessibility of the knob. Fluid from the piston to the chamber will be connected typically with a hose.
Another substantial drawback associated with this conventional type of preload system resides in that, before finding the correct suspension adjustments on an ATV for example, one needs to complete several tests and one cannot interact with the adjustments while riding to face different types of riding conditions or weight distributions on the bike.
Track systems are also well known in the art.
For example, belonging to the Applicant is U.S. Pat. No. 7,556,130 B2 granted on Jul. 7, 2009, to Lamoureux et al. There is described a track system for providing complementary shock absorbing capability to a primary shock absorbing assembly having a hydraulic path containing fluid. The track system includes a chamber, a damping assembly and an adjusting assembly. The chamber has opposite first and second ends, the first end of the chamber being provided with a port operatively connectable to the hydraulic path of the primary shock absorbing assembly, the port being configured for allowing fluid from the hydraulic path of the primary shock absorbing assembly to enter and exit the chamber of the track system through the port thereof. The damping assembly is configured for damping a flow of fluid entering the chamber via the port thereof. The adjusting assembly is configured for adjusting a damping mode of the damping assembly.
However, the above-mentioned conventional assemblies are not configured, designed or even meant for varying an eyelet-to-eyelet distance in response to a given input of a driver of the vehicle.
Indeed, taking the example of a conventional snowmobile, as illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, when a snowmobile undertakes a left or a right turn, in some applications, such as "back country", typically, because the suspension assemblies are independent from one and other, the innermost suspension assembly will stay against the given snow on which the snowmobile travels, but the outermost suspension assembly will not always rest against the snow, thereby depriving the snowmobile from a desired traction which is useful for better steering and control of the snowmobile. Therefore, it would be beneficial to provide a system where the eyelet-to-eyelet distance can be varied in response to a steering direction of the vehicle, so that, in the case of a snowmobile for example, the outermost ski may contact the snow when the snowmobile is being turned, for better grip and control, etc.
Hence, in light of the aforementioned, there is a need for an improved device or system which would be able to overcome and/or remedy some of the aforementioned prior art drawbacks.


A method for producing magnetic particles includes forming a hydrophobic first polymer layer on the surface of a mother particle containing superparamagnetic particles, forming a second polymer layer having glycidyl groups at least on its surface on the first polymer layer, and introducing a polar group containing one or more of at least one atom selected from the group consisting of an oxygen atom, a nitrogen atom, and a sulfur atom by chemically modifying the glycidyl groups.

The present invention relates to magnetic particles, a method for producing the same, and probe-bonded particles.
Since magnetic particles can be easily applied to washing of materials by magnetic separation and can provide an outstanding reaction field in the researches of antigen-antibody immunoreactions, hybridization of DNAs or DNA and RNA, interactions of pharmaceutical candidate substances and in vivo substances, and the like, the magnetic particles are being actively used in the biochemical field, particularly in the research of diagnostic agents and pharmaceuticals in recent years.
Particularly as biochemical carrier particles, polystyrene particles are mainly used for physical adsorption sensitization, and polystyrene particles modified with a carboxyl group are mainly used for chemical bond sensitization. However, these particles adsorb a large amount of physiologically active substances existing in test samples such as cells, proteins, and DNAs which are not the target substances. Such adsorption of non-target substances is herein referred to as "non-specific adsorption". The non-specific adsorption hinders performance of sensitization particles. That is, the non-specific adsorption has been a serious hindrance when using these particles.
As a biochemical carrier exhibiting only small non-specific adsorption, gels based on sugar chains such as agarose and sepharose are used. These gels, however, tend to reduce the activity of bonded probes and cannot emit a sufficient number of signals in many cases.
Reducing non-specific adsorption is also demanded for magnetic particles. To this end, magnetic particles with glycidyl groups introduced onto the particle surface have been proposed. For example, JP-A-2006-131771 proposes a method of dispersing superparamagnetic particles in styrene and glycidyl methacrylate and polymerizing while finely dispersing the mixture by supersonic treatment. However, not only this method cannot sufficiently cover magnetic materials with glycidyl methacrylate to adequately reduce the non-specific adsorption, but also the average diameter of the resulting particles is 200 nm or less, which is too small for the particles to exhibit sufficient magnetic separation performance.
The applicant of this invention has disclosed a method for manufacturing magnetic particles comprising a step of providing a two layer polymer coat in order to efficiently produce particles for diagnostic agents having a uniform diameter and being free from release of magnetic materials or elution of substances originating from magnetic material components such as iron ion (Japanese Patent No. 3738847). The applicant further disclosed magnetic particles with reduced non-specific adsorption (JP-A-2005-83904 and JP-A-2005-83905). However, further reduction of non-specific adsorption is desired.
Although the objective is not necessarily reducing the non-specific adsorption, JP-T-2-501753, for example, discloses a method for producing magnetic particles with glycidyl groups introduced therein by polymerizing a mixture of a magnetic material and a monomer in the presence of nuclear particles, and coating the resulting polymer. However, since only a very small amount of the mixture of the magnetic material and the monomer polymerize on the nuclear particles, only a very small amount of magnetic materials can be incorporated into the nuclear particles. The product thus exhibits poor magnetic separation properties.
JP-T-10-505118 discloses a reaction for introducing amino groups into magnetic particles with glycidyl groups introduced therein. The resulting magnetic particles are porous particles to be used for an ion-exchange purposes having remarkable non-specific adsorption.
JP-T-2006-511935 proposes a method of causing a magnetic material to deposit on the surface and inside of particles and coating the particles with a polymer having glycidyl groups. However, according to this method, when magnetic particles are caused to deposit on the particle surface, the polymer having glycidyl groups can be coated only insufficiently, failing to reduce the non-specific adsorption.

Polymer-coated magnetic particles comprising a 2,3-hydroxypropyl group, and probe-bonded particles


A method for preparing a more reliable connection between two members (2, 4) is provided. The method involves the use of a gas-removal layer (6), which allows for gas transport in a number of overall directions in a plane of the gas-removal layer. The gas-removal layer comprises a resin (12) and during consolidation the gas-removal layer is deformed to form a collection substantially free from entrapped gas voids. Furthermore, a gas-removal layer is provided as well as a mould for casting of gas-removal layers and a method for preparing such a mould. The method and the gas-removal layer provided are particularly useful for manufacturing of wind turbine blades and spars for such blades.

It is a demand within the field of structural composites to produce still larger composite structures. The size of wind turbine blades and spars for wind turbine blades is for example constantly being increased to an extent where preparation of one-piece members requires unacceptable resources. Such resources may for example be large processing times during laying of layers and large production facilities with regard to apparatus size and space requirements. It is therefore desirable to prepare the composite structures in smaller members and connect these members to form the final structure at a later stage and/or facility.
Members to be connected may be non-cured, partially cured such as pre-consolidate or fully cured, respectively. In general, the members are becoming increasingly rigid with the degree of curing.
Experimental work has shown that presence of voids in the interface between connected members is detrimental to the mechanical performance of the connection. As a part of the connecting procedure it is therefore typically attempted to remove gas from the interface. However, if at least one of the members is not rigid, i.e. not fully cured, a significant risk remains that gas may be entrapped between the members without any chance of removing it by for example applying a vacuum.
This is for example the situation in GB 2 378 995 A, where a connection between two members via a compressible composite material is disclosed. The compressible composite comprises a fibrous material and a resinous material. The bulk of the compressible composite is substantially devoid of air void. In use, the compressible composite member is placed between the members to be connected and then formed to resemble the shape of the gap between the members by forcing the resinous material to leave the compressible composite. As the composite structure between the members are substantially devoid of air voids and reinforced by fibres, it may typically possess a high mechanical strength, but the preparation method does not take into account the aforementioned substantial risk of entrapment of gas between the individual member and the composite structure. The weak region of the combined structure as described in GB 2 378 995 A is hence the interfaces between the compressible composite material and each of the members.
When the connection is furthermore bearing a load, such as most connections between members reinforced by unidirectional fibres in the longitudinal direction of the fibres, the sensitivity towards voids in the interface represents a major course of lack of process reliability.
There is therefore an urgent need for a method of connecting members without the risk of having voids in the interface. Furthermore, the connection between the members should be highly reproducible and reliable and possess good mechanical strength.


A preactivated chromatography tip having covalent coupling functionality within a hydrodynamically designed micropipette tip assembly. The preactivated micro-channeled element provides high fluid directionality and throughput with minimum backpressure. A fibrous capture element is designed to optimize surface area to volume ratio, chemical resistance, a specific directional flow pattern, low non-specific binding of ligands, small sample volume, speed and low background.

From the beginning of the science of chromatography, fibers have been employed extensively. Fibers were used as surfaces that were selectively adherent to compounds to be separated. Complex mixtures of molecules would bind to the fibers and be selectively removed by solvent systems. Cellulose is a common fiber comprised of linear polymer of beta 1,4-linked D-glucose, with beat 1,6 crosslinks. Paper chromatography is the classic example, initially used to separate colored molecules as an organic solvent wicked up the paper. The use of chemically derivatized paper fibers, such as cellulose acetate, quickly followed. A powdered form of such derivatized cellulose acetate became the basis of ion exchange and affinity column chromatography in which glass columns were packed with a slurry of cellulose fibers.
While these cellulosic columns were effective in increasing the surface area used to separate compounds, they were sorely deficient in resolving very similar molecules. The use of high flow rates to speed separations, created high back pressure, uneven packing and channelling. These deficiencies were due to the limitations of the physical structure of the fibers themselves. The particles of cellulose were of random length and their orientation in the column was totally random. This resulted in a column having a non-uniform pore size and areas of the column that could form a microcrystalline packing structure, thereby obstructing flow.
One particular application for diagnostic chromatography is DNA strand separation. Heretofore DNA strand separation techniques have been utilized in performing DNA sequence analysis of amplified DNA fragments. Typically, streptavidin, a protein having a very high affinity for binding biotin, is coated (immobilized) onto a solid support, such as for example magnetic microspheres or microtiter plates. When magnetic microspheres are used, the disadvantage is that optimal capture of the biotinylated DNA requires constant mixing of the sample with the streptavidin coated microspheres. Moreover, magnetic collection of the coated microspheres often is incomplete, especially when viscous samples are employed. When microtiter plates are utilized, cross contamination often occurs, and such plates have low binding capacity.
Still another method which utilizes a solid support for the reactive coating is disclosed in our U.S. Pat. No. 5,171,537. This patent teaches the use of a pipette tip containing a glass bead, or the like, which is mounted for limited movement in the tip intermediate its ends. The bead is coated with a receptor, such as a single ligand having an affinity for a specific target molecule in a fluid sample that is to be drawn into the tip by an associated pipetting instrument. While this type of tip is particularly suitable for use in a variety of different test procedures, the quantity of target molecule which can be captured by the receptor element is limited by the surface area of the spherical support.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a preactivated chromatography tip having covalent coupling functionality within a hydrodynamically designed micropipette tip assembly.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a preactivated chromatography tip through which flow is not restricted and rapid flow rates are possible.
It is a still further object of the present invention to provide a preactivated chromatography tip which enables the detection of proteins including proteases, nucleases, antibodies, antigens and haptens.
These and other objects of the invention will become apparent from the specification and the appended claims.

Aligned fiber diagnostic chromatography with positive and negative controls


An optimized, superscalar microprocessor architecture for supporting graphics operations in addition to the standard microprocessor integer and floating point operations. A number of specialized graphics instructions and accompanying hardware for executing them are disclosed to optimize the execution of graphics instruction with minimal additional hardware for a general purpose CPU.

Historically, the CPU's in early prior art computer systems were responsible for both graphics as well as non-graphics functions. Some later prior art computer systems provide auxiliary display processors. Other later prior art computer systems would provide auxiliary graphics processors. The graphics processors would perform most of the graphics processing for the general purpose CPU.
In the case of microprocessors, as the technology continues to allow more and more circuitry to be packaged in a small area, it is increasingly more desirable to integrate the general purpose CPU with built-in graphics capabilities instead. Some modern prior art computer systems have begun to do that. However, the amount and nature of graphics functions integrated in these modern prior art computer systems typically are still very limited and involve trade-offs. Particular graphics functions known to have been integrated include frame buffer checks, add with pixel merge, and add with Z-buffer merge. Much of the graphics processing on these modern prior art systems remain being processed by the general purpose CPU without additional built-in graphics capabilities, or by the auxiliary display/graphics processors.
One implementation of a RISC microprocessor incorporating graphics capabilities is the Motorola MC88110. This microprocessor, in addition to its integer execution units, and multiply, divide and floating point add units, adds two special purpose graphics units. The added graphics units are a pixel add execution unit, and a pixel-pack execution unit. The Motorola processor allows multiple pixels to be packed into a 64-bit data path used for other functions in the other execution units. Thus, multiple pixels can be operated on at one time. The packing operation in the packing execution unit packs the pixels into the 64-bit format. The pixel add operation allows the adding or subtracting of pixel values from each other, with multiple pixels being subtracted at one time in a 64-bit field. This requires disabling the carry normally generated in the adder on each 8-bit boundary. The Motorola processor also provides for pixel multiply operations which are done using a normal multiply unit, with the pixels being placed into a field with zeros in the high order bits, so that the multiplication result will not spill over into the next pixel value representation.
The Intel I860 microprocessor incorporated a graphics unit which allowed it to execute Z-buffer graphics instructions. These are basically the multiple operations required to determine which pixel should be in front of the others in a 3-D display. The Intel MMX instruction set provides a number of partitioned graphics instructions for execution on a general purpose microprocessor, expanding on the instructions provided in the Motorola MC88110.
It would be desirable to provide the capability to perform other graphics functions more rapidly using packed, partitioned registers with multiple pixel values.

Partitioned multiply and add/subtract instruction for CPU with integrated graphics functions


The present invention is directed toward devices comprising carbon nanotubes that are capable of detecting displacement, impact, stress, and/or strain in materials, methods of making such devices, methods for sensing/detecting/monitoring displacement, impact, stress, and/or strain via carbon nanotubes, and various applications for such methods and devices. The devices and methods of the present invention all rely on mechanically-induced electronic perturbations within the carbon nanotubes to detect and quantify such stress/strain. Such detection and quantification can rely on techniques which include, but are not limited to, electrical conductivity/conductance and/or resistivity/resistance detection/measurements, thermal conductivity detection/measurements, electroluminescence detection/measurements, photoluminescence detection/measurements, and combinations thereof. All such techniques rely on an understanding of how such properties change in response to mechanical stress and/or strain.

Since the discovery of carbon nanotubes in 1991 [Iijima, "Helical microtubules of graphitic carbon," Nature, 354, pp. 56-58 (1991)] and single-wall carbon nanotubes in 1993 [Iijima et al., "Single-shell carbon nanotubes of 1-nm diameter," Nature, 363, pp. 603-605 (1993); Bethune et al., "Cobalt-catalysed growth of carbon nanotubes," Nature, 363, pp. 605-607 (1993)], a substantial amount of research has been carried out involving the synthesis, chemistry, and manipulation of these novel materials. See Ebbesen, "Carbon Nanotubes," Annu. Rev. Mater. Sci., 24, pp. 235-264 (1994); Zhou et al., "Materials Science of Carbon Nanotubes: Fabrication, Integration, and Properties of Macroscopic Structures of Carbon Nanotubes," Acc. Chem. Res., 35(12), pp. 1045-1053 (2002); Dai, "Carbon Nanotubes: Synthesis, Integration, and Properties," Acc. Chem. Res., 35(12), pp. 1035-1044 (2002). The goal of much of this research is to facilitate the exploitation of carbon nanotubes' intriguing properties. See Yakobson et al., "Fullerene Nanotubes: C1,000,000 and Beyond," American Scientist, 85, pp. 324-337 (1997); Ajayan, "Nanotubes from Carbon," Chem. Rev., 99, pp. 1787-1799 (1999); Baughman et al., "Carbon Nanotubes—the Route Toward Applications," Science, 297, pp. 787-792 (2002).
The electronic properties of carbon nanotubes have been shown to be perturbed by bending-induced strain, wherein such perturbations manifest themselves in the form of enhanced reactivity. See Ausman et al., "Nanostressing and Mechanochemistry," Nanotechnology, 10, pp. 258-262 (1999); and Ruoffet al., "Mechanical Properties of Carbon Nanotubes: Theoretical Predictions and Experimental Measurements," C. R. Physique, 4 pp. 993-1008 (2003). The electrical properties of carbon nanotubes have also been demonstrated to vary non-linearly when subjected to high pressures, i.e., up to 90 kbar. See Bozhko et al., "Resistance vs. Pressure of Single-Wall Carbon Nanotubes," Appl. Phys. A, 67, pp. 75-77 (1998).
To date, several experiments [Bezryadin et al., "Multiprobe Transport Experiments on Individual Single-Wall Carbon Nanotubes," Physical Review Letters, 80, 4036-4039 (1998); Narderi et al., "TITLE?," Physical Review B, 60, 16334-? (1999); Peng et al., "Chemical control of nanotube electronics," Nanotechnology, 11, 57-60 (2000); Tombler et al., "Reversible electromechanical characteristics of carbon nanotubes under local-probe manipulation," Nature, 405, 769-772 (2000)] have studied the effect of mechanical strains on the electronic properties of SWNTs at the nanoscale. Peng et al. have reported that carbon nanotubes have mechanical deformations such as bending, twisting or flattening, and that these influence their electronic properties. Tombler et al. have concluded that the voltage across a single-wall carbon nanotube can be reduced by two orders of magnitude when it is deformed by an AFM tip. Baughman et al. used carbon nanotube films, also called buckypapers, as actuators. See Baughman et al., "Carbon Nanotube Actuators," Science, 284, 1340-1344 (1999). Results showed that large actuator strains can be achieved by smaller operating voltages compared with ferroelectric and electrostrictive materials.
Electronic perturbations induced by chemical adsorbates have been exploited to produce sensors which respond to the adsorption of a small molecular species with a corresponding change in conductivity and resistance. See Kong et al., "Nanotube Molecular Wires as Chemical Sensors," Science, 287, pp. 622-625 (2000); Collins et al., "Extreme Oxygen Sensitivity of Electronic Properties of Carbon Nanotubes," Science, 287, pp. 1801-1804 (2000); and Cole et al., U.S. patent application, Ser. No. 10/100,440, filed Mar. 18, 2002. More recently, carbon nanotubes have been used as flow sensors, wherein the fluctuating Coulombic field of a liquid flowing past the nanotubes forcibly drags the free charge carriers of the nanotubes, thereby inducing a voltage in the nanotube sample along the direction of the flow. See Ghosh et al., "Carbon Nanotube Flow Sensors," Science, 299, pp. 1042-1044 (2003).
SWNTs are Raman active and many researchers have studied the effect of stress or strain on the Raman active modes. Recently, researchers have presented results indicating a Raman shift at ˜1590 cm−1, [Hadjiev et al., "Raman scattering test of single-wall carbon nanotube composites," Applied. Physics Letters, 78, 3193-3195 (2001); Li et al., "Carbon Nanotube Film Sensor," Advanced Materials, Submitted (2003)] termed as the G band shift, due to tensile strain in the nanotubes. Similar Raman studies on multi-wall carbon nanotubes have also been reported. See Wagner et al., "Stress-induced fragmentation of multiwall carbon nanotubes in a polymer matrix," Applied Physics Letters, 72, 188-190 (1998); and Schadler et al., "Load transfer in carbon nanotube epoxy composites," Applied Physics Letters, 73, 3842-3844 (1998). Wagner and co-workers have shown that Raman spectroscopy can be used as a probe of stress in polymer composites comprising carbon nanotubes by observing a shift in wavenumber of the disorder-induced Raman D* band (˜2610 cm−1) of SWNTs, which reflects a breathing vibrational mode in graphite, and which has been observed to shift linearly with elastic matrix strain. See Zhao et al., "The Use of Carbon Nanotubes to Sense Matrix Stresses Around a Single Glass Fiber," Composites Sci. & Tech., 61, pp. 2139-2143 (2001); and Zhao et al., "Direction-Sensitive Strain Mapping with Carbon Nanotube Sensors," Composites Sci. & Tech., 62, pp. 147-150 (2002). However, Raman spectroscopy is an arduous process requiring sensitive, sophisticated equipment. Moreover, this technique relies on perturbations in the vibrational modes of carbon nanotubes, not merely on perturbations of their electronic structure.
A sensor, capable of detecting and monitoring mechanical stress/strain at the macroscale, which is sensitive to electronic perturbations manifested in electrical, optoelectronic, or luminescent changes, would be very beneficial. Such sensors would have tremendous impact in structural applications ranging from automotive to aerospace to residential and commercial construction.

Smart materials: strain sensing and stress determination by means of nanotube sensing systems, composites, and devices


A scroll-type fluid machine has a movable scroll (50) that forms pressure chambers (52) in between the movable scroll (50) and a fixed scroll (40) and is orbitable relative to the fixed scroll (40), a support wall (14) that is provided for the housing (10) and supports thrust load transmitted from the movable scroll (50), and a thrust bearing (74) disposed in between the movable scroll (50) and the support wall (14). The thrust bearing (74) includes a ring-shaped support face (64) formed in the support wall (14), a retention plate (76) fixed onto the support face (64), a retention hole (86) that is formed in the retention plate (76) and opens in both faces of the retention plate (76), and a pressure-receiving piece (88) retained in a retention hole (86) and brought into surface contact with both the support face (64) and the movable scroll (50).

For example, a scroll-type fluid machine that is applied as a compressor of a refrigeration circuit has fixed and movable scrolls in a housing. The fixed and movable scrolls form pressure chambers in consort with each other.
The movable scroll is caused to make an orbiting movement relative to the fixed scroll. In response to this orbiting movement, a refrigerant (working fluid) within the refrigeration circuit is drawn into the pressure chamber and compressed in the pressure chamber. The compressed refrigerant is subsequently discharged from the pressure chamber through a discharge port of the compressor toward a condenser of the refrigeration circuit.
In the refrigerant compression process, the pressure of the refrigerant in the pressure chamber becomes high, so that the movable scroll is applied with high thrust load. This thrust load acts to move the movable scroll away from the fixed scroll in its axis direction.
Such thrust load hampers the smooth orbiting movement of the movable scroll. The compressor is therefore provided with a thrust-receiving device, namely a thrust bearing, in between a support surface of the housing and the movable scroll. The scroll-type fluid machines disclosed in Unexamined Japanese Patent Application Publication Nos. 2005-248925, 2005-291151 and 2005-307949 each have a plurality of pressure-receiving pieces serving as a thrust bearing, the pieces being arranged in a circumferential direction. Each pressure-receiving piece is retained in a retention hole or groove that is formed in the support surface of the housing.
In each of the scroll-type fluid machines disclosed in the publications, it is necessary to dispose the pressure-receiving pieces parallel to the base plate of the movable scroll and to make the sliding surfaces of the pressure-receiving pieces, which come into sliding contact with the movable scroll, flush with one another for the purpose of preventing a fracture, abrasion, seizure or the like of the pressure-receiving pieces.
To that end, the bottom faces of the retention holes or grooves formed in the support wall also have to be parallel to the base plate of the movable scroll and located at the same distance from the base plate of the movable scroll.
The pressure-receiving pieces slide against the bottom faces of the retention holes or grooves as well, so that the bottom faces of the retention holes or grooves are also polished so that surface roughness is small. On the other hand, it is difficult and costly in manufacture to carry out the machining and grinding so that the bottom faces of the retention holes or grooves are located at the same distance from the base plate of the movable scroll, or in other words, so that the retention holes or grooves have a fixed depth.

Scroll-type fluid machine including pressure-receiving piece


A panel pickup and placing method includes providing a liquid crystal panel, a machine table, a panel pickup device, and a vacuum suction device; coupling the panel pickup device and the vacuum suction device together; moving the panel pickup device to have the vacuum suction device engaging a surface of the liquid crystal panel; the vacuum suction device sucking and adhering to the liquid crystal panel; moving the panel pickup device to have the vacuum suction device lifting the liquid crystal panel for transfer to the machine table; the vacuum suction device releasing the liquid crystal panel; and moving the panel pickup device to have the vacuum suction device departing from the liquid crystal panel in order to position the liquid crystal panel on the machine table. The combined panel pickup device includes a panel pickup device and a vacuum suction device mounted to the panel pickup device.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a manufacturing process of liquid crystal panel, and in particular to a panel pickup and placing method for use in a predetermined process and a combined pickup device for performing the method.
2. The Related Arts
Referring to FIG. 1, the currently adopted process for 8.5 generation liquid crystal panel uses the following manufacturing process: (1) a mechanical panel pickup fork 50 positioning a liquid crystal panel 60 transferred from the previous work station on support pins 80 of a machine table 70; (2) the panel pickup fork 50 withdrawing; (3) positioning the liquid crystal panel 60 with positioning rollers (not shown) located around; and (4) electrically charging the liquid crystal panel with a probe (not shown) and carrying out UV (Ultra-Violet) exposure to complete an alignment process of the liquid crystal panel 60.
The support pins 80 are only allowed to locate in a non-display zone 64 of the liquid crystal panel 60. The machine table must be uniform for each individual display zone 66, free of any irregularity and joint, otherwise defects might be caused due to non-uniform exposure and inconsistent temperature occurring in the exposure process.
However, since the liquid crystal panel 60 is positioned on the support pins 80 and since the liquid crystal panel 60 has a size of 2200 mm×2500 mm, but the support pins 80 can only be located in the non-display zone 64 and the number of the support pins 80 is very limited and the liquid crystal panel 60 is large and has a weight exceeding 10 kilograms, when the liquid crystal panel 60 is placed on the support pins 80, significant deformations occur (as shown in FIG. 2), and may even cause breaking. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, in manufacturing liquid crystal panels of different sizes (such as 32″-55″ liquid crystal panels), the machine table and the support pins must be adjusted in order to prevent poor exposure caused by non-uniformity of the machine table within the display zones. The operation of changing is tedious and may commit fault operations of changing.

Panel pickup and placing method and combined pickup device for performing the method

SHENZHEN CHINA STAR OPTOELECTRONICS TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.


A min-sum processing unit executes a min-sum algorithm on input data so as to alternately execute check node processing in which an extrinsic value ratio is updated based on prior value ratios and variable node processing in which a prior value ratio is updated based on the extrinsic value ratios. Here, an initializing unit calculates the total product of the signs of the prior value ratios associated with the row to be processed. A deriving unit derives the sign for an extrinsic value ratio associated with the row to be processed, based on the sign of the prior value ratio that is unused in the updating of the extrinsic value ratio and the total product of the signs thus calculated. An updating unit updates an extrinsic value ratio associated with the row to be processed, using the sign thus derived.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a decoding technique, and particularly to a decoding apparatus and a decoding method for decoding data subjected to LDPC encoding.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, LDPC (Low Density Parity Check Code) has been attracting attention as an error correction code having a strong error correction capability even if a low S/N channel is employed. Thus, LDPC has been applied in many fields. With such LDPC, the data is encoded on the transmitter side using an encoding matrix generated based on a low density check matrix. Here, the "low density check matrix" represents a matrix having elements which are either 1 or 0, wherein the number of "1" elements is small. On the other hand, on the receiver side, the data decoding and parity check are performed based on the check matrix. In particular, by means of iterative decoding such as a BP (Belief Propagation) method or the like, such an arrangement provides improved decoding performance.
With such a decoding method, check node processing, which is decoding using a check matrix in the row direction, and variable node processing, which is decoding using the check matrix in the column direction, are iteratively executed. Known examples of the check node processing include sum-product decoding using a Gallager function or otherwise a hyperbolic function. With sum-product decoding, a channel value, which can be calculated based on the variance of the transmission channel noise, is used as a prior value.
Furthermore, min-sum decoding is known, which is obtained by simplifying the sum-product decoding. Min-sum decoding allows the check node processing to be executed without involving complicated functions, i.e., requires only simple functions such as a comparison operation, a sum operation, and the like to execute the check node processing. Furthermore, min-sum decoding does not require a transmission channel value. Thus, min-sum decoding is widely employed in order to provide high-speed processing in a simple manner. In order to reduce the circuit scale for min-sum decoding, a technique has been provided in which the minimum value and the second minimum value are extracted from the prior value ratios for each row of the check matrix.
The processing for deriving the minimum value of the prior value ratio for each row of the check matrix requires only a very simple circuit configuration. However, in order to derive the second minimum value, such an arrangement requires an operation in which the second minimum value is again detected after the minimum value is derived, or otherwise requires two memory units and a memory swapping operation, leading to a problem of a complicated circuit configuration. Thus, there is a demand for a technique for reducing the amount of calculation required for min-sum decoding.

Decoding apparatus and decoding method for decoding LDPC-encoded data


A lithographic apparatus includes a substrate table constructed to hold a first substrate of a first type, the first substrate having a polished surface; and a projection system configured to project a patterned radiation beam onto a target portion of a substrate. The polished surface supports a second substrate of a second type and the projection system is configured to project the patterned radiation beam onto the second substrate.

A lithographic apparatus is a machine that applies a desired pattern onto a substrate, usually onto a target portion of the substrate. A lithographic apparatus can be used, for example, in the manufacture of integrated circuits (ICs). In that instance, a patterning device, which is alternatively referred to as a mask or a reticle, may be used to generate a circuit pattern to be formed on an individual layer of the IC. This pattern can be transferred onto a target portion (e.g. comprising part of, one, or several dies) on a substrate (e.g. a silicon wafer). Transfer of the pattern is typically via imaging onto a layer of radiation-sensitive material (resist) provided on the substrate. In general, a single substrate will contain a network of adjacent target portions that are successively patterned. Known lithographic apparatus include so-called steppers, in which each target portion is irradiated by exposing an entire pattern onto the target portion at one time, and so-called scanners, in which each target portion is irradiated by scanning the pattern through a radiation beam in a given direction (the "scanning"-direction) while synchronously scanning the substrate parallel or anti-parallel to this direction. It is also possible to transfer the pattern from the patterning device to the substrate by imprinting the pattern onto the substrate.
In a lithographic apparatus, the substrate table is generally designed to hold substrates that have standard sizes and shapes. Typically, the smallest substrate than can be held is a circular substrate with a diameter of 75 mm (approximately 3 inches). Substrate tables are generally designed so as to have a holder tailored to standard substrates; the holder should be capable of holding the substrate immobile, and designing such holders for a standard size/type of substrate allows the design to be optimized. Various other types of substrate supporting tables—such as found in auxiliary apparatus, substrate handling components, substrate transport devices, etc are also generally designed to handle substrates of a standard size and shape.
However, there are occasions when it is desirable to process a substrate that is either not of a standard size or not of a standard shape. For example, certain substrates, such as Inp, GaAs and SiC substrates generally have a diameter of 50 mm (approximately 2 inches), which is too small for most conventional substrate holders. Also, substrates may have different shapes than the standard. Typically, substrates are fully rounded or may be rounded with a flat portion along part of the circumference. However, other shapes, such as squares, rectangles and quarters of a rounded substrate of various sizes may be desirable. Moreover, it may be desirable to process irregular shapes, each of which may be unique, for example, as a result of breakage of a larger substrate into irregular pieces. However, it very expensive to design and build a substrate table and handling components specifically tailored to such non-standard substrates. Further, a user desires to use a single lithographic apparatus to be able to expose a variety of substrates, including non-standard substrates.
To address the problem of handling non-standard substrates, it is known to provide an etched recess in a standard substrate which is held by the holder on the substrate table. The non-standard substrate is then disposed in the recess. In this way, the standard substrate acts as a "host" or carrier for the non-standard substrate. However, it has been found that due to limiting tolerances in the etching process, it is difficult to consistently etch a perfect recess. The recess may often include defects. For example, the bottom surface of the recess, which acts as the supporting surface for the non-standard substrate, is may not be flat. Further, the sidewalls of the recess may not be perpendicularly oriented with respect to the bottom surface, which may lead to alignment problems due to misplacement of the non-standard substrate. Moreover, even if the desired shape is obtained, the carrier substrate may be relatively brittle, for example a silicon wafer. Thus, placing a non-standard wafer in and out of the recess may over time result in chipping pieces off the sides of the recess, which results in contamination.

Lithographic apparatus and device manufacturing method


A closure includes an outer plastic shell having a base wall, a peripheral skirt with a central axis, a circumferential array of lugs on an underside of the base wall, and a pair of axially spaced internal beads on the skirt spaced from the base wall. An inner plastic shell has a base wall, a peripheral skirt with a central axis, at least one internal thread on the skirt of the inner shell, a circumferential array of lugs on an outer surface of the base wall, and a circumferential bead on an outer surface of the skirt remote from the base wall. The inner shell is positionable within the outer shell in a non-child-resistant first position with the bead on the skirt of the inner shell captured between the beads on the skirt of the outer shell, such that the outer shell is rotatably coupled to the inner shell and the at least one internal thread on the skirt of the inner shell can be threaded onto and off of a container by simple rotation of the outer shell. The inner shell is positionable within the outer shell in a child-resistant second position with the bead on the inner shell skirt spaced from the beads on the outer skirt, such that rotation of the outer shell is imparted to the inner shell by forced engagement of the lugs on the base wall.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,997,096 discloses a child-resistant closure having inner and outer plastic shells. The outer plastic shell has a base wall, a peripheral skirt and a circumferential array of lugs on an underside of the base wall. The inner shell has a base wall, a peripheral skirt, at least one internal thread on the skirt, and a circumferential array of lugs on an outer surface of the base wall for opposed engagement by the internal lugs on the base wall of the outer shell. To remove the closure when it is threaded onto a container finish, the outer shell must be pushed axially against the inner shell and simultaneously rotated so that the lugs of the outer shell engage the lugs of the inner shell and rotate the inner shell with respect to the container finish. When the outer shell is rotated without applying an axial force to the outer shell, the lugs on the outer shell simply cam over the lugs on the inner shell and do not rotate the inner shell with respect to the container finish. Child-resistant closures of the type illustrated in this patent have been marketed for many years by applicants' assignee under the trademark ARGUS-LOC. See also GB 1529999. In some instances, child-resistant packaging is not required, and it is a general object of the present invention to provide a closure of the type disclosed in the above-noted U.S. patent that possesses a non-child-resistant mode of operation in which the closure can be readily removed from a container finish.
A closure in accordance with the present invention includes an outer plastic shell having a base wall, a peripheral skirt with a central axis, a circumferential array of lugs on an underside of the base wall, and a pair of axially spaced internal beads on the skirt spaced from the base wall. An inner plastic shell has a base wall, a peripheral skirt with a central axis, at least one internal thread on the skirt of the inner shell, a circumferential array of lugs on an outer surface of the base wall, and a circumferential bead on an outer surface of the skirt remote from the base wall. The inner shell is positionable within the outer shell in a non-child-resistant first position with the bead on the skirt of the inner shell captured between the beads on the skirt of the outer shell, such that the outer shell is rotatably coupled to the inner shell and the at least one internal thread on the skirt of the inner shell can be threaded onto and off of a container by simple rotation of the outer shell. The inner shell is positionable within the outer shell in a child-resistant second position with the bead on the inner shell skirt spaced from the beads on the outer skirt, such that rotation of the outer shell is imparted to the inner shell by forced engagement of the lugs on the base walls.
In the preferred embodiments of the invention, the internal bead on the outer shell skirt further from the base wall of the outer shell has a lesser internal diameter than the internal bead closer to the base wall of the outer shell, and cooperates with the external bead on the inner shell to retard removal of the inner shell from within the outer shell. The base wall of the outer shell preferably has an opening into which a dome on the inner shell extends in the child-resistant position of the inner shell with respect to the outer shell. This dome helps facilitate manual movement of the inner shell from the child-resistant to the non-child-resistant position, and helps prevent entry of debris through the opening of the outer shell in the child-resistant position.

Child-resistant closure having a non-child-resistant mode of operation


A head-assisted magnetic recording-shingled magnetic recording (HAMR-SMR) type storage device is described that includes a control module and one or more magnetic recording layers partitioned into zones. The control module is configured to write initial data beginning at an initial logical address of a zone. The initial logical address of the zone corresponds to an initial physical address of the zone. Responsive to receiving a command from a host associated with the HAMR-SMR type storage device to reset the zone and write subsequent data, the control module is further configured to reset the initial logical address of the zone to a subsequent physical address of the zone, and after resetting the initial logical address, write the subsequent data beginning at the initial logical address of the zone.

Heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR), sometimes also called thermally-assisted recording (TAR), is a technique used by some magnetic recording storage devices for performing write operations at the magnetic recording layers of the hard disks. HAMR may increase the overall storage capacity of a storage device by enabling individual bits of data to be packed into much smaller, localized regions of the magnetic recording layer. For instance, to perform a write operation using HAMR, the storage device uses heat from a radiation source, such as a laser, to temporarily "spot heat", or otherwise increase the temperature at, a very small, localized region of the magnetic recording layer. By heating the localized region at, near, or above the respective Curie temperature of the localized region of the magnetic recording layer, the coercivity of the localized region reduces to enable the write operation to occur.
Some HAMR type storage devices also perform Shingled Magnetic Recording (SMR) techniques and are referred to as heat-assisted magnetic recording-shingled magnetic recording (HAMR-SMR) type storage devices. SMR involves the grouping of parallel tracks of the hard disk into multiple bands or zones. Some of the zones are "normal" and permit random reads and writes throughout the zone and other zones are "sequential" that can only be written sequentially. For sequential zones, the SMR type storage device maintains a write pointer that corresponds to a location within the zone for the next sequential write. To override the data stored at a sequentially written zone, a SMR type storage device may perform a "reset" of that entire zone. Upon a reset, the SRM type storage device adjusts the write pointer associated with the sequentially written zone so that the write pointer, and the location within the zone for the next sequential write, corresponds to the initial location of that zone.
Because each write operation using HAMR requires the heating of the magnetic recording layer of a hard disk, the areas of a hard disk of a HAMR-SMR type storage device that correspond to the initial regions of a sequentially written zone may undergo a disproportionate amount of heating. That is, each time a sequentially written zone of a HAMR-SMR type storage device is reset, the same localized regions of the hard disk that correspond to the initial regions of the zone will be written following every reset. Therefore, the regions of a hard disk of a HAMR-SMR type storage device that correspond to the initial regions of a sequentially written zone may more frequently be exposed to heat from HAMR and may wear out more quickly.

Intra-zone wear leveling for heat-assisted magnetic recording—shingled magnetic recording (HAMR-SMR) type storage devices


A device for imaging a turbid medium, for example a breast of a female, includes a holder for receiving the turbid medium, a light source, a photodetector and a processing unit for deriving the image from the intensities measured. The holder is adapted to receive besides the turbid medium also an adaptation medium having substantial identical optical parameters as the optical parameters of the turbid medium. In this way artefacts in the reconstructed image due to the boundary effect between the turbid medium and the holder can be reduced. When a liquid is used as the adaptation medium a perfect match between the holder and the shape of the turbid medium can be obtained. Further, also intensity differences in the image due to different path lengths between light source and photodetector can be equalized.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a device for imaging a turbid medium, the device including a holder for receiving the turbid medium, a light source for irradiating the turbid medium, a photodetector for measuring the intensity of the light emanating from the turbid medium, and a processing unit for deriving an image of the turbid medium from the intensities measured.
The invention also relates to a method of forming an image of a turbid medium, which method includes: irradiating the turbid medium by means of light at a plurality of positions, measuring the intensity of the light emanating from the turbid medium at a plurality of positions, and deriving an image of the turbid medium from the intensities measured.
2. Description of Related Art
For the purposes of this patent application with a light source is intended a source of electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength in the visible or infra-red range between approximately 500 and 1000 nm. A device and method of this kind are known from WO 95/23961. The known device is used for imaging an internal structure of biological tissue. In medical diagnostics the known device could be used for imaging the internal structure of breast tissue of a human female. For example, a growth of a tumor can be localized in such an image. A disadvantage of the known device is that the image of the internal structure of the turbid medium contains artefacts along the outer surface of the turbid medium.

Device for and method of forming an image of a turbid medium