There is provided a water-hydrocarbon mixture. In one example, the mixture includes low-molecular weight hydrocarbon and between about 5% and about 70% water. The mixture is in the gaseous state, and is at a pressure that is below the critical pressure of the mixture. The mixture temperature is above about 28xc2x0 C. less than the boiling point temperature of water at the mixture pressure and is below about 450xc2x0 C. The mixture provides a local environment of water molecules, tending to limit hydrocarbon polymerization and other undesirable side reactions and keeping the hydrocarbon from precipitating from the mixture, for a faster, more complete combustion cycle characterized by lower emissions of carbon monoxide, unburned hydrocarbons, and volatile organic and polyaromatic hydrocarbons. The hydrocarbon preferably includes hydrocarbon micro-droplets of a diameter of no more than about 1 xcexcm.

This invention relates to hydrocarbon fuel compositions, and more particularly relates to water-hydrocarbon fuel mixtures and systems for combusting such mixtures, including mixtures containing low-molecular weight hydrocarbons.
Federal clean air legislation has targeted fossil fuel emissions. This legislation has prompted engine manufacturers and fuel providers to look for solutions to be able to continue selling their products. Refiners must look at alternative formulations and/or blends to reduce emissions. Engine designers, on the other hand, must rethink the entire combustion process and how it is conducted from beginning to end.
Combustion engine manufacturers are increasingly employing the use of tighter tolerances on piston-wall machining to reduce engine oil burning. Additionally, combustion engine manufacturers are employing higher and higher combustion zone fuel injection pressures. Such higher pressures result in better spray penetration of fuel into the combustion zone as well as finer fuel droplet sizes, and the higher pressures permit smaller orifices at the injector tips while maintaining the same mass flow rate.
With newly developed fuel injectors operating at up to 30,000 psi, the fuel droplet size is reduced but the droplet dimensions are still in the 60 xcexcm-100 xcexcm range. A fuel droplet size reduction by a factor of two would necessarily be accompanied by an increase in droplet number by a factor of eight from a mass balance perspective. This is important because many small droplets improve the microscopic homogeneity and reduce particulate matter production. However, a reduction to 60 xcexcm-100 xcexcm droplet size at these extreme pressures achieves only about a factor of two in particle size reduction over the standard 3800 psi systems.
In general, droplet size of a fluid is primarily related to the viscosity or surface tension of the fluid. Therefore, any process that reduces these properties can potentially reduce the droplet size. A chemical approach to droplet size reduction has been proposed using surfactant technology. Viscosity-reducing or surface tension-reducing additives have been proposed, but high cost and other limitations have limited their efficacy.
The addition of heat to a hydrocarbon fuel reduces surface tension of the fuel. Thus, preheating of a fuel has some appeal from both an emissions and fuel economy perspective. However, when a fuel alone, without other components, is heated to temperatures above the critical temperature of the components of the fuel, e.g., about 250xc2x0 C., unwanted chemical reactions such as polymerization, oxidation, rapid decomposition, and other such reactions can occur, resulting in undesirable reformulation of the fuel into higher as well as lower molecular weight compounds. The fuel""s viscosity generally increases, due to these chemical reactions, at a rate that outpaces the drop in surface tension. As a result, a sticky, tarry residue can be produced. It has generally been found, therefore, that simple preheating of hydrocarbon fuels per se has limited use.
The addition of water to a heated fuel offers benefits, but water and hydrocarbons do not mix readily. The polar nature of water and the non-polar character of fuels favor phase separation into two unmixed pure liquids. Water does not exhibit an antibonding interaction with fuels. It simply has an overwhelmingly strong attraction for other water molecules that precludes bonding with hydrocarbon units. This phase separation property can be ameliorated by the addition of surfactants and cosurfactants, but such are generally expensive and can pose materials compatibility issues in use, among other issues.
The invention provides a low-molecular weight hydrocarbon and water mixture that overcomes the limitations of prior fuel compositions. In one embodiment of the invention, this mixture includes low-molecular weight hydrocarbon and between about 5% and about 70% water. The mixture is at a pressure that is below the critical pressure of the mixture. The mixture is all in the gaseous state and is at a temperature that is between about 28xc2x0 C. (50xc2x0 F.) below the boiling point temperature of water at the mixture pressure and about 450xc2x0 C. (842xc2x0 F.). The term xe2x80x9clow-molecular weight hydrocarbonxe2x80x9d as used herein includes methane, ethane, propane and other hydrocarbons which have a molecular weight below 60. Such hydrocarbons may be present as essentially pure compounds or as mixtures comprising two or more low-molecular weight hydrocarbon compounds. For example, pipeline natural gas is particularly useful herein and typically comprises more than about 90% methane, with the remainder typically being mainly ethane and propane.
This mixture provides a local environment of water molecules that tend to limit hydrocarbon polymerization and other undesirable side reactions and keep the hydrocarbon from precipitating from the mixture. This results in xe2x80x9ccleanerxe2x80x9d combustion of the mixture with reduced particulate matter and nitrous oxide emissions, compared with that which results from the combustion of otherwise comparable water-hydrocarbon mixtures at temperatures below about 28xc2x0 C. (50xc2x0 F.) less than the boiling point of water at the sub critical pressure employed. The present invention thereby provides for a faster, more complete combustion cycle that is characterized by lower emissions of carbon monoxide, unburned hydrocarbons, and volatile organic and polyaromatic hydrocarbons.
In embodiments provided by the invention, the water in the mixture is in a gaseous state, and low-molecular weight hydrocarbon constituents in the mixture are also preferably in a gaseous state. Expansion of such a mixture into the heated air of a cylinder of a combustion engine provides better mixing and combustion at a molecular level than conventional fuels and eliminates the time required for droplet evaporation.
In embodiments provided by the invention, the mixture preferably includes between about 5% and about 70% water with the remainder consisting essentially of low-molecular weight hydrocarbon, and more preferably between about 25% and about 60% water. The low-molecular weight hydrocarbon is preferably a hydrocarbon fuel, and can preferably be provided as, e.g., methane, ethane, or natural gas. The mixture can consist essentially of hydrocarbon fuel and water.
In further embodiments, the temperature of the mixture is maintained above about 14xc2x0 C. (25xc2x0 F.) less than the boiling point temperature of water at the mixture pressure. Where the hydrocarbon fuel is provided as methane, it can be preferable to maintain the mixture at a temperature below about 363xc2x0 C.
In a further aspect of the invention, there is provided a fuel system. The system includes a source of water and a source of low-molecular weight hydrocarbon fuel. At least one pump is provided, having an inlet connected to receive at least one of the water and the hydrocarbon fuel from the source of water and source of hydrocarbon fuel. The pump has at least one outlet for delivering at least one of a water stream and a hydrocarbon fuel stream to a volume to pressurize and transport the water and hydrocarbon fuel. As used herein, the term xe2x80x9cpumpxe2x80x9d is defined as a device which by mechanical action, increases the pressure of a flowing fluid, such as a liquid or a gas. Such devices for liquids include centrifugal pumps, gear pumps, reciprocating pumps, etc. Such devices for gases include centrifugal compressors (axial or radial), reciprocating compressors, lobed (Rootes) blowers, etc. At least one heater is provided in a connection to heat the water and hydrocarbon fuel. A mixer is connected to receive the water and hydrocarbon fuel to mix together the water and hydrocarbon fuel.
A water-hydrocarbon fuel mixture is provided in the volume. The mixture includes hydrocarbon fuel and between about 5% and about 70% water. The mixture is at a pressure that is below the critical pressure of the mixture and is at a temperature that is above about 28xc2x0 C. less than the boiling point temperature of water at the mixture pressure, and below about 450xc2x0 C. (842xc2x0 F.).
Preferably the volume is of sufficient structural integrity to contain a gaseous composition at a pressure above about 150 psi. Further, the pump is preferably of sufficient structural integrity to deliver at least one of a water stream and a hydrocarbon fuel stream at a pressure above about 2,000 psi. In embodiments of the invention, the fuel system includes an injector connected to an outlet of the volume and a combustion chamber for delivery of the water-hydrocarbon fuel mixture from the volume to the combustion chamber. The injector is preferably of sufficient structural integrity for delivery of the mixture to the combustion chamber under turbulent flow conditions.
In embodiments of the invention, the combustion chamber is a component of, e.g., a diesel engine, a spark ignition engine, a gas turbine engine, or a steam boiler.
In a further aspect of the invention, there is provided a method for forming and combusting a hydrocarbon-based fuel. In the method, a mixture is formed including a low-molecular weight hydrocarbon fuel and between about 5% and about 70% water. The mixture is pressurized to a pressure that is below the critical pressure of the mixture. The hydrocarbon fuel and the water of the mixture are heated to a temperature that is between about 28xc2x0 C. (50xc2x0 F.) less than the boiling point temperature of water at the mixture pressure and about 450xc2x0 C. (842xc2x0 F.). The mixture is then delivered to a combustion chamber and combusted.
In embodiments of the invention, the step of forming the mixture is carried out before the step of heating the mixture, and the step of heating the mixture is carried out by heating the mixture to a temperature above about 125xc2x0 C. (257xc2x0 F.). In other embodiments, the step of heating the hydrocarbon fuel and the water of the mixture is carried out before the step of forming the mixture, and is carried out by heating the water and hydrocarbon fuel separately. The method can be carried out employing, e.g., methane fuel, in which case the step of heating the mixture is preferably carried out by heating the mixture to a temperature that is below about 363xc2x0 C. (685xc2x0 F.).
The water-hydrocarbon mixture of the invention and the fuel system of the invention have applications for both mobile and fixed applications. For example, the mixture of the invention can be used in the combustor of a gas turbine or jet engine as used in aircraft, marine, automotive or stationary power generation applications.
Other applications, features, and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description and associated drawings, and from the claims.

Sub-critical water-fuel composition and combustion system


An exhaust gas purification catalyst including a catalyst support and bimetallic particles supported thereon, wherein said bimetallic particles include an at least partial solid solution of rhodium and iridium and have a diffraction peak at 40.66°<2θ<41.07° in X-ray diffraction with a CuKα ray. A method for producing an exhaust gas purification catalyst, includes heating a mixed solution containing a rhodium salt, an iridium salt and a reducing agent at a temperature sufficient to reduce rhodium and iridium, thereby producing bimetallic particles including an at least partial solid solution of rhodium and iridium; and supporting the produced bimetallic particles on a catalyst support.

Conventionally, a three-way catalyst capable of simultaneously performing oxidation of carbon monoxide (CO) and hydrocarbon (HC) and reduction of nitrogen oxide (NOx) in an exhaust gas has been used as a catalyst for purifying an automotive exhaust gas. A catalyst prepared by supporting a platinum group element such as platinum (Pt), rhodium (Rh) and palladium (Pd) on a porous oxide support such as alumina (Al2O3) is widely known as a three-way catalyst. Among others, Rh has a high NOx reducing activity, and therefore is an essential component in an exhaust gas purification catalyst such as the three-way catalyst.
Patent Document 1 describes an exhaust gas treatment catalyst comprising a support and Ir and another metal supported thereon in an alloyed state. Further, Patent Document 1 describes that Rh is suitable as another metal for improving the low-temperature activity and high-temperature activity. In addition, Patent Document 1 describes that the supporting ratio of the another metal to Ir is preferably in the ratio which does not exceed 1:1 in terms of atomic ratio.
Patent Document 2 describes a process for the catalytic partial oxidation of a hydrocarbonaceous feedstock, comprising contacting a feed comprising the hydrocarbonaceous feedstock and an oxygen-containing gas with a catalyst comprising metals of Group VIII of the Periodic Table of Elements, wherein the Group VIII metals are at least rhodium and iridium in intimate association with each other.
Non-Patent Document 1 relates to Ir that is a platinum group element similarly to Rh, where an iridium catalyst such as Ir/SiO2 obtained by supporting the element alone on a catalyst support is studied. Non-Patent Document 1 describes that even under oxidative reaction conditions, the surface of Ir particles is partially reduced to an Irδ+ surface species allowing adsorption of CO and/or NO.

Exhaust gas purification catalyst and production method thereof


A magnetic head for a camera for use with a film with a magnetic memory portion, includes a first head portion for writing information to the magnetic memory portion of the film, and a second head portion for at least reading information from the magnetic memory portion of the film, wherein a length of the second head portion in the perpendicular direction to a film transporting direction is longer than a length of the first head portion in the perpendicular direction to the film transporting direction.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a camera for use with a film having a magnetic memory portion. More specifically, the present invention pertains to an improvement in a magnetic head of such a camera, for writing or reading to or from the magnetic memory portion of the film.
2. Description of the Related Art
U.S. Pat. No. 4,977,419 discloses a type of photographic film (simply referred to as "film" below) having a transparent magnetic layer on the side of the film base, and discloses a type of camera having a magnetic head for writing or reading information to or from the aforementioned magnetic layer of the film.
The '419 patent also discloses a plurality of recording tracks for magnetically recording that are provided outside a photographic frame of the film. This is because it is intended that increasing the number of the recording tracks increases an amount of information that can be recorded for each frame.
The kinds of information recordable by the camera, include a date and a time of a photographing operation, the kind of illuminating light source at the time of the photographing operation, pseudo-zoom information and photographic information pertaining to a shutter time, an aperture value, etc.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,878,075 discloses a type of film wherein film information pertaining to the film speed, the specified number of photographic frames, etc. is previously-recorded, and also discloses a type of camera which reads this information from the film before a photographing operation and rewrites this information during a film winding operation after the photographing operation, to record various kinds of photographic information at the time of the photographing operation on the film.
The '075 patent discloses that the camera writes "exposed information" indicating an exposure operation has been completed, to every photographic frame which has been exposed, as a part of the photographing information. (The term "exposed information" pertains to information relating to the exposure of a previously exposed photographic frame.) Moreover, the '075 patent discloses that the film is rewound halfway through use and removed from the camera. When the rewound film is reloaded into the same camera or loaded into another camera, a magnetic head of the camera detects whether there is the exposed information with respect to each photographic frame of the film, and enables an exposure operation to automatically resume from an unexposed frame of the film. (This is referred to as "auto-set function at the time of reloading the film.") That is, this is realized by means of the camera reading the photographic information, which the same camera or another has written, from the rewound film when the film is reloaded into the same camera or loaded into a different camera.
Now, in order to read the film information previously-recorded on the magnetic layer on the side of the film base, or in order to write the photographic information to the magnetic layer of the film in response to the photographing operation by means of the magnetic head, which is arranged in the camera, it is necessary to transport the film in a state where the magnetic head (especially a track forming portion thereof) is in close contact with the aforementioned magnetic layer of the film. For this reason, the camera is usually arranged in such a manner that the film is held under a urging force between the magnetic head positioned on the side of the base of the film and a pad positioned at a location to face the magnetic head on the emulsion layer side of the film. As a result, the film suffers scrapes and pressure marks caused by the pressure of holding the film between the magnetic head and the pad. Therefore, the camera should read the film information from and should write the photographic information to an area of the film excluding the photographic frame.
On the other hand, the magnetic layer may be provided on the side of the film base, all over the film base, as disclosed in the '419 patent. For this reason, in order to prevent the image quality of a photograph from deteriorating owing to the presence of the magnetic layer, the number of magnetic particles, i.e., the density, provided for the magnetic layer is limited to be a very small number. Therefore, a signal output obtained when the camera reads the film information is very small. Moreover, the camera has an electromagnetic noise source, such as a film transporting motor, near the magnetic head, so that a S/N at the time of reading the film information is not satisfactorily obtained in cooperation with the aforementioned very small signal output.
The signal output V from the magnetic head has the following relationship: EQU V.alpha.Tw.times.T.times.S.
Wherein, Tw is a width of the track forming portion of the magnetic head in the perpendicular direction to the film transporting direction, i.e. the core width of the magnetic head; T is the number of coil turns around the core of the magnetic head; S is a film transporting speed.
In order to enlarge the signal output V, it is necessary to enlarge the width of the track Tw, to increase the number of coil turns T, or to increase the film transporting speed S.
However, it is difficult to increase the film transporting speed owing to the size of a battery loadable in the camera, that is, owing to the limited electric power available for a film transporting operation.
Increasing the number of coil turns T enlarges the size of the magnetic head, which results in enlarges the size of the camera.
Broadening the width of the track Tw causes the following problem.
It is desirable that a reading track for reading the film information from the film also may be used for the writing to (recording on) the film, whereby the number of the recording tracks is increased, and the photographic information recordable for one film frame is increased. That is, after reading the film information from a track where the information is previously-recorded (when the film information is read from the track, this track is referred to as a "reading track"), it is desirable that to write new information over the previously-recorded information in order to also reuse the reading track as a "recording track", to increase the amount of information for one film frame.
As above-described, the '419 patent discloses increasing the number of the recording tracks in order to increase the amount of the recordable information. However, if the width of the track Tw is broadened, the number of the recording tracks cannot be increased. Therefore, the amount of the recordable information cannot be increased.

Magnetic head for a camera featuring multiple, varied-sized head portions


The present invention is a water purification system and method including a treatment tank with a water inlet, a chlorine source, and a heating element; at least one storage tank with at least one treated water outlet between the treatment tank and the storage tank(s) through which treated water passes therebetween, and a final water outlet(s) through which treated water leaves the system for the benefit of the end user. A power source powers all elements that require power, such as the heating element.

Water contamination has caused disease in the human population for as long as there has been a human population. In modern times, while water quality varies widely depending on geography, all water sources are susceptible to contamination to some extent. Indeed, as discussed below, measures to decontaminate water often are themselves contaminants.
Original water sources are typically groundwater or surface water. Groundwater may be stored in underground geologic formations and pumped from this subterranean source via a well or wells. In such situations, groundwater is susceptible to inorganic contaminants, such as radon, arsenic, uranium, and manganese, from the very rocks in which it sits. Especially in more rural areas, groundwater is frequently contaminated with pesticides and waste disposal from agricultural activities. According to a 2015 study by the United States Geological Survey (USGS), about 13% of Americans supplied their own home water, and over 98% of that water came from groundwater. Importantly, these private wells are not regulated by the Federal Safe Drinking Water Act. Especially in geographical areas with a high-water table, such as parts of Florida, groundwater is also present near or at the ground's surface from rainwater on boggy areas. Considering the massive amount of water on this planet and the sheer scope of its applications, including feeding almost every organism on earth, its contamination should be of paramount concern to every citizen of this planet.
Surface water includes water accessed from rivers, canals, lakes, or artificial reservoirs, for examples. Surface water may also be affected by pesticide run off and other agricultural treatments. Notably and additionally, surface water is easily contaminated by all manner of human and other animal activities, which include but are not limited to, industrial waste, slaughterhouses, garbage, sewage, dead animals, and animal droppings, to name a few. These contaminants represent not only inorganic threats and poisons, but also represent disease threats from bacterial and viral agents.
A 2006 World Health Organization (WHO) document examined the routes of entry of the avian influenza H5N1 virus into water and sewage, the persistence of the virus in the environment, and its possible routes of transmission to humans through water and sewage. While this document was specific to the avian flu H5N1 virus, its findings may well be applicable to other known or unknown viruses, such as the coronavirus that has caused the COVID-19 disease of pandemic proportions without an end yet in sight. The following includes noteworthy observations from the document. Birds infected with H5N1 shed large quantities of virus in their feces, as well as in their saliva and nasal secretions. It is likely that infected droppings or other secretions from both symptomatic and asymptomatic migratory waterfowl will enter water environments where the birds gather. Besides direct deposition of feces into lake water by migratory waterfowl, it has been suggested that fecal waste from duck and chicken farms may spread to bodies of water via wind, surface runoff or possibly enter groundwater through disposal and composting of wastes from poultry farms. Avian flu viruses are known to persist for extended periods of time in water. Their persistence may depend on factors including water temperature, pH, and salinity. Assuming that humans may be infected by the virus through both a fecal-oral and respiratory route, the document notes several possible modes of environmental transmission of H5N1 to humans, including but not limited to: consumption of drinking water contaminated by the virus (e.g. untreated drinking water drawn from a contaminated water body or from a rainwater collection system on a contaminated rooftop); recreational uses (e.g. swimming or bathing) in contaminated water; exposures to the virus in sewage or surface waters where sewage contaminated with the virus has been discharged; and occupational exposures to excreta and infected animals (e.g. sewage treatment, industrial waste, slaughterhouse disposal, level inadequacies and multiple agricultural practices).
There is also evidence that many viruses, including SARS and other coronaviruses, are shed through human urine and feces. According to David J. Weberb & Mark D. Sobseya, Survival of Surrogate Coronaviruses in Water, WATER RESEARCH, Vol. 43, Issue 7, pages 1893-1898, for example, coronaviruses can remain infectious for long periods in water and pasteurized settled sewage, suggesting contaminated water is a potential vehicle for human exposure if aerosols are generated. Indeed, it has been determined SARS-CoV-2 RNA concentrations in sewage sludge is highly correlated with the COVID-19 epidemiological curve. Possible transmission paths for viruses are sewage, waters into which sewage flows, and other contaminants whether from animal carcasses or animal waste as well as industrial chemicals and anything those may directly or indirectly contact, such as farm fields and water supplies. As an example, a March 2003 SARS outbreak at a high-rise housing estate in Hong Kong involved over 300 people and was linked to a faulty sewage system. In the U.S., inadequately treated sewage sludge is turned into fertilizer that could end up contaminating food crops. Moreover, it is common for city sewer systems to overflow into rivers and other bodies of water from which irrigation water and especially drinking water may be drawn along with the use of said water for household showering and baths whose penetration through skin pores statistically spread more contamination into humans than does daily consumption of drinking water. Often, there is an overflow of raw untreated sewage.
Some states, such as Washington, allow composting of human remains. Given that some coronavirus infections are asymptomatic, there is the possibility that someone that died of coronavirus could end up composted in a vegetable garden. The thought that the coronavirus might survive in the water of that vegetable garden is unsettling. Even when proper precautions against contamination are taken, mass graves, such as those dug in Hart Island's potter's field to accommodate many of New York City's COVID-19 victims also present a threat of the highly infectious disease reaching drinking water. There are many such examples of hypothetical exposures through water to the coronavirus and other viruses, which include burial grounds for both human and other animal remains without any treatment whatsoever in locations which have shallow water tables.
As discussed above, the actual water sources are prime sources for contamination. The infrastructure needed to bring groundwater or surface water to a building, whether a home or business, city apartment or farm, may also introduce new or increased contaminants to the water being provided. Such infrastructure includes dams, storage tanks, treatment plants, pipes, and aqueducts. Much of this infrastructure was built in the mid-20th century or earlier and is reaching the end of its useful life. Maintenance or replacement of such aging infrastructure is costly and often superseded by emergency repairs. The irony is, of course, that better regular maintenance would likely reduce or eliminate the need for such emergency repairs. Some communities, especially in rural areas, lack the expertise and resources to provide safe drinking water, even when the need is recognized and even championed. Companies that own the infrastructure generally rely on customers to pay for maintenance and upgrades. In poor communities or small communities, the money simply isn't there to defray those costs. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has estimated that $384 billion needs to be invested in local water systems in the coming decades in order to keep water clean. The American Water Works has estimated about $1 billion in investment in the next 25 years to maintain and expand water service. The present invention could offset the extensive cost of infrastructure upgrades, as well as waterborne illnesses caused from the lack thereof.
Given the known problem of water contamination and its potential for illness or death in those that consume that water, water treatment is of paramount importance. Many methods are known for water treatment. These include chemical treatments such as with chlorine or iodine; filtration such as with activated alumina, activated carbon, ceramic or reverse osmosis (RO) filters; exposures to ultraviolet (UV) light; or boiling the water. Each of these methods has advantages and disadvantages. As discussed at length below, long-term chlorine consumption may be poisonous or lethal for humans. Iodine also has many limitations: many people are allergic to iodine; it is light-sensitive; it tastes bad; it is not recommended for long term use; it does not kill parasitic worm eggs and larvae; it does not kill Cryptosporidium, a waterborne, disease spreading protozoan; it does not address chemical contaminants; and it should not be used by people with thyroid problems or on lithium, women over fifty, or pregnant women. Filters usually are ineffective especially for use for more than short-term use and may be expensive and/or bulky. Moreover filters must be regularly changed in order to continue functioning and importantly, there is no single filter that can address all possible pathogens in water. At best, a filter may remove most of some pathogens. Some pathogens may be resistant to UV light and/or heat. Certain strains of the salmonella bacteria, such as S. Senftemberg, S. Heidelberg, S. Typhimirium, and S. Newport, are known to be more heat-resistant for example.
It was noted by Under Secretary (Acting) for Science and Technology at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, William N. Bryan on Apr. 24, 2020 that some of these methods are effective in inactivating the coronavirus that causes the COVID-19 disease. Specifically, he noted that UV rays or sunlight drastically reduces the half-life of the coronavirus on both surfaces and in the air. He also noted that bleach (or chlorine) kills the coronavirus on surfaces very quickly. Although these observations do not address how these methods would address water contaminated with the coronavirus, the statements are consistent with known methods for water purification.
As mentioned above, chlorine is commonly used in water disinfection. Chlorination is able to not only deactivate microorganisms, such as bacteria and viruses, through disinfection, but is also able to reduce some pesticide concentrations through chemical oxidation. Drinking water quality guidelines from Health Canada note that conventional chlorine treatment can achieve at least an 8-log inactivation of viruses. Most chlorine is added to water in the form of chlorine gas or in the form of sodium hypochlorite also known as bleach. Several factors should be considered in determining how much chlorine to use to treat water. These factors include the water's pH and temperature; how long the water should be exposed to the chlorine for disinfection; and the water quality. Regarding this last, to give a specific example, sufficient chlorine is needed to oxidize both pesticides in water, as well as any other carbon sources present in the water. In other words, there must be sufficient chlorine to address every contaminant. These factors are addressed in Standards for the Examination of Water and Wastewater, published by the American Public Health Association, American Water Works Association, and the Water Environment Federation, which details the determination of the chlorine demand by pollutant.
While chlorine is a powerful and useful water disinfectant, it is well known that drinking water that has been disinfected with chlorine may be dangerous. The chlorine has rid the water of one danger but presents another in and of itself. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, Americans consume 300-600 times the amount of chlorine that is safe to ingest. Moreover, chlorine may be inhaled or absorbed through the skin through bathing in water treated with chlorine. Chlorine consumption through ingestion, inhalation, or absorption has been shown to cause or be positively correlated with at least respiratory problems, such as asthma and allergy, sinus, and emphysema conditions; cancer; heart disease; skin irritation; free radical exposure; and an average reduction of a two year lifespan. Beyond these more serious health concerns, chlorine can make water taste and/or smell bad and may irritate the skin. Indeed, in Florida with its high-water table, for example, while it is known that a chlorine inactivation level of 10 logs is necessary to inactivate the contaminants in its water, only 4 logs are used because the higher level leaves such an objectionable aftertaste.
Some methods to inactivate chlorine in water are known. Chlorine will evaporate from water if left long enough. Chlorine may also be removed through boiling water, with the amount of time needed at boiling being dependent on the concentration of chlorine in the water. Filters such as granular activated carbon (GAC), carbon block (CBC), or that marketed under the trademark KDF 55 may also remove chlorine from water (hereinafter KDF 55), though none of these filters guarantee complete chlorine removal and each has its disadvantages. Two forms of vitamin C, ascorbic acids and sodium ascorbate, will also neutralize chlorine. Other chemical compounds, such as sulfur dioxide, sodium thiosulfate, sodium sulfite, or sodium bisulfate, may remove chlorine from water but are toxic or dangerous to handle or result in dangerous byproducts that are an environmental concern. Notably, statistics show that the life expectancy of persons consuming, bathing and swimming in chlorinated water is shorter by an average of two years.
There is a need for a water filtration system that harnesses the disinfecting properties of chlorine while eliminating its disadvantages. Preventing the aggregated costs of illnesses associated with impure water or with water overly treated with chlorine would save hundreds of billions of dollars annually within the U.S. alone.

System and method for water purification


A fluid-filled vibration-damping device includes an elastic body elastically connects a first mounting member and a cylindrical second mounting member bonded to opposite side thereof; a diaphragm supported by the second mounting member so that the diaphragm cooperates with the elastic body to define therebetween a fluid chamber; and a partition member supported by the second mounting member so that the partition member divides the fluid chamber into a primary fluid chamber and an auxiliary fluid chamber which are held in communication through an orifice passage defined by an orifice-defining member having a movable rubber plate disposed in its central hole. The surface of the orifice-defining member is coated at a primary-fluid-chamber-defining area by a coating rubber layer, thereby minimizing noises caused by bubbles in the fluid chamber.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a fluid-filled vibration damping device suitably applicable to engine mounts, body mounts or other mounts for use in automotive vehicles, for example.
2. Description of the Related Art
In automotive vehicles each having an engine as a vibrational source, an engine mount has been used for supporting the engine on a body frame of the vehicle in a vibration isolating fashion. FIG. 8 shows an example of such an engine mount in the form of a fluid-filled vibration-damping device.
The known fluid-filled vibration damping device includes: a first mounting member 101 of shaft configuration; a rubber elastic body 102 bonded at one end to the first mounting member and having a recess 123 open in the other end; a second mounting member 103 of cylindrical configuration bonded on an outer circumferential surface of the other end of the elastic body 102; a diaphragm whose peripheral portion is supported by an inner circumferential surface of the second mounting member 103 so that the diaphragm 104 cooperates with the elastic body 102 to define therebetween a fluid chamber 145 filled with a fluid "L"; and a partition member 105 whose peripheral portion is supported by the inner circumferential surface of the second mounting member 103 so that the partition member 105 divides the fluid chamber 145 into a primary fluid chamber 146 and an auxiliary fluid chamber 147. The partition member 105 consists of: a metallic orifice-defining member 151 adapted to define an orifice passage 154 for fluid communication between the primary and auxiliary fluid chambers 146, 147; and a movable rubber plate 152 disposed in a central hole formed through the orifice-defining member 151.
This fluid-filled vibration damping device is installed on the vehicle such that the first mounting member 101 is fixed to a mounting portion on one side of a body and an engine by means of a mounting bolt (not shown), and the second mounting member 103 is press-fitted into a mounting portion on the other side of the body and engine. With the fluid-filled vibration-damping device thus installed on the vehicle, the fluid chamber 146 may be located upward or downward in a direction in which a primary vibrational load is applied to the device.
The thus installed fluid-filled vibration damping device is able to absorb high frequency vibrational loads based on elastic deformation of the elastic body 102 and engine shakes or other low frequency vibrational loads based on resonance of fluid flowing through the orifice passage 154 caused by a fluid pressure variation and a volumetric change excited in the primary fluid chamber 146 and the auxiliary fluid chamber 147. This fluid pressure variation between these chambers 146 and 147 may be suitably regulated by means of the movable rubber plate 152 of the partition member 105.
During operation of the known fluid-filled vibration-damping device, the fluid L is forced to flow within the fluid chamber 145 based on the fluid-pressure variation in the fluid chamber 145. In this condition, oxygen dissolved in the fluid L is prone to be vaporized, causing generation of a multiplicity of bubbles within the fluid L. Especially in the primary fluid chamber, these bubbles are more likely to be generated, since the fluid pressure variation is made larger in the primary fluid chamber than the other part of the fluid chamber 145. Upon application of a vibrational load to the fluid-filled vibration-damping device, these bubbles are likely to be generated and burst repeatedly in the fluid L. When bursting, these bubbles generate impact that is exerted on the surface of the orifice-defining member exposed to the fluid chamber 145. As a result, the impact of the bubble bursting may be undesirably transmitted as noises to a vehicle room, possibly causing deterioration in silence in the vehicle room and driving comfort as felt by a driver or passengers.


The channel tuner mechanism for a high power klystron. A plunger support mechanism is connected to each plunger which constitutes a part of a vacuum tube of the klystron for normally applying to the plunger a force in a reverse direction away from the vacuum tube of the klystron. A preset plate has a plurality of protrusions arranged in contact with the plunger support mechanism to impart thereto a mechanical displacement. A drive mechanism is provided for coupling or decoupling the protrusions of the preset plate to and from the plunger support mechanism to which the plungers are connected. A detection unit is provided to detect which protrusion is selectively connected to the plungers.

The present invention relates to a channel tuner mechanism for a high power klystron. The high power klystron is comprised of an electron gun for emitting and forming an electron beam, interaction structure for interacting a radio frequency signal with the electron beam, a collector for collecting electrons, and a magnetic focusing for focusing the electron beam. Among them, the interaction structure is comprised of a main part of a cavity, a plunger, and a channel tuner mechanism connecting and supporting the plunger. When varying a frequency of the radio frequency signal to be amplified, it is necessary to adjust adequately resonant frequencies of a plurality of cavities while monitoring repeatedly frequency characteristics of the high power klystron. Therefore, the conventional klystron is inconvenient with respect to maintenance and operation as compared to traveling wave tube which also amplifies an electromagnetic wave.
In order to remove this operational inconvenience, there has been proposed a particular type of the high power klystron provided with a channel tuner mechanism having a preset function effective to easily determine a given frequency band width for preset particular frequencies by a channel switching operation without adjusting the resonant frequencies. This type of the conventional high power klystron provided with such preset function has a construction as shown in FIG. 1.
Namely, in the high power klystron, the interaction structure is comprised of a cavity 1, a plunger 2 for changing a volume of the cavity 1 to vary a resonant frequency, and a piece of bellows 3 connected to both of the plunger 2 and the cavity 1 to expand or contract in order to effect advancing and retracting movement of the plunger 2 while maintaining the vacuum state of the high power klystron. Further, a channel tuner mechanism 4 is comprised of a plunger support mechanism 5 connected to the plunger 2 for moving in a given direction along an axis of the plunger 2, and a preset unit 7 fixed to the interaction structure through a supporting rod 6. The channel tuner mechanism 4 is connected to the plunger 2 so as to vary a resonant frequency of the cavity 1, and this mechanism 4 is comprised of the plunger support mechanism 5 for applying normally to the plunger 2 a force in a reverse direction away from a vacuum tube side of the high power klystron by means of a restoring force of a spring 8, the preset unit 7 including means for displacing in a parallel manner a preset plate 10 which is provided with a plurality of frequency setting screws 9, by rotating a channel select shaft 19 and pinion 11, and a drive mechanism 13 for effecting a coupling and decoupling between the frequency setting screws 9 and tuner shafts 13. FIG. 2 shows a detailed construction of the preset plate 10, pinion 11 and frequency setting screws 9.
In this mechanism, preset operation is carried out as follows in order to preset a predetermined frequency band width in a particular tuning channel of the high power klystron be means of each set of the frequency setting screws 9 disposed along drift tube tips of the cavity. At first in the FIG. 1 state, the adjustment is carried out by the frequency setting screws 9 so as to set a frequency band width in a given channel. Next, a movable plate 17 is displaced to come in contact with an unlock plate 18 by rotating a lock-unlock shaft 16 which is fixed to a fixing plate 15 through a set of bearings 14. At this moment, the tuner shaft 12 connected to the plunger 2 is decoupled from the frequency setting screw 9. In this state, a channel shaft 19 is rotated such that another frequency setting screw 9 is positioned in alignment with a center axis of the tuner shaft 12. In this position, the movable plate 17 is again displaced through the lock-unlock shaft 16 to come in contact with a lock plate 20. In this state, an advancing degree of the frequency setting screw 9 is adjusted to set a predetermined frequency band width characteristic in another channel than the first tuned channel. Such adjustment is repeatedly carried out so as to provisionally set a multiple of tuning channels in the high power klystron.
However, in the above described conventional channel tuner mechanism, it is necessary to provisionally memorize setting data in a memory of an apparatus in which the klystron is mounted as to which channel is tuned in the klystron. The reason is that it is necessary to recognize which channel is selected for tuning of the klystron and to recognize which channel is next selected for tuning of the klystron when channel switching is carried out in the channel tuner mechanism. However, this memorizing method has various drawbacks because a costly memory device is needed, and a memory device of such a complicated construction may cause a failure.

Tuning mechanism for high power klystron having photointerrupter control means


A focus detection device includes an image sensor and a plurality of lenslets. Each of the plurality of lenslets has a distinct conjugate length and is associated with a distinct portion of the image sensor.

Digital cameras photoelectrically convert the image of an object on an image sensor and store the image data in memory or the like. Focus detection devices for automatic focusing of digital still cameras usually rely on one of the following methods: Hill-Climbing focus detection; passive triangulation; active triangulation; phase difference detection; hybrid autofocusing; software focusing correction; and focus detection using a phase control plate and high frequency filters.
In Hill-Climbing focus detection, the taking lens of an image sensing optical system is moved incrementally along the optical axis, and an image is acquired for each incremental lens position. Each of the acquired images are analyzed for focus quality (for example, contrast or sharpness), and after motion through all lens positions and analysis are completed, the lens is moved to the position with best focus for image capture. The lens may be moved to an intermediate position if the software analysis predicts optimum focus at an intermediate plane. US Patent Application Publication No. 2003/0063212 A1 proposes using a Hill-Climbing technique in which the focus evaluation values calculated are weighted in correspondence to the focusing lens position when the focus evaluation values are calculated.
The accuracy of the Hill-Climbing focus detection technique is very good due to the fact that the image itself is used to determine focus quality and hence the final lens position. Many lens motions are however required, making this technique very slow. Another disadvantage is that hill-climbing autofocus systems tend to work poorly in low light situations where contrast levels are generally low.
In passive triangulation focus detection, two images of an object are formed on a focus detection sensor by two optical systems spaced apart by a predetermined base length, and the absolute distance to the object is determined from the spacing between the two images formed. The lens is moved directly to the calculated position for image capture. Passive triangulation is faster than Hill-Climbing focus detection since only one final lens motion is required, however low light situations are still challenging. In addition, since the focal length and base-length of the range-finding optical system cannot be made very large due to space constraints on the camera, to insure focus accuracy, the dimensional precision of the component parts must be very high, and the image forming optical system must be well calibrated with the passive triangulation system
In active triangulation focus detection, a light projection system emits a signal, which is reflected off the subject and subsequently is detected by a light receiving system, such as a silicon photodiode array. The absolute distance to the subject is determined by the spacing between the light source and detected signal. The lens is moved directly to the position for image capture. This technique is very fast since the taking lens only has to be moved once to its final calculated position, and since an active source is used, such as an IR emitter as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,452,664, low light conditions do not pose a problem. There are two major disadvantages to this method of autofocusing. The first disadvantage relates to accuracy, as with passive triangulation, to insure focus accuracy, the dimensional precision of the component parts must be very high, the component parts such as lenses must be environmentally stable, and the image forming optical system must be well calibrated. In U.S. Pat. No. 6,452,664, a method of using multiple range-finding operations is suggested to improve focus accuracy, however this method does not address the environmental stability of the component parts such as lenses and it does not change the need for close calibration between the image forming system and the passive triangulation system. The second disadvantage to relying on active range-finding is that a faulty lens position could be chosen if there is a transparent obstruction (e.g. glass window pane) between the camera and the object, in which case the lens is focused on the obstruction. Alternatively, if part of the subject is a very smooth surface such as water, and the pulse is incident at an oblique angle, the IR pulse is deflected away from the camera, and focusing cannot be achieved.
In phase difference detection, optical images that have been formed by passage through different pupil areas of an image sensing optical system are formed again as a pair of secondary images via a secondary image forming optical system, and the state of focus is determined from the spacing between the two secondary images. The lens is moved directly to the position for image capture. With phase difference detection since there is no additional light source, transparent obstructions and smooth surfaces are not a problem. In addition, phase difference detection systems are fast since only one final lens motion is required. They have the additional advantage that they can be operated through the objective lens (i.e. by inserting an optical module as disclosed in US Patent Application Publication No. US2001/0045989A1 or by deflecting part of the light to a separate image sensor as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,643,460B2). The disadvantage of inserting an optical module is that moving parts are necessary. The disadvantage of deflecting part of the light to a separate image sensor is that some of the image forming light is lost. In both cases, calibration is critical since an additional optical path is used to determine focus. An additional disadvantage of this technique is that low light situations can compromise the effectiveness of the technique, requiring active autofocusing as in passive triangulation.
In hybrid autofocusing, a combination of the Hill Climbing focus detection and a range finding technique such as active triangulation is used to reduce disadvantages experienced when either technique is used alone. The range finder provides a rough initial focus quickly, and the Hill-Climbing focus detection system uses a reduced number of images to determine the final lens position with best contrast, see, for example, US Patent Application Publication No. 2004/0100573A1 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,333,028. Hybrid systems are faster than purely Hill-Climbing focus detection based systems since the number of lens motions is reduced, however they are still slower than range-finding alone or phase detection systems, where only one lens motion is required.
In software corrections autofocusing, intelligent processors use scene recognition or predictive lens motion based on calculated image position to infer correct lens position, see, for example, US Patent Application Publication No. 2004/0070679 A1 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,089,843. Image capture occurs continuously and selection of lens position is chosen based on a typical shutter delay. The disadvantage of relying on software correction is that it is prone to errors if a change of velocity or motion direction occurs.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,337,115 discloses focus detection using a phase control plate and high frequency filters. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,337,115, a focus-detecting device is described for a video camera application. A phase plate is mounted onto the image sensor, such that light flux impinging on alternating rows of image sensor elements has traversed one of two possible optical path lengths. The image seen by the first group of elements will thus have a different focus quality than the image seen by the second group of elements. Focus quality in this application is determined by analyzing the high frequency content of the image. From the relative focus quality factors, it is determined whether the image is in focus, and if not, which direction the lens must travel. This technique has the advantage that it is a through the lens technique and it is fast since theoretically only one motion is required. However the image quality is degraded due to the alternating structure of the phase plate (possibly resulting in banding, for example).


A user wanting to enter text via a computing device can start entering characters for that text. A text suggestion algorithm can be used to attempt to predict the text the user is typing, and provide options for completing the text entry. Information such as the type of suggestion and common roots for those suggestions can be used to group at least some of the suggestions. An interface element with a spatial layout can be provided to display at least a portion of the suggestions, where the suggestions are arranged according to their relative confidence values and the determined groupings. The font values for each of the displayed suggestions can also be set using the confidence values, such that more likely terms can be displayed with a larger and/or more prominent font in order to allow the user to more easily locate the correct suggestion.

People are increasingly relying on computing devices for performing a variety of tasks. Many of these tasks allow users to enter information that can be utilized and/or processed for a number of different purposes. Oftentimes, however, a user might make a mistake in entering text, particularly where the user is using a portable computing device with a small physical or virtual keyboard. Even when the user does not make a mistake, however, the amount of time it takes to enter a long string of text can be undesirable for many users. Conventional approaches address some of these concerns by suggesting text that completes and/or corrects the portion of text entered by a user. For example, if a user enters two characters of a word in a text box, software can attempt to predict the word or phrase the user is in the process of entering, and suggest one or more options to the user. Oftentimes, however, these suggestions are displayed through a one-dimensional list of words of equivalent weight or emphasis, which can make it difficult, or at least time consuming, for a user to find the correct word. If the user cannot quickly locate the correct word, the user might not save any time over manually completing the entry of the word.


A developer nozzle is moved from a periphery of a wafer toward the central portion while an exposed substrate held at a spin chuck is being rotated about a vertical axis and while a developing solution is being discharged from the developer nozzle, and this way the developing solution is supplied to the surface of the wafer, the developer nozzle having a slit-like ejection port whose longitudinal direction is oriented to the direction perpendicular to the radial direction of the wafer. The movement speed of the nozzle is higher than a case where a nozzle with a small-diameter circular nozzle is used, and this enables a development time to be reduced. Further, the thickness of a developing solution on a substrate can be reduced, so that the developing solution can be saved.

A semiconductor manufacturing process includes a photoresist process in which a resist is coated onto the surface of a semiconductor wafer (hereinafter referred to simply as a wafer), exposed in a predetermined pattern, and then developed to form a resist pattern. Such a process is generally performed by a system in which a coating-and-developing apparatus for coating-and-developing a resist is connected to an exposure apparatus.
The operation of the developing apparatus disclosed in JP7-263302A will be described with reference to FIG. 17. First, a wafer W is held in a horizontal attitude on a spin chuck 1, and a developer nozzle 11 is positioned such that its small diameter ejection port is located slightly higher than the surface of the wafer W. Then, the developer nozzle 11 is moved in a radial direction relative to the rotational axis of the wafer W while ejecting a developing solution through the developer nozzle 11 and while rotating the wafer W around a vertical axis. This causes the developing solution to be accumulated on the surface of the wafer W in a spiral manner, as shown in FIG. 17(a). Then, the wafer W with the developing solution 12 accumulated on its surface is left for a predetermined developing time (e.g., 60 seconds) to cause "stationary development" of the resist, as shown in FIG. 17(b). After that, a rinse liquid 14 (e.g., deionized water) is supplied to the center portion of the wafer W through a rinse liquid nozzle 13, as shown in FIG. 17(c). As a result, the portions of the resist insoluble in the developing solution remain, forming a predetermined resist pattern.
In the developing apparatus disclosed in JP2001-284206A, the developer nozzle 11 and the rinse nozzle 13 are mounted on the same nozzle arm (not shown) such that they are adjacent each other in the traveling direction of these nozzles, as shown in FIG. 18. When developing the resist on the wafer W, the developer nozzle 11 and the rinse nozzle 13 are moved from the periphery of the wafer W toward the center portion while ejecting a developing solution and a rinse liquid simultaneously through these nozzles and while rotating the wafer W on the spin chuck 1 around a vertical axis. Thus, the resist on the wafer W is developed while removing the developing solution right after it is supplied to the surface of the wafer W by using the rinse liquid.
However, the above developing method suffers from the following problem. When the resist on the wafer W is developed by using a puddle method (i.e., stationary development) disclosed in JP7-263302A that develops the resist with a developing solution accumulated on the wafer W surface, a pullback phenomenon occurs if the amount of developing solution accumulated on the wafer W is too small, since the resist is generally hydrophobic. In this pullback phenomenon, small amounts of liquid, or developing solution, collected in different places on the wafer W pull each other due to surface tension, which may prevent contact between some portions of the resist and developing solution and hence prevent development of these portions. To overcome this problem, a large amount of developing solution must be supplied to the surface of the wafer W. However, this consumes a large amount of developing solution, increasing the manufacturing cost of the semiconductor device.
A puddle-less method (without performing stationary development) disclosed in JP2001-284206A is one of solutions for the foregoing problem. However, if the size of the ejection port of the developer nozzle is reduced to reduce the amount of developing solution consumed, it takes a long time to apply a developing solution to the entire surface of the wafer W, resulting in increase of the developing time. Furthermore, different portions of the wafer W may be in contact with the developing solution for different amounts of time, resulting in degradation of in-plane uniformity of the developing process.
Further, the following problem arises when the developing solution is removed immediately after its application by supplying deionized water through the rinse nozzle disposed adjacent the developer nozzle as disclosed in JP2001-284206A. It is not possible to ensure a developing time long enough to develop a resist having a low dissolution rate in the developing solution. As a result, there occurs under-development, which means that the sides of the bottom portion of a groove formed in the resist film are not sufficiently dissolved and remain. This results in variations in line width of the resist pattern.

Developing apparatus and developing method


The invention relates to a golf stance aid for a golfer. It includes a foot alignment member along which the golfer's feet align. There is a ball alignment member that is parallel to the foot alignment member and along which a golf ball aligns. There is also a first connection member and a second connection member. These connection members pivotally connect the foot alignment member and the ball alignment member to form an adjustable parallelogram structure. There is a measuring member which attaches to the ball alignment member. The measuring member spans the distance between the foot alignment member and the ball alignment member. The measuring member has means for retaining indicia for recording changes in distance between the golf ball as aligned with the ball alignment member and the golfer's feet as aligned with the foot alignment member.

Traditionally, golf stance aid devices have had numerous parts and a wide array of adjustment features. An example of this is seen in U.S. Pat. No. 5,246,234. The number of different features in this patent that need to be adjusted may become tedious for golfers. Furthermore, for novice golfers these numerous features can be very overwhelming. At the other extreme, there exist golf stance aid devices which are too simplistic—merely allowing the golfers to align themselves perpendicular to the ball. The need for a user-friendly but not simplistic golf stance aid for novice golfers is thus apparent.
One of the inventor's solutions to this problem is to present a device which allows the golfer to remain perpendicular to the ball and additionally obtain a desired separation distance from the golfer's feet to the ball. More specifically, the invention involves the use an adjustable parallelogram structure that allows the golfer's feet to align perpendicular to the ball. There is also a measuring bar which spans the distance separating the ball and golfer's feet. The measuring member is used to replicate the desired distance of separation between the ball and golfer's feet.
In one embodiment of the invention, the measuring member has means for retaining indicia. When a golfer takes golf lessons, a golf instructor will provide the golfer with the correct distance of separation between the ball and golfer's feet for a given golf club and golfer body-type. To precisely record this separation distance, the golf stance aid device allows the golfer to make indicia on the measuring member for each of the different positions. This thereby allows the golfer at a later time to practice with the correct golf stance, without the expense of continually having a golf instructor nearby.
A variation on the above invention involves the measuring member having pre-set indicia, varying according to such variables as the club to be used. This thereby eliminates the need to incorporate the golf instructor's advice.


The invention involves methods of inhibiting the cancer cell cycle to make cancer cells more susceptible to chemotherapeutic agents. In particular, inhibition of CDK4 and/or CDK6 inhibits cell cycle progression in cancer cells. When combined with chemotherapy such cell cycle inhibition can effectively treat even aggressive cancer types that are drug-resistant and intractable to most chemotherapies.

Cancers occur and progress due to loss of both cell cycle and apoptotic controls. Currently, cancer chemotherapies center on the use of cytotoxic agents, which kill cancer cells but do not prevent them from dividing. This approach is often insufficient to control the rapid expansion of cancer cells during aggressive tumor growth and relapse. No anti-cancer compounds are currently available that also selectively inhibit the cell cycle. Consequently devastating cancers such as multiple myeloma are generally fatal.

Targeting CDK4 and CDK6 in cancer therapy


The present disclosure discloses an online terminal comprising a wireless signal transceiver unit, a wireless signal codec unit, an audio format conversion circuit, an encoding display conversion circuit, a conversion control circuit, a man-machine interface, an audio interface, and a display interface; the wireless signal transceiver unit is configured to receive and transmit a wireless signal; the wireless signal codec unit is configured to decode the wireless signal received by the wireless signal transceiver unit, encode the wireless signal to be transmitted and modulate the encoded wireless signal into the wireless signal; the audio format conversion circuit is configured to convert an audio format supported by the online terminal to an audio format supported by a television; the encoding display conversion circuit is configured to convert an video format supported by the online terminal to an video format supported by the television; the conversion control circuit is configured to implement the switching between a television signal and the output signal of the online terminal. The online terminal provided by the present disclosure is inexpensive and has powerful online function.

With the development of technologies, surfing gradually becomes indispensable in our life. Presently, most people enjoy surfing with a desktop computer, a notebook, an online book or a handset. However, those manners have their own limitations, for example, it is relatively expensive to purchase a computer/Netbook, and a handset, although inexpensive, is small in screen, low in internet speed and poor in user experience.
The reason lies in that existing online terminals mainly consist of a display screen, which is expensive, especially when the display screen is a liquid crystal screen or a large-sized one, and a host having a data processing function.
A low-cost online terminal capable of providing an excellent experience effect has been pursued for a long time. However, the online terminals currently available on the market are limited to basic terminals including computers, handsets and onlinebooks, and no other online terminal except for the traditional products is available.


The invention describes a novel method for securing authentic client access to online confidential resources by means of a physical hard key/card device, which does not need a custom card reader, but uses the optical disc drive of any remote computer to conduct a highly secure online transaction on the Internet. Such real online card key (ROCK) device can be read by an optical disc drive of a computer, without allowing any of the file viewing, copying and editing functions. Such ROCK device can be used as a real world physical hard key for accessing secured networks and conducting secure online transactions. It can also be used as a fully functional versatile credit card with additional magnetic stripe and manual authentication methods available on the non-reflective surface of the optical disc based ROCK optical disc card of the present invention.

Internet is the fastest growing medium in history. Internet revolution really took off in 1994, when the first commercially available Web browser, Netscape Navigator 1.0, was released (November 1994). The Web browser became a user-friendly interface to access the information located on a worldwide network of computers from any remote computer. This graphical user interface converted the Internet into a World Wide Web. The global Internet user population continues to grow exponentially. It is projected that by the year 2002, 800 million users will be surfing the Web. Businesses are moving faster than ever to this brand new Internet medium. The Internet demographics are a marketers dream. Net users are young, well educated and earn high incomes. E-commerce is fast emerging as the wave of the future. Major consumer companies are adapting their businesses to e-commerce. Banking transactions on the Internet are fast catching up. Corporate houses are creating Intranets, Extranets and Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) to make their databases available to their employees and select clients to maximise productivity.
As much as the Internet is growing, the use of Web Applications for remote data access is increasing. With the increase in use of Web Applications, concerns for security on the Internet are growing. Today's Internet security practices are not enough to stop Web Application intrusion or prevent hackers from stealing digital property—from sensitive customer data to confidential corporate information. Hacking a user ID and password or a credit card details, while the user enters the information on the Web, is not a very difficult proposition for an expert hacker. Security concerns are hurdles to the growth of online transactions.
As companies worldwide sell their products and services to consumers over the Internet, the business-to-consumer electronic-commerce market is expected to jump to $380 billion in 2003, up from an estimated $31.2 billion in 1999. Having learned from the experiences of their U.S. counterparts, more and more "brick and mortar" retailers around the world are beginning to sell their wares online. In 2003, the U.S. market is expected to be $147 billion, less than half of the expected worldwide total. A lot of that non-U.S. growth will occur in Europe, where online sales to consumers are expected to grow from $5.4 billion in 1999 to more than $115 billion in 2003.
E-Commerce has been a major thrust behind the proliferation of the Internet, particularly the World Wide Web. This has led to the integration of traditional payment methods into Internet-related technologies, particularly to be used over the Web.
Credit card frauds are on the rise. This is primarily on account of the online transactions. The familiar plastic currency was designed to be physically handed over to merchants, who could at least make a cursory check to see if signatures on the card and the sales slip matched. Online, commerce is anonymous. There is no way to see who's entering the credit card numbers on the Web page, an anonymity that heavily favours the fraud artists. The stakes are higher for merchants than consumers. While consumers face a limited liability of $50 and a paperwork hassle, online merchants must write off credit card theft as "acceptable loss." Hard data on how bad losses are, is impossible to find, but anecdotally some industries relate fraud rates as high as 40 percent. Merchants use inexact software to filter out potential fraudulent purchases, but that means they turn away legitimate sales, too.
One can classify credit card payment on online networks into following categories:                1. Payment using plain credit card information—The easiest method of payment is the exchange of (unencrypted) credit cards over a public network such as telephone lines or the Internet. The low level of security inherent in the design of the Internet makes this method problematic. Authentication is also a problem as the merchant is usually responsible to ensure that the person using the credit card is its owner.        2. Payment using encrypted credit card information—Encrypting credit card information is a solution to the problems inherent in 1. However, one concern here is the cost of the transaction itself, which could prohibit low-value payments (micropayments).        3. Payment using third-party verification—One solution to security and verification problems in the introduction of a third-party, such a company that collects and approves payments from one client to another. After a certain period of time for processing, one credit card transaction for the total accumulated amount is completed.
Traditional cryptography has usually involved the creation and sharing of a secret key for the encryption and decryption of messages. This secret or private key system has the significant flaw that if the key is discovered or intercepted by someone else, messages can easily be decrypted. For this reason, public key cryptography and the public key infrastructure (PKI) has been the preferred approach for a very high security need on the Internet. However PKI is only practicable in a limited use Intranet scenario, for a very high security classified access, on account of its limitation in economy and convenience of execution on a mass scale. Moreover such keys are software algorithms, ensuring no guarantee that the user is authentic user. A hard key ensures highest level of security. However the architecture of the present day PCs does not provision the use of a user specific hard key for online transactions.
Several technologies hope to discourage the thieves by implementing systems that require some real-world physical component when shopping online. Smart cards, the generic term for any plastic which includes an embedded microchip, are one promising solution. Such smart cards encode the biometric data related to the user. Smart cards, which identify the user through encrypted information embedded on the chip, must be inserted into a "card reader" attached to the computer. That means the card can't be used for e-commerce unless the purchaser is currently holding it, and has a card reader device to read it. A PIN number is also required, so a thief needs to physically have the card and a security code in order to use it. That's a hurdle for an unauthorized user, more difficult one than using "a number and a date."
Furthermore, any smart card-based system will cost significantly more than the current magnetic stripe card systems currently in place. A PIN smart card costs perhaps $3, and a biometric smart card will cost $5. In addition, each station that currently accepts existing cards would need a smart card reader, and if live biometrics are required, a biometric scanner will also have to be attached to the reader as well.
It is envisioned that in addition to storing credit and debit account numbers and biometric or PIN authentication information, smart cards may also store phone numbers, frequent flyer miles, coupons obtained from stores, electronic cash usable at tollbooths and on public transit systems, as well as the users name, vital statistics, and perhaps even medical records.
Still, smart cards are 20 years old, and while there have been some level of adoption in Europe, trials of the technology in the U.S. have failed repeatedly. Consumers perceived them as inconvenient, and in the past they have been unmoved by the improvement in security. The costly price tag warrants the developers to look for additional applications of the smart card beyond simple banking and debit needs. Obviously, every consumer will not be willing to buy a card reader. However every computer these days comes with a 3.5 floppy drive and an Optical Disk Drive (ODD) such as CD ROM/DVD drive, as standard. These are the data input devices, which cannot be normally used for reading a smart card, because they allow viewing, copying and editing of the source data files.
Although user authentication using a hard key or a smart card will ensure secure transactions on the Web, it is not practical for every user to have a reading device to enable these chip based biometric approaches. And it is not an economically viable proposition for the credit card industry to instantly replace the current magnetic stripe cards by smart cards, which have a several fold higher price tag. Hence, in spite of known security protocols, intrusion is easily possible for an experienced hacker by using any Web browser.

Method and system for using optical disk drive as a biometric card reader for secure online user authentication


Disclosed are an insulated electric wire with partial discharge resistance and a composition for manufacturing the same. The insulated electric wire with partial discharge resistance according to the present invention includes an insulating base resin constituting a basic material of an insulated electric wire; an inorganic insulator included at a content of 5 to 40 parts by weight on the basis of 100 parts by weight of the insulating base resin; and a rubbery modifier included at a content of 0.1 to 30 parts by weight on the basis of 100 parts by weight of the insulating base resin to improve flexibility of an insulated electric wire. The insulated electric wire with partial discharge resistance of the present invention may be useful to prevent occurrence of cracks caused by winding of an insulated electric wire since the insulated electric wire has a sufficient partial discharge resistance and also enhances sufficient physical properties such as flexibility, pliability, bendability, elongation, etc. to maintain an electrically insulating property intactly by dispersing a stress, applied from an external force, by means of a rubber component attached to an end thereof.

1. Field of the invention
The present invention relates to an insulated electric wire with partial discharge resistance and a composition for manufacturing the same, and more particularly to an insulated electric wire with partial discharge resistance including a rubbery modifier in an insulating base resin, the rubbery modifier being capable of improving flexibility of an inorganic insulator and an insulated electric wire, and a composition for manufacturing the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a deterioration mechanism for partially discharging an electrical insulator such as coating materials for an electric wire, charging particles generated by a partial discharge may collide with an insulator, high molecular weight chains in the insulator may be broken by the collision, and thermal decomposition may be initiated due to local increase of temperature. Also, chemical deterioration of the insulator may be caused by ozone generated by the partial discharge. It has been known that the partial discharge caused by usage of electrical and electronic appliances, or various deterioration factors derived from other factors combinationally act to raise various barriers to essential functions of the electric insulator. Meanwhile, it has been known that deterioration by partial discharge generated in an inverter controller widely used in recent years is caused by a switch pulse generated by a high voltage surge, which eventually deteriorates coils in the inverter controller.
Accordingly, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,493,873, 6,100,474, etc. propose an improvement of materials constituting an insulator to prevent or reduce deterioration of the electric insulator by partial discharge. That is to say, U.S. Pat. No. 4,493,873 proposes an inorganic insulator such as oxides or nitrides of inorganic materials, glass, mica and the like as an insulator which is not easily deteriorated by partial discharge, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,100,474 proposes a method for mixing a mixture of silica (SiO2) and chromium oxide with a resin, coating an insulated electric wire with the resultant mixture and reductively calcining the mixture. Meanwhile, it has been known that, regardless of the inorganic insulator and the method as described above, an insulated electric wire having an excellent partial discharge deterioration-resistance is manufactured by applying an insulating paint compound prepared by dispersing fine particles of an inorganic insulator such as silica, alumina (Al2O3), titania (TiO2), etc.
The partial discharge resistance may be improved as the content of the fine particles of inorganic insulator increases among insulators in the insulated electric wire. However, an insulated electric wire, made of an insulated film containing a large amount of the fine particles of the inorganic insulator, also has a disadvantage that its physical properties such as flexibility, pliability, bendability, elongation, etc. may be deteriorated. As described above, if an electrical coil was formed of the insulated electric wire having the deteriorated physical properties such as flexibility, pliability, bendability, elongation, etc., crack occurrence is increased upon coating the insulated electric wire, and therefore the partial discharge resistance of the insulated electric wire is not sufficiently improved due to the crack occurrence.
In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, there has been recently proposed a method for manufacturing an insulated electric wire having a multi-layered structure. The insulated electric wire having the multi-layered structure may be adopted for different purposes in separate layers. That is to say, an insulation layer dispersed with the inorganic insulator has been adopted to improve partial discharge deterioration, and other insulation layers have been adopted to improve physical properties such as flexibility, pliability, bendability, elongation, etc. However, in the case of the insulated electric wires having the multi-layered structure, a thick wire having a diameter of at least 1.5 mm still has a problem that cracks occur in an abruptly bent region of an insulated film upon winding. As an alternative to solve the problem, Japanese Patent No. 496633 proposes a technique for improving flexibility by dispersing a solution of nano-sized inorganic oxide in a solvent to prepare a colloid sol, and mixing the colloid sol with an insulating paint, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,734,361 proposes a method for improving flexibility by chemically combining silica with a resin itself. However, it is difficult to completely solve the above problems of the thick wire having a diameter of at least 1.5 mm by means of the conventional methods.
Accordingly, there have been ardent and steady attempts to develop an insulated electric wire with partial discharge resistance while exhibiting a sufficient pliability even in a thick wire having a diameter of at least 1.5 mm in the related art, and therefore the present invention was designed based on the above technical background.

Insulated electric wire with partial discharge resistance and composition for manufacturing the same


A protection circuit according to an embodiment of the present invention is provided between a first terminal and a second terminal and includes: a capacitor element having one end connected to the second terminal; and a multi-cathode thyristor formed on a semiconductor substrate, and including an anode connected to the first terminal, a first cathode connected to the second terminal, and a second cathode disposed between the anode and the first cathode and connected to another terminal of the capacitor element.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a protection circuit. In particular, the present invention relates to a protection circuit including a thyristor formed on a semiconductor substrate, and to a protection circuit provided between a first terminal and a second terminal to provide protection against an overvoltage and an overcurrent caused by electrostatic discharge (ESD) or the like.
2. Description of Related Art
Up to now, in the field of semiconductor integrated circuit, various types of protection circuits including a diode, a MOS transistor, or the like are used to prevent an input/output terminal and a power supply terminal from being destroyed by static electricity. In particular, with the recent trend toward miniaturization and higher integration of semiconductor integrated circuits, semiconductor devices are more easily destroyed by static electricity. For this reason, the importance of protection circuits against static electricity has been increasing, and the research and development on protection circuits has been vigorously conducted by various manufacturers. Of the protection circuits, a thyristor (SCR) type protection circuit has been attracting attention recently, because of its excellent discharge capacity.
For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2005-101485 (see FIG. 24) filed by the present inventor discloses a thyristor-type protection circuit in which a trigger element is connected between an N-well tap and a P-well tap so as to trigger a PNP transistor and an NPN transistor, which constitute a thyristor, at substantially the same time, thereby rapidly providing protection against static electricity FIG. 28 shows a circuit diagram of the protection circuit, and FIG. 29 is a cross-sectional view showing the configuration of the protection circuit.
Further, "Implementation of Diode and Bipolar triggered SCRs for CDM Robust ESD protection in 90 nm CMOS ASICs"; IBM, 2005 EOS/ESD Symposium (Ciaran J Brennan, Shunhua Chang, Min Woo, Kiran Chatty, Robert Gauthier) discloses a thyristor-type electrostatic protection circuit in which a dual base Darlington bipolar transistor is used as a trigger element in a CMOS device having a triple well structure so as to operate at high speed. FIG. 30 is a cross-sectional view showing the configuration of the circuit.
Furthermore, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2000-277700 (see FIG. 6B) (Men Wan Riu et al.) discloses a circuit in which a primary protection device incorporating a thyristor and a secondary protection device incorporating an NMOS transistor are used in combination, and sources of the primary protection device and the secondary protection device are used in common so as to lower a trigger voltage for the primary protection device to a voltage close to a trigger voltage for the secondary protection device, to thereby effectively attain the protection. FIG. 31 is a cross-sectional view showing the configuration of the circuit.


An automatic digital white-balancing circuit comprises multipliers, a color difference matrix, an encoder sampling part, a integrating memory part, a comparing part, and a microcomputer, wherein the multipliers multiply color separated digital signals by multiplying coefficients applied from the microcomputer, the sampling part samples Y signals and R-Y and B-Y color difference signals of the matrix part, the integrating memory part integrates the output data from the sampling part and stores in the memory, and the comparing part decides whether the integrated data is included in a white balance adjusting region. Thus, the white balance can be adjusted even in a digital video camera as well as in an analogue video camera.

There has been developed an automatic white-balancing circuit for a video camera for processing analogue signals, and such a circuit has been put to practical uses. However, even though the adjustment of white balance in the video camera is indispensable for processing digital signals, the automatic white-balancing circuit for processing the digital signals has not been developed so far due to numerous difficulties during the processing of photographed video signals to the digital signals.

Automatic digital white-balancing circuit utilizing memory addresses to determine where white-balance correction is necessary


A display panel comprises a display area, a plurality of scan lines and data lines, a data driving circuit and a demultiplexing unit. The scan lines and the data lines cross each other within the display area. At least two of the data lines have different capacitances. The data driving circuit outputs a plurality of control signal and a data signal. The demultiplexing unit includes a plurality of thin-film transistors coupled with the data driving circuit and the data lines. The thin-film transistors receive the data signal and transmit the data signal to the correspondingly coupled data lines through channel layers of the thin-film transistors according to the control signals. The channel layers of at least two of the thin-film transistors coupled with the at least two data lines have different widths.

1. Field of Invention
The invention relates to a display panel and, in particular, to a display panel having a non-rectangular display area.
2. Related Art
Flat display apparatuses have advantages such as low power consumption, less heat generation, light weight and non-radiation, and are therefore widely applied to various electronic products. A flat display apparatus can be divided into a passive matrix type and an active matrix type according to its driving method. Limited to the driving method, the passive matrix display apparatus is unfavorable for a long lifespan and large-scale products. Although the active matrix display apparatus is made by the advanced technology, it is suitable for the large-scale and high-definition full color display with a large information capacity and therefore has become the mainstream of the flat display apparatus.
A conventional active matrix display apparatus includes a display panel, a scan driving circuit and a data driving circuit. The scan driving circuit is electrically connected to the display panel through a plurality of scan lines, and the data driving circuit is electrically connected to the display panel through a plurality of data lines. Besides, the data lines and the scan lines cross each other to form a display area including a plurality of pixels. Once the scan driving circuit outputs a scan signal to enable the scan line, the data driving circuit transmits the pixel voltage signals to the pixel electrodes of a row of pixels through the data lines, thereby enabling the display panel to display images.
As shown in FIG. 1A, a conventional display panel 1 has a rectangular display area 11, so the data lines d within the display area 11 have the same length. Regarding to a non-rectangular display panel such as a display panel 2 having a circular display area 21 (see FIG. 1B), in case it has de-multiplexing unit, the feed-through voltages of the data lines d induced by de-multiplexing circuit are not totally the same because the lengths as well as the parasitic capacitances of the data lines d in the circular display area 21 are not identical. Accordingly, the variation of the feed-through voltages of the data lines d will result in the level shift of the common voltage (Vcom), and therefore the display panel 2 may have the undesired mura or flicker issue due to the uneven brightness.
Therefore, it is an important subject to provide a display panel that can avoid the problems of mura and flicker in a non-rectangular display area.