A device having a display device employing a cathode-ray tube and an electron beam includes an on-screen display memory for storing data used to display white on an entire screen of the cathode-ray tube, a circuit for supplying signals used to display white on the entire screen of the said display device employing the electron beam based on the data stored in the on-screen display memory, and a controller for outputting a signal indicative of a command for displaying white on the entire screen from the on-screen display memory in accordance with a de-energizing operation. The signals used to display white on an entire screen of the cathode-ray tube are output to the display device employing the electron beam after the device having the display device is de-energized. Displayed contents are erased by removing a residual high voltage in the display device employing the electron beam.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a display device employing an electron beam for erasing a spot afterglow on a video tube for use in apparatus such as a television receiver, a monitor, or the like, and a method of erasing a display screen thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
When a television receiver is operated, the television receiver modulates, based on R, G, B video signals, an electron beam radiated from a cathode disposed in an electron gun of a cathode-ray tube (CRT) that lands on an anode on a fluorescent screen applied with a high voltage. Thus, the television receiver displays a color picture on the CRT.
Therefore, a high voltage (hereinafter referred to as an anode voltage) applied to the anode on the fluorescent screen in the CRT when the television receiver is operated remains for a certain time even after the television receiver has been de-energized. As a result, there occurs an afterglow phenomenon in which, when a deflection scanning is stopped, the electron beam converges on a substantial center on the picture screen of the CRT and persistent light spot remains. This phenomenon leads to screen burning of the CRT.
However, a Trinitron (registered trademark) CRT employing a single-electron gun includes an incorporated resistor, i.e., an inner bleeder resistor (IBR) in order to apply to an electrostatic deflection plate in the CRT a convergence voltage which is 4% to 8% smaller as compared with the anode voltage. In this case, when the television receiver is de-energized, the residual anode voltage on the fluorescent screen is quickly discharged to thereby avoid the spot afterglow to a certain degree.
FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing a part of an arrangement of a single-electron gun type CRT including the IBR. An anode button 51 has a shape of a cavity cap. The anode button 51 is applied with an anode voltage from a high voltage generator (not shown) provided in the television receiver. An internal carbon 52 is coated on the inner surface of a CRT 50. The internal carbon 52 supplies the anode voltage applied from the anode button 51 to a fluorescent screen (not shown) in the CRT 50 and to an IBR 54 of an electron gun 53.
The IBR 54 divides the anode voltage to apply a convergence voltage to an electrostatic deflection plate 55. The convergence voltage is adjusted by changing a resistance value of a variable resistor 56 provided outside the CRT 50.
FIG. 2 shows a diagram showing an example of a structure of the IBR 54 which is the incorporated resistor. A resistor 62 in the form of a pattern is disposed on a ceramic substrate 61. The IBR 54 includes an electrode 63 applied with the anode voltage, an electrode 64 for applying the convergence voltage to the electrostatic deflection plate 55, and an electrode 65 connected through the variable resistor 56 to a ground line. An overcoat glass 66 is made of an insulating material and formed on the ceramic substrate 61 except at the electrodes 63, 64 and 65 so as to cover the resistor 62.
Thus, when the television receiver having the IBR 54 incorporated in the CRT 50 is de-energized, the anode voltage remaining on the fluorescent screen of the CRT 50 is quickly discharged therefrom through the internal carbon 52, the IBR 54, and the variable resistor 56, preventing the spot afterglow on the fluorescent screen of the CRT 50.
When a Trinitron CRT employing three electron guns and a shadow mask type CRT employing three electron guns is used, three IBRs must be provided inside the respective three electron guns in order to prevent the spot afterglow. Therefore, there is then the disadvantage that the CRT inevitably becomes large in size and it costs more to manufacture such CRT.
It is very difficult to dispose the three IBRs in a small space in the CRT employing three electron guns. After the television receiver is de-energized, the high voltage remains on the anode surface for a certain time. Especially, when an aperture grill-type CRT employing three electron guns and having a high ratio of apertures relative to a screen is used, there is then the problem that the residual voltage generates the spot afterglow and the spot afterglow damages the fluorescent screen.

Display device using electron beam and method of erasing display screen


A method and apparatus for coupling together the ends of two steel pipe sections, each of which contains a permeable inner liner, in which not only are the pipe ends held in abutting engagement, but gas contained within the liner of one pipe section is effectively channeled into the liner of the other pipe section.

The present invention is herein described as an apparatus and method used to join pipe, including steel pipe, together which utilizes the structural strength of the adjoining pipes and enables the junction of two steel pipes to be operated safely under high pressure. The effective operation and safety of pipelines is required in the industry. For example, pipelines utilized the world over convey oil, water and gas from source to distributors to consumers. The integrity of these pipelines is of paramount importance to our economy and safety.
This invention relates to the pipeline industry where steel pipe is commonly used. Steel pipe used in the industry is commonly lined with a thermoplastic liner such as polyethylene, nylon and other polyolefins on the interior surface to prevent internal corrosion. In some cases, the liner is used to monitor the integrity of the steel pipe. The segments of steel pipe used in the industry are commonly affixed end to end so as to provide a continuous conduit constructed to facilitate the smooth and even flow of the material transported within the pipeline. The steel pipe is affixed end to end with flanged ends simply bolted together. This manner of joining together steel pipe often results in the weakest point in the pipeline residing at the joint between the pipes and suffers from drawbacks including the joint being over-stressed.

Method and a coupler for joining two steel pipes


The invention relates to a method for inducing a homologous protection against the 4 dengue serotypes in a patient, comprising the sequential administration, to said patient, (i) of a dose of a vaccinal dengue virus of a first serotype and of a dose of a vaccinal dengue virus of a second serotype, and (ii) of a dose of a vaccinal dengue virus of a third serotype and of a dose of a vaccinal dengue virus of a fourth serotype, in which the vaccinal dengue viruses (ii) are administered at least 30 days and at most 1 year after administration of the vaccinal viruses (i).

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a method for inducing a homologous protection against the 4 dengue serotypes in a patient, comprising the sequential administration, to said patient, (i) of a dose of a vaccinal dengue virus of a first serotype and of a dose of a vaccinal dengue virus of a second serotype, and (ii) of a dose of a vaccinal dengue virus of a third serotype and of a dose of a vaccinal dengue virus of a fourth serotype, in which the vaccinal dengue viruses (ii) are administered at least 30 days and at most 1 year after administration of the vaccinal dengue viruses (i).
2. Summary of the Related Art
Dengue diseases are caused by four viruses of the flavivirus genus, of the serological type, which are similar but distinct from an antigenic point of view (Gübler et al., 1988 In: Epidemiology of arthropod-borne viral disease. Monath TPM, editor, Boca Raton (Fla.): CRC Press: 223-60; Kautner et al., 1997, J. of Pediatrics, 131:516-524; Rigau-Pérez et al., 1998, Lancet; 352: 971-977; Vaughn et al., 1997, J Infect Dis; 176: 322-30). Infection with a dengue serotype can produce a clinical disease spectrum ranging from a nonspecific viral syndrome to a severe hemorrhagic disease which is fatal. The incubation period of dengue fever after a mosquito bite is approximately 4 days (ranging from 3 to 14 days). Dengue fever is characterized by a biphasic fever, headaches, pain in various parts of the body, prostration, eruptions, lymphadenopathy and leukopenia (Kautner et al., 1997, J. of Pediatrics, 131:516-524; Rigau-Pérez et al., 1998, Lancet; 352: 971-977). The viremia period is the same as for febrile diseases (Vaughn et al., 1997, J. Infect. Dis.; 176: 322-30). Recovery from dengue fever occurs after 7 to 10 days, but there is usually a prolonged asthenia. Decreases in leukocyte and platelet count are common.
Hemorrhagic dengue is a severe febrile disease characterized by anomalies in homeostasis and an increase in vascular permeability which can result in hypovolemia and in hypotension (dengue with shock syndrome) often complicated by severe internal hemorrhaging. The mortality rate of hemorrhagic dengue can be up to 10% without treatment, but is 1% in most centers with experience in treatment (WHO technical Guide, 1986. Dengue haemorrhagic fever: diagnosis, treatment and control, p1 -2. World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland).
The routine laboratory diagnosis of dengue is based on isolation of the virus and/or detection of antibodies specific for the dengue virus.
Dengue is the second most common tropical infectious disease after malaria, more than half the world's population (2.5 billion) living in regions where there is a risk of epidemic transmission. Each year, cases of dengue are estimated at 50-100 million, cases of patients hospitalized for hemorrhagic dengue at 500 000, and the number of deaths at 25 000. Dengue is endemic in Asia, in the Pacific region, in Africa, in Latin America and in the Caribbean. More than 100 tropical countries are endemic for dengue virus infections and hemorrhagic dengue has been documented in 60 of these countries (Gubler, 2002, TRENDS in Microbiology. 10:100-103; Monath, 1994, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci.; 91: 2395-2400). A certain number of well-described factors appear to be involved in dengue: population growth; unplanned and uncontrolled urbanization, in particular in combination with poverty; an increase in air travel; the lack of effective control of mosquitoes and the deterioration of hygiene infrastructures and of public health (Gubler, 2002, TRENDS in Microbiology. 10: 100-103). Individuals who travel and expatriates are increasingly warned about dengue (Shirtcliffe et al., 1998, J. Roy. Coll. Phys. Lond.; 32: 235-237). Dengue has constituted one of the main causes of febrile diseases in American troops during deployments in tropical zones endemic for dengue (DeFraites et al., 1994, MMWR 1994; 43: 845-848).
The viruses are maintained in a cycle which involves humans and Aedes aegypti, a domestic mosquito which bites during the day, and which prefers to feed off humans. The infection in humans is initiated by injection of the virus while an infected Aedes aegypti mosquito feeds on the blood. The virus in the saliva is deposited mainly in the extravascular tissues. The first category of cells infected after inoculation are dendritic cells, which then migrate to the lymph nodes (Wu et al., 2000, Nature Med.; 7:816-820). After an initial replication in the skin and in the lymph nodes, the virus appears in the blood during the acute febrile phase, generally for 3 to 5 days.
Monocytes and macrophages are, with dendritic cells, among the first targets of the dengue virus. Protection against a homotypic reinfection is complete and probably lasts for a lifetime, but crossprotection between the various dengue types lasts less than a few weeks to a few months (Sabin, 1952, Am. J. Trop. Med. Hyg.; 1: 30-50). Consequently, an individual can experience an infection with a different serotype. A second infection with dengue is in theory a risk factor for developing a severe dengue disease. However, hemorrhagic dengue is multifactorial: these factors include the strain of the virus involved, and also the age, the immune status and the genetic predisposition of the patient. Two factors play a major role in the occurrence of hemorrhagic dengue: rapid viral replication with a high viremia (the severity of the disease being associated with the level of viremia; Vaughn et al., 2000, J. Inf. Dis.; 181: 2-9) and a substantially inflammatory response with the release of high levels of inflammatory mediators (Rothman and Ennis, 1999, Virology; 257: 1-6). There is no specific treatment against dengue. The treatment for dengue fever is symptomatic with confinement to bed, control of the fever and of the pain with antipyretics and analgesics, and adequate fluid intake. The treatment for hemorrhagic dengue requires equilibration of fluid losses, replacement of clotting factors and heparin infusion.
Preventive measures are currently based on controlling the vector and taking personal protection steps which are difficult to implement and expensive. No vaccine against dengue has been approved at this time. Given that the four dengue serotypes are in circulation in the world and since they have been reported as being involved in cases of dengue hemorrhagic fever, immunization should ideally confer protection against the four serotypes of the dengue virus.
Sequential immunization strategies have previously been implemented with the aim of inducing a heterologous protection among the various dengue serotypes.
Thus, Price (1968, Am. J. Epid., 88:392-397) has described a method of sequential immunization against dengue comprising a series of two infections with dengue serotype 1 and then with dengue serotype 2, which conferred protection in a challenge test with dengue serotype 3 or 4.
Whitehead et al. (1970, Am. J. Trop. Med. Hyg., 19:94-102) sought to determine the influence of a sequential monovalent infection with two or three of the four dengue serotypes, on the conferred heterologous immunity. Gibbons were thus initially infected with a dengue virus serotype 1, 2, 3 or 4. Following a second infection with a heterologous serotype, a variable viremia was detected which was dependent on the sequence of infection and in particular on the serotype used for the first infection. More specifically, a second viremia appeared in gibbons initially infected with serotype 2, 3 or 4 and then challenged with serotype 1, 2 or 4.
Scherer et al. (1972, Am. J. Epid., 95:67-79) described a sequential monovalent infection comprising a first infection with one of the four dengue serotypes, followed by a second infection, or even a third infection, with a homologous or heterologous serotype. The proposed schemes did not make it possible to obtain a satisfactory protection against a challenge with a heterologous serotype.
Halstead et al. (1973, Am. J. Trop. Med. Hyg., 22:365-374) evaluated, in monkeys, a method of sequential immunization against dengue comprising a series of two, three or four monovalent infections with heterologous dengue serotypes 1 to 4. The authors concluded that a protection against a subsequent infection could be obtained with the immunization sequence consisting of serotypes 1, 2 then 4, followed by a challenge with serotype 3. Bivalent immunization is neither described nor suggested. Furthermore, the authors advise against sequential immunizations due to their laborious nature and to the random nature of the results generated.
Halstead et al. (1973, Am. J. Trop. Med. Hyg., 22:375-381) also found that a bivalent immunization with two heterologous dengue serotypes did not protect, or only partially protected, against an infection with a third dengue serotype.

Method of immunization against the 4 dengue serotypes


A muscle stimulator that may be used during ARM surgeries is disclosed that may be constructed from (1) a widely available low cost (e.g., $200 per unit) peripheral nerve stimulators or similar stimulator and (2) a relatively simple, handheld surgical probe to provide a low cost muscle stimulator that is adequate for ARM surgeries. These two components could provide a low cost solution to allow doctors in developing countries feasibly perform ARM surgeries with relatively minimal manufacturing and inexpensive maintenance.

Anorectal malformations are variety birth defects that may include (1) the absence of an anal opening, (2) the anal opening in the wrong place, (3), a connection, or fistula, joining the intestine and the urinary system, (4) a connection joining the intestine and vagina, or (5) the intestine can join with the urinary system and vagina in a single opening. During repair of the anorectal malformations, the colon is pulled down to a newly created anal opening, which must be properly situated between the anal sphincter muscles. Repair of anorectal malformations (ARM) using either posterior sagittal anorectoplasty (PSARP) or Georgeson's laparoscopic technique is optimally performed using a muscle stimulator to clearly delineate the anal and pelvic muscle complexes for precise anatomic placement of the rectal pull-through segment. Unfortunately, commercially available muscle stimulators for ARM surgery can be prohibitively expensive for many regions of the globe due as their cost may exceed 10,000 USD. Not surprisingly, this cost barrier limits the use of this critically important tool by surgeons in communities with limited resources to purchase this device.

Global Pediatric Surgical Technology and Education Project, Inc.


A service broker of telecommunications networks is described herein. According to one embodiment, in response to a telephony call event from a subscriber to be serviced by a plurality of services, for each of the plurality of services, a service description associated with the respective service is examined to identify which of the plurality of service is capable of handling the telephony call event, where the service description semantically describes the respective service. Thereafter, the telephony call event is distributed to one or more of the identified services that are capable of handling the telephony call event, where the telephony call event is processed by the one or more services. Other methods and apparatuses are also described.

Among the many trends in telecommunications, increasing Internet traffic is probably the most obvious. Behind this explosive growth are the millions of new users, richer content like multi-media, and the migration of corporate voice and data traffic onto the Internet. Today, escalating Internet traffic demands are pushing beyond the limits of today's switching architectures, forcing carriers to rethink their network strategies. An entirely new generation of highly scalable switching technology is necessary to meet the requirements of today's network users. In addition, digitized information can be combined not only with other voice conversations, but it can be then merged with other formats such as facsimile, video and Internet traffic. Convergence implies that the collective conglomeration of media formats and sources is more efficiently transported on a single network rather than individual special use networks. The physical work and right a way access rights required to lay fiber creates an economy of scale such that digging one trench is easier than several parallel trenches.
Telecommunication carrier owners are understandably reluctant to discard billions of dollars of legacy equipment yet realize that the Public System Telephone Network (PSTN) will need to evolve into something completely different to handle the demands of today's users. Because the volume of telecommunications traffic is predominantly data, it is no longer sensible to create and maintain two parallel networks, one for voice and a second one for data. Voice and data networks are converging. Most carriers agree that the equipment using either Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) or Internet Protocol (IP) is much less costly and more efficient than circuit switching. Distributive software paired with a packet-based architecture can now achieve the same functionality as a Class 5 telecommunications switch. Industry players are realizing that the "Softswitch" is the answer to transforming PSTN networks into a more flexible, scalable solution that can accommodate the increasing data traffic and provide the carriers with the ability to generate revenue through value-added services. Consequently, Softswitch architectures are emerging as the next-generation solution to converged voice and data networks.
Softswitch is a concept of separating the network hardware from network software. In traditional circuit switched networks, hardware and software is not independent. Circuit switched networks rely on dedicated facilities for inter-connection and are designed primarily for voice communications. The more efficient packet based networks use the IP protocol to efficient route voice and data over diverse routers and shared facilities.
As a number of new services deployed every day, traditional switches reached a scalability limit, where service delivery time is far in excess of modern business requirements. The service execution environment scalability can be measured by the number of services, the number of application services, and the service delivery time. The reasons of the slow service delivery in the traditional switches may result from the complexity of integration and the complexity of integration of the new service with other existing services.
In addition, a next generation network is adding new complexities to the problems including an increase in the number of service execution environments (e.g., proxies, end user devices, application servers, media servers, etc.), a more diversity of service execution environment (e.g., SIP, Parlay, IN, etc.), and a need to integrate applications developed by several vendors, who are not necessarily following the same service implementation philosophy.

Semantic service broker for telecommunications networks


A communication control apparatus that controls a wireless communication between a base station and a terminal, the communication control apparatus including: a memory configured to store combinations of each of threshold values, each of areas, and each of realtimenesses, and a processor configured to obtain a specified threshold value of the threshold values by referring the combinations in accordance with a specified area and a specified realtimeness, the specified area being one of the areas where the terminal is located, the specified realtimeness being one of the realtimenesses and being information which indicates how long a delay time from requesting a data communication to performing the data communication is acceptable, and to permit the terminal the data communication, when a channel quality between the terminal and the base station is better than the specified threshold value.

Recently, the traffic of the mobile communication system is increasing continuously in line with the distribution of a multifunctional mobile terminal called a smart phone. As a countermeasure for such an increase in traffic, a policy measure is being proposed in which the communication channel capacity between a base station and a mobile terminal is increased to increase the communication capability of the entire mobile communication system. As such, even if a service provider increases the communication capacity, the location of a mobile terminal of a user frequently changes, and thus, the number of mobile terminals located at a certain area frequently varies. As a result, an imbalance in the number of mobile terminals (frequency utilization efficiency in communication) occurs. In an effort to resolve problems related to such variation in the number of mobile terminals in each area, there is a technology in which data communication (download transmission) from a base station for a mobile terminal is controlled.
For example, there is a technology in which a movement path of a mobile terminal is estimated and variation in wireless resources in each area is predicted along the estimated movement path in order to perform a communication control in accordance with the wireless resources conditions. See, for example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2009-188883. For example, in an area where a wireless resource is congested, communication may not be allowed for the mobile terminal until the mobile terminal moves to a next area where the mobile terminal would not experience the wireless resource congestion, so that it is possible to efficiently utilize the wireless resources.
As another example, there is a technology in which a base station receives a report from a mobile terminal regarding the channel quality of a downlink communication directed from the base station to the mobile terminal, and the base station acquires a temporal distribution of the channel quality to equally allot channels for transmission with respect to a plurality of mobile terminals. See, for example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2003-152630. In addition, there is a technology in which a mobile terminal investigates a path appropriate for a destination information and an intended communication condition (e.g., a real time nature, or a bit rate), and performs a communication when the location of the mobile terminal which has moved is in conformity with the communication condition. As a result, the channel quality and communication efficiency may be improved. See, for example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2008-236381.

Communication control apparatus, communication control system and communication control method


A method for manufacturing optical components in a three-dimensional photonic crystal lattice. A first resist (9) is coated on a substrate (10) and exposed to an e-beam (11), to produce an imaged area (12). Another resist coating is applied to thicken the resist (13) and an interference exposure (15) is used to image the result. This is developed to form periodic voids (16), which may be filled with a materials having a high refractive index to form a pattern (18 and 12) when the resist (13) is removed.

The present invention relates to integrated optical circuits, which are fabricated in a photonic crystal. Specifically, a method is disclosed which creates optical devices in a photonic crystal structure using both electron beam (e-beam) and optical exposure of a resist to define an optical device surrounded by a dielectric periodic structure, a photonic crystal.
Optical circuits may be fabricated in photonic crystals, which consists of optical devices surrounded by a dielectric periodic structure exhibiting a photonic bandgap. The photonic bandgap is a range of frequencies which will not propagate through the periodic structure. The parameters of the dielectric periodic structure include the period length, refractive index of the structure, the shape of the periodic lattice as well as other factors, which determine the frequency of light that cannot propagate within the periodic structure. Light having a frequency within the photonic bandgap of the dielectric periodic structure is confined in the optical device, such as a waveguide, which constitutes a defect in the periodicity, and its further propagation is controlled by the optical device.
Processes for manufacturing such integrated optical circuits are disclosed in a published U.S. patent application (U.S. 2002/0074307A1), as well as other references. The dielectric periodic structures are formed within the dielectric layer, and an optical device such as a waveguide is formed by creating a longitudinal interruption in the periodic structure. Light having a frequency within the corresponding bandgap of the material is reflected along the internal surfaces of the longitudinal structure.
Another way of utilizing photonic crystal for waveguiding is by engineering its dispersion properties so that light is forced to propagate only along certain discrete number of directions. In this case, for arbitrary light routing, defects in the form of mirrors can be used to redirect the propagation of light from one allowed direction to another.
In either case, the usefulness of a device based on photonic crystals rests on the ability to create defects in the regular periodic array of the photonic crystal.
The creation of the periodic dielectric structure and optical components within the periodic structure typically requires the use of photo masks to define features in the integrated circuit corresponding to the periodic dielectric structure and the optical components. The use of photo masks is a significant cost factor in the manufacturing of such integrated circuits. Moreover, the creation of three-dimensional structures with devices embedded in the photonic crystal matrix requires a multilayer fabrication. In this case a working device is possible only with very precise alignment between layers, which is both costly and time consuming.
Other techniques for creating the periodic dielectric structure includes the use of optical interferometric lithography, which is useful for exposing large areas of a dielectric surface, and for creating a three-dimensional periodic dielectric structure. The process eliminates the need for a photo mask, however, not all sizes and configurations of an optical device can be formed within the periodic dielectric structure using interferometric lithography exclusively. In particular, the placement of defects, such as waveguides, resonators, or mirrors, is impractical with interferometric lithography alone.
Electron beam (e-beam) technology permits the creation of very high resolution patterning on a substrate. E-beam exposure also permits a well determined penetration depth to be obtained within a layer of resist used to form patterns of circuit components on a substrate. However, patterning large surface areas using e-beam exposure is relatively slow. Moreover, the creation of 3D patterns requires multilayer processing with all the drawbacks listed above.
It is an object of the present invention to combine optical interferometric lithography for exposing large areas of resist to create a three-dimensional periodic structure with e-beam exposure techniques to manufacture optical circuits embedded in the three-dimensional periodic structure.

Method for fabricating optical devices in photonic crystal structures


Thickened aqueous compositions, and a method for controlling viscosity drift for thickened aqueous compositions comprising a pigment, a copolymer containing polymerized units of phosphate- or phosphonate-containing monomers, and an acid suppressible thickener.

This invention relates generally to thickened aqueous polymer compositions and methods for thickening aqueous polymer compositions. In particular, this invention describes a method for controlling viscosity drift for thickened aqueous compositions comprising a pigment and a copolymer containing polymerized units of phosphate- or phosphonate-containing monomers, and aqueous compositions made thereby that show minimal viscosity drift.
Aqueous polymer systems, for example aqueous coatings compositions comprising emulsion polymer binders, typically use thickeners to obtain the desired degree of viscosity needed for the proper formulation and application of the aqueous system. One general type of thickener used in aqueous polymer systems is referred to in the art by the term "associative." Associative thickeners are hydrophobically modified so as to provide an aqueous system with certain characteristics such as ease of formulation, pigment settling prevention, film build during application, spatter resistance, low sag, good flow, and leveling. These associative thickeners may have hydrophobic groups attached to or within the water-soluble polymeric backbone. The polymeric backbone may be constructed from one or more blocks of polymerized oxyalkylene units, typically polyethylene oxide or polypropylene oxide. They may also utilize a cellulosic backbone.
Most of the associative thickeners presently on the market are sold as pourable aqueous liquids. For ease of use, it is desirable for the viscosity (Brookfield at 6 rpm) of such thickener products to be less than 15,000 centipoise (cps), or even less than 5,000 cps, so that the product will readily drain from its storage container, and be readily incorporated into the aqueous system to which it is added. The viscosity of the aqueous thickener product can be decreased by reducing the active solids concentration, but this has the drawback of limiting formulation latitude in terms of weight solids of the aqueous system to be thickened by the product.
Many aqueous compositions of polymeric binders comprising polymerized units of phosphate- and phosphonate-containing monomers have proven to be particularly difficult to thicken, since these compositions suffer from a significant viscosity increase (viscosity drift) occurring from a period of hours to a period of weeks after formulating and addition of thickener. This is problematic to commercial formulators and remains as a roadblock on the route to commercialization of such phosphorus containing polymers, the latter being considered desirable for providing improved titanium dioxide utilization efficiency and improved hiding. That is, phosphorus containing binders have been shown to improve the spacing between titanium dioxide pigment particles in the dried coating film.
United States Patent Application Publication No. US 2007/0021536 A1 describes an aqueous composition containing pigment and an acrylic polymer and having reduced flocculation of pigment particles. Table 3 (paragraph 0029) illustrates the problem of viscosity drift for thickened aqueous compositions comprising a pigment and a copolymer containing polymerized units of phosphate- or phosphonate-containing monomers. The problem is alleviated to some extent by the addition of at least one compound containing a pyrophosphate linkage and having no more than 12% carbon. Despite this disclosure, other methods to minimize viscosity drift are desired. Particularly desirable is a thickener that can be used to increase viscosity of these aqueous polymer compositions to a target viscosity (KU), and which resists viscosity drift, thereby eliminating the relatively expensive additive.
A need in the art remains, therefore, for pourable associative thickeners with both low viscosity and the highest active thickener solids possible, which provide thickened systems with minimal viscosity drift for aqueous compositions comprising polymers with phosphorus containing monomers.

Thickened compositions and method for thickening aqueous polymer compositions


A PID control device identifies rise characteristics of a controlled system by a step response method on changing a reference, moves to PID control when idle time and slope successively obtained at the rise reach a predetermined condition, and computes PID control parameters based on the idle time and slope obtained up to that point. If the identification is fully executed, the computed PID control parameters are immediately set. If it is not fully executed, the PID control device 1 further watches the state to compare a proportional gain of the newly computed PID control parameters with the proportional gain of previously set PID control parameters, and the currently computed PID control parameters are set when the parameters are on a safe side.

This invention relates to a PID control unit, and more particularly to an improved self control type PID control unit capable of automatically setting PID parameters to optimum values in accordance with a controlled system.
In a conventional PID control unit, PID control parameters are determined by an auto-tuning method employing a limit cycle in which a response wave form is oscillated by applying a predetermined manipulated variable to a controlled system and PID control parameters are set by identifying the characteristics of the controlled system in view of the response wave form. Alternatively, this is done by a step response method in which a step manipulated variable is applied to a controlled system, and PID control parameters are set by identifying the characteristics of the controlled system in view of its response wave form and thereafter a conventional closed loop control is executed. The conventional auto-tuning method, however, has the disadvantages that there are some controlled systems to which it cannot be applied or, and identification of the parameters consumes time since the response wave form is oscillated. The step response method needs an experimental operation prior to the common closed loop control to identify the characteristics of the controlled system.


A system processes a communication session to be set up via a communication path from an originating location to a destination location through a network. A common Service Level Agreement (SLA) registry contains Quality-of-Service (QoS) related parameters representative of QoS valid for the domains between originating and destination locations. A QoS processor processes QoS related parameters retrieved from the SLA registry, for predicting the end-to-end QoS values for one communication path between originating and destination locations and for ranking or selecting or both ranking and selecting, based on predicted end-to-end QoS values, one or more recommended communication paths between the originating and destination locations. The QoS processor processes QoS parameters retrieved from the SLA registry and predicts end-to-end QoS values representative of all communication paths between network domains and for storing said predicted end-to-end QoS values in a QoS registry for selection and/or ranking actions for new session requests.

For initiating a communication session through a network, several cooperating individual (sub-)sessions, each through a domain (e.g. sub-network), may be needed. In a network depicted in FIG. 1, obviously, the end-to-end route of a session is not clear beforehand, nor is it clear at the originating domain if the session can be made with a required or desired Quality of Service (QoS). A session to be initiated may pass e.g. an origination local domain, an originating national domain, an international domain, a terminating national domain and a terminating local domain.
QoS signalling is known as such from e.g. references 1 and 2, disclosing several ways of performing QoS signalling. Yet QoS signalling implementations in global networks do not exist yet. The prior art methods have several shortcomings which will be outlined here by means of an example.
If a domain in e.g. the Netherlands (NL), shown in FIG. 1, receives a session request which originates in Amsterdam (ASD) and has Tokyo (TYO) as destination location, the controlling means of the NL domain has e.g. a choice between two international domains, e.g. AT&T and Sprint. On receiving the session request, the question for the NL domain is twofold, viz.                1. What next domain must be gone to (i.e. AT&T or Sprint in this example)?        2. Can the requested end-to-end QoS be obtained?
An answer to these questions may be based on the status of the NL domain, the Service Level Agreements (SLAs) between NL and AT&T, NL and Sprint, and the SLAs of both international domains with their respective Japanese domain(s).
Before continuing, a clear understanding may be needed of what is in an SLA and where an SLA resides in technical sense. Consider the structure of domains as given in FIG. 1. Three international domains A, B and C may be connected to domain JP. Traffic from each domain A, B and C arrives at domain JP at its own physical interface. Usually at this interface shaping, policing, SLA verification, access traffic handling, measurements (e.g. for billing) etc. are performed. These are important actions defined in an SLA. Then the traffic from the domains A, B and C is combined at a multiplexer and enters domain JP. Classification of traffic inbound domain JP, which is another important aspect of an SLA, may take place at the physical interfaces or at a multiplexer. Domain JP can now handle traffic according to its own classes as defined in its SLAs. At a higher level an SLA exists technically at an interface between two neighbouring domains.
To show what can be expected to be in an SLA, an example is considered of the contents of an SLA file.                A chapter describing the physical interface        A chapter describing the traffic classes                    which classes does the domains support?            how are the classes implemented technically (syntax)?            what is the meaning of each class (semantics)?                        A chapter describing traffic handling per class                    measurement definition and timing            amount of bandwidth reserved for a class            QoS guarantees for traffic within a class bandwidth limit            arrangements for handing access traffic                        A financial chapter                    the cost for handling traffic per class            the cost for handling access traffic per class
Note that in theory, this can be defined differently for different ingress/egress combinations for the same domain. For instance, QoS guarantees from a NL Point of Presence (POP) of an international domain to Japan might be different than to Spain because of the different distance.
When a request for a session from ASD to TYO is received, an end-to-end "SLA calculator" might be used to compute the SLA from the various SLAs, e.g.                SLA1=SLA(NL, A, B)+SLA(Sprint, B, JP)        SLA2=SLA(NL, A, D)+SLA(AT&T, D, JP), etc.where SLA(X,Y,Z) is a notation for SLA information provided by domain X for traffic entering it from domain Y and leaving it to domain Z.
However, this may violate the "requirement" that no new protocol should be needed for end-to-end QoS signalling of a session. Besides, a substantial drawback is that the SLA calculator would have to be invoked for each session by each domain, which results in a large overhead at each session setup. Finally, commercial SLA information should be kept confidential. However, if SLA information is exchanged between various domains, each individual SLA may be reverse-engineered, which may be unacceptable for the domain providers which, after all, are in mutual commercial competition.

System and method for processing quality-of-service parameters in a communication network

Nederlandse Organisatie voor toegepast-natuurwetenschappelijk Onderzoek TNO


The invention relates to a point of observation tracking device comprising means (8, 12) for directing light from a holographic element (12) to the retina (4) of a user, and means for tracking the reflection of the light (12, 14) from the retina (4) thereby to provide a signal representative of the point of observation of the eye or eyes of the user.

Various methods for tracking the point of observation, eye position, or point of gaze (which may be regarded as equivalent end-results) have been proposed but commonly these approaches suffer from complexity and consequent high cost, bulkiness or poor performance. Prior methods include attempting to track the muscular movements of the eye with mechanical transducers and various optical techniques.
The optical methods used in the prior art fall into two categories, viz, 1: tracking the position of the pupil; and 2: tracking a highlight from the cornea.
The pupil tracking systems are limited in accuracy by several factors the most important being the poor contrast between the iris and the pupil, particularly with dark coloured irises, which reduces the resolution with which a camera can define the pupil boundary. Secondly the iris commonly has an irregular dark border at the edge of the pupil which further degrades accuracy. Thirdly the relative motion of the pupil is not related to an external reference physically aligned with the user's head and so extrapolation of the pupil position to determine the point of observation yields poor repeatability.
The corneal highlight systems suffer from high degree of variation in corneal profiles both between individuals and from time to time in the same individual due to variations in eyeball pressure due to air pressure. The nature of the corneal highlight apparatus also causes further variations and poor repeatability since small changes in the relationship of the illumination source to the cornea drastically affect the position of the highlight.
Preferred embodiment of the present invention aim to obviate or overcome disadvantages of the prior art, whether referred to herein or otherwise.

Point of observation tracking device and eye focus measuring device


A fuel-flow-rate control device, a power generation system, and a fuel-flow-rate control method which can prevent overshooting of a gas turbine output (gas turbine inlet temperature) and which can improve power generation efficiency are provided. The fuel-flow-rate control device includes a computing portion for obtaining a state quantity relating to operating conditions and temperature conditions of a gas turbine as an input signal and computing a fuel-flow-rate command for controlling a fuel flow rate supplied to a combustor based on the above input signal, and a second selection circuit for setting the above fuel-flow-rate command to be not more than a fuel-flow-rate upper limit. The fuel-flow-rate upper limit is a fuel flow rate at which the gas turbine inlet temperature is set to be not more than a predetermined upper temperature limit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a fuel-flow-rate control device for controlling a fuel flow rate of a gas turbine, to a power generation system, and to a method for controlling a fuel flow rate.
This application is based on Japanese Patent Application No. 2005-260579, the content of which is incorporated herein by reference.
2. Description of Related Art
Heretofore, the method disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 6-193471 (FIG. 2) is a known fuel-flow-rate control method for gas turbines installed in gas turbine power generation facilities and the like.
According to Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 6-193471, first, second, and third fuel flow rates are calculated. The first fuel flow rate is for maintaining a desired revolution speed of a gas turbine, the second fuel flow rate is for maintaining a desired temperature of an exhaust gas emitted from the gas turbine, and the third fuel flow rate is for controlling the acceleration so that an inlet temperature of the turbine does not reach a predetermined maximum temperature. In addition, the third fuel flow rate is corrected based on an outlet air temperature of a heat exchanger. A technique in which a fuel flow rate supplied to a combustor is controlled to the smallest fuel flow rate among the first fuel flow rate, the second fuel flow rate, and the corrected third fuel flow rate is also disclosed.
However, in a gas turbine of the related art, when the load is increased in a low-load region including a starting time and when the load is increased in a high-load region in response to a reset operation of a down command for automatic frequency control, there is a problem of overshooting of the inlet temperature of the gas turbine due to the following reasons.
Specifically, in the system of the related art, control is first performed using the revolution speed of the turbine or the fuel flow rate based on a power generator output command, and subsequently, when the gas turbine output is increased to the vicinity of a base load (rated output point), the control method is changed to a method based on temperature, such as the exhaust gas temperature, and the gas turbine output is stabilized at the rated output point. However, during the temperature control, because of a response delay, the gas turbine output may temporarily overshoot the rated output point in some cases, and in association with this overshooting, the gas turbine inlet temperature also overshoots.
Heretofore, in order to suppress this overshooting of the gas turbine inlet temperature, for example, the following methods have been used: a fuel-flow-rate control method in which the rate of change in the load is decreased, and a fuel-flow-rate control method in which the control based on the turbine revolution speed is changed to the control based on the temperature at an early stage. However, neither of the control methods described above are suitable for reducing the starting time, and hence a control method which can shorten the starting time and which can simultaneously improve the efficiency of power generation has been desired.

Fuel-flow-rate control device for power generation system


A machine for forming a container from a blank of sheet material includes an outer body frame, a mandrel mounted to the body frame, a lifting assembly coupled to the body frame, and a lateral presser assembly and a folding arm assembly coupled to the lifting assembly, wherein the lifting assembly moves the lateral presser assembly and the folding arm assembly in a first direction and an opposite, second direction. A folding arm servomechanism is operatively connected to a folding arm of the folding arm assembly and rotates the folding arm relative to the mandrel to wrap a first portion of the blank around the mandrel. A lateral presser servomechanism is operatively connected to an engaging bar of the lateral presser assembly and rotates the engaging bar relative to the mandrel to wrap a second portion of the blank around the mandrel to at least partially form the container.

This invention relates generally to containers formed from sheet material, and more specifically to corrugated barrels, blanks of sheet material for producing corrugated barrels, and methods and apparatus for forming corrugated barrels.
Containers fabricated from paperboard and/or corrugated paperboard material are often used to store and transport goods. These containers can include four-sided containers, six-sided containers, eight-sided containers, bulk bins and/or various size corrugated barrels. Such containers are usually formed from blanks that are folded along a plurality of preformed fold lines to form an erected corrugated container.
In the case of a corrugated barrel, when the blank is folded, different panels and/or flaps overlap to form a manufacturer's joint, a bottom of an erected corrugated barrel, and a top of the erected corrugated barrel. Because such erected barrels are often used to transport and store various products having various loads therein, the sealing of the manufacturer's joint and the barrel bottom, and the closing of the barrel top should be considered during manufacturing of the blank and the barrel.
However, due to the complexity of at least some known blanks and corrugated barrels, such blanks and corrugated barrels are difficult and time consuming to manufacture. Moreover, because of increased costs, at least some known corrugated barrels are simply designed in an effort to reduce costs, manufacturing time, and labor, which oftentimes results in inadequate sealing of the manufacturer's joint and the barrel bottom, and inadequate closing of the barrel top. As a result, products contained within the barrel may undesirably fall and/or spill out of the barrel thereby causing damage to the products.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Machine and method for forming a container


The present invention provides for nanostructures grown on a conducting substrate, and a method of making the same. The nanostructures grown according to the claimed method are suitable for manufacturing electronic devices such as an electron beam writer, and a field emission display.

Relentless efforts at miniaturization are bringing traditional CMOS devices to the limit where the device characteristics are governed by quantum phenomena; in such regimes, perfect control is impossible to achieve. This has engendered a need for finding alternative new materials to fabricate devices that will possess at least the same or even better performance than existing CMOS devices but with greater control.
The miniaturization of CMOS devices has hitherto been governed by a trend—often called Moore's law—in which electronic components shrink in size by half every 30 months. The International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors (ITRS) has established a projected growth curve according to this model. The demands for speed, high integration level, high performance and low production costs attendant on such a rate of progress are very stringent. Consequently, the problems associated with the physical and electrical characteristics of traditional materials used for making devices have escalated. Hence there is a need to search for alternative solutions to the problems that will ultimately impede the progress of silicon technology in the immediate future. This means that devising innovative material and process solutions is critical to sustaining the projected rate of growth.
The choice of new materials is however limited by factors such as compatibility with existing production methods, reproducibility of manufacture and cost. Some problems that existing technology materials have faced are as follows.
High power consumption due to leakage current: currently, the device performance is degraded due to high leakage current through gate oxide (which is very thin). This in turn increases the leakage current in the off state, and hence increases power consumption, which in turn reduces the life time of a battery.
Poor performance of Cu interconnects: due to its low resistivity, copper is used for making interconnects that are used for connecting various components to one another, as well as devices and circuits with the outside world. Due to the dramatic reduction in the size of the components, interconnects based on copper material are now showing poor performance in terms of current carrying capacity and lifetime of the wires. This in turn reduces the lifetime of a processor. No solution currently exists for interconnects that will efficiently connect the devices in a circuit with those outside of the circuit, in time to meet the projected demand for current density over the next several years.
Demand for high aspect ratio structures: today the aspect ratio of contact holes for interconnects in DRAM staked capacitors has reached 12:1 and is expected to increase to 23:1 by the year 2016. Creating such high aspect ratio contacts with straight walls poses substantial technological challenges, not least because void-free filling with metals (also known as vias) of such high aspect ratio features is extremely difficult.
High heat dissipation: modern microprocessors generate inordinate amounts of heat. Heat dissipation has been increasing steadily as the transistor count and clock frequency of computer processors has increased. In particular, for example, copper interconnects of the sizes required for current and future devices generate so much heat that their electrical resistance is increased, thereby leading to a decreased capacity to carry current. However a practical solution for cooling of such systems which will not eventually exceed the power budget for processors has yet to be found.
In short, for all these reasons, it has become necessary to search for alternative materials and processing technology.
Carbon nanostructures, including carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and nanofibers, are considered to be some of the most promising candidates for future developments in nano-electronics, nano-electromechanical systems (NEMS), sensors, contact electrodes, nanophotonics, and nano-biotechnology. This is due principally to their one dimensional nature, and their unique electrical, optical and mechanical properties. In contrast to the fullerenes, such as C60 and C70, whose principal chemistry is based on attaching specific functionalities thereby giving rise to specific properties, CNTs offer an almost limitless amount of variation through design and manufacture of tubes of different diameters, pitches, and lengths. Furthermore, whereas the fullerenes offer the possibility of making a variety of discrete molecules with numerous specific properties, carbon nanotubes provide the possibility to make molecular-scale components that have excellent electrical and thermal conductivity, and strength. (See, e.g., Nanoelectronics and Information Technology, R. Waser (Ed.), Wiley-VCH, 2003, at chapter 19.)
Carbon nanotubes and carbon nanofibers have been considered for both active devices and as interconnect technology at least because their electrical and thermal properties and their strength. For example, the high electron mobility of carbon nanotubes (79,000 cm2/Vs) surpasses that of state-of-the-art MOSFET devices (see, e.g., Durkop, T., et al., Nano Letters, 4(1), 35, (2004)). Furthermore, the extremely high current carrying capacity of carbon nanotubes (1010 A/cm2) (see, e.g., Wei, B. Q., et al., Appl. Phys. Lett., 79(8), 1172, (2001)), when compared with copper interconnects (˜106 A/cm2), means that carbon nanotubes potentially possess the solution to the severe problems for interconnects projected in ITRS.
The anisotropic thermal conductivity of nanotubes/nanofibers (6,000 W/Km) (see, e.g., Hoenlien, W., et al., IEEE Trans. Compon. and Packaging Tech., 27(4), 629, (2004)) is also exceptionally promising for solving problems of heat dissipation.
Finally, the high E-modulus (representing the strength of a material) of individual nanotubes (as high as 1 TPa) has made them a good choice for both composite materials and for nanoelectromechanical devices.
In general, it is highly desirable to fabricate electronic devices that are compatible with existing complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) fabrication techniques. A prerequisite for exploring CNTs in an industrial process is to be able to control mass production of devices with high reproducibility. Due to high purity and high yield, chemical vapor deposition (CVD) is a popular and advantageous growth method that offers the potential to grow nanotubes at an exact location with control over their length, diameter, shape and orientation.
Hence for many electronic, nanoelectromechanical systems and interconnect applications the integration possibilities of carbon nanostructures into existing CMOS-based electronic industrial manufacturing processes is expected to be a ground breaking technological breakthrough. However, there are many engineering and materials issues inherent to CMOS-compatible device fabrication processes that need to be addressed before such integration can take place. Solutions to these issues have so far been long-awaited.
For instance, there are problems related to growth of nanostructures. Although numerous techniques have been developed and demonstrated to produce carbon based nanostructures, all possess drawbacks regarding mass production and integration into existing industry manufacturing processes. Prominent drawbacks are: (a) control over predictable morphology with either semiconducting or metallic properties, (b) precise localization of the grown individual structures, and (c) predictable electrical properties at the interface between the grown nanostructures and the substrate. There is no known single solution to solve all the aforementioned drawbacks. The most prominent techniques for synthesizing carbon nanostructures include arc discharge (see, e.g., Iijima, S., Nature, 354, 56, (1991); and Kratschmer, W.; Lamb, L. D.; Fostiropoulos, K.; Huffinan, D. R., Nature, 347, 354, (1990)), laser vaporization (see, e.g., Kroto, H. W.; Heath, J. R.; O'Brien, S. C.; Curl, R. F.; Smalley, R. E. Nature, 318, 162, (1985)), catalytic chemical-vapor deposition (CCVD), also referred to as CVD, (Cassell, A. M.; Raymakers, J. A.; Jing, K.; Hongjie, D., J. Phys. Chem. B, 103, (31), (1999)), and catalytic plasma enhanced chemical-vapor deposition (C-PECVD) (Cassell, A. M.; Qi, Y.; Cruden, B. A.; Jun, L.; Sarrazin, P. C.; Hou Tee, N.; Jie, H.; Meyyappan, M., Nanotechnology, 15(1), 9, (2004); and Meyyappan, M.; Delzeit, L.; Cassell, A.; Hash, D., Plasma Sources, Science and Technology, 12(2), 205, (2003)), all of which references are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety. Due to high purity and high yield, chemical vapor deposition (CVD) is a popular and advantageous growth method, and indeed, among all of the known growth techniques, CMOS compatibility has been demonstrated only for the CCVD method. (See, Tseng, et al. (Tseng, Y.-C.; Xuan, P.; Javey, A.; Malloy, R.; Wang, Q.; Bokor, J.; Dai, H. Nano Lett. 4(1), 123-127, (2004), incorporated herein by reference) where a monolithic integration of nanotube devices was performed on n-channel semiconductor (NMOS) circuitry.)
There are specific problems related to control of the properties of grown materials. Even though numerous different alternative growth methods exist for growing carbon nanostructures, controlling the interface properties between the nanostructures and the substrates, the body of the nanostructures, and the tip of the nanostructures are not yet demonstrated to be well controlled by utilizing a single method of growth.
CVD typically employs a metal catalyst to facilitate carbon nanostructure growth. The main roles of the catalyst are to break bonds in the carbon carrying species and to absorb carbon at its surface and to reform graphitic planes through diffusion of carbon through or around an interface (see, e.g., Kim, M. S.; Rodriguez, N. M.; Baker, R. T. K., Journal of Catalysis, 131, (1), 60, (1991); and Melechko, A. V.; Merkulov, V. I.; McKnight, T. E.; Guillom, M. A.; Klein, K. L.; Lowndes, D. H.; Simpson, M. L., J. App. Phys., 97(4), 41301, (2005), incorporated herein by reference).
However, the growth of nanotubes is usually carried out on silicon or other semiconducting substrates. Growth from such metal catalysts on conducting metal substrates or metal underlayers is almost lacking. This is because it has been found that it is hard to make a good contact between a growing nanostructure and a conducting substrate with good quality grown nanostructures in terms of control over diameter, length and morphology. Nevertheless, for making CMOS-compatible structures, it is necessary to use a conducting substrate. In particular, this is because a metal substrate, or base layer, acts as bottom electrode for electrical connection to the nanostructures.
Nevertheless, growth of nanostructures on CMOS compatible conducting substrates has proved to be far from trivial, at least because different metals require different conditions, and also because it has proven difficult to control the properties of the nanostructures grown on such substrates with predictable control over diameter, length and morphology of the grown structures and with predictable interface properties between the nanostructures and the substrate.
A method for producing arrays of carbon nanotubes on a metal underlayer, with a silicon buffer layer between the metal underlayer and a catalyst layer, is described in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2004/0101468 by Liu et al. According to Liu, the buffer layer prevents catalyst from diffusing into the substrate and also prevents the metal underlayer from reacting with carbon source gas to, undesirably, form amorphous carbon instead of carbon nanostructures. In Liu, the process involves, inconveniently, annealing the substrate in air for 10 hours at 300-400° C. to form catalyst particles, via oxidation of the catalyst layer, prior to forming the nanostructures. Each catalyst particle acts as a seed to promote growth of a nanostructure. The method of Liu, however, does not permit control of the composition or properties of the nanostructures and the nanotubes produced are curved and disorganized.
An additional goal is fabrication of carbon based nano-electro mechanical structures (NEMS). Extensive theoretical analysis on two-terminal and three-terminal carbon based NEMS (C-NEMS) structures were performed by Dequesnes et al. (Dequesnes, M.; Rotkin, S. V.; Aluru, N. R., Nanotechnology, 13(1), 120, (2002)) and Kinaret et al. (Kinaret, J. M.; Nord, T.; Viefers, S., Applied Physics Letters, 82(8), 1287, (2003)) respectively, all of which references are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety. The model developed by Kinaret et al. for three-terminal NEMS device consists of a conducting carbon nanotube (CNT) placed on a terraced Si substrate and connected to a fixed source electrode which they have called it "nanorelay." Recently Lee et al. (Lee, S. W. L., et al., Nano Letters, 4(10), 2027, (2004), incorporated herein by reference) have demonstrated the characteristics of such three terminal nanorelay structures experimentally. However, the experimental approach by Lee et al. for fabricating such devices is time consuming and the technology is heavily dependent on the sonicated CNF solutions which usually do not possess any control over the length and the diameter of the CNF: the functional part of the device. Therefore, it is desirable to develop a technology for fabricating such structures with predictable behavior.
Accordingly, there is a need for a method of growing carbon nanostructures on a metal substrate in such a way that various properties of the nanostructures can be controlled.
The discussion of the background to the invention herein is included to explain the context of the invention. This is not to be taken as an admission that any of the material referred to was published, known, or part of the common general knowledge as at the priority date of any of the claims.
Throughout the description and claims of the specification the word "comprise" and variations thereof, such as "comprising" and "comprises", is not intended to exclude other additives, components, integers or steps.

Controlled growth of a nanostructure on a substrate


A tool useful for engaging and pivoting the rocker arm of an internal combustion engine in order to enable removal of a push rod from the engine by virtue of positioning the rocker arm in a manner that disengages the rocker arm from the push rod includes a pair of bifurcated arms which fit on opposite sides of the rocker arm and further includes cross members connecting the bifurcated arms which engage the rocker arm in a manner that facilitates manual rotation of the tool and the rocker arm.

The present invention relates to a tool useful for effecting removal of a push rod from an internal combustion engine block.
Typically, multiple stroke internal combustion engines include push rods which are mechanically linked to valves that open and close ports to the cylinders of the engine. Most often, each push rod is reciprocally driven in response to actuation by a rotating cam. The opposite end of each push rod typically engages a rocker arm which is biased into engagement with the push rod. Thus, as the cam rotates, the push rod reciprocates causing the rocker arm to pivot against the biasing force of a spring and thereby open various valve ports of the internal combustion engine.
A repair operation often necessary with respect to internal combustion engines is replacement of the intake manifold gasket. On some engines the push rods must be removed to allow the gasket surfaces to be cleaned and the new gasket installed. Removal of push rods from an internal combustion engine, however, is not a straightforward mechanical operation. Various means must be employed in order to move the rocker arm out of engagement with the push rod so that the push rod may be effectively removed and replaced. Factors which complicate replacement may include the time and effort to remove parts of the engine in order to secure adequate access to the push rods. An effective, efficient and simple means for removal of push rods thus is an objective long sought by engine mechanics.


A method of removing a dart from an animal body. The method uses a dart removal facilitating tool that includes a handle, adapted to be grasped by a human hand. A dart removal head is attached to the handle and is adapted to be placed in proximity to the dart. The head has a surface that is adapted to be pressed against animal flesh without creating further injury. The method includes pressing the dart removal head against a portion of the animal body near the dart and engaging for dart for removal from the animal body while the dart removal head is being pressed against the portion of the animal body.

The proliferation of stun guns among law enforcement, security forces and facilities for holding large animals throughout the world, has caused an unanticipated problem. Stun guns, such as the Taser® gun, work by shooting barbed darts into the subject. These darts are connected to thin wires, through which a series electric pulses is passed to pacify the subject.
After the subject has been subdued, it is necessary for a responding professional to remove the dart(s) from the subject. This is typically done by holding the subject down with one hand, while removing the dart with the other. Unfortunately, during this operation the subject may suddenly move in an effort to gain freedom. This, in turn, may throw the responding professional off balance to the point that he inadvertently jabs the barbed end of the newly removed dart into the hand used to stabilize the body part that had received the dart.
Far from being a minor, temporary injury, this brief event may have a life-long and tragically life-shortening effect on the responding professional, who may contract hepatitis, HIV or any one out of a long list of blood born pathogens from blood on the dart. This very occurrence has become all too common, with thousands of people all infected with a deadly virus through this mechanism or a related cause, such as an intra venous needle stick. Some way must be found to make the removal of stun gun darts safer for the personnel who must remove them from the subjects.


In a vehicular front bumper structure having the function of detecting the collision of an object against the front bumper of a vehicle in the vehicle, the length of a front bumper area in widthwise directions of the vehicle, in which area a load applied to the front bumper is detected with a collision detection sensor (104), is more than or equal to a maximum distance in the widthwise directions of the vehicle between the right and left front pillars (A pillars; 107) of the vehicle, the collision detection sensor being provided to extend along a bumper reinforce (103) between the bumper reinforce and a shock absorber (105), the bumper reinforce and the shock absorber forming the front bumper; and the collision detection sensor has an interface part (106) provided at one of the ends of the collision detection sensor in the widthwise directions of the vehicle which one is on the side opposite to a walkway (a right front end in left-hand traffic/a left front end in right-hand traffic).

Conventionally, a vehicular front bumper structure with the function of detecting the collision of an object is known. (For example, see Patent Documents 1 through 5).
Patent Document 1 discloses a pedestrian collision detection sensor provided in the most forward projecting part of a front bumper provided at the front end part of the body of a vehicle, and formed of a touch sensor whose contacts are closed when compressed by a collision load applied from the front.
Patent Document 2 discloses a pedestrian collision detection sensor embedded in the front of a front bumper and formed of a touch sensor.
Patent Document 3 discloses a pedestrian collision detection sensor provided to extend laterally on a front bumper and formed of a tape-shaped pressure-sensitive variable resistor (pressure-sensitive film).
Patent Document 4 discloses a pedestrian collision detection sensor attached to a bumper incorporated in the front end part of the body of a vehicle, and formed of an elongated displacement sensor or load sensor substantially as long as the bumper.
Patent Document 5 discloses a pedestrian collision detection sensor provided inside a front bumper and formed of a touch sensor having a strip shape along the longitudinal directions of the front bumper.    [Patent Document 1] Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 7-108903    [Patent Document 2] Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 8-91170    [Patent Document 3] Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2004-191136    [Patent Document 4] Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2005-35422    [Patent Document 5] Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2005-53273


Injection moulding system comprising an elongated manifold having a melt passage extending from a common inlet, branching to a number of outlets; each of which outlet is connected to a central bore (3) of a heated elongated nozzle (1) discharging into a gate (4) leading to a moulding cavity, which nozzle (1) is at least partly surrounded by a heating element (17); the heating element (17) is designed such that its diameter or cross-sectional shape is adjustable; said heating element (17) is encased by a mantle piece (21) of which the internal diameter or internal cross-sectional shape is adjustable too, and a device is provided to clamp fit the heating element (17) with respect to the nozzle (1) under the action of the mantle piece (21).

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an injection moulding system comprising an elongated nozzle having a cylindrical body with a central bore which is in fluid communication with a gate leading to a moulding cavity and a cylindrical heating element, forming a jacket having a longitudinal slot and tightening means for adjusting the dimensions of the slot, the heating element being at least partly located around the nozzle.
2. Description of Related Art Including Information Disclosed under 37 CFR 1.97 and 37 CFR 1.98
Injection moulding systems comprising a nozzle and a heating element are well-known for instance from Japanese patent application JP-A-3176113.
In this document a heating jacket or band heater is formed by a clamping plate, a cylindrical body and a clamping screw. When placed around the nozzle, a thermalcouple can extend in the longitudinal gap of the band heater.
From EP-A-0444748 a heating element is known comprising a coiled heating wire which is embedded in a solid metal body. The heating element is in close fitting contact with the outside of the nozzle circumference and is positioned by means of a clamping device. The known heating element has as a disadvantage that upon removal thereof, for instance for maintenance or replacement purposes, the nozzle assembly has to be disassembled and the heating element has to be slid along the nozzle in the axial direction.

Injection moulding system and heating element for use in such a system


A belt drive system employs variable diameter drive and driven pulleys interconnected by a flat belt and operative to vary the rotational speed of the driven pulley as in a variable speed transmission. Each pulley includes an internal fluid pressure chamber and diametrically aligned pairs of radially movable pistons or lift bars that support transverse lift rods at their outer ends. Axially spaced circular guide plates form end boundaries for the fluid pressure chamber and have radial through-slots that cooperate with arcuate slots in juxtaposed pairs of coaxial guide discs to receive opposite ends of the lift rods and effect synchronous radial movement of the lift rods in response to pressure changes within the fluid pressure chamber. An elongated flexible spring-like support member is attached at one end to a lift rod and extends in supported relation circumferentially over and about the lift rods to define a variable diameter belt support surface. The diametrically aligned pistons are adapted for telescoping relation during radial inward movement of the lift rods, thereby enabling greater variance in the diameter of the belt support surface for a given size pulley. Electronic sensors sense the rotational position of each pulley during rotation and cooperate with a source of fluid pressure to maintain the desired pulley diameter and belt tension.

Variable speed transmissions are known that utilize variable diameter pulleys interconnected by a flat belt so as to create a drive pulley and a driven pulley. See, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,024,772, 4,295,836 and 4,714,452. The variable diameter pulleys utilized in known variable speed mechanisms or transmissions employ parallel belt support members disposed on a common diameter coaxial with the rotational axis of the pulley and adapted for radial adjustment so as to vary the relative rotational speed ratio between the drive and driven pulleys. Various types of belt support members are employed, such as rollers or bars having opposite ends extending through radial slots formed in axially spaced rotatably driven primary plates or discs and into spiral grooves formed in pairs of secondary discs disposed outboard of the radial slotted discs. The outboard pairs of secondary discs are rotatable with the driven primary plates and are also caused to rotate relative to each other so as to effect radial movement of the belt support rollers or bars within the radial slots relative to the rotational axis of the pulley. See for example, U.S. Pat. No. 896,160. See also U.S. Pat. No. 4,591,351 which discloses a variable radius pulley employing pairs of laterally spaced pulley sheaves to support parallel belt drive elements. Each sheave comprises two juxtaposed circular discs having oppositely directed spiral grooves that intersect and receive the ends of parallel belt support drive elements. The discs are rotated relative to each other for varying the radial positions of the belt drive elements and thereby the radius of the pulley belt drive.
Variable diameter pulleys for use in transmission mechanisms are also known that employ fluid pressure to move pistons or sliders radially and thereby vary the diameter of a transmission belt support surface, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,547,428. A significant drawback in the known variable diameter pulleys employed in variable speed transmissions or belt drive systems is that they are relatively complex and do not provide the precision incremental adjustment desired for variable speed belt transmissions.

Variable speed flat belt transmission and variable diameter pulley for use in same


By using reconfigurable antenna based pattern diversity, an optimal channel can be realized in order to maximize the distance between two subspaces, thereby increasing sum-rate. The inventors show the benefits of pattern reconfigurability using real-world channels, measured in a MIMO-OFDM interference network. The results are quantified with two different reconfigurable antenna architectures. An additional 47% gain in choral distance and 45% gain in sum capacity were achieved by exploiting pattern diversity with IA. Due to optimal channel selection, the performance of IA can also be improved in a low SNR regime.

Interference management in multi-user wireless networks is a critical problem that needs to be addressed for enhancing network capacity. Cadambe and Jafar in V. Cadambe and S. Jafar, "Interference alignment and degrees of freedom of the-user interference channel," Information Theory, IEEE Transactions on, vol. 54, no. 8, pp. 3425-3441, 2008, made an important advancement in this direction by proving that the sum capacity of a multi-user network is not fundamentally limited by the amount of interference. In contrast with the traditional view, the number of interference free signaling dimensions, referred to as Degrees of Freedom (DoF), were shown to scale linearly with the number of users. Subsequently, they proposed Interference Alignment (IA) based precoding to achieve linear scaling of DoF and sum capacity in the high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) regime.
The key insight for IA is that perfect signal recovery is possible if interference does not span the entire received signal space (FIG. 1). As a result, a smaller subspace free of interference can be found where the desired signal can be projected while suppressing the interference to zero. Since the component of the desired signal lying in the interference space is lost after projection, the sum-rate scaling achieved comes at the expense of reduced SNR (see H. Sung, S. Park, K. Lee, and I. Lee, "Linear precoder designs for K-user interference channels," Wireless Communications, IEEE Transactions on, vol. 9, no. 1, pp. 291-301, 2010). Therefore, in order to achieve optimal performance, the two spaces must be roughly orthogonal. However, as the results in O. El Ayach, S. Peters, and R. Heath, "The feasibility of interference alignment over measured MIMO-OFDM channels," Vehicular Technology, IEEE Transactions on, vol. 59, no. 9, pp. 4309-4321, 2010, show, orthogonality (represented in terms of chordal distance) of the subspaces is influenced by the nature of the wireless channel and hence may not always be achievable in the real world. Further, the authors provided a feasibility study of IA over measured channels and established an empirical relation between sum-rate and distance between the signal and interference space. They quantified the effect of correlated channels on the sum capacity and showed the sub-optimality of IA at low SNR. Another experimental study reported in O. Gonzalez, D. Ramirez, I. Santamaria, J. Garcia-Naya, and L. Castedo, "Experimental validation of interference alignment techniques using a multiuser MIMO testbed," in Smart Antennas (WSA), 2011 International ITG Workshop on. IEEE, 2011, pp. 1-8, showed similar degradation in the performance of IA because of practical effects such as collinearity of subspaces arising in real world channels.
On the other hand, reconfigurable antennas have been shown to enhance the performance of MIMO systems by increasing the channel capacity, diversity order and even have been shown to perform well in the low SNR regimes, J. Boerman and J. Bernhard, "Performance study of pattern reconfigurable antennas in MIMO communication systems," Antennas and Propagation, IEEE Transactions on, vol. 56, no. 1, pp. 231-236, 2008; B. Cetiner, H. Jafarkhani, J. Qian, H. Yoo, A. Grau, and F. De Flaviis, "Multifunctional reconfigurable MEMS integrated antennas for adaptive MIMO systems," Communications Magazine, IEEE, vol. 42, no. 12, pp. 62-70, 2004; and A. Sayeed and V. Raghavan, "Maximizing MIMO capacity in sparse multipath with reconfigurable antenna arrays," Selected Topics in Signal Processing, IEEE Journal of, vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 156-166, 2007. The ability of reconfigurable antennas to dynamically alter the radiation patterns and provide multiple channel realizations enable MIMO systems to adapt according to physical link conditions which leads to improved capacity. In the context of IA, reconfigurable antennas have the potential to improve its sum-rate by providing potentially uncorrelated channel realizations.

Reconfigurable antennas for performance enhancement of interference networks employing interference alignment

The Trustees Of The University Of Pennsylvania


A substrate film for an optical sheet is made of a transparent resin and is formed into a rectangular shape. The substrate film for the optical sheet has an optical anisotropy and has an absolute value of the angle of the crystal orientation with respect to the short side orientation which is π/16 or greater and 3π/16 or less.

Field of Invention
The present invention relates to substrate films for an optical sheet, optical sheets, and backlight units capable of markedly enhancing utilization efficiency of rays of light and improving luminance.
Description of the Related Art
Liquid crystal display (LCD) devices have been frequently used as a flat panel display through utilizing features of thinness, lightness in weight and low level of electric power consumption, and applications thereof have been increasing year by year. The liquid crystal display devices in widespread use have involved a backlight system where light emission is executed by irradiating onto a liquid crystal layer from the back face. In such a type of display devices, a backlight unit which is an edge light type, an immediate beneath type or the like is provided to an under face side of the liquid crystal layer. Such a backlight unit 50 of an edge light type is equipped with a rod-shaped lamp 51 for use as a light source, an optical waveguide plate 52 having a square plate shape disposed so that the edge thereof abuts along the lamp 51, a light diffusion sheet 53 disposed to the front face side of the optical waveguide plate 52, and a prism sheet 54 disposed to the front face side of the light diffusion sheet 53, as fundamentally shown in FIG. 9A.
Referring to functions of this backlight unit 50, rays of incident light from the lamp 51 to the optical waveguide plate 52 are first reflected on reflection dots or a reflection sheet (not shown in the Figure) of the back face of the waveguide plate 52, and exit from the front face of the waveguide plate 52. The rays of light exited from the waveguide plate 52 enter into the light diffusion sheet 53, then are diffused by the light diffusion sheet 53 and exit from the front face of the light diffusion sheet 53. Thereafter, the rays of light exited from the light diffusion sheet 53 enter into the prism sheet 54, and exit as rays of light having a distribution representing a peak in an orientation along a substantially normal line via a prism part 54a formed on the front face of the prism sheet 54.
Accordingly, the rays of light exited from the lamp 51 are diffused by the light diffusion sheet 53, and refracted by the prism sheet 54 so that they represent a peak in a direction along the substantially normal line, and illuminate the entire face of the liquid crystal layer on the front face side (not shown in the Figure). Meanwhile, although not shown in the Figure, a light diffusion sheet may be further disposed to the front face side of the prism sheet 54 for the purpose of: relaxation of light condensing properties of the prism sheet 54 as described above; protection of the prism part 54a; or prevention of the sticking between the prism sheet 54 and the liquid crystal panel such as a polarizing plate.
The light diffusion sheet 53 to be disposed in the backlight unit 50 generally has a transparent substrate layer 56 made of a synthetic resin, and a light diffusion layer 57 overlaid on the front face of the substrate layer 56 as shown in FIG. 9B (for example, see, JP-A Nos. H07-5305 and 2000-89007). In general, this light diffusion layer 57 includes resin beads 59 in a transparent resin binder 58, and the beads 59 exert the light diffusion function.
In recent years, characteristics required for LCD vary depending on their application, but may include brightness (high luminance), visibility (widening of viewing angle), energy saving, thin and light modeling capability and the like. Particularly, high luminance has been inevitably desired. However, in order to secure the luminance while keeping the concept of LCD, i.e., thin and light modeling, merely improving the optical waveguide plate 52 and the lamp 51 in the backlight unit 50 such as a cold-cathode tube is not satisfactory under current circumstances.
In LCD, a polarizing plate serves as a requisite essential member. Generally used polarizing plates are those which exhibit absorption dichroism, i.e., absorption of one directional component of a light accompanied by transmission of remaining polarization components. This type of the polarizing plate absorbs 50% of the light, in principle, for achieving polarization, therefore, it falls under one great reason for deterioration of the utilization efficiency of the light in LCD.
Recently, in order to enhance the utilization efficiency of the light, a reflection polarizing plate is disposed at an upper position in the backlight unit 50. This reflection polarizing plate allows a transmission axis component of the polarizing plate to transmit directly, while other polarization components are allowed to return to the lower side, whereby recycling the rays of light. However, also according to the backlight unit 50 in which such a reflection polarizing plate is laminated, approximately 75% of the utilization efficiency of the rays of light can be achieved in fact due to loss of the recycled light through thermal absorption, reflection and the like.

Optical sheet for use in an edge light type backlight unit


There is provided an encoding control apparatus including a scene change detector that detects occurrence of scene change in frame images generated in real time by a renderer, and an encoder controller that controls an encoder that encodes each of the frame images in any of a first scheme in which another frame image is not referred to and a second scheme in which the other frame image is referred to, the encoder controller causing the encoder to encode a frame image after the scene change in the first scheme when the occurrence of the scene change is detected.

In encoding video, it is common to use interframe prediction to obtain high compression efficiency. In the encoding using the interframe prediction, intra-frames and inter-frames are configured. In the intra-frame, a frame image is independently encoded without reference to another frame image. On the other hand, in the inter-frame, a frame image is encoded with reference to one or plural other frame images positioned earlier or later in time. Since in the inter-frame, the frame image can be encoded by defining a difference from the other frame images, exceedingly high compression efficiency can be obtained.
Meanwhile, a technology is proposed in which encoding processing is changed according to the contents of the video to improve image quality under a limited amount of data. For example, Patent Literature 1 discloses a technology in which a portion with a complex pattern in the frame image is beforehand detected, the quantization step width for the portion is increased in encoding, and thereby, excessively large data is prevented from occurring to maintain the image quality in the entire frame image. In such a technology, 2-pass encoding processing is performed in which the contents of the frame image are analyzed first, and using the result, the encoding is performed.
However, such a technology is not suitable for, for example, streaming in which the frame images generated in real time are sequentially encoded to be sent. When the generation and the sending of the frame images have to be in real time, the processing time is limited and the encoding processing is basically performed in a 1-pass manner. Therefore, 2-pass encoding processing as above is difficult to be adopted. Hence, in Patent Literature 2, a technology is proposed in which the degree of encoding difficulty is beforehand defined for each of the kinds of the video (for example, "motion picture" and the like), based on this, the bit rate in encoding is determined, and thereby, optimization of the encoding processing is alternatively realized in the 1-pass encoding processing.

Encoding control apparatus and encoding control method


A rod-fed electron beam evaporation system having a rod-fed electron beam evaporation source for evaporating an ingot. The ingot is of rod-like configuration and has a peg-like element to self-engage a socket of a replacement ingot so that both ingot and replacement ingot are brought into alignment.

The present invention relates to a rod-fed electron beam evaporation system in which a rod-like ingot is fed into a crucible of an electron beam evaporation source. More particularly, the present invention relates to such a system in which the ingot and a replacement ingot self-engage in an in-line relationship so that the ingot and replacement ingot can be urged upwardly into position within the crucible of the electron beam evaporation source.
In physical vapor deposition by electron beam evaporation, an evaporant is evaporated within a crucible to produce a vapor cloud which acts as a transport media to deposit the evaporant on a substrate. In a rod-fed electron beam evaporation source, the evaporant in the form of a rod-like ingot is upwardly fed into a central opening provided within a crucible. The ingot is evaporated within the crucible by an electron beam deflected through an arc of 270.degree.. The ingot and replacement ingots are contained within a rotating magazine located within a vacuum chamber in which the electron beam evaporation source operates. Before each ingot has been spent, the ingot is held in position while a replacement ingot from the rotary magazine is aligned with the ingot being held. An ingot pusher pushes the replacement ingot in an upward direction, against the held ingot, to continue to raise the ingot being evaporated and the replacement ingot into the crucible. The ingot pusher is acted upon by a pusher platform which is raised and lowered by a ball screw mechanism.
Within the electron beam evaporation source, a permanent magnet and pole pieces are provided to produce the magnetic field that is used in deflecting the electron beam through the 270.degree. arc. An electron beam gun used to produce the electron beam is situated opposite to the magnet and spaced therefrom to allow for passage of the ingot to the crucible. Even though electron beam evaporation sources are cooled by cooling water, the heat generated by the melting and evaporating ingot is conducted down the ingot to below the water cooled portion and then radiated to the crucible, to the pole pieces, permanent magnet and electron beam gun. Thus, the use of rod-fed electron beam evaporation sources has been limited to materials which melt at relatively low temperatures, for instance aluminum. Higher melting evaporants such as molybdenum have not been used in rod fed sources due to the high melting temperature of such materials and therefore, the high heat conduction to components of the electron beam evaporation source.
In order for a magazine fed electron beam evaporation source to properly function, there must be a great deal of precision in the fabrication and operation of the feed mechanism so that the replacement ingot is in perfect alignment with the ingot being evaporated. Additionally, there is a certain degree of complexity in such equipment in that not only must a rotating magazine and ingot pushing mechanism be provided but also a mechanism to hold the ingot during alignment of the replacement ingot. Such precise tooling and mechanical complexity translates into a large part of the fabrication costs of such an electron beam evaporation source.
As will be discussed, the present invention provides an electron beam evaporation system that does not require the same degree of mechanical precision and complexity as prior art rod-fed systems. Moreover, the system of the present invention is capable of evaporating ingots composed of materials having higher melting temperatures than materials of the prior art.

Rod-fed electron beam evaporation system